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ISIS Fighters Advancing On Two Fronts; Ebola Airport Screenings Begin At JFK; Up To 10,000 ISIS Fighters Headed To Baghdad Area; "Weekend Of Resistance" In St. Louis; Kim Jong Un's Absence Fuels Speculation

Aired October 11, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: The 11:00 hour of NEWSROOM starts right now.

Well, the brutal militant group, ISIS bearing down on two key locations in Iraq and Syria. This as leaders in one Iraqi province pleads for the U.S. to send ground forces. We're going to have live team coverage straight ahead.

Also a rally is getting under way in St. Louis today, the latest in a series of protests days after a teenager is shot and killed. It has rekindled some of the anger for Michael Brown's death. We're going to take you there -- coming up.

Plus the fight against Ebola begins at a major U.S. airport today. The details on who is being screened and how that's happening coming up next.

And we are following breaking news this morning. ISIS fighters are advancing on two fronts threatening key areas in Iraq and Syria. At this hour ISIS is closing in on Baghdad. Anbar Province, just west of Baghdad is under attack. Officials are begging for the U.S. to send ground troops immediately to save the province from what they call imminent collapse.

And the besieged town of Kobani in Syria across the border from Turkey the situation there is just as dire -- a fighter claiming that ISIS has been outnumbered and outgunned.

From Iraq to the White House we have all angles covered this morning. Nick Paton Walsh is at Turkey's border with Syria; Erin McPike at the White House.

We begin with Ben Wedeman live in Baghdad. And Ben, Anbar is now asking for U.S. troops but the request isn't coming from Baghdad but from Anbar itself.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right Fredricka. That's come from the Anbar provincial council which has made an urgent appeal to the Iraqi government, they told us, for U.S. troops, ground troops to be deployed in Anbar to stop the onslaught of ISIS which in recent weeks has steadily gained ground. In fact they are basically about 20 miles to the west of Baghdad at this point. However we understand from sources in the prime minister's officer here in Baghdad that they haven't received that request and it is also well known the Iraqi government has had the position for quite some time that they don't want U.S. ground troops in Iraq. And certainly the Obama Administration has made it clear that they don't intend to send them.

So that really raises the question what is going to be done to save Anbar province which is the biggest in Iraq, from ISIS? Now I spoke to the head of provincial council in Anbar who told me that according to intelligence they've received, as many as 10,000 ISIS fighters from Syria and northern Iraq have been dispatched to Anbar Province.

It appears at the moment however that the focus of their efforts is not Baghdad itself. We've been to the defensive perimeter in Baghdad. There doesn't seem to be much action out there. But it is in a series of towns and cities along the Euphrates River.

We understand, for instance that el Haditha, which is a town on the Euphrates River to the northwest of here it is now completely surrounded by ISIS, cutoff from any supplies. The garrison there of the Iraqi army has been made an urgent appeal to Baghdad to send equipment, reinforcements, supplies but as we've seen in the past, the shortcomings of the Iraqi army, whether it's incompetent or corruption, they have repeatedly failed whether it's in Mosul or bases in Anbar, to come to the rescue of these besieged garrisons, which eventually get overrun. ISIS captures all their oftentimes American supplied equipment and ammunition. So, not a very bright picture here in Baghdad.

And Ben it looks as if ISIS is turning its attention away from fighting the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and looking towards these different provinces, both Kobani but also Anbar. But what about the new Iraqi government in Baghdad? You've got a new prime minister, a new president, how vulnerable are they now that ISIS has made this advance so close to them?

WEDEMAN: Well it is important to keep in mind that Baghdad is a majority Shia city. A sprawling city of more than nine million people which would be probably far more than ISIS could handle, until now. Whether it's in Syria or in Iraq they have basically focused their efforts and have been able to take control of places where there is a sympathetic Sunni majority, which has been alienated from the government in Baghdad.

