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Polls Tightening Ahead of Election Day; Apple to Release MacBook Update; French Authorities Threaten to Arrest Unaccompanied Minor Migrants After Jungle Closure; Yemen, the Forgotten War.
Aired October 27, 2016 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[11:00:08] CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With 12 days until the election, a new national poll shows the race tightening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAIN ASHER, HOST: Donald Trump gaining ground on Hillary Clinton in some new polls. The latest on the race for the White House next.
Plus...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It takes days to tackle ISIS dug in. The problem: civilians trapped inside here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Civilians try to flee the fighting as Iraqi-led forces edge closer to the city of Mosul. Is the toughest fight still to come? We are live in
Iraq.
And CNN finds children sleeping out in the open as the migrant camp in Calais is demolished. The latest on the situation there just ahead.
Hello and welcome to Connect the World. I'm Zain Asher sitting in for Becky Anderson.
Donald Trump is predicting a tremendous victory over Hillary Clinton, but says he's not ready to commit to working with her if indeed he does lose
the presidential election.
Trump is on a campaign blitz as I speak in Ohio today making three stops in the battleground state. Several new polls show a tightening race although
he still faces an uphill battle if he is to win.
Trump actually appeared on ABC's Good Morning America earlier with his wife, Melania. She was actually answering a question about whether she
will hit the campaign trail for him when he actually ended breaking some news to her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: We will swill see. My priority is my son, our son Barron. And I support him 100 percent. And I'm there for him
every time he needs me. And I might join him. We will see.
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's actually going to make two or three speeches. And I will tell you...
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Made some news right there.
D. TRUMP: It's -- she's amazing when she speaks. She's an amazing public speaker. So she's agreed to do two or three speeches. And I think it's
going to be big speeches, important speeches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: You would think they actually would have spoken about that beforehand. But Hillary Clinton, in the meantime, will make her first
joint campaign appearance with one of her most powerful surrogates. Of course we're talking about first lady Michelle Obama. We're hearing that
Mrs. Obama is going to be making her closing argument for Clinton at a rally in North
Carolina.
Well, Trump appears to be picking up momentum as his poll numbers rise, but with just 12 days left before the election, will it be too little too late?
Here is our Chris Frates with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With only 12 days until the election, a new national poll shows the race tightening. And now more battleground
states are up for grabs. Hillary Clinton in a dead heat with Trump in Nevada as Trump now edges out in the must-win state of Florida.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really think that we're going to have a tremendous victory. I believe we're winning. I actually think
we're winning.
FRATES: Trump says he will invest millions more into his campaign. The billionaire so far has spent $56 million of his own money.
TRUMP: Let me just tell you that we have -- I'll have over $100 million in the campaign. FRATES: A source telling CNN that earlier this RNC Chairman
Reince
Priebus asked Trump to put more money into his campaign to help compete with Clinton's advertising blitz. The source said Trump did not listen.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is taking time off the campaign trail to officially open the hotel.
FRATES: Meanwhile, Clinton is blasting Trump for stepping off the campaign trail to advance his business empire.
CLINTON: Donald Trump is the poster boy for everything wrong with our economy. The facts show he has stiffed American workers, he has stiffed
American businesses.
FRATES: After opening a new hotel just blocks from the White House, the billionaire got back to campaigning with two rallies in North Carolina.
Trump hitting back at Clinton, attacking her stamina.
TRUMP: Here's a woman, she makes a speech for 15 minutes, she goes home and goes to bed. She has less energy than Jeb Bush.
FRATES: And getting upset when CNN's Dana Bash asked him about the hotel stop.
TRUMP: For you to ask me that question is actually very insulting because Hillary does one stop and then goes home and sleeps, and yet you'll ask me
that question. I think it's a very rude question, to be honest with you.
FRATES: And doubling down in an interview with ABC bringing up Clinton's attending an Adele concert in Miami.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton goes to see an Adele concert last night and everybody says oh, wasn't that nice, isn't that wonderful. I have stopped -
- I did eight stops yesterday, three major rallies.
FRATES: Adele wasn't the only star to help Clinton ring in her 69th birthday.
(SINGING)
[11:05:03] FRATES: Stevie Wonder serenaded Clinton on a radio show.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Go out and vote, that message there from Stevie Wonder.
Let's get more now from Juana Summers, an editor for CNN Politics.
So, Juana, we had some new polls today that are making Hillary Clinton supporters slightly nervous. New polls show that Nevada has gone from
leaning blue to now being a toss up. Just explain that to us.
I mean, given all of the controversy of Donald Trump's campaign, why are the polls tightening again?
JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS EDITOR: That's right, Zain. And this is something we traditionally see at this point in the presidential race,
these so-called battleground states like Nevada, another one Florida comes to mind. The race will is going to tighter and tighter, one and two point
margins. So we've flipped both of those states back to battleground status.
I think the more interesting story, though, is actually in Florida, 29 electoral votes are at stake there. And that is a state that Donald Trump
will really need to seize. If he does, it's impact expect to win the White House. I think that's why you see so much attention there.
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both campaigning there over the last couple of days. These battleground states, we're going to see a flurry of
activity not just from the candidates themselves, but as well from their surrogates as they're hoping to lock down any potentially undecided voters
and motivate their base to go to the polls on election day or to vote early or absantee.
ASHER: And Juana, with just 12 days to go until the election, I want to talk about Hillary
Clinton's campaign because every single day we get sort of a drip, drip, drip flood of new information from WikiLeaks, particularly about the
conflict of interest when it comes to paid speeches at the Clinton Foundation. Do these leaks have the power to sway voters anymore
especially in the last 12 days?
SUMMER: I think it really depends on the content of these leaks. So far there is a lot of information that's come out, not much has been -- there
has been no bombshell, nothing particularly damning, even in this most recent spate of emails, we haven't seen any information that indicates, for
example, the claim that Republicans have been making that donors to the Clinton campaign got special favors from the Clinton State Department or
anything of that nature.
But they do add to the public perception in voters' mind that Hillary Clinton is less honest and trustworthy. We've seen the numbers int the
polls. And voters view her as less honest and trustworthy than her rival Donald Trump.
And so I think to that end it is damaging and that the drip, drip, drip as you aptly put it is just another distraction in a time where both
candidates need to focus on expanding their base, making sure that they turn out enough voters to make sure that they come out ahead on November 8.
ASHER: Donald Trump because he is making a new pitch to African-Americans, to black America. He said, and I'm quoting for you here, quote, un quote,
I will be your greatest champion, some of our inner cities are more dangerous than the war zones. Obviously, as you and I both know, he's
talked about the fact that lack people walk down the street in the ghetto and can get shot going to buy groceries.
Does Donald Trump see sort of see black people as a monolithic voting bloc that doesn't have any nuance?
SUMMERS: I'm going to be really careful and not try to assume what Donald Trump thinks about black people. However, it is really interesting
listening to him kind of go out, he makes a similar pitch, he paints black life in America in constantly negative tones. And if you look at the
polls, a recent ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll found that Donald Trump is only getting about 3 percent support from black Americans.
I want to put that in context a little bit, because when you look back to 2012, Mitt Romney did about 6 percent with black Americans on election day.
So Donald Trump far behind past Republican candidates. And it looks like he's trying to eke up those margins. When he talks about the so-called new
deal for black Americans, he made that speech to a largely white audience in a city that's been recently gripped by the shooting of a black man by
police officers. And I've heard a lot criticism from Democrats, in particular, who have said that
Donald Trump is talking about black America, but he's not spending time in those communities, he's making speeches to largely white audiences, then
the appeal comes across a little bit authentic.
His campaign, of course, has refuted those claims. They say that he would be the best president for black America because as Donald Trump has said in
these speeches many times, what does black America have to lose.
So we will be walk of watching in some of these very diverse states such as North Carolina, where Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama are
campaigning whether or not Donald Trump can eke into the margins there.
ASHER: But as you mentioned, there are hardly any black people showing up to his rallies.
Juana Summers, we have to leave it there. Thank you so much. Appreciate that.
SUMMERS: Thank you.
ASHER: New data from the U.S. central command is giving a sense of the scale of the battle
to take back Mosul. A top American general says up to 900 ISIS fighters have been killed so far since the assault on the Iraqi city began, but
there could be as many as 5,000 ISIS fighters inside Mosul and up to 2,000 more in the defensive zone around it.
The International Office of Migration, say more than 10,500 people have been displaced since the offensive began, and there are grave concerns
about humanitarian conditions in and around the city.
Arwa Damon is in Irbil not far from Mosul and has seen firsthand one of ISIS's biggest resources in the battle, a network of hidden tunnels.
So Arwa, these tunnels basically mean that ISIS fighters can essentially escape the city unnoticed. I'm just curious how does that change the
dynamics of this battle?
[11:10:22] ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it really adds an element of the unexpected to it. Troops, whether they are Iraqi or
others, do know and anticipate that ISIS is going to have a fairly complex network of tunnels inside Mosul itself. And they have come across quite a
number of tunnels as they have been pushing through these towns and villages, all of them with different purposes. Some have been used it
would seem as if some sort of lodging, they have been found with mattresses inside them, presumably for ISIS fighters to hide from air strikes, others
are used to lead to hidden fighting positions. And in some cases just to be able to
move between buildings or underneath roads without being detected.
