tv CNN Special Report CNN March 3, 2015 9:00pm-10:01pm PST
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in syria. so they are coming -- >> a lot different than they are seeing in the propaganda videos. we're out of time. we appreciate you talking to us. we want to thank all of our panelists. that does it for this edition of "360." the israeli prime minister warns the u.s. congress about a nuclear deal with iran. and racist e-mails and a pattern of discrimination against blacks. the federal investigation blasts the ferguson, missouri police department. and executions now imminent in indonesia. i'm zain asher. >> and i'm john vause. this is cnn newsroom. great to have you with us. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu did not pull
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any punches in his controversial speech to the u.s. congress. he called iran the enemy and said the nuclear deal with the u.s. and other countries are negotiating would not stop iran from developing nuclear weapons, only delay it. >> his speech got a rousing response from the mostly republican audience. but a number of democrats also praised him as well, with one calling him very persuasive. >> no surprise from the white house. president obama said there was nothing new in it. >> he challenged the israeli leader to come up with a viable alternative. here's the white house correspondent michelle kaczynski. >> before this eager congress, israeli prime minister netanyahu blasted the prospect of a nuclear deal with iran that he called the enemy. >> that deal will not prevent iran from getting nuclear weapons, it would all but guaranty that iran gets those
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weapons, lots of them. that's why this deal is so bad. it doesn't block iran's path to the bomb. it paves iran's path to the bomb. >> reporter: he got a reception here, but the white house not impressed. president obama didn't even watch the speech, but he did use nearly 15 minutes responding to it. >> the prime minister didn't offer any viable alternatives. the alternative that the prime minister offers is no deal in which case iran will immediately begin once again pursuing its nuclear program, accelerate its nuclear program, without us having any insight into what they're doing and without constraint. >> reporter: netanyahu's objections to this deal, it would not require iran to demolish any nuclear facility, thousands of centrifuges. would allow a year of break out time, how long it would take to make a nuclear bomb, and only
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have a ten-year time frame. and netanyahu says more inspections of facilities would only be able to document iran's progress towards a weapon, but wouldn't be able to stop it. >> the world should demand that iran do three things. first, stop its aggression against its neighbors in the middle east. second, stop supporting terrorism around the world. and third, stop threatening to annihilate my country, israel, the one and only jewish state! >> a speech watched by the world but boy coated by some 50 democrats. the white house trying to stay above all the emotion. >> what i'm focused on right now is solving this problem. i'm not focused on the politics of it or the fear of it. my strong suggestion would be that members of congress, as they evaluate it, stay similarly focused. >> so after all the buildup and controversy surrounding this
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speech, did the israeli prime minister move the needle in his favor? does he leave washington in a better position than when he arrived? aaron miller is a former adviser to six secretaries of state and a distinguished scholar. he had what could be considered the biggest political stage in the world to explain why a nuke deal with iran a bad deal. did he make the case? >> it depends who the audience is. his domestic audience clearly. he looked and acted prime ministerial. he's got that baritone voice, that flawless engilish with a little philadelphia accent, laying out concerns. and there's not a lot of space in washington for the mullas and probably less in israel. and he probably helped himself. whether this will be determinative during the elections is unclear. second, did he convince enough
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democrats, did he put enough doubt in the minds of the democrats who could cross over in response to a piece of legislation introduced by bob corker which would basically force the administration to submit to congress a review of an agreement before it is actually implemented. and there i'm not so sure. but those were his two primary audiences. he certainly wasn't looking to get faifer from the obama administration. >> do you think he's managed to put president obama on the back foot, because if there is a deal with iran, obama will have to sell this, and that's not going to be a hard sell not just to congress but the american public, that was a big ask even before netanyahu's speech. >> i think he's made it more complicated but not impossible. herein lies the reality. number one, we don't know what the terms of the forthcoming
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deal may be. and number two, we're not even sure, i suspect, that there's even going to be a deal. this may take consider my more time than even the obama administration believes. so i think on balance, it will be harder but not impossible. this is a determined, willful president. he's determined to restrain and constrain iran so that the israelis don't preempt militarily and he needs to rule out the need for american military action. and we have a 20-month window before he leaves office. so we'll see if he can accomplish that. >> and the israeli prime minister is a determined, willful prime minister. so at the end of the day, the speech that he delivered before congress, was that worth the damage done to the u.s.-israel alliance? >> that remains to be seen. if netanyahu on march 18th is in
