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GOP Candidates Face Off in Milwaukee; Debate Moderators Get High Remarks for Their Performance; Analysts Focusing on ISIS in the Sinai; Airport Insider Likely Planted Bomb; Three Indicted in Largest U.S. Bank Breach; Netanyahu Meets with Obama; Migrant Numbers Surge in Germany; China's "Singles Day" Smashes Sales Records; GOP Debate Highlights. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 11, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:13] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, Republican presidential hopefuls face off in their latest debate which was heavy on policy and surprisingly light on insults.
VAUSE: New developments in the search for clues in the Metrojet crash. U.S. officials are now joining the investigation.
SESAY: And prosecutors hand down an indictment for one of the largest hacks in history.
VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. Thanks for joining us this hour. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
VAUSE: The U.S. Republican presidential candidates have been laying out their plans for the future of the nation's economy. The top eight candidates took to the stage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night arguing over tax reform, limited spending, the banking industry, a whole other stuff as well as immigration.
SESAY: Senator Ted Cruz vowed to abolish the IRS if he's elected. Senator Marco Rubio drew fire for his plan to expand child tax credits, but Ben Carson took some of the loudest applause for his criticism of the media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, I thank you for not asking me what I said in the tenth grade. I appreciate that. The fact of the matter is, you know, what we -- we should vet all candidates. I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about. And then putting that out there as truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joining us now is CNN's national political reporter, Maeve Reston.
OK, so a lot of people watching Ben Carson seeing how he would deal with that question about media scrutiny of which you were one of the media who scrutinized him.
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes.
VAUSE: You know, he kind of did what he always did, which wasn't a whole lot. He kept his likability factor. How did you think it went?
RESTON: Well, I think it's so interesting because he's obviously raised a lot of money off of this in the last couple of days, according to his campaign. But he really -- he got a sympathetic question there from the moderator about these questions about things that he's talked about, violent outbursts in his past and, you know, the attempted stabbing of a friend. He's refused to tell CNN who these people are and -- but he just sort of went with humor and the crowd was clearly sympathetic.
VAUSE: Because of one line.
RESTON: Right.
SESAY: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
RESTON: Yes, exactly. His favorability ratings are so high and, you know, the people who love Carson are going to stay with Carson and see this all as a huge media attack rather than vetting of the candidate.
VAUSE: Well, sorry, no one is talking about the fact that he's going to get rid of the mortgage deduction which affects about half the country. But anyway.
SESAY: Yes. Exactly. No one is talking about that. But I do want to talk about Jeb Bush.
RESTON: Yes.
SESAY: A man who came out tonight doing all he could to flag or to revive his lagging campaign, I should say. Let's play a clip from his performance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're doing high fives in the Clinton campaign right now when they hear this. That's the problem with this. We have to win the presidency and the way you win the presidency is to have practical plans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Yes, Jeb, you know, he'll probably live to fight another day.
RESTON: He will. SESAY: But the question is, how many more days, Maeve?
RESTON: I think that this was a stronger, though uneven performance by Jeb tonight. But he did, you know, show some more fire, sort of in terms of the argument that he's the most electable candidate and really coming back on that. You know, a lot of the folks in the Republican primary audience won't like his answers on immigration, for example. But he did show a little bit more verve tonight. And you have to remember that his super PAC does nearly raise $100 million. They've got a lot in the bank. There's still a lot of time and this race is very volatile.
But, you know, Marco Rubio, clearly, again, had a very strong night, very on message, got his points across.
VAUSE: Yes. I think for Jeb Bush, he has had so many bad debates that he had to turn up and not dribble and who would have thought that he had a good night. And of course because he's having such a bad night or bad campaign, everyone now is looking at Rubio, as you mentioned, and he had a good night. Also we heard a lot from John Kasich. He was really fired up tonight, especially when it came to immigration.
SESAY: Yes.
RESTON: Yes.
VAUSE: He took on Donald Trump. And this is one of the more interesting moments of the night. Look at this back and forth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We either have a country or we don't have a country. We are a country of laws. Going to have to go out and they'll come back, but they're going to have to go out and hopefully they get back. But we have no choice if we're going to run our country properly and if we're going to be a country.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country and somehow picked them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico -- to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes, think about the children. That's not going to work in this primary campaign because if you look at the polling Trump actually is on a winner with this in the primary.
