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CNN NEWSROOM
Obama Makes Case for International Trade Deals; Trump Met Sunday with Christie, Giuliani; Merkel Seeks Fourth Term as German Chancellor; East Aleppo Residents Want to Leave but Can't; At Least 133 Killed in India Train Derailment; Trump's New Focus on Infrastructure; Devastating Famine Threatens Nigeria; Syrian Orchestra Raising Hope through Music. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 21, 2016 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:0010] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from CNN World Headquarters here in Atlanta.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: Closing a chapter, U.S. President Barack Obama returns from his final overseas trip.
VANIER: Is Sarkozy out of the running, why the former French president failed to rouse his vaunted (ph) voters in a bid for another term.
ALLEN: And the sound of freedom -- a Syrian orchestra plays a message of hope for a European audience.
VANIER: Hello and welcome to viewers all around the world. I'm Cyril Vanier.
ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
Thanks for joining us.
Barack Obama's last international trip as U.S. President is over.
VANIER: And he's heading back to Washington right now after a trip to Greece, Germany and Peru.
In his international swan song, Mr. Obama was asked about the challenges the world faces as he prepares to step down. He said he was not optimistic about the short term prospects for Syria. He said Bashar al Assad was willing to destroy his country and scatter or kill the population in order to cling to power.
He also had to face a lot of questions about his successor, President- Elect Donald Trump. Notably how Mr. Trump's presidency might impact international trade.
Athena Jones reports from Lima.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Obama in his last press conference on the last leg of his last international trip as president once again made the case for trade deals. Deals like the Transpacific Partnership trade deal, one his successor President-Elect Donald Trump opposes.
President Obama said that deals like TPP, high standard deals are important and benefit the U.S. They allow America to help write the rules of the road when it comes to trade and he said that absent U.S. engagement in such deals, it allows other countries, countries like China to step in and fill the void, write rules of the road that do not benefit American companies.
The President also spoke more broadly about the need for continued U.S. engagement on the world stage calling the U.S. an indispensable nation when it comes to dealing with global issues.
Of course the President was also asked about domestic politics. He was asked specifically about potential conflicts of interest that President-Elect Donald Trump could face because of his business dealings. And while President Obama declined to respond directly to that question, he did talk about how he approached the issue when he was elected president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We made a decision to liquidate assets that might raise questions about how it would influence policy. I basically had our accountant put all our money in treasury bills -- the yields by the way have not been massive over the course of the last eight years -- just because it simplified my life. I did not have to worry about the complexities of whether a decision that I made might even inadvertently benefit me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: The President also said it was important to him to follow not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law in order to avoid any potential ethics issues. It was one area out of many where the President provided a bit of indirect advice to his successor as he wrapped up this, his last press conference, a wide ranging press conference on his last major international trip as president.
Back to you.
ALLEN: Athena Jones, there in Peru.
And while in Peru, President Obama also said he is withholding judgment on the incoming president for now despite troubling things Trump, Donald Trump said during the campaign.
VANIER: Obama said out of respect for the office, Trump deserves a chance to pick his advisers and put forward an agenda without quote, "somebody popping off in every instance".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The President-Elect now has to put together a team and put forward specifics about how he intends to govern. He hasn't had a full opportunity to do that yet. And so, people should take a wait- and-see approach in how much his policy proposals once in the White House, once he is sworn in, matches up with some of the rhetoric of his campaign.
My simple point is that you can't assume that the language of campaigning matches up with the specifics of governing legislation regulations and foreign policy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[00:04:57] ALLEN: Well here in the U.S., Donald Trump has one more likely cabinet pick to announce soon. A source close to the transition process says the billionaire investor Wilbur Ross is being seriously considered for commerce secretary. Ross supported Trump during the campaign.
Trump also met Sunday with his former Hollywood agent, Ari Emanuel. A spokesman for Emanuel says it was not about a possible job. Afterward, Trump called Emanuel a great friend.
CNN's Phil Mattingly has more on two other high profile meetings Donald Trump held Sunday.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a weekend of marathon meetings -- meeting after meeting; cabinet potential official after cabinet potential official; and some advisers in there as well. But it really was all about reading the tea leaves, trying to get a sense of who will fill out the top positions in the Trump administration. The President-Elect, coming to the door greeting every single one of his visitors.
