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NEWS STREAM

Inside Debaltseve; Australia Hit By Two Cyclones; A Look Back At Maidan Massacre; The Fight Against ISIS

Aired February 20, 2015 - 8:00   ET

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


ISA SOARES, HOST: I'm Isa Soares at CNN London. Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Devastation in Debaltseve: inside the ruins of the Ukrainian town torn apart by fighting.

Australia endures the impact of two tropical cyclones at the same time.

And PhotoShop turns 25, a landmark for the app so widely used it's become a verb.

We begin this hour, though, with rising concern over the shaky cease- fire in eastern Ukraine.

The United Nations says shelling has resumed in the cities of Donetsk and Mariupol. And the situation could be even worse in Debaltseve, which

has fallen under rebel control.

European monitors say they have been unable to get into the town. It's worried that people may be trapped inside, possibly even wounded.

Meanwhile, the UN reports at least 5,600 people have been killed since the conflict began last April. That figure does not include casualties

reported shortly before the cease-fire.

Well, our Nick Paton Walsh witnessed the devastation in Debaltseve firsthand. He's one, actually, of the first western journalists to get to

the center of the city. Take a look at the report he filed for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A grim wind rips through the bones of Ukraine's defeat in Debaltseve. The first junction

in, a graveyard of armor, a trove of loot.

This Ukrainian soldier died of injuries, we are told, and this day Kiev is still counting its losses.

You can see in the destruction wrought here exactly how violent the clashes must have been, that raged mostly at a peak during the supposed

cease-fire. It gives you an idea really of how many losses must have been inflicted upon the Ukrainian military, what it must have been like to be a

civilian trapped in here during the fight for Debaltseve, the fall of which, to separatists, such a seismic moment in the Ukraine conflict.

"We're going further," says Sergei (ph), "to Kiev if we get the order."

"How did we live through this," say Antonina (ph). "I wish they could feel like we did and their children too."

It is the same scene on the road into the other side of town.

This Russan Cossack shows me proof, he says, they're fighting fascists not, as seems more likely here, just poorly equipped conscripts.

The shelling has not stopped.

Barely a home has escaped. This, the first time so many have ventured out. Their worlds now part of a growing separatist enclave that is fast

redrawing Europe's borders and that so often feels like a state more than a ragtag insurgency.

Consider this swift food handout where anger at their old masters, Kiev, is on display.

"There are many of here," says Zoya (ph), "and remember how they said there were no people in Debaltseve."

Ludmila (ph) lived through World War II, "this is worse," she says. "Is that really possible? Oh, my mother."

Two weeks ago, we saw Ukrainian soldiers shelter people here and now, down in the basement, the owners have changed, but the tenants have not.

Since I saw them last, these women have not left the underground.

"Where am I going to live now? Everything is destroyed," one says. "We have no windows or doors left. How will we live?"

A war of violence and prizes from the last century visited onto this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: That was Nick Paton Walsh in Debaltseve. He now joins us from Donetsk. And Nick, you know, we reported shelling in several areas

yesterday of Ukraine. How is it looking like today? What are you hearing? What are you seeing?

WALSH: Well, yesterday teh shelling did rage in and around here in Donetsk, the separatist's, self-declared stronghold. And we are hearing

from the separatists how one woman lost her life in those explosions.

Today measurably quieter, but still some explosive sounds in the distance around here. Debaltseve, as you saw there, well there is still

shelling going on around there certainly as we saw yesterday. And the question now really has to be asked where is this cease-fire in name alone

going?

There are still Ukrainian, Russian and French, German leaders who have yet to call on it and say, look, this is not a truce in any shape or form.

And the OSCE monitors are expected to speak at any stage imminently. Perhaps they will have some sort of judgment as to how successful this

truce has been.

Remember, on Sunday early morning it was quiet here, but the fighting was still intense around Debaltseve. And while Ukraine is still counting

its dead from those violent clashes in Debaltseve, it is entirely possibly this in fact has been one of the bloodiest moments in the Ukrainian

conflict so far, and it happened during this supposed cease-fire.

I should remind you today, too, that it's now exactly a year since the unrest in Maidan central Kiev, which we witnessed, which sparked all the

changes, the invasion of Crimea by Russian forces that we've seen in the last year -- Isa.

