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200 Million in Path of Polar Plunge; Obama Pivots to Foreign Policy in Asia; Protests Intensifying over 43 Missing Students; GPS Tracker May Lead to Other Kidnap Cases; ISIS Leader's Fate Unclear After Airstrikes; Prominent Pastor, Wife Killed in Jet Crash

Aired November 10, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: NEWSROOM starts right now.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye in today for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Well, grab your winter coats. 200 million Americans are in the path of a deep freeze that is striking too early for comfort this year. Check out Minneapolis, Minnesota, right now. 28 degrees there now and snowing already. The brutal forecast is calling for more than a foot of snow.

CNN meteorologist Indra Peterson is joining me now with the very latest.

Indra, it is too early for this.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's literally the last thing people want to be talking about. Typically in Minnesota, they're talking about -- especially Minneapolis -- nine inches for the entire month. Today they could exceed that with over a foot of snow. And temperatures there are expected to be below freezing not just today, guys, but for the entire week.

Right now temperatures only in the mid-20s. Add the wind chill, it feels like the teens. The winds are going to ripping out there to 25 miles per hour.

So let's take a look at the maps right now. We're going to show you what they're expecting. Here comes one of the biggest first snowfalls of the season. Double digits will be out there in places like Minnesota and even in through Wisconsin. But what everyone seems to be talking about -- you can't help it, right? Is going to be the cold air. Right now it's not really here just yet for most of you.

Look at purple. That's all you have to see. Watch it dive down to south and spread off to the east. Here comes that cold air day by day. Some places are already seeing a temperature drop of 30 to 40 degrees from just yesterday. Places like Billings already seeing a 50-degree drop, in -- or Bismarck 50-degree drop in just the last two days. So, today, the first story is going to be the snow. We have the snow

today. But watch this low. It will eventually kick out of here retreating back in through Canada. What you are going to be watching, though, is the cold front. Behind that, then comes the cold air everyone has been talking about.

So let's look at it day by day. Right now you may saying it's warm if you're in the East Coast. That's because it is. Temperatures are climbing ahead of the front. Mid-60s out toward D.C. Once you get behind that front, that's when you start to see those temperatures plummeting out there. In fact look at D.C. tomorrow almost 70 degrees. So you're actually going to go up before you go down. There you go.

By Wednesday, we are going to start to see some of those temperatures backing up, even more to 30s in towards St. Louis. I'll show you the four-day map here because that's when finally that cold air does reach into the mid-Atlantic and the northeast. It's going to be a quick drop down to the 40s. In fact the morning lows we're going to be talking some 20s and 30s. I think we're all going to be feeling the bite in places like Minneapolis. Going to be feeling it for a long time. The snow is not going to melt for a while -- Randi.

KAYE: And is it true yet another Arctic blast expected even for next week and into next week?

PETERSONS: We're going to be watching that. The models are picking up a couple of things. So definitely going to keep an eye on it for you -- Randi.

KAYE: All right. Thank you, Indra. Appreciate it.

Well, after watching his party suffer a stinging defeat in the midterms, President Obama has now turned his focus to foreign affairs. Arriving in China for the first stop on a weeklong trip to Asia and Australia. On the agenda, the APEC Summit where the president stressed what he called a shared future between the region and the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're looking to a future where worker in any of our countries can afford to provide for his family. Where his daughter can go to school and start a business and have a fair shot at success. Where fundamental rights are cherished and protected and not denied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: But will the recent elections diminish the president's authority with his overseas counterparts?

CNN's Jim Acosta has more now from Beijing.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Obama is in China to stress his administration's goal of forging closer economic ties with Asia. But the president also wants to apply some pressure on Beijing on a whole range of issues, from cyber security to human rights.

The president commented at length for the first on the release of two Americans who were imprisoned in the communist country and asked about the top secret operation that was led by the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, the president was quick to insist there was no diplomatic mission to open up ties with the North Koreans.

