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Grim Search for Victims and Survivors; Alaskans Oppose Kavanaugh's Views on Native Rights; Referendum Deepens Uncertainty over Macedonia's Name Change; Lebanon PM's Tour to Deny Israeli Claims of Missiles; Religious Life in a World Heritage Site. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 2, 2018 - 01:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: A desperate search for survivors rescue teams at digging through the rubble after a powerful earthquake and tsunami leave an Indonesian island devastated. Plus, standing by his choice, U.S. President Donald Trump is making it clear he's not backing down when it comes to his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. And a city remembers a terrible tragedy. It's been one year since a gunman killed dozens of people in Las Vegas, but has anything changed?

Hello and welcome everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Rescuers are continuing to sit through rubble looking for survivors four days after a powerful earthquake and tsunami battered Indonesia's Sulawesi Island. A now crumpled hotel is one focus of the search efforts. It is feared dozens of people are trapped underneath the debris of the eight-story Roa Roa hotel in Palu. The quake and tsunami killed more than 840 people, and that number is expected to rise.

Authorities are burying many bodies in mass graves to prevent disease from spreading but bodies are still lying in some of the streets there. Drone footage shows the extent of the devastation. Hundreds of people injured, thousands of homes gone, and food and medical supplies are running very low. CNN's Alexandra Field joins us now with the very latest on the situation in Indonesia. Alex, as this search and rescue effort continues, what progress has been made so far and how many more people do authorities believe might still be buried beneath that rubble?

ALEXANDRIA FIELD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Look, they haven't said how many remain unaccounted for at this point but we know that survivors continue to go to police to report that their loved ones are missing and the work does continue in locations that authorities have been focused on for days. You pointed to the Roa Roa hotel. There could be some 50 people trapped beneath the debris and the rubble there. Rescue workers not giving up still hoping to find survivors and that's something that they are doing throughout this affected region. The other question though is how to help those who have survived. How

to get them essential supplies days later. You've got some 50,000 people who are living outside of their homes. Many grouped together by the thousands seeking relief. We understand from the government that food and fuel have been deployed to the region. Now, there's the question of how you distribute this. There have been reports of people going into supermarkets and gas stations loading up on food.

We understand from one government official that some of those supermarkets have been told to open the doors that the government will pay back for those goods later. We also understand that large quantities of fuel have been shipped in. Now, fuel trucks guarded by police are being deployed to the affected area amid more reports that people simply walking into gas stations and filling up cans and bottles with fuel. They are desperate to get their hands on these supplies.

One of reasons that a state-owned shipping company is also working to deliver essential humanitarian goods. We understand six different ships have been deployed to Palu. They'll be dispensing things like food, medicine, diapers, generators, tents, all things that people need amid the widespread devastation. They have now been living with and through for days, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Alex, what are the biggest challenges right now for authorities and what's being done for those survivors you mentioned 50,000 of them who have lost everything and have literally nowhere left to go?

FIELD: Well, first of all, they have to contend with the aftershocks that have continued. That, of course, puts people at risk, rescue workers and also survivors who could be trapped beneath the rubble and also those who were hoping to seek shelter indoors. That's why so many people are continuing to stay outside. While they do that, officials have to work with how to make those conditions livable which is why they've been working to create mobile operating units, mobile kitchens and bring in things like tents and blankets so that people can have some shelter as they stay outdoors for what could be weeks, what could be months, it's really unclear .

The big issue though is that they cannot give up the search for survivors. That's something that they are not doing. And they do continue to dig these mass graves to do mass burials for the bodies of those who didn't survive. The death toll now 844, Rosemary, and officials are still expecting that number to climb.

CHURCH: It is a horrifying situation, a terrible tragedy. Our Alexandra Field keeping an eye on all the details there, many thanks to you. So let's get more now on all of this with our Meteorologists Pedram Javaheri who joins us now live. So Pedram, the weather, of course, has a critical part to play as the search-and-rescue effort continues. What is the forecast for the disaster zone?

[01:05:06] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, this is a wet time of the year. It's the tail end of the wet season so certainly, some wet weather is expected and I'll touch on that here momentarily. And of course when you take a look at a quake of such magnitude, we know on our planet about 1.5 or so million quakes are felt every single year and are measured by our instruments and roughly 15 of them coming at such magnitude so that alone tells us about the significance of this and it's been very, very unsettling across the region when you take a look at what has happened just in the past four days.

