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Venezuelan Mental Hospital Struggles To Treatments; Study: Effects Worse In Industrial Nations; Bodycam Footage of Syrian Democratic Forces in Raqqa; Raqqa Celebrates Its Liberation; Trump White House; Niger Attack; Aftermath of Hurricane Maria.. Aired at 8-9a ET

Aired October 20, 2017 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream."

Raqqa celebrates as liberation is officially declared, and we will be live inside the Syrian city.

President Trump's chief of staff mounts an emotional defense of his boss as Mr. Trump continues to deny that he was insensitive to a soldier's widow.

And in Venezuela, a hospital bed has become a prison. Patients virtually abandoned as the country descends into chaos.

The Syrian city of Raqqa is now free from ISIS rule. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced its liberation just a couple of hours ago,

marking a pivotal moment in the fight against ISIS. You are looking at soldiers celebrating their victory inside the stadium where ISIS militants

made their last dance.

The liberating forces also circled the main square where ISIS militants unveiled their brutality to the world with public execution for offenses as

minor as smoking and that oppression helped drive female fighters within the SDF. Arwa Damon spoke to some of them about why it was so important for

women to help drive ISIS out of its de facto capital.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's hard to even find traces of the life that was, or even imagine what these

streets looked like when there were full of people with children laughing and playing.

Rosa Fallack (ph) is one of the battle commanders here.

(on camera): It was 15-day battle just to try to retake this particular square and every single rooftop, she was saying, was lined with snipers.

This was one of the main squares where ISIS would carry out their public beheadings and executions, and they would place the heads of their victims

on these spikes as a gruesome reminder to others of what their fate might be should they decide to defy ISIS rule.

(voice-over) It is also where ISIS sold its Yazidi captives into sexual slavery. For the female fight force of the coalition-backed Syrian

Democratic Forces, the battle for Raqqa was deeply personal. They vowed that Raqqa would be liberated at the hands of women.

As we walk past some of Rosa's (ph) fighters, she says seeing them makes her happy, proud. Women established their bravery here, she says, it taught

them their value beyond their value within the household. She tells us that she herself joined the fight against ISIS around three years ago.

(on camera) The final battles, she was just saying, were taking place in the entire area between the stadium, that's right there, and then the

square that's behind us and the hospital. And she was saying that ISIS fighters had actually underground dug tunnel systems between those three

locations. Now, we can't go and see them because they still might have left explosive devices inside them.

(voice-over): Against the backdrop of the city's ruins, the female fighting force within the SDF celebrated. Moments of victory, reunions, but

rebuilding it may be even tougher than the battle itself. Commanders tell us there are still small pockets of ISIS fighters and clearing the city of

explosives will take at least three months.

And for those who called Raqqa home, there is not much left to return to. Rosa (ph) held up the SDF flag at this very square, the day the SDF took

control of it. She says she did in memory of those who died in the battle whose cost is not yet fully known.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: The incredible bravery of these female fighters. Arwa joins us now live from the ruins of Raqqa. Arwa, the city has been declared

liberated. Control of Raqqa is being handed over to a civilian council. What does that mean for the future of the city?

DAMON: Well, it means that it is still so much at the very beginning at this stage, Kristie. The Raqqa Civilian Council has the enormous task of

trying to rebuild the city, not just in terms of

[08:05:00] physically rebuilding it, but also attempting to rebuild its social fabric. They've had various pledges of money from some world leaders

and other individual donors, but nothing has yet materialized. First and foremost though as you heard in that report, the city needs to be cleared

of explosives. It will be at least three months before any civilian can even come back.

Now, the handover ceremony took place here in this stadium. This, Kristie, is where ISIS made its last stance in Raqqa. In fact, if you look across

the field, you can see the sandbags that are across one of the entrances into the lower level of the stadium.

And there, when we were down there earlier, you could see how ISIS had punched holes in all of the walls to create something of a rat run for them

to be able to move through. This stadium is also believed to have been the largest ISIS prison in Raqqa and on some of the walls of the rooms inside,

you can see the names of those who were held captives here alongside the dates.

