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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Hundreds Die As Migrant Ship Capsizes; ISIS Says It Beheaded Christians; Terror Arrests In ISIS-Inspired Plot; Tsunami Advisory Lifted For Japan; Stock Futures Are Higher; Candidate Clinton's First New Hampshire Visit; Marathon Day In Boston; Severe Storms Hit The Southeast. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired April 20, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

[05:30:00] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds and hundreds could be dead this morning when their boat capsizes in the Mediterranean. Search crews on the scene right now and a crisis rages overnight.

Horrific new video released by ISIS purportedly showing the massacre of dozens of Christians. We are live with the details.

And a terror plot here at home, the FBI arresting several men across two cities. We'll tell you why.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman. It's 30 minutes past the hour. Christine Romans is off today.

Happening now, ships in the Mediterranean have recovered dozens of bodies this morning. They are being offloaded in Italy. They were among the hundreds of migrants from Libya thrown into the water when the ship that they were packed into capsized.

Hundreds more are believed to have been trapped inside the ship when it sank. One survivor tells officials that many who died were locked inside the vessel by smugglers.

Our senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, is following the recovery effort from Italy -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, we are in the port of Katanga in Sicily where we are awaiting the arrival of the Italian Coast Guard ship "Gregoretti," which a while ago docked in Malta and unloaded the bodies of the 24 people, who died in this tragedy at sea.

Now the ship will be coming here later today with the 28 survivors. That is what the Italian authorities are saying is the number of people who they were able to rescue from the sea.

Now as far as the Maltese authorities, they say as many as 50 people survived. Now last night, the Italian authorities issued a statement in which they said they had questioned a Bangladeshi survivor from this tragedy, who said that as many as 950 people may have been on board that ship.

It's a much larger number than the original 650 that Italian authorities were quoting. They also said that this Bangladeshi survivor said that during the course of this disaster, that many of the people, who were on the lower decks of the ship were not able to escape because the human traffickers had actually locked them in.

As far as the traffickers go, the Italian authorities say that they are conducting a widespread investigation of people involved in this tragic business of human trafficking.

They have detained an unknown number of individuals from sub-Saharan- Africa. This investigation is being conducted not just here in Sicily, but also in Rome and Milan as well -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Ben Wedeman for us.

New this morning, U.S. officials are condemning an ISIS beheading of two groups of prisoners. The captives appearing in a new ISIS video are believed to be Ethiopian Christians.

National Security Council officials are calling the killings a brutal mass murder. A spokeswoman says the beheadings are, quote, "an attempt to sew discord among religious communities."

Our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson joins us now. Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. It is a multilayer propaganda message from ISIS. On the surface, the 39-minute video is telling Christians that they can live under ISIS control. However, they have to submit to Islam. They have to pay a non-Muslim tax or convert to Islam or they can face death.

What they do in the video is kill two different groups of Ethiopian Christians. One group was killed by beheading in the north of Libya. On the southern borders of Libya, they execute another 15 men by shooting them in the head.

The effort here is by ISIS to create the image that they are prevalent all across Libya. That is not the case. There are many radical Islamist groups. ISIS there is growing in strength.

But what they are trying to do as well by using the same media group that ISIS uses in Iraq and Syria is to create another layer of image here of propaganda, if you will, because they are connected through the video production with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, this means that ISIS is bigger and more prevalent in the Middle East.

So this is raw ISIS propaganda, brutality, as we have seen it before. But the deeper message here is one that ISIS intends to show that it is growing and it is going to grow into places where more Christians live -- John.

BERMAN: In an international organization that can coordinate efforts across several countries. Nic Robertson for us this morning, thanks so much.

The FBI has arrested at least six men in Minneapolis and San Diego in connection with apparently an ISIS-inspired terror plot. More details are expected at a news conference later today.

[05:35:12] We do know that a plot involved young people traveling to Syria or at least trying to in order to join up with ISIS. Authorities say there was never any direct threat to the public.

Nuclear talks with Iran resume this week in Vienna. Iraq's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini slammed the United States on Sunday. He accused the White House of creating a myth about his country's nuclear intentions.

But so far, he is still backing the negotiations. Later today, President Obama will host the crown prince of United Arab Emirates to discuss the framework of the deal that has been reached with Iran.

A tsunami advisory has now been lifted in the south of Japan after a powerful earthquake at sea. The magnitude of 6.6 quake in the waters east of Taiwan and south of Okinawa caused buildings to sway in Taipei.

It forced residents to seek higher ground. The tsunami advisory was lifted about an hour after it was issued. Right now there are no reports of any serious damage or injuries.

Time now for an EARLY START on your money, Cristina Alesci is here.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: And it's a mixed morning for stocks. Asia shares are tumbling, but the U.S. future market seems to be shrugging it off. They are higher after a rough end to the week. On Friday, markets fell across the board.

The Dow shed 279 points or 1.5 percent. The Nasdaq was down 1.5 percent as well. The S&P is also down over 1 percent. That was largely because the Chinese government announced new regulations on trading.

