01
Send Representative to Summit; Nuclear Ambitions of Paris & Brussels
Attackers; Brazil's President Faces Uncertain Political Future; Virus
Hunters Search for Diseases in South Africa; Israeli Firm Helped Unlock
iPhone; Obama on Iran Nuclear Deal; Trump Meets with Republican Leaders.
Aired 10-11a ET - Part 1>
Darlington; David McKenzie; Oren Liebermann; Phil Mattingly; Anderson
Cooper; Alison Kosik>
Kolkata; The threat of nuclear terrorism from groups like ISIS is high on
the agenda today for dozens of world leaders at a security summit in
Washington; Another talking point on the agenda is ISIS and making sure
that ISIS doesn't get its hands on some kind of dirty bomb with radioactive
material; The political crisis surrounding Brazilian president Dilma
Rousseff may be getting worse but her supporters are certainly rallying
around her; In South Africa, a group of scientists is working to stop
disease outbreaks like Zika even before they start; The legal fight between
Apple and the FBI over a terrorist's smartphone has put Israeli tech firm
Cellebrite in the spotlight; Donald Trump now trying to make nice with
Republican Party leaders amid fallout from yet another political firestorm>
America; Politics; Africa; Diseases; Technology>
[10:00:00]
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ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Ahead at the INTERNATIONAL DESK, India detains 12 people connected with the bridge collapse in Kolkata.
World powers tackle possible nuclear threats from ISIS.
And Hillary Clinton gets frustrated with Bernie Sanders.
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ASHER: Hello and welcome. I'm Zain Asher.
We start with new developments in the fatal bridge collapse in Kolkata, India. Police filed charges today against the company building the overpass. At least 24 people died Thursday when a section of the bridge under construction crashed onto the streets below. Others are feared trapped in the rubble.
Our Sumnima Udas joins us live now from Kolkata.
So, Sumnima, we know the construction company who built this overpass is being charged with culpable homicide and 12 people are being detained.
What more do we know?
SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, authorities are acting very swiftly here. When we spoke to them exactly about 24 hours ago this entire area was full of concrete and metal several stories high.
Now as you can see, they have cleared out the entire area. They have also detained several others, construction company employees, for questioning. The authorities say they can't really tell us right now what -- how the investigation is going and why such a serious charge because culpable homicide could lead to life imprisonment if those are employees are convicted, but still a lot of people here are already saying that this is a manmade disaster. We talked to some victims, to families who lost their loved ones.
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UDAS (voice-over): Despair and mourning, Ajay and Surika Kannoy (ph) were on a hand-pulled rickshaw, headed to a nearby hospital to visit an ailing relative when a roughly meter-long chunk of concrete and metal came crashing down.
In seconds, their lives ended. While at home the world turned upside down for their two sons, their shaved heads a sign of grieving in Hindu families.
Twenty-five-year-old Abi Sheikh Kannoy (ph) had to identify his parents' bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not (INAUDIBLE) to mankind and explain your (INAUDIBLE).
UDAS (voice-over): Twenty-five-year-old Abi Sheikh Kannoy (ph) had to identify his parents' bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) very bad. They were not (INAUDIBLE) see (INAUDIBLE) very. Full body was burned (ph).
UDAS (voice-over): Their father was the sole breadwinner running a timber treating (ph) business. He was Bidna Davies' (ph) only son.
"We didn't hear from them for hours. We couldn't get in touch with them and then we heard the overpass collapse. I just went cold," she says.
After a frantic four hours of searching, calling, hoping and praying, she found out what happened.
"There's no limit to hardship and sorrow in life. Sometimes it's happiness, other times it's all darkness. My heart bleeds with pain. He was my only son," she says.
In a neighborhood across the country, people want to know how it happened, who is accountable. But here there's no anger.
"Who can we blame?"
"We don't all blame anyone. We blame our faith."
They're still in a state of shock, aware of what's happened but unable to make sense of it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UDAS: And Zain, the son goes on to call for action against those who are responsible, saying that something needs to happen so this kind of disaster never happens again -- Zain.
ASHER: And Sumnima, do we know the cause yet specifically?
UDAS: Not yet; what we do know, Zain, is that there was some construction work going on around this overpass just before it collapsed. They were pouring in some cement.
This is a 2.2-kilometer long, roughly one-mile long overpass and a huge chunk of it about 100 meters long, that's what came crashing down yesterday. But, again, officials here say they can't really give us a sense of what caused it.