And we were just taken by some soldiers in the predominantly Christian town of Bartallah (ph) who showed us one of the tunnels that they had just
discovered.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Inside a residential home.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
DAMON: All of the rooms have been filmed with the dirt that they dug out from underneath so that no one could see what it was that they were up to.
They have dismantled some IEDs, explosives that they have found inside, as well.
When they came, they saw that this ladder was already in place. They found a couple of drills and wheelbarrows that they have removed.
Look at this cable, they were even running electricity down here.
This is another of the tires that the counterterrorism soldiers burnt inside this tunnel to try to suffocate any ISIS fighters that may have been
inside. And that's why there is this black soot that is covering everything.
It's sort of a staircase that they have carved out that goes all the way up to the road. It's pretty narrow and hard to move through here.
Oh, this goes all the way up into a hole in a opens up on to the street that we were just walking
down. And ISIS fighters were able to use this to move up and launch surprise attacks on troops as they were advancing.
But he's saying that it also serves as a way to circulate oxygen because this tunnel
complex is pretty far underground and it goes off in yet another direction.
Wow, they have a fan down here, as well.
This distance, that we just came through underground, had they been able to complete it, this would have opened up on the other side of the main
street.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DAMON: And, Zain, whether it's in that tunnel or some of the other ones that we have been through, the troops who take us into them are always
marveling at ISIS's capabilities and ability to create these complex underground systems.
And all of them will say if this is what ISIS has on the outskirts of Mosul, we cannot even begin to imagine what it has inside the city itself.
ASHER: So, Arwa, what are they expecting? I mean, given the tunnels that you just reported on, the sulfur fires, the sort of asymmetric warfare,
what are Iraqi troops expecting once they enter the city itself?
DAMON: It's very difficult. They're bracing themselves for the worst. The problem is they don't really know exactly what the worst looks like
because ISIS has proven time and time again to, yes, perhaps employ similar tactics that they are familiar with to a
certain degree such as the underground tunnels, the buildings being booby- trapped, the suicide truck bombs that have armor built on to them so that it's much more difficult to stop them before
they reach troops as they're advancing to ISIS burning fires to try to impair the visibility from air strikes. But they will also say that they
can't really imagine or have a full grasp as to what the extent of all of these defenses are
actually going to be once they reach the inside of the city and then of course there are grave concerns about the possibility that ISIS could
launch some sort of chemical or dirty bomb attack and then you have the reality of the upwards of 1.2 million civilians who remain trapped inside.
And we have seen ISIS use civilians as human shields time and time again.
So they're trying to prepare themselves, as I was saying, for the very worst that they anticipate
ISIS may be bringing, problem is as we know only too well at this point, ISIS oftentimes when it comes to the worst by far will exceed expectations.
[11:15:27] ASHER: As we have even seen.
Arwa Damon, live for us there. Thank you very much.
I want to turn to Syria now, where activists say air strikes have hit a school in Idlib province. The White Helmets recent crew group says 35
people were killed and at least 20 of them children.
Now, Idlib Province isn't far -- Idlib, rather, isn't far from Allepo and both cities have actually seen fierce fighting between opposition forces
and government troops, as well.
Ivan Watson is live for us in Istanbul.
So, Ivan, before we get to sort of back and forth of who might be responsible, just explain to our
international audience how does something like this happen? Why isn't more being done to protect schools and hospitals in rebel-held areas?
IVAN WATON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONENT: Well, I think organizations like the United Nations have pretty much documented that there has been a
near systematic pattern of bombing from the air -- hospitals -- certainly, hospitals have been targeted and medical workers have been targeted since
the very beginning of this five year old conflict.
In this case, you have a village call al-Haas (ph) in rebel-controlled territory near this small city of Idlib that has been in rebel hands for
some time now. And if you look at some of the video that come out from some of the rescue workers, opposition activists on the ground there, you
can very clearly see at one point a parachute dropping down over the village and then detonating with a mushroom cloudl-ike impact.
And what the rescue workers we've talked to there, the White Helmets, have said is that there were a number of air strikes over this area hitting a
school there that had just let out.
So again, mopping the casualties, among 35 people killed there, at least 20 of them believed to be children. The United Nations Children's Fund has
called this a war crime.
ASHER: Right. Ivan Watson, thank you so much for bringing that tragic and heartbreaking story to us. It's important that the world knows. Thank
you.
