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CNN NEWSROOM

Three Killed, Nine Wounded in Shooting; Investigators Trying to Identify Colorado Gunman's Motive; U.S. Concerned about Russian Missiles in Syria; Belgian City Seeks to Change Jihadist Reputation; Sister of Bataclan Attacker Speaks; France Honors Paris Attack Victims Two Weeks On; Francis on Six-Day Visit to Africa; Ugandan Man Builds "Popemobile"; Rallies Held Ahead of Paris Conference; Weather Highlights; Lindsey Vonn on Dating Tiger Woods. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired November 28, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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


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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A gunman opens fire at a women's clinic in Colorado. Police are still searching for a motive in the attack.

Tensions remain high between Russia and Turkey after a Russian jet is downed over Syria. We'll look at what may be Moscow's next move.

And Belgium is on alert after police arrest and charge a suspect with terrorism.

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KINKADE (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Lynda Kinkade and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

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KINKADE: We begin with the latest on the deadly shooting at a women's clinic in the U.S. Police have not yet said why a gunman opened fire at a Colorado Planned Parenthood, killing three people.

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KINKADE (voice-over): The gunman gave himself up to police Friday after the standoff. He held officers off for nearly six hours. A police officer is among the dead. And nine other people were wounded. Five of them are police officers. All are said to be in a good condition at this stage.

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KINKADE: Now the attacks started Friday morning local time. Police told people in the area to stay inside as they dealt with the situation. Our Kyung Lah has more now on how this all unfolded. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first calls came in at 11:38 local time. Reports of a man with a gun from inside the Planned Parenthood building in Colorado Springs. Police quickly arrive on scene and are soon fired upon from inside the building. At least four officers are wounded.

DENISE, WITNESS: We saw officers fly into the parking lot with their lights on and everything. And then we saw them pass our shop and go over behind the Chase Bank, which is next door and then there were officers everywhere in the whole perimeter.

And then we saw one of the officers that was behind the Chase Bank go -- we heard several gunshots and then we saw one of the officers go down behind his car. And then the other officer helped him to safety and then --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You saw -- Denise, you saw the officer go down. You saw an officer get shot?

DENISE: Yes. Yes. It was terrifying.

LAH (voice-over): The area of the shooting, which is heavily populated with shops and traffic, quickly shuts down. Business owners and customers told to shelter in place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were told to go back to our cars. And that's when a bullet cracked over my head and hit the stop sign on my left side and I just kind of flipped a switch and tried to do crowd control and get people back to their cars as fast as they could.

LAH (voice-over): At this point, police do not know if this is a single shooter or if more are involved. Law enforcement set up a perimeter around the building. The FBI, ATF and bomb squads also on the scene.

Those who are able to escape the Planned Parenthood building are quickly taken to safety but the gunman remains inside. And hours after the first call came in, the gunman is still firing on officers. Police are unsure how many civilians are wounded and how many remain inside the building. It has become a potential hostage situation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have not transported everyone to the hospital at this point. We are still working through the situation.

LAH (voice-over): Police are tracking the gunman's every move inside the building. They are not only concerned that there may be hostages but also because of the possibility of explosive devices the gunman may have brought with him into the building before he began his assault. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): He is sitting in a chair right behind that counter with an AK. He's looking up at the ceiling; white male, trenchcoat, looks like maybe a beard. He's looking around but he's still sitting. He's got the gun at low ready position.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): He's walking down the hallway. Guns at his waist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): Which way he is walking?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): Directly toward the lobby.

LAH (voice-over): Finally, just before 5:00 pm local time, the suspect is cornered and surrenders to police, his ties to Planned Parenthood and his motives still unclear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (from captions): He's going to come out with his hands up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): We got to take him out if he has any IEDs of suspicion on him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): Are we in the way of the snipers?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): We have one suspect detained right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): OK. Good job.

LAH (voice-over): Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

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KINKADE: Just to give you background on Planned Parenthood, the nonprofit organization is the largest provider of reproductive health services in the United States. It provides sex education, contraception, breast and cervical cancer screenings as well as HIV screenings and abortions.

It operates about 700 clinics across the U.S. And it's estimated that 2.7 million patients visit the facilities each year, most of them from low-income families. Planned Parenthood says just 3 percent of the services it provides are abortions and that 80 percent --

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KINKADE: -- of its clients receive services to prevent unintended pregnancy.

