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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Terror Attack in Jerusalem; American Woman Held Hostage; Ferguson State of Emergency; Ukraine "Preparing for Total War"

Aired November 18, 2014 - 05:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: terror in Jerusalem -- as two knife and ax-wielding men storm a synagogue, killing four people, wounding seven others. We are live from Jerusalem with the latest.

Another American hostage held by ISIS, this time a female. How the 26-year-old was captured by the militant group and why President Obama has ordered a full review of how the U.S. handles hostage situations, including negotiating their release.

Outrage this morning. Protesters blasting the Missouri governor for declaring a state of emergency before the grand jury has announced whether it will indict the officer for killing the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Did the governor go too far?

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, November 18th, it is 5:00 in the East. John Berman has the week off.

Breaking news this morning to tell you about: a terror attack in a Jerusalem synagogue. Four people killed. Six others wounded as two knife-wielding men break into a temple. The assailants identified as Palestinians. They were shot and killed at the scene by Israeli troops.

Joining us now live with the latest, CNN's Ben Wedeman in Jerusalem.

Ben, what can you tell us about the investigation at this point?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand the Israeli police are looking at two individuals who they've identified as being the perpetrators of this attack that occurred just over five hours ago, 7:00 local time, at the synagogue in West Jerusalem.

Now, they are focusing on the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood in East Jerusalem. That's a Palestinian neighborhood. The two perpetrators in their 20s are cousins. They were, of course, killed just outside that synagogue in the morning.

We understand that there are large presence of Israeli security forces in Jabel Mukaber at the moment. An Israeli police spokesperson say telling that they have arrested nine people involved in riots with the Israeli security forces. Now, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is

going to use a firm hand to punish those behind this attack. Now, he and other Israeli officials are pointing the finger of blame at Hamas and also the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for incitement, for inciting Palestinians to attack Israelis largely as a result of tensions around the situation on the Temple Mount, or the Haram al- Sharif as it's known to Muslims, an area where we have seen clashes for quite some time, between Israelis and Palestinians -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Ben Wedeman for us this morning, certainly an escalation of tensions, of what's already been a tense situation. Thanks, Ben.

Turning now to the battle against ISIS, rather. The Islamic terror group beheading of American aid worker Peter Kassig leaves just two known Western hostages. One is British photojournalist John Cantlie. He has appeared in several ISIS propaganda video apparently under duress. The other is 26-year-old American woman.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin joining us live from London with more -- Erin.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine. That's right.

And we do not have an update on the condition of the known remaining Western hostages. This latest ISIS video is different than videos past. It shows the beheadings of Syrian prisoners, as well as the announced beheading of American aid worker Peter Kassig.

But what it does not show is a next victim, and it is not clear why because as you say, we do know that they have two remaining Western hostages. One, an American woman and aid worker that was kidnapped in August of 2013. Her family has asked that CNN not reveal her identity.

And then the other hostage, a British journalist by the name of John Cantlie. He appeared in several ISIS videos apparently, as you say, under duress as a propaganda tool.

Meanwhile, as for the identities of the is fighters that were featured in that video, well, French authorities saying there could be as many as two French citizens featured in that video. One, a 21-year-old by the name of Maxime Hauchard, as French authorities saying that it is probably he is in the video, although it is still subject to investigation. The French public prosecutor gave a press conference yesterday and talked about how he had been, they believe he had self- radicalized.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANCOIS MOLINS, FRENCH PUBLIC PROSECUTOR (through translator): In July of 2014, he gave Skype interview by Raqqah on a channel where he explained he had been self radicalized on the Web and talked about his army training and his life in barracks together with 40 other people. And in August of 2014, as a candidate of jihad, he asked others to join him in Syria and in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Authorities are trying to identify the other ISIS fighters featured in that video, brazenly featured unmasked. It appears as though they come from different parts of the world -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Erin McLaughlin from London for us this morning -- thank you, Erin.

President Obama has ordered a top to bottom review of the government response when Americans are taken hostages by terrorists overseas. This order was revealed in a Pentagon letter to California Congressman Duncan Hunter who has advocated for a tougher response to terrorist captors.

Three Americans have been killed by ISIS militants. It's not known if the government's strict no-ransom policy will be part of that review.

Protesters in Ferguson, Missouri are angry this morning at Missouri Governor Jay Nixon for declaring a state of emergency before the grand jury has announced whether it will indict a white police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager. In fact, announcing state of emergency before anything has happened at all. The governor is saying he's doing this as a precaution.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in Ferguson with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are certainly a lot of folks talking about what has happened over the past 24 hours. Governor Nixon declaring a state of emergency and then saying that he has activated the National Guard in preparation for the grand jury deciding whether or not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

The protesters are pretty upset about what he has done, saying that basically it is painting them as violent, and they have been protesting for more than 100 days. Many of them showing up and are not violent at all, though they are very, very loud, and they do a lot of chants and they come at police with very strong words. But they say for the most part, they have been peaceful. And this paints them all as violent.

However, the governor has said before that he wants to make sure that the community is prepared, that businesses and residents are protected, and that he will do whatever it is in his power to make sure that happens. So, he has gone ahead and put forward the state of emergency.