[00:05:08] RESTON: Right. You know, Trump clearly wins the day with primary voters on this. You know, got a lot of applause for his answers on that. Clearly, that is what is drawing so many people to his rallies. And John Kasich, who keeps trying to position himself as, you know, the much more electable general election candidate, went out there tonight and made that argument very forcibly, but probably didn't have a huge audience that it was going to resonate with.
VAUSE: This Republican Party does not want a moderate.
RESTON: Right.
VAUSE: And he's the moderate.
RESTON: Right. Right. And I mean, that's just the catch-22 for them every time.
SESAY: He's the grown-up.
VAUSE: Yes.
RESTON: I mean, you think about how this played with Mitt Romney in 2012 and his line on self-deportation. And there are a lot of Republican strategist out there on the more moderate side who are wringing their hands saying, hey, you know, what are we going to do when you get to the general election? And when Jeb -- Jeb Bush, you know, made the point that, you know, people in the Clinton campaign were high-fiving and they probably were high-fiving over that immigration answer tonight.
SESAY: I want to talk about another fascinating moment that arose in this debate between Rand Paul and Marco Rubio. A really feisty exchange that highlighted the differences, the policy differences between these two men. Let's play a little bit of the clip of that exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not. I believe the world is a stronger and a better place when the United States is the strongest military power in the world.
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All right. Marco, Marco, how is it conservative -- how is it conservative to add a $1 trillion expenditure for the federal government that you're not paying for? How is it conservative --
(CROSSTALK)
RUBIO: Are you talking about Iran?
PAUL: How is it conservative to add $1 trillion in military expenditures? You cannot be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Marco, Marco, Marco, and really a debate that is about the fundamentals of conservatism here.
RESTON: Yes. Just the crux of what it means to be a conservative. Such a fascinating exchange. And it was interesting that you saw tonight Rand Paul didn't really back away from that slam as Marco Rubio meant it to be, being a committed isolationist. But you do have very -- a lot of fissures within the Republican Party about how much money we should be spending, how much intervention we should have over in the Middle East. And that's going to be a fascinating debate to watch play out in this primary between the Rubio side and the Rand Paul side.
VAUSE: Yes, I thought it was really interesting watching Rand Paul tonight essentially, you know, destroy 15 years of, you know, con policy within the Republican Party.
RESTON: Right.
VAUSE: And not really taking any notice of it.
RESTON: Right. Right. But he got to get back in there. You know.
VAUSE: Maybe. Yes. I think Trump stole his thunder with a lot of those issues.
RESTON: Thump had a strong night, I thought.
VAUSE: Again.
RESTON: Yes. Again.
VAUSE: Maeve, thanks for being with us.
RESTON: Thanks so much.
SESAY: Always appreciated. Thank you.
Well, the moderators of Tuesday's debate are getting high marks for their performance.
VAUSE: Here is CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Isha. Hi, John. The media always plays a big role in these debates partly because television networks sponsor them and ask all the questions.
The CNBC debate two weeks ago was so poorly reviewed and this FOX Business debate seemed to be much better, much more positive feedback even though there were some complaints about the questions from some other journalists who were watching.
You know, there was almost a revolt in the wake of the CNBC debate. The head of the RNC said that CNBC should be ashamed. There were calls for a whole new plan for all the future debates. But those calls have been quieted. We're no longer hearing from any campaigns that want to blow up the debate format. And that's partly because this FOX Business debate was kept under control.
I've talked to many of the campaign representatives here at the filing center here, in the spin room, and there haven't been any big options to how it went tonight. If anything, objections are coming from the other side, from journalists who thought some of the questions asked by FOX were too soft, were too easy, or maybe too safe. There's always room for more follow-ups at these sorts of event.
But I would say the consensus is that FOX did have a successful night. It definitely did not have a repeat of the CNBC debate.
For primary voters, there was new information about these candidates. There were new revelations about how much they do or do not differ when it comes to economic policy. They're all generally interested in going in the same direction. Some of the differences between them are rather narrow, but there are only a few moments where there were actual back and forth, actual debate.
I think that left some people -- some viewers at home wanting to see more sparring between the debates. There was relatively little of that. But the RNC is happy with this. The candidates are happy with this debate and I'm sure FOX Business will receive ratings from it. We know that these debates have drawn in so many millions of viewers. More than 20 million viewers for the FOX News debate back in August, the CNN debate in September.
This debate will probably be smaller because it's on a smaller channel. But at least 10 million viewers likely tuned in, which means the candidates had exposure to a whole group of people that are possibly going to the polls in a few months.
