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Kim Dong Chul Sentenced to 10 Years for Spying; Airstrikes Resume on Rebel-Held Areas in Aleppo; South African Court Recommends Zuma Face Charges; Protests Outside Trump Rally; Icahn Sells Shares in Apple; $172 Million in Illicit Wildlife Goods to Burn; William and Catherine Celebrate Fifth Anniversary. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired April 29, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:00]

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST (voice-over): Ahead at the INTERNATIONAL DESK, North Korea sentences a U.S. citizen to 10 years of hard labor.

Chaos outside Donald Trump's rally in California.

And this weekend, Leicester City goes for the greatest upset in the history of sport.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CURNOW: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN Center.

We begin with new tensions along the increasingly unpredictable Korean Peninsula. North Korea's Supreme Court has sentenced a U.S. citizen to

hard labor. Kim Dong Chul was given 10 years for subversion and spying.

Now it's the second time an American has been sentenced there in the past two months. It has some wondering if North Korea is collecting bargaining

chips for future negotiations.

On Thursday, Pyongyang test-fired two missiles. There are fears they could be another launch ahead of a rear Korean Workers Party meeting next month.

CNN's Will Ripley joins us now from Tokyo.

Will, you have visited and reported from Pyongyang extensively. In fact, you've met and talked with this man.

What was he able to say to you back in January?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We met him and he had already been in detention, Robyn, for several months.

He said he was arrested in October 2015. And by the time he spoke with us, he had a very detailed story, a very detailed confession of espionage that

he says was carried out on behalf of South Korean interests, although he couldn't specify whether it was government or private interests; although

in North Korea, they always assume that anything coming from South Korea, that there's some sort of government influence when it comes to these

charges of espionage.

And we've heard this type of thing before. But in this particular case, this is a man who was born in South Korea, became a United States citizen

and then moved to China.

But he had an unusual job situation that he was commuting back and forth from China into Rison, North Korea. It's a special economic zone, where

there are businesses that are owned, have Chinese owners and North Korean employees.

So he and his wife were commuting on a regular basis into the DPRK to run their business. But Kim Dong Chul told me that at the same time, after he

was approached by some South Korean businessmen and some others, that he was also collecting information about alleged human rights abuses and

sensitive information about the military and passing it on to those contacts in the South.

I asked how exactly it worked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: How did it work?

How did you pass on the information that you collected?

KIM DONG CHUL, NORTH KOREAN DETAINEE (through translator): I bribed a local resident and had him gather important materials considered national

secrets in this country, such as military secrets and nuclear related materials.

I got these materials hidden in my car and secretly brought them to China, where I handed them over. Or I would go to South Korea and deliver them

directly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: So six months after his arrest, Robyn, that trial today in Pyongyang, a trial that took one day for the judge to hand down a sentence

of 10 years hard labor.

CURNOW: OK. So let's talk about the other cases. You've actually met and interviewed a number of these foreign hostages, whatever you want to call

them.

Why is North Korea doing this?

What do they want with these foreigners?

Is it about using them as a bargaining chip?

RIPLEY: It's an interesting point that you raise and it's a point that others have certainly raised before, because, in the case, particularly of

detained Americans and other Westerners it takes government intervention for them to be released.

So I think back to late 2014, when I interviewed Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller and Jeffrey Fowle; all three of them were released within several

months after President Obama sent his spy chief, James Clapper, on a secret mission to Pyongyang with a letter hand-delivered from the U.S. president.

We know that the North Koreans and Clapper had an informal conversation. They passed a message back to President Obama, expressing an interest for

peace talks, an offer that Washington later rejected because North Korea refused to take the nuclear arsenal off of the table.

But if you look at the American who is being -- who is still in custody right now, so in addition to Kim, 62 years old, you also have a 21-year-old

University of Virginia student, Otto Warmbier. You remember his emotional videotaped confession, he confessed to trying to steal a political banner

from his hotel, the Yanggakdo Hotel in Pyongyang.