The clinic in Colorado Springs is surrounded by businesses and homes, making the situation even more challenging for the officers who are trying to defuse the situation. Tom Foreman gives us a closer look at what the police were dealing with.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the big questions about all of this is how did this situation here in the middle of Colorado, how did this go on for so long?

Why was it so difficult for police to pin it down?

Part of the problem was the potential threat to so many people around. In the beginning, police closed down this road because it was not clear exactly where the shooting was coming from or where it was aimed.

If you add up all the houses out in this main grid here of the roads that close in around it, you're getting 750 to 800 different homes, you have a lot of businesses up in here, you have businesses down in here. An awful lot of people in the area that's potentially affected.

When there was this confusion, it was partially spurred by the fact that it appears that the shooter, the suspected shooter in all of this, was over in this area, authorities say, but his shots were reaching out into other areas so much so that there were people in this shopping center down here who were told they could not come outside, they had to stay inside and lock the doors.

This is a bank down in this area here. More businesses over here. All of that had to be protected by police until they figured out exactly what was happening. And then, even when they narrowed it down to saying it really was about the Planned Parenthood building right over here, they still had a large building next to it that had medical offices in it.

They also had this building up here, which takes care of senior citizens. So there were dozens and dozens of people in the general vicinity that had to be protected not merely from this long gun, this rifle that the suspect has or police say he had, but also these devices they are talking about, possible propane tanks.

Obviously they are talking about the idea they might have exploded at some point. All of that is what made this go on and on and on.

Yes, it looked like it was just one incident in one building when you get to the end of that time. But before then, an awful lot of people potentially affected.

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KINKADE: Tom Foreman reporting there.

And earlier I spoke to Steve Moore, a former supervisory special agent for the FBI. He gave his thoughts on what may have motivated the gunman.

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STEVE MOORE, FORMER SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT, FBI: It appears to me to have all the earmarks of a domestic terrorism attack. You have a potential political target. You have an abortion clinic and you have a person -- I mean, it's almost, you know, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's going to be a duck. It sure appears to be domestic terrorism.

KINKADE: Now, abortion, as you mentioned, is among the services at this Planned Parenthood clinic. It is an issue that is made. The organization targeted in the past.

What do you make of the kind of people who carry out these attacks at facilities like this?

MOORE: Well, the people that do this are very similar to ISIS people. They take their violent tendencies and use a religion to justify it, specifically a religion that actually prohibits this kind of violence. So these people are terrorists hiding behind a religion.

KINKADE: Do we need to see more security at these kind of clinics given the number of attacks?

MOORE: Well, I think they should probably consider that. I mean, you have literally a split almost down the middle of the United States about those who believe abortion is OK and those who believe that it's killing, it's taking a life.

So you are going to have a lot of people on either side of this issue. And then you have had these videos, recently, of Planned Parenthood, of allegedly selling body parts of aborted children. This is going to inflame the emotions of anybody on the side who believes that abortion is wrong.

KINKADE: Now, according to police reports, the suspect was carrying an AK-47, a military assault rifle. It might surprise some of our international viewers that, in the U.S., you can buy an AK-47 online with no background check in many areas.

Do you think it's too easy for people in the U.S. to get their hands on these sorts of weapons?

MOORE: Well, I can tell you, I can't do that, even being ex-FBI because I live in California.

It may or may not -- I mean, it's probably something where, again, we have to look at the type of people who are buying it. The whole gun issue, the guns are (INAUDIBLE) Pandora's boxes but opened. We are not able to get it in the box back.

And so I think we need to look at mental health issues as much as we need to look at the availability of weapons because the abortion clinic attacks that I worked --

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MOORE: -- were all bombings.

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KINKADE: Turkey's president is wanting Moscow not to play with fire. Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted on Friday to reports that Russia had detained a group of Turkish business men over visa irregularities. The countries are at odds after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, which left two people dead.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has threatened economic retaliation. Mr. Erdogan has asked to meet with Mr. Putin next week when they both attend a global climate conference in Paris. So far, no signs of that will happen.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is concerned about its airstrikes in Syria because of Russian missiles being installed at an airbase there. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr explains.

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BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what worries U.S. pilots right now, the Russian S-400 anti-air missile system being unloaded in Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says this massive weapons system will protect his pilots and aircraft in the wake of Turkey shooting down a Russian jet.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We need to have security for our air force, and that is why we have set up the modern system, S-400. This is one of the most effective and efficient systems in the world.