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a position to form a new government, he'll look like a political genius. if he isn't, he'll look like a goat. on the iranian question, i think regardless of whether he wins or not, there's likely to be an agreement, end of march, maybe weeks after, between the u.s., iran, and the israelis in the face of that agreement, may have no choice but to agree with it. in the meantime, netanyahu's political opponent in israel said that speech did nothing but sabotage the relationship between the united states and israel. we'll see what happens in the next two weeks. the speech did not go over with iranians. >> tehran insists the nuclear program is peaceful. here's our report from iran's capital. >> reporter: it's not a surprise
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that the israeli prime minister's speech did not gech much live play in tehran, but many followed what israel's prime minister had to say and the vast majority didn't like it. >> america is trying to reach agreement with iran, but netanyahu is trying to make it like stop doing it. >> reporter: nuclear negotiations and the looming deadline for a frame work agreement are among the biggest topics in iran these days. some say they don't believe a deal will come through. are you confident there will be an agreement? >> yes. >> reporter: why? >> because iran and america will finish this problem. >> i don't think, i don't think so.
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>> reporter: it remains unclear how much of its atomic capabilities iran is willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief. most iranians believe their country has a right to develop a nuclear program, especially a peaceful one. nuclear technology is a thing of national pride for many people here, but people also say they want the sanctions lifted so they can get direct investment into this country. the west is worried that iran could work to make a bomb if its uranium enrichment isn't effectively controlled. the iaea says tehran hasn't given it enough information to prove that their program is solely for solely purposes. a professor at the tehran university says he believes fear of iran's nuclear ambitions are overblown. >> a month ago, 70% of iranians believed that the nuclear
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program is completely peaceful. in addition to that, the fact that religious authorities in iran have given fatwahs against nuclear weapons adds to this argument. >> reporter: but that will do little to ease the skepticism in western countries, while many hope an agreement will come together to ease their economic pain. still to come here, two australian citizens may soon face a firing squad in indonesia. >> coming up, we'll explain the reason and a lot of fear behind these pending executions. also, the u.s. justice department finds a pattern of discrimination in ferguson, missouri, and not just in the police department.
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we'll take care of it. we put members first. join the nation. thank you. ♪ nationwide is on your side today, video shows moments leading up to the shooting death of an unarmed man by los angeles police. authorities say the man was a robbery suspect who started fighting. if you look closely, it appears the officers tried to subdue the man before shooting him. police say the man reached for an officer's gun. that's when he was shot. the shooting happened sunday in the city's homeless district.
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there's been a scathing report about the city of ferguson, missouri by the justice department. it says there's a pattern of discrimination by the misand the courts. >> back in arm, an unarmed teen was shot by an officer. >> the report found that blacks were overwhelmingly targeted, and racial groups were found in government e-mails. the full report will be made public wednesday. >> early, i spoke with correspondent evan perez who goes into specifics. >> reporter: zain, the justice department said that there was a pattern and practice of discrimination against african-americans by the ferguson police department, and the city's municipal court
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system. i'll give you a couple of statistics the justice department discusses. 85% of vehicles stopped by the ferguson police department were of african-americans. 88% of the cases in which the ferguson police department used force to make an arrest was against african-americans. and 93% of all arrests were of african-americans. this is a city with 67% african-american population. it goes beyond the police department, because according to the justice department's investigation, they found that officials, both at the police and courts, were exchanging racist jokes, including one in 2008 in which someone sent a joke saying that president obama, who had just been elected, wasn't expected to last very long, because after all, how many black men are able to keep a steady job for four years? that's underscoring what the
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justice department says is a tremendously big problem with the ferguson police department and racism. >> so pretty damning stuff, i'm sure very embarrassing for the ferguson police department. but surely the ferguson police department is not the only police department in america that has these problems of racial bias. >> reporter: absolutely not. the justice department has been doing these types of investigations around the country. they recently announced a consent decree, which is a deal with the police in cleveland, ohio for instance, which is -- which puts that department under some supervision to improve some of the practices by the police officers. there is similar investigations in new orleans and the albuquerque police department. these are problems with racism by police that have been found in investigations by the justice department. it is something that is a very big problem around the country. >> let me ask you this.
