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CNN NEWSROOM

Last Poll Before Iowa Caucuses Out; Searching for Vaccine to Zika Virus; Turkey Versus Russia; Winners from the SAG Awards. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired January 31, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


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[02:00:00]

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: The last major poll before the Iowa caucuses is out. And it shows a tight competition for both parties as the candidates look to sway voters before Monday's caucuses. Researchers try to create a vaccine for the Zika virus before the dreaded disease spreads to even more countries. And it Turkey, accusations that another Russian war plane entered it's airspace. We'll tell you what Russia is saying today.

Hello, than k you for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

Well, you could say it is down to the wire in Iowa where the first votes of the U.S. presidential nomination process are less than 48 hours away. The contenders for the White House are taking advantage as you might imagine, of every remaining second. They had spanned out across the state to win over voters. And we're getting new numbers from what could be the final major poll before Monday's critical caucuses.

The poll from Bloomberg Politics and the Des Moines Register newspaper gives the Republican Donald Trump a 5 point lead over Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, third with 13 percent, Ben Carson in fourth. On the Democratic side, Hilary Clinton holds a three point edge over Bernie Sanders. That is within the margin of error. Meaning, they are statistically tied, how about that one.

Well, it's almost impossible to go anywhere in Iowa this weekend without seeing one of the presidential candidates, Democratic or Republican brainstorming for votes. And Karin Caifa reports Donald Trump was front and center even when he wasn't actually on the stage.

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KARIN CAIFA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With very little time remaining until the Iowa caucuses. Candidates are stomping all over the state, Saturday, hoping to make a final push. In his first rally in Iowa this weekend, Donald Trump spoke to a crowd in Dubuque.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a chance to do something so great. Make America great again, all these hats, make America great again. We're losing on trade, we're losing with Obamacare.

CAIFA: But even before Trump took the stage, he was the topic during several of his counterpart's rally.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As a result of the disastrous citizen's united Supreme Court decisions, as we speak right now, this moment on your television sets, billionaires are trying to buy elections.

CAIFA: Jeb Bush also took shots at Trump.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're not going to win by insulting the disabled. You're not going to win by insulting women. You're not going to win by saying POWs were losers because they got caught. Shame on Donald Trump.

CAIFA: But the business mogul wasn't the only candidate getting attacked. Marco Rubio took his aim toward Hilary Clinton.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's a reason why Hilary Clinton spends more -- and her super packs spend more time attacking me than any other Republican because they don't want to run against me. But I can't wait to run against her.

CAIFA: And while the attacks on Clinton and the e-mail controversy continued to haunt her on the campaign trail, she's keeping her focus elsewhere.

HILARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If the Republicans want to use this for political purposes, that's their decision but I'm going to keep talking about what the voters in Iowa talked to me about.

CAIFA: In Des Moines, Iowa, I'm Karin Caifa.

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ALLEN: The caucus process used by almost one dozen states can be difficult to understand for outsiders and even for those actually involved. The Iowa caucuses are a starting point that can make or break a campaign in terms of momentum. CNN politics reporter Chris Moody explains.

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CHRIS MODDY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Mitt Romney, 23 percent. Purple is Rick Santorum. You see the impressive nature.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barrack Obama, the senator from Illinois, the junior senator from Illinois has won the Iowa caucuses.

MOODY: Every four years, we hear all about the Iowa caucuses. It's a huge deal, it's all over the news. But what does it actually mean to win? Probably not what you think. On the night of the caucuses, Iowa officials from both parties count the votes and announce to the media who got the most and we report that they won.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, very good. Third time is the charm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Third time is the charm. Excellent looking.

MOODY: But it's important to know what winning really means. You might assume that the person that wins the Iowa caucuses gets the most delegates at the convention, not so. The Iowa caucuses are really just a straw pole. They have no bearing on delegate selection.

By the time the Iowa parties actually select their delegate, it's much later in the process, sometimes the whole primaries are already over. So, why do we care so much. There is actually a reason.

The Iowa caucuses are the first electoral contest on the calendar. So, it gives us an initial look at the state of the race. And winning first is a great place to start.

[02:05:00] There is some controversy though. Despite all the attention the caucuses receive, not a lot of Iowans actually participate. And I think there's a reason for that.

