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Iowa Poll Shows Cruz With 31 Percent Support; Powerful Typhoon Slamming Philippines; Scuffles in Beijing at Human Rights Lawyer's Trial; France's Far Right Party Fails to Win A Single Region; Did U.S. Immigration Officials Miss Crucial Information?; Pope Francis Praises Paris Climate Deal; "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Premieres Monday Night. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 14, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:01]

(HEADLINES)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I am Rosemary Church.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN HOST: And I am Errol Barnett. Thanks for joining us as we kick off this second hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

CHURCH: A powerful typhoon is slamming coastal areas of the Philippines right now, and it's only going to get worse.

BARNETT: That's right. Typhoon Melor has already made one landfall and several more are expected in the next day or so as the storm moves across the islands. The winds are equivalent to a category four hurricane, that's 215 kilometers or 133 miles per hour, and those winds could last up to 18 hours.

CHURCH: All emergency personnel are on standby right now. More than 700,000 people have been evacuated, most of them in Southern Luzon. And Gerg Cahiles joins me now on the phone. He is a CNN Philippines Correspondent who is in Legazpi right now. So Gerg, talk to us about this storm that's now just getting stronger. What is the situation on the ground right now where you are?

GERG CAHILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am here in Legazpi city in Albay. It's a coastal town about 300 kilometers south of Manila. And right now huge waves are slamming the seawall. Evacuation centers and evacuees mostly children who fit themselves into small classrooms, we talked to somebody evacuating earlier and they said they got used to this checkup. And they say it's better like this than to risk their lives in danger zones. Now Typhoon Melor is expected to directly hit some portions of the province a few hours from now, and the provisional government -- as preparations are under way for possible storm surges -- officials continually urge residents who are staying in coastal areas around the volcano to move to safer ground as soon as possible.

And they're also preparing food and other emergency supplies for people. There are around a million residents here in Albay, and officials estimate half a million people will be affected by this typhoon. So currently they're still being battered by the strong winds and rains here and we'll be seeing in the coming hours if this will get stronger.

CHURCH: And Gerg, tourists as well as residents have been stranded, haven't they? How difficult was it to get the majority of the people out of harm's way?

CAHILES: Yeah. Actually, the problem now is several passengers are currently stranded here in the province. There are around 650 stranded passengers. And nationwide, more than 8,000 stranded passengers. But we have monitored only minimal flights that have been canceled so far and we'll continue monitoring this very closely to bring you the latest as information becomes available.

CHURCH: Yeah. We appreciate that as do our viewers of course. Gerg Cahiles, he joins us on the phone from Legazpi keeping a very close eye on this situation as the storm strengthens.

All right, for the latest on Melor let's turn to our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, who is at the International Weather Center. And Pedram, it's such a reality check when you're talking to someone who's right at the center there and watching this situation. So many people have been evacuated but a lot of people still there.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. It's going to be a very difficult place, guys, to get everyone out of the path of the storm system. And part of the reason is because they went to bed about 24 hours ago across this region and this was just a tropical storm. They wake up and we're talking about a category four equivalent storm, very rapid intensification. You take a look at the island of Samar northern region kind of sketch it out for you. We know officially it's made one landfall, potentially three to four landfalls ahead of the storm system, the archipelago here. But southern portions of Luzon right here.

[03:05:01]

We know we have a volcano across this region, popular tourist destination. Work your way toward the Mayon Volcano, one of the most active in the country there, 49 eruptions in the last 500 years. That draws plenty of people. We know some of the evacuations in line over this region because it's the popular nature of tourist activity in that area. But with 215-kilometer per-hour winds, that would put the storm system in a catastrophic category as far as potential damage associated with it. Something we're watching very carefully when it comes to the storm and the wind intensity as it moves over this region.

We know this part of the world, anytime you have storms of 120 kph or greater for 18 consecutive hours that is what is issued. And that's precisely what's happening over a densely populated region, about 215 kph winds again as it moves on into Luzon heavy rain going to be an issue. Certainly, landslides up almost like a Christmas tree when you take a look at the colors, quarter of a meter of rainfall across southern portions of Luzon over the next couple of days. Guys, got to talk about December storms because there's certainly been notable storms in December which typically is the quieter part of the year in this part of the world.

