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Mogadishu Experienced its Worst Attacks in Years; North Korea Watch Closely U.S.-South Korea Naval Drills; Iran Not to Report Inspections; Terror Groups in Raqqa Leaving; Wildfires in California Contained; Rare Typhoon Heading to Ireland; EPA Officials Worries for Puerto Ricans; Young Politician Making a Name in Austria; Two Continents With Cases Against Harvey Weinstein. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 16, 2017 - 03:00   ET

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


[03:00:00] NATALIE ALLEN, HOST, CNN: This hour on CNN Newsroom, a joint naval drill between the United States and South Korea began just a few hours ago, and it comes it comes amid worries that President Trump's Twitter taunts will push North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be more aggressive. We'll go live to Seoul.

CYRIL VANIER, HOST, CNN: And nearly 300 people killed in a double bombing in Somalia. Hundreds more are in hospitals. It's the deadliest attack in the country in years.

Thanks for joining us everyone. I'm Cyril Vanier.

ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. These are the stories ahead here on CNN Newsroom.

Joint U.S.-South Korean naval drills are underway against the backdrop of escalated tensions with the North. North Korean state media is calling President Donald Trump a war merchant and a strangler of peace. And Pyongyang says the military exercises create a hair trigger situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S. Secretary of State tells CNN no matter the rhetoric the White House does prefer diplomacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REX TILLERSON, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: I think he does want to be clear with Kim Jong-un that regime in North Korea that he has military preparations ready to go and he has those military options on the table and we have spent substantial time actually perfecting those.

But to be clear, the president has also made clear to me that he wants this solved diplomatically. He is not seeking to go t war. He made it clear to me to continue my diplomatic efforts, which we are, and we will -- as I've told others those diplomatic efforts will continue until the first bomb drops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: In the meantime, Iran is threatening to halt unannounced inspections of its nuclear program if the nuclear agreement is cancelled. Secretary Tillerson says Washington is trying to stay in this deal, the Iran nuclear that he asks that there are flaws that need to be fixed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TILLERSON: We want to take the agreement as it existed, as I said fully enforce that agreement, be very demanding of Iran's compliance under the agreement and then begin the process of addressing these flaws that we see around not the absence of addressing ballistic missiles. For instance, the concerns we have around the sunset provisions, the space out of the agreement.

You know, we know what that looks like, we've seen this in the past in the '90s with North Korea agreements that ultimately phase out. What happened has put us on the road we are today with North Korea. We don't want to find ourselves in that same position with Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: Well, we've got both issues with Fred Pleitgen. He's live in Tehran. And Alexandra Field is in South Korea for us. Let's begin in Seoul. Alexandra, with these drills that have just begun, the same drills that always anger the North.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes. And yet you continue to see the U.S. flexing its military muscle in the region. That has very clearly been part of the Trump administration's strategy. And you did hear the secretary of state alluding to that, though he says that diplomacy is the first and the main objective here.

He does say that it's important to President Trump to continue to show North Korea that a military option exists and is on the table. As for South Korea their military officials say that these drills continue to be necessary to counter the provocations from the North.

So to that end what you've got are 10 days of naval exercises. These will happen in the waters to the east and west of the Peninsula. They involve U.S. carrier strike groups and guided missile destroyers.

And as you point out, Natalie, yes, they are indeed sure to enrage Pyongyang as these drills often do. We have heard from state news in North Korea they've been slamming these drills started even before the drills started.

Again, talking about how the U.S. is pushing the region to the brink of war. This will sound pretty similar to the classic bit of North Korean rhetoric that we heard just a week ago when the foreign minister told state news in Russia that President Trump had lit the wick of war when he threatened to totally destroy North Korea if necessary during his speech to the United Nations just about a month ago. Natalie?

ALLEN: Right. North Korea sometimes engages in some military might if its own during these drills. The North certainly been busy with its missile launches. Any signs from North Korea of anything like that? FIELD: What we've seen so far is they have revived a threat that they

first leveled against the U.S. back during the summer month. It was one of the most detailed threats that you had seen from the regime and that was a threat to send four missiles into the waters around the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

That was a response to remarks from President Trump about unleashing fire and fury, the likes of which the world had never seen. And it was really one of the points of the greatest tension over the summer months.

[03:04:55] You have again seen them, seen the North Korean regime renewing these threats through state media and certainly, Natalie, these drills are scheduled to continue for the next 10 days, so we expect we will hear more rhetoric from the regime.

And as you point out in the past when these drills have been conducted you have seen them take actions including missile launches just this year. You've had more than a dozen ballistic missile launches coming from North Korea. Natalie

ALLEN: All right. Ten long days. We'll see what happens. Thank you so much, Alexandra Field for us in Seoul. Cyril.

