Truck Bombing in Libya Detailed; Video and Photographs from Syria Released; Saudi Arabia to Investige Possible Airstrike Hitting Iran Embassy in Yemen.
ALLEN: And welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. This is CNN Newsroom live from Atlanta. I am Natalie Allen with our top stories. U.S. President Barack Obama spent more than an hour Thursday night, laying out his case for stricter gun laws. Gun rights advocates pressed the President on how he's working to make America safer. Mr. Obama said he's not trying to take guns away from law-abiding owners. South Korea is now blasting propaganda broadcasts at the DMZ directed at North Korea. This in response to Pyongyang's claim it detonated a hydrogen bomb this week. The south has also increased its military defensive posture. The north has at times, reacted to these broadcasts with artillery fire. At least 50 people are dead in a truck bombing in western Libya, the town's mayor said the vehicle plowed into a group of about 400 people at a police training center and then exploded. Authorities say they don't know yet who's behind it. New video and pictures from Syria are disturbing and they're reminding people of World War II concentration camps. The images we'll show you are graphic, but they're important to understand the crisis and what people left behind and cut off are going through. They show victims of starvation in the town of Medaya which has been under siege by regime forces for months. But soon a U.N. convoy will bring needed food and supplies. Here is CNN's Arwa Damon.</s>ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The children of Medaya are starving. The voice begs, the baby's eyes seeming to echo that desperate plea for help. A little boy said he hasn't had a real meal in seven days, and this baby, according to the video hasn't had milk in a month. CNN cannot independently verify these accounts or the stories emerging, under siege by regime forces since July. The last time aid reached the area was in October. They saw hunger in the eyes of its residents. Doctors Without Borders says 23 patients in the center have died of starvation, including six babies. But in the twisted reality of Syria's war, it does have to get this grim for help to arrive. The U.N. said that the Syrian government has agreed to allow aid convoys into Medaya and two other towns also under siege.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is an area that's completely besieged and surrounded by mountains covered in snow, so it gets through tunnels and it's extremely expensive. We expect also irreversible damage to the children who have witnessed some of the worst weapons of war which is starving them.</s>DAMON: Syria's cruel and harsh war now into the fifth year has seen scenes like this before and worse. These stills are being circulated by activists set to show children eating leaves, and it's hardly the only portion of the population severely suffering from the war, hardly the only atrocity, Arwa Damon, CNN, Istanbul.</s>ALLEN: Heartbreaking images there from Syria. If you want to know how you can be of assistance, logon always to our special impact your world website at CNN.com/impact. We'll find links to groups working to help those devastated by the war, including those who have been driven from their homes by violence. Learn more at CNN.com/impact. Saudi Arabia says it will investigate claims that its warplanes launched an intentional strike on Iran's embassy in Yemen. The accusation comes from Iran which says the building was damaged and several embassy personnel were wounded. CNN can't independently confirm the embassy was hit. Residents in the area reported a small explosion but no obvious air strike. Tensions between the two countries escalated when Saudi Arabia announced it executed 47 people last week including a Shiite cleric Nimr Al Nimr. CNN's Nic Robertson met exclusively with Al Nimr's brother in Saudi Arabia to get his perspective on what has been happening. Robertson said visiting him in his hometown there required heavy security as you'll see.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The police tell us it's not safe for us to drive in here by ourselves. They're bringing us in one of their armored personnel carriers.</s>ALLEN: Nic will have more about his trip and his interview. He'll join us live in the next hour with more of his exclusive report. We invite you to watch. We're learning more about the series of assaults on women in Cologne, Germany, during New Year's Eve celebrations. German media reporting that groups of men prevented police from reaching people carrying out -- crying out for help that night, and those men threatened anyone who might try to identify them, one man is sited "I am Syrian. You have to be nice to me. Ms. Merkel has invited me." That comes from an internal federal police report obtained by German media. Authorities have not confirmed the identities of the suspects to CNN, but the assaults have fueled a political firestorm over immigration and victims rights in Germany. Here is CNN's Michael Holmes.</s>MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Germany, angry demonstrators take to the streets to protest violence against women, as police face mounting pressure from the handling of numerous reports of sexual assault during Cologne's New Year's Eve celebrations. The week after the incident, German Chancellor Angela Merkel finally speaks out.</s>ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: What happened at New Year is completely unacceptable. Those are despicable, criminal acts which the state will not accept, including Germany. That's why an intensive investigation by the relevant institutions is under way. This investigation must be supported. The feeling women had in this case of being completely defenseless and at mercy is for me, personally intolerable.</s>HOLMES: Cologne Police received more than 100 criminal complaints from women who say they had been sexually assaulted or robbed by gangs of men of Arab or North African descent during the celebration outside the city's main train station.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The men surrounded us and started to grab our behinds and our crutches. They touched us everywhere. I wanted to take my friend and leave. I turned around and in that moment someone grabbed my bag.</s>HOLMES: Victims say there wasn't enough security at the event and felt they had no one to help them.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We ran to the police, but we saw the police were so understaffed. They couldn't take care of us. We, as women, suffered the price.</s>HOLMES: Police continue to go through large amounts of cell phone footage from that evening, saying they've identified several suspects but have made no arrests. Germans are furious with Cologne's mayor who suggested women protect themselves from men on the streets by keeping them at arm's-length. And German broadcasters apologized on Facebook for not reporting the story earlier. A country already overwhelmed with the influx of more than 1 million refugees, now dealing with fear and anger as the search for the perpetrators continues, Michael Holmes, CNN.</s>ALLEN: In just a moment here, air pollution levels in New Delhi are spiking to a dangerous level and CNN's Sumnima Udas is there.</s>SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pollution levels have increased to hazardous levels here, Natalie, more on that after the break from the city with the most toxic air.