Now, again, a lot of people that we are talking to are saying that physically rebuilding Raqqa is going to be one thing. What is going to be

especially crucial right now, and that is one of the things that they were trying to pre-establish at the ceremony in various different speeches, is

the need for reconciliation.

LU STOUT: You know, that evidence is some pretty sickening evidence of ISIS brutality there right behind you. There needs to be reconciliation, yes,

but what about justice? You know, after these ISIS militants were forced out of Raqqa, what is going to happen to them?

DAMON: Well, there were a couple of deal that transpired in the final weeks and days of the battle. One of those deals saw, ISIS Syrian nationals

offered the opportunity to hand themselves over to the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, around 275 of them are dead. They are

being held. They are going to go to trial.

As for the foreign fighters, they were actually offered an opportunity to leave Raqqa which a number of them dead and head towards Deir ez-Zor and

that is where the front line has shifted right now. When you speak to people who have suffered at the hands of ISIS, many of them do say that

they would prefer to see those who caused them so much pain face justice as opposed to just being killed.

LU STOUT: Yes, absolutely. Throughout your reporting, you continue to emphasize the threat that remains. ISIS may be down, but certainly not out.

There have been these ISIS-linked attacks all over the world. How much of a threat does this group still pose?

DAMON: Look, it's always difficult to try to exactly ascertain that. If we just look at the history and the evolution of ISIS, how many times has --

have the ISIS pre-existing entity been declared defeated, whether it was Al Qaeda in Iraq or the Islamic state in Iraq, and they managed to reemerge?

One of the great risks here is perhaps underestimating ISIS's capabilities, not just to take advantage of a potential vacuum when it comes to power in

places such as Raqqa, but also its ability to constantly adapt to new circumstances.

And then of course there is the ISIS online presence that is very alive at this stage. Then it goes to the very core of the ideology of ISIS and

getting to the root causes of what it is that causes someone like a Syrian national to turn around and join ISIS.

And what is it that causes some of the foreign fighters that ISIS seems to be able to lure in to want to make the journey to a place like Syria or

Iraq or even carry out attacks in Europe and in the west. These are the core issues that also need to be addressed if we are going to even begin

talking about eradicating the ISIS ideology.

LU STOUT: Yes, Raqqa may be declared free of ISIS, but the threats certainly remains. Arwa Damon reporting live for us from Raqqa. Thank you

so much and take care.

Now, the liberation of Raqqa is a clear sign of the terror group's decline. One person is notably missing as ISIS loses more and more territory. Where

is the terror group's infamous leader? Nick Paton Walsh has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First, Mosul in Iraq, now Raqqa in Syria. The caliphate is crumbling. But

where is its self-declared leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi? The truth is, little is known about his whereabouts.

American Special Forces continue to hunt him down, but even as the battle to take Raqqa advanced, the coalition said last month they simply don't

know where Baghdadi is and are unsure if he is in Syria or Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNSTRANSLATED)

PATON WALSH (voice-over): Just one week after that assessment came this audio recording, Baghdadi reportedly breaking his silence for the first

time in 11 months. In it he mocks the U.S., calls on Jihadists to defeat the Syrian regime,

[08:10:00] and insists that ISIS remains despite its territorial losses. In the past, U.S. officials have said Baghdadi may be hiding somewhere in the

Euphrates River Valley area. And over the summer, the U.S. trying to take several shots of Baghdadi, according to U.S. officials who spoke to CNN,

believing thy had a chance to kill the leader in an airstrike but they have never definitively been able to confirm he's dead.

Those attempts came after Russia claimed the ISIS leader may have been killed in one of its airstrikes at the end of May, but America does not

believe those claims are true.

The last and only time the world actually saw the man with a $25 million bounty on his head was three years ago, delivering a sermon at al-Nouri

mosque in Mosul, the sermon that set the mark for ISIS' vision and ideology.