And then you have that Canadian pastor, John Su Lim, who North Korea says was trying to use his religion to overthrow the government and he is

currently serving life hard labor.

There are efforts underway; both the Canadian and U.S. governments are trying to secure an early release for them. But North Korea would argue

that all of these people broke the law inside North Korea, which is what led to their detention --

[10:05:00]

RIPLEY: -- in the first place. Others would say that North Korea selectively enforces those laws and particularly looks closely at what

Americans are doing inside the country and other countries that they might deem valuable for their political interests.

CURNOW: Well, also looking closely, many in the peninsula are very concerned; two missiles tests in one day this week; warnings from South

Korea of a fifth nuclear test, possibly.

All signs of, again, an erratic leader trying to send a message of strength?

RIPLEY: To his own people and also to the international community. I mean right now, North Korea is under a tremendous amount of pressure as far as

economic pressure goes.

These sanctions that the U.N. has enforced, that China is saying that they will enforce, which is a change from their previous policy, they are --

they are -- could be some of the strongest that North Korea has ever faced.

Granted, the impact may not be felt for another 6-12 months but you see the supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, ordering test after test, launch after launch

ahead of a major political gathering in his country to show his people that he is strong but to also show the international community that sanctions

will not stop his government and his military from developing these weapons.

And, of course, all the attention that each weapons test gets, especially a successful one, also lets other entities around the world, whether it be,

you know, what the U.S. calls a terrorist organization, rogue states that would be willing to do business with North Korea, talk about proliferation,

the sale of weapons, nuclear technology and other things.

That's one of the few ways that North Korea may have left to generate revenue. So there's a lot happening, a lot of reasons why the United

States, South Korea and many around the world are concerned. And there does not appear at this point to be any sort of diplomatic solution, even

off in the distance. It's both sides are so far apart.

CURNOW: Yes. Thanks so much for your perspective there. Will Ripley, thank you.

In Syria, airstrikes on rebel-held areas in Aleppo are underway again just days after an assault on a hospital there killed dozens of people. The

U.N. human rights chief says the escalating violence shows a, quote, "monstrous disregard for civilian lives" by all parties to the conflict.

Our Nick Paton Walsh is tracking developments from Beirut, Lebanon.

Hi, there, Nick. And as always, civilians caught in the middle.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: This morning, despite the awful loss of life at the Al-Quds Hospital assisted by Medecins sans

Frontieres yesterday, over 50 lives lost there and I should point out another 25 in other strikes around rebel-held areas in Aleppo, the bombing

continued again today.

But so far the reports of casualties for the 20 airstrikes activists have reported on rebel-held areas are much lower, some suggesting only two lives

have been lost and that's actually from a killing fact, the people have stayed away from hospitals, away from a mosque, which was also hit, away

from another clinic, which was, yet again, hit this morning, because they fear such strikes.

Now attacks against hospitals in rebel-held areas have frankly been commonplace for the past four to five years of the conflict, often blamed

upon the regime, whose jets are heard in the sky above the blasts before the blasts.

But the reason this focus is so much on yesterday's strike is because of the supposed cessation of hostilities that's currently been in place in

Syria for about 60 or so days now.

That has been a key effort by the United States and Russia to bring some sort of fruition out of the peace talks also simultaneously happening in

Geneva. Those peace talks have unraveled. The cessation of hostilities, many argue, was a bit of an artificial construct initially because there

were many groups, terrorist groups excluded from it who are also fighting alongside rebels, which allowed the regime and the Russians to continue

attacking certain groups on the battlefield, really muddling the idea of a cease-fire.

The escalation and violence has been so much that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying the last week in Aleppo alone, they've tracked 200

civilian deaths, 70 on the regime side, 123 on the rebel side, 18 of which have been children.