But in December 2011, we had Washia took with it 1200 lives, Bopha in December 2012 took with it 1100 miles, and then December 2014 Hagupit came in with winds at 285 kilometers per hour, only took 21 lives -- there were massive evacuations for this storm because of what they learned from the previous storms, so we're hoping that's precisely what's happening right now with the over 700,000 that have been evacuated across this area, guys.

CHURCH: Yeah, massive evacuations certainly the key to situations like this. Thanks so much for keeping on top of that. We'll come back to you later.

BARNETT: France's Marine Le Pen and her far right national front party came up empty-handed on Sunday, failing to win a single region after leading in six in the first round of voting.

CHURCH: However, Le Pen and her party were defiant in the face of her party's losses. Her niece was particularly vocal about the lengths her opponents went to beat her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARION MARECHAL-LE PEN, REGIONAL CANDIDATE: There are victories that shame the winners. In the name of the republic they have sunk democracy tonight. To win 10 against 1 isn't anything but a defeat. They tried everything, slander, lies, vote catching, communitiarianism, and many other things in the past 10 days. So don't listen to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: So statements like that and these regional election results could make for an interesting Presidential race in 2017.

CHURCH: Our Jim Bittermann has the view from Paris.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kind of a strange election results because no one appears to have lost this election. Everybody was claiming victory in the aftermath. The two mainstream parties, the socialists and the Republicans, were happy that they had stopped the national front. Just a week ago, it looked like the national front could win perhaps as many as 6 of the 13 regions of France. In fact, they won none of those regions. But while they were claiming victory because of that, the national front, the extreme right-wing party was in fact claiming victory as well because Marine Le Pen, the leader of their party, said look, we have tripled our representation in municipal and regional governments over the last five years.

And she's right about that. In these regional elections, there are still national front people who have won seats, even though they haven't won the region, they've won seats and are representing the opposition in many of the regions. So everybody was saying they were victorious tonight. The socialist party leader said it's a victory without joy, however. And one of the reasons he said that is because the socialist party told its candidates in regions where it looked like they might lose, that they should withdraw in order to form a front against the national front.

And in fact, that seemed to have worked. In both the northern region and in the southern region where Marine Le Pen was running and her niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen was running in the south, both were defeated in elections tonight. Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

BARNETT: All right, want to get you the latest information out of Syria now. At least 45 people have been killed after hours of air strikes near the country's capital on Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 10 children were killed in heavy shelling near a school outside Damascus.

CHURCH: It's not clear whether Syrian or Russian planes took part in the air strikes. This comes as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to attend a meeting in Paris Monday about Syria.

[03:10:01]

BARNETT: Meanwhile, tensions between Russia and Turkey are rising once again. Russia says one its warships fired warning shots at a Turkish fishing boat in the sea on Sunday after it didn't respond to radio or visual warnings.

CHURCH: Turkey says it wants more information from the fisherman to find out what exactly happened. The incident comes after last month's tense situation when Turkey shot down a Russian military plane near the Syrian border.

BARNETT: Former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty joins us now live from Moscow with more on this incident and relations between these two nations are at a low, the lowest they've been in recent memory. But what do we know about this incident specifically and why a fishing vessel would cause such a dust-up?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: You know, it's still not clear, Errol, as you just said, the Turks are still they say looking into this, but the Russians are taking it very seriously, and the way they describe it is their destroyer was in the Aegean Sea, was near the island of Lemnos. And a fishing vessel, Turkish fishing vessel approached it, came very, very close. They tried to warn them off. They say with radio communications, semaphore, etcetera, and when there was no response they fired some warning shots. At that point still no communication. And the Turkish vessel is steamed off or has sailed off, but no explanation why they were doing that, why no communication, etcetera.

And as I said, the Russians are staking it very seriously. Sunday afternoon they called in the military attache here in Moscow and it was apparently a very stern conversation. It took place with the Deputy Defense Minister Anatoli Antonov. He called it a provocative action. And he also outlined the Russians saying there could have been detrimental consequences as he put it of this reckless action. They are I think you'd have to say following the order of President Putin, who last week met with the senior top brass of his military, told them to be very serious and alert about any threats to any type of either the operation on the ground or the base or anything else in connection with Syria.

And the ship, the Russian ship was actually part of that Syrian operation. In fact, President Putin said that they should destroy any threat immediately. And you can see that they jumped right to it. Luckily, nothing happened. In fact, the Russian statement said luckily just by good fortune nothing bad happened and danger was averted. But this gives you an indication, I think, Errol of how tense the situation is. And as we all know, one tiny incident could be the spark that could lead to something serious.

