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Russia Calls Shooting Down of Jet a "Provocation"; Hollande Pushing for Coordinated Efforts Against ISIS; Teaching the True Meaning of Islam; Harnessing Antarctica's Winds; Pope Speaks to Faithful in Africa; "Share the Meal" Helps Feed Refugee Children; Former NFL Player Family Wants to Highlight Dangers of Concussions. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 26, 2015 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:13] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Why Russia is calling the shoot down of its jets a plaon provocation.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The French President pushing for coordinated efforts to defeat ISIS.

BARNETT: And the Pope's message to the faithful of the first stop, it is full of Africa.

CHURCH: We will have live report on those stories from Moscow Paris in Nairobi. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Also ahead we'll show you how to help feed the world's hungry when eating to use act. A big welcome to our viewers in the state and all around the world for about two hour block of CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin with this live pictures coming to us from Nairobi, Kenya as Pope Francis begins mass at the University of Nairobi there. Thousands are expected to join and participate in what is the punitive (ph) first official visit to the African continent. He will make a stop with three nations while he is there, but this Rosemary is the type of event where people are joyous. They're excited. You can hear them in the background. They're quite singing as well.

CHURCH: Indeed and we will have a live report on this in return to the story and this pictures we don't want to stop though with our top story here, the rhetoric between Turkey and Russia paging up both countries insist they don't want the dispute over down Russian war plane to escalate.

BARNETT: That's right. Turkey back its claim of repeated warnings with an audio of recording while Russia announced plans to deploy anti- aircraft missiles to protect its jets. Matthew Chance reports Moscow's suggest the shoot down was premeditated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MATHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDNET: In a forest near the Turkish Syrian border, the twisted wreckage of Russia's dying war plane. This exclusive footage obtained by CNN shows metal fragments barely recognizable scattered through the trees. The Syrian rebel fighter makes his way through the debris.

This is the moment Turkish interceptors blasted, the Russian plane out of the sky, you can see it plunging to earth in a fire ball.

The Turkish military is now release what it says is a recording of the clear warnings against the Russian plane. After ten messages of the five minutes, the Turks say they open fire.

The two Russian crew ejected safely their parachutes opened. Russian now confirms one of the Yemen, the pilots was dead when he hit the ground. But after a 12 hours Special Forces operation, Russian officials say the second crew member, the navigator was rescued. He's now appeared on Russian television. He's back turned to the camera denying his plane violated Turkish airspace or that any contact was made before they were shut down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In reality there were no warnings, not by the radio not visually. That's why we we're keeping our combat course as usual. You have to understand if they wanted to warn us they could have shown themselves but there was nothing. The rocket hit our tail completely unexpectedly. We didn't even see it in time to take evasive maneuvers.

CHANCE: Outside the Turkish embassy in Moscow, Russians vented their anger chanting murderers that the diplomats inside pelting the buildings with stones and eggs. The Russian authorities are furious too, the countries foreign minister suggesting the shoot down was at deliberate act.

SERGEY LAVROV, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS RUSSIA, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR CHANGE): We have serious states that this was an intentional. He said it looks very much like a pre-planned provocation.

CHANCE: For the moment, Russia insists there's no plan to go to war with Turkey over this but it is bristling with theory determines this first shoot down will be the last. Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: For more on this we joined now by Jill Dougherty in Moscow. She is with the International Center for Defense and security and was formerly a CNN correspondent base there in Moscow for many years, Jill great to see you at this morning.

So we know that there's tension now between Russia and Turkey but Russia's now indicating it will deploy the S400 defense missiles system but it main base there in Syria -- in Latakia. The potential for any more clashes then seems to be increasing. What is the message they are sending?

JILL DOUGHERTY, INTERNATIONAL CTR. FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY: Well, I think the message number one, Errol would be they want to protect their air assets when they go in to any operations and they have made it clear that Moscow is going to continue with its air operations.

[02:05:08] And if -- lets say that they have had some of the protection that they're bringing in at the point that the Turks attacked the Russian plane. It might have turned it differently.

Of course that would have even more complicated, more dangerous. But I think that's what Russia wants to do to make sure that it has all the protection for the -- their air assets that are going on to carry out those air strikes. That said, the more planes in the air, the more missiles station and the more military presence in general. The more complicated and the potential for dangerous accidents increases.

