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Driver Mows Down 37 People on Las Vegas Strip; Youngest Attacker from 2012 Gang Rape Freed in India; Kenyan Authorities Detain 4 After Air France Bomb Scare; Some Democrats Not Happy Over Debate Schedule; Beijing Under Pollution Red Alert; The Story of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds; Verdict Expected on FIFA Suspended President Seth Blatter. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 21, 2015 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:10] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: A big welcome to our viewers in the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Errol Barnett.

We want to get right to breaking news in the United States. And a chaotic scene in the state of Nevada. Take a look at this. Police say a woman ran down dozens of pedestrians with a car on the Las Vegas Strip. At least one person was killed, 36 more were injured, and six of those are in critical condition at this hour. Now, we understand the police have the driver in custody. They say it's not clear whether she acted deliberately. Right now, though, they're not calling this an act of terrorism. They also say a three-year-old was in the car when all of this unfolded. That child was not hurt.

Now, just last hour, Las Vegas authorities held a press conference with the latest details on this investigation. Here is some of what was said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT ZIMMERMAN, DEPUTY CHIEF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: There are two ways we're looking at this. Number one, was this an intentional act, or number two, was this an accident? Due to the area we're in with numerous cameras belonging to the hotel, surveillance cameras and our regional, our RTC cameras, we will comb through that footage to get a detailed idea of what occurred. Right now, from what we know, we're looking at it as possibly being intentional. We just received that information. So, we -- that is just the initial word we've gotten. The way we're looking, but we're going to look at our angles. Our fatal detail and our homicide detail are working together like they do on numerous investigations to make sure this is done right and we leave no stone unturned.

We do know that there was a toddler in the vehicle with the driver, who's three years old, and that toddler is unharmed. That driver is being detained.

And like I said, we're still conducting our investigation and trying to figure out why and how this occurred. Our initial investigation shows there were two areas where pedestrians

were hit on two separate parts of the sidewalk. So it was prior to the driveway that leads into the Paris in front of Planet Hollywood and then over in front of the Paris. So we had two separate locations where the vehicle did go down into the roadway and come back up on to the sidewalk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: So that's the latest information as of this hour. Local officials may hold another press conference here in the next few hours. When that takes place, we'll bring it to you live.

At this point, let's go ahead and speak to an eyewitness who saw this all unfold, as you look at live pictures as it just passes 11:00 p.m. Sofie Kitteroed joins us on the phone.

Sofie, I understand you saw this as it all unfolded. Explain to us how it happened.

SOFIE KITTEROED, WITNESS (voice-over): We were on the other side of the road watching at a show at the Bellagio Hotel. We saw a lot of people laying in the street.

BARNETT: Now, this happened at approximately 6:40 in the evening local time. We're told there was confusion as to what happened. We know this female driver hit people in two locations. Is it your understanding she was able to drive and hit people on one part and made an attempt to hit more?

KITTEROED: We were on the other side and we saw people being -- well, people laying in the street on both in front of Planet Hollywood and also in front of Paris. It seems like she hit them on two separate places, yes.

BARNETT: And it sounds like there was just so much panic when this happened, one witness telling us he was able to see a child in the car, the police are confirming that it was a three-year-old. Just tell us more about after the incident took place, what people were saying about the suspect, the woman in the car.

KITTEROED: At first, we didn't know what happened. There were a lot of rumors. People were talking about a drunk driver. There were also rumors that it started with a shooting inside Planet Hollywood. So it got really chaotic. People were starting rumors about what happened, then we got on social media to see what actually happened and we saw that media reported it probably was one person that drove into the people standing on the sidewalk.

[02:05:14] BARNETT: And just tell me how this has been, for you, when you see an incident like this on an iconic place like the Vegas strip, of course, it's frightening. Are you visiting Vegas at the moment, are you a local resident, how is this incident likely to change your plans there?

KITTEROED: We're doing to leave Vegas tomorrow, so it's not going to change our plans. It's scary being here. We didn't know what was going to happen. We didn't know if it was a terrorist attack or what was happening. It was really scary at the moment.

BARNETT: Yeah, I can just imagine and just so our viewers are up to date. They do not believe this was an act of terrorism at all. They're pursuing the possibility that this woman did this on purpose, simply because the victims were found in two locations.

An eyewitness to all of it there, Sofie Kitteroed, speaking to us on the phone from Las Vegas.