STARR (voice-over): The S-400 will give Russia the capability to control hundreds of miles of Turkish and Syrian airspace.

The Pentagon does not believe the system is fully operational yet but is watching developments by the hour, a U.S. military official tells CNN.

If the Russians activate it, U.S. warplanes may have to start flying with specialized electronic jamming aircraft to protect themselves, or even forego some airstrikes.

U.S. officials tell CNN they need an agreement on how to proceed before the system is activated.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think there`s a lot more talk going on at the tactical and operational level, while the heads of state remain bellicose. But it is just upping the ante and you never know when this might happen.

STARR (voice-over): Putin remains furious, also saying the U.S. knew ahead of time the location of the Russian jets but did nothing to stop the shootdown. Two U.S. military officials tell CNN the U.S. did not know.

And more complications for the Obama administration: the French foreign minister saying in a radio interview, it may be time to work with rebel and president Bashar al-Assad's ground forces. LAURENT FABIUS, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): They should be of the Free Syrian Army, Sunni Arab forces -- and why not regime forces, too?

STARR (voice-over): No surprise Syria has already welcomed the French remarks, even though it's highly unlikely rebel forces would join with Assad.

STARR: And it's about to get even more complicated for the Obama administration. Up to 50 special operations forces are scheduled to arrive in Northern Syria in the coming days. That is the first time they will be there. And Defense Secretary Ash Carter, scheduled to testify before Congress early next week, where he's sure to get asked about all of this -- Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

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KINKADE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, a small Belgian town tries to shake its reputation as a breeding ground for jihadists. The steps officials are taking to keep their city safe.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. We're following a developing story in West Africa. Two peacekeepers and one contractor have been killed at a U.S. base in Northern Mali; 20 other people were wounded.

The U.N. spokesman tells CNN that an unidentified group fired mortars early in the morning. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Now to the terror investigations across Europe. In the Belgian capital, security was tight at a popular Christmas market on Friday. The attraction in Brussels opened as the city's terror threat was lowered to its second-highest ranking.

Separately, Belgian officials arrested and charged a person with terrorist attacks but they haven't released any other details.

A small town near Brussels was once called "the city of jihadis" after dozens of its citizens left for Syria. But since taking office, Vilvoorde's mayor has taken some extraordinary steps to change the city's reputation, including a deradicalization officer for the town. Alexandra Field reports.

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ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fastest-growing town in Belgium is small. Vilvoorde's population is just 42,000. So when it started feeding fighters to Syria, things spiraled quickly but then stopped suddenly.

HANS BONTE, MAYOR, VILVOORDE: The exodus started in the summer of 2012.

FIELD: So in those two years, from 2012 to 2014, had 28 people leave here to go to Syria.

Where are they now?

BONTE: Some of them are still there. Some of them are killed.

FIELD (voice-over): Mayor Hans Bonte took office in 2013 in the middle of the crisis. At the time he says Vilvoorde was called the city of jihadis.

BONTE: I've heard it, young boys telling me, my dream is to be killed.

FIELD (voice-over): Today the mayor is cautiously declaring at least a measure of victory for his deradicalization and intervention efforts.

BONTE: Radicalism, you win it or lose it on the corners of the street.

FIELD (voice-over): Counteracting messages from recruiters has taken the work of a coalition, the police, family, a lot of community members and outreach workers.

MOAD EL BOUDANI, YOUTH WORKER: We try to send social workers towards the houses, engaging into the families and tried for the first time providing help.

FIELD (voice-over): The proof of success, they say, is that no one has made it to Syria from Vilvoorde since May of 2014.

But nearby in Brussels, raids to root out anyone with ties to the terror cell that perpetrated the Paris attacks continue, making it clear there's still a second front in a bigger battle across Belgium, a country that is proportionately the largest supplier of foreign fighters to Syria.

What to do about those who come back?

BONTE: In my opinion, someone who has left Belgium to go over there to fight in Syria, he can stay there.

FIELD (voice-over): Seven of the 28 who traveled from Vilvoorde to Syria eventually returned to the town, Bonte says. Most were sent to prison, but the mayor says those who weren't are carefully and constantly monitored by the police and the community.

BONTE: Most of these people who came back, I don't think they are risky but you only need one fool.