BARNETT: Now we know that Russia provides approximately 60 percent of Turkey's natural gas. There's been no indication that that will change any time soon but it is their potential that any of the business deals between the two countries may be impacted.

DOUGHERTY: You know, Russia is very angry right now and they're looking at sorts of possibilities certainly not militarily but economically, diplomatically to retaliate against Turkey from what it did. So you certainly could see some energy politics at play that hasn't been said yet but 60 percent of the natural gas is huge for Turkey. So that would be one area.

They are certainly looking at economic steps, you know, Russian tourist are go Turkey all of the time. It is a huge percentage of tourists for Turkey and Russia the Foreign Ministry has said, "This is not the good time for Russian tourist to go to Turkey." They are talking about everything from the economic retaliation to even ending educational exchanges. So you're looking at potentially a very big economic impact not to mention just a diplomatic part of it.

BARNETT: And on the diplomatic front we actually will see the French President meet with the Vladimir Putin today and try to convince him to focus more on ISIS targets. What might Putin ask for in return? I mean, how might he be convinced to do that?

DOUGHERTY: Well, that's going to be very hard because you know a number one even before the shoot down of the Turkish -- by Turkey of the Russian plane. France and Russia were divided over one crucial issue not so much joining forces. In fact that is really the message that President Hollande brings here to Russia today. He does want to have some type of a grand coalition and that sounds kind of like what President Putin wants to do.

However, they divide where it comes to Assad, President Hollande, France in West, in United States, et cetera does not want a protocol transition that includes Assad or if there is a political transition that Assad leaves the center stage as quickly as possible. Russia obviously feels that Asssad should remain at least until whatever replaces him comes in.

So that's one big dividing line but just, you know, how things change, just think of after the attack in Paris, President Putin was directing his military to coordinate with France as if we were allies with the phrase, as if we are allies. So now, it's more questionable.

Certainly Russia's action regardless of whether they were guilty here or innocent as they maintain in breaching the boarders of Turkey, it certainly Russia's still and Turkey do want to work together but these are the complicated factors that are coming in to play, Errol.

BARNETT: We all keep watching this closely. Jill Dougherty with the International Center for Defense and Security, joining us from Moscow at nine minutes past 10, then Jill, thanks.

CHURCH: And return to Paris now, where we are learning new details about a second terrorist suspect on the run from police. A source close to the investigations says Mohamed Abrini went to Syria in 2014. Police say he drove a car used in a Friday the 13th attacks, which was later found abandoned in a Paris neighborhood.

BARNETT: Meanwhile, French President Francis Hollande is meeting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and like as we mentioned, there he'll travel to Moscow with talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

CHURCH: All right, we don't want to bring incident Max Foster now. He is following the latest development from Paris. Now Max, let's start with that investigation. And what we know so far about the two suspects on the run.

[02:10:04] MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well they still on the run. All this time after the attack, which is so frightening and the assumption being that they're being protected by particular groups, so the investigations certainly focusing on where they could be, who they might be protecting them?

Salah Abdeslam as well of course one of the attackers also on the run and Abrini and Abdeslam was seen together a couple of days before the attack at a fuel station, so they're checking back those movements.

So as just to say, they discovered Abrini was in Syria in 2014 but I didn't know how he got back that makes him one of six of those involved in the attacks, who had gone to Syria.

So going there presumably getting military training and coming back -- coming out surveillance and coming out at very sophisticated attack. So this will replay into those debates that President Hollande is having with other world leaders' particular European leaders about information sharing also African leaders as well because Morocco is played a lot into this investigation.

How they can works together to find out about the movements so people who're suspected within particular security services. They need to put those alerts out to other securities services that everyone is tracking them. It's not a broken up system as we talked right now Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Max, you mentioned to that diplomatic mission of Presidents Hollande, he met with German Chancellor Angella Merkel Wednesday. Let's talk about what came out of that. What was achieved? And of course, now going forward are just today actually (ph) back, he will go to Moscow and meet with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Complicated now doubt by the downing of that Russian plane.

FOSTER: Absolutely, well in terms of Angella Merkel, he took it a promise on Angella Merkel that she would commit more to the fight against ISIS in Syria effectively relieving a huge amount of press cons French military troops in that run after time on Syria -- on the French sides.