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a lot of people were extremely upset that darren wilson was let go. we saw those protests that took place around the country. if we know for a fact now, according to the justice department, that there is racial bias within the ferguson police department, how are they so sure that michael brown was not a victim of that racial bias? >> reporter: that's the question that will survive this inquiry, because it is something that people in ferguson were asking for, which is to put darren wilson on trial. the problem for the federal government and the justice department is that the federal law really has a very high bar for the government to prove intent to deprive michael brown of his civil rights. that's the law they have to operate on. attorney general eric holder said he was hoping congress would change the law to make it easier for the federal government to bring these cases, but that will be too late for this case. >> we know that according to the justice department, there is racism within the ferguson police department.
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some people were probably not surprised by that. but what happens now? >> reporter: what happens next is once the findings are published, the department will seek a dissent decree and try to get the department, the city of ferguson to change hiring, to change training for police officers, and to make this a legal agreement so that the department doesn't make these changes, the justice department can bring some enforcement. this is something that's usually done with the court system and it is under the supervision of a judge. that's what we expect to happen next. long-term, this is not -- it just doesn't stop at ferguson. in that area, in st. louis, the suburbs of st. louis where this shooting occurred, there's a tremendous problem with a lot of small towns with similar police departments and with complaints from african-americans that they face attacks every time they drive down the street. so we expect to hear a lot more about that. >> evan perez, thank you for
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joining us. >> thanks. there's outrage as two australians may face an indonesian firing squad. >> the two were sentenced to death in indonesia for leading the so-called bali nine, the group of plotting to smuggle herwin from indonesia to australia in 2005. >> i think right now millions of australians are feeling sick in their guts at the prospect of execution for these two. i've been saying this is contrary to indonesia's national interest. >> we're joined now for the latest on the fate of these prisoners. so seama, the diplomatic back and forth, was there ever much
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hope for seclemency for these t? >> reporter: not really is the simple answer. the indonesian president made it clear, saying repeatedly no compromise, no compromise. he chained to christiane amanpour at the time that, look, 50 people in indonesia die every single day with drug related issues. 18,000 every year. and therefore, he believes there's no compromise. of course, at the time i was in jakarta, there was a human rights watch press conference, appealing to the president not to go ahead with any more executions within the first 100 days of his presidency. and already given the go ahead for a number of executions of foreigners and indonesians who were on death row. he said no, we're going to go ahead. the human rights press conference explained that it doesn't really work to have
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executions for drug related crimes. it simply doesn't work. the analysts and experts say, but the presidentclemency. the two men's lawyers are saying look, we haven't been given the just legal process. clemency was denied without listening to the fact that these two men have been rehabilitated and they're still trying to appeal the various dismissals and rejections right now. but this morning, we saw the two men in a people carrier, in a high security vehicle being taken away. they've been transferred to the island known as execution island where they will be kept in a high security prison and we're not sure when they will be executed. >> they were the leader of what's known as the bali nine. it was a drug smuggling ring.
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what happened to the other seven? >> reporter: the other seven have been given a very long prison sentence. just to divide up the bali nine, these two were considered to be the ringleaders. andrew chan was arrested on board a plan trying to get out of indonesia to sydney. four people with more than eight kilograms of heroin strapped to their bodies were caught in the airplane. and then five others were caught at a hotel in indonesia. >> saima, thank you so much. live for us there with the latest on those executions in indonesia. when the indonesians talk executions, they talk death by firing squad. >> especially when you consider the crime, drugs, marijuana. >> this was heroin and they take
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this seriously. when we come back, almost a year after the disappearance of mh-370 just ahead, progress is being made, but not much. stay with us. and an early morning mode. and a partly sunny mode. and an outside...to clear inside mode. transiti® s signat™re adaptive lenses... ...now have chromea7technology... ...making them more responsive than ever to changing light. so life can look more vivid & vibrant. why settle for a lens with just one mode? experience life well lit®. speak with your eyecare professional to... ...upgrade your lenses to transiti® s signat™re .