So this increase in violence, Robyn, has got many concerned that we can cast aside the idea of cessation of hostilities. That's been claimed to

have been barely alive by the U.N.'s special representative to the conflict here.

The fear is in the days and weeks ahead that this may, in fact, be heralding a broader regime assault on that eastern part of Aleppo, which is

held by the rebels. Relatively easy to cut off and besiege but still home to over 200,000 civilians.

Now it's going to be a long, messy operation if you believe Syrian state media in their bid to take all of that area back. It's badly damaged, an

urban sprawl, many civilians in the way.

But an increased onslaught could mean the advance that we saw yesterday in the Al-Quds Hospital become even more horrifyingly commonplace. And we

keep looking at this war to see how much worse it could possibly get.

Well, in the streets of rebel-held Aleppo in the weeks ahead, we may well find the answer -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Thanks so much, Nick Paton Walsh there in Beirut.

After 16 members of the U.S. military have been found at fault for their roles in an airstrike that mistakenly hit a hospital in Afghanistan last

October. As many as 42 people were killed in that strike in Kunduz.

[10:10:00]

CURNOW: There are no plans to pursue criminal charges. But the 16 involved are being disciplined by the Pentagon and top commander is likely

to lose his job. We're expecting to hear more from the Pentagon less than an hour from now on that investigation. The U.S. president has apologized

for the strike, saying it was a terrible mistake.

A helicopter crash off the western coast of Norway has killed at least 11 people. Two others are missing. All the passengers were Norwegian and

employed by the oil and gas company, Statoil. A large search operation is currently underway. The crash happened just 10 minutes before the

helicopter was due to land in the city of Bergen.

Now to South Africa and a new high court recommendation that President Jacob Zuma face charges, more than 700 of them, for corruption. Today's

ruling says the national prosecution authority acted, quote, "irrationally" when it dropped those charges in 2009, just before the vote that swept Zuma

into power.

Now it's up to that prosecuting authority to reinstate the charges. Mr. Zuma denies any wrongdoing.

For more we're joined now by Eleni Giokos from Johannesburg.

Now these new charges, well, this recommendation relates to charges back from 2005.

What do they involve?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNNMONEY CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's interesting, you know, Robyn. It's been something that's been ongoing for 15 years in the

country.

And, remember, that, in 2009, the national prosecuting authority, as you say, decided to drop the charges, 738 charges which pertain to an arms deal

that involved his financial adviser and friend, Schabir Shaik, who was subsequently found guilty of corruption and then jailed for the very same

deal that President Jacob Zuma was involved in.

And it's interesting; we're talking about the justice, saying that the reasoning behind the dropping of those charges was irrational and

disingenuous as well. And it's important to know, of course, you alluded to it, that it just happened prior to the 2009 vote.

And the NPA back then had said that they were concerned and saying the indictment came at a time which shows it was some kind of political

motivation. So that all is the background and pretty much an interesting context that now is coming up again in 2016.

CURNOW: OK. Well, let's talk about also these other corruption charges. There's been a cloud of them over Jacob Zuma, both before he became

president and after. Let's look at some of them.

Many of those cases have been dismissed in the court, though; in 2006 he was tried and acquitted of raping a young female family friend, who was HIV

positive. Zuma was criticized further when he said he showered after the encounter, quote, "to minimize the risk of contracting the disease."

More recently South Africa's highest court said Zuma defied the constitution by spending millions of state funds to upgrade his private

home. He's been ordered to repay $15 million.

Now this is -- this is an indication of the cloud of corruption hanging over him, many people saying that he's been so busy trying to deal with the

politics, that they've sort of stopped running the country.

GIOKOS: That's exactly what people are saying. And I think that it has, of course, taken away from the very important conversations about the

structural issues, Robyn, that the economy is facing.