BARNETT: Of course, this happens in the wake of Turkey shooting down a Russian plane along its border with Syria. What about the economic relationship between these two? Because you've got Russia banning imports of some Turkish goods because of the shooting down of its plane, but Russia itself is in a fragile economic state these days. Surely both sides will want to resolve this.

DOUGHERTY: Well, they do. But I think you have to note that not only President Putin but a lot of Russians are very angry about the action that they perceive as an action that should never have taken place. And so President Putin is instituting these controls, especially on the import of Turkish products. And that does hurt some Russians. There are things that can't immediately be made up for. It affects both the middle class and below the middle class, and then also traveling to Turkey, building projects. A lot of different things across the board are stopping because of what's going on.

So even though you might look at it and say economically it would be in everyone's interest to solve this, there's still a lot of emotion to this and anger after that shoot down.

BARNETT: Very good point there, CNN Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty joining us from Moscow this morning, of course, past 11 there, Jill, thanks.

CHURCH: A group of high-level diplomats say the warring factions in Libya will sign a unity agreement by this coming Wednesday. The deal is the culmination of talks by representatives from 17 countries led by Italy and the United States.

BARNETT: It calls for an immediate ceasefire and threatens to cut off contact with factions that don't sign on. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the unified government is important for fighting the throwing threat of ISIS.

[03:15:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We cannot allow the status quo in Libya to continue. It is dangerous for the viability of Libya. It is dangerous for Libyans, and now because of the increased presence of Daesh purposely migrating there. It is dangerous for everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And Libya dissolved into civil war. You would recall back in the 2011 Arab spring after the ouster of leader Moammar Gadhafi.

BARNETT: Now officials results in Saudi Arabia's historic election are due Monday. But for the first time women have been elected to public office and the kingdom.

CHURCH: State media say at least 17 women won seats on local councils that oversee planning decisions. Saudi Arabia was the world's last country to give its women the right to vote.

BARNETT: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz is surging in the White House race and taking the lead in a key nominating state, also coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have many friends that are Muslims, and I will tell you, they are so happy that I did this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Donald Trump stands by his plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States. What he's saying about his proposal and his rivalry with Ted Cruz. That's after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: Surely you remember that pop hit, right from the '80s.

CHURCH: Of course.

BARNETT: Ringing a bell, Rosie?

CHURCH: Were you born?

BARNETT: I was just coming into the world. That, though, is the latest hit you could say in a growing rivalry between two U.S. Republican candidates. We'll have more on that in just a moment.

CHURCH: But first, two new polls show Ted Cruz leading Donald Trump in Iowa. Iowa is of course the first state to vote in the Presidential nominating process.

BARNETT: A new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll shows Cruz with 31 percent of voter support, which is 10 points ahead of Trump.

CHURCH: On the national stage, however, Trump is still in the lead with 27 percent support. Cruz is just five points behind.

BARNETT: Now, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have so far avoided any major spats in this election, but as Trump tells CNN's Jake Tapper, that could change. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Why should voters go for you over Ted Cruz?

TRUMP: Because I am more capable, because I have a much better temperament, because I actually get along with people much better than he does. People don't know that about me. I actually have a great relationship with people. In fact, I was criticized at the beginning because I get along with Democrats and liberals, Republicans and conservatives. I get along with everybody.

TAPPER: He doesn't?

TRUMP: Because as a world-class businessman that's what you have to do. No, I don't think he does. I like him. He's been so nice to me. I could say anything and he'd say I agree, I agree. But I think the time will come to an end pretty soon it sounds like.

TAPPER: Let's talk about the reason why a lot of Republican leaders say they're expressing such anxiousness these days, and that is your call Monday for a "Total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the U.S." There's now some polling information and you cite polls all the time, you say what with you go by if not the polls, and a majority of Americans, 58 percent, reject this call, reject this proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Now, I know your supporters agree with you, but this is a poll of the American people...

TRUMP: Jake, I didn't do it for polls. So I don't really care what the polls say. My polls happen to have gone up a lot since this announcement. I didn't do it for that reason. But with that being understood, when you're getting a phone call from a polling agency and they're saying, well, do you support, you know, the banning of Muslims, et cetera, do you think they're going say -- who's going to say yes? I don't think the polls are accurate. At the same time I have many friends that are Muslims, and I will tell you, they are so happy that I did this because they know they have a problem. There is a problem.