Sofie, I appreciate that and giving us some insight into this.

This is still so fresh: Investigators are still trying to piece together what took place. They are, at this point, gathering witness testimony.

And earlier, some people who were there described exactly what they saw, take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: I saw the car up on the sidewalk coming towards us and there was a lady in it, African-American lady. It looked like she wasn't even trying to stop the car. She had both of her hands on the wheel and was looking straightforward and there were men running after her trying to stop the vehicle and they couldn't get to her. They were yelling stop, stop, and she just wasn't trying.

UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: The car rolled right in front of me. By the time I looked over to the right, all you could see was driving away and people were bouncing off the front of the car. The windshield was smashed. She rode on the sidewalk. She came to stop right here at the Paris intersection, she, like, people were punching the window trying to get the child out of the backseat. She accelerated again and just kept mowing everyone down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Seems as though people didn't have enough time to react.

We want to go now to our CNN affiliate, KTNV, in Las Vegas, Report Martha Fahidi (ph), has more from the scene.

MARTHA FAHIDI (ph), REPORTER, KTNV: One of the big things we got from that press conference, officials do not believe this was not an act of terrorism. This was not an act of terrorism. They do believe this woman went on to the sidewalk intentionally. We did get confirmed a lot of the details we've been hearing by witnesses all along.

We do want to show you the view here. The street is closed off.

Police did confirm that a three-year-old toddler was in the car with the driver that is being questioned right now. They tell us the toddler was not hurt. But as we've been saying all night long, 36 others were, six in critical condition. Police are going to show you where this happened far away. The woman was going down Las Vegas Boulevard right here. Police did confirm that the pedestrians were hit in two separate locations. We did hear from a witness who says the woman got on to the sidewalk, got off, sped up, hit more people, and that's the majority of where the people were hurt. Police could not confirm that she sped up, but they did confirm that she hit pedestrians in two different groups and that she got off the sidewalk and went back onto the sidewalk.

A lot of surveillance cameras, police are combing through that right now. They have spoken to 20 witnesses. But as you said, they are looking for more witnesses. If you did see anything, they tell me they're going to be on the strip throughout the night. They want to hear from you.

And we did try to get a little bit more details about the driver. We're told, simply, that she just was not from here. No description, no age. We don't know if the toddler was her child or not, but we're told that possibly she was here for about a week, maybe longer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: That was KTNV's Martha Fahidi (ph) reporting.

We understand that part of Las Vegas Strip is still closed at this hour. As I mentioned, we may get another press update from officials in the coming hours. When that happens, we'll bring it to you live. We'll continue to track this story.

For the moment, we want to bring you other major stories we're following. The youngest man convicted in a brutal gang rape in India will remain

free after serving just three years in prison. The man was released Sunday. He was 17 at the time of the crime back in 2012. He's now served the maximum sentence for a juvenile in India. The country's high court upheld his release on Monday. That news just coming into CNN these past few hours. The victim died of her injuries.

Mallika Kapur is joining us and live from New Delhi.

Mallika, the release was one thing, but now the news that the high court upheld this man's freedom must also be unnerving to many. What is the reaction to all of this?

[02:10:11] MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, the first word that comes to my mind, Errol, anger. There is a lot of anger over here in India that this juvenile rapist is free today. He is free. He is currently at a shelter run by a charity, we believe, and he will be, once the dust settles, he claims he wants the lawyer claims he is free to go home. There is a lot of anger over here because the level of his punishment, three years in a reform home, simply does not match the level of the crime he committed. As you know, that he was involved in the brutal gang rape of that young woman back in 2012, one of the grizzliest crimes committed here in India. And this boy, he was just a few months shy of his 18th birthday, that time he was a juvenile then. There's a huge sense of anger over here in India. What's been very

hard to watch, but something we can all perfectly well understand is the immense pain the victim's parents are feeling. We spent a lot of time with them yesterday and the victim's mother told us that she remembers what her daughter said to her when her daughter was lying in the hospital bed just a few days she succumbed to her injuries. Her daughter said, "I want these rapists to be burned alive, I want them burned alive." The mother remembers those words of her dying daughter. Here we are on the day when one of those rapists is now a free man. When the mother was telling us that, you know, you could understand her pain. This is what her dying daughter wanted. And look at the outcome instead. A lot of anger, a huge sense of disappointment, and a lot of pain from her parents.