So for ISIS to try to enter or take over Baghdad would be quite a tall order. The problem however isn't taking over. The problem is urban terrorism. There is almost every day one or more car bombing, suicide bombing in Baghdad, and the Iraqi security officials believe that ISIS is behind it because even though it's a Shiite majority city, there are areas where there is a Sunni majority. And there are sympathizers to ISIS. So it's problem of the forces on the outside of the city of ISIS pressing in but also sleeper cells, so to speak, inside Baghdad.

FEYERICK: All right. Ben Wedeman for us there -- thank you so much.

Next we go to Nick Paton Walsh. He's on the Syrian border with Turkey. Nick, the airstrikes aren't holding ISIS back.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: -- certainly doesn't seem to be the case here. In fact the last few minutes we've seen tracer rounds fired down towards the border here where dusk is falling fast, emblematic of a day really of fast-moving conflict. The outstanding two questions being how many civilians are still trapped inside Kobani. Behind me a town that ISIS and Kurdish issue militants have been fighting over now for well over weeks and how close are ISIS to their main goal of capturing the key official crossing point between Syria and Turkey on the border there. It is clear their goal is to try and circle those Kurdish militants still inside the town. They were apparently according to Kurdish fighters about 800 meters away earlier on today.

We saw some Kurdish fighters far to the east of that suggesting that it probably is probably is the case and ISIS are not that close to taking that key objective. But it seems too that some Kurdish civilians maybe even fighters have been coming out in the past few hours. We spoke to some Turkish military who are putting them on to a truck and driving them away.

It's pretty clear that ISIS is successful in using artillery to advance from the east to the west and up from the south pushing the Kurds into the northwestern corner of Kobani. It's been a bitter day it seems in terms of explosions in that city. As I say the ground it seems changing fast, reasonably quickly. Sometimes it does move back though again into Kurdish control -- very complicated days ahead though.

As I say the key question is the case that the U.N. say that there are 10,000 civilians still inside that town. We can't see them from the vantage point we're at. And some coming out suggest there could be simply hundreds inside there. But as this comes to potentially a head in the days ahead, the fate of those people, how many there are is unclear.

It will be, of course, paramount in the international community's mind and there's the pressure too on Turkey to permit some of them out in the humanitarian corridor -- Deb.

FEYERICK: And Nick, Turkey has not wanted to put ground forces inside Syria. If ISIS does capture that city and controls that crossing point, that critical crossing point, will Turkey change its strategy? Will they fight to keep them out, obviously, of their country? How is that a game changer?

WALSH: Well Turkey doesn't want to insert ground forces it seems at this particular stage. The State Department have suggested they might be in discussions about that and Turkey has proposed a buffer zone which you might think were it to involve them, clearing a certain amount of Syrian territory of ISIS and making it safe for refugees and moderate rebels that may involve some Turkish military involve inside.

As it stands now, though off to my left there are about a dozen Turkish military vehicles on a hill watching this unfold. They are simply not involved. In fact, we saw a shell land pretty close to one Turkish military position just a few hours ago. They didn't seem to react. They are simply changing shift around here and I think many are wondering what will they do for those civilians trapped inside -- Deb?

FEYERICK: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much.

We now turn to the White House where Erin McPike has been monitoring what's going on. Erin, Defense Secretary Hagel voicing some serious concern for Anbar Province in Iraq because those ISIS forces now seem to be in control. What is he saying?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Deb, we have heard from Hagel as well as Deputy National security advisor to the president, Tony Blinken and others in the administration and they are saying that it is a very dire situation on the ground. Now, they are saying that they expected this. And it is true that we heard from the administration over the past month or so that this would be a very long fight and be very tough.

But it doesn't seem as though they expected this to be so difficult and so intense so soon. It seemed they were doing this in an incremental way beginning with reconnaissance then taking on a campaign of air strikes and then training Iraqi troops as well as the moderate Syrian rebels and they thought that they had more time. They were buying time with this kind of campaign. But what we are hearing from officials is that they are acknowledging as the very tough situation on the ground.

