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CNN NEWSROOM

Protesters Defy Authorities in Islamabad; Egyptian President Vows Brute Force in Response to Mosque Attack; Global Outcry over Libyan Slave Auctions; Witnessing the Birth of Zimbabwe's New Political Era. Aired 2-2:15a ET

Aired November 26, 2017 - 02:00   ET

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


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CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi, thank you for joining us, everyone. I'm Cyril Vanier and we are coming to you live from the CNN Headquarters here in Atlanta.

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VANIER: There has been a factory explosion in Eastern China. At least two people are dead and two others seriously injured. The state news agency says the blast took place around 9:00 am local time. It collapsed several buildings nearby and more than 30 people were rushed to hospital.

Emergency workers are on the scene. For the moment we have no word on the cause of this explosion but there have been several explosions and deadly accidents at industrial sites in China in the past.

Egyptians are observing three days of national mourning after the deadliest terror attack the country has ever known. Over 300 people were killed when militants set off booms at a Sufi mosque during Friday prayers and then opened fire on worshippers.

More than 2 dozen children were killed during the attack. There has been no claim of responsibility so far but signs do point to ISIS. According to Egypt's state prosecutor, at least one gunman was carrying an ISIS flag. President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi vows to hunt down the attackers. The air force says it destroyed several of the vehicles used in the attack. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more from Cairo.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The funerals are already underway for that attack on the Rawda mosque in Northern Sinai Friday afternoon. And Egypt is already responding with airstrikes, claiming that they have hit some of the vehicles that were used in the attack.

The Egyptian public prosecutor put out a statement today that was read on TV, providing a few more details about this attack. According to the statement, five SUVs drove up outside this mosque. And out of them got 25 to 30 armed men, some of them wearing combat fatigues.

They deployed around the mosque, including at the entrance. And at each of the 12 windows of the mosque they sent off an explosive, then opened fire. Now the Middle East news agency, the official news agency of Egypt, puts the death toll at this point at least 305, including 27 children, in addition to 128 people wounded.

Now this is just the latest in a series of attacks in Egypt that are connected, it's believed, to this militant group affiliated with ISIS. Last December, they attacked a church in Cairo on Palm Sunday. There were twin attacks, one on a church in the delta city of Tanta, another in Alexandria.

Of course it was also this group, the Wilayat Sinai, that claimed responsibility for the October 2015 downing of that Russian Metrojet liner as well.

Now Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the Egyptian president, said on Friday evening just hours after the attack, that Egypt would respond with brute force. It appears these airstrikes I mentioned earlier are just the beginning. I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Cairo.

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VANIER: It has been a busy weekend for two very active volcanoes. Take a look at this stunning video of a Mexican volcano nicknamed Popo, which erupted three times on Friday alone. And in Bali, Indonesia, Mount Agung erupted late Saturday night, sending giant plumes of ash and steam into the sky. We are getting the news that more ash is being spewed out into the sky as we speak.

Several international airlines canceled or diverted flights over Bali immediately after that, you can imagine why. Now some airlines are deeming it safe to fly again.

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VANIER: I want to update you on what's going on in Pakistan. Authorities there have called in the army after a day of chaos in Islamabad. Violence broke out on Saturday after police tried to end a protest. The demonstrators are religious conservatives who accused the government of blasphemy.

They have been blocking a major intersection for more than two weeks, when police moved in. At least two people were killed and the protests have now spread to other cities in Pakistan. Protesters are reportedly still blocking that intersection. Social media and private TV channels have been blacked out.

Staying in the country, Pakistan being criticized after releasing this terror suspect. Pakistan said Friday that Hafiz Mohammed Saeed was released from house arrest. He is accused of plotting the 2008 Mumbai attacks in India, which killed more than 160 people. Six of the victim were Americans. And the U.S. is demanding that Saeed be prosecuted.

In a statement the White House said this, if Pakistan does not take action to lawfully detain Saeed and charge him with his crimes, its inaction will have repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistan's global reputation.

