Mysterious Sonic Attacks at Cuban Embassy; Kurdish Referendum; Catalonia Referendum; Volcanoes in Asia Force Thousands to Evacuate.
VANIER: The U.S. State Department is drastically cutting its embassy staff in Cuba after mysterious sonic attacks made some diplomats ill. Americans are being warned also not to travel to the island because they could also be at risk. CNN's Patrick Oppmann has the latest from Havana.</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just two years after the reestablishment of full diplomatic ties, the U.S. embassy in Havana has seen better days. Hurricane Irma battered much of Cuba and Havana's seafront boulevard where the embassy is located. U.S. diplomats are still picking up from the storm and now are facing another calamity. Diplomats' families and nonessential personnel are being ordered to return to the U.S. after at least 21 members of the embassy staff were targeted by what U.S. officials say could have been sonic attacks.</s>REX TILLERSON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have it under evaluation. It's a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered. We've brought some of those people home.</s>OPPMANN (voice-over): U.S. officials believe that, starting last November, devices that emit sonic waves could have targeted U.S. diplomats while they were in their homes or staying in hotels. Who is behind the attacks and the motive is still unclear. Cuban officials deny responsibility and say they are investigating the incidents.</s>BRUNO RODRIGUEZ PARRILLA, CUBAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): Cuba has never perpetrated not will it ever perpetrate actions of this sort, nor has Cuba allowed or will it ever allow its territory to be used by third parties for that purpose.</s>OPPMANN (voice-over): U.S. officials say they believe the Cubans know more than they are saying and what they call rogue elements of the island's formidable intelligence services could be involved.</s>OPPMANN: Not long after the U.S. complained to the Cuban government about the attacks, Raul Castro himself personally promised American diplomats that Cuba would investigate the incidents. The FBI was allowed to come to Havana and security increased at U.S. diplomats' homes. But U.S. officials say still the attacks continued.</s>OPPMANN (voice-over): U.S. officials say, as a result of the attacks, they will stop issuing visas to Cubans effective immediately and issue a travel warning to Americans thinking of visiting Cuba. Despite the harassment, both current and former U.S. diplomats say now is the wrong time to lessen the U.S. presence on the communist-run island.</s>VICKI HUDDLESTON, FORMER CHIEF U.S.  DIPLOMATIC MISSION IN HAVANA: It is the worst possible thing that could happen to both countries. And what worries me more than anything is that hard-liners on the Cuban side and the U.S. side might be behind pushing this idea.</s>OPPMANN (voice-over): U.S. officials say their first priority has to be to keep U.S. personnel and their families safe. But they concede that American diplomats leaving Cuba could be just what the people behind these mystery attacks were hoping to accomplish -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.</s>VANIER: Over to the Middle East now. Iraq has cut off international flights to its northern Kurdistan region just days after people there voted overwhelmingly for independence from central government in Baghdad. Meanwhile, the U.S. secretary of state said that referendum lacked legitimacy. Rex Tillerson issued this statement, "We urge Iraqi Kurdish authorities to respect the constitutionally mandated role of the central government and we call upon the central government to reject threats or even allusion to possible use of force."</s>VANIER: With us now is Douglas Ollivant. He's a senior national security fellow with the New America Foundation. He is also a retired U.S. Army officer and his last assignment was as director for Iraq at the National Security Council. This was during the Bush and Obama administrations. Mr. Ollivant, thanks for joining us. How much, first of all, does the flight ban hurt Kurdistan really?</s>DOUGLAS OLLIVANT, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Well, it's a significant move. It means that, obviously, no international flights can go in, that any flights that go into Irbil or Suleimani, the Kurdish cities, o many of the party cities have to go through Baghdad, which means you have to get an Iraqi visa; you have clear Iraqi customs, something that the Kurds have worked around for years. So it is a significant inconvenience, at the very least.</s>VANIER: But does it prevent them from doing anything they want to do, in terms of their independence, in terms of the political direction they are moving in?</s>OLLIVANT: Well, absolutely. They cannot control who is allowed to come into their country. If someone does not get a visa from federal Iraq, from Baghdad, then they cannot enter into Kurdistan. If goods aren't cleared by customs in Baghdad, they can't get into Kurdistan. It is a significant obstacle.</s>VANIER: So the broader question, is Iraqi Kurdistan -- and you started to answer this -- a viable state? I mean, can they actually impose the independence that they voted for in the referendum?</s>OLLIVANT: Almost certainly not. Look, there are two reasons the United States opposed this referendum right now. The first was just the time. We talked a lot about the effect on the ISIS fight but we are also very concerned about the IDP. There are millions, 3 million or 4 million of internally displaced Iraqis, running around these areas as they were conducting this referendum. It was extremely confusing. Second, we think they are just not ready. They do not have their internal processes in place; they do not have their financial systems right. There are huge accusations of corruption. They needed to get their own house in order to be a state. And then you can add to that a third reason for all the neighboring countries, this is not a United States concern or a U.N. concern. But for the Turks, for the Iranians, for the Syrians, they have their own Kurdish populations and they are remarkably unenthused about the precedent this would set.