VANIER: Yes. Let's look at our other main foreign policy story here. Iran is fighting back against the U.S. President's threats to withdraw from the landmark nuclear deal.

The country says it will stop letting international monitors and inspect its facilities unannounced if the deal is canceled.

Let's go to Fred Pleitgen now in Tehran. Fred, you've been monitoring reaction to the speech in Iran, President Trump's speech. What are you finding?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, I mean, that's exactly what the Iranians are saying, Cyril, they say of course there won't be any unannounced visit by IAEA inspectors to any more Iranian nuclear sites if indeed the deal fully falls apart.

And there's other very senior Iranian politicians who are also saying that look, if there are additional sanctions imposed on Iran, for instance, by the United States that of course that would mean the end of the nuclear agreement.

That would also mean that the Iranians could very quickly ramp up their nuclear program once again.

Now the Iranians have always maintained that they were never after a nuclear weapon but they do feel that they have the right to a nuclear program and they certainly say that if a deal falls apart that that nuclear program would go back into force without any sorts of restrictions.

There are of course certain things certain facilities that they've destroyed. There is element that they've sent abroad but they say that they could ramp things up again very, very quickly.

There is, of course, Cyril, here on the ground in Iran a lot of anger at some of the rhetoric that President Trump used in his speech. Quite surprising, though, what actions seems to have angered Iranians the most. Here's what we heard when we were on the streets of Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: Among the many criticisms President Trump hurled at Iran.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The regime remains the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.

PLEITGEN: Believe it or not it was this one that most enraged Iranians.

TRUMP: It harasses American ships and threatens freedom of navigation in the Arabian Gulf and in the Red Sea.

PLEITGEN: At this Tehran market folks were fuming at Trump saying Arabian Gulf and not Persian Gulf.

"I think some of what he said was OK, but when he talked about the Arab Gulf that cause the Arab countries to jugulate," this woman says, "I got very upset with him because he insulted our history and our nation."

"It shows that he's not an educated person," this woman says, "and he doesn't know anything about how the world works."

Of course, Iranians are concerned after President Trump decertify the nuclear agreement that curbs Iran's atomic ambitions in return for sanctions relief but the mood seems to be uniting Iran's various political factions.

There are deep divisions in this country between moderates who want to open Iran up to the world and hard liners who are suspicious of the west. But after President Trump's Iran speech both sides are coming to each other's defense.

On the president's order, the U.S. treasury also put new sanctions on Iran's hard line Revolutionary Guard or IRGC over its support for terrorist organizations leading the moderate Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to tweet, quote, "Today, Iranians, boys, girls, men, and women are all IRGC."

Hussein Shariatmadari is the head of the most influential hard-line newspaper and an adviser to Iran's supreme leader. He says President Trump has helped conservatives by verbally attacking Iran.

"Trump made us realize that if we don't stand together the enemy will exploit the distance between us," he says. "A widespread unity was created among us."

President Trump's new and tough approach to Iran has disappointed Iranian moderates while hard-liners are gloating, saying Tehran never should have negotiated with America in the first place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And you know, Cyril, all of these issues certainly make it more difficult, for instance, for international companies to also come in here. When you're on the ground here in the city you can see that there's international companies that are coming in the search trying to scope out what it would be like to start doing business here, especially European companies.

But that specter of the nuclear agreement possibly falling apart or being in jeopardy is certainly something that is also on the minds of those companies as well and they certainly would like a little more clarity as to what the future will bring also, Cyril.

VANIER: Fred, I was watching your report there. It was fascinating -- am I correct to understand from your reporting that perhaps, in fact, what Mr. Trump's speech did was actually strengthen and unite the Iranians against him?

[03:10:01] PLEITGEN: Yes. I absolutely think that that is the case. I do think that the political factions here are the ones that were really at odds with one another, especially if you look back at the last presidential election here in Iran.

When Hassan Rouhani won his second term in office there was some really divisive political rhetoric going on. Hassan Rouhani heavily criticized the hard-liners. He criticized the Revolutionary Guard, for instance, for their missile launches which, for instance, Hebrew writing on those missiles.

All of that seems to have evaporated right now. Hassan Rouhani has come to the defense of the Revolutionary Guard. A lot of other senior government officials have done so. The foreign minister has done so as well.

And one of the things that that Iranians said is they believe that it's actually the Americans who are isolating themselves. Javad Zarif just went on and he says no one is going to believe the U.S. anymore if they pull out of this nuclear agreement.

Also, for instance, in negotiations with North Korea. That's something that the U.S. wants to start as well. They say that the IAEA is saying that Iran is in compliance with the nuclear agreement. The IAEA is also saying that this is the strictest verification regime that they currently have in the entire world.

And then you have the European countries and Russia who are also saying that they not only believe that this deal is working but they also believe that it is actually at this point the best alternative and that everything else could possibly be catastrophic, Cyril.