We do know that there are folks who do appreciate that, including the mayor of St. Louis who supported the governor's decision, saying that preparations are necessary and it is not that easy to simply call up the National Guard and have them be ready. So, he has done that in advance, also saying that the National Guard will be in the background, that it will be the police departments who are front and center, namely the St. Louis County Police Department and the Missouri Highway Patrol.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Sara Sidner for us this morning in Ferguson, Missouri.

The Senate is expected to vote tonight on the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Louisiana's Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu telling reporters she is comfortable she has the 60 votes needed to authorize construction of the project, even though only 59 senators are publicly supporting it. If the bill does pass, it will set up a showdown with the president. He has said he wants the State Department to determine the pipeline's fate.

Top Senate Democrats are urging President Obama to use executive powers to overhaul the nation's immigration system, a decision could be imminent. The president has been calling on Republicans to pass comprehensive immigration legislation. He has threatened to bypass Congress by the end of the year if they don't.

New details now about the aggressive search for a suspect who pushed the man in front of a New York subway train, as the man's wife looked on in horror. Police are looking for this man, this heavy set balding man last seen Sunday wearing dark jeans, white sneakers, and a black leather jacket. People who were at the station were stunned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The conductor told me it was a tragedy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody is panicking because the MTA workers, the people that are supposed to be trained for this, they were panicking. You know what I mean? We heard little whispering, you know what I mean? The conductors were crying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The train operator said he could only close his eyes as the D-train hit 61-year-old Wai Kuen Kwok. Then he says he broke down and cried.

Police at risk for heart attacks and strokes may have another weapon in their arsenal. A large-scale six-year study compared people who took statin alone with those who took a combination of a statin with another drug Ezetimibe. Now, both saw their bad cholesterol or LDL levels go down considerably. Now, statins lower LDL by preventing it from being produced. The other drug lowers LDL by preventing cholesterol from being absorbed.

OK. Cold as it has been in most of the country, will it get colder?

Indra Petersons -- there she is -- has an early start on our forecast.

Hi, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Christine. It is that time of year, right?

Yes, we are talking about a lot of this cold air that's really pushed in over the last several days. We are talking about record rainfall that we saw yesterday. About a inch and a half of rain that fell in the northeast.

But no longer is this the story. It's all about the cold Arctic air that moved in behind the front. Take a look at the morning temperatures.

Right now, sitting in New York City, we're talking about temperatures in the 30s. We have 20-mile-an-hour winds gusting out here. So, it feels like with the windchill, we're seeing temperatures here into the 20s.

If you are in the Upper Midwest this morning, I can't even complain. You are seeing temperatures that feel like they are below zero. Again, it's not the story.

Here is the frontal system that made its way yesterday bringing that heavy rain, about a inch and half. It did set records in places like Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, even here in New York City, out towards Central Park. But it's the cold air behind it that's rushing that becomes the story for today.

One of the main reasons is all this cold air is so much colder than even the Great Lakes. So, as the winds go over the Great Lakes, you start to produce that heavy lake-effect snowfall. That's the concern as we still go throughout the day. Temperatures they're going to continue to even get colder as the arctic air makes its way in, but it's going to be dumping heavy amount of snow.

So, another foot of snow is possible or a foot of snow is possible around the lake areas. So, that's one side of the equation.

Then what else do we have? I think we know. It's the cold air, guys. Look at this -- the difference from yesterday and today. Temperatures expected to be 20 to 30 degrees cooler than just yesterday in through the Northeast.

So, it's not just the Northeast. Look down to the South, places like Atlanta well below average for this time of year. And day after day as we take you through the next several days, we are still going to be talking about the temperatures below average for this time of year.

Now, if you are in the South, things rebound slowly. We are talking about something called an omega block, as long as this pattern is here, wave after wave of cold air is still expected. So, yes, fall, officially I suppose -- by my terms -- gone, Christine.

ROMANS: Winter is coming.

All right. Thanks, Indra. Thanks for braving it for us. Time for an early start on your money this morning. Another day,

another record on Wall Street. Stock futures, you could see right now they're barely budging.

The S&P 500 once again inching up to a record yesterday. It has closed at a high in seven of the last nine trading sessions. It's up more than 10 percent so far this year.

So, will the stocks keep climbing? Well, many analysts have raised their year-end predictions. Some are warning of a pullback in the future. Now, we haven't had a true correction since 2011. And, you know, stocks can't go up forever.

Around the world, European stocks are higher right now. Asian stocks are mixed. Japan's benchmark has gained back some of yesterday's losses. We learned yesterday, Japan's economy is in recession. Now, there's speculation the prime minister will postpone a planned sales tax hike in Japan.

All right. Thirteen minutes past the hour.

Coming up, the Ukraine president says his country is preparing for total war, as Russia denies having any forces even in Eastern Ukraine. We're going to take you live from the region, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back.

Breaking news in the war on ISIS. Fighters from the terrorist group reportedly retreating from an oil refinery in Northern Iraq after surrounding it last month. We are being told Iraqi security forces have now entered the Baiji refinery. That's the largest in Iraq, an important piece of infrastructure.

