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Afghanistan; Secular Bloggist Murdered in Bangladesh; Sanders and
Clinton Battle for Wyoming; The GOP Race for the White House;
Restoring Palmyra; SpaceX Successfully Lands Rocket on Ocean Platform.
Aired 4-5a ET - Part 2>
[04:35:05]
HOWELL: Libya has become a haven for militants since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi back in 2011 especially from other North African countries.
The U.S. commander says many of them have pledged their allegiance to ISIS.
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HOWELL: That terror group has all but destroyed Syria's ancient city of Palmyra but since it was reclaimed from ISIS the Hermitage Museum in Russia now has a plan to restore the 2,000-year-old city.
Our senior international correspondent Matthew Chance has more now.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The old amphitheater at Palmyra was used by ISIS as a backdrop for public executions.
Russian drone video shows it's now one of the few monuments there still standing.
Other irreplaceable structures, like this monumental Roman arch was simply raised to the ground by the so called Islamic state. The Kremlin says helping recapture and now demine Palmyra is one of the major achievements of its air war.
For now, one of the Russia's most prominent museums with an important Palmyra collection wants to help restore the unique site.
SERGEY NIKITIN, HERITAGE MUSUEM: Because Palmyra is one of the few surviving ancient cities. When we come to Rome, we see ruins (inaudible)
Palmyra is an ancient stage, it stays as it was, so it's a great subject and great archaeological site.
CHANCE: Russia's archaeological interest and expertise in Palmyra is real, this hermitage collection of statuary and other artifacts from the city like these (inaudible) stones inscribed with both ancient Greek and Aramaic scripts. It is one of the most important outside of Syria. Even more so now that so much of Palmyra has been destroyed by Islamic state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you protect them down on this pyramid.
CHANCE: You can see them as a hologram.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see them as a hologram in the middle.
CHANCE: And volunteers at the museum are developing a more high-trek approach, building holographic models of the now destroyed buildings of Palmyra breathing life they say into the ancient city.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The main point is that the reconstructions that I made that are now shown in the hologram are real reconstructions with the real sizes and texture of how it used to be before the explosions, before all the problems.
CHANCE: Right, so that could be really useful when it comes to restoring for the site.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.
CHANCE: But only once Palmyra is secure say museum officials will the Russian team be sent to assess the archaeological damage. It could be years before the cultural vandalism of ISIS is undone.
Matthew Chance, CNN, St. Petersburg.
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HOWELL: The restoration effort under way, but sadly, it can never be the same.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, still ahead: Argentina's budding weed industry.
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HOWELL: Cannabis shops are flourishing by selling everything except cannabis, itself. And now they are calling for the country to finally legalize the drug. Plus, a milestone in space flight. We will tell you why this rock landing could launch the next generation of space exploration. Stay with us.
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[04:41:30]
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HOWELL: 10:41 in the Vatican city this hour and you're looking at live pictures where Pope Francis is holding a holy year audience as part of his jubilee of mercy year. The Pope may address his statement here, urging priests around the world to accept Catholics who have divorced and remarried. Francis also asked the church to be more tolerant of gays and lesbians. He did not change any church doctrines.
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HOWELL: In a mostly Catholic Latin American country, gays and lesbians are celebrating a major judicial decision in a move toward equality.
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HOWELL: Colombia's top court paved the way now for same sex marriage. Six of nine justices voted to throw out a petition defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Colombia is now the fourth Latin American nation to recognize same-sex marriage.
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HOWELL: Now on to Argentina, where marijuana is producing profits for shops in Buenos Aires, even though businesses there are not actually allowed to sell the plant yet. Entrepreneurs hope that the country will legalize the plant once and for all.
CNN's Diego Laje has this report for us.
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DIEGO LAJE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Buenos Aires has a unique cannabis business where the business consists of everything except the cannabis, itself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was explain that I cover 99% of the business. I don't touch seeds and that's the remaining 1%.
LAJE: Sales of seeds and products with THC, the active chemical in cannabis is illegal. Courts have tolerated possession for personal use and have recently allowed medicines containing TBH in specific cases. There are no restrictions on the sale of flower pots, fertilizer and other equipment to grow marijuana. Nevertheless, if police finds the plants, there will be problems with the law.
SEBASTIAN BASALO, DIRECTOR THC MAGAZINE: Many people are interested. We aren't talking about people only interested in the recreational use of cannabis. We are talking about a plant that has shown in value in recent medical research and has increasing medicinal use.
LAJE: While the marijuana industry grows in Argentina to the East Uruguay already allows research, medical and recreation use. Chile, next door to the West, regulated research and medical use.