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kz kz airport officials say all 224 people on board were evacuated. a spokesman tells cnn there was a small technical problem during landing. but all the passengers are safe. as the first anniversary of the disappearance of malaysian airlines flight mh-370 draws closer, relatives of the 239 people on board are still looking for answers. >> the disappearance was declared an accident back in january, clearing the way for the airline to pay compensation to victim's families while the search continues. meanwhile, malaysian airlines is
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undergoing a dramatic restructuring and struggling to regain the trust of travelers. the disappearance of flight mh-370 also has security officials working to see that it does not happen again. >> the focus is on tracking aircraft in real time. so far just one small airline is leading the way. >> reporter: it seems to defy common sense that a small regional airline can get it done when others can't. first air is the first, and so far the only airline in the world tracking its planes any time, anywhere. if this flight was having problems, you would know? >> yeah. >> we're able to swing into action to provide support to the crew for whaef they need to get them safely on the ground. that's been a big bonus for us. >> reporter: a system that could monitor the aircraft and automatically trigger a warning
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alert. it's called the automated flight you reporting system, developed by a canadian company. there's a blue box inside the plane's electrical system that monitors location, flight path, fuel and engine levels. and that data is strained from the aircraft in real time. if anything abnormal happens, an event button is happened, and the ground crew will know exactly where the plane is and what the problem is. >> now we know about the event within 30 to 60 seconds. historically it would have taken maybe an hour to find out that there was an event. there's no air traffic control in the high north. it's procedural. you're not always able to talk directly to somebody on the ground. this is our hercules flying up to one of the diamond mines. >> reporter: the system has been available for a few years and first air says it's not
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prohibitively expensive. it gives the airline the peace of mind to know it can track its fleet over the harsh land scape of canada's arctic. so if first air can do it, why not others? what's taking so long for the airline industry to catch up? in the wake of the mh-370 tragedy, the international civil aviation organization says its members, most major airlines around the world, will now adopt new aircraft tracking standards by the end of next year, including tracking a plane's position at least every 15 minutes. >> reporter: knowing where a plane is any time, anywhere would have seemed like common sense. but mh-370 proved it was instead
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a safety feature that's not been implemented by most airlines around the world except one. >> take a short break now. when we come back, newly released audio is raising questions about the man known as jihadi john. we're having theories that his voice was digitally lowered. and federal agents track down on tourism. that's when we come back. sure! i offer multi-car, safe driver, and so many other discounts that people think i'm a big deal. and boy, are they right. ladies, i can share hundreds in savings with all of you! just visit progressive.com today. but right now, it's choosing time. ooh! we have a winner. all: what?
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welcome back to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. you're watching cnn newsroom. i'm john vause. >> i'm zain asher. the headlines at this hour. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says negotiations with iran all but guaranty the country will develop nuclear weapons. he made his case in a speech before the u.s. congress on tuesday. the white house says netanyahu's speech contains nothing new. edward snowed season in negotiations to return to the united states, but only if he's guarantied a fair trial. that's according to his lawyer, who says a plan is now in the works that could make it happen. he leaked thousands of classified documents before finding political asylum in russia in 2013. and former cia director david petraeus has pleaded guilty to giving classified information to his biographer and mistress. court documents say that he lied
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about the handling of the information, including the names of covert officers. iraqi forces are battling to retake control of tikrit from isis. up to 30,000 troops and militia have been sealing off different sides of the city but yet to move into tikrit. >> a dramatic scene was caught on video just outside tikrit. iraqi forces stopped what they believed was a suicide attacker. watch what happens. [ automatic gunfire ] [ shouting in foreign language ] >> we don't know if there were any casualties. an advocacy group for accused islamic radicals has released an audiotape of jihadi john. >> if it is him, it could reveal a lot more about him, including his thoughts on terror attacks.