All right, still to come -- more devastation in Italy as earthquakes strike for the second time in
just a matter of months.
And then -- more email leaks from Hillary Clinton's campaign. We'll explain just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:20:11] ASHER: You're watching CNN and this is Connect the World with me Zain Asher. Welcome back.
Venezuela looks increasingly like a country in meltdown. President Nicolas Maduro's opponent protested around the country demanding a referendum on
removing him from office. Now, hundreds of people were arrested or injured in those protests and the government actually says that a police officer
was killed.
Now, Mr. Maduro and his supporters held their own rally and he accuses his opponents of plotting a coup d'etat with the U.S.
The opposition says the president already orchestrated a coup by halting a recall vote to drive. They plan to march to the presidential palace next
Thursday.
Well, let's talk more about this. Shasta Darlington is covering what is going on in Venezuela.
Shasta, you and I talked yesterday about this. And I think what our worst fear has basically happened because you did have violence and you did have
a police officer that ended up being killed in these protests.
So, how does the situation end up resolving itself, do you think?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zain, what we've seen is a real show of force beyond the violence that you're talking about.
We saw thousands and thousands of Venezuelans taking to the street in protests across the country. We saw a video of one man shouting at riot
police I'm hungry, what are you going to do, shoot me because I'm hungry.
We saw the biggest protest in the capital, Caracas, where protesters occupied an entire highway shouting Democracy Now, down with the dictator.
And basically they're calling the president, Nicolas Maduro, a dictator because his government blocked these efforts to organize a nationwide
referendum that could have seen him voted out of office this year.
They're angry and frustrated because this is the third year of a crippling recession, because even the most basic food and medicines are hard to come
by. You see thousands of Venezuelans crossing the border into Colombia and Brazil just to get the very most basic food.
So they say that now they're going to organize this general strike tomorrow. Friday, they are going to take to the streets again next week if
the government doesn't reverse its decision and allow them to go ahead with organizing this referendum.
Now, as you mentioned, the government also had their supporters out, Maduro himself addressed them. He accuses the opposition of staging this coup
d'etat, but he also called on all parties to join in this national dialogue on Sunday that will be mediated by the Vatican, that is a possible sort of
light at the end of the tunnel, could this help resolve the situation, deescalate tensions, at least. And that's what a lot of people will be
keeping an eye on, Zain.
ASHER: But, Shasta, just in terms of a path forward for the opposition, given that the recall referendum efforts haven't worked, the sort of effort
to have Maduro impeached hasn't worked, what are the other options that the opposition has beyond just protesting?
DARLINGTON: At this point it really does look like that is the main weapon. They want to step up the pressure on the streets, because as you
mentioned, the referendum they feel that it is out of their grasp. The government has blocked it. What you hear the opposition leaders saying, if
they can keep the pressure up, maybe the government will rethink its idea about the referendum.
It's important for the opposition to try to get this referendum done this year because if it happens now and if Maduro is voted out of office or if
they would vote to remove him, general elections will be called.
If this is pushed until next year and if Maduro were removed from office then, then his vice president would take over.
At this point it looks very unlikely that the opposition will have their way, that they could have Maduro removed either by some kind of a trial in
the assembly or by a referendum thisyear, but they seem to be intent on keeping up the pressure on the streets.
ASHER: All right. Shasta Darlington live for us there on the political unrest in Venezuela. Thank you so much.
For a second time in a few months now, parts of central Italy have been devastated by mother nature. Two earthquakes struck close to the town of
Visso (ph), that's just 80 kilometers from Amatrice where a quick hit in August killing nearly 300 people.
So, thankfully, nobody was killed this time, but aftershocks were still being felt as centuries of
history came crumbling down. Barbie Nadeau reports from a 15th Century church has been reduced to ruins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Two earthquakes that shoot this area on Wednesday night didn't kill anyone and there are very few reports of
injuries. But they were devastating to the cultural heritage of this area.
You see behind me this 15th Century Church that was heavily damaged in the first earthquake when fissures opened up in the facade of the church. But
two hours later, a 6.1 earthquake completely destroyed it, exposing Frescos and various religious art. The bell tower is in a precarious situation
right now with bits and pieces falling off as each aftershock rocks the area.
We see this scene repeated across the small villages of this area where there was damage in the first earthquake and then just devastated in the
second stronger earthquake that rocked the area.
What has also been difficult is that people who live in this area in the devastating earthquake in August of this year, many of those people left
their homes, have been living in temporary shelters, even tent camps and hotels since that earthquake. These devastating quakes that happened on
Wednesday night have done nothing to calm their fears, that the worst of their nightmare is over.