VANIER: Our CNN international correspondent Fred Pleitgen reporting live from Tehran in Iran. Thank you very much.

ALLEN: Let's get inside now into the U.S. and how the U.S. is approaching this deal. Jacob Parakilis is deputy head of the U.S. and the Americas program at Chatham House, he joins us live from London. Jacob, thanks for talking with us.

We just heard from Fred there that, you know, the Iranians think that the Americans are isolating themselves. The IAEA says that Iran's in compliance. The European countries say that Iran. Top advisers advice President Trump don't do this Iran is in compliance. What is behind Donald Trump's move against this deal?

JACOB PARAKILAS, ASSISTANT PROJECT DIRECTOR, CHATHAM HOUSE: There's been a lot of criticism from Trump from during the campaign the other republican candidates of the Iran deal. It was not popular with republicans when Obama was negotiating it after it was announced.

So in some ways this is a continuation of a sort of existing trend within U.S. republican politics.

But what happened after the deal was signed and after the election was people who had been opponents of the deal including the secretary of the state and the secretary of defense amongst many other senior republicans including those in positions of power on Capitol Hill, basically said we need to hold to this deal.

Because it's not perfect, there are a lot of things we criticize about that and we stand by those criticisms but it's a necessary framework that holds us together with our European allies. It's a rare area of cooperation between ourselves, Russia, and China and it seems to be working for the moment.

The IAEA, the State Department, the Defense Department are all satisfied that, you know, for the moment the Iranians are not actually producing a nuclear weapons system or nuclear weapons program as far as we can tell.

So, this is basically just Trump's initiative to try to bring his sort of negotiating - maximal negotiating tactics to the table. The problem is this isn't a bilateral negotiation and things work differently in multilateral negotiations.

ALLEN: Right. And we heard the Iranians in Fred's story there say it doesn't seem like the president of the United States understands how things work. He kind of did the same thing with the Paris climate accord. And the world was saying wait a minute, it's not up for renegotiation. But it seems like that's what he is looking to do.

And before, he is also kind of wanted to dismantle things and then throw it over to Congress as I hear fix it. Is that what it seems he's doing now?

PARAKILAS: Yes, I think that's one of the differences between this and the Paris climate accords. The climate accords he made a unilateral withdrawal from although it takes place over four years because that's what was set out in the document itself.

The Iran accord he hasn't actually completely torpedoed it. He's refused to recertify it which is a measure that Congress itself required of the president in its vote sort of, putting stipulations around the deal itself.

So, now it goes back to Congress and Congress can decide whether to reestablish sanctions on Iran which would probably destroy the deal or to do nothing which would result in a lack of U.S. -- or lessening of U.S. leverage and U.S. sort of credibility on the issue but wouldn't actually destroy the deal. It wouldn't mean that Europeans would -- and the IAEA would not still be sort of enforcing the deal and holding to its provisions.

ALLEN: And what does this do, Jacob, overall to U.S. relations with the countries, the European countries that worked so very hard on this deal and to see Mr. Trump, you know, kind of shake things up?

PARAKILAS: It's a really significant blow. I mean, the French, the British and the Germans as you say worked very hard on the deal. It's a centerpiece of European and E.U. foreign policy. It's something that, you know, there's not a lot of debate about in France, in Britain or in Germany. It's generally seen in those countries as a fairly positive step.

[03:14:59] And I think, you know, the sense in these countries is that the U.S. should if it seeks a renegotiation it should be looking for a sort of extension of the deal.

It should be looking to craft a follow-on deal or additional negotiations around the ballistic missile program rather than torpedoing the centerpiece of western engagement with Iran.

I don't think there's very much sort of positivity here. There's very much sense that much good will come out of this in terms of either broader nonproliferation goals or specifically of containing Iranian regional ambitions.

ALLEN: We thank you for your insight, Jacob Parakilas of Chatham House. Thanks, Jacob.

VANIER: Still to come on CNN Newsroom, tensions are mounting in northern Iraq. The latest on the standoff between the Kurds and the Iraqi central government when we come back.

ALLEN: Plus, the deadliest attack in Somalia's recent history. We'll have the latest on the recovery efforts Saturday's twin bombing in Mogadishu.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATE RILEY, SPORT ANCHOR, CNN: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN world sport headlines.

On Sunday in China, the Swiss Roger Federer made it five victories on the balance against the Majorcan Rafa Nadal to continue a sequence that started nearly two years ago now.

Here in Shanghai it was all pretty straightforward for Roger. He went on to win in straight sets. In fact, Federer was reckless comfortably winning at 6-4 6-3. Nadal who is wearing a tape just below his right knee here was recording five match winning streaks against the 19-time slam on three occasions. Now the Swiss has done it against Rafa for the very first time.