And just let's take a look at some of those numbers. And since 2010, we saw the economy growing at around 3 percent back then. It's now sitting at

growth rates expected at 0.6 percent. You've got the likes of inflation, also increasing dramatically over that time because the rand is coming

under significant pressure. We're looking at inflation at 7 percent, well above the target rate.

And then debt-to-GDP, this is one of the biggest issues, where you've got debt-to-GDP sitting at 50 percent, it's up from 35 percent in 2010. So

it's a question about policies, is it about ANC policies?

Is it about Zuma policies?

Is it about the fact that most of, you know, the parliaments are not focused on running the country and concerned about these side issues, as

you mentioned, a lot of these trials, corruption cases, concerns about relationships with the likes of the Gupta family as well, which has also

come to the fore this year and basically come to a head.

But he survived Robyn, an impeachment vote not too long ago, in fact a month ago. And it seems that he's got his allies behind him. We're

getting very close to the municipal elections coming through in August. And despite the economy coming under significant pressure, Zuma is pretty

much entrenched right now within the system.

CURNOW: OK. Thank so much for the perspective from JoBurg, Eleni, appreciate it.

This is CNN. You're watching the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Ahead --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW (voice-over): Protests turn violent outside a Donald Trump rally in California. We're live with CNN's Phil Mattingly with the fallout --

[10:15:00]

CURNOW: -- from those clashes. And losing faith in Apple: one of the tech giant's biggest supporters is

bailing and blaming China.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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CURNOW: Protests erupted outside a Donald Trump rally in California Thursday night. Inside, Trump resumed his verbal attacks on his rivals,

capping another heated day on the campaign trail. Phil Mattingly has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chaos breaking out outside of a California Donald Trump rally last night, with hundreds of protesters

taking to the streets, clashing with drivers, smashing windows and attempting to roll over cars, facing off with Trump supporters.

This fight leaving this Trump fan bloodied and bandaged, police on horseback struggling to contain the demonstrators.

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to win, win, win!

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Inside, Donald Trump riling up a massive crowd.

TRUMP: Look at the size of this place.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Taking aim at his rivals.

TRUMP: Lyin' Ted Cruz, we know Lyin' Ted, right.

She's as crooked as you could be. Crooked Hillary.

You ever see a guy eat like him?

MATTINGLY (voice-over): And keeping his eye on next Tuesday's high stakes primary in Indiana.

TRUMP: The big poll is going to be on Tuesday in Indiana. But I was all over the state today with Bobby Knight and I love Bobby Knight and they

love Bobby Knight and let's see what happens.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Indiana's biggest paper, blasting Trump on Thursday, calling the GOP front-runner, quote, "a danger to the United

States and to the world."

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Whatever is necessary.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): As millions of dollars and dozens of ads continue to flood the state, Ted Cruz mincing no words on his view of the high

stakes there.

CRUZ: It is the common sense and good judgment of the Hoosier State that is the one thing that stands between us and plunging over the cliff.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Even as top GOP figures start warming to the idea of Trump as the nominee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Generally speaking, I like what he had to say.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): This, as former House Speaker, John Boehner, condemned Trump's main rival, Ted Cruz, at a college forum with the

harshest words yet.

JOHN BOEHNER, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Lucifer in the flesh. I get along with almost everybody. But I have never worked with a more miserable

son of a (INAUDIBLE).

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Cruz firing back, using Boehner's disdain to try and bolster his case.

CRUZ: If you're happy with John Boehner as Speaker of the House and you want a president like John Boehner, Donald Trump's your man.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: So is Donald Trump their man?

[10:20:00]

CURNOW: Phil Mattingly joins me now from CNN Washington.

Let's talk about that. Many in the GOP still struggling between resistance and resignation to the fact that Donald Trump will likely be their man.

Is that the case or do you think, as you said, most are still just warming up to it?

MATTINGLY: The struggle is definitely still there but, Robyn, I think the interesting thing here is we're at a bit of a tipping point. You're

starting to see, as you saw in the piece there, senators that typically wouldn't be aligned with Donald Trump, now all of a sudden open to the

idea.