FIELD (voice-over): He insists everyone must watch to keep anyone from falling through the cracks -- Alexandra Field, CNN, Vilvoorde.

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KINKADE: We're learning more about one of the men behind the Paris terror attacks. Samy Amimour was among three attackers who stormed the Bataclan concert hall two weeks ago. Now his sister is speaking out exclusively to CNN.

Our Hala Gorani spoke with her in French; the woman asked us not to show her face or use her real voice.

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HALA GORANI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): He was one of the terrorists --

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GORANI (voice-over): -- responsible for the worst attack in France in half a century. One of three shooters at the Bataclan concert hall on November 13th, his name revealed days later, Samy Amimour. For the first time on international television, his sister is speaking out.

GORANI: At what point did you learn that your younger brother was one of the attackers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): At first I was shocked. I was screaming in despair and sadness. And when I gathered my thoughts, I thought this information was wrong, that there was a mistake, that it was impossible.

GORANI (voice-over): A man who grew up to be a mass murderer but whose life, according to his sister, started very differently. She shared personal pictures of her brother with us.

GORANI: The Samy you knew, you're saying was a nice guy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Exactly. He was a nice person, a sensitive person, a bit shy, somebody you can rely on, a generous person, someone nice who loved to laugh and joke.

GORANI (voice-over): But then that man disappeared, she says, literally, traveling to Syria to join ISIS.

His father reportedly went after his son to try to convince him to come home, to no avail. Amimour's family actually stayed in touch with him while he was in Syria. The last message from him was sent in August of this year.

GORANI: In your last contact with him, was it just an ordinary conversation?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Yes.

GORANI: With absolutely no sign that anything like this could happen? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): No. No sign. Totally

normal conversation. I asked him how he was. And he told me, listen, I am very well, I have a lot of things to deal with at the moment. So I will call you very soon. Send kisses to everyone and to my cat.

GORANI: How do you reconcile the -- your brother, who says, kiss the parents, kiss the cat, you know, I'll call you soon, the little boy you grew up with, with the man who so coldly murdered dozens of helpless people in a concert hall?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): To me, there's no link. It's almost like it's not him. There's no chance. I know it's real but...

GORANI (voice-over): So what happened to a man who worked as a bus driver, led a seemingly normal life in the northern Paris suburb of Drancy, that turned him into a mass killer and suicide bomber?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It started with the Internet. He visited websites that were sort of controversial. Then it continued with videos and then it stayed that way. Then beyond the world of the Internet, there was also the real world. People came to talk to him.

GORANI: Where?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In the area, here, below the house. They came to talk to him more and more and told him that he should attend the sermon at the mosque more regularly, that he should be more devoted to his practice of Islam. Then they led him towards mosques that were more radical.

GORANI (voice-over): These are some of the pictures of Amimour's victims, some of the 89 people ruthlessly killed that night.

Does his family feel any responsibility for Amimour's actions?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Of course, there's part of us that says maybe it's our fault. Maybe we should have done something different. Maybe, just maybe.

GORANI: If you had an opportunity to speak to the family of one of the victims, what would you say to them?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Sorry for your loss. We're sorry, because we didn't want all of this. We understand the pain they feel and we know that nothing will bring their families back, whatever we may say. So we just hope that they can mourn their dead.

GORANI (voice-over): Hala Gorani, CNN, Paris.

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KINKADE: France is honoring the 130 victims of the Paris terror attacks. President Francois Hollande led a solemn ceremony on Friday. Our Hala Gorani has more on that from Paris. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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HALA GORANI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: On a freezing morning, France paused to remember its victims again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking French).

GORANI (voice-over): Two weeks after the atrocity in the great courtyard of Les Invalides...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking French).

GORANI (voice-over): -- the names of the victims were read aloud, one by one, along with their ages.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking French).

GORANI (voice-over): A somber President Hollande sat beside survivors and loved ones of those who were killed.

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): Friday, the 13th of November, this day that we will never forget, France was struck shamefully, a horde of --

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HOLLANDE (through translator): -- killers murdered 130 of our people and wounded hundreds of others. Today, the entire nation is making an effort to live and it's crying for the victims.

GORANI (voice-over): The victims, said the president, were of all ages but mostly under 35. They are being called the Bataclan generation. Hollande also remembered the foreigners who died in the attacks from 17 different countries.