It could be shoddy construction. It could be faulty engineering. It could just be corruption as well. This is all under investigation right now.
[10:05:00]
ASHER: All right, Sumnima Udas, live for us there, thank you so much. Appreciate that.
The threat of nuclear terrorism from groups like ISIS is high on the agenda today for dozens of world leaders. They are meeting at a security summit in Washington that is hosted by President Barack Obama. Our Elise Labott joins us live now from Washington.
So we know that President Obama's going to be speaking any minute now on the Iran nuclear deal. And this is interesting because this summit actually comes at a time when Iran is continuing with ballistic missile tests. They don't violate the nuclear agreement but, Elise, they are still provocative nevertheless.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Zain. And the fact that these types of missiles a lot of people, the U.N. Security Council, many members of the U.N. Security Council have said that these missiles potentially could fit a nuclear warhead.
So even though there were certain curbs on Iran's nuclear program right now, the fear is they are continuing to develop these delivery systems. And if they violate the agreement or when the agreement expires, the fear is that they will have the missiles that are ready to go to be able to fit the warheads.
So right now I don't think there's a grave concern in terms of the fact that Iran will be able to launch a nuclear weapon. But certainly these missile tests, while not in violation of the agreement, are in violation of U.N. -- other U.N. Security Council resolutions that govern Iran's nuclear program.
ASHER: And it's interesting because even though he's going to be talking about Iran's nuclear deal, one country that did help with that deal was Russia. They are not going to be at the summit.
And Elise, when you think about just how much Russia has in terms of its nuclear stockpile, nuclear weapons, how can the summit actually really progress if Russia doesn't even bother showing up?
LABOTT: Well, that does -- just because Russia is not here doesn't mean that they are not cooperating and not -- they're still not a lot of cooperation on the nuclear front. It is true that the optics are not very good on this situation because Russia was seen and President Putin was really seen as President Obama's partner in terms of reducing the nuclear arsenal.
And that is still going ahead. I think one of the concerns is Russia is one of the keepers of one of the greatest stockpiles of civilian nuclear and radioactive material. And a lot of the discussion surrounding this summit are about how to safeguard that.
I think that it doesn't look good that Russia is here but I don't think that means that the cooperation between these two key nations has stopped.
ASHER: Another talking point on the agenda is ISIS and making sure that ISIS doesn't get its hands on some kind of dirty bomb with radioactive material.
Is that a realistic threat?
LABOTT: Yes, it's not a Hollywood fantasy. We talked to experts. They said, listen, a lot of this radioactive material for a so-called dirty bomb is not secure. It's in hundreds of hospitals, commercial and industrial centers in about 130 countries.
We do know U.S. officials have said that ISIS has been trying to secure some of this material. There's no specific plot and there's no evidence that they actually have it yet.
But if you look to the Brussels investigation, when there was a raid on one of the homes of the suspects of the Paris attacks, which is linked to this whole Brussels ISIS cell, they found some surveillance video of a top Belgium nuclear scientist.
Now why were they surveilling that scientist that works at a nuclear plant where a lot of this radioactive material is kept?
That's a very good question and so it does suggest that ISIS is trying to get its hands on this material. And officials have said, if they have it, they would use it and so certainly that is really looming over this summit. And now really topping the agenda, so much so that the threat of nuclear terrorism by groups like ISIS in particular is a special session of this summit.
ASHER: Yes, and it interesting because actually President Obama and the French president, Francois Hollande, actually spoke about this yesterday.
Do we know what the specifics were of what they actually discussed?
LABOTT: Well, I think it's in the whole vein of what is going to come out of the summit, what are the deliverables. A lot of this is precooked before.
But while they are talking about ways to secure this radioactive material, share intelligence certainly among European capitals on these types of thing, I think a lot of their discussions are about the larger issues, about ISIS, about getting a political transition in Syria so you eliminate some of the climate that helps ISIS recruit but also how to dry up this network in Europe because that's certainly one of the biggest concerns right now.
And if ISIS were to use a dirty bomb per se in a major European city, that would be catastrophic.
ASHER: All right, Elise Labott, live for us there, thank you so much. Appreciate that.
[10:10:00]
ASHER: And as you just heard Elise talk about, Belgian investigators say they have found evidence that the Paris and Brussels terror cells may have actually had nuclear ambitions. I want to talk to our Alexandra Field, who's live for us in Brussels.
So, Alexandra, you've been looking into the possibility that terrorists in Belgium could actually be getting their hands on radioactive material -- or I should say trying to get their hands.