Later in the day at the APEC summit, the president stepped on some touchy diplomatic turf, urging China to respect human rights, press freedoms and open markets. Aides say the president wants Beijing to play by the rules in the growing Asian economy. That means no more Chinese hackers trying to steal from American companies.

The president spoke shortly after an address from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was at the same summit. But the two leaders did not cross paths, as far as we know right now. And after China, the president heads to Burma and then Australia for the G-20 summit, where he could have another foreign policy collision with Russian President Putin.

He's expected to attend that summit, as well. And if they do meet, Ukraine obviously will be at the top of their agenda.

KAYE: Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

Demonstrators in Mexico are calling for the country's president and attorney general to resign. It comes as protests grow more intense by the day. Over 43 missing college students, they vanished in September. The government says it believes the students were kidnapped and then turned over to a drug gang to be killed and their bodies burned. This is all happening in Guerrero state, in the southern part of Mexico.

And CNN's Rosa Flores is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tensions erupt in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero.

(On camera): Take a look around. You can see charred vehicles.

(Voice-over): And in Mexico's capital. As the parents of 43 missing college students lose patience with authorities. It's been more than a month, and no trace of their children. Not even after the arrest of more than 70 people, including a political power couple that Mexico's attorney general says is the possible mastermind of the kidnapping.

This is cell phone video showing the mayor of Iguala and his wife being arrested. Authorities say the cartel-connected pair colluded with the police chief and drug traffickers to kidnap, kill and dispose of the missing students. Neither the mayor nor his wife has commented.

Even before the couple was taken in, protesters were determined to take them down, burning their seat of power.

(On camera): This is the perfect example. It's Iguala city hall. But take a look. It's a charred building, a shell of what it was. Protesters actually came in and wrote on the walls, "Alive we want them back."

(Voice-over): Fuelling anger in the community, taped confessions by three recently arrested cartel members, saying, they burned the bodies in a public dump and tossed the remains into a river.

Edmundo Delgado (ph), a community activist, says too many people disappear in Mexico and are never found.

(On camera): He says if today there's 43 students who have gone missing and we don't find them, 10, 15 years from now, what can be -- what can we expect?

(Voice-over): The parents of the missing students say they've lost patience.

(On camera): He says that this group has one message. That their response will get more and more radical.

(Voice-over): Rosa Flores, CNN in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And today we should learn more about a massive overhaul of Veterans Affairs prompted by CNN investigation of the agency. CNN's Drew Griffin uncovered massive delays in providing medical care to veterans as well as top officials conspiring to systematically hide those problems.

Last night on CBS' "60 Minutes," the new head of the VA said that he will announce big changes including widespread firings for the cover- ups.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT MACDONALD, VETERANS AFFAIRS SECRETARY: The report we've passed up to the Senate committee and House committee tells about 35 names on it. I've got another report that has over 1,000.

SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS: If 1,000 people need to go, give me a sense of what are some of the things they did.

MACDONALD: Well, we're simplistically talking about people who violated our values.

PELLEY: And those values are what?

MACDONALD: It's integrity, it's advocacy, it's respect, it's excellence. These are the things that we try to do for our veterans.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: MacDonald says overhauling the system will make it easier for millions of patients to get swift top level health care now. They'll release details sometime today which also marks his 100th day at the helm of the embattled VA.

Police track down a kidnapping suspect using the GPS on his car. Now they are hoping that same GPS will help them determine if there are even more victims.

This morning Delvin Barnes is on a suicide watch in a Virginia jail. He's charged with kidnapping a 16-year-old girl there and sexually abusing her.

This is a video that alerted police to Barnes. Investigators say it shows him snatching a 22-year-old nurse off a Philadelphia street last week as she struggled to get away.

CNN law enforcement analysts Tom Fuentes and CNN legal analyst Paul Callan joining me now to discuss this.