Two Capitol Hill aides told me yesterday Donald Trump's advisors held a private meeting on the Hill. Those meetings have been happening for the

last couple of weeks. Attendance so-so; yesterday, packed.

And so you're seeing individuals recognize the fact that, especially if Ted Cruz cannot win Indiana, Donald Trump is going to be the Republican

nominee, he's going to be the individual the Republicans have to coalesce behind if they want to beat Hillary Clinton in the general election. And

they're starting to consider it.

That said, you have people like Jeb Bush, you have people in the, quote- unquote, "Never Trump movement," that have pledged they will never support Donald Trump no matter what.

It will be worth keeping a very close eye on them in the months ahead. If Donald Trump is the nominee, Robyn, there will be a ton of pressure for all

of them to eventually get in line.

CURNOW: Yes. Or whether some of them do something quite radical and sit this one out.

MATTINGLY: Right.

CURNOW: Let's talk about this odd Kasich-Cruz marriage that wasn't a marriage, is a divorce, I don't know, what was it?

Do we know?

MATTINGLY: It kind of underscores the problem that non-Trump-loving Republicans have had throughout this entire primary, right. They can't get

their act together behind a single strategy to stop Donald Trump.

Now what happened late Sunday night, John Kasich's top adviser, Ted Cruz's campaign manager, shooting out a joint statement, more or less, statements

two minutes apart, agreeing that John Kasich would pull out of Indiana, give Ted Cruz a clean shot at Donald Trump in that state.

Ted Cruz would pull out of two states out West, give John Kasich a clean shot in those two states. This was the moment that the anti-Trump movement

has been waiting for, these candidates finally working together to block Donald Trump. Neither of them has a opportunity to secure the Republican

nomination before the convention.

The idea is to block him from reaching that 1,237 number of delegates and sending it to an open convention. The only problem was it didn't seem the

two candidates were actually on board with this idea.

John Kasich on Monday, Robyn, basically saying he didn't really care what voters did in Indiana. He thought they should vote for him. Ted Cruz

saying yesterday there was, quote, "no alliance at all agreed to."

Now I've been talking to advisors in both campaigns, Robyn. The truth is, the candidates weren't really apprised of what was going on. They gave

their blessing to these negotiations; they understood they had to happen but they weren't super comfortable with it.

And the reality is Donald Trump has used this to fit perfectly into his narrative about the establishment trying to collude to block him from the

nomination. Both candidates uncomfortable, both campaigns recognizing that this is something they had to do. Everybody kind of stuck in the middle

and, once again, no clear-cut strategy to stop Donald Trump -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Yes. It was called desperate; too little, too late and that's coming after a number of other strategies that we've spoken about in the

past few months.

What have the mistakes been made by the other GOP rivals?

I mean, have they been glaring, totally misdirected their energy?

Jeb Bush coming out, saying Donald Trump was a phenomenon even if he had not made his own mistakes he doesn't think he would have been able to win

against Trump. This has been a very unusual year.

MATTINGLY: No question about it. And the list of mistakes is long and we could probably talk about it for the next four or five hours. I think it's

important to note that it doesn't just tag the Republican candidates who Donald Trump has beaten or may be about to beat.

It tags everybody, other politicians, journalist, everybody who is covering this race that largely, at the beginning, made the same exact mistake.

They dismissed Donald Trump. They didn't take the opportunity to take Donald Trump's business record, to take his personal life, to make these

big issues to try and really strangle his candidacy at its earliest stages.

That opportunity was there. Jeb Bush had the money to do it. But everybody dismissed him. They didn't recognize that what Donald Trump was

saying, while it might have seemed ludicrous in a traditional political arena, it was tapping into a very real frustration with a very real segment

of the Republican electorate.