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here's brian todd. >> reporter: the audiotape is startling, because you hear a man believed to be jihadi john in a different sounding voice, complaining about being harassed and threatened. we now have new insights into how the man who became isis' best known killer dealt with an interrogator. experts are telling us, given this new clue, they believe in the beheading videos, it appeared isis digitally manipulated his voice. in the videos, the militant known as jihadi john has a deep, menacing voice. >> obama, you have started your bombardment, which keeps striking our people. so it's only right that we continue to strike the necks of your people. >> reporter: but is this the same man? [ indiscernible ] >> everyone has a right to his own belief. >> reporter: an audio recording
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was just released by an activist group for suspected radicals, which claims it worked with emwazi. the guardian newspaper believes he's this man. cage says it recorded him in 2009, talking about his claim to have been questioned by a member of mi-5, britain's intelligence service. he says he was asked about the july 7, 2005 terror attack in london where more than 50 people died. >> they said, what do you think of 7-7? i said, this is extremism. they said okay, what do you think of the war in afghanistan? i said what do i think? we see innocent people are getting killed and he started te asked me what about 9/11? i said i think it was wrong.
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>> when you're in an interrogation situation and you're a radical, you would be stupid to admitting to extremist views with a law enforcement official. he just wanted to get out of that situation. >> reporter: he claims his interrogator claimed he thought he was trying to go to somalia to train with a terror group. >> he said, we're going to keep a close eye on. >> reporter: he said it was those interrogations that set him on the path to jihad. >> i think he's trying to make a point and made his decision to go to syria. >> reporter: on the allegations that british intelligence threatened and harassed him, the british home office said it would not comment. u.s. intelligence officials are also not commenting on this latest audiotape. brian todd, cnn, washington.
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>> to russia now. hundreds gathered in moscow to pay their respects to the slain opposition leader. he was laid to rest tuesday four days after he was shot and killed walking near the kremlin. >> officials say they are taking all the necessary steps to track down his killer or killers. he was one of president vladamir putin's most outspoken critics, but the kremlin denies any role in his death. >> his death is just the latest in what appears to be political killings that have shaken russia. >> reporter: as his grieving family looked on, mourners patiently filed past the open casket. the brutal killing has unsettled russia. not for the first time a high profile critic of the kremlin has been ruthlessly cut down. >> this is a terrible crime.
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this is a political terroristic attack, which has no explanations and no excuse. this is the attempt to destroy all the people who think differently from the kremlin. >> reporter: do you believe the killers will be brought to justicesome >> no, i don't. >> reporter: he's become the latest in the political killings that have beset russia. this time the kremlin has vowed it will get to the bottom of this and bring those responsible to justice. but here at this funeral, there's a great deal of skepticism that this will happen. back in 2006, a journalist and fierce critic was gunned down outside her moscow apartment in an alleged contract killing. there have been convictions, but critics say the evidence is dubious, clearing the kremlin and leaving whoever ordered the hit to walk free. then straight out of a spy
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novel, the saga of alexander, the former russian agent turned kremlin critic, was poisoned in london, a radioactive agent was put in his tea, to leave him dieing a horrifying death. the russian government still refuses to extradite the prime suspects, both former russian agents. >> ever since vladamir putin came to power, there have been killings of human rights activists, journalists, politicians. the key thing is the killers do not get found out. >> reporter: as russia bids farewell to boris, the overwhelming suspicion is that the same thing may happen again this time. matthew chance, cnn, moscow. in just a few hours, opening statement also begin in the
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trial of boston bombing suspect. he's pleaded not guilty to the 30 counts. the u.s. house passed a bill averting a possible shutdown of the department of homeland security, but without provisions blocking president obama's actions on immigration. that legislation will fund the agency through september. the bill now heads to president obama for approval. venezuela has given the u.s. embassy 15 days to down size. it will have to cut its staff down to 17. the move comes after the venezuelan president said a number of americans were arrested for spying. he announced a new visa requirement for american visitors. the u.s. state department calls the allegations baseless. u.s. federal agents are cracking down on what they're
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calling maternity tourism in southern california. on tuesday, they raided three dozen so-called maternity hotels where foreign women are about to give birth. >> the alleged purpose is to have children born with american citizenship. officials say the sites cater to women from china. they paid up to $50,000 to give birth in the united states. still to come, pakistan has rounded up hundreds of parents that are under arrest for refusing to vaccinate their children against a deadly disease. those details are next.