But on Sunday, there was a key focus on two individuals -- Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani -- obviously the former, one of the most important early endorsements of Trump's campaign who has fallen out of favor in recent weeks and has been removed as the head of his transition team and all his top allies have gone as well. Leaving a lot of question as to whether or not Chris Christie will actually have a job in the Trump administration. All signs right now are pointing to no.
Not so much for Rudy Giuliani though. The former New York mayor, also a very close confidant, adviser, aide to the President-Elect throughout the campaign -- he has been angling for secretary of state job. We asked the President-Elect if that is what he is looking at the mayor for. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(inaudible)
DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And other things. And other things.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: A little bit of hedging there -- maybe some other positions that he may be looking at. And this is all coming in the wake of Saturday's meeting with former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney 2012 presidential nominee who we are told very definitively is under consideration for that state job.
What I am told from Trump advisers is Donald Trump is very intrigued by the idea, the perception of what it would mean to have Mitt Romney in his administration particularly in the wake of their 14, 15, 16- month battle back and forth. So it would be very interesting to see how that all plays out.
One key thing to keep an eye on as this week goes on starting today there will be a focus on economic jobs, economic transition landing teams, landing at all the agencies throughout the day; then domestic policy as well.
Obviously we are all keeping a very close eye on who the next big cabinet appointments will be. Trump advisers, some are coy about that but definitely making clear announcements will be made soon.
VANIER: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's two-year attempt at a political come back is over. His former prime minister, Francois Fillon pulled off a shocking upset in the Conservative Party's primary. Francois Fillon he came out on top after the first round of voting meaning he will now face off with another former prime minister, Alain Juppe. They're both vying to become the party's nominee ahead of next year's presidential election.
Sarkozy finished third, eliminating him altogether from contention. During his concession speech he threw his support behind Francois Fillon. And we'll get you more on this upheaval in French politics in the next hour. I will be asking our guests how Fillon pulled off the upset and what it means for the French presidential race.
ALLEN: Chancellor Angela Merkel is running for Germany's top office again. Sunday she announced her decision to seek a fourth term.
Atika Shubert has more on Merkel's announcement and the challenges she faces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not a surprise but a confirmation that Angela Merkel will run again as candidate for chancellor. She did say that she would face challenges from both the right and the left. But she said she hopes to be a unifying figure. And she said it was most important that she lead based on shared values.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANGELA MERKEL, CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY (through translator): The coming election will be difficult. We will probably be criticized from everywhere -- from the right-wing parties and also because of the polarization of our society; also from the left party with criticism. On the European and the international level we always have to deal with the values and in simple terms how we will live. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUBERT: Now Angela Merkel is under tremendous pressure to serve as a sort of counterpoint to President-Elect Donald Trump. And in many ways, she is the anti-Trump -- a strong woman leader who believes passionately in an interdependent world. She has fought for a number of those trade deals, a number of those security agreements that Donald Trump now says he wants to tear up and throw out.
So, she has -- she talked about realistically facing that challenge but also said that she wanted to work with the President-Elect based on those shared democratic values. She also said she knows she faces a challenge from a resurgent far right movement here in Germany which has done very well in recent polls and criticism of her policies during the refugee crisis. But she also said she hopes to reach out to all members of German society.
[00:09:59] Right now she does fairly well in the polls. A recent poll showed that more than 50 percent of respondents still approved of her as chancellor. She may be hoping that those numbers rise in the coming months.
Atika Shubert, CNN -- Berlin.
VANIER: And for more on this, earlier I spoke to Wade Jacoby about Chancellor Merkel's bid. He's a professor of political science at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: How do you explain Angela Merkel's success?
WADE JACOBY, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY: Well, she has been remarkably effective at reading the German people. She is a cautious, careful politician. And she is definitely from a measure twice and cut once school of politics. She prepares her initiatives extremely carefully; talks and consults widely.
But on the other hand there are moments where she can strike very, very quickly -- energy policy a few years ago; refugee politics of the last year. People didn't see these things coming. So she is a combination of very, very cautious and pragmatic politician but one with a nervy streak as well.
VANIER: But you know if you look at Europe, you look at the countries around her European political leaders are being, at best, challenged, destabilized or sometimes, unseated altogether by a surge in populist movements. How come Germany seems immune to that?