It was too late when they recognized it. It still appears to be too late for the people that are coalescing behind stopping Trump now. And it has

largely cleared the way for Donald Trump to secure the Republican nomination.

The most interesting thing going forward here, Robyn, will be how will Democrats deal with Donald Trump if he is the nominee?

How will Hillary Clinton deal with him?

I've been told by people close to the Clinton operation that they plan on unloading on Donald Trump shortly after he secures the nomination. They

don't want to give Donald Trump the opportunity to define himself in a general election. They want to do it for him.

CURNOW: That is going to be interesting. Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.

And for more on the race for the White House, Jonathan Mann, of course, has a show every week that covers the candidates. "POLITICAL MANN" is on

Saturdays at 7:00 pm in London. Be sure to watch every week for the entire campaign season.

[10:25:00]

CURNOW: It's been a rough week for tech giant Apple. One of the company's biggest cheerleaders, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, has sold his shares

and he points to market conditions in China for his decision.

CNNMoney's Maggie Lake joins me now live from New York.

So why has he made this decision?

MAGGIE LAKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: He's not the only one that's not feeling the love for Apple this week but he is a really well-known

investor, Robyn, and the sense is, I think, twofold.

First of all, there is concern that Apple, they basically saturated the market for their expensive smartphones, iPhones. They're reaching peak in

the developed world. And when they look to other emerging markets or newer markets, importantly, China, it's just not picking up the pace as quickly

as people had hoped.

The other thing Icahn is drilling down on, on the China part of the story, is not just the lower than expected sales in China or a sense that the

pickup isn't as hoped but also the fact that they may be running into trouble with Chinese authorities.

In recent weeks, the Chinese authorities shut down their eBook and iTunes movie service and Icahn saying, talking about this decision, that a lot of

people have tried and a lot of people have failed, when it has come to penetrating China, especially on the tech side.

Issues of intellectual property, the list goes on and on. So for that reason, he says, he is getting out of the stock. But he's leaving the door

open for maybe getting back in -- Robyn.

CURNOW: But for Apple, it is all about China.

Look It's important. China is an important part. It's not the only part, though. I talked to analysts this week, who said, listen, this is a

company that innovates; they spend a lot of money innovating. We're not seeing the revenue come in from those areas yet. But it doesn't mean that

they won't.

Apple itself will say they have a watch; people are disappointed but that watch is tracking the same trajectory as early iPhone sales. So the Apple

bulls will say this is cyclical; they're going to come back. It's too early to say.

Let's put up a chart of Apple's stock, though, and you can see that that is not a line that's being bought by everyone out there. Apple shares -- this

is looking from when Icahn first made his investment public; you saw that big rise up.

Icahn was arguing for them to release some of that cash mountain they sit on. They did, they increased their dividend, gave some money back to

shareholders, they came out with a very successful, bigger iPhone 6, huge sales.

And then you could see it start to drift down now on these concerns that are they too reliant on that product.

We're going to have to wait and see. Icahn, for what he says, though, Robyn, worth noting, one of the best companies ever and he would think

about buying it again in the future.

CURNOW: Thanks so much, Maggie. And I think there's a little bit little snow behind you in New York at this time of the year. That's amazing.

LAKE: Pollen, it's pollen.

CURNOW: Oh, OK. I was going to say, what is that?

LAKE: It's why we're all sneezing.

CURNOW: Thanks a lot, Maggie.

LAKE: Sure thing.

CURNOW: I'm Robyn Curnow. You're watching CNN. Much more ahead.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:00]

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CURNOW: You're watching the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for joining me. Here's a check of the headlines.

(HEADLINES)

CURNOW: Authorities in Kenya are about to make a powerful statement against the illegal ivory trade by setting fire to tusks from thousands of

elephants poached in the wild. Our Robyn Kriel is in Nairobi with details of this.

Hi, there, Robyn. Very dramatic images of these burning piles of ivory.