SOARES: And the other key question, Nick, really is, is do the Russian-backed rebels hold the lines or do they take new areas? Surely

this is now a key area for those there closely watching the developments.

WALSH: Well, if you see how the separatists measure up against the Ukrainian forces, there's no contest, really. The separatists have

incredibly high-end equipment. At times their fire seems to be extraordinarily accurate on Ukrainian armor. And the Ukrainians often

struggle to keep that armor actually on the roads. I mean, you see the damaged vehicles, you see the abandoned vehicles. The kind of weaponry

they had, and obviously when faced with what Ukraine and NATO say is a Russian equipped, staffed and directed separatist force, there is no

contest.

So it's unlikely the Ukrainians will move to take back Debaltseve. The question is how can they hold further ground that the separatists have

made quite clear they actually want. They're open in wanting all of the Donetsk region. They only have a part of it at this stage. But also as

you heard in that report some joke about Kiev.

Now that's a far, distant possibility and highly unlikely at this stage, but there's growing ambition, confidence and frankly effectiveness

of that separatist force -- Isa.

SOARES: Nick Paton Walsh for us in Donetsk. Thanks very much, Nick. We're expecting to hear from Francois Hollande and Chancellor Merkel on

this topic. We'll shall keep you posted and bring it to you as soon as we have it.

Well, today's unrest as you heard from Nick there in eastern Ukraine was set in motion by violence in Kiev that resulted in the ouster of pro-

Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. And Friday marks one year since the bloodiest day of that uprising.

CNN was in Kiev that day recording some of the most shocking moments.

Our photojournalist Todd Baxter explains what happened. But be warned, the images are graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD BAXTER, PHOTOJOURNALIST: I've been to Ukraine before, but in the early 90s. And I hadn't been to Maidan Square before. You could hear

explosions in the background, you could hear some gunfire, you could hear some fireworks. It was nerve racking going into a situation where several

people had died.

It was raucous, but you sort of got the feeling that the protesters weren't making a dent in the police, weren't getting to the police.

When we were walking back, we walked down into the hotel and by the time we got up to our floor, which was toward the top of the building, it

had kicked off and something dramatically had changed on the ground.

Protesters had swept from in front of the hotel to the back of the hotel. And by the time I got down to film out the window of the back of

the hotel it -- there were just -- there was lots of gunfire going on and lots of bodies. And at that point, it just -- you're like this is more

than Tuesday was, this is bad, this is really bad.

At one point, I was filming and there was a medic who was help -- who -- a bunch of them that they want to help a guy who was on the ground. And

as they were helping them and about to lift him up, one of the medic is hit in the arm and he sort of goes down. And the other medics help him. And

you just sort of just like, when is this going to stop?

Our producer Damian Ward (ph) came in and said there -- it's kind of crazy down in the lobby. And when I got down there, there was five bodies

laid out under like sheets under the stairs and there were six bodies just in front -- you know, 10 feet in front of reception and medical teams

trying to prepare themselves for more.

From Thursday to Friday, the square on Thursday was a sort of rioty protest zone, by Friday it had turned into almost a memorial. People were

starting to bring flowers and lay flowers where they had fallen.

I've been with CNN for 27 years. I've traveled to 91 countries for CNN. I've never seen a story in which essential parts of the story were

within a 600 meter radius of the hotel. That never happens.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Photojournalist Todd Baxter bringing us back to really that day in Maidan Square.

But what made up to that Maidan bloodshed and what has happened since, well we have a detailed timeline on our website that puts Ukraine conflict

into context. Just go to CNN.com and you'll find everything there.

Now Iraq is ramping up the war against ISIS. New video shows more airstrikes targeting terrorist group as Iraqi forces prepare for ground

offenses in Mosul. We have the details coming up.

And two severe cyclones wrecked havoc in Australia in a freaky weather occurrence. We'll have more on the damage they're caused right here on

News Stream. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Welcome back to CNN News Stream.