And even now as the Jihadists have lost control of another city, their self-declared capital, Raqqa, and the fate of the man who build the

caliphate remains a mystery, he remains the only symbol ISIS really have left, diminished now he's the caliph without a caliphate, but still even

hidden away, possibly able to inspire the sick and still spreading idea, the virus that is now ISIS. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Northern Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: The E.U. has given the green light to begin internal preparations for the second phase of Brexit talks. This came after British Prime

Minister Theresa May met with E.U. leaders in Brussels. She reiterated that there can be no agreement on the Brexit divorce bill until there is

agreement on future trade. Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed hopes that enough progress will be made in time for the December talks.

Donald Trump renews his feud with the lawmaker over his call to a grieving military widow after receiving an emotional defense from his chief of

staff.

This Puerto Rico neighborhood became famous after it was featured in the video for the hit song "Despacito," but what happened to it after Hurricane

Maria?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream." U.S. President Donald Trump just can't seem to let go of the

controversy surrounding his condolence call to the widow of a fallen soldier. In a tweet late on Thursday, he once again accused the

congresswoman of lying about the words he used in that call.

It comes just after his chief of staff delivered a highly personal defense of that conversation. John Kelly whose own son died while serving in

Afghanistan says that he advised Mr. Trump on what to say in these calls.

Mr. Trump has been reaching out to the families of four U.S. soldiers who were killed in Niger two weeks ago. We're now learning a few new details

about that ambush,

[08:15:00] but there are still many unanswered questions. Barbara Starr has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Green Berets were leading the 12-men team on a visit to village elders. They had done 29

patrols over the last six months with no problems. Team members had gone back to their vehicles and they walked into an ambush.

STEVE WARREN, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: A firefight is unlike any other human endeavor. It's confusing, it's loud, it's terrifying. There's blood,

screams, danger all around.

STARR (voice-over): A military investigation in underway. But what is known is disturbing. The troops had been told it was unlikely there would be

opposition in the area. Now, the U.S. believes it was ISIS fighters with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades that attacked. The Americans had

their rifles.

Thirty minutes later, French jets flew over the battlefield trying to scare off the ISIS fighters. They had no authority to fire. It was close to an

hour before French military helicopters and a U.S. contractor aircraft came in to evacuate the dead and the wounded amid the battle confusion.

MARK HETLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Did they know what was going on in the area? Were they sharing it with the right people? Did the African countries

know something that the U.S. advisers did not know and they didn't share?

STARR (voice-over): Tough questions now face the Pentagon and the president. What happened during the firefight? What does the White House

know? And especially, how did Sergeant La David Johnson get separated from his fellow soldiers? When the evacuation aircraft took off, they were one

man sort.

JOHN MATTIS, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The U.S. military does not leave its troops behind and I would just ask that you not question the

action of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether or not they did everything they could in order to bring everyone out at

once.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Barbara Starr reporting. Let's return to the controversy around President Trump's condolence phone call. Joe Johns joins

us live from Washington. Joe, you know, it was this very emotional moment and extraordinary moment that Chief of Staff John Kelly talking about the

genesis of that disputed phone call.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That is absolutely right and your heart goes out to him. He himself a gold star father. This was the

kind of thing that he would seem like the very correct messenger to come to the briefing room and talk about his personal experiences, very personal

experience.

Meanwhile, I think it is also important to say that this is the kind of issue that White House would very much like to get passed, this issue of a

fallen soldier, his widow, and the president's condolence call, but the president revved this issue up himself on Twitter just last night and now

certainly he's gotten his chief of staff involved and trying to correct the message as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): President Trump refusing to put his war of words with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson to rest, in a late-night tweet calling her

"wacky" and insisting yet again that she lied about his call to the widow of Sergeant Lad David Johnson. This despite the fact that hours earlier,

the president's chief of staff essentially confirmed the congresswoman's account.

REP. FREDERICA WILSON (D), FLORIDA: He said to the wife, "Well, I guess he knew what he was getting into."

JOHN KELLY, WHTIE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: And in his way, he tried to express that opinion that he's a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was

getting himself into, because he enlisted.

JOHNS (voice-over): In a powerful defense of his boss, Kelly explains the message that the president meant to convey was similar to words used by

Marine General Joseph Dunford in 2010 when Kelly's son died.

KELLY: He said, "Kell, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that one percent.

