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US Warplanes Bomb ISIS Camp in Libya. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 19, 201 - 08:00:00   ET

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


KRISTIE LU STOUT, ANCHOR, NEWS STREAM: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to this shortened edition of News Stream.

Now, US official tell CNN, American warplanes had bombed an ISIS camp in Libya. The strikes targeted a terrorist believed responsible for twin

attacks on a museum and a popular beach resort in Tunisia last year.

Libyan security officials tell CNN at least 10 people were killed in these US airstrikes.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr joins me now with the very latest and Barbara, what have you learned about the strike and its targets?

BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Kristie, we've talked to a US official with direct knowledge of what happened and what this official

tells us is this training camp was struck specifically because there had been growing intelligence indicators over the last several weeks that there

were foreign fighters there and that they were training and planning for an external attack outside of Libya and of course Europe is always the concern

just a short distance across the Mediterranean.

The camp had been under observation by US intelligence. They saw advanced firearms and maneuver training going on there, described to CNN as not the

usual training camp scenario.

So this definitely caught their attention and when this ISIS operative who'd been involved in attacks in Tunisia turned up, he is someone also

with expertise in planning and carrying out external attacks, so this really ramped up the concern.

They went to the administration, got approval for the strikes. F-15s by all account, US F-15s dropping several munitions, several bombs on this

area.

Libya now really a growing concern for the US because there is no functioning government there and it has become essentially a third front

for ISIS after Syria and Iraq. Kristie.

STOUT: Barbara, can you give us more background on the top target here. This individual, an ISIS operative named (NurdeenKushan) what role has he

been playing in the ISIS militant group?

STARR: Well, (Kushan) is somebody that had been on the US radar much more since those attacks in Tunisia last year. You'll recall there were two

attacks. One on the Bardo Museum and one at a beach resort.

These were really horrific situations and a number of tourists and non- Tunisians were there. This was really going to ISIS's strategy of external attacks where there might be Westerners and people who are not from the

countries in which ISIS operates. This is a very typical terror attack that they have been using to try and strike fear in Europeans and

Americans.

So this is somebody that the US had been keeping an eye on, looking for him. When he turned up at this camp or when they had intelligence that he

had turned up at this camp, the concern was that this was yet another indicator that this camp was being used to plan and train for external

attacks, combined his presence with the foreign fighters there, put it all together and it raised a lot of alarm bells in the US.

STOUT: CNN's Barbara Starr reporting for us live from the Pentagon. Thank you, Barbara.

It remains to be seen whether there will be a cessation of hostilities in Syria in the coming hours. Now, the Syria task force is set to me meet

later today in Geneva to iron out the details of a pause in the fighting that was brokered last week.

The US State Department says US and Russia already began discussing concrete measures on Thursday night, but as of now, there is no word on

when formal UN led talks have yet to get underway.

Washington is holding North Korea to account for its recent bout of nuclear and missile tests plus suspected cyber hacking.

US President Barack Obama has signed new sanctions into law. They freeze the assets of anyone doing business related to North Korea's nuclear or

weapons programs. It comes after Pyongyang said it conducted its fourth nuclear test to launch a satellite into space.

China, a longtime sponsor of Pyongyang has expressed concern about the sanctions.

(VIDEOCLIP BEGINS)

HONG LEI, CHINESE FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: As the situation on the Korean peninsula remains complex and sensitive, all relevant parties

should keep calm and restrained and refrain from doing anything that could escalate tensions.

We think it is impossible to resolve any hotspot issues through simple sanctions or pressuring. Any action detrimental to third-party interest

would not help resolve the issue and would further complicate things. We hope the relevant party exercises caution instead of creating troubles.

(VIDEOCLIP ENDS)

STOUT And while Beijing objects, South Korea supports the sanctions and says, it welcomes Washington's response.

US Republican Presidential contender, Donald Trump appears to be softening his tone after some verbal sparring with the leader of the Catholic Church

on Thursday.

