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U.K. Terror Threat Level Raised to Critical; Trump Presidency; Protests Erupt in St. Louis after Police Acquittal; Hurricane Irma's Aftermath; Ethnic Cleansing Unfolding in Myanmar; Significant Arrest Made in London Tube Blast. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired September 16, 2017 - 05:00   ET

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


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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): London on high alert. This after an explosion in a train Friday. And a manhunt is underway for those responsible. CNN is live on the streets of London with the very latest on this investigation.

Also ahead this hour, the diplomatic fallout from North Korea's missile launch Friday. The Trump administration says it's keeping its military options on the table. We get the very latest reaction from the region.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now. I'm George Howell.

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HOWELL: It's 5:00 am on the U.S. East Coast. Good day around the world.

The terror alert in Britain is at its highest level, critical. This, after an explosion on board the London tube Friday morning. That threat level, critical, means another incident is not only possible but it is expected. Investigators are working to track down the suspect or suspects before any future attacks can happen.

Let's go live to London. CNN's Nina dos Santos follows this investigation.

It's great to have you with us, Nina, this hour. Thankfully, no one was killed in this incident. That station has reopened there. But there are a lot of serious questions that investigators are looking into.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: That's right, George. Well, we're less than 48 hours away from the start of the Monday morning rush hour commute, when people in places like this residential neighborhood will once again have to rely upon the transport network, rush through the doors of this station, perhaps at 8:20 in the morning on Monday and they'll be asking themselves, will I be safe on this transport network?

In the meantime, a manhunt is underway. But authorities are giving very scant details overnight, which is very interesting and comes in contrast to the situation we saw after the last bomb attack, which is, of course, the Manchester attack.

Throughout the course of the night, the Metropolitan Police was updating people on raids they were conducting and also arrests they had been making. We haven't heard those types of statements.

In the meantime, I should point out that there are more police officers being deployed across the London transport network and across the rest of the country. The British transport police has confirmed that they made more officers available. There were officers outside Parsons Green tube station about two hours ago when we arrived on the scene.

But as you can see, they have now left. And the area is getting back to a calm sense of normalcy.

But that doesn't mean the pressure is off here, George. Authorities have been working throughout the course of the night, poring through CCTV British. There's only five stations before you get to Parsons Green from the start of the line, in South London, in Wimbledon, where somebody could have actually gotten on this particular northbound train and deposited that particular package.

So they're going to be looking through all of that. Also they're going to be looking through the CCTV on these trains because this is a new type of train and has a lot of CCTV cameras on it.

They'll be looking through forensic evidence and DNA because, of course, this bomb didn't fully detonate. But had it done so, it could have caused much greater damage -- George.

HOWELL: CNN's Nina dos Santos, live for us in London, Nina, thank you for the report. We'll stay in touch with you.

Let's get some context with Yannick Veilleux-Lepage with the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews.

Yannick, it's good to have you with us this hour, to talk more about this case. Let's talk about what we do know at this point. Officials believe this device may have used a substance called TATP, the same explosive that was used in attacks in Spain and France and England.

What more you can tell us about this explosive and what it could mean, if indeed this is the same thing?

YANNICK VEILLEUX-LEPAGE, UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS: So TATP or acetone peroxide is a non-nitrous based explosive. It's extremely sensitive. In fact, Palestinians used to refer to it as "the mother of Satan" because it has this tendency to explode when you don't want it to explode. One of the factors that's very important about TATP, is the fact that

it's relatively low cost to fabricate. And the precursors can be synthesized from household products such as nail polish remover and bleach.

That being said, it does require a certain amount of chemical literacy in order to be fabricated, to be synthesized. What this indicates is, I'd say, on two parts.

First of all, it indicates a certain amount of technical literacy from the bombmakers. So even if the device didn't function as planned, it does show a larger amount of, I'd say, motivation and belief in their abilities.

Secondly, it also shows that is --

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VEILLEUX-LEPAGE: -- we were relatively lucky as to what happened. Now TATP was used in the July 7th bombing in London and in 2005, if I remember correctly, which led to a large -- much more casualties and this was a bombing that also took place on the London Underground. And in that case, actually, the TATP failed to completely ignite. So we can see this is an explosive that's quite temperamental.

HOWELL: So by determining the technicalities of the bombers, as you point out, will this help investigators to also get closer to figuring out who might be behind this?