BARNETT: It's understandable. I want to talk more about the victim's parents who you spent time with because they also took the unprecedented step in identifying their daughter publicly for the first time. Why, exactly, did they do that? And will people ever know who the convicted rapist is who is now free?

KAPUR: That's a good question, you know. I did put this to the mother yesterday. According to Indian law, we're not allowed to name a rape victim or identify her. "Yes, you know what, I just decided it was time. And the reason I did this," she told me, "is because I have nothing to hide. My daughter did not do anything wrong. She was the one who was wronged. The person who did something wrong, we should be announcing his name, you know, his name should be made public. Why should I hide my daughter's name?" She said, "My daughter is not the one who did anything wrong, why should there be any stigma attached to her. I'm proud of my daughter and everybody should know she fought hard, that she wanted to live. She was a bright girl, ambitious girl. She was studying to be a physiotherapist." You know, parents are very proud of this girl, of their daughter. She said, "I have nothing hide, so why should I conceal her name." She was very angry. She said here we are not revealing the rapist name. I wish people could know his name so he could spend the rest of his life hanging his head in shame.

BARNETT: You can't help to look at this situation and see that it isn't fair.

Mallika Kapur, joining us live from New Delhi. 12:43 in the afternoon there. Mallika, thank you.

We'll be back with the world's biggest stories here on CNN after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

[02:16:00] BARNETT: We want to get you to live to Las Vegas where officials are speaking to reporters with an update on the incident there. Let's listen in.

ZIMMERMAN: The victims that are injured in this accident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families. What we do know we've determined this is an intentional act. That means that our homicide section will be handling the investigation.

So I'm going to turn it over to Lieutenant Dan McGrath who oversees that section and he'll have more details information.

LT. DAN MCGARTH, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: I'm Dan McGarth.

So what we have at this point is we have a black female in her 20s with a child in a car that was three years old. She was driving a 1996 Oldsmobile vehicle with Oregon plates. She went up the street onto the sidewalk two or possibly three times. Based on the evidence and information from our fatal investigators, at this point, we are treating this as an intentional act. She's in a detention center right now. She's speaking to detectives. They're drawing her blood. And she will be -- I expect her to be charged in a few hours.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know what those charges will be?

MCGARTH: That's it folks. We will have a press briefing tomorrow with the sheriff and we'll give you updated time and location with that. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, Lieutenant.

MCGARTH: Absolutely.

BARNETT: Very brief press update there from Lieutenant Dan McGrath and Brett Zimmerman, but an important one. They've now determined that this was an intentional act and will be investigated as such. They also went on to explain who the suspect is behind all of this, a black female, they said, in her 20s, with her three-year-old child in the vehicle. That car was an Oldsmobile. As Lieutenant Dan McGrath there said, it moved and drove on to the sidewalk some two or three times. We know that as a result of that, one person has been killed and several others are in critical condition, with more being injured. Lieutenant Dan McGrath also saying she will be charged here in the next few hours. So that information just coming in to CNN after that press update.

I think Lieutenant Dan McGrath is still speaking to reporters, if that's the case, can we listen in?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you so much.

BARNETT: OK, just caught the tail end of all of that. We'll still continue to watch updates out of Las Vegas. Of course, this is a key location for people to spend their time and weekend. As we heard, from an eyewitness, at the top of this hour, there was panic in the streets and really bodies everywhere as people tried to put together what happened. It appears this woman intentionally drove her vehicle into a crowd. We'll keep following this story for you.

Now, Kenyan authorities have detained four people in connection with a bomb scare on an Air France flight to Paris. Airlines officials say the plane was diverted after a suspicious device was found in the plane's restroom. They say the object did not contain explosives.

Our David McKenzie joins us now live from Nairobi, Kenya, for the latest.

David, incredibly frightening for everyone onboard that plane. What's known, exactly, about this hoax?

[02:19:38] DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Errol, we're still trying to learn more details. What we do know, as you say, several passengers have been questioned about Kenyan authorities. The passengers weren't told that there was suspected bomb on board. The Air France pilot moved that plane towards Paris, mostly, packed with more than 450 vacationers, I suspect, and they pulled that plane down to the airport. Pretty quickly, Kenyan explosives experts and others went to the scene. It dawned on those passengers that it wasn't a mechanical issue of some kind and, in fact, they suspected a bomb. Now the CEO is calling it a nasty hoax. Unclear if it was a sick joke, as the CEO called it, or if it was some kind of intentional way to cause chaos in light of recent events.