250 aftershocks, about 25 of them coming in a 4.5 magnitude or greater, five coming in at 5.5 or greater, and now in the last six or so hours, we had a 6.0 magnitude aftershock, the strongest of which so far across this region. But climate, historically speaking the setup is a such where you expect at least one to be in the 6.5 scale, certainly, the 6.0 may kind of account for that. But you take a look, we're still well below where we should be as far as the additional large after shots that are expected from a quake of such magnitude. Over the next couple of days we'll continue to see this magnitude decrease over time but certainly going to see a lot of aftershocks potentially on the order of tens of thousands and a magnitude of 7.5 before things finally settle back down.

But here we go with the weather pattern across this region. Notice the temps stay rather uniform. The percentages for precipitation increase from 40 up to 50 percent over the next two days here and then drop just a little bit going in towards Thursday afternoon. But again, this time of year is you go out really from the months of August, September, into October, that's really the heart of the wet season. We're transitioning now into a little bit of a quieter pattern of weather but generally, 100 millimeters could be expected this time of year for any given October. So we're going to watch this region for some additional thunderstorms, in particular, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday across the area.

I want to take you up towards the north because we do have a super typhoon to tell you about, and tell you what, this particular storm resembles what we saw with Mangkhut across this region with Trami, for the past week or so. Kong-Rey sits there with 260 kilometer per hour winds, very impressive presentation, continues given us the metrics here as far as seen exceeding what is normal for this time of year, for tropical storms, for typhoons, and certainly for super typhoons doubling what we expect for season and there goes again.

Over the next three days expect this to push in towards the Ryukyu Islands, at that point going into take Friday Saturday and Sunday, a lot of differences between the models. This going to impact eastern Asia, it's going to impact the Korean Peninsula or once again Japan. The model guides at this point really begins to kind of split on timing at least over the next several days and we'll watch where this ends up because the impacts once again could be very significant for portions of Eastern Asia. Rosemary?

CHURCH: A lot to cover there. Pedram, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it. We'll talk to you in the next hour. And if you would like to help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, you can go to cnn.com/impact. There, of course, you will find links to organizations working to bring relief to those people. Well, Donald Trump is once again blaming Democrats for trying to

destroy his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. He made the comments at a campaign rally in Tennessee but his remarks about Kavanaugh earlier at the White House left some scratching their heads. CNN's Kaitlan Collins reports.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, a White House Official is saying the FBI is not limited in their background investigation of President Trump's Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh. President Trump making that clear in the Rose Garden today.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want them to do a very comprehensive investigation. I wanted to be done quickly.

COLLINS: Trump stating he's fine with Kavanaugh being interviewed by the FBI.

TRUMP: I think so. I think it's fine if they do. I don't know. That's up to them.

COLLINS: This after Democrats spent the weekend complaining that the White House is trying to limit the scope of the investigation.

TRUMP: I think the FBI should interview anybody that they want within reason.

COLLINS: Kavanaugh is now being accused of lying about his drinking habits by a former Yale classmate who says he wasn't honest when he testified in front of Congress. Asked today is he'll pull Kavanaugh's nomination if it's proven he lied, Trump said --

TRUMP: I was surprised at how vocal was about the fact that he likes beer and he's had a little bit of difficulty. I mean, he talked about things that happened when he drank.

COLLINS: Trump is adding he was impressed by Kavanaugh's candor but not answering the question.

TRUMP: This is not a man that said that alcohol was absent, that he was perfect with respect to alcohol.

COLLINS: But Kavanaugh never described difficulty with drinking and instead attempted to downplay his consumption characterizing it as normal.

BRETT KAVANAUGH, NOMINEE, SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I liked beer. I still like beer. But I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out.

[01:10:04] COLLINS: Trump instead turning to his own sobriety today.

TRUMP: I can honestly say I never had a beer in my life, OK. It's one of my only good traits. Can you imagine if I had what a mess I'd be?

COLLINS: Trump also suggesting the Democratic senators who have raised questions about Kavanaugh's drinking are being hypocritical.

TRUMP: I happen to know some United States Senator, one who is on the other side who is pretty aggressive. I've seen that person in very bad situations.

COLLINS: The White House has given the FBI a week to investigate Kavanaugh and Trump says he's keeping an open mind depending on what they find.

TRUMP: Certainly if they find something, I'm going to take that into consideration.

COLLINS: President Trump seeming to contradict himself today when saying that he believes the FBI should interview anyone they deemed necessary but saying that the third woman who has accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct does not seem to be credible, therefore she doesn't need to be interviewed by the FBI.