TAPPER: Your Muslim friends are happy?

TRUMP: I have many friends and at the highest level. I have partners that are Muslim. I have unbelievable...

TAPPER: They support a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.?

TRUMP: They said -- no. They said it's about time that somebody spoke up as to radicalism. You have radicalism in this country. It's here and it's trying to come through. I just read where ISIS has gotten hold of a passport printing machine for the migrants to get them into the United States. Now maybe that's true and maybe it's not. It's an early report, but how crazy are we allowing ourselves to be subject to this kind of terror?

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: And Ted Cruz's rise to the top of the polls is being linked to his conservative political stance. CNN's Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin has profiled the Texas Senator in New Yorker Magazine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: He is someone who believes that the conservative cause needs to be pushed from every branch of government. He was involved as a litigator in Texas. He was the Solicitor General. He's only been a Senator for less than four years. He's still in his early 40s. He's someone who believes to the core of his being that Republicans fail when they move to the center. And he cites Mitt Romney and George Herbert Walker Bush and Gerald Ford as examples. He believes conservatives succeed when they run to the right, whether it's George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan. These are his political heroes. His view is the most conservative candidate has the best chance of getting the nomination and of winning the election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Ted Cruz took to Twitter to respond Donald Trump calling him "a bit of a maniac" during an interview on Fox News Sunday, Trump also said Cruz isn't qualified to be President.

BARNETT: That's why we showed you that clip earlier, because Cruz tweeted the video Maniac from the 1980s hit movie Flashdance with the message "In honor of my friend Donald Trump and good-hearted maniacs everywhere."

[03:23:01]

CHURCH: There you go. Trump and Cruz will face off of course, in less than 48 hours at the last Republican debate this year.

BARNETT: CNN will host the event at the Venetian Theater in Las Vegas. CNN's Athena Jones tells us who else will take the main stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming to you from the Venetian Theater right on the Las Vegas strip. We're in the middle of rehearsals right now but you can see here the main stage has been set. We now know the nine candidates who made the cut for the primetime debate. They are in order John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul. Trump is center stage once again. He is still the front-runner nationally. But his front-runner status is being challenged by Cruz in the state of Iowa, three new polls now showing the Texas Senator leading there. CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Dana Bash along with Salem Radio's Hugh Hewitt are spending a lot of time over the next several days in the cone of silence, finalizing debate questions for this huge production.

There will be 17 cameras and an invite-only audience of about 1,400 people filling this theater on Tuesday night. Of course, this will be the last debate of the year, the last chance for these candidates to make a strong impression with voters heading into the holiday season. Millions will be watching. So the big question, will Donald Trump attack Ted Cruz? Will Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz get into it? Will Ben Carson and Jeb Bush and others have breakout performances that can boost their poll numbers? We'll be watching to see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: And as we keep telling you, CNN will host the final debate of the year among the Republican candidates. Our Wolf Blitzer moderates. Coverage begins 12:00 midnight Central European time. For those in the states that's 6:00 p.m. Eastern time and 3:00 p.m. on the west coast only here on CNN.

CHURCH: Renewed pressure on Brazil's embattled President Dilma Rousseff after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets Sunday demanding her impeachment.

BARNETT: Demonstrations were held in cities across Brazil. The first since the congress opened an impeachment motion. Some two weeks ago. Brazil's economy in a deep recession and some of the President's allies accused in a corruption scandal.

CHURCH: Stock markets in the Asia pacific region began the week with a rough start. Markets in Sydney, Tokyo and Shanghai are now closed.

BARNETT: But as we take a live look at those markets still open, the Shanghai composite the only one that's making gains at about 2 1/2 percent, Australia's S&P ASX 200, down about 2 percent.

CHURCH: A new report says social media accounts for one of the San Bernardino shooters were not checked before she was granted entry to the United States. And what was found on those accounts is very disturbing. That is next.

BARNETT: Plus, the terror threat level is raised in Switzerland after two men are found with materials in their car used to make bombs. We'll give you a live report from Geneva after this short break.

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[03:30:01]

BARNETT: A warm welcome back to those of you watching here in the states and those of you tuned in from all around the world. It's your last half hour of CNN NEWSROOM with us. I am Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I am Rosemary Church. Want to check the headlines for you.

(HEADLINES)

BARNETT: There are new reports about what U.S. immigration officials may have missed when they did background checks on the woman who would become one of the San Bernardino shooters.