How much concern is there?
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, thinking about whether or not they could get their hands on it. And obviously, it is a concern. That's the next forefront that authorities have to think about, they have to look at. They have taken all sorts of steps to try to improve and increase security throughout the city, given the ever-present threat of these terror attacks over the last few months and certainly over the last few weeks with this manhunt continuing for two of the suspects tied to the bombings here in Brussels.
So, yes, they tell us of course the prospect of a dirty bomb is something that authorities here are constantly thinking of because they know that ISIS militants have an interest in this. The ISIS militants have an interest in nuclear sites. They have worked to procure radioactive materials in the Middle East.
So how do you stop those materials from slipping into the wrong hands in a city like this and in this country?
We spoke to some of the authorities who regulate and oversee the nuclear facilities here in Belgium and they say these are the problems that they do lie awake at night thinking about, how to make sure that that material remains safe.
They tell us that they believe that the nuclear power plants here are as secure as they can be. But you did hear Elise pointing out that there is radioactive material that's stored in other places -- in hospitals, research labs -- obviously there are security precautions that are taken to limit access to those materials.
But officials say that it is an ongoing area of concern where they try to ensure the highest level of security. And they will look closely at the personnel that would have access to this radioactive material.
They tell us beyond just making sure that these structures, the buildings are guarded and are physically secure, they are keeping a constant watch on the personnel. That means that people are going through these screenings, these preemployment background checks, of course.
But they are also being constantly evaluated and monitored while they have access to these facilities. And, Zain, I should point out that it was just in the aftermath of the Brussels attacks that we're hearing from officials here in Belgium that four people with access to facilities where radioactive material is stored had their access revoked.
They won't say if there was any direct connection in any way to those attacks. But it is indicative of the fact that these people are being watched very closely. If any of their behavior raises any kind of concern, there is an investigation that can lead to having access revoked.
ASHER: So what is causing concern among European officials that ISIS could have nuclear ambitions?
Is it the fact that there was surveillance video of a nuclear scientist or is there anything else?
FIELD: They tell us that this isn't new. They have always been aware of the fact that terrorists could look at the possibility of a dirty bomb. This is a that threat they have been looking at for several years.
But yes, the video does have to make you wonder, if the terrorists connected to the terror cells that carried out the Brussels and Paris attacks did have these kinds of aspirations. It was a video that was 10 hours long, surveilling this top nuclear researcher in this country.
There is question among investigators about whether or not the Bakraoui brothers, the suspected bombers here in Belgium, had had a hand in making that video or had watched it or had had any connection to it.
The trouble is they haven't been able to tell us what they believe that video might indicate, only that it suggests certainly an interest in the country's nuclear sites.
So analysts who have seen it say it might mean that this person was being watched and that some farfetched plot was being hatched in which this person could perhaps be kidnapped and tried to force into a facility where there is radioactive material. Our analysts say that that's a very difficult kind of endeavor to carry out at the most highly secured facilities.
But then again, you do have to consider the fact that there is radioactive material that is kept in a number of different locations because you have got hospitals, research labs, again, et cetera -- Zain.
ASHER: As you mentioned, they are stepping up security in the wake of these threats. Alexandra Field, live for us there, thank you so much. Appreciate that.
And as North Korea nuclear ambition takes center stage in Washington, back on the Korean Peninsula there's word of a new missile launch. The South Korean military source tells CNN that Pyongyang fired a short range surface-to-air missile into the sea just off the peninsula's east coast.
Now South Korea also says that the North used radioactive waves to jam GPS navigation signals. The disruption caused some ships to return to port. And all this obviously comes as there is that nuclear security summit happening in Washington, D.C. This will be a major topic, major cause for concern.
A Belgian court ruled that Paris terror attack suspect Salah Abdeslam can be extradited to France. Abdeslam --
[10:15:00]
ASHER: -- became the most wanted man in Europe after the November attacks that killed about 130 people. Police captured him two weeks ago after a gun battle in suburban Brussels.
Abdeslam is also suspected of having links to last week's terror attacks in Brussels even though he was technically in custody at the time. It's not known yet whether he'll be transferred -- or when, rather -- he will be transferred to France. We did get word yesterday that he will be extradited though soon.
A U.N. refugee agency says that safeguards are needed before Greece begins returning refugees to Turkey. That process is set to begin on Monday as part of a deal between Turkey and the European Union.