More global outcry after a CNN exclusive investigation revealed African migrants are being sold as slaves in Libya.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): $700? $800?

The numbers roll in. These men are sold for 1,200 Libya pounds, $400.

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VANIER: And critics say that European countries share some of the blame for this situation since they rely on Libya to prevent migrants from crossing the Mediterranean Sea into the European Union. The Libyan government, for its part, which is backed by the U.N., says it is investigating these slave auctions.

Meanwhile, protests across Europe have continued. Melissa bell is following the outrage in Paris.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was the third protest in Paris in a week, protests against the slavery that is currently taking place in Libya, protests provoked by the airing of those images on CNN.

The first protests that took place here a week ago on Saturday had not even planned for the anger of those who came out was such that the police really had trouble containing the protests.

There was another protest yesterday and further one today, the numbers down a bit. But the sense of determination of those who were there still very strong. They believe that they need to keep coming out on to the street until action is taken.

And it isn't just from the streets where the pressure for action is coming here in France. The French president Emmanuel Macron is very much leading the call for action from the United Nations.

For now, of course, all eyes very much on that Libyan inquiry to see what will come out of that, about the extent of what happened and what reprisals have been taken as a result.

But clearly there is a great deal of anger and I think, in Europe, a great deal of outrage that the responsibility is at least partly shared by the European Union. You'll remember that the reason that Europe managed to bring the number of those making it to their shores down is this deal it had with Libyan authorities. What happens now is that the migrants who find themselves in the

Mediterranean get taken back to Libya. The European Union has, over the course of the last few months, been working with Libya to send as many migrants as possible back to a country where we now --

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BELL: -- know that those sorts of appalling human rights abuses exist.

And it was CNN's images, it was the fact of those pictures, I think, that provoked that call for action from authorities here in France but also the anger on the streets that we have been seeing -- Melissa Bell, CNN, in Paris.

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And we have also been covering Zimbabwe closely for the past 10 days or so now. The country is transitioning into a new political era. The country's high court has ruled the military takeover which helped bring political change was constitutional.

The former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, known as The Crocodile, was sworn in as the new president on Friday. He had been fired earlier this month by former leader, Robert Mugabe, who ruled almost four decades.

CNN's Farai Sevenzo was born in Zimbabwe and he has witnessed first- hand how and why the Mugabe regime collapsed. Here is his report.

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FARAI SEVENZO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It took us seven days, seven days from the point I flew in from Nairobi, which is my usual patch, to this minor mini revolution, non-coup, apparent coup, to fall down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everywhere, they're coming from all over the place. Look at this. Look at this.

SEVENZO: This is my home. This is where I went to school. This is where my relatives are. This is where my great-grandmother would tell me stories, which made me into a filmmaker, actually.

Oh! That's so heavy. That's so big.

This is my nephew, Neil (ph), with whom I'm most pleased.

NEIL (PH), SEVENZO'S NEPHEW: I want the new president to be better. I want him to be better, more better, 100 percent better than Robert Mugabe. I don't want him being corrupt. I don't want him to have polices just beating people for no reason, when they did nothing.

No tear gas in the city, just peace. No rubbish. No potholes. I want our environment to be better, more better.

SEVENZO: As we headed into town, it was obvious. It was in the people's faces, the drivers next to my car, that the hooters and the horns going off, you knew the moment had happened.

Yes, that's right. (Speaking foreign language). Thank you, sir. Thank you. And there you have it. I mean, people, (INAUDIBLE) it is absolutely incredible. (INAUDIBLE). The joy. (INAUDIBLE) Soldiers are sitting there. And they are trying to contain the people.

You could feel this electricity in the air. They said, that, you know, there is different feet in the same shoes but all they needed was change. But any change from what the country had is a positive step. Now is that how Emmerson Mnangagwa actually effects his government.

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VANIER: Farai has been doing outstanding work for us in Zimbabwe over the last 10 days.

That's it for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" is up next. Stay with us.