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New Day

Parts of Philippines Devastated by Typhoon; Woman Delivers Child During Typhoon Disaster; Obamacare Rollout Takes its Toll; Nuclear Talks Break Down; Liquid Ban Lifted in Heathrow

Aired November 12, 2013 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: But to give you an idea of how large super typhoon Haiyan was, just look at this enhanced infrared satellite image superimposed alongside the United States. If that typhoon had hit here, it could have hit most of the east coast. And just look at the size of Haiyan in comparison to hurricane Katrina. That's wild.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so we're going to tap the global resources of CNN to bring you the most comprehensive coverage of the crisis in the Philippines. Joining us now, we're going to start off with Anderson Cooper. He's in Tacloban. Anderson, hoping you can hear us. We keep being told this is unprecedented. What strikes you on the ground?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It is truly a desperate situation on the ground. I was out just walking in some of the neighborhoods today. I mean, you don't see -- there's not really an organized relief effort here. There's efforts being made at the airport, there's people trying to get out, people trying to fly out. There are supplies coming in.

But in terms of, you know, on day four, day five, you might expect to see more of an organized outreach into the communities. There are -- we saw one squad of firefighters from another town, local Philippine firefighters who were here putting bodies into body bags. But you go down another street and there are family members waiting by the bodies of their children, and they have nowhere to put them. They don't know what to do with them.

At this point, I mean, the emphasis really is on the living, and the living are in desperate need of food and water. There's really nothing in this town. And as you mentioned, Chris, we don't know the situation in some of the outlying towns that are even more difficult to get to. The situation in Tacloban here, though, is as bad as I've seen in a number of disasters over the years.

CUOMO: We're hearing that access to the area obviously a big issue, and that is slowing down relief. In your experience, how difficult is travel to get to the area, how difficult is it once you get there?

COOPER: Well, it's tough. The weather was certainly not cooperative today. It had been raining a lot on Tuesday. It's raining a little bit right now as we speak. That sort of hampered more flights from landing. It will be a big boon once this airport here, the Tacloban airport, which has basically been destroyed, there's not much of an airport left, once it's able to get up and running on a 24-hour basis.

The marines are hoping to do that. There's a small contingent of marines here. But there's not a lot planes coming in right now. It's night time here. We haven't seen planes landing at night. There are still basically coming in during daylight hours. That's all we're seen so far.

But even once things get to the airport, the question is how does it get distributed out into the people in town? Right now people are coming to the airport in order to get fed, in order to good some food and some water. But at some point, there's a lot of people who can't even make it this far to get to the airport. As you can see, another driving rain has now picked up, which is the last thing people here need. People are sleeping out. People don't have shelters. They're not -- they're sleeping under corrugated tin they can salvage from the wreckage. Some of it they've already used, what little tin they had, to cover the body of their husband, churn or wives, which have been left out. You can smell in a lot of the neighborhoods you go in, you can smell where people have died because they're not being collected. They're just left to lay out.

CUOMO: All right, Anderson, I don't want to leave you out in the weather there. Thank you for the reporting. Obviously we'll watch you tonight and throughout the day. Good luck with the reporting on the ground there. Certainly the message has to get out. Thank you for joining us this morning.

Anderson's show is "AC 360." It's going to air live tonight from the Philippines at 8:00 p.m. eastern. He'll be following reports throughout the day.

BOLDUAN: The images are just unbelievable. When you hear the stories from the ground, Anderson's been in a lot of it, you've been in a lot of the disaster areas, it is just hard to believe. The mayor of Tacloban said there are 300 policemen. Less than 30 of them showed up because they couldn't get there or they don't know where they are.

CUOMO: I think we're dealing with something unique here. I trust Anderson's perspective for sure on this. I keep hearing reports that there's an unusual number of children that are displaced here, that they're wandering around. That's always very troubling, especially in like a week or so afterwards. It's a very tough situation on the ground. For those of you at home, I know it sounds like you've heard this before. This one seems different. That's why there's so much energy put into covering it. That's why Anderson is there.