Caucusing actually takes several hours and they're usually held after work hours. But what about the people that can't make it to the caucus? Well, they can't participate. Working a shift on caucus night, can't caucus. Disabled, can't leave the house, can't caucus. Just kind of lazy and don't want to leave the house because it's freezing in Iowa in the middle of winter, can't be blamed, also can't caucus though.

Now, supporters say that the process is there because it's a community event. It's people in your small town talking about politics and really engaging. And in that sense, it's pretty cool. But now when you're watching the caucus results in February, you'll really know what we mean when we say a candidate has won.

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ALLEN: We'll of course be following it all right here on CNN. So, you can keep it here on Monday. Well, the Zika virus is now active in 24 countries. It's rapid spread has lead to growing concern about the potential for a global pandemic. The mosquito born virus has been linked to a neurological birth disorder called microcephaly.

Health officials are warning pregnant women against traveling to affected areas but that could ultimately be a moot point if the spread of the virus cannot be slowed. Researchers are hard at work to create a vaccine but no cure or even treatment currently exists. The first reported cases of the Zika outbreak occurred in Brazil and it is now the country being hit worse and it's also the country of course, hosting this years Olympics.

Shasta Darlington reports from ground zero, Rio de Janeiro.

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SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The epicenter for the Zika virus pandemic is right here in Brazil but the crisis is increasingly international. President Dilma Rousseff spoke by phone to President Barrack Obama on Friday and they agreed to work together to try and combat the mosquito that's spreading the virus. (Inaudible) said they could do research together and really try and speed up the development of a vaccine. That's of course because there isn't one, there isn't a cure right now here in Brazil since the virus was detected in the first half of last year.

That means that more than 4,000 cases of babies born with microcephaly have been reported. These are babies with small heads and underdeveloped brains. This has been linked to the Zika virus. Now, President Dilma Rousseff says, "More needs to be done and quickly."

DILMA ROUSSEFF, BRAZIL PRESIDENT [through translation]: We are losing the battle against the mosquito. As long as the mosquito keeps reproducing, each and everyone of us is losing the battle against the mosquito. So, we have to mobilize so we do not lose this battle.

DARLINGTON: Keeping track of Zika is difficult. It's often asymptomatic. Brazilian health officials say that up to 1.5 million people have already been affected. They've dedicated 200,000 soldiers and health workers to going door to door, trying to eradicate the pools of water where the mosquitoes breed.

In most cases, the mosquitoes breed inside people's homes. So, getting rid of that plant water, getting rid of the tanks of water where the drinking water is stored. They're also fumigating. The problem is, they've really had a mixed success so far. It's the same mosquito that spreads the Dengue fever. And last year, there were record number of cases in Brazil of Dengue fever.

With the Olympics just six months away here in Rio de Janeiro, this is gaining a lot of urgency. Officials here say they'll step up efforts as the games get closer. Visiting the venues on a daily basis, making sure that any contact with mosquitoes is minimized, they're also betting on the weather. The games are going to come in August, that'll be smack dab in the middle of the winter right here in the southern hemisphere and that the mosquito population will naturally drop off. Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.

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ALLEN: With more on what possibly to be done to thwart this virus. The world's health community has been discussing the next steps. Our Nic Robertson spoke to World Health Organization assistant director General Bruce Aylward about the global response.

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NIC ROBERSTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: How close are we to understanding the link between Zika and microcephaly?

BRUCE AYLWARD, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WHO: So there's different kinds of studies trying to address that. It could be six months, could be nine months but everyday there's more and more data.

ROBERTSON: Is there enough evidence right now to say people should be concerned and worried in these affected counties by getting pregnant?

AYLWARD: The people should be concerned that Zika may have effects beyond what we originally thought a cerebral illness that most people may not even notice and a bit of a rash. And given that concern, you should take the right precautions to make sure that you number one, reduce the mosquito population around you. That can be done very quickly. And then, reduce your probability of getting infected.

ROBERTSON: How much is that level of doubt that remains about the link?

[02:10:00] I mean, we're looking at, there's 1 percent of doubt, 2 percent, 5 percent?

AYLWARD: Yeah, I would say, you know, this is an issue of opinion at this point because you definitely can't prove causation. So, what you're trying to do is rule out all the other possibility.

ROBERTSON: Is Zika going to travel to the United States, to Southeast Asia, to Europe?