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>> despite vaccination campaigns, pakistan leads every other country in the number of new polio cases. some families say they don't trust the vaccine. many medical workers have even come under attack. >> for more on this, we're joined by a journalist in islamabad. explain why there is such a climate of fear in pakistan surrounding the polio vaccine. >> reporter: well, since 2011 when there was a cia backed vaccination campaign attempting to get access to the compound where osama bin laden was suspected to have been hiding out to extract dna from children living there, and in fact he was found there, there's been a huge amount of suspicion across pakistan about vaccination campaigns. we have seen that since 2012 as well, the taliban has banned vaccination campaigns in areas
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under their influence. in fact, in north waziristan, a taliban commander said polio was worse than drone strikes. so parents here in pakistan, if some areas, are worried that this is some kind of conspiracy against their families, that their children might be sterilized by taking the vaccine. also, there is a sense that other issues in their lives are more important than this polio vaccine, such as access to clean waters, roads or electricity. so they refuse the vaccine to protest against the government. so we're seeing that there is about a 5% portion of the population that is refusing this vaccine. it needs to be known, however, that there is an overwhelming majority that do support a vaccine. there was a study done by unicef
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last year that said 95% of parents in these areas where polio virus is concentrated support the vaccine. so it is a problem here in terms of perception, and there has been a big backlash against politicians in this province where the polio virus is most concentrated, because there have been times when they have supported the campaign and put their efforts elsewhere. so this crackdown on parents is seen as a way for these officials to get rid of the political pressure on themselves and really to try and attack this issue, which has become politicized. >> just writing that the taliban has banned the polio vaccination and children are suffering. michelle, thank you. on the debate over air pollution in china is heating up with a documentary that's gone viral online. >> it's called "under the dome,"
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and has attracted will over 100 million views since saturday, and the incredible part is it's still available online. let's get more on the air pollution problem in china and also beijing. so it's been okay the last couple of days, but really the over arching trend is it's getting worse. >> it, is and the numbers have gone up in the last ten years alone. when you have the world's largest population, and then you have the world's largest manufacturing sector, it's not a good setup. so the air quality index, 0 to 50 to good. china routinely is 20 times beyond what we consider healthy. if you're watching us in southern california, it has the
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distinction for poor air quality. but if you put los angeles and put it in china, the air quality would be the cleanest air. in beijing, it exceeds the hazardous category. there's the hue river. 500 million people live in this region of china. we know the population is quite high, but an accidental experiment took place from 1950 to 1980 as the chinese government provided free coal to people north of that line. this happened and we know since then, we've seen the rates as far as pollution levels up 55% across that northern tier of the country. you take a look, studies are finding that pollution across that portion of the world, cutting life expectancy by 5 1/2 years.
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so it becomes a life threatening scenario, and lung cancer rates have doubled since 2002 in this region, and the number of smokers in beijing has dropped. warm air aloft acts as a lid, so it puts all the pollution down at the surpass and keeps it there. then we get stuck in these patterns in this portion of the world. it's very dangerous for a lot of people. i want to show you what's happening in chile. we do have an active volcano. this is over the past 24 hours. spectacular sight. >> that is spectacular. >> 3,000 evacuated. this is a couple of hours later. and look at the melting on the snow there from the residual lava. >> very impressive sight. don't get too close. still to come, the art
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he'sthere's a guy out there whose making a name for himself in a sport where your name and maybe a number are what define you. somewhere in that pack is a driver that can intimidate the intimidator. a guy that can take the king 7 and make it 8. heck. maybe even 9. make no mistake about it. they're out there. i guarantee it. welcome to the nascar xfinity series.