[01:10:03] The ratings will come in in a few hours, and we'll know for sure. But as this debate season has proven, GOP debates are now one of the most watched shows on all of TV. They are in some ways a form of entertainment as well as informative about where these candidates stand. And that remains true after tonight.
John, Isha, back to you.
VAUSE: And thank you, Brian, for that.
I would submit that there is a pretty big turn on and then it falls off as the debate goes on.
(LAUGHTER)
SESAY: Having a pretty safe bet. You can find much more on the debate by heading to our Web site including a fact-check of the candidates' claims. That and so much more at CNNpolitics.com.
VAUSE: And we have more news to get to this hour. The Syrian Army looks to have retaken a key military airport which has been under siege by ISIS for two years. According to local reports the government began a major offensive almost a month ago to retake the airport in Aleppo Province.
SESAY: Analysts believe the airports could be used by Russian planes to continue airstrikes on rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al- Assad. The Syrian army says it's also reclaimed from strategically important areas near the airport. VAUSE: Intelligence officials worldwide are focusing on ISIS in the
Sinai Peninsula. The group which claims to have brought down Metrojet Flight 9268.
SESAY: It's still not clear what exactly caused the crash killing 224 people and as Ben Wedeman reports even less is known about the terror group.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: (voice- over): He goes by the nom de guerre Abu Osama al-Masri, a shadowy figure some say is the mastermind behind the downing of Metrojet Flight 9268.
It was his voice that claimed in an audio message that Wilayat Sinai, the ISIS-affiliated group waging an insurgency in the northern Sinai Peninsula, brought the plane down killing all 224 on board. But was he the mastermind?
When Abu Osama al-Masri does appear his face is always blurred. And his real identity or any other details are equally blurry, although his accent is distinctly from mainland Egypt, not Sinai.
MOKHTAR AWAD, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: The problem is, we don't actually know who he is. There are multiple theories put forward by Egyptian security officials on who he might be.
WEDEMAN: Egyptian investigators have yet to pronounce on the probable or possible cause of the crash of the Russian jetliner. But increasingly, Western intelligence officials suspect it was a bomb and the likely suspect behind it was Wilayat Sinai.
For the past two years, hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and policemen have been killed by Wilayat Sinai.
AWAD: It grew from a group that was blowing up pipelines into a full- blown insurgency in the Sinai that uses advanced anti-tank missiles and also MANPADs. It successfully downed a helicopter before and has tried to do that also on several occasions.
WEDEMAN: Its tactics, well-documented in graphic videos posted on social media, are increasingly deadly. Knocking out tanks and armored personnel carriers, overrunning checkpoints, even hitting an Egyptian naval vessel with a guided missile, and now perhaps including smuggling bombs onto airplanes.
The identity of the group's leaders remains a mystery, despite being hemmed in by Egyptian intelligence on one side and Israeli intelligence on the other.
(On camera): And in a sense, it doesn't really matter who the leaders are. All too often in the past, leaders of other terror groups like al Qaeda have been killed only to be replaced by others. Leaders come and go, but the groups remain.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Cairo. (END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, for the latest on the Metrojet investigation, let's turn to CNN's Ian Lee. He joins us live from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Ian, we understand U.S. investigators could soon get the chance to look at the physical evidence from this crash. What more are we learning about that?
IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Isha, we're hearing that the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has -- their offer of assistance has been accepted by the Egyptian government. They are just waiting to know when and where they can go to investigate the engines. This is the part of a plane that was made in the United States by Pratt & Whitney. They are being brought in to look at that to determine what could -- what had gone wrong there.
And we're hearing also that the FBI may be coming aboard as well. Part of that team that would be investigating now, that this team would be investigating the engines, but the FBI has experts in a bunch of areas. They could also help with that strange sound that was heard at the end of the voice recorder, that loud pop, but right now we know that the NTSB is going to be coming to Egypt to look at those engines.
[01:15:03] SESAY: So, Ian, how would you read Egypt's decision to bring in the NTSB? Does it signal Egypt is leading towards the U.S. and British theory a bomb brought down this plane?
LEE: Well, we've seen Egypt slowly shift positions from the beginning of this investigation where they were strictly mechanical to now it's all open possibilities. The NTSB, though, will be looking at these engines specifically. And Egypt still says that it could have been an engine issue, an engine exploding that brought down this plane. So this could be just adding to make sure that that wasn't the cause that brought down this plane. But we have seen Egyptian officials starting to entertain the idea that it could have been an actual bomb that brought down this plane.
SESAY: Ian Lee, reporting there from Sharm el-Sheikh, appreciate it. Thank you, Ian.