So they put a lot of results into that. They've asked some help from Angella Merkel in Germany and she said, she will look into that. It wasn't a full commitment but certainly she is moving in that direction. And he'll be asking in the same thing on the Italian Prime Minister as well. He's meeting the French President here in Paris this morning.

As you say he's been heading off to Moscow. So he's incredibly busy at the moment. Considering he's also go memorial service tomorrow. And when the guys over to Moscow, he will be trying to find some common ground with Russia. As Merkel (ph) pointing out, there was this fundamental difference on the political future on Syria whether or not Assad's stays in power but what Hollande wants to do is trying to find some sort of middle ground which is perhaps working militarily with Russia.

So bringing the American like coalition inline with the Russian efforts, so they can coordinate military efforts on the ground. The problem is Obama, he said it just won't work with Russia as long as their targeting none ISIS targets. So that's the challenge that president Hollande just got in Moscow today.

But there is some potential for bringing the coalitions together in a more effective way even if that doesn't mean anything in terms of the political feature Syria.

CHURCH: President al-Assad definitely stumbling blank. He will be interesting to see what comes of those folks between Hollande and Putin. We will be watching very carefully as I know you will.

Max Foster, many thanks to you, joining us live from Paris.

BARNETT: Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, a case of avoidable human error. The U.S. military reveals what lead to a hospital being attack in Afghanistan instead of the suspected Taliban site.

CHURCH: Plus, we will meet an Imam in Belgium who's teaching school children about the true meaning of Islam. We'll have that in more when we come. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:16:02] KATE RILEY, CCN ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN World Sport Headlines. Matched day five with the Champions League was wrapped up on Wednesdays Zlatan Ibrahimovic return to the pitch of his boyhood club for the first time is Malmo hate just Paris Saint- Germain.

PSG came unto the field wearing Je Suis Paris across their shirt in honor of the victims of the Paris attack. PSG Cruz to a sign no win with home town hero is last time grabbing the third goal. He becomes the clubs all time top European goal score. This was his first goal for PSG for almost a year.

It was the top of the table clash in group D as Manchester City travel to Juventus. Just a one goal separating the two Mario Mandzukic would get the game winner to the host that were also a couple of masses save later in the game but one nearly (ph) ended to Juventus.

NFL funs in the U.K. can now look forward to 2016 as the international series date has been released. Next year would be a little bit different to on the season. Three games will be staged in London, two at Wembley and the third at a new venue Twickenham back to stadium which hosted this year's Rugby World Cup Final. The Jacksonville Jaguars will be returning to London for full straight year. They have committed to playing a game every season in London through 2020.

And that's the look at your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

BARNETT: While France and Belgium cracked down on Jihadists, an Imam in Antwerp is working to teach children about the true meaning of Islam.

CHURCH: It's also committed to keeping the young minds from becoming radicalized. Senior International Correspondent Nina Elbagir has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Some people he's saying "Do bad things and think they're doing good." And when those people arrive before their God they will say Allah. I did this for you.

Imam Suleyman Van Ael is teaching his usual after school class. Today he's asking the children weather what happened in Paris was an Islamic act.

This little boy refers to a verse from the Koran. He said "If you murder one person, it's as if you killed all humanity."

Imam Van Ael runs a Muslim values after school program so most in children in Antwerp. Since the attacks in Paris and the prominent role Belgian Jihadist were discovered to have played. These programs have taken on, a new urgencies.

IMAN SULEYMAN VAN AEL, MUSLIM EDUCATOR: Mostly the children on they are exposed through many means like especially through social media like there is no child that doesn't have internet at home.

ELBAGIR: Van Ael converted to Islam 20 years ago. In the intervening two decades Belgium has emerged as ground zero for radical Islamic source in Europe providing per capita the highest number of Jihadist fighters joining the ranks of ISIS. Children as young as nine and ten are being exposed to Jihadist thoughts and the ISIS world view.

In some of the children that you are working with, they will have older brothers who have gone to Syria.

VAN AEL: Yes.

ELBAGIR: How do you combat that? How to do you come -- how do you stop a child's following in their older brother's footstep?

VAN AEL: OK, I think that what we trying to do in general is to make a difference between this is your brother as a brother and these are the deeds of your brother.

ELBAGIR: Van Ael set up this after school classes to provide an alternative he says. To the radical messages the children are being exposed to.