CHURCH: Meanwhile, the FBI and California authorities are continuing to track the digital footprint of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. Ana Cabrera has all the developments.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a makeshift memorial that's been set up near the shooting scene honoring the 14 people who lost their lives. Many have been laid to rest. We see those continuing throughout the week as this community moves forward and tries to heal, the investigation also continues. Over the weekend investigators wrapped up a search of a nearby murky lake, and we have now learned that their search yielded no evidence that was connected to this case. But investigators have not given up on finding that missing hard drive that could have more of the couple's digital footprint, and now work on trying to access some of the data on that hard drive which working with internet providers who could have records links to the I.P. address.

That online investigation could be key to this investigation. The New York Times now reporting that Tashfeen Malik, the female killer, was talking openly about violent Jihad on social media prior to even coming into the United States. They're citing law enforcement sources here in the U.S. who says the social media posts she made talked about supporting violent Jihad, that she supported it and wanted to participate in it. And yet she made it through three background checks prior to getting her fiance visa without social media even being looked at.

It just was not part of the background screening process. We've learned from U.S. officials. Now, since that time in the past few months, officials have begun looking at social media communication when it comes to visa applicants from particular countries. But that was not the case with Tashfeen Malik when she came to the U.S. in July of 2014. President Obama since the shooting has ordered a thorough review of that fiance visa application process, Ana Cabrera, CNN, San Bernardino, California.

CHURCH: Swiss authorities arrested two men after finding evidence of explosive materials in their car.

BARNETT: Geneva officials say the two men held Syrian passports, but they're still trying to determine if there's a link between the suspects and the explosive material.

CHURCH: And CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson joins us now live from Geneva with the details. So Nic, what more are we learning about this and how long will it likely take authorities to determine if there is a link between the two suspects and this explosive material that was found this their car?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: What were found in the car were traces of explosives according to the Geneva prosecutor. A European security source tells us this was in fact traces of the precursor chemicals that would be used or could be used to make explosives. This therefore is leading the authorities here to look at the link between these traces and the men according to the lawyer for the men they'd only recently purchased this vehicle. So this is the direction and avenue the police are proceeding in. But this is only one of two investigations, two terrorism investigations going on at the moment. [03:35:01]

The authorities in Geneva had already launched -- or the Swiss authorities rather had already launched a counterterrorism investigation because of a tip-off from U.S. intelligence officials, saying they'd picked up chatter between members of ISIS that they were planning an attack possibly here in Geneva or Toronto or Chicago, so its two investigations ongoing. The authorities are not giving away a lot of details. They're seeing the Syrian passports these two men had appeared to be authentic, but of course we know that Syrian passports, fake Syrian passports are readily available, that they are used by refugees, also been used by other terror suspects, we're thinking here of the Paris terror attack.

So they're looking at that angle as well. They won't say if these men had Schengen visas. That would be visas that allow them to travel freely within Europe, cross the borders from France into Switzerland, for example. And gain legal entry. This is another avenue of investigation. And the police also say that in the coming days there will be more house searches and quite possibly more arrests. They say don't read into that, that everyone they arrest is a terrorist. This still is a city with a heightened terror threat, a heightened alert at the moment and two investigations. Police of course, are looking to see what ties or if there are ties between these two apparently Syrian men and terrorist organizations.

CHURCH: So Nic, a heightened alert there. How tense is the situation in Geneva right now? How concerned are citizens?

ROBERTSON: I would say right now people are not concerned. They're certainly aware. The authorities here in Geneva and the federal Swiss authorities did take some time to decide whether or not to go public with the terror threat. They decided to do that because they thought it was the best step moving forward. There were celebrations over the weekend or commemorations. Escalade is what it's known as here. The last time the citizens of Geneva went to war --1602 they repelled a French invasion. And that is celebrated over the weekend. A lot of people out on the streets, people dressed in festive costumes of that era, marching bands with drums, music, guns firing. So really you could see by that the police allowing it to go ahead and the people coming out on the streets to enjoy it. They're concerned but not fearful and worried.

CHURCH: That is a good thing, Nic Robertson reporting live from Geneva, many thanks to you.

BARNETT: From religious leaders to business tycoons, there are strong reactions to the climate change deal reached at the COP21 summit. We'll share them with you next.