VAUSE: Well, still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the International Olympic Committee weighs in on the Russia doping investigation and some medal winning Olympians may be giving back those awards.
SESAY: Plus, three men are linked to largest theft ever of customer data from the U.S. financial institution. More when CNN NEWSROOM returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS HEADLINES)
KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley, with your CNN "World Sport" headlines. Russia has dismissed claims they're involved in a wide-reaching,
state-sponsored doping program in sports. They also added the accusations are not backed up by any clear evidence. Now the Olympic Committee is asking the IAAF to start with the plenary proceedings against athletes accused of doping. They're also calling for five Russian athletes and five coaches to be given lifetime bans.
Wolfgang Niersbach will keep his place on the FIFA executive committee despite the German Football Association president resigning on Monday over bribery allegations. He quit over a $7 million payment to FIFA. The money was allegedly used to bribe officials to vote for Germany's bid to host the 2006 World Cup. The scandal has forced the team manager of the Breslau Elf to reassure fans this won't affect the national team.
And turning our attention to the Premier League now. No shock that Chelsea's troubles are continuing. They've been fined $75,000 over misconduct charges. West Ham has also been fined $60,000 for them. It all relates when the two sides played last month. Both teams admitted failing to ensure players acted in an orderly way.
And that is it for all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:20:16] SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. The fallout from Russian doping allegations continued on Tuesday as the International Olympic Committee called for disciplinary measures against athletes and coaches who violated doping rules. That could include stripping them of medals and banning them from future Olympic Games.
Meanwhile the World Anti-Doping Agency has pulled the credentials of the Moscow lab used for anti-doping test.
VAUSE: Still, the Kremlin has called the allegations of cheating groundless. Russia's Sports Ministry has said it was open to closer cooperation on doping regulations and the head of Russia's anti-doping agency acknowledged there were problems but insisted they're doing a good job.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKITA KAMAEV, RUSSIA ANTI-DOPING AGENCY (Through Translator): I believe that problems obviously exist, but Russia is on the path to clear its name and change. This is a trend recently.
It is strange to talk about that for me, as if I am praising myself, but according to objective facts, the Russian Anti-Doping Agency, based on the criteria suggested by the national agencies, by the international agency itself, operates totally in accordance with their criteria and fights doping effectively enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Now Russia has until Thursday to respond to these allegations. After that, the track and field governing body will discuss further steps that will happen on Friday.
SESAY: Now the Justice Department says it has identified the people involved in hacking JPMorgan Chase last year, affecting tens of millions of customers.
VAUSE: Until now nobody knew who did it or why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE (voice-over): Prosecutors say it was securities fraud on steroids. Never before have hackers hit an American bank this big or this hard. The U.S. Justice Department says last year three men hacked JPMorgan Chase, stealing the personal data of more than 80 million customers. The attack so big, investigators first thought it was state sponsored. Possibly linked to the Kremlin.
PREET BHARARA, U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: By any measure, the data breaches at these firms were breathtaking in scope and in size.
VAUSE: Officials say it was all part of a scheme to manipulate stock prices, what's known as pump and dump. Investors are encouraged to buy shares to inflate their price and then sell when they peak.
The two Israelis and one American allegedly made more than $100 million, hiding their scheme behind 75 shell companies, employing hundreds of people.
Federal agents say the hack on JPMorgan was a fact-finding breach. Together specific information on people and moves on the stock market. But they didn't stop there. Prosecutors say, in all, seven major banks were hacked. The three men ran an online casino. They laundered money around the world, even ran an illegal Bitcoin operation. Lawmakers describe it as a brave new world of hacking for profit.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Joining us now is Hemanshu Nigam. He's a cyber security analyst. He's also CEO of SSP Blue. That's an advisory firm for online safety security and privacy.
Hemanshu, nice for being with us.
SESAY: Welcome.
VAUSE: This was such an incredible, global operation. It went from Egypt, to South Africa, Brazil, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, and really just shows how many of these financial companies, these big companies who are struggling to keep up with the cyber criminals.
HEMANSHU NIGAM, CYBER SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it's absolutely amazing that 2007 until now, this has been going on, unnoticed by the financial companies. These are the exact people that, when we give our money to them, we expect them to protect it at no cost whatsoever. But it's obvious what's going on now, which is, what? When there's money involved, the digital world is turning into the digital mafia world.
