Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

New Cases of Coronavirus Reported in China and Internationally; Chinese Ambassador to U.K. Slams Global Overreaction; Quarantined Cruise Ship Passengers Speak to CNN; Three Killed After Plane Skids Off Runway in Turkey; Trump Attacks Democrats and Romney at Prayer Breakfast; Buttigieg and Sanders Neck-and-Neck in Democratic Race; Violence Surges Between Israelis and Palestinians in Wake of Trump Peace Plan; CNN Crew Lives and Works Under Quarantine; Wuhan Coronavirus Whistleblower Doctor Dies. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired February 06, 2020 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:00:00]

LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: A floating quarantine. Two cruise ships on lockdown leaving thousands of people stuck over fears of the coronavirus.

We're going to speak to two of the passengers.

Also ahead --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, U.S. CHIEF JUSTICE: Donald John Trump be, and he is hereby, acquitted of the charges --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: The trial is over, but the politics are not. Acquitted on all charges. But the final jury will be the American voters.

And a Hollywood icon passing away at 104 years old.

Hello and welcome. I'm Lynda Kinkade filling in for Becky Anderson. Good to have you with us and welcome to an expanded edition of CONNECT THE WORLD.

Well this hour we begin a world connected by a coronavirus and its consequences. Now this is the very latest. More than 560 people have now

died. More than 28,000 people are infected. The vast majority of those in China. 60 million people remain on lockdown in the country and China state

broadcaster says two newborn babies have been infected. The youngest diagnosed at just 30 hours old.

But even as more cases are confirmed both in China and internationally, China's ambassador to the U.K. has called the global reaction a, quote,

overreaction. Saying there is a media bias against China.

This is truly a complex and global picture. Our correspondent David Culver joins us from Beijing. Good to have you, David. So you were in the

epicenter in Wuhan with the team. You've just been in self-quarantine for two weeks now cleared of that. We have heard from China's ambassador to the

U.K. calling the global response to this virus an overreaction. What should we make of those comments?

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Lynda, and good to be with you as well. This is starting in the epicenter, of course, but it has gone

so much wider out than that. So this is well beyond Wuhan at this point. And it's encompassed really the global community.

With regards to what you heard from the Chinese ambassador to the U.K., really calling this an over panicked reaction, it echoes what we've been

hearing from the foreign ministry here. In fact, just go back a couple of days and the foreign ministry was slamming the U.S. They felt like the U.S.

who first issued the travel restrictions against China is really the one that led the way in essentially causing all these other countries to do the

same and push China into this really isolated moat. So they were angry about that.

There's also an economic tied to this too. Because we heard from the foreign ministry today and they were once again angry with the airlines.

The international airlines, three of them being American airlines, that they felt as though they should not have been suspending these China

flights. But again, this is an economic thing, too, they are recognizing in addition to feeling as though China has just become increasingly isolated

on its own.

As far as the two newborns that you mentioned, this is getting a lot of attention here in China. CCTV, the state broadcaster, they're reporting

this. The youngest, as you mentioned, 30 hours old, a newborn. And what's concerning here is that Chinese scientists have suggested that perhaps this

suggests it could be mother to infant transmission. In the womb while carrying the baby. But we should warn here that U.S. health officials have

cautioned they don't have complete evidence on that yet. And so, this is not something they can establish as a fact quite yet.

And then with regards to the cruise ship, another element. This goes even beyond China. Now we're talking about off the coast of Japan. Some 3,700

passengers and crew. They are out there quarantined. We know that 20 of them have tested positive for the coronavirus. They were taken off the

ship. They were brought ashore. They're being treated in hospitals. We know another 171 tests are still in process right now. They are waiting on those

results.

My colleague Will Ripley was saying some of the Americans on board were hoping that U.S. officials would do what they did with those in Wuhan and

bring in some aircraft to essentially get them out of there -- Lynda.

KINKADE: All right, David Culver, good to have you on the story for us. Our thoughts are with those families and those two babies. Thanks very

much, David. And we're going to hear more from you and your team later this hour. Because of course, David Culver and his team were no exception when

it came to facing quarantine after their time in Wuhan and they never stopped reporting on the story.

[10:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (VOICE-OVER): -- our meals, room service. But just to be safe for the entire stay we didn't let hotel staff come into our rooms. And, well,

they seemed good with that. As soon as they knocked, we opened and they bolted down the hall. Even with just a few hours of sleep each night, we

were fueled by adrenaline to keep on.