Maria Sharapova secured her very first title since May 2015 when she won the Italian Open. The Russian who is a tournament wild card was too good for the Belarusian teen Aryna Sabalenka on Sunday, and it was her first title since the drug ban.

But she had to dig deep. She came from behind to win both set, she manage to beat Sabalenka in straight sets. It was a quite a fight. She was 4-1 down, and then 5-1 behind in the second but rallied to win 7- 5, 7-6. This was particularly sweet for Sharapova.

And all eyes were on the same San Siro Stadium where Internazionale and A.C. Milan went head to head on Sunday. And to strike first the A.C. Milan would level with a 2-0 score. And the final moments into awarded a penalty with the last kick of the match it was Mauro Icardi who buries it for the win, 3-2 for his hat trick the final score.

That's a look at your sport headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

ALLEN: In Syria, ISIS appears to be close to losing its de facto capital. U.S.-backed fighters say the terror group has been driven from 90 percent of Raqqa.

[03:20:00] The Syrian democratic forces say only a few hundred ISIS militants remain.

VANIER: There are reports some of the terrorists have surrendered and others were allowed to evacuate.

More fighting is expected in the days ahead. The U.S.-led coalition says it will try to protect civilians.

And as ISIS seems to be collapsing in Raqqa, tensions are brewing in neighboring Iraq between two of its enemies. Fighting has been reported near the Kurdish-controlled city of Kirkuk. Kurdish officials say their troops were attacked with tanks. But what exactly happened actually is unclear.

We do know central government forces have been moving towards the city. A standoff in the oil-rich region intensified after a Kurdish independence vote last month.

Iraq's prime minister has said he wants to impose security there. The Kurds have said that they're ready to repel any attack by Baghdad. The U.S. is urging all sides to avoid escalating the situation.

So, for more on all of this, Jomana Karadsheh joins us live from Amman, Jordan where she's monitoring the situation. Jomana, the Iraqi central government apparently has decided to use force in Kirkuk. What do we know?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Cyril, it would seem that worst-case scenario seems to be unfolding right now in northern Iraq. Those disputes, those tensions between the Kurds and the Arabs but have been brewing for years and years. This is not something that's happened overnight and now the biggest concern is that this is turning into a military confrontation.

The spark of this latest -- this crisis now is that controversial referendum on independence that the Kurds, the Kurdistan regional government went ahead with in late September despite so much pressure from the international community, from the government in Baghdad telling them not to go ahead with it. They did.

And since, Cyril, there have been some moves to try and get everyone to the negotiating table to try and start some dialogue. But Baghdad had a precondition. They wanted the Kurds to annul the results of the referendum, something that hasn't happened and tensions have been building.

In the past few days the Kurdistan regional government came out and warned saying that the Iraqi forces, the Iraqi security forces along with the Shia, the Iranian-backed Shia militias were preparing to attack the city of Kirkuk in their words. That of course was denied by so many Iraqi officials saying it's not true.

But overnight we have seen Iraqi forces starting what they're calling this operation to secure Kirkuk and moving in from different directions on the city with reports now they're claiming to have captured some sites. And as you mentioned some reports of some exchange of fire unclear at this point the nature of that in the past few hours, Cyril.

VANIER: Jomana, I know it's a very fluid situation but do you think we could be looking right now at the beginning of the partition of Iraq?

KARADSHEH: I think, Cyril, we have been looking at this for quite some time as that battle against ISIS started winding down in Iraq. This is the direction that the country has been headed towards especially when the Kurds announce that they're going ahead with that referendum.

Now I spoke to a senior Kurdish official a short time ago, and she was telling me that they have not reached -- this is not the point of no turn. That there is still room for deescalating. That the Iraqi prime minister can do something now so everyone can sit and negotiate a way out of this.

And they are also were saying that the United States has a big role to play here. They say they have a lot of influence, a lot of assets and diplomatic influence both in Baghdad and in Erbil and that they should be using this according to Kurdish officials to prevent war according to this one official, Cyril.

VANIER: All right. Jomana Karadsheh, reporting live from Amman, Jordan. Thank you very much.

Now Somali's capital has endured decades of violence. But officials say that Saturday's terror attacks in Mogadishu are the deadliest the country has seen in years. ALLEN: The twin truck bombings left at least 277 people dead,

hundreds more wounded and that number is expected to rise. And no one has claimed responsibility.

Let's go to Farai Sevenzo in Nairobi, Kenya. And Farai, that number of dead that may very well rise.

FARAI SEVENZO, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: It's already risen in the last hour since I last spoke to you, Natalie. It's gone up by one. One person has succumbed to his injuries since we last spoke. And the number of dead in Mogadishu's Saturday afternoon blast is now standing at 277.