FEYERICK: Now with Anbar suggesting that they want group --

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: Now -- sorry, I thought we were going to toss it. Now that Anbar is asking for ground troops, the U.S. says they don't want that. When does that begin to change? When do they begin to think that Baghdad might be at sufficient risk that the game has to sort of alter?

MCPIKE: Deb, this has been a very controversial issue over the past month. We have seen in polls that a majority of Americans do support air strikes in both Iraq and Syria in big numbers. The terrain has shifted very rapidly. But there is not -- so far -- but there is not yet support for ground troops. And we've heard from President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry as well as Hagel and they have said again and again no ground troops.

But we've also heard from high profile and visible Republican officials including Senator Lindsey Graham as well House Speaker John Boehner. And they have suggested that it is not realistic that Americans cannot commit ground troops. But the political reality is the midterm elections are just three weeks away and this is unlikely a fight that they want to have over the next three weeks.

However, after those midterm elections are over and Congress comes back in session I suspect that we will see a much more heated debate on whether or not the U.S. has to send in ground troops -- Deb. FEYERICK: All right. Erin McPike for us at the White House -- thank

you.

And the streets are filling up in St. Louis right now. Stephanie Elam is live. We're going to go her -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are out here and you can see people are starting to gather here -- a lot of people hugging it out, a lot of people talking, coming together -- very diverse group of people. We'll tell you more about what's going on here in St. Louis as this weekend of resistance continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Happening right now, passenger screenings for Ebola are beginning at JFK Airport in New York. It is the first of five airports that will get enhanced screenings around the country. Public health officials are trying to prevent another Ebola-infected person from entering the United States.

Let's go to Alison Kosik, she is at JFK today. And Alison, who exactly are they looking for in these screenings because somebody like Duncan would not have even been caught. So who are they looking for?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are looking for, Deb, anybody who was on a flight or a conducting flight that came from one of the three countries that are considered the hot zones for Ebola -- Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia. And the point here is to screen these folks who come from these areas before they get out of the airport, before they get out into the general population.

So what is essentially going to happen is they are going to see officials know ahead of time that these flights are coming in. These people, these passengers will be led to a designated area where their temperatures will be taken. They will also be asked several questions including what their travel was like. Have had had any contact with anyone with Ebola. They'll also answer questionnaires.

Now if there are no red flags they will be allowed to leave. They are going to be asked however to leave their contact information and they're going to be asked to go ahead and monitor their fevers for the next 21 days and keep a log of those. If any red flags are spotted, those folks will move on ahead to a quarantined area where CDC officials will be to further evaluate them.

But you know, even CDC with these screenings going on -- even CDC admits this solution is not magic. Listen to what one CDC official said earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MARTIN CETRON, CDC: The entry screening procedure, for example, would not necessarily have caught the patient in Dallas as indicated and no port of exit or port of entry or airline response procedure will supplant the need for state and local public health departments, clinics, hospitals to be prepared to detect a case might it occur. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Now this is not the only airport that is going to have these screenings. Four other airports with screenings will begin on Thursday. They include Dulles International just outside of Washington D.C.; Hartsfield Jackson in Atlanta; O'Hare International in Chicago; and Newark Liberty International -- Deb.

FEYERICK: All right. Alison Kosik, thank you so much for us.

And the question everyone is wondering will these screenings actually work? Is there the potential to change the travel landscape? We're going to bring in CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo.

And Mary, these new screenings would not have detected Thomas Eric Duncan's illness. He didn't have any symptoms. You have called this window dressing. How come?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Well, because we're doing a very wide search for a small number of people. We have to keep the numbers in perspective here. We're talking about approximately 150 travelers a day. So the U.S. have not been willing to simply ban travel to and from the Ebola-infected countries. So instead we've done the screening. The screening couldn't have picked up the poor deceased gentleman, Mr. Duncan. And if you are not showing a temperature and if you don't answer to all the questions that you are asked, literally the CDC after their screens will allow people to go.