You can see all the different things that they're doing are what traditionally the 1880s and the '90s used to be the mafia going around the streets, knocking on doors, breaking it down, stealing money, now it's turning around through the digital door, and the real question is, are the companies ready for it or are we going to have international ramifications on the next one that happens that's much larger than even this one?
SESAY: Talk to me about what was unique here. Because they've described it as the brave new world for hacking for profit. Talk to me about what was unique and how these guys pulled this off because it is staggering.
NIGAM: Yes, I will tell you. They're calling its unique, which something -- kudos, first of all, to the government for prosecuting and identifying. That doesn't always happen. But they are calling it unique, but when you break down what they were doing, it is actually basic hacking techniques. You steal a user name and password, you use the trust of JPMorgan and send a note to all their customers, and say to them, hey, you know what? Buy this stock when the stock goes up, they sell it, they dump it, so they're mixing -- maybe perhaps this is the most unique thing.
They are mixing different types of techniques used in multiple different types of crimes into one and the goal being make money for the hackers, take money from the customer.
[01:25:09] VAUSE: The three suspects here, the three men who are accused of being behind this, are they your garden variety hackers? I mean, they're not the Dr. Evil of the hacker world, are they?
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: I mean, these aren't brain scientists or brain surgeons or rocket scientists, are they?
NIGAM: No. They're actually -- the way they're operating, they're more focused on the end goal, which is making money. Oftentimes, hackers are focused on something very simple.
VAUSE: Yes.
NIGAM: Get themselves on CNNi. That's the story they want to hear. They succeeded. These hackers are actually focused on one thing and one thing only and that is how to rip off the financial market and make money.
SESAY: 2007, this started. How on earth were they able to keep it going for so long? Talk to me about this. That in it of itself is a pretty interesting tale.
NIGAM: Well, a couple of things are going on here. One is, we get hired oftentimes to break in. We have white hat hackers on our team. 100 percent of the time we break into networks. But the fact that you're seeing this from 2007 tells us that those types of routine protocols of checking your security again and check it again and checking it again is not happening enough. The other thing is, sometimes hackers will lay low. They'll do just a little bit so you don't notice. Then they'll go somewhere else just a little bit and you won't notice.
And what they're really trying to say is, is anybody paying attention? Because if not, I'm going to keep going. But the moment there's some worry out there, they back off and then they come back in. So I think that's what's going on here is they're playing that game of I know you're watching, but if you're not, I'm going to go sneak in.
VAUSE: OK.
SESAY: Fascinating.
VAUSE: Thank you for coming in. It's been great to talk to you.
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: This as well as topics which sadly, I think, we'll probably be talking to you again.
SESAY: Yes. Probably.
VAUSE: Probably not too long from now. Hopefully it won't be the big one that you threaten could be out there.
NIGAM: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: Thanks for coming in.
SESAY: Appreciate it. Thank you.
Well, next on CNN NEWSROOM, tough questions for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he looks for support on his latest trip to the U.S. Details, next.
VAUSE: Plus, a small East German steel town already hosting thousands of refugees gets ready to take on even more. We'll tell you how the residents are feeling about that just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:41] SESAY: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE, I'm John Vause. Thanks for staying with us. The headlines this hour.
The Republican candidates touted their tax plans in the latest presidential debate. Ben Carson accused the media of lying about him. Donald Trump called out Carly Fiorina, asking "Why does she keep interrupting." And Jeb Bush and John Kasich blasted Trump's immigration plan.
SESAY: Syrian army has retaken control a military airport east Aleppo, according to state news. It had been surrounded by ISIS since 2013. An army spokesman says hundreds of ISIS militants were killed and strategically important areas near the airport were reclaimed.
VAUSE: The International Olympic Committee has called for disciplinary action against Russian athletes and officials who violated doping rules. That could include pulling medals and bans from future Olympics. The move follows charges by the World Anti- Doping Agency for cheating in track and field. Russian officials admit there were problems, but say they're cleaning things up.
SESAY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought support for Israel from an audience that's often critical of him, American liberals. He met on Tuesday with a critical think tank in Washington. Netanyahu took on issues including the lack of prosecution for Israelis who attack Palestinians as well as his own accountability in peace talk with Palestinian officials.
VAUSE: The prime minister met with President Barack Obama on Monday. And during Tuesday's meeting, he expressed appreciation for the president's efforts to improve their strained relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: It was a very good meeting. I'm not saying that -- lip service. It was a very good meeting. The president and I have had over a dozen meetings, I think. He's had more meetings with me than with any other head of -- any other leader. And I deeply appreciate that. I think the time that he's invested, the importance that he attaches to this relationship, I think, is unique.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN correspondent, Oren Liebermann, joins us now.