VEILLEUX-LEPAGE: Absolutely. The recipe for TATP is widely available online. It's available in jihadi websites and magazines. This isn't to say that this attack is necessarily committed by sympathizers of jihadi groups. But this has been their, I'd say, one of their favorite explosives to employ.

HOWELL: So the threat level is now at critical. It's been raised and another attack is expected because of that. There is a manhunt underway for suspects or a suspect.

So, given what we know so far about the explosive, the simple fact that there's this TV, the CCTV, closed circuit TV, is there a good chance for investigators to get closer to who's behind this and find the people or the person?

VEILLEUX-LEPAGE: Yes, there are a couple things encouraging for the investigators, first of all, since the device didn't completely destroy itself, there's a possibility of forensic prints on the device, fingerprints, potential DNA and potential serial numbers on some of the components and that can all help the investigators.

Also, the bombing itself having taken place on the London tube, it's an area which has very large CCTV coverage. There's only five stations where the perpetrator or perpetrators could have entered the carriage.

The bomb itself is relatively conspicuous, you're talking about a ALDI bag and a builder's bucket. So something that should be relatively easy for investigators sniffing through all the footage to spot.

The reason why the terror threat has increased, it's the same reason we saw the terror threat increase immediately after the Manchester attack, is that, currently, what we do know is that there is one or many individuals that do have a certain amount of technical knowledge to perpetrate such attacks that are still on the loose.

We're talking about individuals that are clearly very motivated. Now one of the concerns that I'm sure the police service is sharing right now is whether these individuals may try to strike in a slightly more low-tech fashion since their initial attack failed. And we saw this happening in Barcelona.

To remind your viewers, the vehicle-ramming attack in Barcelona that happened earlier in August wasn't the original plan. From what we're seeing right now, the original plan was a large-scale attack against the Sagrada Familia using TATP.

But unfortunately for the bombmakers and fortunately for everybody else, it seems like their bomb factory exploded. And therefore, the perpetrators, knowing that they only had a certain amount of time before security services closed down on them, decided to engaged in a much more lower-scale attack.

And I think that's something that police services -- that's something that will rest heavily on the police services' minds right now.

HOWELL: Yannick Veilleux-Lepage, live for us, thank you so much for the insight on this case in London. We'll stay in touch with you as we learn more through the investigation.

VEILLEUX-LEPAGE: Thank you.

HOWELL: Thank you.

The U.S. president Donald Trump called the British prime minister after the London incident. Downing Street said that he offered his condolences but he's also drawn rebukes from British officials for his response on Twitter, as CNN's Athena Jones explains.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to say that our hearts and prayers go out to the people of London, who suffered a vicious terrorist attack.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump responding to Friday's terror attack on London's subway system.

TRUMP: Radical Islamic terrorism, it will be eradicated, believe me.

JONES (voice-over): Those comments coming after a flurry of early morning tweets about the incident.

"Another attack in London by a loser terrorist," Trump wrote, adding, "These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive."

The president's national security adviser, H.R McMaster, later trying to explain what Trump meant by "in the sights of Scotland Yard." The London police department headquarters.

LT. GEN. H.R. MCMASTER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I think what the president was communicating is that --

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MCMASTER: -- obviously all of our law enforcement efforts are focused on this terrorist threat from, you know -- for years. He didn't mean anything beyond that.

JONES (voice-over): The president's tweets prompted strong pushback from London police, who said they didn't yet know who was involved. And similar criticism from British prime minister Theresa May.

MAY: I never think it's helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation.

JONES (voice-over): The president seizing on the incident to push his proposed travel ban, targeting nearly all refugees as well as people from six Muslim majority countries, a ban that is facing several legal challenges.

Trump tweeting, "The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific. But stupidly, that would not be politically correct."

Asked to explain his tweet, he would only say --

TRUMP: We have to be tough and we have to be smarter.

JONES (voice-over): The latest terror attack on an ally coming in the wake of yet another missile launch by North Korea, the second one to fly over another key ally, Japan, in less than a month, a problem international diplomatic pressure has, so far, been unable to solve.

Amid the escalating threat from North Korea, the president visited Joint Base Andrews outside Washington Friday, where he talked up the country's military might.

TRUMP: When our enemies hear the F-35 engines, when they're roaring overhead, their souls will tremble and they will know the day of reckoning has arrived.