Now, one thing President Trump did do was leave some space for potentially this nomination to fail saying now that there wasn't a plan B but that he wasn't ready to discuss one yet. Kaitlan Collins CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And Michael Genovese is President of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University. He joins me now live from Los Angeles. Thank you so much for being with us.

MICHAEL GENOVESE, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL POLICY INSTITUTE, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: Pleasure.

CHURCH: Now, of course, all the attention we're seeing now is on Brett Kavanaugh's drinking habits at high school and college. Some of his classmates remember him as aggressive and belligerent when he got drunk, some of them don't think he told the truth about the extent of his drinking when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Republicans say he's drinking should have nothing to do with this. Why does it matter what Kavanaugh said to the committee about his drinking habits? Is this political or is it an effort to determine if he's telling the truth?

GENOVESE: It's combination of both. Clearly there's a political agenda at stake. The Democrats don't want Kavanaugh. They want to find fault with him and so they go into the process looking for something. Mr. Kavanaugh has given them something. His testimony seems to have been a bit off the truth at times. He seems to have said some things that might involve perjury. And so his word is the important thing. Is he trustworthy? Is he honest? And once you get into a discussion of personal character then -- and it's going beyond that he said she said argument about whether or not he has -- was sexually aggressive with a woman when he was in high school, this goes to the very central nature of what it is to have the judicial temperament and what it is to be able to make decisions that are based on facts especially when your word is in question.

CHURCH: Yes. And of course, now, the focus is also on this FBI investigation. It's concentrating on four key witnesses. Mark Judge seen of course is the most important because Christine Blasey Ford says he was in the room at the time of the alleged sexual assault and there's the two other key witnesses who were allegedly at that same party and the fourth witness who is the second accuser Deborah Ramirez. How will focusing on just these four key witnesses get to the truth of the matter? Is it too limited perhaps?

GENOVESE: Well, it's far too limited. If what you want is a quick decision, that's fine. Then you just rush through it and you take the vote. The Republicans right now have the votes. If what you want is to find out the truth, if you want to figure out whether or not Kavanaugh really deserves to be on the highest court the land, then you'll need more time because you'll question people they will say well go see this person, go talk to that person. And so you don't want to have an artificial timeframe it says, you must finish at this time. You won't either do it right or do it fast. Right now it looks like they want to do it fast.

CHURCH: How do you take the politics out of this? Is it even possible and will this FBI investigation be viewed as a fast in the end because of the limitations even though the White House says there are no limitations here?

GENOVESE: Well, you know, Rosemary we all enter this with baggage and that baggage sometimes puts blinders on us. Right now, it's become a very tribal conflict in -- amidst uncertainty and fluidity and where there's you know, he said she said and all that uncertainty leads people to revert back to their tribal loyalties since the information is unclear, since we don't really know the facts, we can't get it what the truth is. What we're relying on our political instincts and our tribal loyalties and I think that's what you're saying now.

If you look at the polls that you introduced this segment with a 48 percent are against Kavanaugh, 42 percent for, that's pretty much the makeup of the political popularity of the president. And so right now, it's tribal and it's very political and we're not going to get to the bottom of it. I doubt very much that we'll find out the truth.

[01:14:58] CHURCH: Right. And if it can be shown that Kavanaugh lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee about the extent of his drinking and therefore is not an honest person, should he still get confirmed?

GENOVESE: Several Senators said, no. Democrats and Republicans. But I think it's not just the drinking, there's also the question of perjury about his yearbook. Where he may have said some things that aren't true where he was asked specific questions about entries in his yearbook, which referred to what he called drinking games. But what if you Google those things, they return to a sex games?

And so, you know, there is question about whether or not he was going to -- he was honest about that. Now, remember, Bill Clinton was impeached by Republicans for lying under oath about sex. And then, chief accuser within Ken Starr's office was Brett Kavanaugh. And so, maybe this is a little bit of karma. But, if lying about sex under oath is impeachable, it certainly would disqualify you for the Supreme Court, if that's what happened.

CHURCH: Right, exactly. Looking for trust and honesty here, Michael Genovese, thank you so much for joining us. We do appreciate it.