Tom, let me start with you here. How common is this for police to analyze GPS data on a suspect's car?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Randi, it's becoming more common as the technology improves and is available and how many cars has this availability. You know, the GPS systems that are installed in cars, you know, for example, General Motors on STAR system. That's broadcasting to the manufacturer's control center exactly where that car is. If your airbag deploys and you're knocked out. It's able to determine where you're at and call for the police to come rescue you.

If you're in a fatal car crash, it can determine how fast you were going at the time of the crash. So that technology has been there a while. And it's becoming more common as more cars have the systems installed.

KAYE: And, Paul, I mean, police are hoping to determine exactly where this 16-year-old girl was, where she was abducted. I mean, do you see charges being filed?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I definitely do. And, you know, just -- you know, as Tom said with the GPS system, this is the Rosetta Stone of tracking his criminality. And it's not only new cars that get it when you buy a new car but a lot of people when you get a loan on a car, you're buying a used car, the guy who's selling you the car says I'll give you a loan but I'm putting a GPS so he can send out somebody to seize the car if you don't pay. So this thing is going to be used by law enforcement to track people down.

Now they've got this guy with, you know, kidnapping possibly in Virginia, brutal case in Virginia, one in Philadelphia, 275 miles apart. And there are claims that maybe other girls pictures were shown to one of the -- one of the victims.

KAYE: Right. CALLAN: So this could be a big, big case with a lot of victims. And

the GPS will be the key to solving that.

KAYE: Yes. And Tom, they're not really stopping with the GPS here. I mean, they also plan to look at Barnes' cell phone records, his social media footprint.

FUENTES: Right.

KAYE: What can they learn by doing all this?

FUENTES: Well, as Paul was saying, they can learn where he was at as well as who he was talking to and communicating with. And, you know, the technology used by law enforcement now, you know, start with a cell phone. If your cell phone is on right this minute, the phone company knows within a few feet where you're at because you're hitting various cell phone towers. And they can mathematically calculate how far you are from those towers and determine where you're at.

So you've got that technology. Again, the GPS technology in the cars, the video technology, the higher resolution in the security cameras. The camera on the sidewalk, the camera at the ATM machine he tried to use. The cameras in the convenient store.

So as those systems become more prevalent, more economical for even small businesses to install in their store or out on the public sidewalk, you put all of that technology together in the hands of law enforcement, they're able to determine a lot about this individual in particular, his movements, what he did, where he did it, and who he did it with.

KAYE: And thank goodness that the GPS was in the car, Paul. I mean, the dealership installs this for people that they think might have bad credits. It's a reminder of their payment. They don't want them to skip out on their payments.

But could there be any legal challenges resulting from this type of device in the car being used to track him down?

CALLAN: Well, There have been in the past. And the Supreme Court has already looked at this. Mostly though a device is a attached to exterior of cars whether a warrant was required. But now I think you'll see another look at it by the courts. And, you know, the flip side of it is when we first heard about these devices being attached to cars when you get a loan to buy a car, it was looked at as invasion of privacy.

And why should somebody who may be is poorer and has to take a high interest loan, do they get tracked by the bank in a way that other people do not. But I think people didn't think about the flip side of it. It's a valuable tool for law enforcement as well.

Invasion of privacy, good tool to catch the bad guys. Now all of those issues will have to be debated.

KAYE: And it certainly does have to be debated because a lot of people feel very strongly about that.

Tom Fuentes, Paul Callan; thank you both very much. Appreciate it.

CALLAN: Thank you.

FUENTES: Thank you, Randi.

KAYE: Still to come, President Obama calls it a new phase in the war against ISIS as he doubles the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. Have airstrikes already wounded a key ISIS leader?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: As the U.S. prepares to send more troops to Iraq to fight ISIS, there are conflicting reports as to whether the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was wounded in a series of air strikes over the weekend.

Iraq's interior ministry claiming al Baghdadi was injured but neither Iraq's prime minister nor the Iraqi defense ministry have commented.

CNN's Arwa Damon joining now from the Turkey-Syria border with more on this.