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HOWELL: That was CNN's Athena Jones reporting there for us. For context now, let's bring in Leslie Vinjamuri. Leslie is a senior lecturer in international relations at SOAS University, live in London for us this hour.

Leslie, always a pleasure to have you here on the show. Let's start with the president's comments regarding the London attack. You heard him in Athena Jones' piece, quick to mention the words, "radical Islamic terror," keeping in mind we still don't know all the facts yesterday. That's what investigators are saying, they don't know all the facts to release publicly yet.

But we do know that when the facts were clear back in August, right after the Charlottesville protest, a woman killed during clashes between white supremacists and protesters, he was not as quick to use the term white supremacist and also had this to say about facts.

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TRUMP: Very important to me to get the facts out and correctly. I couldn't have made it sooner because I didn't know all of the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. I had to see the facts. I want to know the facts. I want the facts. I wanted to see the facts.

Before I make a statement, I need the facts. You don't make statements that direct unless you know the facts. I want to make a statement with knowledge. I wanted to know the facts.

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HOWELL: Back in August, the president a bit more sensitive on that incident dealing with white supremacists. In this case, though, jumping right in.

LESLIE VINJAMURI, SOAS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: That's right. I mean, we've seen this repeatedly, that when he has a sense that an act of terrorism has been committed by Islamists, that he immediately tweets.

And this is particularly difficult, you notice that what we just saw in the package is that those people around him have to deal with the fallout. So you see McMaster and Haley trying to say he wasn't ascribing blame to Scotland Yard for not being attentive to the individuals involved. He wasn't really ascribing blame to particular groups.

But of course that's what he's doing in Twitter. He's speaking continually to that base. Doesn't help with the U.S. relationship with the United Kingdom, puts Theresa May and others on the back of it, having to speak out and distance himself from a president that, again, that's a relationship that people want to see strong.

The U.K. certainly wants to see strong. But it makes it very, very difficult. But even this week, if you go back to Charlottesville, Congress has been pushing the president through this nonbinding resolution to more clearly condemn white supremacists. But the president is not showing this kind of judgment that people are looking for.

The tweets are, it's a pattern and it's not surprising that it seems to be very concerning. But the pointing to Scotland Yard in the way that he did is very problematic.

HOWELL: Here in the United States, the president has those who support his policies and his style. He has those who oppose his policies and style. And we're looking now at a bump in his approval rating, Leslie. It's gone up now to 39 percent, though it's still important to point out, it is at an historic low.

Given, though, at 39 percent, who do you believe the president is appealing to, reaching out to, to see that new spike?

VINJAMURI: Yes, I mean, it is interesting, because of course, the polling, you know, it's continued. It has moved. It came down to 34 percent at one point. Back up to 39 percent. It's still staying --

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VINJAMURI: -- consistently below 40 percent. It's still very low historically.

HOWELL: We just lost Leslie there. We'll have to get back in touch with her if we can here in the show. But Leslie Vinjamuri there, live for us in London, thank you for the context.

Now to St. Louis, Missouri. There is anger on the streets there after a rationally charged police shooting. Former police officer Jason Stockley was found not guilty Friday in the 2011 shooting of an African American man, Anthony Lamar Smith.

The judge's verdict sparked protests across the city. You see these images of people walking the streets there. Police used tear gas against the protesters; 23 people have been arrested and several officers injured. CNN's Chicago bureau correspondent Ryan Young has more.

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RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Things in St. Louis got tense overnight. If you look down the way here, you can see the officers who decided to make a line and tell the protesters it was time to go home.

We'll have to show you this dramatic video outside the mayor's house. It was a mostly peaceful process through the night. Protesters marching for miles, stopping at intersections, even in front of the hospital.

But when they got to the mayor's house, someone decided they wanted to break the windows. And we actually got that part on tape. Once that happened, officers swarmed the neighborhood and once they swarmed the windows, they asked the protesters to leave.

That happened with some force, some teargas. People did move on.

For most of the night, it's been peaceful. Protesters have been marching and talking about a change for justice. They want to see something done. A lot hasn't healed here ever since Michael Brown and what happened in Ferguson.

So tonight you saw a multicultural group, walking through the streets of St. Louis, talking about change, wanting the neighborhoods to know that they want to see something different happen.

But by the end of the night, obviously, some emotions got maybe a little too heated. In fact, we even saw this in the middle of the street, protesters using this to clean out their eyes after that teargas got into their nostrils and into their face.