GENOVESE: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, meanwhile, Donald Trump is praising what he calls the most modern and balanced trade deal ever agreed to by the United States. The replacement to NAFTA known as the USMCA. The last-minute deal was reached after Canada agreed to give American dairy farmers greater access to its market. Cristina Alesci explains what's new in this deal.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the name certainly changed, but most analysts are calling this an upgrade to NAFTA. Because it does cover digital trade, so that is definitely an improvement and it does offer some protection for U.S. intellectual property rights.

But, the president was out there today touting this as a benefit to the average American. And saying that all of these changes will eventually trickle down and benefit the average American and two specific members of his base, farmers and auto workers.

Now, in the farmer front, as you mentioned, Canada is giving U.S. farmers greater access to its dairy markets. Specifically, and on auto workers, more of the part -- more of the car part has to come from North America which would theoretically unless an -- or be subject to tariffs, which would theoretically increase domestic production.

Now, both of those things hypothetically should help auto workers and farmers. But economists are divided on this. There's a lot of speculation that for example, these actions will not increase domestic production and domestic manufacturing.

But one thing is clear. The president won today from a political standpoint. He went out there saying, "I delivered on a campaign promise. I told America that I would get rid of NAFTA, and I've gotten rid of NAFTA." So, from that standpoint, he has won.

Also, his bluster and the way that he's gone about these trade negotiation has drawn a lot of skepticism and criticism from both in Congress and on Wall Street. And yet, the Canadians came to the table at the last minute and signed this deal.

Again, more evidence perhaps, he can point to that his tactics, his hardline tactics do work. Furthermore, he said, "Tariffs work." And this is something that even his Republican lawmakers would disagree with. Some of them do not like to hear and see the president using tariffs as a way to get people to the negotiating table, way to get countries to the negotiating table on trade.

So, from a political standpoint, Trump seems to be the biggest winner today.

CHURCH: Well, many of the lights go dark on the Las Vegas Strip. It's all to help mark one year since the Vegas Massacre, the worst mass shooting in modern American history. And we will talk to a survivor of that tragic night coming up after this short break.

And why the number of children at a U.S. immigrant detention facility is skyrocketing? Back in just a moment.

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[01:21:46] CHURCH: People in Las Vegas are pausing to remember the unforgettable. A few minutes ago, many of the lights on the Vegas Strip were turned off to honor the victims of the worst mass shooting in modern American history.

58 people attending a country music concert were killed one year ago after a gunman opened fire from his hotel room window. The names of each of the 58 victims were also read aloud during the ceremony. Another 500 people were injured during their tragic shooting.

And joining us to talk more about that tragic night is Lisa Fine. She survived the shooting and is president of Route 91 Strong. A group which has organized a benefit concert for fellow survivors tonight in Los Angeles. Thank you so much for being with us.

LISA FINE, FOUNDER, ROUTE 91 STRONG: Thank you.

CHURCH: How are you and the other survivors coping a year after this tragedy?

FINE: No, it's been a really long year. And tonight was very important for all of us because we needed a new memory -- sixth -- great what was last -- the night that we were supposed to die. And we all definitely thought that we were going to die.

CHURCH: And now, of course, did you expect to get to this point a year later and see that very little has changed, certainly, in terms of gun control laws?

FINE: You know, the problem with it there's no change. Is that there is nothing I can do about that. But what we can do is we came together as survivors and we founded Route 91 Strong, nonprofit because what we can do is raise a lot of money for the survivors that are struggling so bad.

We have survivors that are applicants that are on suicide watch, have attempted suicide, and I'm sad to say that have committed suicide. To our nonprofit or survivors helping survivors, because we want to help meet their immediate needs, they are losing their jobs, their homes, they are just in the worst state you can't even imagine.

And what we need to do is come together and help them because it's a mass shooting society that we live in now. And that's why we need to do what we're doing and unite.

We need to be vigilant, we can't be complacent. We need to make a difference together.

CHURCH: And this support you're talking about clearly is to give them therapy to help them talk through. The situation they went to -- they went through as survivors. What sort of help were they getting before you started this group and raised this money to help these survivors?

FINE: You know, there were a lot of funds that initially started and what happened were that most of the survivors that we are helping had no means of support at all. And we came together because of that, we knew that they needed us. They were hopeless.

And you know what's going to PTSD is the scariest thing. You can't even imagine. You -- it's like ADHD times 10. People are -- you know, they're desperate. It's their darkest hours. And for them not to have any help, that's why we came together and we will move mountains for them.

I was in the front row in the VIP section. And bullets were six inches from my head and my co-founders head. He was 11 seats away from me that night. And you know what, listening to people being murdered. And I mean, on a -- at a concert, this is insanity.