JACOBY: Well, Germany has been in a good position as you point out for a long time. The most important reason, of course, is that the main parties in Germany have fought with one another fairly significantly over economics. And it is when the big parties in Europe get too close to one another, stop having identifiably different programs on economics that populists get their best foothold. And in Germany up until about ten years ago, you could pretty much rely on the big center right party and the big center left party to disagree pretty strongly about economic matters.
That's changed in the last ten years. Two of the three coalitions that Chancellor Merkel led, of course have been, grand coalitions with her.
VANIER: Right. She is actually ruling with the opposition.
JACOBY: Precisely. That's -- that's given a big opening to the populists in Germany, something that they haven't traditionally had in Germany -- almost alone among European democracies. They just haven't had big right-wing populist challenges. But they have got one now this alternative for Germany.
VANIER: And is that something that -- could there be a chink in the armor there for Angela Merkel?
JACOBY: There's certainly a chink in the armor. This party started out criticizing her policy towards Greece, the Eurozone policies, got itself a nice little start but then didn't quite make it into parliament in 2013 and had sort of died down about a year and a half ago.
And then the refugee issue came along, the asylum issue came along and they have been able to use that (inaudible) up to now nearly 15 percent in the polls. So that's a significant dent in her electoral coalition.
VANIER: Right. And she has faced some challenges recently. I mean only a few months -- in the last couple of months, the ruling party has suffered setbacks in the regional elections, including in her own region. You mention the rise of Alternative for Deutschland, the populist anti-immigration party. That was all getting a lot of consideration a few months ago.
How come that has died down -- the talk of that potentially being a challenge, posing a threat to Angela Merkel?
JACOBY: I don't think she thinks the challenge has gone away. Indeed, I think if you were to get her privately, she might admit that one of the biggest challenges this time around will be to push the AFD back into the corner again.
You are right, that they had a big, big electoral showing back in March in three different state elections. And, it is certainly weakened the Chancellor. But one of the reasons that -- that she is moving forward as chancellor candidate of her party I think is that it is really hard to think of who the alternative would be at this point. There are no other leading lights with the kind of national recognition.
VANIER: And wait, I have to say that is something that surprises me. How is it possible that over the course of more than a decade in Germany, there haven't been other heavyweight politicians within her party that have risen up to challenge her?
JACOBY: They have risen. They have come. But they have also gone. So she has been remarkably successful at keeping those folks from building a national profile in Berlin so even when they have been successful on the regional level they have not been able to turn that into a national political profile.
(CROSSTALK)
VANIER: Wait -- one more thing before we wrap this up. Sorry to cut you off but I really want to hear you on this. The impact of the victory of Donald Trump -- does that have any impact on what is going on in Germany because she's referenced it?
[00:15:01] JACOBY: Several. First it's made them scared. They're taking the populist challenge very seriously.
Secondly, I think they think that the Trump challenge has taught them that this is not an entirely factual conversation that voters engaged in. There is an emotional element here and that emotional element has to be taken very seriously.
And I guess the third thing is they think that, that Donald Trump is the kind of leader that's going to give them a huge challenge working on a range of things in the transatlantic relationship -- Russia, Syria, energy policy. So they have their hands full.
VANIER: All right. Wade Jacoby -- thank you very much.
Wade -- helping us to understand the amazingly successful run that Angela Merkel has had and may continue to have in Germany as well as some of the challenges she is going to face going forward. Thanks a lot.
JACOBY: Pleasure to be here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VANIER: Air strikes rained down on eastern Aleppo for a sixth straight day. And those who want to leave say they can't -- the latest on the casualties just ahead.
ALLEN: Plus, a devastating train wreck in India kills more than 100 people. The latest on the investigation and what may have caused it.
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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it certainly took its time but winter-look weather finally reaching the United States over the past several days. In fact, lake effect snow threat across the United States where the lake is in place here with high wind.
We have, of course, very mild water temperatures still relatively speaking compared to the air temperatures above them so that energy transfer really cranked up significant snow accumulations across some of these favorable areas. Could even see a few flurries around New York City, believe it or not, as this feature skirts by across that region.