Oren, this is about Mr. Netanyahu trying to mend fences with President Obama after disagreements over that nuclear deal. Did he get the job done?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is certainly his intent. He knows -- he's a polarizing figure. And as you pointed out, mend fences not only with President Obama after the very public Iran deal dispute, but also with the American Jewish community, who is very split of how this all played out. Very publicly and very much disagreeing with President Obama. And that's what these meetings and that's what these talks were about. A difficult task in front of him. Those disagreements lasted for months and played out very publicly. But as you point out, John, that was certainly his goal here.
VAUSE: Yeah. He didn't even really mention the Iran nuclear deal. It's always hard to know exactly what is being said and what is going on behind closed doors. But take a look at the handshake between Obama and Netanyahu. I thought this was quite telling. Apparently Netanyahu was saying to the president I want to thank you for sustaining the friendship and the bond. You can see Benjamin Netanyahu leaning in there and Obama replies, good. Is that indicative of where the relationship is between these two men?
LIEBERMANN: I believe so. We spoke with a political analyst who said the only thing these two men need is for there to be no public spats. Given the last year or so and especially the last few years where they've had these disagreements, that was a monumental task for these two, how much they've disagreed. They both very much went out of their way. You saw this over and over again. Even if these two don't get along, and they've acknowledged those disagreements, it's almost as if they're disagreements within a family, the two countries are still working together for security coordination, military cooperation and that's what they very much stressed coming out of these meetings and that was Netanyahu's goal to stress that, as well.
[01:35:00] VAUSE: I just wonder if this is essentially the good-bye, we're done now, the Iran nuclear deal is over, Obama won, B.B. lost. There is zero percent chance of a peace deal between Israel and Palestine during Obama's presidency. I wonder if this is so long and I never want to see you again.
LIEBERMANN: Prime Minister Netanyahu knows he has just over a year to work with President Obama. He came here. It's his job to show Israel and the U.S. are getting along. He wants to show that, as difficult as that task can be, but he knows he's counting down until he works with the next president. He brought up what he'll do with the next president which is the U.S. military aid package. But, again, he knows he has one year left to work with President Obama.
VAUSE: I just wonder how much work they will actually get done, especially when you look at the body language between the two in the Oval Office.
Oren, always good to speak with you.
Oren Liebermann live for us this hour in Jerusalem.
SESAY: I never want to see you again?
VAUSE: I think that's the feeling. Look at the two. These two guys do not like each other.
SESAY: It's painful.
VAUSE: They will not be playing golf, you know, at some kind of resort town in the near future.
SESAY: I think that's a fair assumption.
Final results in Myanmar's parliamentary election may not be announced for another week and a half, but Aung San Suu Kyi is confident her party will form enough votes to form a new government. She is making it clear she will be in charge regardless of who eventually becomes president.
VAUSE: And she's asked for a meeting with the military chief, the parliament's chairman and the president. The election committee says her National League for Democracy Party has so far won 163 of the 182 seats declared.
Hours from now, leaders from the European Union and Africa will meet to discuss ways to tackle the migration crisis.
SESAY: This comes as Germany is on track to house more than one million refugees by year's end.
Atika Shubert takes us to an eastern German town who has taken in some of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iron works city, that's what this town was meant to be, an East German model of Socialist ideals built around a massive steel plant. But then the Soviet model crumbled, Germany reunified and the steel plant was dismantled and downsized. Today, the city's population has halved. Less than 30,000 live here now, many of them pensioners. And the only people flocking to iron works city are refugees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice. Thank you, young lady.
SHUBERT: The town is home to a refugee reception center, a temporary shelter for more than 3,000 asylum seekers. Some locals approve of their neighbors.
"There's a lot of empty buildings in town," this man says. "We should let them use them."
Others do not and they don't hesitate to tell us why.
This woman says, "They're not hurting anyone, but we can't take them all in. It's like a refugee tsunami. We've taken in too many and now we've lost control."
This is where the refugee crisis hits home. Here, locals share their buses and super markets with new neighbors from Syria and Afghanistan.
"I grew up in the old east Germany," this woman says. "I didn't grow up like this. I'm not used to refugees."
At the nearby super market, refugee refugees pay for their groceries, like everyone else, but the locals are less than welcoming, none of the refugees we spoke to seem to notice.
The 16-year-old wants to be a doctor. He fled Syria with his father, a farmer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's good.