So far, police have been able to move people back. But the helicopters remain up in the sky as they continue to look for people who decided not to go home -- Ryan Young, CNN, St. Louis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: Ryan, thank you for that report.

Despite this latest verdict, the U.S. Justice Department is planning to scale back a program that was intended to help improve trust between police and the public. It will no longer issue audit reports of police departments or suggest reforms.

The attorney general, Jeff Sessions, says this will respect local control and accountability. The program was created during the Obama administration in response to police-involved shootings.

Still ahead this hour here on NEWSROOM, the Caribbean island of Anguilla was devastated by Hurricane Irma. Why residents there say their paradise is not lost; it's just on hold.

Plus, Hurricane Jose. It's still in the Atlantic Ocean. It is twisting and turning. We'll have more on its path ahead.

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HOWELL: The Caribbean islands are struggling to recover from Hurricane Irma's strength and CNN has correspondents reporting from throughout the region. We find our Michael Holmes in Anguilla, where he reports that paradise is not lost but, rather, it's on hold.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's almost eerie, approaching Anguilla from the sea. A landscape stripped bare of the usual lush green backdrop. On shore, locals pull pieces of homes and businesses from an ocean where tourists usually swim.

Nearby, Johno's, a landmark jazz joint frequented by locals and celebrities like Denzel Washington and Janet Jackson.

HOLMES: After the hurricane had gone through, did you expect this place to be here? JOHN "JOHNO" EDWARDS, BUSINESS OWNER: I didn't. I didn't because in 1995, when Hurricane Louis came, it knocked it down flat. And this was more intense than Louis.

HOLMES (voice-over): Johno has run this place for 34 years. As soon as jazz musicians can get here, he says, the music will be back.

EDWARDS: Hurricanes depress you when you come out and see all the devastation. SO doing something to give a little upkeep is a good thing.

HOLMES (voice-over): Johno's is in Sandy Ground, Anguilla's nightlife hub. Rapper Jay Z has been to this island; Justin Bieber a couple of years ago and this was The Pump House, one of the more popular night spots.

HOLMES: This church is one of the oldest buildings on the island. And here's the thing: it was meant to be a hurricane shelter. Fortunately, nobody came.

HOLMES (voice-over): Infrastructure the main issue here, electricity out island wide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are totally devastated. As you look around, you can see almost 90 percent of the electrical network distribution system has been taken out. A lot of the poles didn't just fall down, they were broken in two or three parts.

HOLMES (voice-over): It could be months before power is restored. Tourism is the lifeblood of this whole region. Restaurants, beach bars and resorts hit hard.

HOLMES: And here's an example. This was the Palm Grove Restaurant, yes, right here, one of the most popular places on the island. That's all that's left of it.

HOLMES (voice-over): Other businesses are open. Still more back every day, needing only minor repairs. The phone service being worked on, aid starting to arrive.

But what locals want is a cash injection from the British government, a stimulus to bolster a fragile economy and rebuild infrastructure to withstand the next Irma.

HOLMES: Anguilla isn't paradise lost. Don't let people hear you say that around here. Perhaps it's paradise on hold. And they say they're not going to sit around and wait for British government help. They say waiting for outsiders isn't an option when it comes to making this paradise once more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe in ourselves. And we will continue to believe in ourselves, you know. And anybody who is sitting around waiting, you're not going to see that here. You're not going to see that here.

HOLMES: What's the future like? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bright as usual. As usual, we go from zero to hero, you know. We just get it done.

HOLMES (voice-over): Michael Holmes, CNN, Anguilla.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: The devastation throughout the Caribbean, it is just incredible to see. And incredible to see how people are dealing with the recovery.

Here's the thing, there is another hurricane in the Atlantic. It is causing a great deal of concern, especially along the East Coast of the United States.

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HOWELL: Still ahead, we return to London after a short break. There is an urgent manhunt underway to find the person or people behind the explosion on the London tube Friday before they can try it again.

Plus, the U.N. condemns North Korea's latest missile test, which North Korea's leader calls perfect. We have a live report from Seoul, South Korea.

CNN, live from Atlanta, Georgia, to our viewers in the United States and around the world, this is NEWSROOM.

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HOWELL: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. It is always good to have you with us. I'm George Howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour.

