Latest on Terror Arrest n Belgium; Pope Francis on Family Matters.
HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, we begin this hour with major breaking news. Welcome, everyone. I'm Hala Gorani. Fast-moving significant developments this hour out of Brussels, for months, this was one of Europe's most wanted men, Mohamed Abrini, the last known suspect linked to November's terror attacks in Paris which killed 130 people. Now, we have confirmation from the Belgium prosecutor's office that Abrini was one of two people arrested in Brussels today. Now, the question being asked out there is he the third unidentified suspect in the Brussels airport bombing? The man in white? The so-called man in white there, with two other men the morning of the attack, March 22nd. If that is confirmed and it has not been confirmed yet, it would mean he played a key role in both Paris and Brussels. We're awaiting a news conference that will take place in about half hour from now, 9:30 p.m., Belgian time. Let's go to CNN's Kellie Morgan, she is live in Brussels with more. Tell us about these arrests, two men arrested, one of them Mohamed Abrini, what's the latest?</s>KELLIE MORGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, an extraordinary day and much- needed development in this investigation into the Brussels attacks. Much needed, and huge turn of events given that just yesterday, 24 hours ago, prosecutors released of the CCTV footage of the men, the third airport bomber, showing the route that he took after abandoning his suitcase bomb at the airport and then fleeing. They had released that footage to launch an appeal, reaching out to the public for more information and now, today, they have netted two of the most wanted men in Europe. Both of them with linked to Paris suspect, Salah Abdeslam. Both of them were named among eight suspects on a European security bulletin that was put out in the day after the Brussels attacks. Now what we know, of course, about Mohamed Abrini is that he grew up -- he was a childhood friend of Salah Abdeslam. They grew up here in Belgium. They were seen together in a car in just days before the Paris attacks. And also, now we know him by a different name as well, investigators believe that he is indeed the second Metro bomber that they were looking for. The man who worked alongside, the Metro station, Hala, so a big development. Two really big fish and European authorities will be delighted, really, to have netted these men as they tried to unravel this web of terror that clearly has tentacles stretching across Europe -- Hala.</s>GORANI: And it's interesting this happened after the third suspect was shown. Though no confirmation certainly that Mohamed Abrini is the man in the hat seen in the CCTV footage. But can you tell us where were the arrests made? Were the two men arrested together?</s>MORGAN: Well, that's a detail we're hoping to learn a little bit more when the prosecutor holds that press conference in the next half hour. We don't know, we don't have an exact location of where the arrest took place, nor whether the arrest took place in the same location. So yes, waiting for some more detail. We're waiting to find out whether or not Abrini is the third airport bomber. That has been reported in -- by the local public broadcaster here. They say he is that man, we do not have confirmation of that, but this would be a huge break if indeed that is the case. What you have here, are two men who were wanted by police. The two men who were directly involved in the -- in those terror blasts on March 22nd, both men had abandoned the scene, and they were fears that maybe they were plotting yet another attack. Big day here in Belgium -- Hala.</s>GORANI: It's certainly would be interesting if they were still together knowing that they were both being searched for. Thanks very much, Kellie Morgan in Brussels. Let's bring in our CNN terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank now. He joins me now live from New York is where Paul is. Let's talk a little bit about the significance of this and the fact that this comes a day after authorities released that CCTV footage of the man wearing the hat. All right, so let's talk about Mohamed Abrini and how important his capture is today -- Paul.</s>PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, Hala, it's a key breakthrough. He was one of the two most wanted men in Europe. The other most wanted man was also arrested, he'd be using the alias. These were two individuals who were deeply involved with the Brussels and Paris terror attack network and were urgently being searched by Belgian and European security officials, especially in the wake of the Brussels attack, a concern that these two men could be involved in future attacks. And the fact they have now been taken into custody mutualizes that threat, Hala, but there is still concern that there are more individuals still out there. And we understand that more than a dozen are believed to still be out there with some kind of connection to the Paris and Brussels playing a logistical support role in those attacks. The worry is still that some of those may move forward with terrorist attack plotting. It was just three weeks ago that Salah Abdeslam and a fellow accomplice were arrested on a Friday. The Tuesday after that we saw the Brussels attacks. What happened in that case was his fellow co-conspirators accelerated their attack planning. This is a big breakthrough, a big moment of success for Belgian authorities. That concern that others still out there could not accelerate their plans. Yet again.