To be honest, now what we know motivated me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: We can hear their story in about 30 minutes time here on CONNECT THE WORLD.

As we speak, thousands of people are still stuck on two cruise ships in Hong Kong and Japan. Now 20 people on the ship off the coast of Japan have

tested positive for the coronavirus. They include three Americans and that is forcing the rest of those on board into quarantine. Meaning they can't

leave their cabins for two weeks. For Karey and Roger Maniscalco, this should have been a dream vacation. Instead, I'm sure it feels like a

holiday from hell. Well, they both join us from the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Good to have you with us. But I'm sorry about the predicament that

you're in. I am reading reports of people on board with you feeling trapped. How are you feeling?

KAREY MANISCALCO, QUARANTINED ON CRUISE SHIP (via Skype): That's exactly how we feel is trapped. It feels like a pretty helpless situation. We're

powerless and pretty much at the mercy of the Japanese government to decide when we can get off this ship. And we have been getting conflicting

information. Obviously, we just heard that there's still over 170 tests, it sounds like, that haven't even been processed yet and we weren't aware of

that.

KINKADE: Exactly. So --

ROGER MANISCALCO, QUARANTINED ON CRUISE SHIP (via Skype): We've been kept in our cabin as well so that we just don't interact with anybody else.

So you're pretty much stuck in your cabin. And I understand you are getting some food delivered to the room and a little bit of water.

KAREY MANISCALCO: Yes. So we've got -- they're bringing in three meals a day. Yesterday it was a little bit sporadic. We got a meal at 10:00 a.m.

Then we got another around 4:00 p.m. and then again at 6:00 p.m. So it went long periods of time. But yesterday they only provided us with two bottles

of water throughout the day so we were pretty dehydrated. This morning I asked for water. We didn't get any. They said they were out but they'd get

us some when they got some. And then this evening around 6:00 p.m., they delivered water. So we finally do have water.

KINKADE: And Roger, to you, what were your first thoughts when you found out people on board your cruise ship had the infection, the coronavirus?

ROGER MANISCALCO: Well, you hear about it and it's devastating when you hear it that it's that close. And of course, you know, the first thing you

think of is, you know, did we get infected? How did this happen? It's a little bit numbing when you hear it like that. And you know, we've never

had any symptoms whatsoever. We've been very safe. We wear masks whenever we were ashore or in any tight confined areas.

So, you know, we've been trying to play it as safe as possible as soon as we heard there was even a possibility of it. But let alone that there was

one passenger that actually had it on board. So it was pretty hard to hear that and I think we're just a little bit numb.

KINKADE: So that one passenger turned into ten passengers which turned into 20. 20 people confirmed to have the virus on board this ship. But as

you mentioned, 170 cases possible. We still don't have the results. Do you have your results back yet?

KAREY MANISCALCO: No, they didn't actually give us a test. So they only tested, and we believe 270 passengers total. They came to everybody's room

throughout the night. They came to our room around 3:30 a.m. and they gave -- took our temperatures and we filled out a questionnaire of our health,

and they determined that we were in good health and didn't need to be tested.

KINKADE: That is some good news. I understand you are toward the ends of this two-week cruise. You now have to spend another two weeks in quarantine

in your room. If you are able to, are you able to show us the space that you're confined to?

KAREY MANISCALCO: Sure.

ROGER MANISCALCO: OK. I'll try to get out of the way. This is pretty well it. A little messy, but not too bad. So I'm just spinning you around.

KINKADE: So you're stuck pretty much in that small room for two weeks now. And do you have -- were you meant to go back to work at the end of this

cruise?

ROGER MANISCALCO: Yes, we both have businesses so we had planned it so that we could be back to our businesses and we have a lot of work lined up

for us.

[10:10:05]

So it's a little bit devastating, but, you know, we planned this vacation. You know, there's times where you have a one or two-day lag because of

flights or weather conditions or something like that. But when it comes to something like this which is completely out of the blue, it is pretty

devastating. It's devastating financially as well.

KINKADE: No doubt.

ROGER MANISCALCO: We're trying to work while we're on the ship as well.

KINKADE: And you never thought to cancel the trip when you heard about this outbreak?