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HOWELL: Back to our top story this hour, the attack in London. The threat level across the United Kingdom has been raised to critical and the top priority of investigators remains to stop another attack before it's too late. CNN correspondent Brian Todd has this report on the investigation.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flames emanate from a crudely built bomb placed by the doorway inside a train in London's Underground. Officials say this IED sent more than 2 dozen people to the hospital with wounds like flash burns and singed hair.

Witnesses say it also caused a stampede of panicked commuters, desperate to get out of the Parsons Green tube station in Southwest London.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People just got trod on. It was every man for himself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This wall of fire was just coming towards us.

TODD (voice-over): The suspect or suspects still at large.

MAY: A further attack may be imminent.

TODD (voice-over): The full resources of Scotland Yard and British counterterror forces engaged in an intense manhunt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are many urgent inquiries ongoing now with hundreds of detectives involved, looking at CCTV, forensic work and speaking to witnesses.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bomb itself did not go off, which, for law enforcement, is a great thing because the bomb, in and of itself, it's sort of a fingerprint of the individual who made it.

TODD (voice-over): A British security source tells CNN a timer was found on the device, that it's clear that although this was a crude bomb, it was intended to cause much greater damage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're only aware of one device. So we now have the remnants of that device. It's being examined by our experts.

TODD (voice-over): One source briefed on the investigation says an initial assessment of the bomb indicates it's highly likely to have contained TATP, an unstable explosive, that packs a nasty punch.

This video shows TATP combusting just from a tiny film canister.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: TATP is one of the most sensitive explosives known to the bomb tech community and it really takes very little initiation to set it off.

TODD (voice-over): Now the fact that a timer was used and the suspect is still at large has Londoners bracing for the worst.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The timer is really what's freaking people out.

And did this individual place bombs at other locations?

I mean, they are, obviously, sweeping all the train stations in London, all the tube stations right now at this particular time. They're looking for other devices.

TODD (voice-over): This marks the fifth significant attack this year in Britain after the attacks at Westminster Bridge, London Bridge, the mosque at Finsbury Park and Manchester arena. TODD: Experts say these attacks in Britain, along with the recent attack in Barcelona, means terrorists are going to keep coming at these European cities, that they remain a very high-value target for jihadists, second only, possibly, to cities here in the United States -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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HOWELL: Let's get some context now from Dal Babu. He is the former chief superintendent for the Metropolitan Police, joining us now by phone in London.

It's good to have you with us, Dal, today. So let's start with what we know, the information that we do understand. There is CCTV that could prove helpful to investigators. The bomb itself did not fully detonate.

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HOWELL: Given your experience, your insight into cases like this, how difficult might it be to find out exactly who is behind this attack, given what we know?

DAL BABU, FORMER CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT, METROPOLITAN POLICE: Well, fortunately, the bomb didn't explode. So we've had some (INAUDIBLE) what appears to be some explosives, chemicals within a bucket that didn't fully explode. The timer didn't work.

So the police will have phenomenal opportunities in terms of forensics. They'll be able to look at DNA. They'll be able to look at fingerprints. In addition to that, they'll be able to try and identify where the timer was purchased from.

In this country, you have to -- if you get a bag, it's a supermarket bag, it's actually scanned in. You have to buy that. So as a result of that, they may be able to trace it back to where the bag was purchased.

In addition to that, they've got the opportunity there to really have scrutinized all the materials there. And maybe -- people get careless. It looks a fairly amateurish job. So in that respect, there's simply opportunities in the CCTV. London, all the London transport has extensive CCTV.

This train would have only been traveling for a couple of stops. So it's relatively straightforward as for the police to look at where the device was placed, who the passenger was or passengers were, where they got on and where they got off.

So they will be trolling that CCTV and they would have probably a very, very early stage identify who they're looking for, who may or may not be known to them. And I think they're keeping their cards very close to the chest at this stage (INAUDIBLE) Mark Rowley is basically in a way ongoing operations at the moment.

So I should imagine this is a significant amount of information they have, which they're not disclosing to the public now. Thankfully, it wasn't -- it didn't go off, unlike the 7/7 bomb, where 52 people, unfortunately, lost their lives.

So I think it's a new way of how individuals are carrying out attacks. This, sadly, has been the new norm for Europe, it's not just London, if you look at it, Paris, Nice and places in Belgium, you see more and more of these attacks happening.

And I think it's about the authorities then responding to them. So critical, they've raised the threat level from severe, which is where (INAUDIBLE), to critical, (INAUDIBLE). So I think now they're just putting in additional resources.