Automatic weapons shooting down on us and we were supposed to all die that night, and that was the intention. And you know what, a lot of us lived. And so, instead of -- you know this evil monster and bringing dark into our lives, what we're going to do is take light and love.

And what we're going to bring for Route 91 Strong Nonprofit, for all the survivors that need our help from gun violence. We're going to bring support and hope, and strength and change, and love.

[01:25:58] CHURCH: Lisa, it is just simply horrifying to think what you and the other survivors went through on that night. And a year later, we're no closer to knowing why the gunman did this. Would -- knowing his motive make any difference at all in the healing process or going forward? Or does it make no difference at all?

FINE: You know what, I always had an idea that we may never know what or why. And I had to reconcile that in month for personally for me. And I had to let that go because I have to do something with my life.

I get a second chance. And so, do our co-founders who are also survivors, we get a second chance to make a big difference in the world with all the dark and all the bad things that are happening. We just want to just love everybody, unite together, and just make a difference. We can do this.

And thank you for having us on here to share our story. It means everything to us. There are survivors that came to our event tonight. There were 50 survivors. And we all had a moment of silence. 58 seconds of silence for each one of those precious lives that were taken.

CHURCH: You can do this and you will do this. Lisa Fine, thank you so much for talking with us and all of your brave efforts. You and all of the other survivors. We do wish you the very best. Thank you so much.

And time now for a very short break. When we come back, we go off to Alaska for a look and what indigenous Americans think of Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many of you want to see Judge Brett Kavanaugh, be confirmed and end up on the Supreme Court? Who doesn't? All of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And for many, the reason has nothing to do with sexual assault allegations. We'll explain when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:1f] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Rosemary Church.

Want to check the headlines for you this hour.

Donald Trump said Democrats have been trying to destroy his Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh since he was first announced. The U.S. President says he wants a thorough but swift investigation of sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh.

Iran has fired ballistic missiles across Iraq and into Syria targeting Sunni militants it blames for a deadly attack in a military parade last month. The U.S. says the missiles came within five kilometers of American troops.

An American woman is accusing football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo of rape. In a lawsuit, the woman alleges that Ronaldo forced himself on her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. Police say they have reopened a criminal investigation that began nine years ago.

Rescuers in Indonesia are struggling to get to remote areas that have been cut off since Friday's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. More than 840 people were killed and that toll will likely rise even further. Hundreds more are injured. Thousands of buildings have been destroyed and food and other supplies are running low.

And joining us now by phone from Jakarta, Indonesia Faja Jazmine (ph), a representative with Save the Children. Thank you so much for talking with us.

FAJA JAZMINE, SAVE THE CHILDREN (via telephone): My pleasure.

CHURCH: And now what are the biggest challenges at this moment for aid groups like yours trying to get help to those most in need including, of course, the children? JAZMINE: Yes. To begin with we need to understand that Sulawesi is

not an island like Java or Bali in Indonesia. This is an island that has some major cities where they're mostly geographically widely separated with only some main roads connecting between them. And then there are a lot -- a lot of forested area. So this is closer to Borneo.

And the reason why I'm telling you this is because when an island of this kind is hit by a disaster of this scale it is easy to understand that the biggest challenge for us and other agencies is now access. The airport is damaged. Everything shut for commercial traffic. And the road, they are also heavily damaged.

I'm talking about infrastructure being broken. Bridges being broken into and roads being not connected anymore because of the seismic shift and so on and so forth.

Our initial response teams were in fact -- or were only able to get there by hitchhiking on the navy ship. And this ship needs to land in Makassar because the port in the affected area is, of course, damaged by the tsunami.

But Makassar is still 800 kilometers away from the affected area. Now with this all kinds of damaged roads that would mean another 30 hours' journey to get to the affected area.

Now, we were only talking about the response teams which only carry, you know, themselves. Now when we're talking about relief efforts, the truck and containers, that would really complicate the matter.

CHURCH: Right. So the biggest challenge is that these roads are damaged. It's really difficult to get through. And you're having to use these navy ships to actually get to some of the -- the aid to those most in need.

How long do you think it would take to get all of this aid to the disaster zone given those problems? You're talking about 30 hours just for one trip there.

JAZMINE: Correct. I need to tell you the truth that I cannot give you a good estimation on how long do I think that it will be restored. But I have reports coming in that the government along with the army are already deploying some excavators, you know, from the plantations that were existing on the island before and, you know, deploying all these earth movers to help -- to help the efforts of this foreign access (ph).