KAREY MANISCALCO: Actually, we didn't hear about the outbreak until we actually came -- we had -- sorry, I'm pretty tired. We had just landed in

Narita Airport and I had a friend that sent me a message through Facebook telling me about the virus. So we were already here and our trip was

planned the next morning. But when we saw the -- I looked up the news article she sent and it was stating that just China had, you know, that's

where you need to be worried about. We weren't going to China. So we figured that's not really something we need to be concerned about because,

you know, Japan didn't really have any cases more than the U.S. so it wouldn't really be much different than being, obviously, we're on the same

continent, but we felt we would be safe.

KINKADE: You thought that you were going to be safe Well, I wish you all the best -

KAREY MANISCALCO: (INAUDIBLE).

KINKADE: -- over the next two weeks while you're stuck in that room. Thanks so much for sharing your perspective with us, Karey and Roger

Maniscalco, thanks so much.

Investigation has been launched into why a Pegasus airline plane skidded off the runway shortly after landing in Istanbul. Three people are dead,

180 taken to hospital with three now in intensive care. That is according to Turkey's health minister. Now the Boeing 737 slid 60 meters across the

tarmac Wednesday before falling into a ditch and breaking up at Sabiha Gokcen airport. Now rough weather has been cited as a potential cause.

Dozens of firsthand responders rushed to deal with the wreckage but were unable to save three people. Now to provide us with some more details is

our Gul Tuysuz who joins us from Istanbul where the conditions were poor. And this 11-year-old plane broke up into three pieces. Certainly questions

as to how this could have happened.

GUL TUYSUZ, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL PRODUCER: Absolutely. An investigation was launched immediately after we saw some of those dramatic

videos of that plane basically breaking into three pieces. But the Anatolian chief prosecutor's office, that's the prosecutor's office on

Istanbul's Asian side where the airport that this took place in did launch an investigation. And today we heard that the prosecutor is going to be

requesting that two pilots who were members of the crew of that Pegasus flight are going to be called in to provide their testimony.

The prosecutor's office is looking into charges of negligent homicide resulting in the death and injury of multiple people. We don't at this

point know whether or not the pilots are going to be charged with something, but their testimony, of course, is going to be a key part of the

investigation.

Another development is the CEO of Pegasus Airlines coming out today and saying that the black boxes are in hand. That they have been given over to

the police, and that the process of deciphering them has begun. And of course, those black boxes are going to be an integral part of trying to

piece together what it is that went wrong.

And analysts and experts that we've been talking to, Lynda, say that when something like this happens, it's very rarely just one thing that goes

wrong but multiple things. But given the weather that we experienced in Istanbul yesterday, it was raining, the wind was shifting and very crazy

ways. It's one of the things that experts and analysts have come out and say could have resulted -- could be the reason why those dramatic things

that we saw, those videos that we saw occurred and why three people lost their lives - Lynda.

All right, Gul Tuysuz, good to have you on this story. Thank you very much.

Well, Donald Trump is making the rounds a day after his acquittal on impeachment charges. His victory lap beginning at a breakfast prayer this

morning. We're going to go live to Washington next.

[10:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: Two bitter adversaries fresh from the impeachment battle could not avoid being in the same room today. Just a short time ago, House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke at the annual national prayer breakfast in Washington with President Donald Trump just seats away.

Well, as he entered the room, Mr. Trump waved a newspaper with the headline "Acquitted." Clearly riding high on his impeachment victory. Well, that

will carry over into a speech that he's planning to give in less than two hours from now. The President has been celebrating his acquittal on

Twitter, slamming the Republican Senator who voted to convict in an otherwise party line vote.

A lot to talk about this hour. I want to get straight to Washington. CNN's Joe Johns is at the White House and our Suzanne Malveaux is on Capitol

Hill. I want to go first to Joe now that we have him with us. We heard from President Trump this morning, clearly slamming those involved in the

impeachment process, calling them dishonest, corrupt and Pelosi was not too far away from him.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Right, an uncomfortable situation for sure, just watching on TV. Certainly uncomfortable as well.

The President venting his anger against the Democrats who launched this impeachment and ran it through to that natural conclusion of the acquittal

of the President. His first remarks in public space talking about all that has transpired. And he did take some shots both at the Speaker of the

House, as you said, referring to people who say they pray for someone when they really don't.