[02:20:02] Next months he's moving to a new facility while he can accommodate 300 students but it's come at a price.

You have been threatened repeatedly by ISIS.

VAN AEL: In the beginning I stopped teaching because it was -- it got to me, you know. It's not something that easy. But at the end you see in our -- if your goal is good then it's worth going for it and whatever happens, happens you know, so it's too important. It's not just about my life.

ELBAGIR: The classes will continue in spite to the risks. The need here is greater than ever.

VAN AEL: I am erased (ph) there would be somebody else that things like the things like me and will keep on going.

ELBAGIR: Nima Elbagir CNN, Antwerp

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Doctors Without Borders is blasting the US military after a Defense Department Investigation into the deadly air strike on a hospital in Afghanistan.

BARNETT: Thirty people died in the attack in Kunduz last month when U.S. Forces say they misidentified the building.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

GEN. JOHN CAMPBELL, NATO ANS U.S. COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: The report determined that the U.S. strike upon the MSF Trauma Center in Kunduz City Afghanistan was the direct result of human error compounded by systems and procedural failures. The US forces directly involve in this incident did not know the target compound was the MSF Trauma Center. The medical facility was misidentified as a target by U.S. personnel who believe they were striking a different building several 100 meters away where there reports have combats.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

BARNETT: Doctors Without Borders called U.S. forces "Grossly negligent," and has called for an independent investigation into those air strikes.

CHURCH: And Dr. Go (ph) has bone chilling temperatures and whipping winds but some engineers are putting them to good news. How they are doing it? That is next.

BARNETT: Plus and this moment the Pope is celebrating mass in Nairobi, Kenya. Details on the Papal visit after this very short break. Stay with us.

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[02:25:20] CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, in just a few days World Leaders will meet in Paris to discuss climate change.

Meanwhile in Antarctica scientist are monitoring the ozone hole high up in the atmosphere, over some of the harshest weather in the world.

BARNETT: But engineers have found a way to harness the winds that wiped the continent, Dan Corbett has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN CORBETT, TVNZ WEATHER FORECASTER: Welcome to the windiest place on earth. And I when I say windiest, that's no exaggeration.

JOHNNO LEITCH, SCOTT BASE ENGINEERING SUPERVISOR: The subject to the full force of the weather coming from the South Pole.

CORBETT: For those who winter over here, it's an added complication.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like early tough (inaudible) the office, you know, just cannot do your job outside.

CORBETT: But it's not all bad. Those winds make it the best possible spot for the southernmost wind farm in the world. It can produce 60 percent of the power needed to run Scott Base and the American base of McMurdo just over the hil.

LEITCH: This one time would be rate it up via some of the world piece with the when they get sort of good consistent wind.

CORBETT: Johnno was a veteran of the ice. He's spent 3,000 days here. Some of that time building the wind farm five years ago. His reward this ridge is now known as "Johnno's Ridge".

LEITCH: Pretty amazing to think, you know, that you've got something in Antarctica named after yourself, you know, it certainly a great reward.

CORBETT: Well, the winds are blowing about 30 kilometers an hour. Those temperatures about minus six, so it makes it feel about minus 20, but it gets a whole lot worst than that. So you have experience some record breaking here?

SIMON SHELTON, SCOTT BASE PROJECT MANAGER: Yeah, this winter is particularly windy. We got gusts up to 107 knots. So, it's just under 200 kilometers an hour.

CORBETT: The strongest wind recorded at Scott Base for three decades, it certainly a place of weather extremes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: It certainly is. And that is Dan Corbett from CNN affiliate TVNZ in New Zealand.

BARNETT: U.S. President Barack Obama says it's safe to travel. But in France radical Islamist could be working at airports and subways.

We'll bring you details on that coming up.

CHURCH: Plus, a Papal mass in Nairobi, does consist this is the pope's largest event in Kenya. You're looking at live pictures. Why it's so significant, that is next here on CNN News Week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:04] CHURCH: And a warm welcome back to you all. You're watching CNN Newsroom I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Let's update you on the top stories we're following right now.

Russia says it's deploying defense missiles to Syria to protect its jets.

Moscow suggested Turkey is downing over Russian warplane was a plan fabrication. The rescued co-pilot says there were no warnings from Turkey.

Turkey released an audio recording to back its claim.

