Hillary Clinton's History-Making Moment; The Toll of the Iraq War on Children
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream. Now, history rewritten in the race for the White House. Hillary Clinton declares victory becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee. We'll have the full breakdown on the final Super Tuesday. And now that the battle lines are drawn, Donald Trump promises supporters he will bounce back from a controversial week to take on Clinton. And the ever-growing danger of cyber warfare. We'll hear from a well- known hacker hunter about a fresh wave of digital threats. Hillary Clinton has secured her place in history. The former U.S. Secretary of State is now the first woman to be the presumptive nominee of a major American political party. She faces Republican Donald Trump, the billionaire real estate mogul who has won support of millions of Americans to become his party's presumptive choice for president. Now, a day ago voters in six U.S. states went to the polls for the nation's final Super Tuesday, and even before all the votes were tallied, Clinton tweeted this, quote, "to every little girl who dreams big, yes, you can be anything you want, even president. Tonight is for you." Now, CNN's Jeff Zeleny was there when Clinton took the stage at her victory rally.</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton's history making moment.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee.</s>ZELENY: Savoring a triumph in her long Democratic primary fight exactly eight years after extinguishing her first trailblazing campaign.</s>CLINTON: Tonight victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed, and made this moment possible.</s>ZELENY: Extending her hand to Bernie Sanders after finishing strong in the final round of primaries, wins in New Jersey and California.</s>CLINTON: And let there be no mistake. Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we've had have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.</s>ZELENY: Sanders losing the big prize of California after spending 18 straight days campaigning there, effectively ending his argument to fight on.</s>BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight. But we will continue to fight for every vote and delegate.</s>ZELENY: This as Sanders campaign tells CNN they plan to cut half their staff.</s>SANDERS: The struggle continues.</s>ZELENY: After a bitter primary duel, early signs of peacemaking. CNN has learned campaign manager for Sanders and Clinton, Jeff Weaver and Robby Mook, are talking behind the scenes. The end is near with Sanders heading to the White House tomorrow to meet with President Obama in hopes of bringing the party together, which Clinton says, she knows can be difficult.</s>CLINTON: Now, I know it never feels good to put your heart into a cause or a candidate you believe in and to come up short. I know that feeling well.</s>CLINTON: As we look ahead to the battle that awaits, let's remember all that unites us.</s>ZELENY: The biggest point of teen for Democrats may well be defeating Donald Trump.</s>CLINTON: We believe that we are stronger together. And the stakes in this election are high, and the choice is clear. Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander in chief.</s>ZELENY: She is making a full pivot to Trump, inviting voters who are skeptical of him to rally behind her.</s>CLINTON: We won't let this happen in America. And if you agree, whether you're Democrat, Republican or independent, I hope you will join us.</s>LU STOUT: And that was Jeff Zeleny reporting. Now, it was a switch for Donald Trump, who ended Tuesday night by reading his speech. He normally doesn't do that. Now, a top campaign adviser called the speech important to recover from five bad days, that's after trump accused a judge hearing a case of being biased because of his Mexican heritage. That was called racism by the Republican House Speaker. Here is some of what Trump had to say.</s>DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTAIL CANDIDATE: Now, I know some people say I'm too much of a fighter. My preference is always peace, however. And I've shown that. I've shown that for a long time. I've built an extraordinary business on relationships and deals that benefit all parties involved, always. My goal is always, again, to bring people together. But if I'm forced to fight for something I really care about, I will never, ever back down, and our country will never, ever back down.</s>LU STOUT: Now, the supporters of Democrat Bernie Sanders who say he will continue to challenge Clinton have become as target for both front- runners. Now, I'd like to bring in assistant David Swerdlick. He's an assistant editor of The Washington Post where he joins us now. David, welcome back. Good to see you again. Hillary Clinton, let's first start with her. We know she made history. She is America's first female major party presidential nominee. Politics aside, just how significant is this moment?</s>DAVID SWERDLICK, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yeah, good morning from Washington, Kristie. This is a significant moment for Secretary Clinton and for the country. I think the Clinton campaign recognizes that if she is to win in November and become the first woman president of the United States, it will be a more significant moment, but last night they took the time in her victory speech to stop and acknowledge that it is a milestone in the United States. Look, other countries -- Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Pakistan, Turkey, have had women heads of government, United States has not -- Clinton is not there yet, but the fact in our two-party system she comes out on top as the nominee of one of the major parties was something that she did take a measured victory lap on last night.</s>LU STOUT: Let's talk about Bernie Sanders. He is simply not accepting the delegate math. He is fighting on right into the convention. Why? What is he thinking?</s>SWERDLICK: Well, Sanders has run a campaign that has exceeded all expectations. Give him this -- he has won a number of primaries in the double digits in terms of numbers of states. He's won millions of votes. He still draws huge crowds and his campaign raised a ton of money. He has said to his supporters, I think it's reasonable that he is going to go through next week's Democratic primary in Washington, D.C., and finish it out, and press his leverage up to the Democratic convention six weeks from now in Philadelphia. What Democrats are saying behind the scenes, though, and I think it's right, is that it's becoming less and less easy for him to make the case that he can really divide himself from Clinton and say that he is some alternative to her in the face of the fact that she has won the primaries - - most of the primary, most of the votes, most of the delegates and most of the super delegates are pledging to support her. And so now the question is for the Sanders' campaign, how do they sort of bring his campaign in for a landing where they don't disappoint his supporters, but at the same time bring the Democratic Party together, and pivot to the idea that in his mind for Senator Sanders -- as he has said, although not very loudly, that he prefers Secretary Clinton to Donald Trump, the Republican alternative.