But notice this, the western United States you've got some heavy snowfall across the mountainous region, the Sierra will pick up snow. Some of the snowfall we are seeing here finally something that we have not seen for this time of year for several years. Of course, we know of significant drought in place. We have gone many, many Decembers in a row and Novembers in a row for that matter that we have not seen much snowfall come down. So certainly good news in the forecast there.
Montreal -- one below, windy, snowy, you're going to feel the winter is certainly there with snow showers in the forecast. Vancouver -- looking at some morning clouds, should give way to a beautiful afternoon there, temps around 10. And then the City of Angels should make it up almost to 20 degrees.
And still watching this area of interest -- this area of storms has really sat in place just north of Panama, over the last week. At this point, all but a certainty here that this is going to become at least tropical storm Otto if it does develop. And then you're seeing Nicaragua, the main area of concern for landfall.
[00:19:48] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: Activists in Syria say a chemical attack killed a family of six in eastern Aleppo Sunday, about 300 people have been killed since Syrian government forces resumed heavy bombardment on rebel-held areas Tuesday.
VANIER: Rescuers say it's the worst bombing since the civil war began more than five years ago. And doctors say not a single hospital in Aleppo is operating at full capacity. Many residents in Aleppo say that even if they wanted to leave they can't.
CNN's Will Ripley spoke with one man in the besieged eastern part of the city even as bombs were falling all around him. We do want to warn you some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The explosions are like clockwork in rebel-held east Aleppo -- all day, every day.
ISMAIL ALABDULLAH, ALEPPO RESIDENT: They have to dead. They don't know how to wake up normally without sound of bombing, without anything.
RIPLEY: Ismail Alabdullah takes cover in his basement. During our 14 minute conversation I count at least 17 blasts.
There is another one -- each getting louder, closer.
I'm listening to these explosions here and it seems like it doesn't even faze you. I mean you are so used to it.
ALABDULLAH: It's normal for us. We're not human beings anymore because of this.
RIPLEY: This is a normal day in east Aleppo -- first responders racing from one site to the next -- digging desperately for survivors like this little girl. She is in shock but alive. This little boy didn't make it.
In this strike, 15 were injured. Three people died.
"You broke my heart, Ahmad," this father says. "Ahmad, you were my soul."
Syrian activists say more than 1,000 people have died in the last two months including more than 230 children. A week of relentless bombing has knocked out more than half of east Aleppo's hospitals. All trauma centers are out of service.
"This is our country, our country," says this man, refusing to let even destruction like this force him from his home.
Why do you stay?
ALABDULLAH: Why do we stay? We stay because it is our city. It is because -- they stay because they have no place to go.
RIPLEY: Alabdullah says the more than quarter million people who remain in east Aleppo don't trust the so-called humanitarian corridors. He says snipers on both sides shoot and kill people who try to leave.
ALABDULLAH: We're not going to leave. We are going to die.
RIPLEY: He lost three friends in three days. He says many feel tired, hopeless, abandoned by the world.
ALABDULLAH: Yes, I think they will be.
RIPLEY: That was close. That one was close.
ALABDULLAH: Ok. I am going to go.
RIPLEY: Ok. Be safe. Be safe.
Despite nearly five years of pleading for help, the relentless bombing of east Aleppo continues.
Wow. Will Ripley, CNN -- Istanbul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: The death toll from a train derailment in India has now risen to 133; 14 cars in the 23 carriage train derailed early Sunday. Now investigators trying to figure out what caused it.
For the latest let's turn to CNN's Mallika Kapur, she joins us now from Hong Kong. Hi there -- Mallika.
MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Natalie.
Well, we know right now that rescue operations are over. But we did hear from officials, just about an hour, hour and a half ago and they said that they have spotted one hand which makes them believe there might be one more person that they might be able to pull out alive. They are waiting for a crane to arrive and then they will begin the rescue process.
So, they are holding out for some good news. They don't know whether that person is still alive or not. But we should have an update on that in a few hours. But overall, of course, Natalie, the numbers look very, very grim. 133 people have lost their lives in this terrible tragedy.
[00:25:03] Out of those 133 people who have died, authorities tell us that they have been able to identify the bodies of 110 of those people. Meanwhile, many people do remain injured; 49 of those people who have been injured are in hospital.