CHURCH: Doctors Without Boarders is slamming the U.S. military calling its forces negligent in their involvement in the deadly strike on a hospital in Kunduz Afghanistan.

The U.S. military says the air strikes were meant to hit a suspected Taliban site. A top commando says avoidable human error lead to the attack which killed 30 people.

BARNETT: People in Chicago had been out on the streets for a second night of protest over the shooting to death of a black teen. It's a response to the release of dash com video showing a white police officer shooting him 16 times. That officer has been charged with first degree murder.

CHURCH: U.S. President Barack Obama is reassuring Americans it's safe to travel this Thanksgiving holiday. BARNETT: In the wake of the Paris attacks, ISIS has threatened several times to attack targets in the U.S. Mr. Obama says the government is taking every possible step to keep the country safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Right now, we know of no specific and credible intelligence indicating a plot on the homeland. And that is based on the latest information I just received in the situation room.

So as Americans travel this weekend to be with their loved ones. I want them to know that our counter terrorism, intelligence Homeland Security and law enforcement professionals at every level are working overtime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Meanwhile, French authorities are taking a closer look at whether Islamist radicals infiltrating that country's transportation system.

CHURCH: CNN's Pamela Brown has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENET: It's Samy Amimour one of the eight Paris attackers who blew himself up at the Bataclan Theater.

Had once been a public transportation bus driver in France until 2012. That same year authorities charged him with collaborating with the terrorists' enterprise after he allegedly attempted to fly to Yemen. It's just one reason French officials say they've been investigating whether radicalized Islamist are working at major transportation hubs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security is only as good as the people doing security.

BROWN: Since January 50 employees in France with access to the Tormark and aircraft have been refused to access were being too radicalized according to a police official.

In the wake of Paris attack and the downing of a Russian jetliner from a bomb believed to have been placed in the plane's cargo hold. CNN has learned French airport police conducted searches at several companies whose staff work at the airport.

BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: How do you vet thousands and thousands of people because as we always say they just have to get lucky once to close our aviation down. And this is a real threat.

BROWN: In the U.S. an airport employee in Minneapolis with access to commercially planes travel to Syria and died while fighting for ISIS.

BAER: That was somebody who has radicalized and just as easily he could have slipped a bomb on an airplane.

BROWN: Today Homeland Security head Jeh Johnson says over side of airport employees has been ramped up in the last several months.

JEH JOHNSON, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: In April, I put out a directive to tighten up airport security. Specifically around those who worked at airports.

Fewer access points, more continuous random screening of airport personnel and we're evaluating whether more is necessary right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Pamela Brown reporting there.

[02:35:00] Now despite the increased security measures Homeland Security officials say that it's actually impossible to screen every single airport worker as they come and go on a daily basis especially at large airports.

CHRUCH: Pope Francis is in Kenya right now. In fact celebrating mass at the University of Nairobi. He is on a six-day trip to Africa his first time on the continent as Pope.

BARNETT: The Vatican says this mass is the Pope's largest event in Kenya. With more than 300,000 people expected too attend. You can see this probably achieving those numbers.

Early the Pope met with various religious leaders and he plans to visit a mosque when he gets the essential African Republic later this week.

CNN Correspondent Robyn Kriel is live at the University of Nairobi overlooking mass and joins us to talk about how it is Robyn as we saw recently in the U.S. There is excitement and high interest anywhere Pope Francis goes.

And I understand the crowds there have already seen him waved from his famous Pope mobile. So how did everyone reacting and what's the move there today?

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, the crowd erupted as Pope Francis arrived here at the University of Nairobi in the Pope mobile it was a changed of transportation Errol.

Yesterday coming from the airport, the Pope opted for a Ford or Honda very humble car to ride in from the airport. And many onlookers said that they didn't believe that it was him in the vehicle until they saw his smiling face appearing out and smiling and waving at everyone.

Now here in Africa, the Pope is really a man of the people. He's seen they really feel that they can connect with him because he does come from the global south. He has worked in the slums of Argentina of Buena Aires the barrios there. So he really knows what it's like to work and live in a developing world.