</s>VANIER: Yes, none of the countries in the region want to let that precedent be set, of a Kurdish minority voting for independence. So having everything you said, where do you see this going, moving forward? If you say that they are not going to be able, more than likely, to impose their independence, how does this move forward?</s>OLLIVANT: It is hard to see a good outcome right now. And obviously the Kurds are very unhappy with what has happened in the aftermath of the referendum. I think the United States policymakers are kind of shrugging and saying, look, we told you so. This is a big part of why the United States told the Kurds not to go do this. These bad consequences were foreseeable, not the exact consequences but that all the neighbors and Baghdad itself would have to react to this.</s>VANIER: Do they have a lot of countries, outside countries, who were willing to recognize them as an independent state? Because that is always a key factor.</s>OLLIVANT: Well, no one is -- there is no independent state yet. So we do not really know the answer to that question. But in terms of the referendum, the only outside state that was supportive were the Israelis.</s>VANIER: All right, Douglas Ollivant, thank you very much. Thanks for coming on</s>CNN. OLLIVANT: Thank you, Cyril.</s>VANIER: Another region that wants to break away from its central government. This one in Europe, people in Spain's region of Catalonia gearing up for a contested referendum on independence. Something that separatists there have wanted for years. But the Spanish government calls Sunday's planned vote illegal and has deployed police to stop it. Still, campaigners for Catalan independence have promised to go ahead anyway. The ballot will ask if voters want Catalonia to become an independent state in the form of a republic. If a majority votes yes, Catalonia's parliament will declare independence from Spain within 48 hours. If a majority vote no, an early election will be called to form a new regional government. We sent our Isa Soares to Spain to get a closer look at how both sides view the referendum.</s>ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A sea of red, yellow and blue screams to be heard. These are the yells of defiance. "We will vote. We will vote," a message the central government of Mariano Rajoy, who, in the last week, has been accused here of</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking Spanish).</s>SOARES (voice-over): "He has lost his democratic compass," tells me this man, "and he thinks he can stop this with the use of force and the courts in a perverse manner." Earlier in the day if the streets of Barcelona, that anger and frustration was matched by the deepest desire to vote, come what may.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Spanish). "We're going to vote with carnation," tells me this lady, "with flowers. And there will be no type of violence. No one will stop me because we're so many. I don't think they can do anything."</s>SOARES: According to the Catalonian government, some 150 referendum websites have been suspended. What this has led to is the creation of more traditional campaigning, right here on the streets of Barcelona. People can approach, asking for information regarding polling stations, which ones are open from what time and, critically, they can collect their official ballot paper.</s>SOARES (voice-over): This is a grassroots referendum, too, with people occupying polling stations like this school to make sure that police cannot close it and</s>VANIER: Two rumbling volcanoes are threatening to blow their tops in Southeast Asia. One is on an island in Vanuatu. The other is in Bali. As Kristie Lu Stout reports, people are taking precautions.</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Tends of thousands, forced from their homes, ordered to flee as Mount Agung threatens to blow. The volcano on Indonesia's resort island of Bali has been rumbling for weeks. Hundreds of volcanic earthquakes have been detected over the past few days.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Over the last two days, the smoke from the crater has grown thicker and more consistent.</s>STOUT (voice-over): Experts say that means an eruption could be imminent. Locals are literally praying it won't happen. Earlier this week, about 100 Hindu worshipers burned incense and made offerings in hopes the volcano will calm down. Those who have fled are staying in evacuation centers, more than 400 set up across the island. Officials say Bali's resorts and major tourist attractions are far enough away so are safe. The last time Mount Agung erupted was in 1963; more than 1,500 people were killed and 100,000 were displaced. This man remembers it well.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The explosions went boom, boom, boom. There were about 20 explosions.</s>STOUT (voice-over): Officials have raised the alert for an eruption at level 4, the highest warning level. They say Mount Agung could blow within hours or days. But because of the unpredictability of seismic activity, they say the volcano may not erupt at all. It's something these evacuees are hoping for, that, soon, the mountain's rumblings will slowly stop and they can return to their homes -- Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.</s>VANIER: The man who brought us SpaceX and the Tesla electric car does not lack ambition. That much we already know. Here's the latest plan, crafted by Elon Musk, a rocket designed to take people anywhere in the world in about 30 minutes. The plan was revealed Friday and it includes some of Musk's loftiest claims yet and that is saying something. He says the price of the rocket trip would be about the same as a plane ticket in economy class, no less. Also on his to-do list, just because he can, Musk plans to send cargo ships to Mars in 2022, with crews arriving on the Red Planet two years after that. And he says it is good to dream big. But Musk's history of sky-high promises, remember, includes the Hyperloop, which would take passengers from New York to Washington in 29 minutes. And we're still waiting for that one. Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier. I'll be back with the headlines in just a moment. Stay with us.