AYLWARD: Now, the question of, is the virus going to move with the mosquito? You have to act as though it would and so, you've got to get your surveillance in place in these places to see when it comes. Your surveillance also for neurologic issues. And begin educating your population about keeping the mosquito populations down. You should do that anyway.

Can I tell you 100 percent the virus is going to be there? I will do that and then the virus will make me look stupid by not showing up there. But our assumption has to be yes, it will follow the movement because that's what it's been doing over the last three months.

ROBERTSON: How did it move so quickly?

AYLWARD: It hasn't moved in a lightning speed. Now, once it's gotten into the Americas, it has moved from Brazil up through now to parts of Mexico.

ROBERTSON: Spreading explosively.

AYLWARD: Now it's moving fast there and that is -- movement of people, movement of the mosquitoes across land areas which are much more, you know, they're contiguous so it's going to move faster than over those huge tracks.

ROBERTSON: But you're giving me advice in a timely fashion, is enough being done now?

AYLWARD: Well, you know, this is really tough because remember, Zika and well, the Haiti's (ph) virus is carried by a mosquito that breeds in stagnant water. And if you walk around any country where you got a tire lying there, you got a bucket lying there, they all collect water. You're trying to get everybody to get out there and empty those things or actually apply a task ride (ph) that's going in.

ROBERTSON: You need the help of the population. You need governments to understand to get their populations aware.

AYLWARD: And Brazil called a state of emergency in November, not knowing if this was causation or not but just saying, "There's such a horrible effect if we are wrong would be tragic. We have got to overcompensate."

ROBERTSON: And the next solution is vaccines. Where are we on the vaccine track?

AYLWARD: The goal now is to look at what everybody's got on the shelf, what they've been doing and then very quickly get anything promising into trials and ...

ROBERSTON: And WHO can help accelerate that?

AYLWARD: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah because -- so, part of our job, just like on Ebola is getting the international community together, getting consensus, picking out what are the best possible candidates, getting the money behind that, the trial designs, and moving those forward. And that is exactly the role of WHO.

ROBERTSON: And timeframe from where we're at today to a vaccine, do you think?

AYLWARD: Probably the earliest would again, we've heard a few different things. We probably have something in a phase one trial in four to six months. And then probably have something available in a year.

ROBERTSON: The Olympics are coming up this summer in Brazil. What's WHO's advice to people who want to go watch the Olympics?

AYLWARD: Enjoy the Olympics. Make sure you can take the precautions not to get bitten by mosquitos because you might get Dengue which is an awful disease to get and Zika might do things that we don't fully understand yet. And understanding what you are at risk of potentially and then you make your personal decisions, right? But you can mange part of that risk.

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ALLEN: The World Health Organization talking there about the Zika virus. Well, Turkey summons the Russian ambassador it says, a Russian jet violated it's airspace again. That's ahead here. Plus, Pluto is full of surprises. The latest discovery from the dwarf planet coming up here.

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[02:15:00]

ALLEN: Encouraging signs from the Syrian peace talks in Geneva. The main opposition group now says it plans to participate in negotiations with the U.N, Special Envoy. They had been holding out, insisting that government forces stop attacking civilians. The opposition is pushing for tangible signs of peace on the ground.

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SALIM AL-MURSLAT, HIGH NEGOTIATIONS COMMITTEE SPOKESMAN: We are ready. We are here to make this s success. We are ready to start negotiation. But at least, we should see something, you know, on ground there in Syria. We should really stop these massacres against our people. So, please help us.

You know, save our children. Save the remaining children of Syria. Then, you know, we are willing to do anything that really put an end to this war.

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ALLEN: The Geneva meetings mark the first time in two years the warring sides have sat down for talks. The desperation in Syria and other places is of course, driving another deadly phenomenon, the migration crisis in Europe. Turkish authorities say, there's been another tragedy. 33 people, including five children died trying to make the dangerous trip across the Aegean sea to Greece. 75 others were rescued.

The boat was carrying people from Syria, Myanmar, and Afghanistan. Meantime, the Italian coast guard reported rescuing more than 200 migrants from two small boats in the Mediterranean. Even when they make it to Europe, refugees and other migrants as we've reported, face many more difficulties.

Earlier, we spoke with John Dalhusan from Amnesty International. He describes a bleak and uncertain time ahead for migrants.