But the agency says that Greece needs more support from the E.U. to process claims for asylum. The agency also claims Turkey isn't prepared to take part -- to take in deported refugees. The U.N. has been highly critical of the E.U. deal, saying it doesn't adhere to international standards to protect refugees.
Still to come at the INTERNATIONAL DESK, a show of support for Brazil's president as her political future hangs in the balance. The latest twists and turns in the controversy she's facing.
Plus:
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): So they have to crawl through the narrow gaps into the different chambers because in each chamber there could be a different type of bat which could have different viruses.
ASHER (voice-over): Scientists in South Africa go deep underground in search of ways to prevent the next outbreak of viruses like Zika. We'll explain after the break.
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ASHER: Welcome back, everybody. The political crisis surrounding Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff may be getting worse but her supporters are certainly rallying around her, rallying behind her.
Thousands took to the streets to bat support the embattled president. She's facing possible impeachment just months before Brazil hosts the Olympics. After a week of political setbacks Ms. Rousseff finally won what is seen as a small victory in court on Thursday.
Our Shasta Darlington has been following the story from the very beginning. She joins us live from Brasilia.
So, Shasta, this one development that we got yesterday was that the lower court judge, Judge Sergio Mordor (ph), has been removed from Lula's corruption case. So explain to our audience how much does that help Lula in the end?
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Zain, it is a temporary decision by the supreme court. But what it means is they are taking investigations into former President Lula's finances in the bigger context of a corruption scandal, out of the hands of this crusading judge and really putting it in the hands of the supreme court.
The problem is we're still waiting for the much bigger decision from those supreme court justices, who are meeting here behind me this week and next week. They need to decide whether or not former President Lula --
[10:20:00]
DARLINGTON: -- can assume a cabinet position, chief of staff. Now remember, this started a few weeks ago just when that crusading judge brought Lula in for questioning on suspicion that could have benefitted from the bribery scheme.
And a few days later, President Dilma Rousseff appointed her mentor chief of staff. This really prompted a lot of criticism, that it was just a political maneuver to shield him from the investigation. So that was temporarily blocked.
Under Brazilian law, if you're a senior member of government, you really can only be tried in the supreme court. So we're waiting to hear whether or not this will be allowed. This could at least make the investigation against former president Lula a much more long, drawn-out process.
From the government's perspective, it would also give them some support as President Rousseff faces possible impeachment proceedings in congress -- Zain.
ASHER: Yes. And she's only got about 10 percent approval ratings that she's going to hold on until the very end. She's not going to be resigning. Our Shasta Darlington, live for us there thank you so much, appreciate that.
Alongside the political turmoil Brazil is actually grappling with the Zika virus Zika virus as well. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control are hosting a summit today to develop a coordinated response to the rapidly spreading virus.
The CDC says that active Zika transmission has been identified in 39 countries around the world, 39 countries and territories. A health alert was issued after the first Brazilian Zika case was confirmed in May of last year.
Since then the virus has spread through much of the Americas.
Meantime, in South Africa, a group of scientists is working to stop disease outbreaks like Zika even before they start. Here's our David McKenzie with more.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The hazmat suits and respirators make for a difficult descent. It's much need protection against what we could find in the cave below.
We're following some of the world's most highly trained virus hunters, in search of disease-carrying bats.
MCKENZIE: So they have to crawl through the narrow gaps into the different chambers because, in each chamber, there could be a different type of bat, which could have different viruses.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): And in this cave, there are thousands, each one with the potential to carry rabies, Marburg, perhaps even Ebola.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is another male.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Some of the world's most severe but least understood viruses.
WANDA MARKOTTER, UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA: Even with Ebola, there's not a direct link between the human outbreaks from the bats. We see some evidence in the bats and we see human outbreaks. But we can't say that bat caused the human outbreak.
MCKENZIE: So, so much is still unknown?
MARKOTTER: Yes so a lot is still unknown.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): So, they study diseases here, in bat populations before the potential human outbreaks.
MARKOTTER: Otherwise, she just reacts and (INAUDIBLE) a lot of people dead, like we did in the Ebola outbreaks.
MCKENZIE: So if you just react, it's often too late.
MARKOTTER: Yes, and you respond to light.
So this is an adult.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): This isn't some remote cave. Outside, just miles away, Johannesburg, a city of 4 million. So close to human habitation, this type of monitoring and prevention is critical.