Now to the latest in the fight to stamp out the ISIS insurgency. A U.S. military official says an Iraqi ground offensive (inaudible) ISIS out

of Mosul is expected to begin in April or May. Up to 25,000 Iraqi troops could be involved in that operation. The official says the Iraqi army

brigades will be trained by U.S. and Peshmerga forces with the goal of cutting off any ISIS escape route north and west of the city.

Well, ISIS seized Mosul back in June. It's Iraq's second largest city. And now it's the main ISIS stronghold in the country.

Tim Lister has more of what makes Mosul, and other areas too, so important to the militant group.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM LISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mosul, Anbar, Fallujah, Raqqa: these are names we hear every day as the world focuses on the battle against

ISIS, the key cities, the key battlefield. But just why are they the key battlefields? Why do they matter so much?

Let's start with Mosul, the jewel in ISIS's crown in northern Iraq, a symbolically important city and one that is now the second largest in Iraq.

Last July, ISIS leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi appeared at the city's grand mosque to declare his caliphate. And ISIS has begun building

fortifications around the city.

The big question is when an offensive to retake Mosul might begin. Kurdish Peshmerga forces have sealed all but the southern exits. And the

Iraqi prime minister promises that there will be an operation to retake Mosul.

But just when? It seems, according to most analysts in this region, still months away.

To the west in Iraq's Anbar Province, ISIS appears to be in better shape. And it's the Iraqi security forces who have lost ground. The

cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, both under ISIS control, are key battlegrounds if the Iraqi government is to relieve the pressure on the

capital and persuade the Sunni tribes in this area that it will come to their aid.

The Syrian battlefield is much more complex. And there are signs that ISIS is trying to reassess its priorities in the face of intensive

coalition airstrikes. ISIS's main prize in northern Syria, Raqqa, is being pummeled from the air almost daily, but doesn't seem in imminent danger of

falling.

Elsewhere in Syria, ISIS appears to be pulling out of certain areas of the northwest and northeast where it's under pressure. And it may well be

reprioritizing in Damascus where there's every chance that a complex battlefield will emerge in the coming months pitting different rebel groups

against each other and against the regime.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, meanwhile the airborne offensive continues. A senior official tells CNN that the U.S. is maintaining a list of about two dozen

top ISIS operatives in Iraq and Syria that it plans to target in airstrikes.

Number one on the list, self-proclaimed leader Abu Bakar al-Baghdadi.

Well, I'll turn your attention now to the crisis in Greece, in fact, and indeed the looming crisis in Europe. The EuroZone finance ministers

began a last minute talks to try to end the deadlock over Greece's debt crisis.

Today is the deadline to use set for reaching some sort of a deal to manage a country's huge debt. Now talks have broken down twice.

Germany, the country's largest creditor, has rejected a request for a six month extension. That happened yesterday.

But Greece has until February 28, which isn't that long, it's really a week. That is when the existing bailout comes to an end and Athens risks

running out of money. After that, well, the bills start coming in, a payment of $1.5 billion to the International Monetary Fund comes -- is due

in March. And more demands then follow.

Greece also needs to make two bond payments to the ECB, the European Central Bank. The Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis remains hopeful

an agreement can be reached. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YANIS VAROUFAKIS, GREEK FINANCE MINSITER (through translator): The national issue of negotiations is progressing. I want to believe it will

end well tomorrow or the day after that. We are in good road. The consultation show signs of convergence. Of course, until we reach the

conclusion no one can predict what will happen.

I wanted to convey to you the climate of optimism and good relations being built day by day, hour by hour, email by email.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Seems plenty of optimism there from the Greeks.

Well, much more on a Greek debt crisis ahead on World Business Today. That's in just about half an hour from now right here on CNN.

Tropical Cyclone Marcia made landfall along the Queensland coast in northeast Australia and tore through towns, ripping off roofs and causing

floods with wind speeds over 250 kilometers an hour all this as another cyclone hit the country around the same time. Ivan Watson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Northeastern Australia bracing for the worst. On high alert as two tropical cyclones slammed into

the coast simultaneously for the first time, meteorologists say, in more than a quarter century.

At first glance, Cyclone Marcia did the most damage. Winds over 250 kilometers an hour, houses were ripped open and power lines torn down in

the beach town of Ypoon (ph) where authorities locked hundreds of residents in a shelter for their own safety.

ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK, QUEENSLAND PREMIER: Our fundamental main focus at the moment is on the families of Rockhampton (ph) and Ypoon (ph) who

have gone through a terrifying experience today.

We are very, very thankful that we have avoided the worst of what could have been an absolute catastrophe.

WATSON: Cyclone Marcia, now headed towards the rain-soaked state capital Brisbane, which has already reported some minor flooding.

Authorities are calling in military aircraft to help assess the scale of the damage.

The good news, meteorologists have downgraded Marcia's strength. And they say the much feared collision of the two storm systems, a so-called

cyclone sandwich has so far been averted.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Well, one of the world's largest manufacturer of SIM cards says it is looking into report that U.S. and British spies hacked its

encryption network. The claim comes from a website called the Intercept and cites documents provided by NSA leader Edward Snowden.

It's not known how many people might have been affected by the hack. The intercept says the company Gemalto produces 2 billion SIM cards a year

and operates in 85 countries.

By stealing encryption keys, surveillance agencies would be able to monitor mobile communications without a warrant and do it without even

leaving a trace.

Well, next on News Stream, behind the scenes of one of the most influential games of all time. We hear from the designer of Doom. That

story just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Welcome back to CNN News Stream.

Now comical card game about exploding cats has raised more than $8 million on the crowdfunding site kickstarter. Exploding kittens is popular

with 220,000 people supporting the game. But what exactly is exploding kittens? Well, it's a bit like Russian Roulette. Players draw cards until

someone draws an exploding cat and dies. But we can infuse the kitty bomb with special cards like a catnip sandwich.

The surprisingly simple concept is now the third most funded project in Kickstarter history.

From a new card game to one of the most influential video games of all time. Doom pioneered the first person shooter, the template for today's

hits like Halo and Call of Duty.

In the latest of our game faces series, we hear from one of the designers of Doom, John Romero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ROMERO, DOOM DESIGNER: Hi, I'm John Romero. I co-founded Id Software and created the games Wolfenstein, Doom and (inaudible).

When Doom came out, games that were copying Doom, they were called Doom clones. But the term first person shooter wasn't even invented for

years. Nobody had played a game like that before.

It was designed to be kind of a scary game. The juxtaposition of science-fiction -- future sci-fi with demons from hell instead of aliens

was also pretty interesting, that was different.

Doom is one of the only engines I know of that has built in fear. The light levels in the game fall off over distance. So just making a level in

doom it's automatically going to be scary, because it's just going to get darker as it goes. And then the design of the monsters, the fact that you

can hear them roaming around was pretty cool.

You know, you've heard these echoing sounds and you didn't know where they were coming from.

One of the biggest things that we've learned in the industry is don't tell people your game designs, because those are the most important parts

of the game is the design itself.

The shooter genres for the last 14 years, 15 years has been just the glut of World War II games. It wasn't as diverse as it was back when

shooters were brand new.

Portal was really great. You're shooting a portal into a wall, you know, like you're not killing things you're just creating a mode of

transportation.

So there's a lot of ways I think that we can push forward in design where you feel like you're getting the skill of shooting...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: I want to break into that story -- stop that story for a moment, because I want to take you to Paris. That's where German

Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande are holding a news conference. Let's listen in.

(ANGELA MERKEL, FRANCOIS HOLLANDE NEWS CONFERENCE)

SOARES: Well, you've been listening to French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussing various topics.

One of those topics is Ukraine and the other was Greece.

On Ukraine, Hollande said, we are convinced, they're both agreed on this topic, convinced -- I'm quoting here, these agreements must be

implemented -- talking about the Minsk agreement. Said the cease-fire is still under threat and has been violated on a number of occasions.

Chancellor Merkel added that progress has been slow and difficult.

When asked whether reports that Russian tanks had crossed Ukrainian territory they said they cannot confirm that, but there is risk of

escalation if the cease-fire is not respected.

On the question of Greece, they really talked about the fact that both sides need to be allowed to talk and to be respected, but still said that a

lot of work needs to be done in regards to what Greece is proposing.

And that does it for us this hour. That is News Stream. I'm Isa Soares. Don't go anywhere. World Sport with Amanda Davies is coming up.

END