BOLDUAN: We're staying right on top of it.

And it is hard to imagine how anyone in the Philippines could find something to celebrate at this point in the midst of all of the death and despair that they're facing. But there were cheers on Monday at the Tacloban city airport when a 21-year-old woman gave birth, you see right there, to a baby girl in the middle of all of this. Paula Hancocks is live from Tacloban city with much more. Amazing story, Paula. PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It's a story that was desperately needed here. There has just been horrific news after horrific news, and, finally, there is something that has given hope to the members of the triage here, the makeshift hospital who are working under desperate conditions, finally they had something to smile about.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: And 11-month-old Antoni is blissfully unaware of how lucky he is to be alive. During the storm, this woman sat her son on her head to keep him above the water level while she held off to the roof rafters.

JENELYN MANOCBOC, TYPHOON SURVIVOR: I hear many people crying, many people saying "Help! Help!"

HANCOCKS: She lost her husband and many other relatives.

MANOCBOC: Now I don't know where we'll go. We have to survive now. It's way too much. It's very hard.

HANCOCKS: Thousands are trying to take their children away from the devastation and the worsening security situation. This woman had twin boys three weeks ago. She's too terrified to stay.

JOVELYN DY, TYPHOON SURVIVOR: We wake up and there's some people inside our house, looters. And they can harm my children and us as well.

HANCOCKS: But in the midst of all this pain, there was one ray of hope in this makeshift hospital. A baby girl was born Monday in the most challenging of circumstances. Her mother, Emily, was brought in by neighbors. Pregnant women are currently evacuated to give birth but she was too close.

CAPT. ANTONIO TAMAYO, PHILIPPINES AIR FORCE: The baby came out and cried right away. There wasn't any problems. And there was no bleeding. It was a perfect delivery in a very imperfect environment.

HANCOCKS: Once the baby was born, the entire hospital applauded, a baby bringing relief in the midst of such intense human suffering.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: Now, the doctor did try and convince the mother to be evacuated to a city that's not affected so she can have postnatal care, but she preferred to go back to her neighbor's house. Back to you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, thank you for the reporting there on the ground. Bright moments are few and more will not come without help. Remember, CNN.com/impact is where you can find out where to help the relief effort.

Now, on a national level, the U.S. is already stepping up its humanitarian response. Troops are heading in from overseas, some on aircraft carrier USS George Washington which left Hong Kong several hours ago. The carrier is accompanied by a destroyer and several cruisers, including the USS Antietam. Obviously this isn't about military but manpower. They'll join a group of marines already on the ground that's assessing the damage and the need. And we'll start the second phase of bringing in the required relief.

BOLDUAN: Let's check in on the weather back here at home, though. The calendar says winter is still a month away, but east coast and much of the south getting an early taste of January-like temperatures and even snow. Indra has more on that.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We're just hearing reports right now of Central Park getting a couple flurries. I guess we'll have to go outside after this since we're in the studio and verify that. I'll nominate somebody in the studio here.

This video is Pittsburgh. Overnight, we're talking about a dusting really making its way into the mid-Atlantic and northeast. Let's take a look at the satellite right now. You can actually see that line, that cold front making its way across just approaching Boston, New York City starting to get a couple flurries and even as far south as Kentucky now, dealing with the light flurries, the first dusting of the season.

Here is the region we're expecting to see a chance. We're not talking about a lot of accumulation, just enough, you'll see the white stuff, mid-Atlantic and, again, stretching all the way down even trying to get into the south today. That is how cold this arctic air is.

There will be places with heavier amounts. That's right around the Great Lakes. We know there's flurries, but we also know it is cold, arctic air really spreading even farther into the east today. These temperatures are going way down. You can see the front as it makes its way across. Of course starting with rain behind the cold front is where we get the mix of snow. Then that cold front makes its way offshore.

