Nigeria Declared Ebola Free; U.S. Airdrops Weapons, Medical Supplies Into Kobani
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet. A strategy shift, the U.S. airdrops weapons and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters in Kobani, Syria, but will it be enough to stop ISIS? Plus, Ebola-free. The World Health Organization says Nigeria is clear of the disease that has killed thousands in West Africa. And it is the eve of talks between Hong Kong's student protesters and government officials. We'll have a live report from Mong Kok, the site of recent scuffles. In the fight against ISIS in the Syrian border town of Kobani, Turkey is now opening the way for Peshmerga fighters heading to the front lines, while the U.S. is sending weaponry into the embattled city. It is a change of tactic for both countries. Now the Turkish foreign minister says Iraqi Kurdish fighters can use Turkish territory to cross into Syria. Meanwhile, Washington says it has airdropped weapons, ammunition and medical supplies provided by Iraqi Kurds. Let's get the latest from CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. He joins us live from the Turkish-Syrian border. Nick, this is a very significant shift in strategy from both countries, the U.S. and Turkey.</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the Kurds defending Kobani behind me seemingly very grateful. We actually have just spoken to one doctor who said that part of those three C130 U.S. aircraft dropped 27 bundles, that delivered, in fact, as well as M-16s, we heard from one fighter, the doctor telling us they delivered a ton of medical aid finally enabling them to treat the patients inside they needed to look after. And this comes after a week of those intense air strikes, the U.S. now saying 135 in total around Kobani, which has clearly had some sort of psychological impact on ISIS who so far have seen an unimpeded advance.</s>WALSH: It is high tech air power brought to bear against a Medieval brutality. Millions of dollars of guided munitions delaying or even stopping a radical, but ragtag militia's advance on Kobani, a town whose significance has grown in ways its residents must have hoped it never would. To the Kurds, key to their bid for a homeland; to ISIS the last hurdle before controlling a huge stretch of border. And, to the coalition, a chance to very publicly use one overwhelming advantage for a psychological short-term win and then talk like you're not.</s>REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: Airstrikes are dynamic, they're exciting, you can count them. You can get a great video of them. I understand the drama around airstrikes, but we've said, a, airstrikes alone are not going to do this. Military power alone is not going to do this. And it's going to take some time.</s>WALSH: After the swift advance across Syria and Iraq, this is perhaps the first serious setback ISIS has faced, said a leading observer. "It has weakened their morale," he says, "especially as they've lost a lot of their foreign fighters, especially their Kurdish fighters who are considered the fiercest about 400 to 500 in that location. "This weakening could cause them to pull back from Kobani altogether," he says. "And they do not have the supply line to continue the operation." ISIS's high tech weapon, social media, has also been more muted on Kobani, he said. Adding the reported claims they could fly warplanes near Aleppo was aimed at restoring confidence. "The reason they had that plane take off," he says, "is to raise morale that started to collapse in a very clear way, especially in their media. Right now they're looking for revenge operations against the coalition countries to restore their big image." With a full cabinet now in place in Baghdad, Washington may hope the psychological wind of Kobani could bolster Iraq's lackluster forces, too. Yet the U.S. knows its strategy has limitations.</s>KIRBY: The idea isn't to just put a warhead on a forehead every single day, the idea is to try to get at their ability to sustain themselves and disrupt their strategy.</s>WALSH: ISIS, al Qaeda, the Taliban, they've all adapted in the past. And these bombs may not be enough to prevent ISIS form doing so again.</s>WALSH: Now what is key, of course, is that obvious decision by Washington to go whole hog in assisting the Kurds here with those airdrops. People inside saying they expect -- they hope more because they do need to continue their resupply if they're going to hold the city, saying that the Kurds have about 70 percent at this stage, and over 200 mortars have been landing in just the past three days. What is most complex, though, is Turkey's decision to allow those Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in from Iraqi Kurdistan through their territory to assist the fight in Kobani. They're not there yet, according to those in Kobani, but it's a change in public policy from Turkey, which certainly suggests -- in their public statement, too, they don't want the city to fall. They're, I think, trying to tread a delicate line here. Perhaps by allow the Kurds some semblance of holding their ground, appeasing Washington but also perhaps to that nationalistic audience inside Turkey not going too far in supporting Kurds who they consider terrorists in some ways -- Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: A key change in tactics for the fate of Kobani. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reporting live from the Syrian-Turkish border, thank you. Now the first person to be infected with Ebola outside Africa has now tested free of the virus. Now, the Spanish nurse's assistant has been in Madrid hospital for weeks. And two previous tests showed Ebola levels in her blood were nearly nil. And now a family friend says a third test has come back negative.</s>TERESA MESA, ROMERO FAMILY FRIEND (through translator): She got a negative result. She has zero virus. She's waiting for the second test within 48 hours to ratify it. I spoke to her. She's spectacular. We started crying and laughing and she's ready to leave the hospital.</s>LU STOUT: And the World Health Organization has declared Nigeria free of Ebola. An airline passenger brought the virus to Lagos back in July. There were eight deaths there, but as you can see the vast majority of cases in this outbreak have been in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Now Senegal had just one case, no deaths, and it was cleared last week. One country has emerged as a significant contributor in the fight against Ebola: Cuba. It has already sent more than 100 health workers to West Africa's hot zone. And the government has plans to send more. Now CNN's Patrick Oppmann joins us now live from Havana. And Patrick, Ebola has created this very unusual partnership between Cuba and the United States. So can you first tell us about that strategic alliance?</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's correction. In just about an hour, we're going to be seeing more of this -- you can call it Ebola diplomacy when Cuba begins its first Ebola summit where we're going to see about a dozen countries from around the region have come to Cuba, the delegations principally health delegations. They've come here to have a one day summit to discuss, one, what more they can do for a country as hard-hit by Ebola in West Africa, and as well what these countries to do to keep Ebola from coming into their own countries, have a regional response and a regional plan. They've seen how, frankly, scattered the response has been in the United States, in Spain, countries that have much more resources than many of the countries in the region. So, they're getting ahead of time to really plan on how they can prevent Ebola from coming into the region. And if it comes in, how they can work together. Of course, Cuba, as you said, has sent over 100 health workers to the affected regions. They're going to send just shy of 500 in the coming days. We expect there will be a total of 500. And that's lead to praise from the United States, rare praise from the United States. And over the weekend, we saw very interesting editorial from former president -- former Cuban President Fidel Castro where he said that Cuba would be willing to work with the United States to help end Ebola, the Ebola outbreak. So very rare gesture of cooperation there. We have yet to hear back if the United States is going to take this very seriously, but it seems to be that when it comes to Ebola, this is a disease that transcends many things, Kristie, including politics.</s>LU STOUT: Yeah, the editorial from Fidel Castro, a very significant gesture of politically and towards -- in terms of these two countries getting together to combat the outbreak. And your thoughts on the greater political impact here. Do you think this alliance between Cuba and the U.S. could somehow overcome decades of that political standoff currently underway between the U.S. and Cuba?</s>OPPMANN: Well, Fidel Castro certainly doesn't think so. He says that Cuba is not doing this to win any points with the United States. Cuba, of course, if famous for not only producing many doctors, but having medical missions around the world, whether it's after the earthquake in Haiti or after other natural disasters. So Fidel Castro immediately said that he's not trying to win points with the United States, that they don't think this is going to solve the very deep political divide between the U.S. and Cuba. But this is an area where they can both cooperate, Cuba has the doctors, the United States has other resources that it's bringing to bear in Africa, and this is just an area where the world have to get together despite political differences, despite decades of acrimony, that Ebola is just too important and this is at least one area where countries as different as Cuba and the United States can cooperate and have some success, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: All right, CNN's Patrick Oppmann reporting live from Havana. Thank you, Patrick. Now on our website we're reporting another aspect of the Ebola crisis, the children who have been made orphans by the disease. Now UNICEF says that nearly 4,000 children in West Africa have lost either one or both parents to the deadly virus. And as our CNN's Nima Elbagir reports in this report, some relatives refuse to take the children in for fear of catching the disease. You can find that and more, CNN.com/impact. You're watching News Stream. Still to come on the program, Hong Kong's student protesters, they are headed back to the negotiating table with the government. We'll go live to the pro-democracy protest site for a preview of what we can expect from those talks. Plus, Indonesia swears in its new president. Already, he is facing some fierce opposition. Right after the break, a look at what Joko Widodo is up against. And later this hour, hundreds of stranded hikers have now been rescued in the Himalayas after a deadly blizzard. More on the search effort in Nepal next.