So I would like to think that it should be restored in a day or two, to some extent. Not fully, but to some extent that would enable all these relief efforts to move forward more, sadly (ph).

CHURCH: Right. Faja Jazmine -- thank you so much for talking with us, talking about the challenges there and, of course, as you were speaking wit us, looking at this drone footage certainly puts it in perspective. [01:35:06] Just the extent of this damage and devastation and how long it will take for people's lives to return to normal. We're talking a very long time.

Thank you for so much for speaking with us.

Well, the U.S. state of Alaska is a key battleground in the fight over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. One of its senators, Lisa Murkowski could hold a deciding vote but indigenous Americans in Alaska oppose Kavanaugh for an important reason that has nothing to do with sexual assault.

CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kathryn Martin is an indigenous Alaskan, a member of the Mentasta Traditional Council. And while she and about 100 other natives in this village may be far out in the Alaskan wilderness they are all in on the debate happening in Washington.

(on camera): How many of you want to see Judge Brett Kavanaugh be confirmed and end up on the Supreme Court? Who doesn't? All of you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN (voice over): There are tens of thousands of indigenous people who live in Alaska. In past Senate elections they have voted overwhelmingly for Lisa Murkowski whose vote is key in determining if Kavanaugh makes it to the Supreme Court. Everyone we talked to in this village strongly supports Murkowski because they say she understands their way of life and challenges.

LIZ MEDICINE CROW, FIRST ALASKAN INSTITUTE: We're experiencing rape and sexual abuse and domestic violence at higher rates than anywhere else in the country. And our Senator Lisa Murkowski, she knows that.

TUCHMAN: So there is great sympathy for Christine Blasey Ford among many people the native community and among everyone we talked to in this remote village.

ANITA ANDREWS, ALASKA NATIVE: As a survivor of sexual abuse, I think it takes years for people to come out with this. You know, some victims, as some victims come out with it immediately but I think that some victims, it takes them a while before they're able to talk about it. And I think this is what happened with this lady.

HARRY JOHN, ALASKA NATIVE: I think he is against women's rights and including native rights.

TUCHMAN: And that's the other huge issue working against Kavanaugh and likely weighing on Senator Murkowski's mind -- native rights. In a case that went to the Supreme Court, Kavanaugh questioned whether the constitutional protections given to Native American tribes should also be given to native Hawaiians. People here think that bodes poorly for them.

(on camera): How concerned are you that Alaska Natives' rights could be taken away if Brett Kavanaugh ends up on the Supreme Court?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very concerned. I mean it's our way of life.

TUCHMAN (voice over): Alaska natives consider themselves a modest people. But many of them are not particularly modest about the political influence they believe they hold which they think Senator Lisa Murkowski needs to keep in mind.

Just last week indigenous Alaskans were arrested while protesting outside the Washington D.C. office of Alaska's other U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan. Nobody expects Sullivan to vote against Kavanaugh but the message for Alaska's other senator is loud and clear.

(on camera): So if Lisa Murkowski votes ultimately to confirm Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court what will your thoughts be about Lisa Murkowski?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She won't have my full support in the future.

TUCHMAN: How do you feel about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She won't have my full support either.

TUCHMAN: What about you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wouldn't -- I would not write her name or put a check mark by her name.

TUCHMAN: Would any of you still vote for Lisa Murkowski?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

TUCHMAN: No.

So you're counting on her to vote no on Kavanaugh?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TUCHMAN: And would you be surprised if she did vote yes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very.

TUCHMAN: Strong viewpoints from indigenous people in a remote Alaskan village.

Gary Tuchman, CNN -- Mentasta Lake, Alaska.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Imagine a child being awakened in the middle of the night, put on a bus and hauled to a tent city in a barren desert. The "New York Times" reports that's what the Trump administration is doing to hundreds of migrant children currently in U.S. custody.

Tal Kopan has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: The tent facility in Texas is expanding, in fact more than tripling in size. And remember it was originally create in June, during the height of the family separations crisis and the justification at that point was to accommodate the extra pressure on the system because of those separations.

But even as those separated children are being reunited and released from government custody, facility is only expanding and that's because the number of children in government custody, these immigrant children is skyrocketing. And that change isn't because of an influx at the border. Those numbers are relatively steady.