Other updates we have for you this hour is that another train carrying the rest of the passengers has made its way back to Patna; a lot of people still being treated in hospitals. Many more are injured.
The big question, of course, is what caused this? What caused so many carriages, 14 carriages of this 23-carriage train to go off the tracks? We don't know for sure yet. But the junior minister of railways in India, he said a few hours ago that on preliminary investigation, it looks like a fracture in the tracks.
But they have ordered an investigation and we have to wait for that, for those results of that investigation to come back to us before we know exactly what caused it. But it does look like it was caused by a fracture in the tracks.
ALLEN: How tragic. And Mallika -- it's staggering the number of people there in India that rely on train travel across this vast country. Why are train accidents so common?
KAPUR: Well I think those two are relative. When you said look at the number of people who travel on India's railway system. It is 23 million people every single day. That is equivalent to the entire population of Australia. Imagine that -- the entire population of Australia on the move every single day carried by India's railway system.
In fact India's network, the train network is so vast, if you lined up all the tracks together it could go around the circumference of the earth one and a half times. So you get a sense of just how vast the train system is and what burden it has to carry, 23 million people.
And then comes the problem is, of maintenance, how do you maintain such a vast network? Simply put, for that you need money. Now remember, a lot of the tickets, passenger tickets on this railway network are subsidized. So you get -- there's very little money actually coming in, you know. The revenue that comes in basically goes toward operational costs. There is very little money left over for modernization.
Prime Minister Modi has pledged to do that, to improve and modernize India's railway system. And so that accidents like this are not as common as they are now.
ALLEN: Thank you very much. Mallika Kapur for us there in India there. Thanks -- Mallika.
Still ahead the Trump transition team appears closer to naming another cabinet nomination. We'll tell you who it is and the likely job.
VANIER: Plus the U.N. says tens of thousand of Nigerian children could die from starvation over the next year. Details on the man-made crisis that could become a full-blown famine.
That's all coming up on CNN.
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[00:30:00] VANIER: Welcome back. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier.
ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. Our top stories this hour.
VANIER: U.S. President Barack Obama is heading back to Washington after his final trip abroad while in office. In Peru, Mr. Obama emphasized the importance of U.S. influence around the world and he urged allies to take a wait-and-see approach with his successor Donald Trump.
ALLEN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is running for a fourth term. She formally announced her bid Sunday. She says she expects the fall 2017 campaign to be her toughest. Among the challenges Ms. Merkel faces are divisions caused by her open-door refugee policy.
VANIER: There has been a rash of shootings against police officers in several U.S. cities. An officer in San Antonio, Texas was fatally shot during a traffic stop Sunday morning. Then hours later, an officer in St. Louis, Missouri was ambushed and shot twice in the head. And another officer in Gladstone, Missouri, near Kansas City was shot as well on Sunday evening.
ALLEN: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has one more likely cabinet pick to announce soon. A source close to the transition process says billionaire investor Wilbur Ross is being seriously considered for commerce secretary. Ross supported Trump during the campaign.
VANIER: One of the main pillars of Donald Trump's economic plan is a massive investment in building and repairing the country's infrastructure.
As CNN's Clare Sebastian explains, Trump has a track record of getting some things done when government cannot.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) Thirty years ago this month, Donald Trump opens the Wollman Rink in New York's Central Park, a project the city had spent six years and $13 million working on, he completed in four months. He said, for less than $3 million.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: The city couldn't get it built. They had no clue.
SEBASTIAN: Louise Sunshine was executive vice president of the Trump organization in the early 80s.
LOUISE SUNSHINE, FOUNDER, THE SUNSHINE GROUP: Number one, there are construction skills involved. Number two, there are skills knowing how to deal with labor unions involved. Number three, there are great political skills involved.
SEBASTIAN (on-camera): The Wollman Rink was Trump's way of proving to many in New York that private investment could be more efficient than public. As president, his infrastructure plan relies on that very same principle, private money for public projects. The question is can he achieve this kind of success on a scale the United States has perhaps never seen before?
TRUMP: We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): The plan as laid out in October by two of his economic advisers proposes using massive tax breaks to spur up to a trillion dollar in private investment in addition to public/private partnerships like New York's La Guardia airport renovation.
TRUMP: And then I get back on my plane. I land at La Guardia with potholes all over.