CHURCH: Plus, Director J.J. Abrams talks to CNN about getting the keys to the Star Wars universe. We'll have that for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:43:01] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Pope Francis is urging the global community to follow up on the climate deal reached in Paris. Speaking in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, he praised the agreement reached at the COP21 summit.

BARNETT: Representatives from almost 200 countries agreed to limit global warming. U.S. President Barack Obama called the landmark deal a turning point for the world. And business leaders are also praising this deal. Earlier, CNN's Poppy Harlow spoke with airline and music magnate Richard Branson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD BRANSON, VIRGIN GROUP: As you get 200 countries to agree to do their best to keep it at one point five degrees, it's just historic, wonderful. It would be great if 200 countries could come together to do other things. But I think this means we've got a real chance of keeping it around 1 1/two degrees. And that should save the seas from rapid rises in level and it should save the reefs, which over 1 1/two degrees we'd lose pretty well every reef in the world. And it should save a lot of people, so a truly wonderful, wonderful week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But in the United States, some Republican lawmakers are downplaying the deal. The top Republican on the Senate's Environmental Committee says the agreement does not have any teeth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JANES INHOFE (R), OKLAHOMA: These people have been talking to each other these 21 years. They all get together. The developing countries come and they expect billions of dollars to be spent and given to them so that they can do something with their greenhouse gas emissions. But there's nothing historic about this. We keep talking about it. You know, there's no price for emission enforcement. So I don't know what's historic about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Well, for more on the reaction to the deal, let's cross to our CNN Digital Columnist John Sutter. He joins us live from Paris this morning. And John, this is a massively significant step. But as one of the detractors there, Senator Inhofe from Oklahoma was saying, what mechanisms are there to enforce what's being agreed to in Paris?

JOHN SUTTER, CNN DIGITAL COLUMNIST: Yeah, so the Paris agreement as it's being called is seen as a hugely historic moment, because it's all of these countries, 196 of them, coming together to send the signal that we want to move away from fossil fuels and toward the clean energy era. We heard from Richard Branson, some of the consequences if we don't do that. I think the detractors are hammering on the point that this -- countries aren't bound to cut emissions by a certain level. They're each bringing their own plans to the table. China, for example, has said it wants to peak emissions by 2030 and decrease after that.

They're not legally bound to do that exactly by this agreement, but they're bound into a framework to keep negotiating those cuts. So essentially every 5 years from 2020 onwards these countries will have to come back to the table those that are signing on to this agreement and ratchet up their ambitions, so put forward an even bolder plan going forward. So it's seen as a legally binding framework that can push countries in this right direction, but there is this peer pressure aspect to it, and I think that's what you heard Jim Inhofe grabbing on to there. I think it's worth noting that Senator Inhofe is one of the most vocal climate skeptics in the U.S.

He doesn't believe that global warming science is real, whereas almost all the scientists in the world say that this is happening and we're causing it. There's a lot of politics surrounding this, especially in the U.S., but mostly from Paris at least we're hearing optimism that this could be a real turning point in the fight against climate change.

[03:48:01]

BARNETT: And explain the importance of the one point five degrees Celsius increase, because that's an ambitious goal, limiting to two degrees Celsius and it would have been unthinkable to set a one point five degree limit before this world climate meeting, right?

SUTTER: Yeah, I would have never expected that to be on the table here to be honest. I think it really came from a moral voice here at the talks, the Marshall Islands, which is a tiny country out in the middle of the pacific, I actually visited it earlier this year. Their foreign minister Tony De Vrum really got center stage during the Paris talks and said if the world warms more than 1.35 degrees, if it goes to the two degree mark even, our country may not exist because of how much seas could rise. And he has science to back that up. Some of the scientists I talked to say that's likely true and there are many, many consequences to warming even at the two degree level.

Sort of this moral voice saying the two degrees is too much emerged during these talks. I think these countries have to think about what is required to get to the one point five degree mark or rather not to cross it. Essentially, that's a de-carbonization of the world economy, getting off fossil fuels, becoming carbon neutral by about 2050 and being 80 percent of the way there by 2030 according to some of the policy experts I've talked to. That is a rapid, rapid shift in the way we're making our electricity and our heat, and I think that it will be seen in coming weeks and months whether countries on the national level are ready to put forward the policies that could get them toward these goals they set on the international stage.

BARNETT: All right, John Sutter our CNN Digital Columnist joining us from Paris this morning with this encouraging development, 9:47 there, John, thanks.

