Eruption in Guatemala Kills at Least 25; Mattis Says U.S. Troops Stayin on Korean Peninsula
ANDERSON: You're watching CNN. This is CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Welcome back. It is 7:20 in the UAE. That is where we are based. 11:20:00] In Guatemala it is known as the volcano of fire. And this weekend it tragically lived up to its name and unbelievable almost apocalyptic scene there as cars try to outrun a cloud of ash from the Fuego volcano. Rivers of lava swept through villages and fields, 25 people confirmed dead and searches are looking for others who are still missing. Well, the eruption sent people running for their lives with just the clothes on their backs. CNN's Patrick Oppmann following all of this from Havana, Cuba, for us. What do you know at this point?</s>PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, three days of mourning have been declared for the entire country of Guatemala. As Guatemalans try to come to grips with this terrible eruption, explosion that took place yesterday. You know, this is a very active volcano, Becky. In February there was an eruption, but it did not cause any injuries or fatalities. And here some of the witnesses described what happened, they really didn't have any time to evacuate, to prepare. They had to run from their houses as these rivers of lava and mud came pouring into their communities. As they said, huge rocks that were on fire came crashing down on their homes. And rescuers have still not been able to get into every town that was hit. So, while the government says there are 25 dead, tens more who have been injured or missing. Expect those numbers to rise because only now are they getting into towns nearest the volcano that were hard hit. The absolute breath of this disaster is really hard to take in. It's expected to eventually impact over a million people. More than 3,000 people had to leave their homes 25 miles away from the volcano. In the Guatemalan city airport was closed down because the ash was considered a danger to aviation. So, this is a disaster that's going to have a major impact. And it may not be over. This volcano could erupt at any time, Becky. People are being told to stay away.</s>ANDERSON: Patrick Oppmann is in Havana covering the story for us and those images really telling that story. As we are seeing the dangers from the volcano not over. Let's cross to Atlanta and check in with CNN's meteorologist Chad Myers. You know, as we consider these images, what have you been learning about what's happening and what could happen next?</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, it was an explosive eruption. Unlike what's happening in Hawaii, Kilauea, where the lava is just flowing out. This is like a champagne cork exploding out of the top of a champagne bottle. Not just oozing, coming over the side. So, we had lava, ash and soot 10,000 meters in the sky when this erupted. It's a strata volcano along the ring of fire. Similar volcanoes go all the way around the Pacific Ocean. In fact, 450 of them at current count. But this was the story, the ash cloud in the sky, people breathing in the ash, getting away from what we call a pyroclastic flow as well, moving at 700 kilometers per hour down this mountain. So, ash going up, pyroclastic flow going down in obviously, lava coming out of it as well. Taking to a visible satellite. This is a satellite. It's visible because this is what the satellite is truly seeing. You can see the darkness in the cloud cover. Now, they're just clouds here, but watch there's a brown mass right there that comes out and into the cloud cover and that's all ash. And they're cleaning up the airport here in Guatemala City because you cannot have ash on the runway. If it gets sucked into a jet engine that jet engine will come to a complete grinding halt. It's pumice, it's lava, it's sand. You don't want sand in your engine. So, something else here. Look at the other lava, the ash fall, here. This is the concern about today. Not so much that there is going to be another eruption, certainly that could happen. What is going to happen is that is going to get rained on now in this ash. It could be a couple meters deep. It's going to get wet and is going to start sliding down hill like a big mudslide. It's called a lahar. It's the most dangerous thing now that these people face, because there could be 150 millimeters of rainfall making mud to go down all of the hills until it eventually washes away -- Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Chad, yes, amazing. Remarkable stuff, we're going to stay on the story and keep our viewers up to date. Thank you, sir. A major military shakeup in North Korea. The country's top three military officials have reportedly been replaced just over a week before what is a historic summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump that we are promised. But the show must go on and preparations are still underway for the June 12 meeting in Singapore. The first time a sitting U.S. president will meet with a North Korean leader. Alexandra Field is live in Seoul, in South Korea. And question, when is a summit not a summit? It appears the answer is when it ends up being nothing more than a meet and greet, a photo opportunity effectively. Is that what this is likely to end up being and if so, what should we make of that?