</s>GORANI: That's the concern because as you mentioned, we were on the air for several hours when Salah Abdeslam was arrested three weeks. As you mentioned, just a few days later, the airport and Metro attacks took place. I guess -- and I wanted to show by the way to our viewers, we keep adding mug shots and photos to this very extensive network of terrorists across Europe, but this is basically the Paris terror attack suspects with Mohamed Abrini squarely in the middle there. We know he's in custody now. Everyone hoping now that this is it, Paul, right? That we've kind of caught the major players in this network, and that, you know, at least this particular cell has been dismantled.</s>CRUICKSHANK: We're not there yet, at this point. This is not it. There are others still out there as I said, they believe more than a dozen still out there connected to this same network. They've identified four of those individuals on the day after the Brussels attacks. There was a European security bulletin with suspects wanted in connection with Paris and Brussels attacks. Amongst the names on that list, a Dutch national, (inaudible), who went to join ISIS in Syria was believed to be connected to the plot. The plot that preceded Paris in Eastern Belgian. Also, another individual, (inaudible), a Belgian national, somebody who also believed to have joined is in Syria, one of the four that they've identified that they still want to get that they believe had a possible connection with the Paris and Brussels attack. A Turkish national who spent a lot of time in western Germany and who moved up the ranks with ISIS in Syria, called the same dealer, still at large unaccounted for. There was a picture posted of him and the Paris ring leader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. And a Brussels resident of Malian decent, (inaudible), according to some reports had been killed in Syria, but now they fear he faked his own death potentially to come back to Europe. So just to give you a sense, Hala, that there are other names, other individuals they still want to find, they still want to get into custody before there can be more attacks. And beyond those names, ISIS is accelerating their attack plans against Europe, full throttle, trying to send recruits back from Syria to launch more and more attacks.</s>GORANI: All right. Certainly that's one of the priorities now. They've succeeded in some attacks like Paris and Brussels. Thanks very much, Paul Cruickshank. We'll stay in touch as well for more on the breaking news story. And just to reiterate, in about 20, 22 minutes' time, we're expecting a news conference from the Belgian prosecutor. There hopefully we'll get more details on Mohamed Abrini and whether or not they believe he's the man in the hat seen in the CCTV footage on March 22nd. What about the other man who was arrested with him? Were they together? Were they arrested separately? How were they found? Are there other people out there? So many questions still that people have in Belgium, France, an around Europe with fears that more attacks are being planned. So, we'll get to that in a moment, but first let's talk about some major news coming from Pope Francis. He is today pushing open the doors of the Catholic Church just a bit wider with a sweeping declaration of policy meant to promote greater tolerance. He wrote a paper urging priests to be more accepting of gays and lesbians, divorced Catholics and others living with what he calls irregular lifestyles. While he still insists that the church must strenuously promote only marriage between a man and a woman, he says, quote, "There is no stereotype of the ideal family," unquote, and he says divorced Catholics who remarry should be welcomed in the church. But while the paper calls for the tolerance and flexibility, it does not change Catholic doctrine on homosexuality, marriage, birth control, or abortion. It doesn't go that far. So Pope Francis' paper contains ideas likely to make both liberals and conservatives happy, but not for both. It also may not go far enough. Vatican correspondent, Delia Gallagher, joins me now from Rome with more. How -- I mean, how surprising, how -- is this revolutionary coming from a pope?</s>DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a lot about Francis that is revolutionary and certainly it's a revolutionary shift in emphasis, Hala, what we see here is not a change in doctrine, but it is a change in the way the doctrine is put into practice. And a prime example of that is the question of divorced and remarried Catholics. That was one of the hot issues of this document and the pope resolved it in this way. We should explain that divorced and remarried Catholics previously from receiving communion. And they want -- there were those who wanted them to be allowed to receive communion as full participation in the Catholic Church. And others who said no, that's against the rules, can't happen. The pope says I'm not going to issue a blanket statement on that from Rome. That is something that can be divided, the individual consciousness of those people together with their parish priests reviewing the particulars of their situation. That is something that is relatively new to allow that responsibility to be put on the local priest on the individual consciousness of people involved to change the emphasis. It's not an entirely new statement, but it is saying, we're going to put the emphasis on the individuals now to think about in their conscious the particulars of their case, recognizing that not all divorces happen -- There are a lot of situations in family life that are very complex and we cannot do a one size fits all rule. That's what the pope is saying in this document -- Hala.