HOLLANDE (through translator): Parents who will never see their children again, children who will grow up without their parents, couples broken apart by the loss of a loved one, 17 countries share their grief with us today, these women, these men, on that Friday the 13th of November, were in Paris.

GORANI (voice-over): Poetry aside, the president had harsh words for the terrorists.

HOLLANDE (through translator): I promise you all solemnly that France will carry everything out to destroy the army of fanatics who committed these crimes because, despite the drama, despite the spilled blood, France keeps her principles of hope, tolerance, intact.

GORANI (voice-over): France and its values might be intact. But for the relatives, the grief is still raw -- Hala Gorani, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KINKADE: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, hundreds of thousands of people gather in Uganda to watch the pope celebrate mass. Why he picked this location and who he honored in a live report just ahead.

Also we shift gears to tell you about a Ugandan man and his special four-wheeled creation when CNN NEWSROOM continues.

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KINKADE (voice-over): Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade. Here's an update of the top stories we're following this hour.

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KINKADE (voice-over): Turkey's president is wanting Moscow not to play with fire. Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted on Friday to reports that Russia detained a group of Turkish business men over visa irregularities.

The countries are at odds after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane. Russian president Vladimir Putin has threatened economic retaliation.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson arrived in Jordan on Friday for a two-day trip to meet with Syrian refugees. His campaign says this is not a press event but a way to better understand the refugee crisis. Carson has faced scrutiny over his understanding of foreign policy issues.

Two weeks after terrorists killed 130 people in Paris, Belgian authorities have made a new arrest in their investigation. The federal prosecutor's office in Brussels isn't naming the person but it says the suspect is charged with terrorist attacks and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Investigators in the U.S. state of Colorado are working to determine what led a gunman to open fire at a women's clinic.

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KINKADE (voice-over): Three people are dead at the end of a nearly six-hour at a Planned Parenthood clinic; one of them a police officer. While authorities have not identified the other two victims, nine people were wounded. One survivor describes his encounter with the gunman.

OZY LICANO (PH), VICTIM: I saw a man crawling to the front door. I saw the glass shatter. He crawled into the entryway. Then I saw this other fellow come behind him and shoot down and up and walk into the entryway. And I just kind of lost it there. I tried to get out of my car and

run. Then I thought about that and said no. I got back into the car, started it, put it in reverse and started backing out.

And then he was in front of me. And he was aiming at me. And I just hit the gas. And he started shooting. And I was looking at his face. I think I had 10 seconds, 5-10 seconds to look at him, to try to remember who he was and why he was doing that or whatever.

And then the shots came through the glass. Then I started bleeding. As I was looking at him, I saw blood; I didn't know if it was coming from my neck or my lip or what.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: The survivors are said to be in good condition. The gunman surrendered after the standoff. A law enforcement source tells CNN he is a 59-year-old man.

A short while ago in near Kampala, Uganda, Pope Francis celebrated holy mass at a shrine dedicated to Ugandan martyrs. He was there paying homage to those Christians executed more than 100 years ago for refusing to denounce their faith.

It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of people attended the mass. CNN's Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher is on the line. She was at the (INAUDIBLE).

Just explain what it was like.

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think it's really been interesting to see how many people have come out and from how far here in Kampala to meet Pope Francis. We talked to people who said they walked for miles. People have come from neighboring countries to get a glimpse of the pope.

And certainly you saw that last night when we came in from the airport about 40 kilometers from the airport to the capital city here just lined with people 10, 20 deep that had come out to see the pope because of course he's doing all of his events here in the main city. But 84 percent of Uganda's population live in the countryside.

So for at least the people who are on the outskirts of this capital city, they were able to get a quick glimpse of the pope, driving by in his four-door Kia (ph), which is what he's chosen to go around in when he's not in his Popemobile here in Uganda.

Now the pope is resting; it's 1:30 in the afternoon, so he's having a lunch break and his next event is a youth rally, which is where I am right now. It's at an airstrip, an old military airstrip that they use for outdoor events, that holds about 100,000 people.

People are still coming in because it's still about an hour and a half away. But it's obviously a major focus for the pope in any country he goes to, to speak to the youth, but particularly in Africa because, of course, some of the problems that they deal with, like corruption, like the radicalization of youth, are generational things.