CHURCH: And we'll take a break right here. But don't go anywhere. The new Star Wars premieres later today. We'll discuss how big it could be at the box office, back in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:56:01]

BARNETT: "Star Wars, The Force Awakens" is almost here. The premiere is Monday night in Los Angeles.

CHURCH: It's the latest installment in the legendary movie franchise and the first since Disney acquired Lucas Film in 2012.

BARNETT: And it is one of the most hyped movies in recent memory and looks poised to deliver big results at the box office.

CHURCH: Our Isha Sesay sat down with Director J.J. Abrams, who talked about what it was like to be handed the reins to the Star Wars universe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.J. ABRAMS, DIRECTOR: I had to put my being a fan aside somewhat because that wasn't the job. I couldn't just be a cheerleader for this thing. It had to be storytelling. And working with Lawrence Kasdan in writing the script we didn't just talk about the continuum of where things may have gone and what may have happened to some of the characters people know, but also why do we want to tell the story now, what makes it relevant, what's the point. So in talking about it from the most basic point of view, not just a Star Wars movie but this is a story about a young woman who, this is a story about a young man who, to talk about the story, we found what we need to do to tell a story and not just a nostalgic trip.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Kim Serafin of In Touch Weekly Magazine joins me now to talk about the hype leading up to Star Wars opening this week in the United States. So Kim, most analysts predict the movie will likely make a lot of money, even as much as $200 million opening weekend, maybe more. What are you hearing on this?

KIM SERAFIN, IN TOUCH WEEKLY MAGAZINE: Exactly. You know right now Jurassic World holds that record for about 208 million for its opening weekend domestically, 200 million, 250 million for Star Wars, potentially even more. Of course, Disney is downplaying the expectations because you don't want it to get ahead of you. But consider the buzz for Star Wars, consider how many people are talking about it, consider how huge the premiere is. It's bigger than the Oscars practically in terms of shutting down Hollywood Boulevard. It could potentially make more than Avatar in terms of the worldwide record, and Avatar, 2.7 billion in its entirety, so look for Star Wars potentially to make even more to beat Avatar's record.

CHURCH: And we're hearing some of those tickets are being sold for about 200 a piece. We'll see what happens to that. We want to talk about the Golden Globe nominations, lots of surprises and snubs. What stood out? SERAFIN: It's very interesting. This year awards season is kind of

all over the place. There's really not a front-runner right now. There are a lot of films that aren't getting a lot of buzz. A lot of popularity I think in the SAG Awards and the Golden Globe awards. Look for some of the ensemble casts, the Big Short and also Spotlight. The Big Short of course, with Steve Carell and Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling and Brat Pitt about the financial crisis in 2008, and it's a funny satirical take on it. It's getting great reviews. I think this one is going to dominate during awards season.

It did get recognized both SAG Awards and Golden Globes. And also Spotlight about the Boston Globe reporters who tracked down the Catholic Church molestation scandal. Another great, great ensemble cast with Michael Keaton, for example, who I think a lot of people thought he should have gotten an Oscar last year. But then all over the place, Johnny Depp gets recognized by the SAG Awards for playing Whitey Bulger but doesn't get recognized by the Golden Globes. Matt Damon gets ignored by the SAG Awards for The Martian but gets recognized by the Golden Globes.

CHURCH: It really is some mixed messages because the Golden Globes usually indicate what might happen with the Oscars, but Jennifer Lawrence, she was nominated for a globe for her acting in the movie Joy but not a SAG Award. So what do you make of that?

SERAFIN: This was a big surprise to not see Jennifer Lawrence get a SAG Nomination. Of course, you always see her during awards season. She's an Oscar winner. Everyone loves her. So she didn't get a SAG nomination, got a Golden Globe nomination for playing the miracle mop inventor in Joy, and she'll be up against her friend, Amy Schumer at the Golden Globes for Trainwreck. This will be really fun to see the two of them. Jennifer Lawrence already saying she and Amy want to dress exactly alike on the carpet at the Golden Globes. They're going to have a lot of fun with this.

CHURCH: I want to see that, Kim Serafin, many thanks.

SERAFIN: Thanks so much.

CHURCH: And that does it for us. I am Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I am Errol Barnett. Remember to chat with us anytime on social media. It's always good to hear from you. Early Start is next for those of you in the states.

CHURCH: And for everyone else, stay tuned for CNN NEWSROOM. Have a great day.

BARNETT: See you.

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