Businessmen like (inaudible) think marijuana will be legal in Argentina soon and he thinks the 20 shops like his in the country's capital will go from being profitable to making it big.
The state of Colorado in the U.S. has a population of 5.5 million people and a legal business of $1 billion a year. Meanwhile Buenos Aires and surrounding areas have a population three times that size. Shops like these are awaiting a storm, a very profitable storm.
(Inaudible) shop opened since 2009, currently employs five people, he says, but its impact goes beyond retail.
We require fertilizer and we use the logistics network because we have to transport many goods. I have to get soil, pots and other products and that creates further economic growth.
LAJE: For a country with a relatively small manufacturing sector this air filtering system suggests a trickle effect. A bill introduced in congress in 2012 to legalize planting and consuming cannabis for personal use isn't currently on the government's agenda. At least for now there is only a help for an industry that buds but can't flower.
DIEGO LAJE, CNN, Buenos Aires.
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[04:45:21] HOWELL: Switching to weather now, athletes who love extreme sports came together on the icy mountain plains of Norway for an out of this world competition that involves the weather.
Meteorologist Derek Van Dam is here.
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEORLOGIST: George, I was captivated by this story because only last week I ticked off a little bucket list item for me and that was kite surfing while I was in South Africa. I managed to -
HOWELL: Oh, how was that?
VAN DAM: I managed to get out on the water and try something that I had never done before but it's extremely difficulty, challenging and exciting at the same time. But these athletes that you are about to see took this to a whole new level. Take a look at this image.
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VAN DAM: This is 350, yes, snow kiters. OK, Now, this is a sport that I didn't even know existed. That's why I'm so fascinated and captivated by this story. We will get into a closer image just so you can see what they're doing.
They used skis or snowboards and are pulled literally by a kite. Obviously, that's all dictated by the strength of the wind. But they have a 100 kilometer race to travel. Unbelievable that's almost 60 miles. And again this is one of the toughest competitions, at least for this particular sport. You can see just how extreme it can be.
And taking my own experience into account here, when I was in South Africa last week kite boarding, which is on water using a wake board is extremely difficult. I can only imagine just how challenging this is because you've got a much harder surface to fall on if you don't get it right.
Well we're going to go to winter in the United States because that was in Norway by the way, those images you saw a moment ago and it feels like winter over the Eastern U.S.
If you are traveling to New York City or even Washington, D.C. or Boston, you'll want to listen up because you'll want to pack the winter clothes in your bag. Because, well, even though the calendar says it's spring it certainly feels like winter.
We've got freeze warnings in effect from Omaha, to Cincinnati and Nashville. And that extends all the way to the East Coast, including the nation's capital. We've got a huge roller coaster of temperatures today. Overnight lows dropping below freezing for the Big Apple. We have the potential for 10 to 15 low temperature record sets across Eastern U.S. And look at Washington D.C. yes, we've got a roller coaster of weather for you as well.
It's all thanks to this deep trough that's digging into the eastern half that's going to allow for that cold arctic blast to settle in and it's even bringing the potential of snow for some of those cities over the eastern parts of the country.
Take a look at this video coming from - well we'll bring you to the space - from the International Space Station. I love this. This is a time lapse. Look at those lightning storms from above. The International Space Station, by the way George is traveling at 5 meters per second, 5 miles per second rather and it actually circumnavigates the globe every 90 minutes.
HOWELL: It is fascinating. Derek thank you so much.
VAN DAM: You're welcome George.
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HOWELL: Now, moving on to a milestone in space exploration.
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HOWELL: The SpaceX has nailed the landing of the main stage of a Falcon 9 rocket on a platform that is bobbing in the ocean. Four previous attempts failed. The privately owned company hopes to reuse rockets dozens of times to make space travel cheaper. This rocket just carried up a capsule, I should say, with food with supplies and experiments headed to astronauts at the International Space Station.
Kristie Lu Stout has more on this story.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is not your standard space launch. No, Elon Musk's reusable Falcon 9 rocket isn't just restocking supplies on the International Space Station, think more along the lines of galactic gardening.
The SpaceX mission is all about life outside our planet and the cargo on board could determine if we'd ever survive a stay on Mars or beyond. Among the 7,000 pounds of supplies and experiments, fungai and seeds. Astronauts have already grown red Romaine lettuce in orbit and sampled the goods.
Next up is Chinese cabbage. Now the project laying the groundwork to see if growing vegetables on other planets is possible. Also if tow, mice. Their mission to help scientists figure out how to stop muscle waste and bone loss in orbit. It's also carrying an expansion for the International Space Station, an inflatable module called "Bean." It's just a test for now to see if an inflatable module can work in orbit. If it does, it could represent the future of space habitats.