BARNETT: If we stack this up, this is fourth incident involving an Air France flight in just over month where a plane had to make an unplanned landing. How do the authorities weigh out these threats?

MCKENZIE: When you're at 30,000 feet, you have to be careful as possible. Certainly, the device described, it looked like a bomb. It was a container stacked with papers, say authorities, and on top or inside was a timer of some of kind, and some wiring. This is something you'll have to take carefully, the people on board, even the crew, wouldn't be qualified to assess. They had to pull the plane to safest place to land. But it is a good question. Several planes are from Air France, three in fact in the U.S. in November and December were grounded because of bomb threats. Now, all of these issues have to be weighed by authorities. They don't want to spread panic. They have to take all of these seriously given what happened in Egypt, the downing of that plane in the Sinai desert, that Russian plane, and the Paris attack. There's a heightened state of security and a state of emergency in France that will go to Air France, which is the national carrier of that nation -- Errol?

BARNETT: David, we know you'll be following this story throughout the day. We appreciate that update. David McKenzie live for us this morning in Nairobi. Just past 10:20 in the morning there. David, thanks.

(HEADLINES)

BARNETT: Meantime in the U.S., political pundents are talking about Saturday's Democratic president debate, but much of the talk is not what the candidates said. Instead, it's about when this debate took place.

CNN's Reed Benyon (ph) explains why some Democrats are unhappy about the timing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) REED BENYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the third and final debate of 2015, presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, battled on key issues. While many of the GOP debates saw high ratings, the last two Democratic debates scheduled by the National Democratic Committee for Saturday nights haven't gotten much attention.

CNN's Jake Tapper asked Martin O'Malley for his take on the schedule.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, THE LEAD: I want to ask you about the role that the DNC is playing in this election, which Senator Sanders has focused on. Do you think the reason two of the three Democratic debates is scheduled on Saturday night is because DNC wants to limit the audience and thereby, in this theory, help Hillary Clinton?

MARTIN O'MALLEY, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, and that's why, for the first time ever, they've limited the number of debates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENYON: Indeed, Democratic presidential hopefuls have debated 17 times. The last televised debate on CBS also aired on a Saturday and averaged $8.5 million. A significant drop from the CNN Democratic debate, which aired on Tuesday a month earlier and averaged 15.3 million viewers. More complete ratings from the debate will be available Monday. Meanwhile, the next Democratic presidential primary debate is set for Sunday, January 17th in Charleston, South Carolina.

I'm Reed Benyon (ph), reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Now, we put the debate scheduling question to CNN contributor and "New Yorker" magazine Washington correspondent, Ryan Lizza. He said debate scheduling can, in fact, give certain candidates an advantage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:25:17] RYAN LIZZA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Most people think if you hide the debates and you don't expose voters to all the candidates that benefits the most well-known of the candidates, the frontrunner, Hillary Clinton. And there are a lot of complaints from other Democrats, especially from her two opponents, Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders, that the DNC, the Democratic National Committee, which organizes these debates, that they purposely put these debates at times at nights when it would guarantee fewer viewers. So a little bit of a conspiracy theory with people suggesting the DNC is trying to help Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: On the Republican side of the nomination race, U.S. presidential candidate, Ted Cruz, is maintaining his lead over Donald Trump, in Iowa, that is. That's according to new poll. The CBS survey of registered voters in the early nominating state shows Cruz with 40 percent support. You see Trump, the national frontrunner, behind him, and Marco Rubio coming in at third.

Police continue to investigate the situation in Las Vegas where a driver ran down dozens of pedestrians a few hours ago. We'll bring you more on that, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[02:30:58] BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett at CNN Center. Thanks for staying with us.

A large portion of the Las Vegas Strip remains closed at this hour as investigators try and figure out why a female driver ran down 37 people on the sidewalk. Police moments ago confirmed the driver acted deliberately. One person is confirmed dead and six people are critically injured at

this hour.

We want to bring in our affiliate station KTNV, and reporter, Bryan Callahan, he's live on the scene there.

Bryan, I understand, part of the Vegas Strip are still closed. We just heard an update from officials moments ago. Bring us up to speed on what the latest information is.