And also, he took a shot at Mitt Romney, the Republican Senator from Utah who said just yesterday that he would vote to convict the President on the

impeachment charges in part because of his faith. Do we have the sound of that so we can hear Mitt Romney saying that? If so, I'd like to play it.

Perhaps not. Oh, we don't have that sound. Very well then.

So the President is going to have a second opportunity now to come out in the East Room here of the White House and give a statement, we're told.

This is apparently going to be about his acquittal in the impeachment trial. And it's pretty clear where his head is at right now. So we've been

told that some of his aides have been strongly suggesting that the President move away from this. Turn the page. Get past impeachment. This

morning so far in Washington, D.C. Easter time, he doesn't appear to have gotten past it.

ANDERSON: Right, Joe Johns, it's good to have you there at the White House. I want to go to Suzanne. We have that sound in her piece coming up.

Suzanne, of course the President was impeached in the House of Representatives, but acquitted yesterday, just one Republican voting to

convict him.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I mean, this was a four-month ordeal that started in the House and culminated in that historic

vote in the Senate yesterday. And having spoken to lawmakers after this, a lot of people expressed anger, frustration, relief. Most just simple

exhaustion, if you will. The Senate is in recess. They took off immediately after that vote.

Just moments away, we are going to hear from the House leadership, the Democratic side as well as Republican side and dueling press conferences.

Let's get a sense of the tone and tenor of their remarks later this morning.

[10:20:00]

In the meantime, the big question, Lynda, of course, is the impact that this is going to have on Trump's legacy, the country and the 2020 election.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (voice-over): An expected ending to the impeachment trial.

ROBERTS: Donald John Trump be, and he is hereby, acquitted of the charges in said articles.

MALVEAUX: With an unexpected twist -- Republican Senator Mitt Romney voting with Democrats to convict President Trump on the first article of

impeachment for abuse of power. Romney's vote stunning his GOP colleagues and the White House.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): The President asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival. The president's purpose was personal and

political. Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust.

MALVEAUX: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declaring victory.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: This is a political loser for them. They initiated it. They thought this was a great idea.

MALVEAUX: Romney becomes the only Senator in American history voting to remove his party's president from office. The former Republican

presidential nominee says his faith guided his decision.

ROMNEY: I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my

own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong.

MALVEAUX: Romney joined with all Republicans to acquit the president on the second charge, obstruction of Congress, including these three

Republicans whom Democrats had hoped to sway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Romney?

ROMNEY: Not guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not guilty.

MALVEAUX: But the damage was already done. Romney, who was endorsed by Trump when he ran for president in 2012, is now receiving an avalanche of

attacks from the President's closest allies.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: He wanted to be president. He's not. I'm shrugging my shoulders, because it really doesn't matter. In

other words, he wasn't the swing vote. They were 20 votes shy.

DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: He's not brave. He's a coward.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): You vote your conscience, but you've got to use common sense.

MALVEAUX: And Trump himself slamming Romney in a late-night tweet mocking his failed presidential run.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ms. Sinema.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty.

MALVEAUX: All Democrats, including three red-state senators who were undecided, united in voting to convict Trump on both articles. Democratic

leader Chuck Schumer blasting Republicans for their handling of the trial.

SCHUMER: The Republican majority has placed a giant asterisk, the asterisk of a sham trial, next to the acquittal of President Trump written in

permanent ink.

MALVEAUX: Even without a conviction, lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff says he's leaving the process optimistic.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): What Mitt Romney did, what a number of very courageous Democratic Senators did, really justified the faith the founders

put in their system of self-governance that people would have sufficient virtue to stand up for what was right.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Well, Lynda, 21 years ago, I covered the impeachment and acquittal of President Clinton. And he ended the whole ordeal by

apologizing to the nation. Now nobody in this building is expecting that President Trump will issue an apology. We do expect a statement as Joe had

mentioned in the 12:00 hour. Interestingly enough, he referred to others apologizing in that national prayer breakfast saying I'm trying to learn

and then the next sentence says, but when they impeach you for nothing, it's hard to like them but I do my best.

Also then also, Lynda, here when it comes to Capitol Hill, it was the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler, saying that he expected it

was likely that they would subpoena John Bolton ultimately and continue with investigations. On the Republican side, there was some Republican

Senators, chairs of the finance and homeland security, they also said they will continue their investigations of the Bidens - Lynda.