</s>ALEXANDRA FIELD CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, well, the summit's biggest success just be that the fact that this summit happening. And certainly, President Donald Trump has lowered expectations to the point of calling this a get to know you meeting with the real work potentially coming after that. It certainly moves off the mark of what we heard from the State Department just last week when they were talking about getting some kind of historic gesture from North Korea. Something they had never done before and now you got these words like, I get to know you meeting. But look, Becky, from the North Korean perspective, even if it is a get to know you meeting, it's a win already. You got a North Korean dictator coming face-to-face, as you point out, with an acting U.S. President. This is certainly giving the North Korean leader some legitimacy that he craves. It's also opened up the door to a flurry of diplomatic activity for North Korea. You have these two meetings with the Chinese President already. You had the Russian foreign minister traveling to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Jong-un. Now news that Kim Jong-un will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin possibly as soon as September. And news that Kim Jong-un plans to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who could be the first foreign leader now to travel to Pyongyang. So, in the run-up to this summit, a summit that we don't know what it will accomplish if anything at this point other than this get to know you, North Korea is taking advantage of the timing. They are shoring up its closest relationships. And you got these other leaders in the region who are making sure that their voices are going to be heard as North Korea moves toward any potential negotiations here -- Becky.</s>ANDERSON: And not just regional leaders. Talking to reporters Sunday, U.S. Defense Secretary, James Mattis says American troops on the Korean Peninsula are staying put. Stand by.</s>JAMES MATTIS, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: . keeps coming up. Our troops strength on the peninsula -- I'll say it again, I'm not making news here. And the same thing, they're not going anywhere. It's not even a subject of the discussion. You know, at this stage they are there because of security conditions of ten years ago, five years ago, this era.</s>ANDERSON: And apologies for the quality of the sound. Important there that we get it on. Alex, how does what matters sit there about U.S. troops feed into the context that this meeting is taking place?</s>FIELD: Well, look, there are these big questions, because the U.S. has said that the goal of engaging in this kind of talk with North Korea is about working toward the ultimate goal which is, of course, complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization. But there are the huge outstanding questions of how that happens and how you get North Korea to agree to that and what kind of concessions North Korea would demand for that. You have the State Department saying just last week, Secretary Pompeo, himself, saying that they aren't going to talk about the shape or elements of a deal at this point. But it's raised a lot of questions in the region about whether troop levels would be on the table. And if there is some kind of lasting peace on the peninsula, if the U.S. troops levels would need to be maintained out here. Look, you've heard President Trump say it a couple of times and now you have heard secretary Mattis stayed as well, that troop levels are not on the table when it comes to this negotiation. Those are key words for allies like Japan. Allies that are warning the U.S. of an untrustworthy pass from North Korea when it comes to these kinds of conversations and negotiations. Countries like Japan do not want to see North Korea prematurely rewarded for doing nothing more than having a meeting. So, yes, what we can do right now is we can take at face value what the administration is saying. Which is that they're not going to negotiate when it comes to the presence of U.S. troops on the peninsula. But this is a question that will continue to come up because, Becky, you'll remember, even on the campaign trail, this is an issue that President Trump was talking about, candidate Trump at that time. The kind of spending the U.S. does on its defenses abroad. So, while it might not be part of this conversation it could come up again and that's why you have Secretary Mattis addressing the question right now.</s>ANDERSON: Reporter in Seoul, in South Korea, thank you. We are all watching the small but extremely important Jordan be pulled in 100 different directions, it seems. What's the real story for Jordan at home in the region and around the world? Only CNN can get you those kinds of answers. We speak to the country's Foreign Minister. Up next.