Good morning, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Randi.

Comment on that scale and type of attack would typically come from Iraq's ministry of defense or prime minister's office. Now, what we know is there was a coalition air strike over the weekend. The U.S. however not tracking at this stage that al Baghdadi was even in that convoy.

Separately, there was another air strike on the town of al Qa'im, that is right along the Iraqi Syrian borders. But again, no confirmation as to exactly who was targeted. At this stage, no confirmation that al Baghdadi himself was wounded.

Now, if in fact he had been hit, wounded or killed, while, that would be potentially a significant development, one must also take care to note that would not necessarily mean that ISIS would somehow crumble.

This is an entity that time and time again has proven its ability to adapt and morph. If we look at its creation of days from days it begun, it's al Qaeda in Iraq and moved to Islamic State of Iraq, this most certainly is an organization that has plans in place when it loses top leadership, Randi.

KAYE: And is there anybody second to him who would take up the command if he has been injured or even killed?

DAMON: Well, he does have a number of deputies. We understand from the command structure is that there are perhaps a handful of individuals who are his second tier commanders and that they would potentially have the capacity to take over.

What we do understand bearing in mind this is a secretive organization, is that there's a vote that does take a place when the leadership is selected. That is how Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi took up the mantle of what was then the Islamic state of Iraq after his predecessor Abu Omar al-Baghdadi (ph) was killed.

So there is some sort of structure in place for leadership to be handed over. There's also an organization that is very well adept at adapting as I was mentioning earlier. There are various reports as to exactly how the leadership is formed. But many analysts believe they have organized themselves into smaller cells, thereby meaning those cells would continue to maintain capacity to carry out operations on the ground even if the hierarchy of the leadership has been impacted.

KAYE: Arwa, thank you very much for the update from there. Appreciate it.

And still to come, a horrific plane crash in the Bahamas claims the lives a prominent and internationally known pastor and his wife. Now, investigators must try to figure out exactly what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: People around the world are remembering the life of a man being called one of God's top generals in the Christian church. Internationally renowned minister, Myles Munroe, his wife Ruth and seven others were killed when their Learjet crashed in the Bahamas yesterday. They were flying to Freeport for a conference when the jet slammed into a crane in a shipyard and exploded.

CNN's Alina Machado is live in Miami.

So, Alina, do investigators know why this jet went down yet?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi at this point, if they know, they're not saying at least not yet. We do know there were storms in the area at the time of the crash. Weather may have been a factor in this plane crash. Authorities in Bahamas are saying that, as you mentioned, this crashed into a crane -- it hit a crane as it was trying to land in Freeport. All nine on board have died including Dr. Myles Munroe and his wife Ruth.

Listen to what the prime minister of the Bahamas had to say about him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY CHRISTIE, BAHAMAS PRIME MINISTER: It is utterly impossible to measure the magnitude of Dr. Munroe's loss to the Bahamas and to the world. He was indisputably among the most recognizable religious figures our nation has ever produced.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: Now again, as you mentioned, Dr. Munroe was on his way to Freeport for an annual conference that he hosts. One of the people who was going to be at this conference, Andrew

Young, a former Atlanta mayor and U.S. ambassador to United Nations is in the Bahamas today for that conference to speak at the conference. A spokesperson for Young has released a statement. I want to show that to you.

It says, "Ambassador Young expresses deep sadness over the tragic death of his friends Dr. Myles and Mr. Ruth Munroe. He offers condolences to Munroe family and the families of the other souls who lost their life as a result of this shocking plane crash."

Randi?

KAYE: All right. Alina Machado, appreciate that. Thank you very much.

And still to come, North Korea releases the final two Americans in prison there. CNN's Ana Cabrera is live with new details for us.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Randi. The sun rising in Seattle.

Free at last for both Kenneth Bae and Todd Miller, a long time homecoming for their families. What we're learning today about the mission to release them and how things are going reuniting with their families, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)