This is Barbie Nadeau for CNN in Campi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: And we actually have much more on the aftermath of those earthquakes on our website. Just go to CNN.com for the very latest videos,
maps and pictures from the area as well.
The latest world news headlines just ahead, plus a report from Calais where some migrant
children had nowhere to sleep and now they apparently face risk of arrest.
Also ahead, hundreds of thousands of children are malnourished and millions of people are on the brink of starvation in war-torn Yemen. We'll have a
live report on that crisis coming up in just a couple of minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[11:30:23] ASHER: Well, France says the migrant camp at Calais, known as The Jungle, has ben cleared and is being bulldozed. But not everyone has
left the area. Authorities have threatened to arrest unregistered children. CNN's Melissa Bell is in Calais and joins us
live now.
So, Melissa, just explain to us what you are seeing there. How many children are still in this camp without anywhere to go?
MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, tonight, Zain, the demolition of The Jungle continues. And inside The Jungle, there are a series of containers
in which are housed more than 1,000 unaccompanied minors, those who were able to get their bracelets, to get registered with French authorities in
time.
Now, earlier today what happened was that the aid agencies, the aid associations, the NGOs that have been helping the children were asked by
officials to help bring those who haven't been registered, those many dozen migrant children who spent the night living rough, who had
not been put up in those accommodation centers, they had queued in some cases for several days and had not made it through that registration
process.
Those children, about 100 of them, many of them children, a couple -- a few adults as well,
were shepherded out by the aid association this evening. That entrance to The Jungle was closed and The Jungle has now been closed.
All of the journalists and those nonregistered unaccompanied minors had been pushed out
by this line of riot police who have marched us down the road and now closed off the access to the camp.
ASHER: So, Melissa, I'm just curious, the people who have left the camp, the adults and the children who have been sent to shelters in different
communities throughout France, have those people been now given up on their eventual dream of heading to the UK?
BELL: There are many of them and the French governor very pleased about this mission accomplished has been the phrase over the course of the last
24 hours, Zain, that so many thousands of migrants have taken up the French government's offer to be relocated, those buses have now arrived in Normandy in Britain, and all around France for
those migrants to start their new lives.
Tonight, though, at this gate, the question is this 100 or so unaccompanied minors who don't know what they will be sleeping tonight. Clare Moseley
works for Care for Calais. Tell us, Clare, what's going to happen to these children who are for now waiting out here. What is going to happen to them
tonight?
CLARE MOSELEY, CARE FOR CALAIS: That's the big question because we really don't know. Last night was just awful. Last night we had half of them
sleeping in the school on the floor and the other half sleeping outside on the street. And we really did not think we were going to come to the end of
another day with an isolation for these children.
As you say, they were pushed out of The Jungle. At one point they were sandwiched between two advancing rows of riot police. It was pretty
terrifying. And now they are out here in the street again.
We have no solution for them tonight and no solution for them going forward either.
BELL: What are the French authorities telling you?
MOSELEY: They said they wanted them to leave and when I said they haven't got anywhere to go, they said that they didn't care, they just wanted them
to go.
BELL: Thank you very much, Clare. So 100 or so mostly unaccompanied minors who are grouped here just outside this line of riot police, The
Jungle, the way to the Jungle which was their home, has been their home for many months now, Zain, is closed as you can see, firmly closed by that line
of riot police. And their fate tonight completely unknown.
So yes, thousands of migrants safely housed in France's many regions, but 100 or so children
whose fate is still uncertain this evening.
ASHER: All right, Melissa Bell, do let us know what ends up happening to those children if
you get any news in the next hour or so. Thank you for being with us.
We'll turn now to a war that is often described as forgotten or invisible, despite thousands of civilian deaths in Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen,
there is no swell of international outrage like that seen over Syria.
The situation here is truly grave as these disturbing images we're about to show you indicate. This is a Saida Ahmad Baghili (ph). And she is 18
years old. She's currently receiving treatment for severe malnourishment. You can just see how desperate the situation is for her. And she's one of
the many millions of people who are struggling to get enough food in Yemen, because of the war that is going on.
CNN's Mohammad Lila is following the story to us.
So, Mohammad, when you look at these heartbreaking images of literally people with just skin
and bones, the question is, in 2016, how on Earth is this allowed to happen?
[11:35:04[ MOHAMMAD LILA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, you know, I think that's the question that so many people are asking now, is how did we allow this
to happen?
And there are different ways to answer that. Militarily, this is the result of 18 months of conflict between them and Houthi rebels and the
Saudi-backed coalition. And of course a very heavy Saudi bombardment campaign that has been bombing a lot of these facilities.