</s>HAYES: Yeah, and speaking of Donald Trump, you know, last week he scored some, or recently he scored some major GOP support, right? Now, major GOP figures, they're calling his recent comments about a judge racist. How much unity is there between the party and Donald Trump? I mean, is the party in line together with Trump here?</s>SWERDLICK: This is a problem for the party. And it's not clear now how they're going to resolve it. As you mentioned, Kristie, last week Donald Trump got the endorsement that he most wanted, the endorsement of House Speaker Paul Ryan, the sort of highest ranking Republican in the country right now. Within 24 hours, Trump started making his divisive comments about a federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, which have set off this firestorm of controversy over the last four or five days. And Trump has doubled down and tripled down on those comments and forced people like Speaker Ryan and other top Republican elder statesmen to disavow Trump's comments. It's a problem, because, you know, Trump's campaign has succeeded in generating this "us versus them" friction. But now that he's going into the general election, Republicans are in a quandary about how to maintain that enthusiasm for Trump while also telling Trump especially, you've got to tone it down, you've got to stop making statements that are racially divisive, dividing people along gender lines, et cetera.</s>LU STOUT: All eyes on the general election in a crazy, unpredictable race so far. David Swerdlick of The Washington Post, thank you so much for joining us again here on News Stream. Take care. We'll talk about again. Now, turning now to the battle for Fallujah. Tens of thousands of civilians are caught in the crossfire as Iraqi forces take on ISIS. Now, many are trying to escape, but their ordeal doesn't end once they get out. Now, the UN says civilians are facing physical abuse by armed groups allied with the Iraqi government. And all of the violence is taking a heavy toll on children. I spoke recently to Peter Hawkins of UNICEF about the humanitarian situation in Fallujah.</s>PETER HAWKINS, UNICEF: We estimate there are 20,000 children stuck inside Fallujah. And the reality for those children is they're at risk of either being killed or maimed by the conflict. They're at risk, especially young boys, of being recruited by the militants into the conflict, an adult war perpetrated by children. They're at risk of being traumatized by the whole experience of being caught up in a conflict, which they have, for the past two years been cut off from the extended world. So their educational requirements are not being met, their day-to-day requirements around psycho/social care are not being met. So we are really concerned that the 20,000 children who are stuck in Fallujah have either, being allowed to leave or be protected in some way or another.</s>LU STOUT: Now, thousands of Iraqis, including children, have managed to flee Fallujah, many of them are at this camps that have been set up to help them. I understand that UNICEF, and other aid groups, have visited these camps. What is the situation like there, especially for Iraqi refugee children?</s>HAWKINS: Well, the context is that over 60,000 are displaced, some multiple times have been affected in this Anbar region of which Fallujah is one of the main cities. There are transit camps. There are permanent camps. The transit camps, people come in a week, two, three weeks, then go back home before the conflict in their area has been reduced. There are permanent camps, where people have been there a year and a half, two years, and now that people are coming out of Fallujah, they go into those permanent camps. The camps are okay -- water is there, immunization is being carried out, food is there, health care is being -- is being given. The issue, though, is, one, the sheer numbers of people coming out. Can we cope with them all? We believe that we're coping at the moment, alongside the government in providing them services. But as the issue compounds, so it becomes more and more difficult.</s>LU STOUT: So the camps are becoming increasingly overstretched. So what is your appeal, then? What does UNICES need?</s>HAWKINS: What we're doing, and we have five people down there now today to try and improve the services to those camps, extend the camps as much as is possible, allow people to come out of the region if they're sponsored, to come into Baghdad or to other places to release the pressure on that area. And then, three, and most importantly, is invest in their long-term future. These people now are coming out, traumatized. Psycho/social care for children is critical now, not only their immediate needs, but their long-term needs. Invest in education so that they can catch up. They can look forward to going back home as and when the conflict in their particular area is over. So, it is really trying to prepare for not only today and tomorrow, but for the future.</s>LU STOUT: And that was Peter Hawkins of UNICEF speaking to me earlier. Now in Turkey, for the second time in two days, police were the target of a car bombing. The prime minister says at least three people were killed in the attack on a police headquarters in the southeast, more than 30 are wounded. Now, just a day ago, a police bus was attacked in Istanbul leaving at least 11 people dead. Four suspects have been detained in that attack. And turning now to Bangladesh where ISIS says it was behind the brutal murder of a Hindu priest, the 70-year-old man was hacked to death on his way to temple. And this is just the latest in a spate of similar attacks across the country. Recent murder victims include two LGBT activists, a Buddhist monk, a doctor and a Sufi spiritual leader. Witnesses are describing a terrifying scene in the capital of Papua New Guinea. They say police opened fire on student protesters at the University of Port Morseby. At least nine people were injured. The students were calling on the Prime Minister Peter O'Neil to resign over corruption allegations. Anti-corruption activists Noel Anjo told me it was supposed to be a peaceful protest.</s>NOEL ANJO, ANTI-CORRUPTION ACTIVIST: We were surprised by the police with about over 20 -- I mean, 15 to 20 police vehicles, you know, all in military armed gear, like paramilitary post, like going to war. But there was no war at the university, or there was not any -- you know, anything happening.</s>LU STOUT: Now, Anjo went on to describe the frightening moments after police fired on the students.</s>ANJO: We thought they were firing, you know warning shots to the air, but to our surprise, they be firing straight into students, and these students were, you know, deadly injured. (inaudible) as firing from all directions. Oh, this is unbelievable.</s>LU STOUT: Now, Prime Minister O'Neil blamed what he called agitators for instigating the violence. Now, still ahead right here on News Stream, Euro 2016 fans could encounter frustrations in France. How tight security, transportation delays and recent flooding have affected the tournament. Plus, technical issues prevent some from registering in the UK referendum. What British leaders are recommending voters do next.