Obviously that number is expected to rise. Remember, that junction K-5 junction where this truck, the first truck exploded was busy. The foreign minister told me yesterday that you cannot walk in a straight line at that time of day on a Saturday. There have been full of vendors, of teenagers, people going to the malls and when this truck unloaded its deadly load.

And of course, the Somali security say they had been tracking it all through the city. And unfortunately, they didn't get to it on time.

[03:25:02] At the moment, people are being buried. We understand that the Turkish health minister has arrived in Mogadishu. And the minister of information just told me that of the 300 or so injured people 40 have been air lifted because their injuries are too sere to be treated in Mogadishu hospitals.

We're talking about lost limbs. We're talking about severe burns. And it is as you said in your introduction, both of you, the very worst kind of terrorist attack on Mogadishu since this insurgency against Islamic terrorists began way back in 2007, Natalie.

ALLEN: Yes. The country is also facing drought and famine, couldn't come at a worse time. It's horrible. Thank you so much for your report, Farai Sevenzo out of Nairobi.

VANIER: We're going to take a short break. When we come back, firefighters been battling raging wildfires in northern California for a week. We'll see how weather conditions might finally help them get the upper hand.

ALLEN: Also we have seen a lot of powerful storms in the Atlantic but not many that reach Ireland. We'll have the latest on Ophelia's path, coming next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VANIER: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Cyril Vanier.

ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. Let's update you on our top stories this hour.

Philippine officials say two ISIS-linked militants have been killed in the southern city of Marawi following a long standoff with government troops. Officials say one of the militants was a top ISIS leader in Southeast Asia and was wanted by the FBI.

The other led a local militant group. They spearheaded a deadly siege in Marawi which had sparked fears ISIS would gain a foothold in the region.

[03:30:01] VANIER: Ten days of joint U.S.-South Korean naval exercises just gone underway. South Korea's naval commander said the drills are to counter North Korea's provocations.

The U.S. and Pyongyang had exchanged escalating rhetoric over the North's nuclear program. Pyongyang renewed its threat to launch missiles near the U.S. territory of Guam.

ALLEN: U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson say the U.S. is trying to stay in Iran nuclear deal, though it needs serious revision. This comes after President Donald Trump threatens to pull the U.S. out of the agreement on Friday, he says Iran is violating the terms and betraying the U.S.

VANIER: And the Catalan president is refusing to clarify whether he indeed declared Catalonia independent from Spain. Instead of that, Carles Puigdemont is asking Madrid for two months of talks.

The central government had threatened to suspend the region's economy if his answer was not clear enough.

Now some residents in northern California is returning home to piles of metal and rock after dozens of wildfires that scorched their neighborhoods the past few days. At least 40 people have been killed in the fire since Sunday.

ALLEN: Nearly 88,000 hectares or 217,000 acres have burned throughout California. The crews are starting to get the fires under control.

CNN's Dan Simon has the latest from Kenwood, California.

DAN SIMON, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: For the first time in a week firefighters are now striking optimistic tone about these fires that's because the winds have died down, and with that the containment numbers have gone up. That's other stores and trouble spots.

Take a look behind me, that's the Oakmont fire you can see the smoke billowing. There are some flame there on the mountain but firefighters not too concerned because the fires are not burning towards any populated communities.

We have seen though, some airplanes making some drops just to make sure things don't get out of control. Saturday night it was a difficult night for the community of Sonoma which is south of here. We did see some structures burned. There were some evacuations, but Sunday a whole different story because the winds have died down. The area no longer under a red flag warning.

And with that, we've seen a number of fires including the Tubbs fire which was the most destructive fire in the community of Santa Rosa.

The containment number 60 percent or more so firefighters now think they're beginning to turn a corner.

Dan Simon, CNN, Kenwood, California.

ALLEN: Finally, we take it. Pedram Javaheri following the latest too, for us as well. That's some good news from Dan Simon, Pedram.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Yes, absolutely for a long time coming. You know, we had winds up to tropical storm force about 10 days ago where it all initiated if you look 20 large active fires across this region. And of course, the concern now is how it is improving, how quickly it is improving.

And we've seen about 8 to 15 percent improvements as far as containment is concerned of the past 24 hours. And you see the Tubbs fire still only 60 percent contained but still seen dramatic improvements just in the past 24 hours alone.

Winds have generally calm down a little bit, say two to five miles an hour, some areas of the 10 miles per hour down from the 35 to 40 miles per hour we have just a few days ago. And then the temperature is within onshore component. Look at this San Francisco of course from 85 down to 65.

Los Angeles from the middle 90's down to the lower 80s, so the firefighters certainly going to be appreciative of the improving conditions across that area of the Western U.S.

Now into Western Europe, we go where something very interesting, very unusual taking place right now. Post-tropical storm Ophelia working this way ashore. And notice the winds are actually 140 kilometers per hour, which is 85 miles per hour. That is equivalent to a category one hurricane.