SEBASTIAN: Some experts worry replying on for profit companies, though, might mean some crucial projects are left behind.
BARRY LEPATNER, AUTHOR, "TOO BIG TO FAIL": We have nearly 8,000 bridges scattered across the country that are both fractured critical and structurally deficient. And they have been ignored for so many years, that, maybe we're not going to find public/private partnerships. Private interests who want to correct those problems. That's where government has to step in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The highway construction program initiated by Ike is the biggest peacetime enterprise ever undertaken.
SEBASTIAN: Trump has compared his plan to Eisenhower's interstate highway system -- bold, visionary, cost-effective.
SUNSHINE: He is a visionary and he is not a politician. And he is coming at this with a fresh point of view.
[00:35:00] SEBASTIAN: In the days after Donald Trump's election when unions and stock markets cheered the promise of major spending. The challenge come January 20th is keeping up that momentum.
Clare Sebastian, CNN Money, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: North-eastern Nigeria was once overrun by Boko Haram. But it's what the terror group left behind that is now even bigger threat to the area, starvation. The United Nations estimates 75,000 children are at risk of dying in the next year alone.
Here is more from David McKenzie in South Africa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Descending over a gutted school, destroyed by ISIS-linked Boko Haram. This video shot by UNICEF, a first glimpse of an area once firmly under the terrorists' control. Now safe enough for a brief visit.
It's here in Banki that 21 of the kidnapped Chibok school girls were recently released. After months of tense negotiations, it was a rare success. More than two years ago, the kidnapping of the 276 girls sparked a global outcry. And a far greater scale, here, the forgotten victims of this brutal war remain.
Tens of thousand have poured into Banki to keep safe in what they call widow's houses, where women and girls shelter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): As we were fleeing Boko Haram, the terrorist group stopped us. They beat my husband and took him away.
MCKENZIE: Later, Yangana (ph), not her real name, found out they've killed her husband. She is left with her 18-month-old daughter. So many of the men have been killed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I keep dreaming about my husband. Life is difficult without him. I can't get him out of my mind.
MCKENZIE: As the international military coalition squeezes Boko Haram out of territory, aid organizations are uncovering a crisis on an extraordinary scale. 7 million people need help. Most of them children throughout northeast Nigeria. Tens of thousand could die from malnutrition.
ABDULKADIR MUSSE, UNICEF SENIOR EMERGENCY COORDINATOR: People could not cultivate in the last two years. Still they don't have access to their cultivation areas. And there's no -- all livelihoods have been lost. And that's where we see high rate of malnutrition.
MCKENZIE: A man-made crisis that in the months ahead could develop into a full blown famine.
David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: So many global problems, the Syrian migrants though are finding hope right now in music.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
And they're spreading it throughout Europe. We'll have that story for you coming next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:40:08] VANIER: The Syrian civil war has forced millions of people from their homes. And many of them yearn to celebrate their culture as they assimilate elsewhere.
ALLEN: A group of Syrian musicians in Europe has formed an orchestra to do just that. And their music is bringing them and their new home together. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAED JAZBEH, MUSICIAN: We need to do something to unite as Syrians and do something for hope.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
JAZBEH: My name is Raed Jazbeh. I'm from Syria. The Syrian Philharmonic Orchestra is the first symphony orchestra for the Syrian professional and academic musician who live in Europe.
I had an invitation to play in Berlin. We traveled from Damascus to Beirut, then from airport in Beirut to Berlin. After the concert, I decided to stay. The music is part of our soul. Without music is like fish without water.
This orchestra is not about the Syrian nationality. It's about Syrian culture. The age of the Syrian culture more than 7,000 years. So it is about humanity. So we have to save what we can save.
(APPLAUSE)
For us, it's like big family. We, in many years, we haven't seen each other and now we've met and we sit in one room, the concert hall. We feel like, oh my God, we are in Syria, we are home now.
I think this gives us the strength to say I can continue my new life in Europe with all the difficulties, with all the missing families, friends, homelands, et cetera. But you can start. And we have hope to do something.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Very nice.
VANIER: All right.
ALLEN: More of that.
VANIER: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier.
ALLEN: "World Sport" is next, and we'll be back at the top of the hour with another hour of news from around the word. You are watching CNN.
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(WORLD SPORT)