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hugely dramatic and dramatic, too, is the message being sent by the Kenyan government to essentially the rest of the

world, that these animals are worthless when they're simply rhino horns on a pile or being sold off as medicine or ivory that's being made into

jewelry.

They're saying the only way that these animals are worth anything is on a live animal and that is why, Robyn, they are setting ablaze 105 tons of

elephant ivory tomorrow and 1.35 tons of rhino horn.

We have been covering the story throughout the week. Here is what we've seen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRIEL (voice-over): A heavy burden for Kenyans to bear. Never has the continent's poaching epidemic been so visceral than this endless train of

elephant tusks, forming something of a graveyard to the world's iconic endangered species. And soon this will turn into a crematorium: 12 piles

of ivory and rhino horn will be set ablaze in the largest burn of illegal wildlife products in history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a pumping station. There we've got a mixing tank, where we'll be mixing kerosene and diesel, 50 percent each. And then

we'll pump it down individual pipes to each tower. We call these ivory towers.

KRIEL (voice-over): It's the ivory of around 8,000 elephants; combined with the rhino horn, this bounty would be worth an estimated $172 U.S.

million on the black market.

The potential income that could be generated from this sale has been difficult for many cash-strapped African governments to accept, money that

could be put perhaps towards conservation. But Kenya believes it's worth absolutely nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From a Kenya perspective we are not watching any money go up in smoke because, from our perspective, there is no intrinsic value.

Kenya believes that the only value of the ivory is tusks on a live elephant.

KRIEL (voice-over): It's a practice that goes back to 1989; a Kenyan invention to deal with the severe poaching crisis.

Today, a new crisis looms: a growing Chinese economy and appetite for illegal wildlife products and now audience to reach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They never saw the 1989-1990 crisis. They were not subjected to the pressure that we brought on the world's markets in those

days. So we have to do it again and that's what we're doing.

KRIEL (voice-over): A record number of rhinos were poached in Africa last year, around 1,338. And contributing to the stockpile, an elephant is

killed every 15 minutes for its tusks.

KRIEL: Each pair of these tusks tells an individual story of an elephant's life. And you can tell just what kind of life it was by the grooves and

markings that you can see here. You can tell its approximate age and oftentimes how it died as well.

There are these huge tusks that weigh up to 110 pounds each. And then there are those, tiny tusks belonging to babies, never given the chance to

mature or live.

KRIEL (voice-over): The fire could for last up to a week. But organizers hope its image and stigma will be burned into memory forever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KRIEL: Of course this burn --

[10:35:00]

KRIEL: -- has been mired in controversy. Other countries believing that Kenya should not be burning its ivory, Robyn, but instead sell their ivory

and use that money to fund perhaps conservation efforts.

Kenya, however, sticking to its guns, saying that it's not worth anything to them unless it's on an a live animal.

CURNOW: Yes. There's always controversy with this kind of conversation.

Why burn?

Aren't there other options?

Flood the market perhaps with cheap ivory.

You spoke to Richard Leakey (ph) there. He's an icon in conservation circles. He's done this before and he believes it works.

KRIEL: Yes. In the first burn 1989, that was his idea. In fact, they experimented with ivory burning in their fireplace at home before they went

ahead and burned it. That's one of the questions many people have here, is how long is this going to take. It's going to take a week.

He maintains that, in 1989, after -- it wasn't so much they believe the burn itself, that was just a simple message, it was the stigma that was

attached to owning ivory, that was attached to owning wildlife products, such as rhino horn.

They say they want to shame the world into believing that it's not cool, no longer cooler, a status symbol to have those ivory trinkets to own rhino

horn. They're hoping that that message reaches far and wide, particularly Richard Leakey says, in Asia.

CURNOW: You're watching the IDESK.

Five years and counting for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. We'll take a closer look at their marriage as they celebrate their anniversary.