Today, some more bad news out of China, the Central Bank recognizing a need for more stimulus as economy there slows down. Despite the concerns over China's growth, we are still very close to record highs. The Dow is just 2.5 percent away from its record. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 is even less than that.

But Wall Street today will be looking ahead to a big week of earnings. We will hear from IBM and Morgan Stanley later today. Earnings are expected to fall 3 percent this quarter, the first profit decline since 2009.

Wall Street is readjusting their expectations for profit earnings. Anything more than that 3 percent drop, however, will probably analysts are saying cause some kind of a selloff.

BERMAN: All right, 3 percent is the magic number there. Cristina, thanks so much. Hundreds protesting the death of a man severely injured while he was being arrested, apparently. The community demands to know what happened. We will show you the video next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [05:41:13]

BERMAN: Happening today, Hillary Clinton begins what her campaign says is the first of many visits to New Hampshire. Candidate Clinton is continuing the small scale theme she began in Iowa last week. This afternoon, she will tour a family owned small business that makes small furniture for kids.

Senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, is in New Hampshire with the latest. Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton begins the second week of her presidential campaign here in New Hampshire. She will be spending at least two days here recreating the visit that she started last week in Iowa.

It's all small downsized events. Meeting voters one-on-one in coffee shops and diners trying to reconnect and reintroduce herself to what her campaign says are her every day Americans.

Now she is coming just after a long weekend of Republicans campaigning in New Hampshire. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Scott Walker, a long list of Republicans, all are trying to distinguish themselves by campaigning against her.

That's that environment she walks into, but she will be focusing on her own policies. She has a few new policies we saw last week and we will see if she defines those even more this week. Same-sex marriage is a different view than she had eight years ago.

She also is not sure of the trade deal that's going through Congress right now. Liberals oppose that forcefully. That is the environment she walks into in New Hampshire. She will have a meeting in Kean and Concord.

And then do events all across the state for at least the next two days, but she will still not have a big policy speech to roll out her big proposals until mid-May -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Jeff Zeleny in New Hampshire. As Jeff, mentioned the Republican side, a parade of candidates, current and potential. That parade was in New Hampshire this weekend. They took turns taking shots at Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, FORMER CHAIRMAN AND CEO, HP: Hillary Clinton must not be president of the United States.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: This listening tour is something out of North Korea. Would you like to meet the dear leader and ask him anything you would like?

RAND PAUL, 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that her dereliction of duty, her not doing her job and not providing security for our forces and diplomatic missions should forever preclude her from holding higher office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, there are more than a dozen candidates up there already. There could be another. Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich says he is seriously considering a 2016 presidential run. He is not ready at this point to make it official.

It is Patriots Day in Massachusetts, one of the best days of the year. We are just hours away from the start of the 119th Boston marathon. Security is tight for the race.

This is the second since the marathon bombing, 30,000 runners will take part. A million spectators will line the route to cheer the runners on. It's a great event. City officials say safety should not be a concern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMISSIONER BILL EVANS, BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: There is no intelligence to say there is any threat to the marathon. I want to encourage everyone. Don't be intimidated. Our presence is going to be very low key.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Commissioner Evans has a great plan in place. It's pretty similar to last year's plan, just making sure that the security check points are coming in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The marathon takes place a day before the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev jury will reconvene to determine if the convicted marathon bomber will get life in prison or the death penalty.

Fallen trees and power lines down, homes and buildings torn apart, that is the damage inflicted by severe storms that rolled through the south over the weekend. At least one EF-1 tornado touched down in Alabama.

Train cars were overturned. Thousands are without power in the region. At least one Ohio woman was killed after a tree crashed on top of the car she was driving.

Let's get more on the severe weather on tap this time heading east. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with the latest -- Pedram.

[05:45:06] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good Monday morning, John. The severe weather we saw with over 400 storm reports across the southern U.S., that's all moved off to the east right now. We do have some active weather on Northern Alabama and North Georgia and the Carolinas this morning.

But some of the strongest rainfall is going to be centered over the northeast. Excess of 4 inches possible the next couple of days. Severe weather threats still in the forecast as well. Generally from Columbia towards the nation's capital, high temperatures in D.C. will make it up to 80 or so degrees.

When you factor in the extreme heat, the daytime heating, the inclement weather in place, certainly it could spawn a few isolated storms there that could be severe into the afternoon hours.

But between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., that is the heaviest rainfall in New York City and Boston today, of course, Boston marathon in effect. We know some rain showers are going to be impacting people there.

Not to mention the winds between 30 to 40 miles per hour in parts of New England later on this afternoon. The rainfall again through Wednesday is going to be significant with flooding concerns in the northeast.

Notice the cooler temperatures also coming into the forecast as we head into the middle portion of the week -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Pedram, thanks so much. The crisis intensifies in Yemen this morning. The rebels in a bloody civil war, they've got to keep on fighting. There are Americans stranded there and struggling to get out. We will give you the latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:50:09]

BERMAN: New violence in Yemen this morning, it has been more than three weeks since Saudi Arabia begin a campaign of air strikes against the Houthis rebels there.