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JOHN DALHUISEN, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: The last week has been a very catastrophic week for refugees across Europe and fairly grim for the prospects of Europe itself moving forward. The essence of the European's response today is being predicated on keeping refugees out. And we've seen those moves accelerating.

Conversations talking, going forward that effectively about transforming Greece into a pen for a holding pen for European refugees. Deals with Turkey that have involved returning migrants to Turkey. And nationally, every single government now as you've just described, Denmark in a race to the bottom to make themselves as unattractive to refugees as possible.

Now I think, as often in Europe, you know, the E.U. or it's member states will, after exhausting every single opportunity to do the wrong thing, may well have to find it's way to doing the right thing if it's going to stay together.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ALLEN: Turkey is condemning what it calls a violation of it's airspace by a Russian warplane. The foreign ministry says The foreign ministry says, "The jet was warned in both English and Russian before it crossed into Turkish airspace from Syria Friday." Russia denies the allegations calling them, unfounded propaganda. Turkey's military shot down a Russian plane back in November 4 for entering it's airspace, killing one crew member. Turkish officials say the plane ignored several warnings, a claim Russia disputes.

Way, way out in outer space we have some breaking news for you. Pluto is proving to be full of surprises. There's a little heart everyone saw on the side of Pluto. Well, scientists have just discovered that the dwarf planet has way more frozen water than originally thought. A map from NASA's New Horizon spacecraft shows Pluto is coated with a large amount of ice. These images were taken about 108,000 kilometers above the planet.

Since New Horizon's flyby in July of last year, Pluto's new discoveries like it's icy surface and mysterious moons and that mysterious heart there on the side has marveled scientists and all of us, really.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You're saying Pluto has a cold heart. That is ...

ALLEN: It is a frozen heart, Pluto.

VAN DAM: New discoveries, I love it.

ALLEN: Yes, it's really cool.

VAN DAM: You're keeping track in outer space, I'm keeping track in here on mother Earth.

ALLEN: Because I'm your NASA girl.

VAN DAM: Does that work?

ALLEN: Yeah.

VAN DAM: All right, good. Well I also an awesome picture to show you and our viewers as well but first I want to get to some impressive wind that has been occurring across the United Kingdom. If you are in Scotland, Ireland, or into England, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

[02:20:04] ALLEN: Don't stand right there.

VAN DAM: Yeah, don't stand there. The U.K. Met Office named the first in a series of storms that moved through. storm Gertrude. And now we have storm Henry right on Gertrude's heels waiting to set in by late Sunday and in to Monday. But there were some other people taking advantage of the winds.

For instance, this puppy. It's just dog on windy in Scotland on Friday and Saturday. Get it? Sorry for the pun. Just thought I'd bring a little bit of humor in, right? But look, seriously, this is going to be another concern for the residents of the United Kingdom going forward.

Power outages are possible, interruptions to transportation for instance. Especially when winds are gusting over 80 and 90 kilometers per hour. Anywhere you see that dark shading of pink and red, you guessed it, that means the strongest winds. So, here we go, timing it out.

We are anticipating the winds to really pick up mid day on Monday as storm Henry moves across the region. Now, with these storms moving throughout the United Kingdom, we've had higher elevation of snowfalls and heavier rain showers from Liverpool, into Dublin, Birmingham, even London. This is the setup, we have -- with Henry moving though, it's going to pull in warmer temperatures across the Southern U.K., cold on the backside of this system but very strong pressure gradient that is going to allow for our winds to gust again in excess of 100 kilometers per hour.

With this previous storm we had winds on higher elevations an excess of 200, believe it or not. You could see the storm moving though across the region. Again, snowfalls just in the north highlands across the Glasgow region but should stay all rain into London. I'll leave you with this.

Take a look at the selfie from outer space. NASA's curiosity rover sent this photo back to here, back to Earth I should say. This, try to think of it as a creature has been staying in the Martian landscape for the past 900 days.

ALLEN: That gets our selfie of the day award. And new to take the good angle up high.

VAN DAM: Yeah, he's got a bigger dog (ph) doesn't he?

ALLEN: All right, thanks Derek.

VAN DAM: My pleasure.

ALLEN: All right, coming up here, we're going to take you to the Screen Actor's Guild Awards and see what they might mean for Oscar predictions.