He knew what the possibilities were, because we're at war. When he died he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends." That's what the

president tried to say to four families the other day.

JOHNS (voice-over): Kelly lamenting that the deaths of American soldiers are being politicized while delving into politics themselves and ignoring

the president's role in the controversy.

KELLY: It stuns me that a member of congress would have listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred.

JOHNS (voice-over): For Wilson, this was personal. The congresswoman was riding with Johnson's widow to pick up her husband's casket when the

president reached out. The call was on speaker phone so the family could hear.

[08:20:00] Wilson has known the Johnson family for decades. Sergeant Johnson and his brothers taking part in her Miami mentoring program. Kelly

also took a shot at the congresswoman over a 2015 speech at the naming ceremony for new FBI building in Miami, dedicated to two fallen agents.

KELLY: And in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there and all of that, and talked about how she was instrumental

in getting the funding for that building. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned.

JOHNS (voice-over): But the Miami Herald reports that Kelly got his facts wrong and that Washington approved the money before Wilson was even in

congress, Wilson telling the newspaper, "He shouldn't be able to say that. That is terrible. This has become totally persona."

This as new video gives rare insight into another condolence call President Trump made to a Gold Star widow whose husband was killed in April.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): I am so sorry to hear about the whole situation. What a horrible thing, except that he's an

unbelievable hero. And you know all of the people that served with him are saying how incredible he was, and just an amazing, amazing guy. And I just

wanted to call and tell you he's a great hero.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Very touching call there and very differently received than the call to Sergeant Johnson's widow. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Absolutely. Joe, we know that U.S. President Trump is again up and tweeting this morning. He's putting the focus on tax reform. What are

his latest thoughts on that?

JOHNS: Well, we know from last night, the United States senate passed the budget which means Republicans moved one step closer to passing that top

priority of tax reform, the president's tax plan. The president tweeted about that as you say last night, just a little while ago. The budget

passed last night 51-49, zero Democrat votes with Rand Paul, senator from Kentucky, Republican, and president says he is going to vote for tax cuts

when time comes.

He indicates this now allows for the passage of large scale tax cuts which will be, he says, the biggest in the history of our country. That last

part, of course, has been disputed by some of the tax experts. Nonetheless, it is a big deal for Republicans and that seems to be overshadowed by this

issue of the president's condolence call which is certainly a problem for the administration.

LU STOUT: Yes. Joe Johns reporting live for us from the White House. Thank you.

The U.S. Virgin Island of Saint John is still completely without power more than one month after two brutal category five hurricanes hit. Here is the

scene of the almost total devastation there. Hurricane Irma ripped through the island in September, and then recovery efforts have dealt a heavy blow

by Hurricane Maria.

President Trump says his administration deserves a 10 out of 10 for the way it dealt with Hurricane Maria, but many in Puerto Rico would probably

disagree since 80 percent of the island is still without power. ____ reports. Bill Weir reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN JOURNALIST AND ANCHOR (voice-over): It is the most popolar music video ever. Luis Fonsi's and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito" has been

viewed on YouTube over four billion times.

(on camera): But most of that massive audience probably didn't realize the video was shot in one of the most notorious neighborhoods in all of Puerto

Rico. Welcome to La Perla. For years, this place was written off as being drug and gang-infested. Community organizers fought against that stigma.

Hadn't been a murder here in six years.

And then came "Despacito" and suddenly this rough side of town was a tourist destination and the economy started to blow up. People felt good

about themselves. But then came Maria. Now you've got an outbreak of conjunctivitis among the children. The clinic is without power. There is no

roof on the school. And there is no hope that help is coming anytime soon.

(voice-over): Tourists wanted to come here, Ashita (ph) tells me. They came from Africa, China, South America. But after Maria, nobody comes. It's like

a ghost town.

(on camera): So the doctors will see people in the dark here?

(voice-over): Dr. Rosita (ph) shows me around the powerless hospital where cardiograms and electronic medical records are worthless.

(on camera): Is it true that Luis Fonsi donated a generator?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five.

WEIR (on camera): Five generators.