[01:39:51] Instead what's happening is the Trump administration is keeping these children in detention longer as a result of some of the policies they've implemented including greater scrutiny of the adults who come forward to take care of these, many of whom are undocumented themselves and as CNN has reported can be arrested now under the Trump administration if they come forward to take care of those children.

So what we're seeing is now hundreds of children from all over the country in the more permanent shelters that are run by the government being transferred to this tent facility in Texas. A tent facility originally was designed to house only a few hundred children and now is being expanded to up to 3,800. And that is to accommodate the more than 13,000 immigrant children who remain in government custody across the country.

Now there doesn't seem to be any end in sight to this. The government says that these conditions are up to standard but places the responsibility on Congress to change the laws, if they don like what they're seeing from the Trump administration.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, keep calling it Macedonia, at least for now. A referendum on a new name has settled very little and it's still unclear whether the country is any closer to joining the E.U. and NATO.

Plus instead of throwing a fit over Brexit, some fed-up Londoners are using their pent-up political anger to get fit. We will explain after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, protesters took to the streets of Barcelona to mark one year since Catalonia's referendum on independence from Spain which Madrid deemed illegal. Police were also out in force Monday evening after thousands of supporters of Catalonia's independence took part in a March. Those demonstrating want the results of the 2017 referendum and the declaration of independence to be recognized.

Well a referendum on changing Macedonia's name has failed in nearly three decades of dispute with Greece. The issue is about more than just which country claims that name.

As our Nina Dos Santos reports, Macedonia's hopes of joining the European Union and NATO are now in limbo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One question to settle a 27-year dispute, a vote to change Macedonia's name and bring the former Yugoslav state closer to NATO, the E.U. and to end a bitter dispute with its neighbor Greece.

[01:44:58] But after failing to secure the required 50 percent turnout, Skopje's government is in crisis and the country divided.

DJORDGE RAICHINOVSKI (ph), SKOPJE RESIDENT (through translator): Generally speaking, people are in favor of the European Union and NATO but not at any cost. The campaign that was promoting the yes vote put an emphasis on European values and the European way of life.

FILIP SIMJANOVSKI (ph), MACEDONIAN CITIZEN (through translator): The referendum has failed so Macedonia remains Macedonia and Macedonians remain Macedonians not Northern Macedonians.

DOS SANTOS: Macedonia's two million people were asked about changing the country's name to North Macedonia to placate Greece which also claims the name for one of its provinces where Alexander the Great was born.

After years of deadlock the two nations finally settled on a new name in summer. Bringing Macedonia into Europe is all that is important for Brussels and the concerns of growing Russian influence in the Balkans following an attempted coup in nearby Montenegro ahead of its alliance with NATO last year.

Despite receiving the backing of U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Macedonian nationalists orchestrated a boycott and it made its impact with turnout reaching just 36 percent, way below the 50 percent needed.

Yet within that 36 percent the overwhelming majority of Macedonians cast their ballot in favor of the change. As such the prime minister has vowed to press ahead even if it means calling a new election.

ZORAN ZAEV, PRIME MINISTER OF MACEDONIA (through translator): This is the moment when lawmakers, their decisions have the obligation to improve Macedonia, a beautiful place to live for all citizens. Otherwise, the only remaining democratic instrument is to soon hold early parliamentary elections.

DOS SANTOS: But a new election may not close the matter. Constitutional change requires a two-thirds majority and finding 80 MPs in favor may not be a given.

Nina Dos Santos, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The U.K. has a tough message to the European Union saying it's time to get serious about Brexit negotiations. Prime Minister Theresa May is at a deadlock with the E.U. over exactly how her country will leave the bloc. But speaking at the conservative party's annual conference Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain won't be pushed around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINIC RAAB, BREXIT SECRETARY: If the E.U. wants a deal, they need to get serious and they need to do it now. Some people say that no deal is unthinkable -- wrong. What is unthinkable is that this government or any other British government could be bullied by the threat of some kind of economic embargo into signing a one-sided deal against our country's interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And we are due to hear from Theresa May herself later this week.

Well Londoners meantime sweating the details of leaving the E.U. are venting their frustrations with the help of some familiar faces. One gym enlisted the help of an anger management expert to design a Brexit-inspired fitness class. Pictures of Boris Johnson, Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are all there just waiting for your jabs and right hooks.

The gym's CEO says the theme was chosen after 52 percent of members said Brexit is the main cause of stress in their lives. There you go.