So it does have the potential to catch and red flag some potential problems or some people who are sick. And that part is very good. We must do something. We simply can't leave the public health to the discretion of people taking temperatures in Africa. We have to do something here but I do think it would have been more effective to stop the travel of these 150 people -- that's the number that would have been inconvenienced.

FEYERICK: You know, it's interesting because there was a one-day strike by workers at LaGuardia Airport. And they effectively said look, there are inadequate precautions. How do we know how are we supposed to clean. How do we know what we're supposed to do? Do you think that there should be a new emphasis on how you for all intents and purpose decontaminate a plane? Whether it be in the bathroom, whether it be in public areas where a lot of people touch things?

SCHIAVO: Yes, you know, the CDC about three weeks ago issued guidelines as to how to clean a plane, which is very interesting because the CDC doesn't have any experience in cleaning planes. And they said things like bleaching. Well, for example, you can't very bleach airplane carpeting or seats. And then, by the way, they're forgetting there's a whole thing with airline travel is that you get people off the plane. You race to the plane, the cleaners don't have very long to clean the plane and they try to get that plane, tossed out back out there on its route again and sometimes there's as little as a half hour. So you don't really have time. By the time the last person is off the plane long before the screening by the CDC is done those cleaners are supposed to be on the plane. And they certainly have a right to be concerned. And you know, we really need to take them into consideration because I often said a plane is like a small flying city. It is not just the pilot, the flight attendants and the passengers. It is the cleaners and the caterers and the people who empty the bathrooms and who supply the water. It is a city around each plane.

FEYERICK: And you also have to wonder, you know, what happens if somebody does test positive for a fever and that plane is already up in the air, what do you do?

All right. Lots of questions. Mary Schiavo, we're going to be coming back to you a little later on. Thank you so much.

And still ahead a rally in St. Louis today is bringing up familiar emotions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: It is called the "Weekend of Resistance" and thousands are expected to attend. That was the rallying cry -- "don't shoot" at the kick off to the four-day event in Ferguson, Missouri. Supporters of Michael Brown the unarmed black teenager who died at the hands of a white police officer trying to call attention to what they say is racial profiling and police violence nationwide. . The protests come just days after another white officer in nearby St. Louis fatally shot a black teenager who was armed.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is in St. Louis now. And Stephanie, protesters are making their way there for day two of this weekend of resistance. What is the mood?

ELAM: True Deb. And you know, as we've been out here long before people were getting here this morning. And if you take a look, you can see that it is a growing crowd. It is a diverse crowd. It is a multigenerational crowd as well. There's men, there is woman here. And it is something that may actually surprise some people to see how these folks are coming together.

I'm watching people actually pick up trash here in the park while they are gathering. They are hugging each other. They are holding signs that they have taken time to make and gather here for this. But these people are galvanized to do this. We've seen that yesterday there was a downpour and people were still coming out here in the downpour to have their voices heard.

So people are motivated and they don't want this topic of racial profiling or the issues that they say that they have between the community here and St. Louis Police Department that those don't go away. But I got to tell you they are not just people from Missouri here. I saw some people from Oakland. I saw some people from closer state like Illinois and also from Kansas. So people coming out from other regions to be a part of this movement here this weekend -- Deb.

FEYERICK: Quickly, Stephanie, we see the people behind you wearing those yellow vests, who are they? Are those organizers?

ELAM: Some of them are organizers. A lot of the people here invest so you can see they've come together as groups and they're meeting together to bring all of these movements together in one place. We've heard about Ferguson in October and different names for it but all of it coming together here organizing these people to come out here today -- a concerted effort from different groups to make this happen.

FEYERICK: Ok, Stephanie Elam for us there. Thank you. We'll check in a little later.

And coming up our top story ISIS moving near Baghdad; now one Iraqi leader is asking for the U.S. to send in ground troops. Should the U.S. take more action and go beyond airstrikes. We break down the options for what can happen -- next.

But first, in today's "American Journey" Anthony Bourdain gives us the details on his first trip to the South American country of Paraguay. He discovered some amazing food as usual. He also tried to uncover a family secret. Listen to what he tells Anderson Cooper as they caught up after his trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: What is Paraguay like? It's one of those places I've always wanted to go and I always get it confused with Uruguay.

ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST: Paraguay we know almost nothing about it. Maybe we know -- that's the place all those Germans hid out in after the war and they had a succession of the incredibly lurid, over the top like insane military dictatorships -- really lampoonable ugly stuff.

My great-great-great-grandfather Jean Bourdain disappeared in Paraguay in the mid 19th century so --

COOPER: Disappeared?

BOURDAIN: Well, we knew he was in Argentina and Brazil doing some kind of mysterious business. But he was recorded as having died in Asuncion.

COSTELLO: Wow.

BOURDAIN: So I went to look into this question and while doing that looked into Paraguay, which is at various times seen as sort of a Utopia for German colonists, French colonists, Mennonites, dreamers, lunatics.

COOPER: What drew them there?

BOURDAIN: The promise of unlimited wealth and agricultural wonderland and unlike anywhere else I'm aware of in Latin America, the primary language is not Spanish or Portuguese. It's Guarani. It was something I had no idea. One of their early maximum leaders commanded all citizens to intermarry and to as best as possible mix and/or eradicate the stain of their European heritage.

COOPER: That's really interesting.

BOURDAIN: It is very interesting. And it is a mixed, very mixed culture and a very remote one. I mean who goes to Paraguay? Also a very friendly, lovely one with great food and a lot to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Welcome back everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick. Here's a look at the stories that we are following right now for you.

Several New Jersey high school football players are the charged with assault, accused of hazing freshman. This comes as days after the Sayreville High School's entire season was canceled. Charges include aggravated sexual assault and criminal restraint. Seven players face charges. Six are already in police custody.

The manhunt for a suspected cop killer in Pennsylvania has now called police to cancel a huge Halloween parade this month for the safety of everyone. Authorities (inaudible) trick or treating is also cancelled.

Alleged suspect, Eric Frein, has been on the loose since September. Police fear that costumes and disguises could give Frein cover and a possible way to escape. They don't want to ruin Halloween for all the kids so there will be an event held at a nearby school.

And concerns about a troubling security breach that concerns millions of teenagers and parents around the world. Cyber criminals could leak stolen Snapchat photos and videos. A release that may include inappropriate photos of teenagers sent to one another.

The photo sharing app, Snapchat, insists its servers were not hacked. The "Business Insider" reports that at least one-third party site with access to Snapchat's database was compromised. Images sent through the Snapchat app are supposed to disappear in a few seconds making it a very popular tool for sending nude images.

An NBC news crew that worked with the cameraman infected with Ebola is now under mandatory quarantine. The cameraman was flown from Liberia to the U.S. for treatment earlier this week and he is said to be improving.

New Jersey State Health officials say that fellow crew members violated an agreement for self-confinement, but emphasize that the crew does remain symptom free.

And now to our other top story, the war on ISIS and right now ISIS fighters are actually closing on in Baghdad. Anbar Province just to the west of Baghdad is under attack. Up to 10,000 ISIS troops have been sent from Syria and Mosul, Iraq.

Officials there are now begging for the U.S. to send ground troops immediately and in the besieged town of Kobani, which is in Syria across the border from Turkey, the situation there just as dire.

Reports say that ISIS Kurdish defenders outnumbered and outgunned despite numerous airstrikes from coalitions forces.

Let me bring Jeremiah O'Keefe, he is a former White House adviser from Iraq. He joins us now from Dallas. A big question and some have been asking, where is Turkey?

They have already told the U.S. that unless the U.S. fights against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, they are not in, but why are they defending this critical (inaudible) right on their border?

JEREMIAH O'KEEFE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ADVISER ON IRAQ: The reason they are not defending Kobani is because geopolitically it is not to their advantage. The Kurdish people have Kurdish standard for the longest period of time have wanted to expand and grow their own nation, if you will.