If the Iraqis have regained control of this strategic refinery, it would represent their biggest victory against ISIS to date. We'll continue to follow that this morning, all those developments.

Ukraine this morning preparing for, quote, "total war", the words of the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. He tells a German newspaper his country is fighting for European values, but he says Russia does not respect any agreement. Russia denies it has any forces in Eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, the shelling goes on from both sides.

CNN's Phil Black is near Ukraine's border with Russia with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPONDENT: Christine, this is Hrabove, in Eastern Ukraine. It is a location where four months ago, Malaysia Airline flight 17 broke up in the skies above, crashed to the Earth, over a wide debris field. It is only now after that length of time that much of the wreckage is being collected and an operation being overseen by Dutch investigators. Look behind me, you can see a twisted of the fuselage, wreckage like

this is strewn across this incredibly wide area over the last couple of days. The Dutch investigators overseeing Ukrainian workers have been using cranes to lift up this wreckage on to trucks and get it out of here to a local train station where it will eventually find its way back to the Netherlands.

But four months after the crash, it will be a couple of weeks before the experts start to look through it. It is an eternity in terms of an investigation, but important that this is finally happening now. It is getting in just before winter, which is crucial. The snow will be blanketing this area very, very soon.

And, of course, there is the situation with the ongoing violence. Back in September, a cease-fire was signed. It saw a drop in the intensity of fighting which allowed the planning of this operation to take place. But as we know over the last week or so, the Ukrainian assessment, the NATO assessment, the concerns of European observers on the ground has been -- that there has been an influx of Russian soldiers, weaponry, into this region. And they feel the coming winter can also be a deadline for an imminent offensive of some kind.

A new land grab, if you like, by the separatists, by Russian forces. That is what the Ukrainian government fears and says it is preparing for. That's why the Ukrainian president is talking about total war, the worst-case scenario.

Of course, for the moment, the Russia, the separatists -- they deny the presence of those sorts of forces. But it remains to be seen just what happens here in a situation that is incredibly tense, where the fighting continues only a short distance from here, despite the fact that the cease-fire was signed back in September -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Phil Black for us this morning in Ukraine.

A critical vote at the U.N. this morning could lead to criminal prosecutions against the leaders of North Korea. If a U.N. committee approves the solution on Pyongyang's alleged human rights abuses, the entire general assembly will decide in December whether to send the case to the International Criminal Court. That would give North Korea that distinction of becoming the first non-African nation to be referred to the ICC for crimes against humanity.

Baseball has been very, very good to Giancarlo Stanton, specifically the Miami Marlins who just gave him the richest contract the game has ever seen ever.

Laura Rutledge has the details in the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. The weather says football. Let's talk some football.

While you have been sleeping, the Steelers rallied late to take down the Titans.

Laura Rutledge has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Laura.

LAURA RUTLEDGE, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, Christine.

Yes, and going into last night's game in Nashville, the Steelers looked like a lock to beat the two-win Titans. But it took big effort from their bruising running Le'Veon Bell to get the job done. Bell ran for 204 yards, the most by any running back this season, including stretching out for this touchdown. He had the best game for a Steelers back in four years. Big Ben Roethlisberger and company finally got the passing game going late as well, finding Antonio Brown in the end zone for the go ahead goal. Steelers win 27-24.

To baseball, the Miami Marlins and slugger Giancarlo Stanton agreed to a record contract yesterday worth $325 million over 13 years. That makes Stanton the highest paid American athlete in history. To put it in perspective, Stanton will make over $154,000 a game next season. This all comes as a bit of a surprise since the marlins has the lowest payroll in baseball last year. They only spent around $52 million on their entire roster last season.

Nail biter in Sanford, California, last night. The defending champ UConn Lady Huskies were riding a 47-game win streak, three seconds left in regulation when Stanford ties the game with a three, sending it to overtime. And Stanford would knock down clutch shots in the extra period, and the Cardinals snap number one UConn's 47-game win streak. It's not the first time Sanford has ended a UConn streak. They snapped an NCAA record 90-game run by the Huskies in 2010.

All right. Remember the Saints fan on Sunday who stole a touchdown ball meant for a lady Bengals fan? Social media went nuts and people across the country have publicly shamed the guy for taking a ball that wasn't intended for it. His name is Tony Williams. He is now telling his side of the story, wants the world to know he is not a bad guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY WILLIAMS, WANTED FOOTBALL FOR HIS GRANDBABY: Believe me, with me, chivalry is not dead. I wasn't intending to hurt anyone or do anyone harm. I was just trying -- my motive was to keep the football for my grandbaby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RUTLEDGE: So, his grandbaby --

ROMANS: Grandpa's love.

RUTLEDGE: His grandson. I would imagine, Christine, that young man will have quite a story to tell when he shows that football off.

ROMANS: I think so, too. I think it's nice he came out to say why he wanted that football. Thanks so much, Laura. Nice to see you this morning.

Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

A deadly mass slaying in the Jerusalem synagogue is being called a terror attack. We've got the gruesome details live from the region straight ahead.

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