BRYAN CALLAHAN, REPORTER, KTNV: Yeah, the strip remains closed. We're actually about three quarters a mile off the strip. This is the area where the driver's car is and where she was arrested. The car is actually sitting about 100 feet to my left here. You can't see it through the Bushes. We've got shots of it earlier. The rear-view mirror torn off. Detectives are taking a look at the car. Talked to a witness here. He said when he arrived, he saw six or seven officers running towards the entrance. Then he saw the woman in handcuffs. He saw that small three-year-old child, police say, was in the back of the car when she went up on the sidewalk not once, but twice intentionally, according to police tonight. They say the car did have out of state plates. Trying to determine if she was drunk or on drugs. We're told blood was drawn from her. Officers have ruled out terrorism, but they have said that this was an intentional act, at this point.

Strip likely to remain closed for several hours for most of the night in that area. We're about three quarters of a mile away from it here. You can see the Flamingo over there in the distance. It is actually where the accident happened over there. We're told this car was '96 Oldsmobile. An intentional act here. This casino remains blocked off. Some of the guests are being allowed to come and go. This entrance where the car is located is closed off at this point as police continue their investigation tonight.

Bryan Callahan, reporting live in Las Vegas.

BARNETT: Bryan, one other quick question now that the suspect is in custody, one of the officials a few moments ago said she will be charged here in the next few hours. Do we know, specifically, with what?

CALLAHAN: We don't know exactly what she'll be charged with. There's going to be a lot of charges here. We do know that she's at the detention center. Those charges won't be filed until Monday morning. Las Vegas courts have a 48-hour hearing and most of the time isn't in court for that hearing. They're in court at the 72-hour hearing, which I would expect to be late Tuesday, early Wednesday morning, for her to be in court to face these charges. I haven't been able to talk to any prosecutors tonight about what she would be facing. The police saying it was an intentional act, Las Vegas police are looking out here, have homicide detectives on scene, so our thinking it's a good possibility.

BARNETT: Absolutely frightening, and the fact her three-year-old child was in the car is quite unnerving as well.

Bryan, we appreciate your update. That reporter from our affiliate, KTNV, there speaking to us live from Las Vegas. We'll continue to track this breaking story.

(HEADLINES)

BARNETT: Beijing is under a pollution red alert right now. And this is the second time this month, meaning, the smog over the Chinese capitol is hazardous to breathe. It's led the city to close schools and constructions sites and limit the number of cars out on the roads.

Let's turn to Matt Rivers now for the view from Beijing.

Matt, I was reading about one entrepreneur selling bottled Canadian air to those in China for $14 a pop. You know things are bad in Beijing when people are actually buying something like that. What is it like there today?

[02:35:17] MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Apparently, that company has sold hundreds of bottles so far. People are buying it for a reason. The air, here, is just very unpleasant, to put it mildly.

It's worth putting into context. There have been hundreds of bottles been sold with a country over well over a billion people. Yes, they're selling it. No, people aren't walking are not walking around the street with the bottles. It's been that way since Saturday. As you mention, that triggered a red alert here from the Beijing government. Construction sites closed down, schools have the option to close. We called around and all of those schools were in fact closed, five or six schools. Some companies allowed their employees to work from home today. When you walk outside, you can see why. The pollution is thick. You can smell it, taste it. Frankly, it is just not good for your health to breathe all that in.

BARNETT: So some places are closing at the moment. China's raging coal industry is primarily to blame here. What commitment is the country making in the wake of that climate agreement, which was reached in Paris just a short time ago?

RIVERS: China has come out and said their carbon emissions will peak by the year 2030 and they've pledge to reduce coal here by 2030. In 2014, Chinese companies and Chinese state-run companies invested over $80 billion. We're also told that, you know, coal power plants, older, more inefficient power plants will be replaced by more efficient coal burning-power plants. With that said, you know, the fact that even if it's more efficient, coal is still an incredibly bad pollutant here but it is cheap. You can't continue to fuel the kind of economic growth that we've seen in China with very expensive energy. So that's why coal continues to dominate, continues to be somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of China's energy supply. The fact of the matter is that's not going to change any time soon. So this pollution is here to say.

BARNETT: There are probably those that say the questions for officials is that type of energy that cheap when this is the cost, closing down schools and industrial parks as well.

Matt Rivers live for us in Beijing. We'll check in with you next hour.

But we want to continue to talk about this story, the science and its health implications.

You see our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joining us.