You could say that it's because of the naval blockade that relief groups say is preventing food and medicine from reaching the people that need it
the most. And then there is also the rest of the world's reaction which is, look, you and I can talk about this conflict in journalistic terms, but
just look at these images. They're shocking, they're startling and we are
seeing and this is what the UNICEF and World Food Program have said, we are seeing an entire generation that is going to be lost before our very eyes
because of the world's inaction in Yemen.
ASHER: So, Mohammad, why isn't the international community doing more to solve this problem? And I'm curious why is it overruled that some wars and
some humanitarian disasters like what is happening in Syria and Iraq end up getting attention, a lot of attention and others like Yemen just almost
sort of get completely ignored. Why is that?
LILA: You know, it's a very good question. And it's a question that we discuss journalistically in our editorial meetings. One of the
difficulties with Yemen obviously is getting access. It's not an easy place to get to and a lot of safety concerns.
But, also, if you think about what is going on, there are other conflicts in the world. There's what's happening in Mosul, there's what's happening
in Syria, both of these are ISIS conflicts that have very large militant group that has launched attacks on western capitals.
So, you know, there is a connection there with the rest of the world. Regionally and strategically, Yemen you could argue is not sort of
strategically important outside of the Middle East, but ISIS certainly is. And so what is going on in Iraq and Syria are very, very important and we
cover those stories. The challenge for us is also to keep Yemen on the radar.
And I should say other people might have forgot what is going on in Yemen, I certainly haven't. We certainly haven't here in this bureau and CNN as a
whole certainly hasn't. And we're looking for ways to continue to our keep the coverage of the story alive because the longer we keep it alive, it may
actually literally stay lives of these people who are starving there.
ASHER: All right, Mohammad Lila, such heartbreaking. So, heartbreaking, especially when you see children -- when you see children who are starving
like that, malnourished, absolutely heartbreaking.
Mohammad Lila, thank you so much for bringing the world's attention to that story. Appreciate that.
More now on one of our top stories now: the battle for Mosul. While thousands may have fled the city and nearby towns, many are still trapped
in the warzone.
Nick Paton Walsh visited a village where desperate families are just emerging from the chaos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Each new day is hard-fought here in the dust around Mosul, where it covered even
the tiniest village.
(GUNFIRE)
WALSH: Even with American help and armor, it takes days to tackle ISIS, dug in.
(GUNFIRE)
WALSH: The problem, civilians, trapped inside here, but also in the town next door.
(on camera): That tiny white flag symbolizing an increasingly hazardous problem for advances forces here moving against ISIS, and that's civilians,
caught, in this case, inside that tiny town, and increasingly now, in the crossfire.
(voice-over): There could be as many as 1.2 million people caught between ISIS's medieval death cult and the rival forces taking them on. They, with
the village, before ISIS kicked them out, and they sheltered for months in an old farm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): We were humiliated, humiliated in every way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): My brother, nephew and another relative went to Mosul when it fell to ISIS. They were abducted and
disappeared.
WALSH: Suddenly, two men are led forward. The village has informed on them. One, the father, and an ISIS leader, and another brother.
(on camera): This is the process of recrimination that will be happening now slowly over villages all across this area in northern Iraq, who
collaborated with ISIS, who worked with them. And what happens to these people now?
(voice-over): Tomorrow is no easy task. They're assembled on still spotless at Astroturf, children, insuppressible. Yet, still mortars land, meters
away. The men trying to digest it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): I took my cousin's body from the morgue. It had a bullet in the head. They came after him, took him for 20
days, then told me to pick up his body from the morgue. I saw horrible things there. It was full of bodies. That's what they do to people.
WALSH (voice-over): We drive into the village to see what is left.
(voice-over): Endless mines we are warned. Yet, very few ISIS flags. Maybe not needed as only ISIS' loyal fighters lived here and then died here, too.
Their contortions hide whether they felt fear or abandoned when they fell.
(on camera): The nightmare of having ISIS, live it in and be purged from it. But they can't even clear away the dead bodies from the fighting in
case they're booby-trapped. This is a place where ordinary life will be impossible for the near future. (voice-over): Dust falls and yet more flee
the olive groves into the dust again, frisked, herded, unsure who to ask where home is now.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, northern Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[11:40:47] ASHER: Hillary Clinton has been dogged by her private email scandal for quite some time now. Now hacked emails from her campaign are
showing how staffers reacted to that and other issues. We'll have details ahead.
Plus, picture perfect: the secret to a great photo, you guessed it, cats.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: You're watching CNN and this is Connect the World with me Zain Asher. Welcome back.