Pope Francis was asked about Trump's call for the construction of a wall between the US and Mexico and without mentioning Trump's name, the Pope

suggested anyone calling for a wall and the deportation of undocumented immigrants is "not Christian."

Now Trump fired back calling the comments disgraceful, but he backed up on Thursday night during CNN's town hall.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have a lot of respect for the Pope. I think he's got a lot of personality. He is very different.

He is a very different kind of a guy and I think he's doing a very good job. He has a lot of energy, but I would say that I think he was very much

misinterpreted and I also think he was given false information.

If he would've heard our side, the side from people that live in the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would like to meet with him and talk to him better?

TRUMP: I'll do it anytime he wants. I mean, that would be very interesting.

(VIDEOCLIP ENDS)

STOUT: Yes, that would be. Now, CNN's Rosa Flores was on the plane when the Pope talked about Trump and joined us now live from Rome, Rosa, what

more did Pope Francis say about Donald Trump and US immigration reform?

ROSA FLORES, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Hi, Kristie. Well, I think the context is very, very important to get an overall grasp of what the Pope said and

what he meant as well. So let me take you through it.

First of all, how the question was posed? It was something along the lines of, "Pope Francis, you've been speaking very eloquently about immigration

in Mexico." because let's remember that he was in Mexico before making these comments on the Papal plane.

And they said, "You know, but there is a presidential election going on across the border that has a front runner speaking about deporting more

than 11 million undocumented immigrants and building a wall that separates the US and Mexico," and the exact question was, "So, would you recommend

for American Catholics to vote for such a man?"

Here is his answer.

(VIDEOCLIP BEGINS)

POPE FRANCIS: A person who thinks only about building walls wherever they may be located and not building bridges is not Christian. This is not in

the gospel. As far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that

this man is not Christian if he has said things like that.

(VIDEOCLIP ENDS)

FLORES: Now, it is important to note that Pope Francis didn't mention Donald Trump by name. The name Donald Trump was in the question, Kristie

STOUT: I appreciate the added context there on the comments made on the Papal plane and after those comments were released, so the media - Donald

Trump, he fired back. He calledthose comments "disgraceful" but he later softened his tone, but nonetheless, how is Trump's initial response going

down among the faithful? What has been the reaction?

FLORES: Well, you know what, it varies, DonaldTrump of course has a lot of support in the United States. He's a very popular candidate as you know,

and so he definitely has people defending him in the comments made about the Pope, but again like you said, he has scaled back. I know that in the

town hall, he said, you know, I went back and I actually read what the Pope said and he said - his tone was a lot softer than what Donald Trump

initially thought the Pope had said.

So I'm sure people are going to continue to love Donald Trump regardless of what he said and that's part of the dynamic of the election that's going on

right now in the US.

And you know, a few weeks ago, he made a comment along the lines that he could shoot somebody in New York and people would still vote for him, so I

think that he knows that he's got a strong following and regardless of what he says about the Pope, those people will continue to follow him anyway,

Kristie.

STOUT: Rosa Flores reporting live from Rome. Thank you for that.

Now turning to the Democratic side of the race for the US presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton. She is locked in a tight race there with

Bernie Sanders, but it seems the Vermont Senator is edging past her.

A new poll by Fox News suggest that he has a three percentage point lead ahead of Clinton, the nationwide knowing it comes after a CNN ORC poll

found the two basically are tied in Nevada just a few days before Democrats vote there.

Meanwhile, we are just one day away from a key Republican vote in the US state of South Carolina and as seen in the poll of polls, Donald Trump

still carrying a strong lead.

You're watching News Stream. Still to come, the future of the European Union hangs in the balance. Leaders are trying to get a deal that could

keep written in the block. We'll be live in Brussels.

STOUT: Coming to you live from a glittering Hong Kong, you are back watching News Stream.