And so the pope tried to work on a political level with political leaders in those messages. But he also tried to work at the level of young people so that they don't fall into certain vices that will continue to damage their country -- Lynda.

KINKADE: And, Delia, just explain the level of security needed -- [05:35:00]

KINKADE: -- for a visit like this.

GALLAGHER: Well, you know, coming into this trip it was really overshadowed by the presence of security because he's doing a three- country visit, Kenya, Uganda and tomorrow is the Central African Republic, which is what is considered the most dangerous leg of the trip because it's just an unstable place that's had several years of civil war and there's not a whole lot of infrastructure there to guarantee the pope's safety.

Now I've got to say two things. On the plane coming over from Rome the pope was asked about this and he said, oh, the only thing I'm worried about are the mosquitoes.

And of course his spokesman said to us, look, his security has gone and done extra sweeps, particularly in the Central African Republic. Clearly they work with the military of Kenya, Uganda. I have say it's been exemplary. It is full of military, it is full of police in Kenya and Nairobi. They have the roads pretty much closed off.

But that doesn't necessarily mean a whole lot. It's not like when they close off a road in New York. People are still wandering around and cars are still going through.

But I have to say that the security is very visible and a lot of it depends on the pope's own Vatican security. They're the ones that make the call in terms of whether or not the pope can go somewhere.

And so far we've been told last night by the Vatican spokesman that we are going ahead tomorrow to the Central African Republic.

KINKADE: OK. Let's hope that all goes really well. Delia Gallagher, thank you so much for joining us.

Now as we await the pope's next event, CNN's David McKenzie stopped ion Kampala, where he met a man who built a Popemobile that he hopes will get Pope Francis' attention, take a look.

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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Ugandan mechanic Moses Kayiira got wind that Pope Francis was coming to town, there was only one thing to do: build the pontiff a Popemobile for his trip to Kampala.

MCKENZIE: OK. It's a bit snug.

MOSES KAYIIRA, UGANDAN MECHANIC: (Speaking foreign language).

MCKENZIE: So the pope, he says, is smaller than me but also they can pull the doors off while he drives the Popemobile through the crowds of Kampala so he can wave.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Moses sourced parts locally and pulled images of the pope from the 'Net. He says it will all appeal to the people's pope.

[00:25:00]

MCKENZIE (voice-over): "Wherever the pope goes, he says, "he is not a lavish person. He prefers to be down to Earth and interacting with ordinary people."

Pope Francis raised eyebrows when he arrived at the U.S. recently in a Fiat 500. And his official Popemobile was pretty basic, too. But Moses believes his hand-built four-wheel drive has another edge over an imported Popemobile.

"I made a rugged Popemobile," he said, "to suit the nature of our roads, which are rough and full of potholes."

Moses hopes Pope Francis will take a ride in his Popemobile or at the very least, he says, his homegrown holy vehicle deserves a papal blessing -- David McKenzie, CNN, Kampala, Uganda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: Still to come, security will be especially high in Paris this coming week for the climate change conference. We'll tell you how the country intends to keep hundreds of world leaders safe. Stay with us.

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KINKADE: Thousands of demonstrators in Brisbane, Australia, have called for a clean energy economy. Their rally was one of a number of protests planned across the world this weekend ahead of the U.N. climate talks in Paris.

Demonstrators demanded climate justice that major carbon emitting countries and reduces take action to prevent vulnerable nations. Some say the Philippines have been hit by changing weather patterns, including deadly typhoons, that are worsened by climate change.

Well, 150 national leaders will attend the summit and thousands of security personnel will be deployed throughout France as a precaution. CNN's Jim Bittermann has more.

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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A wind turbine has sprouted in the middle of the Avenue Champs-Elysee. A planetary globe has appeared in the middle of the environmental ministry.

Paris seems as if it's being paved over with solar panels and the city is awash in displays and innovations.

Gerard d'Aboville (ph) has singlehandedly rowed boats across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, sail up the River Seine with what is said to be the world's largest solar-powered oceangoing vessel.

GERARD D'ABOUVILLE (PH), SAILOR AND ENGINEER: I think the key of the climate is mostly into the oceans. So I'm very pleased to bring here in Paris a little bit of the sea.

BITTERMANN (voice-over): For the tens of thousands of others like d'Aboville (ph), drawn to Paris for the coming two weeks, this is make-or-break time for climate change. "Later will be too late," say the signs atop the French foreign ministry, as the foreign minister himself knows, trying to get the nations of the world to agree on anything is a tall order.