As far as the showers for most of us, that's tapering off by late morning. Behind it we're left with chilly air in through Texas, temperatures highs today, in the 40s. Nashville, 42 as your high. That's 20 degrees below normal. New York City by Wednesday, still talking about the chill. Your high just about 40 degrees.

So I don't know, first snow of the year, does it matter what you do? Do you celebrate, curse it? Do you care that it's the first snow of the year.

BOLDUAN: It depends on where you're from. I'm celebrating it and I can tell --

PETERSONS: I'm celebrating the first one, Kate. It's after that I don't know.

CUOMO: I think it's snow. It looks like a very big rain.

PETERSONS: You're not taking a picture of me, Michaela?

CUOMO: She makes the picture better.

PETERSONS: One of you can volunteer and go outside and check it out.

CUOMO: I'll go. We live in a place where you get all four seasons. Enjoy it.

PETERSONS: When I'm bundled I will.

BOLDUAN: Let's head down south to the ongoing scandal hitting the NFL. The owner of the Miami Dolphins Stephen Ross will meet with lineman Jonathan Martin tomorrow. Martin's lawyer says that he left the team because of hazing and harassment allegedly by lineman Richie Incognito. But Ross says he's not drawing any conclusions and wants to know for himself. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN ROSS, OWNER, MIAMI DOLPHINS: I want to get to the bottom of it. We want to hear what the real facts are. There's been so much said and done to date that, you know, I don't think anybody knows it's happened because no one has spoken with Jonathan Martin directly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That's the big question. In a recent interview, Richie Incognito admits that he may have gone too far, but says the tough talk was accepted in the locker room, and he considered Martin one of his best friends.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A scary scene for residents in a Chicago neighborhood. A massive sink hole swallowed up part of a street in west Pullman. Officials say the hole opened up Sunday night as a result of a water main break, and it became progressively larger. Some of the residents have had their water shut off while crews work to fix it. That hole measures 30 feet deep, 14 feet wide. Officials believe it could take days to patch up.

We want to show you video that could have ended worse than it did. The Harlem Globe Trotter throwing one down during a game in Honduras, the alley-oop slam sending the entire backboard crashing down on top of him, a terrifying moment. Bullard's forehead was badly lacerated. Fortunately he was able to walk off the court under his own power. He got a standing ovation, a scary moment to be sure.

CUOMO: He missed something much worse by just a couple inches there.

PEREIRA: Absolutely.

CUOMO: So we're going to take a little break here. When we come back on NEW DAY, a lot is being made of the fact that just 50,000 people have signed up for health care online. Is this a surprise? Or is this more about the politics at play? We'll take you through it.

BOLDUAN: Also ahead, talks over Iran's nuclear program broke down over the weekend. So why does Secretary of State John Kerry say things are moving right along, in the right direction? We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: The troubled Obamacare rollout appears to be taking its toll. According to "The Wall Street Journal," fewer than 50,000 Americans have successfully enrolled through the federally run website. Noting that doesn't include those who enrolled in state exchanges. In the state exchanges, though, the number is still well short of the administration's goal. CNN's Jim Acosta is at the White House with the very latest. So what are they saying over there this morning, Jim?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT; Kate, senior administration officials said as of this morning they're not ready to release enrollment numbers for the Obamacare program. So they're not in a position, they say, to confirm the numbers reported in "The Wall Street Journal," but what they are saying openly and repeatedly is that these enrollment numbers will be very low.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: It's the number that has all of Washington on the edge of their seats. Just how many Americans have signed is up for Obamacare in October, the first month of enrollment?

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Take it from me. They'll be low in October.

ACOSTA: Administration officials have cautioned, don't get too excited.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HHS SECRETARY: I can tell you, our early enrollment numbers are going to be very low.

ACOSTA: : In the insurance marketplaces run by the federal government, "The Wall Street Journal" reports roughly 50,000 people signed is up in October. CNN estimates another 60,000 have enrolled in the marketplaces run by states, which means the troubled program has a lot of catching up to do to meet the administration's target of 800,000 by the end of November.