SHUBERT (on camera): Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because help all people and give them place to sleep and live comfortably.
SHUBERT (voice-over): Iron works city is not the boom town it was supposed to be, but for those hoping to build lives, it's good enough to call home.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Germany.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:39:23] VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, China's online retailers are raking in billions today. It's Singles Day. We'll have a live update on the shopping holiday that has just smashed last year's records.
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VAUSE: Three men in the state of Virginia were arrested on Sunday accused of a white supremacist plot to bomb black churches and Jewish synagogues.
SESAY: The FBI arrested Doyle and Cheney (ph) on Sunday. They say the men wanted to rob a jeweler and a gun store owner to fund a race war. A third man is accused of planning to help.
VAUSE: The FBI said Doyle held at least one meeting at his home to discuss their plot. Between them, these three men had more than two dozen prior felony convictions.
A grand jury in Texas has indicted 106 people in connection with a deadly shoot-out at a restaurant parking lot back in may.
SESAY: The shoot-out at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco left nine people dead and sent 18 others to hospital. Gunfire broke out when gangs of bikers clashed.
VAUSE: To China now where it's the anti-Valentine's Day there. November 11 is Singles Day. It started as a way for bachelors and bachelorette to treat them. Now it's the single biggest shopping day anywhere in the world.
SESAY: Incredible. Once again, Singles Day is smashing sales records, I should say. Already topping last year's total of $ 9.3 billion. China's e-commerce leader, Alibaba says it made more than $5 billion in the first 19 minutes alone. Basically, this has become China's version of America's Cyber Monday.
VAUSE: CNN's Matt Rivers is covering all of this from Hong Kong. He joins us live.
Matt, these sales numbers coming from Alibaba are incredible. What is the actual final total in all of this? And give us a breakdown of sort of who is buying and what's actually being sold.
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Well, John, everything is being sold. Quite literally, everything from dried cranberries which was, believe it or not, one of the top selling items last year. To your more big ticket items that he would see purchased by Americans on Cyber Mondays. The TVs of the world, the appliances of the world. So it's really everything that you can imagine is being sold, but when you compare it to Cyber Monday, here is a stat for you. It took 17 minutes and 30 seconds, roughly, for Singles Day to outpace the total from the entirety of Cyber Monday in 2014. So this really just blows past anything that Cyber Monday and even Black Friday at that matter at the brick-and-mortar stores could offer up. As for who is buying, it is this growing Chinese middle class, the average shopper going online and spending somewhere over $200 U.S. It can't just be single people, I would imagine, because there is way too much money being tossed around here.
[01:45:33] VAUSE: OK. Well, there is a huge surge, so essentially what is driving the surge? Because we keep being told that China's economy, it's not exactly in recession, but it's slowing down. There are tough economic times over there.
RIVERS: Yeah, you would think given the tough economic times we have seen in China and throughout the summer, you would think retail sales would suffer. But, in fact, the opposite is true. In the past several months, retail sales in China year over year have been going up and in the past month, we've actually seen that data come out within just the last two hours or so and retail sales are up 11 percent. So that is what's driving these sales is that despite the slowdown, consumers continue to spend their money.
VAUSE: And if you look at Black Friday, the day after thanksgiving in the United States, that obviously has some cultural significance within the economy, within the society, but this Singles Day, it's completely manufactured. It has no religious or cultural significance. Apart from the fact that a few years ago, Alibaba grabbed on to it to try and sell stuff.
RIVERS: That really is. This concept started in the 1990s as a way for single people to kind of treat themselves. If you didn't have someone that was going to buy you a gift, why not just go and buy something for yourself? But it was really in the late 2000s when Alibaba signed on that it really became this incredible phenomenon that really is kind of taken on this cultural meaning now. It's showing that China is middle classes emerging as buyers. It's showing that the Chinese economy is really starting to move towards a consumer oriented economy. So, really, it's taken on a life of its own since Alibaba joined the fray.
VAUSE: Yeah. A lot of Hello Kitties being sold, I guess.
(LAUGHTER)
Matt Rivers live for us in Hong Kong, thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: I wanted ladies day --
VAUSE: Ladies day.
SESAY: -- where we can just buy treats for ourselves.
VAUSE: For the ladies.
SESAY: For the ladies.
VAUSE: Speaking of ladies, Hillary Clinton.
SESAY: Hillary Clinton was the main target --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: See that segue?
SESAY: Yes. It wasn't smooth.
She was the main target in the Republican debate, but the candidates took some serious shots at each other, as well. Highlights, just ahead.