KINKADE: Yes, I don't think we'll hold our breath waiting for an apology. Suzanne Malveaux and our Joe Johns, good to have you both with us. Thanks

so much.

MALVEAUX: Thank you.

KINKADE: With impeachment behind him, President Trump is apparently very eager to get on the campaign trail. One official says we can expect at

least one rally a week until the election in November.

And the Democrats are in a fierce fight for who will get to face him. Results in the Iowa caucuses show a neck and neck race there with 97

percent of precincts reporting. Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are virtually tied at the top. Buttigieg has a slight lead when it comes to

delegates, but when you look at the popular vote totals, look what happens. Sanders comes out ahead.

Our Kyung Lah is in New Hampshire where the next Democratic primary is just five days away. It's looking cold and wet there. Good to have you with us,

Kyung. So after a delay in getting these results, these Monday results from the Iowa caucuses, almost all the results are in, but things are not much

clearer as to who the top contender is, really.

[10:25:00]

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT: The only thing that's done as we've gotten more and more of these precincts reporting is it's only gotten

tighter at the top. The latest report that we have out of Iowa with 97 percent of the precincts reporting is that Bernie Sanders and Pete

Buttigieg are separated by 0.1 percent. That will be the final vote tally as far as 97 percent.

So 0.1 percent and we're still waiting for 3 percent of the precincts. Look at the overall spread here. So Pete Buttigieg at the very top. 26.2

percent. Bernie Sanders right on his heels at 26.1 percent, Elizabeth Warren at 18.2 percent. Joe Biden, the former Vice President 15.8 and Amy

Klobuchar, the Senator from Minnesota at 12.2 percent.

And what Pete Buttigieg has been saying throughout all of this, and he reiterated that in a call last night with his supporters is that even

though it is tightening, is that this young mayor out of South Bend, Indiana, has been able to tell his supporters that he's the one with

momentum. That Iowa, even as muddled as these results have been in reporting, shows that he has the ability to win. So it's given him this

powerful narrative, Despite the mess in the reporting, Lynda. He says that he will now move forward. New Hampshire, just five days away. He's moving

here with some oomph in his campaign.

KINKADE: Yes, certainly great news for him. But the one thing that is clear is Joe Biden, the former Vice President not in the top three. He's

described this result in Iowa as a gut punch saying it's not the first time he's been knocked down. Do you think he's hoping that underdog status might

help him going forward?

LAH: We've seen all the way into the days before the Iowa caucus is, as the former vice President has been downplaying expectations. Even before

caucusing began in Iowa, he was talking about how he doesn't need to prove that he is the winner in Iowa. And that New Hampshire and Iowa, which are

majority white states, is that they don't represent America. He's looking forward to super Tuesday and to South Carolina, which the Vice President's

campaign, the former vice President's campaign says is much more representative of the United States. That he's the one with the big tent

coalition and can bring the Democratic Party together.

But the narrative is still out there. This is the man who was a former vice President of the United States. He was Barack Obama's Vice President. And a

young mayor from a small town in the Midwest is one who comes out of Iowa with the most votes in the Iowa caucuses. And then it remains to be seen

what's going to happen here in five days.

One thing that the former Vice President did also say in the CNN town hall last night is that he did acknowledge that this wasn't beyond saying it was

a gut punch, that he did expect to do better. He expected his organization to do better. And he's hoping here in New Hampshire to downplay

expectations and still manage because of his reputation, because of his history here in the United States, to move forward and continue to do

better as each of these contests moves on -- Lynda.

KINKADE: All right, Kyung Lah, good to have you there outside in the cold in New Hampshire. We'll speak to you again soon.

Well, the race for the White House is in full swing as we have been discussing. Things are going to move fast now between now and November. And

we are tracking all of it for you every step of the way -- the candidates, the campaigns and of course, the votes. Who is ahead, what it means for the

Democrats' bid to take the White House from President Trump. And of course, you can find all of the details and many more angles at CNN.com.

Still to come -- a manhunt under way in Jerusalem after a car ran down a group of Israeli soldiers in the early morning hours. We're going to have

the latest on the surge in violence across the region, next.

[10:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KINKADE: The uptick in violence across Israel and the Palestinian territories as the Israeli military reinforces its troops in the West Bank.