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CURNOW: Five years and counting for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Remember, the world watched on this day in 2011, when Prince William and

Catherine exchanged vows in a ceremony that had many royal watchers recalling Princess Diana's wedding 30 years earlier.

Since then they've traveled the world and started a family. Prince George, third in line to the British throne, and George's baby sister, Princess

Charlotte, that's one of the latest family pics.

I want to bring in royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams from our London bureau.

Five years since that wave and kiss from the balcony.

How popular are they still?

RICHARD FITZWILLIAMS, ROYALTY COMMENTATOR: They're tremendously popular. There was a poll only a week ago, which showed that roughly their

equivalent with the queen in popularity and there's absolutely no doubt, they are so happy. Kate has the beauty and poise that she has always had.

And William has this charm, which I think is so important. And also, it's an image that they project, which is not only that of a family that's

united but, also, of course, there is the tremendous benefit. This is to the country, the fact that --

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FITZWILLIAMS: -- they go abroad on these high-profile tours. We have just seen India and Bhutan, initially we saw Canada and L.A., I mean it really

makes a worldwide splash. I think it's been an absolutely marvelous five years for them.

And, remember, it was quite a break with tradition because William is marrying the person he loved. She was middle class. She had minor

aristocrats as ancestors. And this was something new. Everyone wanted no repeat, as you mentioned, Princess Diana, no repeat of the nightmare that

had gone before with the Prince and Princess of Wales.

CURNOW: Yes. There was a lot of drama in that, also playing into the Diana years was the media. And it seems like Prince William has really

learned a lesson, hard lessons, of course. And this couple have a very steely control over what kind of information or pictures are released of

them.

FITZWILLIAMS: Oh, tremendously. I mean, there's no question about William's innate suspicion of the press because, of course, he's not

forgotten -- how could he -- the role the paparazzi played in his mother's death and he's desperately trying -- and trying, I think, very successfully

-- to give his family a chance at a relatively normal upbringing because George is at nursery school near Anmar Hall in Norfolk on the Sandringham

Estates of the queen, where they are based.

He's a pilot, 20 a week, with East Anglian Air Ambulance Service and she appears also very, very high profile, where she supports charities, dealing

with children's mental health.

He, of course -- and this is a very good example of how they work so well, this campaign against the illegal wildlife trade, he see President Obama,

he sees President Ki of China, it takes it internationally so they're able to do this, to combine a relatively normal family life with these

photographs that are periodically released.

But William is determined to give them as much privacy as he possibly can and also for himself as well.

CURNOW: Do we know, it's the five-year anniversary, I just Googled it, apparently it's -- you should give your spouse wood. I'm not quite sure

what the royals would be giving each other.

Any announcements on how they're planning to spend the day?

FITZWILLIAMS: Only that we know that they are planning privately. There must be -- there must be some -- it's always fascinating to know or to

speculate on what a couple could give each other on this sort of anniversary.

I was wondering whether the queen's 90th and the only thing I could possibly think of was a winner for the Darby, a race that she has never

won. One -- I think -- they must be thinking back, thinking back to that fabulous occasion and five years ago, when the world, something like 2

million people, were supposed to have tuned in.

And those two kisses on the balcony at Buckingham Palace, the carriage procession, that vast media village, which showed what international, you

could say, a form of superstardom; it's something a great deal more than that because it means so much.

You have got a very high-profile institution, one that's much loved that's come across in recent polls, too. And as our politicians so frequently are

unpopular, so the monarchy continues above politics in this way that's very specially English.

And William and Kate, their similar sense of humor, they've got the right body language. You can see it on their trips abroad and you can see the

way they relate to each other. But privacy is, of course, as you say, very, very important. And especially today, too. It's a happy day and

brings back wonderful memories.

CURNOW: Richard, thank you so much. We're going to leave it with them waving on the balcony.

Thank you very much. I'm Robyn Curnow. I'm not going to wave goodbye. Thanks for joining me. "WORLD SPORT" is next.

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