He focuses on poverty, he focuses on the youths and this event is particularly -- well you can hear the -- you can how excited everyone gets as soon as the Pope speaks. But this event is particularly interesting because he is speaking to the youth and that is one of his focuses. And we hear from Bishop that the Pope was not originally stated to come to Kenya for this visit. It was only after he heard of the attack on Garissa University by al- Qaeda-linked al-Shabab gunmen in Kenya's northeast which killed 147 students, a brutal attack.

The Pope decided when he heard that that this is where he needed to come. That he needed to come here and preach religious tolerance. Meet with Muslim leaders in trying to find a way forward so that Christians and non-Christians can live together. And Muslims and non-Muslims can live together peacefully and of course in hump.

BARNETT: Now Robyn some they argue that the Pope's messages is more powerful on the African continent. I can see people there turning out even there is a bit of light rain with their umbrellas to hear him speak deliver a mass.

You actually spoke with nun in Kibera at the slums for a lack of a bit of time in Nairobi at times a thousands hundreds of thousands of people. They see this visit as potentially life-changing in what way?

KRIEL: Life-changing indeed. And Errol as you mentioned that is raining it has rained poured with rain here in Nairobi. Ever since the pontifex arrived so rain is a blessing in a lot of African countries and surely is here in Kenya. So blessing is to the Pope for his arrival.

What I can tell you about our visits to the slums and working with those nuns who spent a nearly 40 years in the slums. They are going to meet with the Pope and tell him that the Vatican needs to refocus its efforts on poverty.

They said that in the -- in Kenya alone there are 200 to 300 parishes but only one or two are actually based in slums. And that is incredible opportunity for the Pope who is such a believer of poverty of working with the people of telling (ph) the sheep out in one of his first encyclical that passes should go out and really smell the sheep interact with the people from all sort of life not just the middle class and wealthy.

And they are going to speak to Pope Francis about putting more emphasis on poverty and bringing more, more resources definitely into Kenya, into Kenya's slums or obviously Uganda suffers from similar issues. CIR Errol is going through a host of problems that one of the -- it's an active war zone, the first active war zone the Pope has ever visited.

BARNETT: Yeah, I've been there to Kibera. People certainly banned together but it's a place that can take all the hope it can get Robyn Kriel live there with the Papal connective view as the morning goes on. Thanks very much.

[02:39:44] CHURCH: And just to head here on CNN NEWSROOM, a new act from the world food program gives you an easy way to share a meal with a Syrian refugee child. We'll have the detail for you just ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good day. I'm CNN Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam. When I quick look at your Thursday forecast throughout the United States. A large upper level low pressure system has forced our jet stream to take a quite a dive and that is also to put a quite contrast in our temperatures from the Eastern half of the U.S. compared to the Western half.

You can clearly see that with this temperature map of course the shading of purple and pink indicating the colder weather. And you can see Denver's Thursday forecast will stay below freezing. But just to the South and East where in the lower and middle 20s there Dallas Texas.

So, quite a dividing line throughout that area cold front moving through and quite a storm system starting to brew into this long holiday week end. You can see it evolve in over the next 48 hours or so. And we have the potential for a significant ice storm near the Panhandle of Texas and into Oklahoma as well.

We have winter storms watchers and warnings for a number of U.S. states. Also ahead of the system of tapping into some of that gulf moisture that is going to allow for the potential of flooding for Arkansas and to Missouri and the extreme eastern sections of Texas.

Here is our ice potential and reload to Oklahoma City, Wichita and Kansas City, anywhere between a half and centimeter to upwards of centimeter locally.

Here is a quick update on hurricane Sandy. Still intensify enough the Mexican coast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: It is Thanksgiving Day here in the states. And many people will spend the coming hours with their families, eating a lot of food.

CHURCH: And they certainly will. But children fleeing conflict in Syria one piece unfortunate, the creators of a new app have come up with a way for you to help. It's called "Share the Meal."

And with one click and 50 cents, you can feed one refugee child for a day.

So let's bring in Sebastian Stricker now. He is the CEO of "Share the Meal" and joins me from London. Thank you so much for talking with us.

I would like you to explain to everyone how exactly this new app works and what people need to do if they want to help feed refugee children.

SEBASTIAN STRICKER, CEO, SHARE THE MEAL APP: Good evening to you and thanks for the interest.

Well, it supposes to be really easy. So you download the Share the Meal app from the Play Store or from the Apple App Store. And then in essence you tap that one button and $50 cents go to the United Nations for food program. And with 50 cents, you can feed a child for a day. Fifty cents really are the total costs.