A Health and Human Services spokeswoman says the department cannot confirm these numbers. We've always anticipated that initial enrollment numbers would be low and increase over time. The main culprit, the bug-riddled Obamacare website, a problem the president has said he would take care of himself if he could.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to go in and fix it myself, but I don't write code.

ACOSTA: Besides the site's technical problems, there were apparently security concerns with Healthcare.gov before its launch. This internal Obamacare memo dated September 3 released by House Republicans reveals administration officials were worried about the possibility that the website security controls were ineffective, but that problem was never shared with Henry Chao (ph), a top official at the agency developing the site. Chao (ph) was asked by House oversight committee staffers, you are being excluded from finding out about significant problems with security, Chao (ph) replied, it is disturbing. GOP leaders vow to make all of Obamacare's mishaps a key issue in next year's elections.

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: This issue is going to be toxic for the Democrats. And believe me, we will tattoo it to their foreheads in 2014.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: As for those Obamacare enrollment numbers, administration officials say they still plan to release the figures in the coming days. Expect those numbers in the next few days. Meanwhile, those administration officials are pointing to the prototype for Obamacare, the Massachusetts health care plan created by Mr. Obama's former 2012 rival, Mitt Romney. In that first month, in that program's slow rollout, only roughly 100 people signed up. They say this is not a new experience when you start a health care program, Chris.

CUOMO: Still, Jim, the perception is bad. Thank you for the reporting.

ACOSTA: You're right.

CUOMO: Another situation where perception is everything. Secretary of State John Kerry says even though nuclear talks with Iran broke down, there has been progress, like Tehran agreeing to new inspections by the U.N., but a bigger picture deal is off the table. The question, what happens next? CNN's Jim Sciutto is in Washington with the latest. What do we know, Jim? Good morning.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. If John Kerry thought he had a battle in Geneva, he's got a tougher one here in Washington. He's back in Washington now, due on Capitol Hill tomorrow to brief senators on the talks with the Iranians over its nuclear program. How those talks fell apart, but also his need for more time before the Senate imposes new sanctions to give the administration time for a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Secretary Kerry says an interim deal on Iran's nuclear program was extremely close. But in the end, the Iranians walked away.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: There was unity. But Iran couldn't take it at that particular moment, they weren't able to accept that particular agreement.

SCIUTTO: That didn't sit well with his Iranian counterpart, Foreign Minister Zarif who fired back a different version of events via Twitter, where he pointed the finger firmly at the West.

"Mr. Secretary, was it Iran that gutted over half of the U.S. draft Thursday night," he tweeted , "and publicly commented against it Friday morning?"

The missives came after signs this weekend of a split between the French and everyone else. The French insisting on more concessions from Iran. This is the latest attempt by Iran in the west to forge an agreement to get Iran to abandon its effort to build a nuclear bomb, something the Iranians have never admitted they're doing, while allowing Tehran, a peaceful nuclear program. For their part, the Iranians are motivated by desire to get out from economic sanctions that have crippled their economy. If there's no agreement, Iran in the west may be facing the prospect of war.

AARON DAVID MILLER, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: If you drift with sanctions and effort to diplomatically (ph) over the next several months, you'll lead to one basic conclusion, which is some sort of military strike.

SCIUTTO: Talks resume later this month, but this latest delay gives opponents such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu time to mobilize against any deal with Iran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Some opponents mobilizing on The Hill, too. There's some in Congress who want to impose tougher sanctions on Iran. When Kerry meets behind closed doors with senators, he'll be urging them to hold off for now on tougher measures to give the administration time to negotiate. The next round, Kate and Chris, November 20th in Geneva. They're still talking.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, will they give that - give the secretary that time. That's the question. Thank you so much, Jim, great to see you. Coming up next on NEW DAY, are you flaying today? The liquid ban is set to be lifted at London's Heathrow airport. Could we be seeing it happen here in the U.S. anytime soon?