Israeli security forces are now searching for two attackers, one who carried out a ramming attack in Jerusalem early this morning, and a second

who carried out a drive-by shooting in the central West Bank a short time ago.

Meanwhile, three Palestinians were killed in the West Bank clashes in the past 24 hours. And all of this comes a week after the release of the Trump

administration's peace plan.

Our Oren Liebermann is following this story live from Jerusalem and joins us now. Oren, so it's a week after this peace plan that was introduced by

the Trump administration. And as this violence has flared up, we have heard from the Palestinian group Hamas who described this as an active response

to what they called the destructive Trump deal.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hamas called on a new stage of revolution against Israel pointing at that ramming attack as chief among

these. And some of this appears related to protests and clashes after the Trump administration's release of the peace plan. Not all of it, but some

of it.

And it's worth pointing out, that we haven't seen a wave of attacks like this -- the Palestinian attacks against Israeli targets, civilians and

soldiers in, I would say, years. And it's certainly important to keep an eye on where this goes and if the situation continues to destabilize or

remains unstable or if Israeli security forces and Palestinian security forces are able to get this under control before it gets worse.

Let's begin with the ramming attack. It's at about 2:00 in the morning just south of the old city of Jerusalem when the IDF -- the Israeli military --

said a Palestinian driver rammed his car into a group of Israeli soldiers injuring 12. One of them seriously wounded, although a spokesman for the

Israeli military says those wounds do not appear to be life-threatening at this time. Israeli security forces are still in pursuit of that suspect.

At about the same time, there was an incident in Jeannine. Israeli military went to demolish the home of a Palestinian who was convicted of carrying

out a terror attack that killed an Israeli rabbi some two years ago in the West Bank. Clashes broke out around that home demolition in which two

Palestinians were killed. One, the Israeli military says was somebody who carried out sniper fire against Israeli forces. The forces returned with

their own fire killing that Palestinian.

The second was a Palestinian police officer. Israeli military says it's unclear at this time if he was involved in any clashes but Fattah -- the

governing authority on the West Bank -- posted video that shows that police officer standing in his place of work, standing calmly, separate from the

clashes and not participating or partaking in those clashes in any way. So the IDF is investigating what happened that led to his shooting death

early, early this morning.

It doesn't stop there in terms of the violence we've seen. There was a drive-by shooting in the center of West Bank. Yesterday afternoon a

Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the southern West Bank in Hebron. And the question is, where does this go from here? There

was a shooting attack in the old city of Jerusalem.

Some of this it seems is related to the release of the deal of the century, although not the incidents in Jeannine. In which case, if this is seen as a

fight over holy sites, a religious war, if you will, it could very much get worse. The Israeli military, as you pointed out, has reinforced its troops

in the West Bank. That perhaps ahead of Friday protests which we're expecting to see tomorrow.

It is a very sensitive situation, Lynda. And we'll have to keep an eye on, where does this go. It is reminiscent of a wave of attacks we saw in late

2015 and early 2016. I wouldn't directly compare them right now but that's certainly the direction this could be headed in at this moment.

[10:35:00]

KINKADE: All right, Oren Liebermann, good to have you following the developments there. Thank you very much.

I want to get you up to speed on other stories on our radar right now. Two avalanches in eastern Turkey has killed at least 41 people and injured 84.

Many of the dead are rescuers. They were caught in a second avalanche on Wednesday while trying to recover victims of Tuesday's initial snow slide.

Explosions have been carried out to avoid a third.

Two train conductors have been killed after a high-speed train they were on derailed. It happened just southeast of Milan in the northern part of

Italy. More than two dozen other people are injured. The train was on route to Salerno from Milan when that accident happened.

Syria says it's intercepted a number of Israeli missiles around Damascus. The state and news agency, SANA, reports the missiles came from the Golan

Heights and Lebanese air space on Thursday morning. They did not reach their targets. In this video from state media said to show the moment a

number of missiles were intercepted.

Returning to our top story this hour, there are now more than 560 people who have lost their lives from the Wuhan coronavirus. Another 28,000 are

sick and most are within China and millions of people in the region are under quarantine. Our David Culver and his crew, camera woman Natalie

Thomas, and producer Yong Xiong are among them. They went into self- quarantine after leaving Wuhan but still worked tirelessly to bring us the story. This was their experience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CULVER: 14 days in, and we were headed out.

Checking out after two weeks of quarantine. The whole team feeling good. Continuing on.