(voice-over): They are trying to get it installed, but they need to go to the mayor's office and fill out paperwork, she tells me.

(on camera): You need permission? Oh, my gosh.

(voice-over): The excited scramble for a single bag of ice is proof that portable water and power are still

[08:25:00] elusive luxuries over a month after Maria. Which puts enormous pressure on the men paid to electrify Puerto Rico.

(on camera): There are (INAUDIBLE) hospitals, dialysis centers, homes, depending on power that runs through that. Those lines over there, that's

the artery, the main spinal column of a power system. Maria devastated it. Crushed it. So how do you fix it? Well, you get guys like Troy and Nick,

guys who aren't afraid of heights, and you send them up to heal the lines.

(voice-over): They are (INAUDIBLE) linemen contracted by Whitefish Energy, a small two-year-old company out of Montana. It raised a lot of eyebrows

when they were given a $300 million contract without any input from the Army Corps of Engineers.

(on camera): You know the headline down here for a couple of days was, how the hell did you get this contract? This is -- you're a brand-new company,

right?

ANDREW TECHMANSKI, CEO, WHITEFISH ENERGY HOLDINGS: We've been around for a few years. And, you know, we specialize in difficult and mountainous

terrain projects. So, all I can say is we took the call and we're here.

WEIR (on camera): They called you?

TECHMANSKI: We called each other.

WEIR (voice-over): He struck a deal with Prepa (ph), the publicly-owned utility notorious for high prices, rolling blackouts, and $9 billion debt.

(on camera): Is it a risk for you as a businessman to take this gig?

TECHMANSKI: It's a risk. It's a risk. But, you know, when you come down here and you see what I've seen and you have that skill set that can have

an immediate impact on the people here, it becomes a mission. So, we --

WEIR (on camera): It's not just a job?

TECHMANSKI: It's not a job. No, it became a mission.

WEIR (on camera): How long before juice is flow through these?

TECHMANSKI: It's a good question. And we hope to have this line back up in the next three to four days.

WEIR (on camera): The governor is promising 95 percent power back by Christmas?

TECHMANSKI: Yes.

WEIR (on camera): Is that reasonable? Is that a fantasy?

TECHMANSKI: It's going to take a lot of people to reach that deadline.

WEIR (on camera): A lot more people.

TECHMANSKI: A lot more than we have here today.

WEIR (on camera): That we have here today?

TECHMANSKI: Yes.

WEIR (voice-over): Whitefish says they have 300 linemen on the island with another 700 on the way, while they wait for a hundred bucket trucks and

bulldozers still stuck in Florida ports.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

WEIR (on camera): You're welcome.

(voice-over): So it is anyone's guess as to when they will have the lights back on in La Perla. Until then, there is little to do but take care of

each other. The kids with no school. Elderly with no hospital. And they clean up just in case the tourists ever decide to come back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR: Whitefish Energy is not the only power company working on this problem. There was another multi-million dollar contract headed out to a

much more established company yesterday. But Senator Marco Rubio says the Army Corps of Engineers is still trying to come up with the plan to fix the

power grid in Puerto Rico more than a month out. Back to you.

LU STOUT: Bill Weir. Now, a desperate situation in Venezuela where this derelict psychiatric hospital has become a virtual prison for its patients.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:40] LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream and these are your world headlines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Syrian Democratic Forces have declared the city of Raqqa's liberation from ISIS. The fighters celebrated their victory over the

terror group and its self-declared caliphate inside the same stadium where ISIS has made their last stance.

The E.U. has given the green light to begin internal preparations for the second base of Brexit negotiations. But British prime minister said, she

is feeling optimistic but reiterated that there can be no agreement on the divorce bill until there's agreement on future trade.

Los Angeles police says that they are investigating Harvey Weinstein for possible sexual assault. An accuser who asks to remain anonymous told the

L.A. Times that the producer forced his way into her hotel room and raped her in 2013. Weinstein strongly denied all allegations of nonconsensual

sex. More than 40 women have come forward against him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Months of clashes have left more than 100 people dead across Venezuela.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And now the opposition is calling for more protests and a recount after the President Nicolas Maduro claimed that his party won most

of the governorships in regional elections.

