Taiwan Braces For Super Typhoon Meranti
CURNOW: Hi there, welcome to the "International Desk." I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for joining me. Here's the check of the headlines. Germany's Interior Minister said police have arrested three Syrian men suspected of working for ISIS and he says they may be linked to the November attacks in Paris. The Minister says the same forger apparently made travel documents for these men and for the Paris attackers. And despite a humanitarian ceasefire aid is still not reaching the parts of Syria that need it the most. The U.N. and the Red Cross say they will not go into besieged areas until they're sure their workers will be safe. Syria's state-run news agency also reports the aid from Turkey to Aleppo is being blocked unless it's coordinated with the Syrian government and the U.N. Hillary Clinton tells CNN she didn't think her pneumonia diagnosis was a big deal, but admits she should have gotten rest sooner. She spoke on the phone about her illness and she was saying that taking a break from -- saying that while she was taking a break from the campaign this week. Clinton was seen stumbling at a 9/11 memorial, Sunday. Critics say she should have disclosed her condition immediately. And now to a massive storm approaching Taiwan, super typhoon Meranti is closing in on the southern tip of the island. It is the strongest storm in the area since 1959. And it's expected to bring torrential rains and damaging winds. Well, Chad Myers joins us now live. I mean, this is certainly intense. This is packing some serious winds here.</s>CHAD MYERS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: 295 kilometers per hour. I mean, that's only 10 miles per hour, or 10 kilometers per hour, pretty much in the rough, less than what Haiyan slammed into the Philippines a few years ago. So, yes, a violent typhoon at almost 300 kilometers per hour and that will push a lot of rain on the top of Taiwan. Taiwan is a very topographic area. We've seen with nine -- even in some spots we can go to 3,000 meters high in just about a nine mile, nine kilometer area. It could ramps up very quickly. And that ramping up of the topography is going to create significant mudslides. Remember, Nepartak hit this area just a little while ago. So it's already taken a smashing and this things, it haven't been put back together yet, you take another typhoon and hit some place that's already been hit, you really have problems. We're still seeing the significant winds of about 200 kilometers per hour Basel, even as it comes onshore here in China. It likely misses the southern tip, the eye, but not the effect. You have to think about the effect and the eye differently, because the eye is a little bit further apart. The eye may miss, but the outer eye will may hit. And that's going to hit some significant population there making the mudslides and then it moves into China and here where we really could get more in the way of significant damage because of fresh water flooding. Yes, we will get a storm surge. A storm surge possibly on that China Coast of 20 meters, everyone just evacuating the coast here to get away from that saltwater surge, the ocean surge. But -- and when you put all this rain into the mountains, you have the potential for a fresh water flood, a fresh water surge down those mountains. We saw what happened in North Korea from a dying Lionrock. This is much, much more intense that Lionrock was over North Korea. This could have a much larger effect on a population there, Robyn.</s>CURNOW: OK, we'll stay with that. Thank you so much, Chad Myers, there. Appreciate it and staying with that weather event in North Korea. The country is struggling to recover from severe flooding caused by a typhoon that hit a couple of weeks ago. But in a rare moment of openness, the nation revealed to the world the extent of the devastation. Kristie Lu Stout now, reports.</s>KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a country that rarely reports negative news about itself. But this week, North Korea admitted it needs help. Tens of thousands of house and public buildings collapsed in railways. Roads and other traffic networks and power supply systems, factories, company buildings and farmland were flooded or destroyed. State media reported the country's northeast on the border with China has been hit by the heaviest downpour in more than 70 years. More than 500 people are dead or missing and 140,000 are in need of urgent assistance. The head of the Red Cross delegation in North Korea describes what he saw first hand.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People have lost everything. They've lost all of their belongings. They've lost their kitchen, gardens. They've lost their life stock, their chickens, their pigs. They've lost crops and all of that is going to affect how they live in the next weeks and months ahead.</s>STOUT: Observers say the flood-ravaged areas are known for being particularly impoverished. State media said a nationwide mass mobilization campaign originally aimed at boosting the economy has rapid redirect toward helping flood victims and concern is growing as winter approaches. Just days after North Korea rattled its neighbors by conducting its fifth nuclear test, it's revealed to the world how desperate its citizens are for help. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.</s>CURNOW: More footage there. I want to take you now to Indonesia where a flight crew has made a very lucky escape after a pretty dangerous landing. This cargo plane skidded for an entire kilometer before coming to a stop. Friction tore for landing gear scattered debris, but the crew climbed out uninjured. The pilot said the lack of equipment at the airport forced him to land by sight and he sees low clouds then prevented a good view on Tuesday. Lucky indeed. Well, this is the "International Desk." Ahead, Facebook sued over a nude photo on its site. What Facebook is saying after a judge denied its request to get the case thrown out. This is an important talk. Samuel Burke joins me.