European leaders are back at the negotiating table for talks on Britain's feature in the EU. The British Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to

get the Union to agree on new rules for his country. In particular, he wants to opt out of a founding EU principal to form an ever closer union

and to delay giving benefits of the Europeans who moved to the UK.

Now any deal must be approved by all 20 members of the block and that is a pretty steep hill to climb. Now, for more, let's bring Nina Dos Santos

from Brussels. Nina, talks, they are underway. Progress has been reported there, but what are the main sticking points, if you can hear me?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, the main sticking points are some of those - the ones that you pointed out before and particularly, the

issue of being able to impose some kind of an emergency break on migrants who are living the UK.

Often, migrants whose children are living inside other European countries and Eastern European countries who are particularly irritated by this

proposal because it means that they would either have to foot the bill for those child benefit or pay out the difference or their people will get less

money back home.

So they have been really standing their ground on this issue. At least four Eastern European countries in particular and we've also had France

being rather difficult about safeguards for the city of London. Remember that the UK is outside of the single currency area.

Now what has happened over the last few hours or so is that Greece has also gotten into the mix here. Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister,

according to our sources who I have been speaking to here on the floor of the European Commission building saying that he wants help on the issue of

migration.

And this is what everybody was very concerned about here that certain parties would use these talks to their own advantage to try and push

forward things that they needed to sign off on this deal.

Now, here's what Mr. David Cameron said when he arrived a couple of hours ago after some really full late-night negotiations yesterday.

(VIDEOCLIP BEGINS)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Well, I was here until five o'clock this morning working through this and we've made some progress, but there

is still no deal and as I have said, I'll only do a deal if we get what Britain needs, so we're going to get back in there. We're going to do some

more work and I'll do everything I can.

(VIDEOCLIP ENDS)

DOS SANTOS: So as you can see there, they were burning midnight oil yesterday, or burning the 5:30 oil and that means that things have slipped

significantly in terms of the timeframe, so what we were expecting was that EU leaders were supposed to gather for a late English breakfast earlier

today, well that English breakfast turned into an English lunch.

We now know that that working lunch is being delayed, so it's probably going to be an English tea time meeting at this rate.

Now, I just want to show you something that often happens here on the floor of the European Commission building. Take a look at this big huddle that

is happening behind me. What this will be is one of the spokespeople of one of the 28 member states briefing journalists and you can see how many

people are around that particular huddle. It gives you an idea how everybody wants to know what's going on inside those negotiations as each

side decides to bring up their own bids that they want discussed as well.

There is a lot at stake here, Kristie. We're talking about a block with 725 million people here and one of those countries, Britain, could open up

a whole can of worms more than the others.

So what people are really concerned about here is this issue of a so-called Brexit doesn't encourage other countries to play hardball as well.

STOUT: All right, Nina Dos Santos reporting live from Brussels, giving us a sense of the mood and also what's at stake at the critical EU Summit

underway. Thank you, Nina and take care.

And we are going to have a lot more on the talks to prevent a Brexit including the view from London with our Senior Diplomatic Editor, Nic

Robertson. That's coming up on CNN Money with Maggie Lake in about 15 minutes.

New Zealand has offered to welcome hundreds of asylum-seekers and it could affect the case of baby Asha who is at the heart of Australia's immigration

debate. What both nations are saying, just ahead.

Back now. New Zealand's offer to resettle 150 asylum-seekers each year remains on the table. The Prime Minister says New Zealand would resettle

them from Australian offshore detention camps, but so far Australia hasn't said that it will accept the offer. It may affect the case of baby Asha

whose story we've brought to you before.

Australian doctors, they refuse to discharge her after she was badly burned in an accident at the Australian Finance Detention Center on the island of

Nauru.

The Prime Minister has explained their positions at a joint news conference earlier today.