Well, Lebanon's foreign minister is denying Israeli claims that there are Hezbollah missile sites near Beirut's airport. And he took foreign ambassadors or journalists on a tour Monday to support his denial.

But as Ben Wedeman reports the outing didn't clarify anything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a field trip show and tell for Beirut's diplomatic and press corps led by Lebanese foreign minister Gebran Bassil. The purpose: to refute claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that Hezbollah with Iran's help is fitting old missiles with advanced guidance systems on the edge of the Lebanese capital.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The have placed three missile conversion sites along Beirut's International Airport.

Here's a picture that's worth a thousand missiles. Here's Beirut's International Airport.

WEDEMAN: That speech alarmed Lebanon's foreign minister.

GEBRAN BASSIL: I'm concerned only for this time, to prove once more that Netanyahu is preparing another aggression against my country.

WEDEMAN: We went to two of the three sites in a rushed, chaotic tour that left the Greek ambassador for one grasping for a strong fact.

[01:50:02] But so far have you seen anything that makes you any wiser?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No. Not at all.

We have been the in golf course and here in the football (INAUDIBLE).

WEDEMAN: The Russian ambassador, another (INAUDIBLE) shrugged off Netanyahu's claims.

"It's not logical what he says. It's all lies. I suspect as regards this, yes."

No U.S. diplomats attended.

Hezbollah may or may not have precision missiles near the airport but precision missiles it does have. At a march marking the Muslim holiday of Ashura (ph) Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah declared "the resistance is now possession of precision and non- precision rockets and weapons capabilities that if Israel imposed a war against Lebanon, it will face a fate and reality that it never expected."

After much rushing and pushing and sweating, clarity remains elusive. During this kind of tour, it is very difficult to either prove or disprove the claims of the Israeli Prime Minister.

We've been running around. We've seen a golf course, a football field, a swimming pool, a warehouse. But there's not the time or the ability to really figure out what we're looking at.

Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And we take a short break here.

But coming up next, an ancient royal town graced by temples and mountains-- the spiritual side of one of Southeast Asia's favorite tourist sites in Laos.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. A UNESCO World Heritage site that is all about good karma, the ancient town of Luang Prabang in northern Laos delights travelers from all over the world. But its core is devoted to the soul's journey.

CNN's Amara Walker takes a look in our special series, "Destination: Laos".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gone in Luang Prabang -- the former capital of Laos. And the song of insects is interrupted by the ringing of the bell as the sky begins to lighten. A sea of saffron appears in the distance.

This is tak bat a centuries' old Buddhist ritual of alms giving. Locals line up along the road to offer gifts of sticky rice to the passing monks while tourist snap photos on the other side documenting the living tradition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the alms giving, we do every day; every day -- even in the rainy season or the dry season. So seven days a week. This is the way how we believe, how we practice Buddhism.

[01:55:06] WALKER: As one of the most significant and ancient centers of Laotian Buddhism, the peninsula of Luang Prabang lies at the juncture of two rivers, the mighty Mekong and its tributary, the Nam Khan.

In 1995, UNESCO listed the city as a world heritage site citing Luang Prabang's well-preserved architecture and culture nestled in verdant splendor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Luang Prabang itself, it has more than 32, 33 temples you know. And some temples very special like this one. Buddhism (INAUDIBLE), so often, you know, allow people in Laos.

So we are now here in Wat Sing Tong. Wat Sing Tong is one of the oldest Buddhist temple. It's still standing here in 16th century and they (INAUDIBLE). And it's still very active for the, you know local community of the Buddhist people, especially the monks.

WALKER: At 6:00 p.m. some 12 hours after the alms-giving, the strike of another bell signals the evening's chanting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is necessary to do our chanting because it is our duty. It makes us feel peaceful and it's a way to show our appreciation to the lay people who support us.

WALKER: As the drone of Buddhist mantra filled the evening in Luang Prabang, another day in the temple draws to a close.

Tomorrow these same monks will wake up before the sun to collect alms, to nurture and perhaps defend an ancestral culture.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Well, tributes are pouring in from all around the world for legendary French singer Charles Aznavour.

The Eiffel Tower was bathed in light in honor of Aznavour who died at his home near Marseilles at the age of 94. Fans also left flowers and candles at his star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Aznavour was sometimes described as France's Frank Sinatra. He was famous for his haunting love songs, selling more than 100 million records in a career that spanned eight decades.

Thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with another hour of news coming up next.

You're watching CNN. Stick around.

[01:57:46] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)