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[01:49:15] PEDRAM JAVAERHI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good day to you. Pedram Javaheri for CNN weather. This is "Weather Watch."
(WEATHER REPORT)
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SESAY: Welcome back everyone. Republican candidates are celebrating their performances in the latest presidential debate. They faced off in Milwaukee Tuesday over the economy, foreign policy and immigration.
VAUSE: A lot of policy was talked about. After the debate, CNN talked to a number of the candidates in the spin room.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What did you think of your performance overall in the debates?
DR. BEN CARSON, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & RETIRED NEUROSURGEON: I thought it was fine. I didn't speak as long as people who were willing to butt in, but I tend not to be much of a --
(CROSSTALK)
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Why is that, Dr. Carson? Why not? This is an opportunity for you to show your stuff and to get in there and mix it up and a lot of your competitors did that. Why not?
CARSON: It's just not who I am. I'm --
BASH: But are you concerned about fading into the woodwork in a big event like this?
CARSON: No. Because I am who I am. If the people like who that is, that's great, but I'm not going to become somebody else.
BASH: How did you think the debate went?
CARLY FIORINA, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER CEO, HEWLETT- PACKARD: Well, I was very pleased. I think the moderators stuck to the issues. I think we each had time to make our points and I was pleased with the points that I was able to make sure I expressed to the American people.
BASH: Were you happy with the way this debate went?
TRUMP: I thought it was great. I thought the moderators were elegant. I thought the questions were really, really on point and I thought it was a great night. I thought it was -- the word is elegant. It was an elegant evening. The three of them, they were so professional, especially after the last catastrophe where people were asking about Fantasy Football, however that stuff gets in there. But they really did a great job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were frequent targets for the Republican candidates, but they saved some ammunition for each other.
VAUSE: Not as much as they did in past debates, but anyway, here is a look at some of the highlights.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
CARSON: Every time we raise the minimum wage, the number of jobless people increases.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R), FLORIDA & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you raise the minimum wage, you're going to make people more expensive than a machine.
JOHN KASICH, (R), OHIO GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'd like to make a comment --
JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: You've made two comments. It's my turn.
MARIA BARTIROMO, DEBATE MODERATOR: We have more questions for you, Governor Kasich, coming up.
(CROSSTALK)
KASICH: I've got about four minutes. I'm going to get my question right now.
NEIL CAVUTO, DEBATE MODERATOR: Are you worried your campaign, which you've always said, sir, is bigger than you, is now being hurt by you?
CARSON: Well, first of all, thank you for not asking me what I said in the tenth grade. I appreciate that.
(LAUGHTER)
I have no problem with being vetted. What I do have a problem with is being lied about.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You should let Jeb speak.
KASICH: No, it's --
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: You don't have to hear from this end, believe me.
BUSH: Thank you, Donald, for allowing me to speak at the debate. That's really nice of you.
(LAUGHTER)
Really appreciate that.
(LAUGHTER)
RUBIO: You know, it took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users. It took Candy Crush one year to reach 100 million users.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R), TEXAS & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, my mom is here so I don't think we should be pushing any grannies off cliffs.
FIORINA: The secret sauce of America is innovation and entrepreneurship.
RUBIO: Rand is a committed isolationist. I'm not.
(LAUGHTER)
I believe the world is a stronger and a better place when the United States is the strongest military power in the world.
(APPLAUSE)
SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco, Marco, how is a conservative -- how is it conservative to add a $1 trillion expenditure for the federal government --
BUSH: Back to the question, what we are dealing with in Iraq, when we pull back, voids are filled.
[01:55:04] TRUMP: If Putin wants to go in -- and I got to know him very well because we were both on "60 Minutes." We were stable mates. We did very well that night. You know that. But if Putin wants to go and knock the hell out of ISIS, I am all for it, 100 percent.
FIORINA: I would not be talking to Vladimir Putin right now, although, I have met him, as well, not in a green room for a show, but in a private meeting.
CAVUTO: By all means, it was a riveted debate. Business issues can be riveting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The other thing that was riveting or interesting, they all wore red ties.
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: Except Ben Carson. And even Ted Cruz, it was a pinkish red tie. Carly Fiorina was green, but all red ties.
SESAY: Fascinating. Yes.
VAUSE: With that fascinating note, we'll finish CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: I'm Isha Sesay.
For our viewers in the U.S., "Amanpour" is next.
For everyone else, the news continues right with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett after this.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[02:00:07] TRUMP: Why does she keep interrupting everybody?
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