It's easy to be somewhat overwhelmed by all the polls coming out these days right before the U.S. presidential race. So many numbers coming from so
many different sources. And that is why CNN actually compiles the five most recent national polls to give us a broader understanding of the
trends.
So our latest poll of polls, take a look here, shows Donald Trump actually gaining ground on
Hillary Clinton, although if you look at this, he is still six points behind -- she's at 47 percent, he's at 41 percent, and there is only 12
days left for him to actually close the gap.
We've also updated our map of battleground states. Florida and Nevada, which actually had been leaning Democrat are now yellow. They are
essentially toss-ups. So that is one important thing to remember in this race. Things change all the time.
But one issue that dogs Hillary Clinton during the entire campaign is of course emails -- deleted ones, stolen ones and leaked ones. The constant
drip, drip of revelations are a constant frustration to Clinton as she battles issues of trust. As our Jim Sciutto reports, the public is getting
a rather unflattering picture of the inner workings of her campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Newly released stolen emails show the distress
in Hillary Clinton's innercircle the moment the news broke in March 2015.
On March 7, Felipe Raines, one of her longest serving advisers writing, quote, "there is just no good answer. One word per line, seemingly for
emphasis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm particularly honored that she's here.
SCIUTTO: In other stolen emails on March 2 and 3, Neera Tanden, co-chair of Clinton's transition team, expressing to campaign manager John Podesta
blistering criticism of Clinton's top aide's handling of the private server issue.
Why didn't they get this stuff out like 18 months ago? So crazy. And continuing in a followup email -- I guess I know the answer, Tanden wrote,
they wanted to get away with it.
Tanden specifically referenced Cheryl Mills, Deputy White House counsel under Bill Clintno and close aide to Hillary Clinton.
This is a Cheryl special. Know you love her, but this is stuff like her Achilles heel, or Kryptonite. She just can't say no to this expletive.
The Clinton campaign has not commented on specific emails saying they are stolen and they can't verify their authenticity. The U.S. intelligence
community blaims the Russian state for the hacks which have solely targetedthe Democratic Party.
Several hacked emails make references to Clinton's head, some in the right wing media are
drawing a connection to her head injury based on those emails and questioning if she had fully recovered.
In one September 26, 2015, John Podesta writes to communications director Jennier Palmieri, how bad is her head? Palmieri writes back, don't know,
Huma left here about an hour ago. I just pinged again to haven't heard back.
Reached by CNN, a Clinton campaign official did respond to this email saying they are
clearly about her frame of mind or her mood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: That was our Jim Sciutto reporting there. And remember, you can always get the latest twists and turns in the final stretch in the race for
the White House on CNN.com/politics.
You can actually find the latest poll figures and analysis from our team of reporters and contributors. You can actually type in different scenarios
in terms of which candidate picks up which state, and you can see the outcome. I had lots of fun playing with that this morning.
All right. Still to come, Apple is expected to show off some new hardware today, but the cat may already be out of the bag in terms of some of the
details. We'll have that covered for you.
And speaking of cats, once upon a time they were worshiped as gods. Cats have actually not forgotten this little known detail. How photos of the
not so humble feline captured our attention long before the social media caught on.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: About 90 minutes from now, Apple is about to reveal a new series of its iconic Mac laptop for the first time in actually four years. The
spotlight is usually on the iPhone, but after some disappointing sales figures, the tech giant is actually looking to the Mac for some
inspiration.
Our Samuel Burke is in London for us on this story. So, Samuel, just explain to us how might
Apple actually end up reinventing the iconic MacBook?
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN MONEY: Well, they would love to reinvent it after the week that they have had. It's been tough for them. They wiped about $20
billion in marketcap just off this week. So it's not looking great for them.
And indeed you could say more than just a bad week, maybe a bad year given that for the
first time in 15 years, they had a revenue loss year to year. So they're looking to these MacBooks, hoping to make a big splash.
I've got to tell you, we have some leaked pictures that we found taht I want to share with you, and it's really the only big thing that I see
coming out of these MacBooks, they're now going to have a touchscreen, but not the actual screen up there on top the laptop, look closely at the top
of the keyboard, you can see a bar that looks like it's going to be touch sensitive, just the way our phone is. So, now we see the laptops borrowing
from the phones.
So maybe you'll be able to use Apple Pay there, not have to type in a password, which is great news. So maybe there will be a bit more secure.
But the only other big change I see is the USB-C port. So, you'll have to get rid of your old plug and use the new ones. But aside from that, well,
faster, maybe a big bigger, the usual updates we see from Apple these days.