(VIDEOCLIP BEGINS)

JOHN KEY, PRIME MINISTER, NEW ZEALAND: So I can't tell you who might or might not be better to come or whether the Australian government would want

to exercise their right to do that. All I can simply say is that, the offer remains on the table.

MALCOLM TURNBULL, PRIME MINISTER, AUSTRALIA: We're assessing this situation on a case by case basis and we will - we will take into account

what John has proposed or what John has offered, but we do so very thoughtfully recognizing that the one thing we must not do is give an inch

to the people smugglers.

(VIDEOCLIP ENDS)

STOUT: Now, baby Asha's case and those of other asylum-seekers has sparked protests in Australia. In Melbourne, two demonstrators scaled a 162-meter

high spire.

Now, more tech companies are siding with Apple on its fight against in order to help the FBI hack into an iPhone. The device belonged to one of

the San Bernardino, California shooters.

Facebook cautions that the government's demand could, "Create a chilling precedent and obstruct company's efforts to secure their products."

Twitter also came out in support. In fact, the CEO, Jack Dorsey tweeted this, "We stand with Tim Cook and Apple."

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, World Sport is next.

ALEX THOMAS, ANCHOR, WORLD SPORT: Hello, welcome to CNN World Sport. I am Alex Thomas in London.

Louis Van Gaal is under more pressure than ever before after Manchester United suffered and embarrassing Europa league defeat against Danish

minnows, FC Midtjylland. Despite the winter break, preventing Midtjyllandfrom playing competitively for almost two months, they fought

back from United's earlier, managed to tie goals, equalize before the break.

And the Danish champions went on to establish a two on one lead at the second leg at Old Trafford with a goal from (pool) only two wild

celebrations.

Prompted by that, why not? The Danish got this very form 17 years ago. This season, the United won a trouble of trophies including the Champions

League.

Midtjylland's team is only worth $10 million, a fraction of the $219 million that United's players would be valued and after the David versus

Goliath slaying of the Manchester Giants, the English city's local newspaper featured this back page, "LVG must go," the unequivocal headline

and that with similar verdict from other popular writers, received what is boos from United fans who had traveled to Denmark, inevitably the name of

Jose Marino has again been mentioned if the United hierarchy decides enough is enough.

If you watched World Sport earlier in the week, you would have seen FC Midtjylland Chairman RasmusAnkersen talking about his excitements at the

United match, so of course, we had to speak to Rasmus again after such an astonishing win for his club.

(VIDEOCLIP BEGINS)

RASMUS ANKERSEN, CHAIRMAN, FC MIDTJYLLAND: I think this is the kind of victory that people will talk about in 25 years and say, "Do you remember

when we Manchester United?" It's a big deal for us. It was the biggest game in the club's history and winning this game is something that people

will remember, it's something that will help them change the self- perception, I think, the talk for this club and this region.

THOMAS: From a night to remember for MC Midtjylland to a day to forget for Jordan Spieth's description, not mine. The world's number one suffering

his worst ever opening round at a PGA Tour events and that was happening at this week's Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.

Spieth'swoes exacerbated by the fact that his rival, Rory McElroy enjoyed a good start to his title bid at the Riviera Club shooting a four under par

round of 67, which left him tied fifth and four strokesbehind early leader, Camilo Villegas.

Spieth's79 was 16 shots worse than the Colombian score and included a double bogey at the last. Only one player is lower than Spieth at the end

of the first day.

After a short break following the All-Stars weekend, the NBA returned to action on Thursday with the Los Angeles Clippers ending San Antonio's six-

game winning streak. Admittedly, the Spurs were without their star player, Kawhi Leonard, he sat out due to a left calf injury and instead, Chris Paul

dominated the game for the Clippers. He scored 28 points and added 12 assists in which LA hammered San Antonio, 105 to 86.

That's it for this edition of CNN World Sport. I'll see you for more in just under two hours' time. Up next, we've got CNN Money Live New York

with Maggie Lake. Thanks for watching, bye-bye.

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