But the reason it's not called hurricane is that it's moving over cooler waters, it is a cold core systems versus tropical systems are one core.

But really it doesn't change the fact that the winds are just as strong as a category one hurricane. And of course, the impact is going to be significant around the western area of Ireland here over the next several hours. It will move ashore with winds equivalent to a category one hurricane first time since 30 years ago today the great storm of 1987 impacted this region. It left behind 22 lives lost and also brought down 15 million trees across North Western Europe.

We know the impact it could be significant, in particular for Ireland. The education department saying the storm is unprecedented as a result for Ireland they've actually close all schools across the board across the island today work your way into portions of the U.K. there. A low impact is expected but still could see power outages widespread.

In fact, Heathrow reporting about 20 flights that been halted so far. Dublin much the same about 20 flights have been canceled going into Monday.

There is the center of the storm going to the afternoon and evening hours, notice a lot of these winds pushing into the channels could be upwards of 100 kilometers per hour and then it works its way towards northern areas of the U.K. there.

So, a big story for folks across an area that's do get hit with very hard and significant storms but of course having one that has tropical origins is something you don't see every day, guys.

[03:34:59] ALLEN: Yes, unusual like many of the storms we're seeing.

JAVAHERI: Yes, very true.

ALLEN: Pedram, thank you. Yes, Pedram said it's racing toward Ireland and the United Kingdom bringing hurricane force winds, heavy rain, and possibly a dangerous storm surge.

Let's go to our Phil Black because he is live in Ireland. You are starting to feel the effect there, Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, indeed. And Natalie, it's really extraordinary. The conditions here are changing so quickly, so rapidly, it's been very windy, blustery, and wet throughout the morning as the sun has risen here. But there are moments of relative calm and there are moments where the wind really picks up. Overhead at the moment was a huge patch of blue sky, it is changing very, very quickly.

But over the hour from two hours that's when the authorities here tell us that this particular corner of Southwest Island is really going to start to feel the strongest winds coming from Ophelia.

And as you heard there, this is no longer hurricane but the strength of the winds is still very much like one. And so that's why the authorities here are so concerned.

They are initially just worried about the south, the southwest coast where we are, that's why they put in place what they called a red warning, the strongest possible weather warning. That warning now applies to the entire republican of Ireland because they are concern that the gust of wind could be so unpredictable and so dangerous in every county of this country.

So the advised to everyone here is to stay indoors all day to sit this one out. They've been advised to do all the preparation stuff before today. And what the authorities here now hope is that the storm will pass, the damage will be minimal. And hopefully no one will be hurt.

But they are worried about the wind, they're worried about the rain. They're expecting flooding, and of course big seas and a storm surge as well as this storm begins to move its way up to the West coast of Ireland.

Back to you.

ALLEN: Tropical storm hitting Ireland that is so bizarre. Phil Black covering it for us. Stay safe, Phil. We'll talk to you again. Thanks. We turn now to Puerto Rico. Thousands of people struggling from basic necessity still nearly a month after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. Eighty five percent of the island still has no power.

VANIER: And more than 30 percent of people don't have clean drinking water. In fact, the situation is so bad that someone drinking from contaminated wells.

CNN's Ed Lavandera has more on this.

ED LAVANDERA, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Nearly a month after hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, there are still some serious questions about just where some Puerto Ricans are getting their water from. Now one area, in particular is of intense concern here. It's an area around a town called Dorado, just west of the capital of San Juan.

There is an area there that has been labeled as a Superfund site. For those of you not familiar with what that term means, it's created by the Environmental and Protection Agency and it basically describes an area that is highly contaminated with toxic materials in the ground.

There are a number of water wells on Superfund site and there are reports and we've seen it ourselves of people getting water from those wells. Now one of the wells that have been use has been efficiently cleared by government officials here in Puerto Rico, and they have actually dish -- passing that water out to people who have standing in the long lines to come and get that water.

They say that the water has passed all of its testing. Some of the other wells is not exactly clear. A team from the Environmental Protection Agency went around this weekend testing some of those wells and it could most of the week to get the results back.

And it is believed that in this water that there could be high levels of toxic materials from industrial waste that is in those waters that could be a cause serious health problems for people. EPA officials say it would require long-term exposure to that water.

But we were with one of those EPA officials this is what he had to say about the testing that they're doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY LIPTON, EPA INCIDENT COMMANDER, PUERTO RICO OPERATIONS: There is the urgency it's a concern. And it's a concern both in public health and perception, but we understand that people are hurting right now. We understand there's a lot of thirsty people out there and they're accessing whatever water we can -- whatever water they can and we're trying to ascertain if it is pose any hazards or not.

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LAVANDERA: Some independent experts that we have spoken with here over the last few days are getting them to examine the EPA documents about this of Superfund sites. It is disturbing that water wells are being used for drinking water. Some water have been exposed to that drinking water and have used it for drinking water.