And never before in France or perhaps anywhere have there been negotiations quite like these. Starting Monday, 195 countries will gather at a purpose-built conference center at Le Bourget Airport north of Paris to try to find agreement on worldwide limitations on greenhouse gases.

But the complex negotiations were nearly overshadowed by the vicious terrorist attacks in Paris two weeks ago, which, at first, seemed as if they might endanger the meetings here. In fact, some people felt that the climate talks should be called off.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm not convinced about the necessity at this moment to organize this event. I think we have other priorities today, even if the environment is very important.

BITTERMANN (voice-over): But for most, those worldwide issues trump even terrorist concerns.

BITTERMANN: In a way, the Paris conference is just too big to call off. Everyone from the pope on down has emphasized how important it is for the planet to concentrate on the climate issue. President Hollande said just a few days ago that the best response to the terrorist attacks is to carry on with the climate summit.

BITTERMANN (voice-over): But protecting the nearly 150 heads of state and 40,000 delegates who are expected will be a real challenge for French security forces; 2,800 police and army will patrol the site itself; 8,000 more will reinforce French borders; in all, 120,000 security personnel will be mobilized across the country.

The leaders will only attend for the --

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BITTERMANN (voice-over): -- first two days of the conference but miles of roads will have to be closed off to get them to and from the conference site, something that is expected to throw normally impossible French traffic into chaos.

But with popular demonstrations and serious negotiations, the climate conference will go on. It's something the world's leaders feel simply cannot be postponed any longer -- Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

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KINKADE: Texas is dealing with dangerous icy conditions in parts of the state. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is at the World Weather Center with the latest.

Karen, how bad is it?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's fairly bad as folks are really asked to avoid all the highways and the secondary roads. They closed down a portion of the interstates running across the Panhandle of Texas into Oklahoma. Also for Kansas where ice has been the big problem.

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MAGINNIS (voice-over): Take a look at the folks that were struggling on the roadways here. They were putting sand and some salt down on those roadways. But already five fatalities. Looks like the ice event will continue for about the next 12 to 24 hours.

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MAGINNIS: An ice storm warning is in effect. We still have some fairly heavy rainfall extending all the way from Northeastern Texas through the Tennessee Valley up towards the Mid-Atlantic region, 2 to 4 inches expected.

And already the rainfall has turned deadly. And what has been the last several months, exceptional rainfall across this region. What we're seeing is kind of an interesting scenario with very mild air across the Southeast. Temperatures could be near record-setting levels going into Saturday.

But ice on the back side of this, we saw those pictures coming out of the deadly event in Colorado. And we're also looking at additional snowfall accumulation expected there.

So kind of a wild chain of events weather-wise taking place. But we will see the potential for still some traveler delays as we head into the Central United States.

And it looks like, across Adelaide, for the most part, the fires have diminished. But they're still putting out some hot spots, where we saw about 85,000 hectares burned.

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MAGINNIS (voice-over): Take a look at this. Some people describe this as a fireball, where more than 90 homes and businesses were destroyed. There were hundreds of firefighters that were battling these blazes all across the region right around Adelaide. It is primarily an agricultural and growing region.

And there were thousands of animals that were also across this area that were killed.

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MAGINNIS: This is just the beginning of fire season down under. Back to you, Lynda.

KINKADE: Yes. Some really tough conditions back there. Karen Maginnis, thank you very much.

American skiing star Lindsey Vonn is renowned for smashing records on the slopes. But she's also known for dating golfer Tiger Woods. What she says about that relationship next.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hi, there, I'm Patrick Snell with your CNN WORLD SPORT headlines, starting in Belgium, where the 2015 Davis Cup between the hosts and Great Britain has got underway. The Belgians looking to do something they've never, ever done before, win it.

David Goffin was fired up by the home fans, had a superb comeback victory over Kyle Edmund after winning the first two sets. The British number two just fell apart, understandably distraught on his Davis Cup debut. Afterwards, he lost 14 of the last 15 games.

If Team GB are going to finally win the Davis Cup again, a lot of the onus will fall on Andy Murray's shoulders. Standing in his way, though, was Ruben Bemelmans with a 27-all Belgium. No match at all for Murray; he strolled to victory with his encounter. He wins, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to level the series at 1 apiece.