And they have no desire to see that happen. So it is in the long term to their advantage to see how Assad of Syria fall, which is, of course, aligned with Iran who is for the Turks and the Sunnis in the region the long term threat.

So they are sitting back and waiting to see what unfolds before they set forward and do anything.

FEYERICK: I want to play for you a clip from Turkey's prime minister. He spoke to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMET DAVULOGLU, TURKISH PRIME MINISTER: Here we are ready do everything if there is a clear strategy that after ISIS we can be sure that our border will be protected. We don't want the regime anymore on our border pushing people towards Turkey. We don't want other terrorist organizations to be active there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: So what do you make of that? He is saying that we are not going to get involved if no one else does. Does that mean that Kobani will fall and then escalate the situation with all the coalition forces having to go in somewhere down the road?

O'KEEFE: Exactly. I'm afraid that Kobani is going to fall. We are looking at a possible massacre of a magnitude that is yet to be seen, unfortunately. And it could be one of these situations again where the president steps in and he decides to heighten the military tempo and our activity in the area.

But yes, I'm afraid Kobani will fall unless anything is done by the United States. There is no getting around that. And what the minister or the president of Turkey is addressing is the fact of the Kurdish state again. He does not want to see a Kurdish state expand and grow. FEYERICK: I mean, looking at the map that we've got up right now it is fascinating because Turkey is bordered by Syria. ISIS forces are in control of many of the towns along that border.

And yet right now with the move towards Iraq, towards Baghdad, what happens to this new government that's been formed in Baghdad especially with all the investment that the U.S. has made in that region.

O'KEEFE: You know, if you had asked me this question a week ago, I would have thought that the president had time to put into place his strategy with our allies in the region. But as of this morning and yesterday, I'm afraid that there is a good, good chance that Baghdad just may -- it may fall. It may actually fall, which is something for us to be very, very concern about.

FEYERICK: Well, it's shocking.

O'KEEFE: It's getting a little more shocking. You know, ISIS is using a strategy and this is going to sound surreal to our viewers, but ISIS is using a strategy from 1300 years ago that Prophet Mohammad used.

And if you look at the news coming out of Lebanon, Israel's neighbor, in the several days, there are assassinations and killings occurring in that city, which is usually the first tactic that ISIS does before they begin their raids.

So I think we are seeing this growing to the west. We are seeing this growing to the east and I'm afraid this strategy that the president crafted is one, two years too late.

FEYERICK: You know, it's interesting because there are a lot of critics who say this is going to take decades before it resolves itself and if you do look at the history of the caliphate, that's what they do.

They sort of sweep across the continent establishing themselves and that's exactly what ISIS goal is and you see it happening in Iraq. You see it happening in Syria now and they are so close to Turkey. It's going to be very interesting for everyone to watch given its access to the rest of Europe.

All right, Jeremiah, thank you so much. We appreciate all your insights on that and clearly one to watch.

Well, back to another big story that we are also following, a rally in St. Louis today is bringing up familiar emotions, distrust between the community and law enforcement. Is the protesters message being heard? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: A rally is happening right now in St. Louis where protesters are gathering all weekend to demand justice for Michael Brown. He is the unarmed black teenager who is allegedly shot to death by a white Police Officer Darren Wilson.

Protesters want Officer Darren Wilson arrested. They also want the St. Louis County prosecutor off the case because they believe that he is biased even though he is an elected official.

I want to bring in St. Louis talk radio host, McGraw Milhaven. And McGraw, thousands of protesters are expected in Ferguson in St. Louis. Considering the violent protest that occurred a day ago, is their message getting lost?

MCGRAW MILHAVEN, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Yes. The message is getting completely and totally lost. When you burn down a Qdoba and you throw rocks in neighbors and you beat up police cars, your message of police violence is totally and completely lost.

And while there are, I'd say what, 200, 300 people here, this is an infinitesimal number of people here in St. Louis who are going to come down here this weekend for our Blues game, for the Cardinal playoff games, for Rand's game Monday night. These guys, their message -- they are doing a disservice to their message.