Unfortunately, what we have now is a reduction in police officers. There's been a 20 percent reduction in the number of police officers. So that has an impact now, because we're having to call on the army. And the army aren't trained to deal with people.

And yet we're going to have young sort of soldiers on the streets, who don't really have a great deal of understanding of engagement of the public. You're going to have that 18-year old who has done basic training, who has a weapon in their hands. So there is some concern around how that will manifest itself.

HOWELL: Dal Babu, thank you so much for joining us. Your -- the phone line, not the strongest but we did get the gist of the information you're sharing with us. Again, the threat level raised to critical. There's concern about another attack. Investigators doing what they can to work with the information they have to find out who's exactly behind this.

Dal, thank you so much. We'll keep in touch with you for sure.

The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, reportedly want to achieve equilibrium with the United States in terms of its nuclear weapons. This is according to North Korean state media; while the U.N. Security Council condemned Pyongyang's latest missile test on Friday. Kim was praising it as perfect and a crucial step toward nuclear deployment. That led to this warning from the U.S. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCMASTER: And so, for those who have said and have been commenting about the lack of a military option, there is a military option. Now it's not what we prefer to do. So what we have to do is call on all nations, call on everyone, to do everything we can to address this global problem short of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: CNN international correspondent Ian Lee, live in Seoul, South Korea, following reaction to what's happening.

Ian, it seems that North Korea remains defiant, determined.

And the question now, what recourse do allies have in the face of this threat?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big question right now. They did try sanctions. They imposed what the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said were the toughest sanctions to date.

But it still doesn't seem to have any impact on North Korea, George. They're testing this new missile, which has traveled the farthest of any their --

[05:40:00]

LEE: -- missiles out to sea have flown.

And this is a big development because this comes just after North Korea announced that it has the capability of putting a hydrogen bomb on top of an intercontinental ballistic missile. And then they had that large hydrogen bomb test.

This just shows that North Korea is staying true to its word when it says they're going to continue to develop its nuclear and missile technology. And that flies in the face of the international community which condemns it.

But really right now, the governments of different countries trying to figure out what is the right solution for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program, it just seems like they haven't found the equation yet.

HOWELL: And the U.S. clearly indicating that, you know, it is considering its military options in this situation, though, preferring diplomacy along with allies.

But the question here, Ian, is there still some daylight being seen between South Korea and United States, given some of the president's comments?

LEE: Yes, you're right. When you have an international crisis, the most important thing is for allies to come together, to show that they are one voice, united. And we did see some daylight between the United States and South Korea, where President Trump was seen by South Koreans as a slight against their president, President Moon.

You also had President Trump talk about trade deals with the South that he feels is unfavorable to United States. These are things that really do not help when there is an international crisis.

And you do need to reassure your allies in the region that the United States is behind them. Right now, though, it does seem like they are, they do have this one voice, they are united. We saw that in the U.N. Security Council.

And we're also seeing it with these military exercises. I went out just yesterday to one such military exercise. And I was speaking with some of the soldiers about how important it is to work with their Korean counterparts. And they say that it's extremely important that they have this

cohesion because, if war does break out -- and there have been many threats from North Korea -- if war does break out, it's going to be important for these allies to work together, George.

HOWELL: CNN correspondent Ian Lee, live for us in Seoul, South Korea, following the situation. Thank you for the report, Ian. We'll stay in touch with you.

UNICEF says that up to 400,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar to escape violence. The news comes as Human Rights Watch released these satellite images you see here of what it claims are scorched Rohingya villages. The group accuses Myanmar of deliberately burning these villages to drive out Rohingya Muslims.

Aid groups say they are doing what they can to help people who are most vulnerable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe 230,000 240,000 children. They are clearly at risk. No, the needs have not been met. We're are setting up our response. The children are the most vulnerable. They need safe access. They need protection. They need nutrition and they need to keep bringing to school.

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HOWELL: Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants even though they have lived in Myanmar for centuries.

This is NEWSROOM. We'll be back after the break.

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[05:45:00]

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HOWELL: A not guilty verdict in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, is sparking outrage on the streets. Protesters there, upset, after a former police officer was acquitted on Friday of the 2011 shooting and the killing of an African American man.