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ALLEN: The Screen Actors' Guild awards or SAG, are often seen as an indication of who make take home an Oscar. On Saturday, Leonardo DiCaprio won the SAG for best lead actor for his role in the film, The Revenant. Brie Larson won the SAG for her performance in the film Room. And the top award went to the cast of Spotlight which is nominated for an Oscar for best picture.

All right, we are definitely in the thick of things for the Hollywood awards season. And Kim Serafin joins us from Hollywood. She's senior editor of In Touch Weekly. Hi there, Kim.

KIM SERAFIN, SENIOR EDITOR, IN TOUCH WEEKLY: Hi, how are you doing?

ALLEN: I'm good, thank you. Thanks for being with us. So, this was the Screen Actor's Guild. We're up to that. We've had the Golden Globes. We have the Oscars to come. So, remind us, those of us who just live normal lives, what the Screen Actor's Guild Awards are really about.

SERAFIN: Yeah, it's the award season here in Los Angeles, here in Hollywood, all leading up, of course, to the Oscars. But this is the Screen Actor's Guild Awards, this is voted on by the actors. So, all the awards are about actors. It's not about production design or sound or anything like that.

[02:25:00] It's all about the acting awards. But a lot of people look to the Screen Actor's Guild Awards because the actors are the largest voting branch for the Academy, for the Oscars.

So, a lot of times, whoever wins the Screen Actor's Guild, it really predicts who will win an Oscar.

ALLEN: So, let's talk about the fact that the Oscar is criticized for lack of diversity. But these awards, the first award actually handed out, wen to an African-American woman.

SERAFIN: Yeah, very interesting because clearly, if anyone was paying attention know that the Oscars have gotten a lot of attention because of the lack of diversity. But in very stark contrast, at the SAG awards, it was a very diverse show. In fact, Idris Elba who won two SAG awards got up and at one point when he was introducing Beasts of No Nation, he said, welcome to diverse T.V. because you did have a lot of nominees, a lot of nominees -- a lot of winners, Uzo Aduba for Orange is the New Black.

Viola Davis won for How to Get Away with Murder. Idris Elba as I mentioned won two awards. He won for Beasts of No Nation. A lot of people thought he should've been nominated for an Oscar for Beasts of No Nation. He was not. And in fact, his name is the one of the nems that comes up when people say, "Where was his name when we're looking at all of these 20 white actors that were nominated?" So, a very different story we're looking at when we're look at the Screen Actor's Guild Awards.

ALLEN: Well, let's talk about who of the big winners were for best actor and best actress.

SERAFIN: I think everyone was looking to see who would win best actor. It was Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant. I think this pretty much says that he is the lock for an Oscar. He did win the Golden Globes. He won the Critic's Choice Award. I mean, Leonardo DiCaprio I think clearly is someone who deserves an Oscar. This was his ninth SAG award nomination but his first win.

So, it's kind of his time. It is his year.

ALLEN: Right.

SERAFIN: For sure.

ALLEN: And it might as well be -- maybe Brie Larson's year as well.

SERAFIN: Yeah, Brie Larson who won for Room. And now, of course, Jennifer Lawrence is probably her main competition when you come to the Oscars. But Jennifer Lawrence for Joy did not get a SAG nomination.

ALLEN: Yeah.

SERAFIN: So, very interesting. Brie Larson I think still probably is the frontrunner for an Oscar but very interesting because Jennifer Lawrence was not nominated for a SAG award. So, with her in the mix in the Oscars, that kind of throws everything into turmoil. So, we don't know for sure who will win. It's not as clearcut as Leonardo DiCaprio is for best actor.

ALLEN: So, we'll have a big drum roll for best actress when we get to the Oscars perhaps.

SERAFIN: Yeah.

ALLEN: And they also handed out an award fro ensemble cast for comedy and film. And it's interesting that two films really, were really good this year for ensemble cast. But one about brave journalist won.

SERAFIN: Yeah, Spotlight was the winner of the SAG award for ensemble cast after they vote in the Screen Actor's Guild Award. But this is often a predictor of who will win best picture come the Oscars.

ALLEN: A glowing night and a diverse night for Hollywood and of course, beautiful dresses on the red carpet as well. As always, Kim Serafin watching it for us, thank you so much Kim.

SERAFIN: Great, thanks so much.

ALLEN: And thank you for watching, I'm Natalie Allen. I'll be right back with our top stories.

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