FEYERICK: What is the message then? What do they want to say?

MILHAVEN: Well, that is a very good question. They say don't shoot. But yet a few days ago, you had a teenager shoot three times at a police officer. The police officer might have been killed if the gun didn't jam.

They say black lives matter except when Latisha Williams, a 13-year- old high school kid gets shot in the eye at a convenience store, they don't really care about that.

And then they say they want justice for all or no justice, no peace. They are basically saying no indictment, no peace. They are basically saying, we will riot if this police officer does not get indicted. I don't know what they want.

FEYERICK: And I've spoken to a number of lawyers down there and they are not convinced that the officer will actually be indicted because of the circumstances of how this all went down. Specifically you have had no one has heard from Darren Wilson yet.

How does it play out? If in fact the grand jury says we simply can't and it doesn't matter who the DA is or the prosecutor is if the grand jury doesn't have enough evidence.

MILHAVEN: Look, this crowd out has already indicted, convicted and wants Officer Wilson executed. We don't know the facts. We don't know what happened. Only a few people in St. Louis County, part of the grand jury know the facts.

When the facts come out, let's digest fact and let's like civilized people figure out what was the best way to go about it. Maybe it was a good shooting, maybe it was a bad shooting. We don't know.

The reason this is all happening is because there is no leadership. We don't have a mayor. We don't have a county executive. We don't have a governor. We have no leadership out here.

We have rioting. We have looting. No leadership out here. Everybody wants to be the next Al Sharpton. Nobody wants to be the next Martin Luther King Jr.

FEYERICK: Do you think very quickly, there is a lot of distrust of the police officers. Do you think that has been resolved in any sort of way? Have steps been made to maybe improve that even minimally?

MILHAVEN: Well, we do know that Ferguson wrote off all of their warrants. The city of St. Louis wrote off all of their warrants. I think we are trying. I think the story of the police violence and/or brutality is a real issue.

But when you are spitting at police officers, throwing feces at them, saying racially insensitive things to African-American police officers, that's not where the conversation starts.

FEYERICK: All right, McGraw Milhaven, thank you so much. The protesters have been told if they lay a hand on any police officer, they will be charged with assault. We thank you for your time.

MILHAVEN: Debbie, anytime, thanks.

FEYERICK: And the question, where in the world is Kim Jong-Un. He hasn't been seen in weeks. We'll take you through some of the theories about what's happened to this North Korean dictator missing in action.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: A reclusive regime, a nuclear arm nation, and a leader who's mysteriously out of the public eye. Those are just some of the factors fuelling speculation and concern about the situation in North Korea.

Brian Todd looks at the deepening mystery and why it matters here in the U.S. -- Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deborah, the anxiety over what's going on inside this regime is heightened. Kim Jong-Un is MIA and his absence from public view resonates all the way to Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): A U.S. intelligence official tells CNN it's concerning that Kim Jong-Un is out of sight. The North Korean leader didn't show up at the much-anticipated anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers' Party, but he did send flowers.

GORDON CHANG, "DAILY BEAST" CONTRIBUTOR: To skip an event which honors your father and your grandfather is a serious breach of protocol, unless there's some really good reason. I think right now that Kim Jong-Un is suffering under not only a physical disability, but a political one as well. TODD: Is Kim's power eroding? Is he under threat from inside? Senior U.S. officials tell CNN there is no indication Kim has been completely sidelined or is in very bad health. But videos showing him limping and recent reports of an ankle or leg injury to Kim only lead to more questions.

CHANG: Why not have him just sitting down behind a desk or behind something to project?

JONATHAN POLLACK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Unless he's suffering a severe injury of some sort, I don't think that there should be some intrinsic reason why they don't present him in some kind of a public mode, even if it can't show him walking and being very, very active.

TODD: South Korean officials say the regime appears to be operating normally and there are no signs of unusual military activity inside North Korea, often a signal of upheaval. South Korea's defense minister also says they have reason to believe Kim Jong-Un is staying at a home near an elite hospital in Pyongyang, with his wife and his sister.