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the world economy may be just one european debt default away from armrmageddon, but the super rich are buying art like never before, with art sales hitting a new record last year. more than $15 billion was sold in 2014 at auction houses, up 26% from the year before. buyers in china topped the international market, followed by the united states. if we take a look at some of the other numbers, a record number of paintings sold for more than $1 million in 2014. among the most expensive, a pam of three portraits by france's bacon, selling for just over $80 million. a fair of paintings for mark rothco for $76 million, and this
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work was sold for about $84 million. and "the new york times" is reporting this sold for $300 million just last month. rumor has it the qatar museum wrote the check. but whoever did, it is the most expensive painting ever sold. so if you want people to know that you're mega rich, there's no better way to do that than to buy expensive art. who are these people spending billions? jonathan stone is the chairman of asia art and joins us from hong kong. jonathan, the theory is back in the old days, it used to be the oil sheikhs or the wealthy chinese businessmen snapping up these pieces. does that still hold today? >> i think one of the great things about the art market is the way it's exploded in the last year. and also the great things is the number of new people coming into
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the art market, which for us is really exciting. so christy's in the last year, something like 30% of all our selling, was to new buyers. and for all of us in the art market, that's really important. >> so when you say new buyers, where are they coming from? >> they're coming from literally all over the world. there's a big increase in buyers from the americas, an increase in buyers from europe and a big increase from asia and a number of asian buyers was up nearly 20% last year. >> and we're looking at art not just as collectors, but also people are looking at this as an investment. there's a lot of cash sloshing around in the world economy, the stocks are risky, interest rates are not very good. so people are putting their money into art as an investment the >> yes, there's surely an element of art as an investment. but there's strong, under lying
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element of people collecting great art. i think what is particularly interesting and really pleasing is that people are collecting outside of the traditional categories. so you have chinese buyers who are buying western impressionist art. american buyers buying chinese art. middle eastern art buying all kinds of global art. so i think people are really focused on the top quality and a cross category. one of the bellwethers of the art market seems to be andy warhol. his triple elvis sold for almost $82 million last year. total sales for andy warhol last year were about $500 million. so how do these two things work together, andy warhol and the art market as one? >> well, i think andy warhol is clearly one of the great artists of the 20th century and he's recognized as one of the iconic
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artists. really, here is an artist who has such international appeal. he's your archetypal american pop artist. he's somebody who has appeal around the globe. he's instantly recognizable. he said quite a lot about the 20th century american consumerism, and that is something that appeals to this wide and growing world audience. >> we had a piece that sold for $300 million. how long will it be for a single piece of art sells for $1 billion? >> how long is a piece of string? clearly, you have a very strong upward trajectory. what is interesting from where i sit in asia is the growing value of asian art, historic and contemporary asian art. so it is that increasing upward
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value growth, particularly for these works of superlative quality. >> jonathan stone in hong kong, thank you. he's had a very good year, which is why he's smiling. >> when i get home, remind me to hang up my jackson pollock. this has grabbed everyone's attention, a weesele grabbing on a woodpecker. >> it's not as cute as it looks. it turns out the weasel was trying to attack the woodpecker. >> both animals survived the encounter and from it all, we got the twitter hash tag -- weasel pecker. >> you wouldn't necessarily know
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it was being attacked. >> it's what happens in nature, is weasel attacks the woodpecker and everyone thinks it's sweet. >> thank you for watching. i'm zain asher. >> and i'm john vause. on hour of cnn newsroom starts after this news break. hope you can stay with us. something special happens when you come to transunion.com. you get in the know. and when you're in the know about your credit, you feel confident, ready for anything. at transunion.comyou get instant credit alerts to keep you in sync. you can even lock and unlock your transunion report with the swipe of a finger. come to transunion.com. and get in the know.
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and the damning report on the police and court of ferguson, missouri. some harrowing moments. a plane skids off a runway during landing. welcome to our viewers wherever you may be watching. i'm zain asher. >> and i'm john vause. this is cnn newsroom. glad you could join us. we begin in washington where benjamin netanyahu brought down the house in his speech before the u.s. congress. the israeli prime minister was greeted with thunderous applause as he made the case against a deal to keep iran from developing nuclear weapons. >> outside the capital, demonstrators from code pink protested mr. netanyahu's appearance, as well as continued u.s. sanctions against iran. the speech did not play well
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