(voice-over): How the three of us, CNN photojournalist Natalie Thomas, producer Yong Xiong and I ended up here is because of where we were two

weeks earlier. A far more stressful hotel checkout.

This was our 3:30 a.m. scramble to the train station. We planned for a few days in Wuhan, but 29 hours in, the phone rang, the city was going on

lockdown and we needed to get out. In the moment we really could not imagine how big this would get. Millions under lockdown restrictions,

rapidly rising death tolls, tens of thousands infected and mainland China essentially isolated from the rest of the world. And we were at the

epicenter.

CNN decided we should return to Beijing and immediately limit our exposure to others. But we still wanted to tell the story. And we had 350 square

feet to do it.

(on camera): So not a bad commute from my bedroom to the living room or our studios essentially. Can even do it in slippers. This is the backdrop

that we've got over here. Snowing today.

In between live reports I'm doing a lot of research. Yong, our producer has been on the phone a lot working his sources in Wuhan and Hubei province in

particular. In between some of our reports, Natalie behind the camera there doing the same.

(voice-over): When we weren't on air, we were consumed with getting the story right. But truthfully, we were still feeling a bit guilty that we

walked away from the people of Wuhan. It especially weighed on Yong and Natalie. Yong being Chinese and Natalie having call this country home for

nearly a decade, for them, it was personal.

So we worked all hours. Either video chatting or calling dozens of people still in Wuhan. Yong focusing his efforts on a doctor who tried to sound

the alarm early on. Natalie learning from healthcare workers about the dire need for supplies. Our meals, room service, but just to be safe, for the

entire stay, we didn't let hotel staff come into our rooms. And, well, they seemed good with that. As soon as they knocked, we opened and they bolted

down the hall.

Even with just a few hours of sleep each night, we were fueled by adrenaline to keep on. To be honest, Natalie and Yong motivated we.

Admittedly, we did take one night to relax. It was Chinese New Year eve and it was really important to Yong. But then, back to work. Until our time was

up. Day 14.

(on camera): All right, everything back to the way it was. And we now head out into snowy Beijing but masks on this time.

(voice-over): Stepping out into the frigid Beijing air, hopping in the car and continuing our pursuit of this story.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: We have some breaking news just in to CNN. The Chinese whistleblower doctor who told the world about the coronavirus in Wuhan has

died. Our David Culver is in Beijing with more. David, this news, obviously, just coming to hand. A very young doctor there in Wuhan. You

spoke to him early this week. Just explain what you now know.

CULVER: Lynda, this is devastating. My colleagues and I here in Beijing, we connected with him. In fact, you saw in that story that just run, my

producer, Yong, who is in the room here with me, he was the one who first made contact with him. And he wasn't talking to any foreign media at the

time.

[10:40:00]

Doctor Li Wenliang had become really well known here after in late December he was really inadvertently put out a message to some of his friends, his

classmates from his medical school telling them that something was going around that was similar to SARS. He said be careful with your families, be

careful with your loved ones, and that was it. He didn't expect that to go anywhere. Somebody screenshotted that. It went viral.

His name was attached and he got called into the health commission locally there in Wuhan. And they asked him how he got that information. Shortly

thereafter, they started releasing more information publicly about the outbreak and then they closed that now infamous seafood market.

But that wasn't it. There was no praise for him and in fact, there was the opposite. He got a call from police. Wuhan police called him in. They

reprimanded him. They made him sign an affidavit of sorts that suggested that he was willingly spreading rumors and he kept quiet for a while. For a

few weeks in fact. Went back to work. And it was while seeing patients as an ophthalmologist they believe he may have contracted the coronavirus and

he transmitted it to his parents as well.

Well, what we've known since is that he is one of several doctors, in fact, they believe at least eight altogether, who were blowing whistles early on

and trying to sound the alarms and trying to make sure that local authorities in particular knew what was going on. And this got all the way

up to the supreme court here in China which ultimately said publicly, Lynda, that they support Dr. Li and all the other whistleblowers and what

they did. And they criticized Wuhan police for reprimanding those whistleblowers.

KINKADE: David Culver, good to have you with us. We will continue to follow that story. The whistleblower behind -- who spoke about the

coronavirus, dead at the age of 34 -- the doctor in Wuhan. We will continue to follow that. We are going to have more news. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END