And what is more fascinating that many people as we've gone around to some of these wells many of the people who live in this area had no idea that this area had been designated as a Superfund site and they had no idea they were tapping into possibly contaminated water.

So, the work on determining exactly what is coming out of those water wells will continue to be done this week.

VANIER: An anti-immigrant politician is set to become Austria's next chancellor who may form a far right coalition government. We'll have a live report from Vienna after the break.

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ALLEN: The far right is celebrating another political accomplishment in Europe. Sebastian Kurz is set to become Austria's next chancellor following Sunday's election. He may form a far right government the first in Austria in over a decade.

VANIER: Kurz pushed his center-right party further to the right giving it a substantial anti-immigrant agenda.

CNN Senior international correspondent Atika Shubert joins as now from Vienna. Atika, now that Sebastian Kurz has won where does he want to take Austria, what does he want to change?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Also the big question. Let me show you some of the headlines this morning. "Triumph for Kuez," says one of them. The other here says interestingly "The new chancellor." But then the sub headline says, "Or it is still red blue." And what that refers to is the coalition building here.

Basically this newspaper and headlines are asking, what does he mean by change. He was certainly elected. You know, he got 30 percent of the vote with this idea that he was a young, fresh face on the political scene that he had turned his, you know, rather fusty people's party inside out fielding a number of independent candidates. But what is he going to do now.

As we know he's been much tougher on immigration, not only taking the decision to close Austria's borders behind the refugee but, for example, supporting a ban on the Islamic face veil what's known here as the burka ban.

And there is certainly call for tougher, a tougher line on immigration coming from the far right freedom party, you know, which he may or may not go into coalition with. I think the other thing is what will his economic policy be? He's called, for example, for lessoning the taxes that will also have an impact on social services here.

So, everybody is waiting to see what the change candidate will do now that it appears he is on track to become chancellor.

VANIER: All right. Becoming chancellor is one thing but he has to form a coalition. He has to put a team to get and that going to allow him to govern. What's that going to take?

[03:45:02] SHUBERT: Yes. I mean, he's won 30 percent of the votes that he has been natural traits for chancellor but that doesn't made guarantee to him yet. There's a lot of coalition building that needs to get done. That's probably going to start on Thursday when more of the votes comes in.

And he has really two options here. He can either go with the old coalition with the social democrats but that's very unlikely. Because they basically called this election because they couldn't get along and work with each other anymore. That means the second option is the far right freedom party. This is a notoriously anti-immigration, anti- Islam Party. And it would be a very significant shift to the right if he, you now, made that coalition with them.

On the other hand, Kurz is really the only thing that stopped the Freedom Party from coming ahead in the pools and the run-up to the election. So he is at once, you know, somebody who needs the Freedom Party for half, some of this coalition but at the same time one of the few political forces that can prevent their sort of far right agenda from taking over in the election.

VANIER: All right. Atika Shubert reporting live from Vienna in Austria. Thank you very much.

ALLEN: More women are speaking out against Harvey Weinstein. The latest sexual abuse allegations against the disgrace movie mogul. Still to come here, we'll go live to London.

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JAVAHERI: Thank you for joining us on CNN. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for weather watch.

And a quartet of areas of high pressure here scattered about the western U.S. One locked in across the eastern U.S. There is a frontal boundary draped across this region and expect the temperatures to take a switch here for the cooler. I really haven't seen much of that in recent weeks around the eastern United States.

But 21, 16 out of New York doesn't seem too cool not just yet at least. But we see a pretty significant shift there in the cooler temperatures but unfortunately, it is going to be short-lived.

Notice by Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday the warmth stretches all the way out toward portions of Saskatchewan and into Manitoba. So we're talking about getting one last breath of summer-like reading for some folks across that region.

But notice Charlotte warms back up to 24. Same story out of D.C. about 23 degrees the best we can do for you out of New York City. And opposite end of the spectrum, San Francisco, how about that, 29, drop it down to 18 degrees, certainly the firefighters across that region are going to enjoy the cooler air and potentially the onshore component associated with it helping the firefighting effort. And in Los Angeles we see drop in temps from the 30's down to the upper 20's/ Caribbean we go San Juan around 31 degrees. Kingston, Jamaica scattered storm it should make it up to the lower 30s which is seasonal for this time of year. Parana comes in at 33. Berlin sees temps about 32 degrees should remain dry and the conditions farther toward the south. Puerto Montt, partly cloudy and around 17.

[03:50:12] VANIER: The former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has filed a grievance against the National Football League claiming that team owners colluded to keep him from being signed. He says he's being punished for kneeling during the national anthem during games last year.