ASHER: All right, so sort of like very sort of incremental updates.
BURKE: Exactly
ASHER: The one thing that Apple has, you know, done quite well in terms of reinventing is the air pods, these are the wireless headphones. We're now
hearing that they could be delayed in terms of their release. Why is that?
BURKE: Don't forget the iPhone 7, it doesn't have that little plug in it where you can plug
in the he headphones anymore, so you'll have to plug them in via the charging port or via the AirPods.
Now we knew they were going to have a different release from the iPhone 7, which is already out, but now Apple has mysteriously pushed back the launch
of those.
So we don't know what happened there, but I do think that is also something that is hurting Apple's stock price which is down just about a half percent
right now.
Based on all the reporting I've been doing the past few months, though, with Samsung and all the problems they have, I say, hey, better safe than
sorry when it comes to these big tech companies. So we'll wait and see if maybe Apple has a bit more news for us when these come out just around
1:00 p.m. eastern time.
ASHER: And Samuel, that was actually the perfect segue into my next story because I'm going to be talking about Samsung and all their troubles in
about five seconds. So thank you so much, Samuel Burke, appreciate that.
Well, it was meant to be the biggest rival to the iPhone, instead this Galaxy Note 7 smartphone has burned a huge hole in Samsung's profits.
They're down a staggering 96 percent in their mobile division. And as Alexandra Field reports from Seoul, there's no smoke without fire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a big hit, but it certainly doesn't come as a big surprise. Samsung executives announced earlier this
month that they were anticipating these kinds of lawsuits in the third quarter. That after the decision was made to recall the Note 7 and then
cancel the phone all together after there were reports that the phone was bursting into flames.
These are the kinds of losses that the company had been preparing for, but there are also estimates that the losses will continue up to the halfway
point of next year. By that time, some analysts say, the company will have lost more than $5 billion in profits, all because of the Note 7 debacle.
But Samsung is also sounding an optimistic note, they're trying to highlight the strong sales of the S7 and the S7 Edge to other mobile phone
models. They say that that will contribute to recovery for the company in the fourth quarter of this year.
But customers aren't exactly happy with the way that Samsung has handled the fallout from the
Note 7 problems. Right here in South Korea, more than 500 people have already filed a lawsuit against the company. They're citing what they call
psychological shock from carrying around a device that could become flammable, could burst into flames.
They're also seeking compensation for the time and money spent trying to repair or replace these faulty phones.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs say that they have hundreds of other cases still in the pipeline.
In Seoul, Alexandra Field, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Well, companies like Samsung and Apple may believe they're the dominant forces in the tech world, but if sheer internet popularity is
anything to go by, nothing defines digital age better than cats.
Photos like the ones behind me -- I pointed over the wrong shoulder. Photos like the one behind me of cats like Misty, the beautiful lady right
here, dominate web pages and social media, but long before Instragram or Facebook, one photographer unlocked the power of the pussycat like few before.
And so for our Parting Shots right here, right meow, we give you the purr- fect shot. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALTER CHANDOHA, PHOTOGRAPHER: In my heyday of doing the animal photographs, I'd say 90 percent of the facings on the dog food and the cat
food packages were of my photographs.
My name is Walter Chandoha, and I'm a professional photographer.
I've been doing it for 70 years more or less. And more recently, I have recovered my original specialty of cats.
Cats were used to illustrate just about everything. One of my biggest selling greeting cards is one in a million shot, I thought the kitten was
rather cute. I said, Paula, how about if I put him up on your shoulder and you pet him.
Paula, was amused at something, so she smiled and at the same time, the kitten, quote, smiled,
reality, he was meowing.
Another one equally as catsy is a picture I call the mob. It's a group of my cats walking on the road in front of my house. And it was about time
for dinner. And I'd all the kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty, and all the cats would come running. I said okay, cats, slow down. And they grouped
together in a very gregarious way which is unusual for cats and I got a picture and I call it the mob.
People ask me what did you do with the kittens? I brought a cat into New York almost every other week to one office worker or another. It was
rather boring to go go back and forth on a train, and I would usually engage my seat neighbor in conversation.
One evening coming home, we got to talking about odd occupations. He said we have a nut out
Annandale who takes pictures of cats for a living and he got off before I could defend myself and tell him that I was that photographer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: And still the question goes on, cats or dogs? Let us know your favorite. And tell us what you think about everything in the show today.
We'd love to hear from you. You can of course head to our Facebook page, that is Facebook.com/CNNconnect.
All right, I'm Zain Asher and that was Connect the World. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you next time.
END
END