JT PAWESKA, NICD: In this lab, we're working with the most dangerous pathogens known to humans.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Disease detection that exists, thanks to this, a fully enclosed, pressurized safety lab, the only one of its kind in Africa. Where the highest level of precaution must be taken, researchers train for a year just to step inside. Here, they aren't surprised at the recent outbreak of Zika, a virus once thought to be remote and isolated.
NANCY KNIGHT, COUNTRY DIRECTOR, CDC: We have a global world. So these emerging viruses, while we may find them here in Africa, they may impact the populations here, the people here, the animals here and they may impact populations in other countries.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Outside the cave, blood and saliva samples are taken and the bats are marked before being released, back into an environment that seems increasingly primed for outbreak -- David McKenzie, CNN, Hoodbrom (ph) Cave, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: The legal fight between Apple and the FBI over a terrorist's smartphone has put another company in the spotlight. Israeli tech firm Cellebrite isn't saying whether it was involved in unlocking the phone but as our Oren Liebermann reports, it has found itself at the center of speculation.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four months after the San Bernardino terrorist attack, the iPhone 5c of one of the shooters remained a critical but inaccessible piece of evidence.
An ugly legal battle between the FBI and Apple suddenly ended when the FBI found a different way to get into the iPhone. An Israeli newspaper citing industry sources said the company that did the work was called Cellebrite.
Cellebrite's offices are here behind me in this high tech park just outside of Tel Aviv. Now neither the FBI nor Cellebrite will comment on the company's involvement. But Cellebrite --
[10:25:00]
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): -- specializes in mobile device data extraction and decryption, phone hacking. And that's exactly what the FBI needed in this case.
We reached out to Cellebrite and the FBI repeatedly. Cellebrite didn't return our calls and the FBI wouldn't comment about the company. The FBI has said only that they used the, quote, "outside company."
But the FBI signed a $200,000 contract with Cellebrite the same day the FBI announced it had gained access to the content in the shooter's phone. Shares of Cellebrite's parent company, Sun. At a tech conference in 2014, Cellebrite's forensic technical director, Yuval Ben-Moshe told CNN about their work.
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YUVAL BEN-MOSHE, CELLEBRITE FORENSIC TECHNICAL DIRECTOR: We allow a law enforcement have a deep and detailed access to a lot of information that is on the mobile device and then it allows them to deduct who did, what, when, which is the essence of any investigation when you look at it.
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LIEBERMANN: Cellebrite's technology isn't just a hack on an iPhone. Critics say it's a hack on privacy. Ben Moshe says his company has been challenged in court.
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MOSHE: You got to make sure that whatever you bring into court can stand there and can stand any cross examination. There are very, very strict rules and guidelines with most of the countries. And we meet them. We meet those to the best of our knowledge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: To learn more about mobile device security we meet Michael Shaulov. He is a mobile technology expert at Check Point, an Israeli cyber security firm. What are the weak points of an iPhone or any mobile device that you could access the phone through?
MICHAEL SHAULOV, CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHONOLOGY EXPERT: When you connect the cable to the phone and then you can get abuse all kinds of protocols that the iPhone can communicate with their laptops. And then using by hijacking or by manipulating those protocols you can actually unlock the phone.
LIEBERMANN: If I give you my iPhone, if I hand it to you how long will it take to you hack this iPhone?
SHAULOV: It will probably take me faster to hack your phone when it's actually in your hands rather than you give me the phone. It's much easier to conduct a social engineering attack basically to send you something that you will click on and you install something on your phone rather than I will try to actually guess or break your pass code.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMANN: This is the flip side of the startup nation, innovation used to build security now used to exploit vulnerabilities.
Is Cellebrite the company behind the U.S. government's iPhone hack?
They will not say, but notably the company that sign the FBI contract and was enthusiastically touting its technology not long ago has now gone silent -- Oren Lieberman, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: This is the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Coming up next, Donald Trump is in damage control mode after a really tough week. What the Republican presidential front-runner is doing to restore party unity. That's coming up.
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[10:30:00]
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ASHER: Welcome back to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Zain Asher. The nuclear security summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama is underway now in Washington. Right now he's meeting with the group known as the P5+1. That is the nations that brokered the Iran nuclear deal except for Russia, which declined to send a representative. And in fact, President Obama is speaking now about the Iran nuclear deal. Let's listen in.
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ASHER: All right. You've just been listening to a press conference there with President Obama, basically touting the progress and the success of the Iran nuclear deal. He mentioned that it had been two years of intense negotiations helped by strong sanctions that had brought this deal to fruition.