Now CNN went inside another one of the habitats; Bigalow Airspace is designed to make living in space more accessible. But there's sure to be an heir of nervousness in this SpaceX camp. Its last cargo delivery in June ended in failure with the reusable rocket disintegrating after just a couple of minutes. This time, they'll be hoping it survives the journey.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.
(END VIDEO CLIP) [04:50:17]
HOWELL: Coming up, a United Airlines flight attendant makes a dramatic and very fast exit from her plane.
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HOWELL: And now she is out of a job. U.S. Authorities are investigating the incident.
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HOWELL: This is a strange one. A United Airlines flight attendant made a dramatic exit in Houston, deploying the aircraft emergency slide instead of just walking off the plane. Jeanne Moos has more on this very bizarre get away.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: United Airlines didn't let this slide. A flight attendant activated the emergency slide after the plane landed in Houston. You can see her toss out her bag and then slide down the chute.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's insane why?
MOOS: That we don't know and many of the passengers didn't even know it happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we landed, we were notified to, we were told to stay in our seats as deplaning would take a bit longer.
MOOS: CNN Affiliate KPRC says the flight attendants family told them "the woman is doing well and it's a private family matter."
United says she's no longer employed there.
[04:55:12]
MOOS: The last time a flight attend about did this, it was a far more flamboyant exit. Who could forget Steven Slater? He got fed up after getting cut by a JetBlue passenger's oversize bag, he commandeered the intercom. To the expletive, expletive that told me to expletive off. Slater grabbed a couple of beers to take with him and activated the chute.
STEVEN SLATER, FORMER JETBLUE FLIGHT ATTENDANT: I was just thinking, I'm free, I'm finally free. But I got to the bottom of this, this wonderful warm sunlight was out there and I just felt this -- I felt unencumbered a weight off my shoulders.
MOOS: He immortalized in song. [singing] As for those emergency slides, they've been sliding places they shouldn't be. This one deployed inside the plane, forcing an emergency landing two years ago. And this one fell off a jumbo jet last month and landed in a Mesa, Arizona front yard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just a loud bang and then the house actually shook.
MOOS: Passengers keep opening the emergency exits. Thankfully, before takeoff a man opened the China Southern Plane opened the door hoping to get some fresh air, thinking the lever opened a window. And a first time flyer in China mistook the exit for a restroom. Oops.
No wonder why flight attendants get a kick out of this tee-shirt, I understand this is not the lavatory, unless of course it's the flight attendant opening the door.
Jeanne Moos, CNN , New York.
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HOWELL: Just when you thought you saw it all. Thanks for being with us. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'll be back after another the break with another of news around the world. You are watching CNN the world's news leader.
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(Byline: George Howell, Kelly Morgan, Arwa Damon, Ivan Watson, Suzanne Malveaux, Jim Acosta, Zain Asher, Bob Baer, Matthew Chance, Diego Laje, Derek Van Dam, Kristie Lu Stout, Jeanne Moos)
(High: Belgian police make a major arrest, a man they think may be third bomber in last month's Brussels airport attack. The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Friday all to support Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi. He is trying to reform government corruption there and hitting road blocks. Meanwhile, Iraq even though ISIS controls the Mosul Dam, that big structure could threaten the lives of more than a million people in that country. Al Qaeda linked affiliate in Bangladesh is claiming responsible for the machete killing of a secular blogger in the capital Dhakar this week. 14 delegates and four super delegates are up for grabs in Democratic Wyoming caucuses today. ISIS destroyed Syria's ancient city of Palmyra but since it was reclaimed from ISIS the Hermitage Museum in Russia now has a plan to restore the 2,000-year-old city. In Argentina, marijuana is producing profits for shops in Buenos Aires, even though businesses there are not actually allowed to sell the plant yet. Athletes who love extreme sports came together on the icy mountain plains of Norway for an out of this world competition that involves the weather. The SpaceX has nailed the landing of the main stage of a Falcon 9 rocket on a platform that is bobbing in the ocean. A United Airlines flight attendant made a dramatic exit in Houston, deploying the aircraft emergency slide instead of just walking off the plane. )
(Spec: Belgium; Police; Terrorism; Europe; Afghanistan; Iraq; ISIS; Middle East; Death; Murder; Religion; Wyoming; Politics; Polls; Elections; Government; Argentina; Marijuana; Business; Sports; Astronautics & Space; Aviation; World Affairs)