During the trial, the prosecutors accused the officer of planting a gun to justify that shooting. The officer insists, though, he acted in self-defense. Randi Kaye has more on this case.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): You're watching the final moments of a man's life. It's December 2011 and motorist Anthony Lamar Smith is being chased by St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley and his partner. UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: (INAUDIBLE)

KAYE: The officers suspected he'd been involved in a drug deal.

The officers would later say, when they approached Smith, he jumped in his car and drove off, hitting the police cruiser and knocking Officer Stockley sideways. The officer fires several shots, saying he feared for his life and the safety of others.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: (INAUDIBLE)

KAYE: The high-speed chase tops 80 miles an hour. During the pursuit, Stockley is going heard saying, "Going to kill this blank, don't you know it."

It's difficult to hear on the dashcam video, but court documents say that's what he said.

The chase ends with a crash, which Smith survives. But when officers approach, an internal report says Stockley ordered Smith to show his hands and that he thought he saw Smith reach for a handgun. Officer Stockley fires four shots.

Anthony Smith is struck in the chest and dies at the scene.

An internal report says Officer Stockley entered his car to locate the weapon and render it safe and remove the ammunition from a silver revolver. According to the criminal complaint, forensic analysis revealed that only Officer Stockley's DNA was on the gun he said belonged to Smith. Officer Jason Stockley is relieved of his duties and charged with first-degree murder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We all knew what it was when it happened. There couldn't be any doubt about it. We knew it was murder from the beginning.

KAYE (voice-over): Stockley's murder trial started last month. The key question, whether or not the motorist, Smith, had a gun at the time of the shooting. Prosecutors argued that the ex-officer may have planted the revolver in the car to justify the shooting. Even though multiple cameras captured the incident, the gun was never seen.

Still, in his not-guilty ruling, Judge Timothy Wilson said, "The gun would have been too large for Stockley to hide and then plant."

The judge said he'd reviewed the video footage innumerable times and that just because Smith's fingerprints weren't on the gun didn't mean the driver didn't touch the gun.

Judge Wilson was left to determine whether the killing --

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KAYE (voice-over): -- was intentional or a lawful use of deadly force by an officer acting in self-defense -- Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

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HOWELL: Breaking news to bring you this hour in the London terror attack. Let's get to straight to CNN's Nina dos Santos, live in London with these new developments.

Nina, what have you learned?

DOS SANTOS: Thanks very much, George. The latest is that the Metropolitan Police that are leading this investigation have confirmed they've apprehended a suspect. A significant arrest, they say, has been made in the Parsons Green attack.

Just in the last statement released in the last few minutes by The Met, talking about an 18-year-old man who's been arrested in the port of Dover in Kent, in the southeast of the United Kingdom.

This is, by the way, George, a major point for exiting this country and heading across the channel towards the European mainland to France or elsewhere.

In a statement from the Metropolitan Police, the deputy assistant commissioner, Neal Berthu (ph) has been saying that this arrest will lead to more activity from our officers for strong investigative reasons we will not give more details on the man we've arrested at this stage because this is a manhunt.

Of course, they're trying to --

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DOS SANTOS: -- figure out whether this individual or what the connection was to the incident at Parsons Green yesterday. But also whether they were working alone or whether they had help.

So at this point, they're trying to keep some details of this operation secretive, to see whether the net is wider than this one individual. That is something that we've seen over the last five attacks that have taken place in the U.K. so far this year.

Often when one arrest is made, it doesn't necessarily mean that we have the details that come out immediately, because they want to see whether the net is wider than one individual, George, especially given the fact that this was a bomb with explosive material, some type of help may have been given.

HOWELL: Nina, we have just a short amount of time.

Just one quick question, the threat level has been raised to critical. There's been concern that another attack could happen, possibly by the person or the people behind this.

Does that play into the threat level, now that we know that an arrest has been made?

DOS SANTOS: Well, for the moment, according to this statement, from the Metropolitan Police, they have said the threat level does still remain at critical. That presumably indicates that they may well be looking for other suspects who may have worked with one of these people; in particular, this suspect that seems to have been apprehended, and what their role was.

So for the moment, the threat level does remain at critical. That means that people have been told to be vigilant and there are more police on the streets and at tube stations like this -- George.

HOWELL: Nina dos Santos, live with the breaking news in London. A person has been arrested, an 18-year-old man in Dover. Nina, thank you for the reporting. We'll stay I touch with you, of course.

And thank you for being with us this hour. I'm George Howell, live in Atlanta. The news continues right here on CNN, after the break.