CUOMO: We've been following Toronto's now infamous mayor, Rob Ford. He's speaking for the first time. He was out in public playing the role of mayor. How did it go for him? What's going to happen next there? We'll show you. You can decide for yourself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, November 12th. Coming up in the show, it could be a big change in the way you fly. If you're tired of tossing out shampoo, prefumes, cologne, things of that sort, at the airport, well, there's new technology that could make the carry-on the liquid ban a thing of the past. We'll tell you about it.

CUOMO: And you're going to meet Dave Wilson this morning. He's a white Republican who just ran for office in a mostly black community of Houston and won. That's not so extraordinary, right? But how he did it is. Was it a bait and switch, all a big trick or was it political genius? Let's see how he stands up to scrutiny with us on NEW DAY this morning.

PEREIRA: Let's take a look at the headlines. At the top of the news right now, the official death toll topping 1,700 in the Philippines. Efforts to find the dead and the missing and feed and shelter the living being hampered overnight by a 4.8 magnitude earthquake and driving rains. Help is on the way as hunger and disease spreads, the Pentagon dispatching the USS George Washington from Hong Kong. The carrier has 5,000 sailors on board as well as over 80 aircraft.

We're now learning more about the man who Brooklyn police say killed three members of two popular Iranian rock bands and then turned the gun on himself. They identified the gunman as 20-year-old Aliakbar Mohammedi Rafti (ph). They say he killed two brothers who were members of the indie band Yellow Dogs and the Free Keys, as well as a singer who toured with them. A fourth person, an Iranian street artist, was shot in the arm.

Two Gonzaga University students who flashed a licensed handgun to scare off a home invader are appealing a decision to place them on probation. Eric Fagan (ph) and Daniel MacIntosh (ph) say they weren't aware of the rule banning firearms in university-owned buildings. Security officials at the school confiscated their handgun and another weapon after the incident. The students want them returned. For now, Gonzaga says it is reviewing a weapons policy.

A Michigan state trooper certainly lucky to be alive. We'll show you some video. He went over a guardrail while chasing a suspect. He was caught on camera. You can see the police cars converging on the suspect, who makes a run for it. He goes over the edge and when the trooper gets close, he goes over as well. They both fell about 30 feet. The trooper is okay. He's recovering at home. The suspect is in prison for violating his probation.

Retailers kicking up the competition this holiday shopping season. Walmart stores set to offer its holiday blockbuster deals starting at 6:00 p.m. On Thanksgiving Day, two hours earlier than last year. Macy's and JCP opening up for the first time on Thanksgiving evening. Is this an effort to get out of washing dishes?

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: A genius one at that.

CUOMO: It is. Discovered.

BOLDUAN: Another genius move in the airline industry. Making headlines this morning with the liquid ban which is set to be lifted in Europe. London's Heathrow airport will start using a screening device to test the liquids carried by passengers. The question is will we see this technology in the U.S. any time soon? For more on this, let's talk to CNN national security analyst, Fran Townsend, and travel industry expert Mark Murphy, also the author of "Travel Unscripted." Good morning.

So, Fran, what is the deal? We're now seeing loosening of restrictions on our electronics here. Less restrictions on liquids over there. What is going on?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I would say it's about time. Let's remember the ban on -- what we call the 3 ounce rule in the security screen world is it was a result of the liquid bomb plot that emanated, by they way, out of London. So it's pretty ironic that all of a sudden we see the first easing of this restriction coming from London, by the way, a U.S.-based company.

CUOMO: Yes. How about that?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: This was developed in Ohio. Why are they trying it in London?

TOWNSEND: Good question, Chris. You hope it puts a good deal of pressure on TSA to catch up.

BOLDUAN: Is there no longer a security concern with liquids.

TOWNSEND: There's a big security concern. Liquid explosives are very much one of these things that al Qaeda was developing to get around sort of traditional explosive screenings. So, it's a real threat, but the answer is in 2007 during that plot, I working with Mike Chertoff, who was then the secretary of Homeland Security, we put the ban in place.