The leader of the Houthis defiantly appeared on television calling the Saudi mission doomed. Let's get the latest from CNN international correspondent, Nima Elbagir, who has seen this crisis firsthand. Nima, what's the latest this morning?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you said, the latest statement from the Houthi leader putting pain to any hope that the negotiations were imminent. He issued a statement he would welcome negotiations.

We have been hearing that from the Iranian supreme leader as well, that negotiation is the only way forward. The Houthis leader appears to be distancing himself from any attempt, he said, to bow the Yemeni people.

He said they will continue to stand. These are his words, of course, united, as long as the air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition continue. This of course, they are with no (inaudible) they seem to be intensifying.

The Saudis say that they've hit some key arms depots. All the while of course, civilians are trapped inside these frontlines, John. The U.N. has revised its figures for those displaced from their homes by the fighting, which we saw street to street in some areas. They say 150,000 people have had to flee their homes -- John. BERMAN: The Yemenis are trying to get out. There are Americans trapped inside Yemen also. Why is it so difficult to get beyond the borders, Nima?

ELBAGIR: The U.S. has said that for them in their assessment of this situation, it is not safe. They are concerned it would make U.S. citizens a greater target if they were congregating in one place. But the reality is that other governments have gone in and they have gotten nationals out.

The Indian government brought out 5,000 of its nationals and brought some Americans with them as well. We were one of the first ships to dock in Aden Port for over a week. It was a happy coincidence for the Americans who we met that they managed to get on board.

We brought out 15 with us. They said there were 75 more stranded at port, who did not have the fees to pay the port authorities to leave. It sounds like an absolutely heart breaking situation.

One woman, her son was an Iraq war vet and she told me that he had fought for his country. She did not understand why her country was not coming to get them -- John.

BERMAN: Harrowing situation to be sure. Nima Elbagir, thanks so much.

So Lily Pulitzer igniting a shopping frenzy at Target basically breaking the internet. We will get an EARLY START on your money next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:56:29]

BERMAN: Let's get an EARLY START on your money right now, Cristina Alesci is here with that.

ALESCI: It looks like a good one for the U.S. so far. U.S. futures are higher right now after a rough day on Friday. Remember markets tumbled across the board. The Dow shed 279 points or 1.5 percent. The Nasdaq down by similar amount on a percentage basis. The S&P 500 is also down by 1 percent.

But Wall Street will be looking forward to a big week of earnings. We will hear from IBM and Morgan Stanley later today and a big deal potentially on the verge of breaking down. I'm talking about the $45 billion tie up between Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

The two companies will sit down with the Justice Department this week. The government is worried that the number one and two cable companies together would have too much power in the industry.

They would control about 30 percent of the cable TV market. The cable companies say we need to get together to compete against the likes of Netflix and Apple.

And I know you will love this story, John. The retailer Target ignited a shopping frenzy yesterday when it launched the Lilly Pulitzer line of clothing and accessories.

Demand for the items left shelves bare and overwhelmed the store's web site. The dresses and handbags have begun popping up on eBay sometimes double the retail price. I know you don't have daughters, but this is big with millennials. Young people are wearing Lilly Pulitzer, which I thought was actually a little bit of a younger -- an older friend.

BERMAN: Preppy stuff. All right, thanks so much, Cristina. Hundreds of people dead when the ship capsizes in the Mediterranean, "NEW DAY" picks it up right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Migrants were trapped inside the sinking ship because smugglers locked the doors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As many as 950 people were on board.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At least six U.S. citizens arrested in an ISIS- inspired plot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The online recruiting is part of it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chilling video shows ISIS purportedly beheading Ethiopian Christians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What this video does is shows ISIS brutality.

BERMAN: Hillary Clinton surging in the polls as Republican rivals take aim.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton will raise $2.5 billion. That's a lot of Chipotle.

BERMAN: The 27-year-old Baltimore man died Sunday. One week after taken into custody by police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want the truth. The people in Baltimore want the truth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, April 20th, 6:00 in the east. Mich is off. We have J.B. with us.

Up first, the world is watching the worst migrant disaster ever. Hundreds feared dead, only a handful of survivors in a capsizing while crews are trying to locate trapped victims in a crowded ship that sank in the Mediterranean Sea. How will the international community respond as these smugglers are driving refugees to their deaths?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Also, bone-chilling video appearing to show two groups of Ethiopian Christians executed at the hands of ISIS. A masked man telling Christians they must convert to Islam or pay with their lives. This as the FBI nabs six men in another ISIS-inspired terror plot here in the U.S. We have got all angles of these stories covered the way only CNN can.

Senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson is live for us in London -- Nic.

ROBERTSON: This is a multilayered message from ISIS in Libya. What they do here is execute two groups of men they say are Ethiopian Christians. One group they behead right next to Mediterranean in the north of Libya.