His younger sister is said to be gaining stature inside the regime. Most analysts downplay rumors that she's in charge while her brother's absent. But if Kim Jong-Un is keeping her close by, could he and his sister be threatened?

POLLACK: It may not be so much an issue of her personal security and well-being, so much as it is, he's got to have some kind of a reliable channel near him.

TODD: But adding to the tension, an exchange of gunfire across the border. When South Korean activists released these balloons filled with anti-North Korean literature, North Korea gunners fired at them. South Korea responded with their own machine gun rounds.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: There were no injuries in that incident, but it was the second exchange of fire between the two sides this week after a confrontation at sea. Now analysts say the longer that Kim Jong-Un's public absence continues, the more worrisome it is for South Korea, Japan, and the U.S.

This is a dangerous regime with nuclear, chemical, biological weapons, long-range missiles and right now, no one's sure who's running the place -- Deborah.

FEYERICK: All right, Brian Todd for us, thank you. What do you think could happen next with North Korea? We'll get some insight now from Gordon Chang. He is a "Daily Beast" contributor and author of the book "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On The World."

You were just in the Brian Todd piece. And it was very interesting, you said, a clear violation of protocol that he didn't turn up to this big festival honoring his father. What is going on there because his uncle was recently executed so all is not good in North Korea? CHANG: No, it certainly isn't. You know, this is North Korea, so any scenario could be possible. But I think that we're seeing too many events that suggest that there is not only a physical problem that Kim Jong-Un has, but a political one as well.

He missed two events last week to honor both his father and his grandfather, and you know, there have been so many perjures, unexplained deaths, killings over the last four years, this is just a regime in turmoil.

So I think that at some point, and this could have been at the end of last year, Kim Jong-Un lost a lot of his authority.

FEYERICK: It's interesting, because over the last three years, Kim reportedly replaced over half of the country's top leadership. Does that suggest that he was under threat? That he feared those who were closest to him and wanted to bring in his own, people he thought he could trust?

CHANG: Yes. Well, he wanted to do that, but he didn't have an opportunity while his father was alive. We got to remember that Kim Il-Song, the founder of North Korea took two decades to train his son, Kim Jong-Il to lead the country.

Now Kim Jong-Un, the current ruler, only had about two years. He didn't have the opportunity to learn how to run this regime, which is a very complex balancing act, and he didn't have an opportunity to put his people into place.

So you saw this massive turnover after he took over, and that has caused a lot of resentment and a number of people were killed. And in this regime, blood demands blood. So those people who lost relatives and friends and supporters have retaliated in the worst possible manner.

And that's why I think you have this regime right now that is in difficulty and especially, I think, Kim Jong-Un, has sort of been sidelined and has been for months.

FEYERICK: And very quickly, you say, blood demands blood. There are reports that he and his sister are somewhere in a home near an exclusive hospital. Is it a possibility that they even may be under some form of house arrest?

CHANG: I agree with that. That's a real possibility. Because it would be normal for his wife to be with him at his hospital side, but not for his sister, and that suggests that someone's trying to lock down the Kim regime, the Kim family. And that is certainly not a good sign.

FEYERICK: All right, Gordon Chang for us. Thank you so much. We appreciate that. We'll be keeping an eye on this big story. Thank you.

Well, ISIS is threatening two key cities in two different countries. We have the latest on the breaking news coming up at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: At 17, Pakistan's Malala Yousafzai became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. She was shot by the Taliban two years ago for promoting education for girls in Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALALA YOUSAFZAI, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT: My story, I want to tell other children all around the world that they should stand up for their rights. They should not wait for someone else. And their voices are more powerful, their voices, it would seem that they're weak.

But at the time when no one speaks, your voice gets so louder that everyone has to listen to it, everyone has to hear it. So it's my message to children all around the world that they should stand up for their rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: What a brave girl. Well, India's Kailash Satyarthi also took home the Nobel Prize. He was recognized for leading peaceful demonstrations against the exploitation of children for financial gain.