CHURCH: OK, so people can do that. Download the app and do that as many times as they've like.

[02:45:02] Of course many people say they don't donate to some organizations because they think most of it goes to administration rather than to those in needs.

What percentage of the money given on this new app will go directly to the children?

STRICKER: Yes that's very good point. What we see is that people they -- in essence they want to help but they also really want to make sure that it is being put to the best use. Now what is important about the ShareTheMeal app is that the app never touches the money that people give. It directly reaches the United Nations run food program which has administrative over half of 10 percent.

So 90 percent of the money really is being directly put into the operation to feed these children, which is in a comparison to other non-profit organizations, a very, very good ratio.

CHURCH: Yeah indeed, and talk to us how you came up with this idea. Why you decide that you needed to do this?

STRICKER: Well I think the starting point really was that, we found it was surprisingly cheap and "to feed a child for a day" $50 cents and we thought if there was an easy way for people to do that, probably a lot or more people would actually really do it. And then we understood that there are 20 times as many smart phone -- or people that have smart phones than hungry children, and so that lead of then to build this ShareTheMeal app.

CHURCH: And what sort of responsive you have so far and how you are going to get the world out to people apart from of course coming on the CNN?

STRICKER: Yes we are very, very happy. More than 250,000 people are using the ShareTheMeal app we've launched globally on the 12th of November. So it's been an amazing experience so far and then they have actually provided more than 2.7 million daily rations to children that suffer from hunger.

CHURCH: All right many thanks to Sebastian Striker for explaining to us how this new app ShareTheMeal works, and for those of you out there watching if that's what you would like to do. Download that app. It just a tap and you can help some of those refugee children. Many thanks to you sir, appreciate it.

STRICKER: Thank you very much.

BARNETT: The family of the late Frank Gifford says the former American Football star had a degenerative brain disease that they saw this link to head injuries that happened in the hard-beating sport. CHURCH: Gifford's family says they revealed his diagnosis to bring more attention to concussions in football. Here is Mary Moloney.

MARY MOLONEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A stunning revelation from the family of the late Frank Gifford, the Great Iron, great played 12 grueling years in the National Football League before setting his sight on the studio as a sport broadcaster.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GIFFORD: Hello every one, I'm Frank Gifford and welcome to Joe Robbie Stadium.

MOLONEY: For 27 years audience has watched him on Monday night football. Off the fields, he was married to T.V. personality Kathie Lee. Gifford was no stranger to hard knocks.

Here is the running back in 1960 taking a massive hit, living him motionless on the field. The head injury so severe, he had to take time off from the game. But now Gifford's family confirms what they suspected. Pathologists say he suffered from the degenerative brain disease CTE, the same disease suffered by numerous former and NFL players. This has existing NFL concussion protocols come under scrutiny.

Sunday, Saint Luis runs quarter back Case Keenum took a hard hit to the head. He looked shaken and needed help getting up but he was allowed to continue playing. The NFL says these new concussion standards to protect players failed, and the league will now consider whether to discipline teams found with violation.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued the statement saying, "The health and safety of players is the highest priority". But there's more work to do that will honor great man like Frank Gifford."

I'm Mary Moloney, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: A major Hurricane Sandra is threatening the Pacific coast of Mexico right now.

Our Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us tell us how dangerous Sandra maybe. Derek.

VAN DAM: Yeah Errol, Rosie it's probably a safe bet to say that holiday makers making their late Thanksgiving Day plans to Puerto Vallarta a couple and locals (ph) did not factor in a major hurricane.

Well, enter in hurricane Sandra, this is a category three equivalent in hurricane. In fact, this is the strongest storm to form in this region the Eastern Pacific this late in the season, 120-mile per hour winds, a very defined eye with our satellite imagery, there's Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific side of Mexico. But look at this forecast track and the intensity. How it weakens dramatically as it reaches the coast late Saturday and into Sunday in fact just dissipated into an area of low pressure rather quickly as it works its way inland.

There are few different factors here. One being that is going to enter into at area of colder ocean temperatures. But another is the upper level winds known as the jet stream. This is the wind pattern that drives the weather patterns across the world.

[02:50:11] And basically hurricanes or cyclones and strong upper level winds do not mix well that is going to allow for this system to quickly degenerate into a tropical depression comes in the weekend.

