Nicolas Maduro No-Show to Supporters; U.S.-led Military Admits Civilians Killed in Raqqa.
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, are now to a stunning admission from the U.S.-led military coalition that fought in Syria. A little less than two months after slamming a report from Amnesty International, the coalition now admits airstrikes killed 77 people in Raqqa, Syria last year. The offensive to drive ISIS from their self-proclaimed capital began over a year ago. Amnesty International says airstrikes like this one killed and injured thousands and probably breached international humanitarian law. The rights group also blames the coalition's repeated use of explosives for leveling the city of Raqqa. The coalition says it investigated and released its own report, saying this, in part. "The investigation assessed that although all feasible precautions were taken and the decision to strike complied with the law of armed conflict, unintended civilian casualties regrettably occurred." In a statement, Amnesty International said this admission was just the tip of the iceberg and their research indicates a much higher death toll. Donatella Rovera joins me now from London. She is the senior crises adviser for Amnesty International. Good to have you with us.</s>DONATELLA ROVERA, SENIOR ADVISER, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Good morning.</s>CHURCH: So how likely is it that the U.S.-led coalition would have admitted inadvertently killing dozens of civilians in its Raqqa offensive if Amnesty International had not pursued its own investigation? And do describe to us the evidence that your research uncovered.</s>ROVERA: I spent two weeks in Raqqa with a colleague interviewing survivors and witnesses and carrying out site visits looking at the specific locations that had been bombed by the coalition, looking for remnants of munitions and any other pertinent information. It is possible to do that kind of work. We at Amnesty International did it on the ground in Raqqa and so should the coalition. However, until today, the coalition has not done any field investigation on the grounds in Raqqa. It has not interviewed survivors and witnesses. And it is fair to say that had Amnesty International not carried out this investigation, the coalition would not have admitted to these particular civilian casualties, these 77 civilians killed and many more injured. Now, this is really only the tip of the iceberg. Up to then, the coalition had only admitted to 23 civilian casualties. We know from everybody we've spoken to on the ground in Raqqa that hundreds and hundreds of civilians were killed in coalition bombardments. It is imperative that the coalition should do the right thing, which has not been done until now, and cry out a proper investigation so that the survivors and the victims' families can get justice and reparation. The coalition will always admit to having been responsible for bombardments when organizations like Amnesty International put in the time and resources to do the investigation but we cannot do the coalition's job. We've been able to investigate a very, very small number of civilian casualties. There are many hundreds more. And ultimately, it is the job of the coalition to do those investigations, to do them properly, and to come clean on how many civilians their bombardments have killed.</s>CHURCH: Right. Just finally, what, then, if they go ahead and do these investigations -- because they claim they've done their own investigation. But what are you hoping to come out of this? What are you hoping that the victims' families may receive as a result of this? And, of course, this admission?</s>ROVERA: Well, first of all, just to set the record straight, the coalition has promised to do field site investigations in Raqqa and to interview witnesses and survivors, and by its own admission it has not done so until today. So that must start without delay. And secondly, the victims, those who have been named, for lives injured, those who lost their loved ones, they deserve justice and reparations. So this is what the coalition must do. Proper investigation and then compensation and reparation to the victims' families and to the survivors.</s>CHURCH: All right. Donatella Rovera from Amnesty International, thank you so much for joining us.</s>ROVERA: Thank you.</s>CHURCH: Well, after surviving an alleged assassination attempt, Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro skipped a rally of his supporters in Caracas on Monday. It's unclear why he didn't show up for what was supposed to be his first public appearance since Saturday's allege drone attack. But a few hours ago, Mr. Maduro posted this video on Twitter claiming he has enough proof to link the outgoing Colombian government to the attack. President Juan Manuel Santos has denied any involvement. More details now from Stefano Pozzebon in Caracas.</s>STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: And there are still many questions unanswered in relation with that alleged assassination attempt against the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. On Monday morning, the attorney general of Venezuela informed the president they have arrested every material as he called of this international terrorist group, and even the person who manufactured the explosive devices that were used in that incident on Saturday morning. But still, the questions about how could it be possible to fly a drone at such a close tight military event, who had the license, and what -- who were the people behind this after the Maduro government blamed? Its Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos to be the mastermind of this attack. Meanwhile, the situation, the economic situation in Caracas here is still very, very serious and goes from bad to worse. People here in Venezuela cue every day for food, water, public transportation have been constantly cut. And they're not really paying too much attention out of these allegations, or the supposed attempt to assassinate the president because they are too busy trying to get to the end of the day or trying to get to the end of the month. The situation, the economic situation in Caracas remains very, very serious and this is the thing that is very much in the forefront of every Venezuelan right now. From -- for CNN, Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas.</s>CHURCH: Well, California is now facing the largest wildfire recorded in the state's history. The fire has burned more than 115,000 hectares, an area larger than all of New York City. It has destroyed more than 11,000 structures, and firefighters have contained 30 percent of the fire. The 16 large wildfires now ravaging California have become so intense, the U.S. military is now stepping in to help. So, let's turn to our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri who joins us now live. So, Pedram, 30 percent contained. How is the weather playing into all of this?</s>PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It has not changed for the better for very long at least over the past several weeks. That's been the main concern here. We always say Mother Nature, the weather has the upper hand. If it's windy, if it's hot and dry enough, the fire will not be contained no matter how much manpower is put on top of these flames. If it' windy enough, it will continue to spread and that unfortunately has been the case. Certainly has been hot enough. Now you take a look. Coming in now as the number one most destructive fire as far as land consumption in the state of California. Incredibly surpassing the number two now becoming the 2017 fire in December, that was in Ventura County, you recall in Southern California. That amount of land, that's 1100 square kilometers of land roughly the size of the city of Istanbul. And of course you've seen the city itself situated on Asia, part of it situated across portions of Europe, incredible amount of land, right. That's how much ld has been consumed in a matter of a couple of weeks. And of course, eight of the hottest years on record have all occurred since 2005. Eight of the 10 most destructive years for the state of California wildfires have all occurred since the mid-2000 as well. So really kind of find the direct correlation to what's been happening here, and as I said the heat remains put across portions of the western U.S. very little change in the forecast unfortunately. The trend looks at such here, the three-day forecast, look what happens. It actually goes up, back up to 39 degrees above the average. That is about 37 for this time of year. So, unfortunately, the weather pattern certainly not going to be helping. We're hoping the firefighters at least continue putting as much power on these flames as possible. Because you notice we're up to 100 large active fires across the western U.S. And in fact, in Southern California, they have now raised a critical concern there across places from Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Palmdale, up towards Los Angeles for fire weather conditions that are in place. They are urging everyone to not only stay onto the roads because a lot of these fires much like the Carr Fire were due to a vehicle pulling off to the side of the road. The dry grass there really easily ignited. And of course, keeping the cigarette butts in the car, everything you can do to help is being urged across places such as southern California because big-time heat has been in place across that region as well. Quick glance here, Rosemary. We do have a lot going on across portions of the Western Pacific. We're watching what's happening to north. Because you know, it's been a busy season for our friends across Japan. This system comes in and we know that it's only going to weaken as it approaches land, but Tokyo certainly going to be on alert here towards the heart of this week here with heavy rainfall going into that region. Rosie?</s>CHURCH: As always, a lot for you to cover there, Pedram. Many thanks.</s>JAVAHERI: Thank you.</s>CHURCH: All right. Time for a short break now. But when we come back, the prosecution's star witness takes the stand in the full trial of Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Plus, journalists are being targeted in Bangladesh as they cover unprecedented protests over road safety. We will speak with the spokesman from the committee to protect journalists. We're back in just a moment.