ALLEN: Kaepernick said he was protesting the treatment of African- American's particularly by police. He opted out of his contract with San Francisco back in March and he has been out of a job ever since with no teams picking him up.

Well, more women are coming forward with sexual abuse allegations against one of Hollywood's most powerful producers Harvey Weinstein.

British actress Lysette Anthony is one of the newest accusers, saying Weinstein raped her in the latest 1980s.

VANIER: And she's not the only one in the U.K. to speak out against the disgraced producer in recent days. Another unnamed woman has gone to police to the police say Weinstein attacked her as well.

Our Brian Stelter has the latest.

BRIAN STELTER, SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Police in London confirming they are looking into a second set of allegations against Harvey Weinstein. This coming two days after the actress Lysette Anthony came forward and said she was assault by Weinstein in the 1980s. The way she described it was rape.

She spoke with a British newspaper over the weekend detailing the allegations. So, police in London are looking into Weinstein and so are police here in New York City. We know police here are looking back at past allegations against Weinstein including a 2004 rape allegation looking into the possibility of corroborating evidence and possible charges in the future.

This comes 10 days after the New York Times and the New Yorker have both published investigations into Weinstein's wrongdoing. His camp has strenuously denied the rape allegations but he has admitted to other improper behavior.

In a statement back 10 days ago he asked for forgiveness, saying he had caused pain in people's lives. We haven't heard anything new from Weinstein over the weekend though.

Now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled him from the academy on Saturday revoking a lifetime membership and an unprecedented decision. And that's not the only organization shunning Weinstein right now. There are at least two other groups in Hollywood also planning meetings, also planning ways as to make statements against Weinstein.

This scandal has been profoundly embarrassing not just for the Weinstein Company but for Hollywood writ large. So that's why we are seeing these public denunciations.

Meanwhile, there's questions about whether the company can survive or not. Now right now the Weinstein Company is a movie and TV studio. It's in a sort of corporate limbo with talk of a possible sale but also attempts to move forward and keep its projects on the air and in the theaters.

That's going to be very hard to do however. This has been a stain on the company's reputation and of course, personally for Harvey Weinstein an incredible fall from grace. But what's more important here are the accusers, the dozens of women who say that Weinstein assaulted them or harassed them.

We continue to see news stories published on a daily basis, new women feeling the courage to come forward and speak out about what happened in the past. Back to you.

ALLEN: Brian Stelter for us. It's amazing that this stayed quiet for so long.

Let's go to our Diana Magnay. She's live for us in London. And now there are, Diana, two more, two new accusers that we're learning about who are from the U.K. What more can you tell us about these cases?

DIANA MAGNAY, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, the Met police have said that in fact there are three separate women who have come to them with allegations of sexual assault by a man who they are not naming as Harvey Weinstein. They don't until they press criminal charges.

But one woman referred her incident to Merseyside police who referred to the Met police and that turns out that that was Lysette Anthony who was referred to in that report just now.

She gave a very detailed interview in the Sunday times about the alleged raped describing it is disgusting and pathetic. He forced himself upon her in her left London home in the late '80s, she says. And she says she felt disgusted and embarrassed by the attack.

A second woman has come forward and given an interview to the mail on Sunday where she describes how Weinstein allegedly raped her in the basement of the London offices. And a third woman has come to police detailing also allegations of sexual assault.

Harvey Weinstein's people of course have said that they have vigorously denied any suggestions of non-consensual sex. And all of this comes at the same time as Emmanuel Macron, the French President has also taken steps to rid Weinstein of his Legion d'Honneur, that mark of excellence at the French state gives out. Natalie?

[03:05:01] ALLEN: Yes. And that follows him getting kicked out at the academy which brings us the Oscars.

Diana Magnay for us there in London. Thank you.

VANIER: Well, last week's Saturday Night Live was widely criticized for overlooking the Weinstein scandal when it was first reported. Now the sketch comedy show finally took on disgrace film producer Harvey Weinstein.

ALLEN: Yes, but here's how they addressed the subject in two different segments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I actually did have one meeting with Harvey. OK? I was invited to his hotel room and when I arrived he was naked hanging upside down from a monkey bar. He tried to trick me into thinking his genitals were actually his face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apple has announce it will add hundreds of new emojis to its IOs system including a person at a spa, a vomiting face, and a shushing finger finally giving emoji fans the ability to describe what it was like to work for Harvey Weinstein.

He doesn't need sex rehab. He needs a specialized facility where there are no women, no contact with the outside world, metal bars and it's a prison.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALLEN: One cast member said that making jokes about sexual assault was difficult. Some critics say SNL waited too long to deal with the issue but they certainly did this weekend.

Well, thank you for watching CNN Newsroom. Early Start is next for viewers here in the United States.

VANIER: And for everyone else, stay tuned. More news with Hannah Vaughan Jones in London starting right now. You're watching CNN.

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