Pollsters had predicted the majority of states will go to the opposition which now says, it will not take part in schedule talks to the government

without that recount.

Venezuela's downward spiral has led to acute shortages of basic goods with an estimated 85 percent of medicines now impossible or difficult to find.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Guillermo Galdos is a journalist who witnessed the devastating results when he visited a psychiatric hospital and here is his report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUILLERMO GALDOS, JOURNALIST, CHANNEL 4 NEWS: El Pampero Hospital is home to some of Venezuela's most vulnerable residents backed away from the

political chaos spilling to the streets of Caracas.

A heartbreaking mental health crisis is quietly stealing what's left of these patients' humanity. Evila Garcia (ph), works tirelessly with little

to no resources to tend the needs of her patients.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: The state run hospital like much of the country is running short of supplies, medicine and even food.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: The situation is so dark that this mental health hospital hasn't even had a psychiatrist on staff for four years. Evila (ph) who

essentially runs the show here refuses to give up in those who need the most -- one of her immediate worries, malnutrition.

This man already dangerously thin has lost another half kilogram in two months. Evila (ph) does what she can to stretch the food they do have as

far as she can. But now, she will have to stretch it even further.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: (Speaking Foreign Language)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: Many these patients have been forgotten by family members and society. But (Inaudible) is one of the lucky ones. His mother Lucila (ph)

is one of the few family members who visit their love once. She says the hospital is bucking under the weight of a country in crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: Lucila (ph) now must use her pension by Elicio (ph) the medication he so desperately needs.

[08:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: On of the most troubling things she sees is the lack of security for those living behind these walls. Thieves are breaking into the Pampero

psychiatric hospital more than 17 times in the last few years.

They have stolen drugs, air-conditioning unit and even patients' Christmas dinner. These days, the nurses that are working here, they have to lock

themselves up along side the patients. This nurse was mocked in her way to work and not for the first time either.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: The situation has become so unstable surrounding the hospital. The police now patrolled the perimeter. Facing off against the criminal

who steal and try to breach the hospital walls to get what they can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: Losing supplies hard to laugh but Evila says (ph) the state of fear that her residents sleep under is far worse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: So how does Evila (ph) cope with these seemingly insurmountable odds?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: And the third by thieves, lack of resources, specialists and even the most basic necessities for living, Evila (ph) and staff sold their own.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

GALDOS: Doing what is in their tower to care for the souls that many have already long forgotten. Guillermo Galdos, Venezuela for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: And now to a disturbing new study on the deadly consequences of pollution. Now a report published in the medical journal lands, it says

that pollution was linked to 9 million deaths around the world in 2015, that is one in six deaths.

These statistics are most alarming in rapidly industrializing countries like China, India, Pakistan and others. Pollution in these countries could

account for a quarter of all deaths.

Overall the study found that India had the largest number of pollution related deaths in 2015 followed by China. Dirty air is by far the biggest

killer, leading to 6.5 million deaths.

It's followed by polluted water, which contributed to 1.8 million deaths and despite these sobering numbers, when the co-leaders of the study found

some cause for optimism citing an example in China. He says when the U.S. Embassy in Beijing started putting air quality data on its website a few

years ago.

[08:40:00] Some people in china began buying their own monitors and showing the results online. He says the community efforts pressure China to make

major strides in controlling air pollution.

Now I want to end the program with a different and viding at our top story this hour. Now earlier we showed you the ruins of Raqqa. New liberated

but torn apart by ISIS' brutal occupation and war.

Now, I want to show you some harrowing pictures shot exclusively, the body camera for CNN the last month. Suing Democratic forces battled ISIS

militants among broken buildings, dodging sniper fire and bombs. This is the reality of war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE IN WAR AT RAQQA)

(GUN SHOTS)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Revealing footage there. Now, during the ceremony to declare total liberation of Raqqa took place a couple of hours ago, the Syrian

Democratic Forces pay tribute to those fighters who were killed or injured in the offensive and that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. But don't

go anywhere, World Sport with Christina Macfarlane is next.

END