Track and field's governing body, IAAF, launching a robust defense of its fight against the use of illegal substances this coming just days before a U.K. parliamentary inquiry into blood doping in athletics, releasing a statement which read, "The IAAF certainly does not deny that there is blood doping in its sport but it does vehemently deny that it has idly sat by and let this to happen.

"To the contrary a fair assessment of the facts shows clearly that rather than sitting idly by while athletes cheat in its sport, the IAAF has, in fact, consistently been a pioneer at the forefront of the war against blood doping, using every tool available to catch the cheats with considerable success."

You're very up to day. Thanks for joining us. I'm Patrick Snell.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. People in Auckland, New Zealand, gathered on Saturday to mourn one of the nation's greatest rugby players, Jonah Lomu. The former All Black died suddenly earlier this month. He was just 40 years old.

The traditional Pacific Islander ceremony, called the Day of the Family, was held.

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KINKADE (voice-over): Lomu's sons wore their father's number 11 jersey. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend a memorial service for Lomu in Auckland on Monday.

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KINKADE: She's the golden girl of American skiing. Lindsey Vonn broke the record in January for the most World Cup race victories. She now has 67 wins under her belt. And she promises this isn't the end. Our Christina Macfarlane sat down with the skiing superstar.

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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When it comes to pizza, Lindsey Vonn knows the best place in town. The local hero has been a record hit since her early skiing days.

LINDSEY VONN, SKIER: I probably ate here like three to four times a week.

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VONN: Pizza was the main source of food for a while.

MACFARLANE: You are probably the last skier of your generation standing in women's ski racing.

How do you feel about that?

VONN: It's kind of weird. It's really surreal. There's a couple girls left that are around my age. But my generation has kind of gone now. And the new generation is coming up. I feel like a veteran. I am mature. Sure.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Her long history on the tour has brought with it a long list of injuries. And this year is no different. After fracturing her ankle in training this summer, Lindsey was back in hospital again just two weeks ago after trying to break up a fight between their two dogs.

VONN: My dad actually had a talk with me and said, you know, I think you should really take a look at retiring and being able to walk when you're 50.

I'm like, I appreciate your love and support, Dad, but it's not going to happen.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Six months ago she ended her three-year relationship with golfer Tiger Woods. It was a high-profile match that brought her very publicly into the spotlight.

MACFARLANE: Do you have any regrets about that period of your life now?

VONN: No, definitely not. I mean, I loved him and I still love him. And I had an amazing three years with him. But sometimes things just don't work out. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for us. But I don't have any regrets.

Yes, I think we're both in a pretty good place.

MACFARLANE: Are you looking for any relationship in your life?

Is that something you want?

VONN: I don't know. I don't know, I don't know if I'm ready to be in another relationship. You know, I kind of realize that I probably realistically only have three good years of racing left.

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VONN: So it's kind of nice to be able just to focus on that and focus on my career. But -- I don't know. You never know what's going to happen.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): Her relationship with Woods has meant more time on the red carpet in recent years. But dressing up is not her favorite part of the job. She admits to being self-conscious when it comes to her body.

VONN: Probably the least confident person on the slopes that you'll find and especially this time of year. You know, I'm trying to bulk up quite a bit. I definitely feel out of place sometimes on the red carpet and stuff like that. I don't know.

MACFARLANE: In what way?

VONN: I'm just bigger. I'm just bigger, I'm a big girl, I don't know. I mean, one of the best things about meeting Amy Schumer was that she was like a little bit bigger and like we were comparing our butt sizes. I think we were like three times the size of anyone at this fashion show we were at.

It's not the norm. And I think it should be. Maybe it will be, you know, eventually. But right now it's definitely not. MACFARLANE: What does the next three-year period hold for you?

Where do you want to be?

VONN: I just want to keep winning races. That's really my only goal. And long-term, world championships and Olympics. After that, I really don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if I'll retire or keep going.

MACFARLANE (voice-over): It's that never-say-die attitude that makes Lindsey so universally loved here, hometown champion (INAUDIBLE) -- Christina Macfarlane, CNN, Colorado.

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KINKADE: Well, that does it for this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. For viewers in the U.S. "NEW DAY" is just ahead. For everyone else, "AMANPOUR" starts in just a moment.

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KINKADE: Hello from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Lynda Kinkade. And this is CNN NEWS NOW.