</s>GORANI: All right. Delia Gallagher, thanks very much for that. We reported over the last 24 hours that ISIS had kidnapped about 300 cement factory workers near Damascus this week. Well, they have been released for the most part. This is coming into us now. The terror group's online media wing claims that they released them today, Friday, Amak says the workers were released after they were determined to be Muslims who were not loyalists of the Assad regime. However, ISIS continues to hold 20 people because they are members of regime affiliated militias and that four others were executed for being ISIS says members of the minority Drews sect, unfortunately killed. Now to a high profile trip meant to shore up Iraq's fight against ISIS. The American Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Baghdad today. He met with the prime minister there making clear he has Washington's support as he tries to implement controversial reforms. But Kerry also stressed that Iraq's political crisis must not interfere with the war on ISIS. He says the top priority remains recapturing Mosul. That is the second largest city that ISIS controls. Let's bring in senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon. She has been filing exclusive reports from the front lines near Mosul all week and joins us now live from Erbil. Arwa, what were you able to see as you and your team approached Mosul as the army prepares down the line to try to retake it from ISIS?</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hala, from a number of fronts, the Iraqi army did manage to capture a handful of villages, but that is at the stage been paused. The Iraqis found themselves bogged down and after a series of missteps decided to wait for reinforcements. That is not the only challenge that is facing this nation, nor is it a battle against ISIS the only threat. There is one potentially that could be posed at the Mosul dam.</s>DAMON (voice-over): It has been described by some as the most dangerous dam in the world. The Mosul dam, the largest in Iraq, which produced hydroelectricity is built on a foundation of soft rock, making erosion a constant challenge. We enter the underbelly of the dam to see how it is even still standing. Completed in the mid-1980s, what keeps it all intact is a process that needs to happen daily. Workers are drilling bore holes this one will go down 150 meters or around 500 feet. (on camera): Drilling that particular distance takes about a week. And the machines go up and down along the length of the dam. Breaking up and then re-pouring cement to try to ensure this stability of the dam's foundation. (voice-over): It's a process called grouting. When ISIS took over the dam in 2014, this was halted for 45 days. Intense around the clock routing reverse those weaknesses. The U.S. recently issued a stark warning describing the potential for collapse as, quote, "serious and unprecedented." A catastrophic event that would see Mosul, Iraq's second largest city and under ISIS control entirely submerged with flooding as far downstream as Baghdad. That warning set the lives of up to 1.5 million Iraqis would be at risk. But the dam's manager insists that disaster is not imminent.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If the dam were to collapse when the water level is at 330 meters above sea water, then yes, Mosul would be flooded. But with current levels, there would be minimal damage.</s>DAMON: The seepage is one of the reasons why he says the U.S. is so concerned. But he claims his team has determined that it is not impacting the dam's foundation. Still last year, the U.S. installed an early warning system they monitor regularly and there is an urgent need for repairs. (on camera): Millions of Iraqis are directly reliant on the Mosul dam in one way or another. But years of neglect by the Iraqi government due to politics, bureaucracy, and corruption, are already being felt. (voice-over): Couple that with security concerns that for years kept international companies from taking up the job. An Italian company has just been contracted to repair and refurbish the dam, but work is yet to begin. And in Iraq where nothing is ever entirely predictable, it is always the best to plan for the worst.</s>DAMON: And that is why, Hala, the U.S. did issue that warning, trying to urge residents to stay away, also from the banks of the river if they can help it. Now the U.S. does not necessarily know when the dam is going to collapse. And at this point in time, this specific point in time, there are no indications that it is going to collapse. However, the U.S. says that anything could happen, it could happen within a week, a month, or even a few years, but regardless, it's not a risk that they are willing to take.</s>GORANI: OK, Arwa Damon in Erbil, thanks very much. Back to our breaking news this hour, and I want to bring you dramatic new video just into CNN. This is the very moment that Belgian police made one of two arrests reported today. So you can see police officers there with a man clearly face down being cuffed. There's one police officer standing guard there. Another taking care of, mobilizing and cuffing the suspect. Now, the thing is we can't confirm who of the two is being detained there. It's either Mohamed Abrini or the man named as Osama Kraiam (ph), the same as a man named as Naim Alhamad (ph) linked to the Brussels attacks because his DNA was found in the apartment of the bomb makers. I'm going to let this video run here. What's going to happen at some point, they're going to hoist them up and stuff him in the back of that car. So you have two officers on the suspect, one standing guard, and another one preparing. This is obviously amateur video. There you have it, one of the two suspects again not sure, this is one of the two. We know both men were arrested today and both are believed to have links to Paris and Brussels. All right, we'll have a lot more on Brussels and what happened later in the program. Still to come, the gloves came off, now the gloves are kind of coming back on. We'll see how the U.S. Democratic presidential candidates are dialing back a heated it row over qualifications. We'll be right back.