But this upper level wind pattern is also going to be responsible for a few other factors across the central U.S. It is going to lead up to the potential of a significant eye storm from Texas into Oklahoma.

Let me explain, we have our warm moist air that's funneling in from the Gulf of Mexico. Behind it, a very tight temperature gradient cold air surging south. What does warm air do? It rises. What does cold air do? It sinks.

Now the typical winter pattern, when we have snowflakes, this snow would fall through a cold of air that's -- or below freezing, that's zero degrees celsius, 32 degrees Fahrenheit, staying frozen until it reaches the ground.

But with this particular transition and seasons that were experiencing now in the United States. It will fall in between a warmer patio of air that's coming up from Gulf of Mexico allowing for that snowflake to melt. And then it reaches the colder air at the surface freezing on contact and that has potential catastrophic effects in terms of ice.

Look at how much ice were actually anticipating anywhere between a half an inch to upwards an inch of ice anywhere from eastern sections of New Mexico into the Panhandle of both Texas and Oklahoma.

I look on what Wichita, Kansas City and Omaha. This is an area that will be of major travel concern.

And Errol and Rosie, considering that upwards of 47 million Americans are on the move, 89 percent of them taking some vehicle to get across the country to go see their loved ones. This is going to be a major concern, back to you.

BARNETT: Look out for the ice.

VAN DAM: That's right.

BARNETT: And, you know, live and be patient as well.

CHURCH: Glad not to be traveling, I have to say. Thank you.

BARNETT: Thanks Derek.

VAN DAM: Thanks guys.

CHURCH: Well a 14 year old have set a new world record for the fastest time to solve a Rubik's cube and solving it in on the five seconds for the first time ever. Don't blink or you might miss it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(OFF-MIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: I would be just as excited even if it took five days I'd be that excited. You saw that the time is 4.9 seconds, Lucas Etter bested the previous record of 5.09 seconds which believe or not have been set earlier that day.

CHURCH: And this is out of the trends. This job shows how the solved time have gotten, actually fast through over the years. The first record was that in 1982 at just under 23 seconds for to have that.

BARNETT: For 75 years.

CHURCH: ... 35 years for me too.

BARNETT: Good for him.

Now a trip to India in spite an American man to become an educational hero to children around world.

CHURCH: Adam Braun that talks now about how the journey changed him and told him the true value of a simple pencil.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ADAM BRAUN, FOUNDER OF PENCILS OF PROMISE: Travel gives me a tremendous sense of freedom and also gives me set of experiences that remind me how small I am this world. And at the same time I think often time, embolden me to dream really big.

I'm Adam Braun, founder of Pencils of Promise and New York Times best selling author.

That picture reminds me of my trip to India as the 21-year-old college student. And it was undoubtedly the most transformative trip of my life.

I watch the film called "Baraka," the shortest film that was shot on the banks of the Ganges River in Varanasi, India. And I was so motivated by that, seeing that I just said I have to get to India.

It was profoundly spiritual moment in all honesty. It was one of those times where you feel like you're coming into the person that you're destined to be.

Funny young boy asked me on the streets of India who is a street beggar; if you get him anything to world, the thing that he would want most was a pencil. And so off of that experience I decided to start carrying many kinds of pencils and I gave them out to group of children which was something that I eventually did with hundreds and hundreds and probably thousands of children across thousands of countries near at sense.

We started with just one school and one simple idea is now, that's more than 300 schools around the world.

[02:55:00] The power and the idea of a pencil is that it can unlock so much for anyone individual. I recently learned that the average pencil holds 40,000 words which I think it is just such a powerful statement on the sense of imagination and curiosity and potential that these tools for self empowerment can provide to any person.

The thing that holds at my heart's pains the most is seeing children in communities of tremendous, tremendous poverty where their parents are really committed to their educational well being. But they don't have the school support to pursue that aspirational dream.

If I am not gone to India, I don't think that Pencils of Promise honestly, I would have been created it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: What a great story.

BARNETT: Yeah, fantastic.

CHURCH: And we're back in just a few minutes with more CNN NEWSROOM. We will have all the top stories from all around the world.

BARNETT: And remember you can always connect with us on social media anytime. Tell us from where you're watching right now.

And see you all for this.

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