In a very serious way, Pedram, this is very deadly stuff.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is deadly stuff. We know life expectancy, Errol, in this part of China, about five and a half years lower. The pollutant has been this high, of course. You take a city like Los Angeles across California well-known often talked about as having poor air quality, that number would be 18 it is in the teens across that region, you're talking about good air quality considering what's happening across portions of China.

I want to break down how we get to this point. You take a look at the industry across the region, we know it's thriving when it comes to factories. In winter, the pollutants are released on large scale because a lot of the electricity about 70 percent is coal powered. Once you consume coal, you're releasing aerosols that shroud the cities. The concerns with these particulates, across the city center very small. I want to show you what happens with all of this as we go in talking about the size of the smog and the particulates in the area. You take an average human hair, a grain of sand is slightly wider than that, how about a dust particle, about 10 microns in diameter, these particles roughly 2.5 microns in diameter. You do the math on this, you can take 28 of these dust particles that make up the hazy skies, put them side by side, they'll be roughly the same size. It shows you how small there are. The reason it's so dangerous, when they're small, they can get your lungs, bloodstreams. The health concerns are very serious. Premature death, five and a half years younger when it comes to death across this region of China, irregular late heartbeat. Environment impacts, when it comes to the balance and streams and nutrients in streams and water, Errol, and also damages the farm crops as well. Just an expanding in an extensive area of implications when it comes to the pollutants released here -- Errol? [02:40:12] BARNETT: And, Pedram, a quick question. If you have a

face mask, is that strong enough to keep out the strongest particulates?

JAVAHERI: The higher quality ones are. That's a good question. They're very small. The higher quality ones are able to filter most of them out. We know this improves your chances of at least not succumbing to some of these issues across this region. Some of those basic covers, you'll stop much of the particulars to get into your system.

BARNETT: Scary stuff.

Pedram, appreciate the update. We'll see you next hour.

JAVAHERI: Thanks, Errol.

BARNETT: Now for decades, an American soldier didn't tell his story of a dramatic confrontation during World War II. Now his heroism has been revealed with a posthumous honor. Stay with us here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: Though he never talked about it, not even to family, an American has been honored posthumously for his heroism during World War II. He risked his life standing up to a Nazi commander and saved the Jewish soldiers serving with him.

Oren Liebermann reported on the first American soldier to receive this particular recognition.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(GUNFIRE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The story of Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds doesn't start in victory.

(GUNFIRE)

LIEBERMANN: An American soldier taken prisoner in World War II only days after arriving in Europe in the Battle of the Bulge. Edmonds was taken to Stalag 9B, a Nazi prisoner of war camp in central Germany, arriving Christmas day. Starving, Edmonds and his friends drew up plans for a restaurant, eating off an imaginary menu.

After 30 days, he was moved to another POW camp where he was tested in a confrontation Nazi doctrine. The German commander ordered Edmonds to separate out his Jewish soldiers. Edmonds, a Christian, refused. The next morning, his 1,200 American soldiers stood together. Seven years later, one of his Jewish soldiers, Lester Tanner, recounts the defiance against the German commander.

[02:45:17] LESTER TANNER, WORLD WAR II VETERANS: He says to Edmonds, can't all be Jewish. Someone said, we're all Jews here. And this German major, angry, takes out his Lugar, points it at Edmond's head, and said, you will order the Jewish-American soldiers to step forward or I will shoot you right now.

LIEBERMANN: Edmonds stood his ground and the camp commander stormed off. He had saved his men.

Within months, the war was over and Edmonds was home. He never shared the story before he passed away in 1985, not even with his son.

CHRIS EDMONDS, SON OF RODDIE EDMONDS: I would ask him from time to time as I got older as a teenager, a college-aged kid, "Dad, tell me about your army experience, "Son, there are some things I would rather not talk about."

LIEBERMANN: Chris Edmonds discovered the story in a 2008 "New York Times" article about Lester Tanner selling former {resident Richard Nixon an apartment in the '70s.

EDMONDS: You look at your dad as a hero, but I never knew he had a cape hanging in his closet, and he did.

LIEBERMANN: Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds is the first American soldier honored as righteous among the nations, non Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Edmonds awarded the recognition he never sought. His war, which started in defeat and ended in victory for his men.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Just incredible.

FIFA is set to announce possible sanctions against suspended President Seth Blatter. We'll take a look at how things got to this point after this very short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:50:57] BARNETT: In just a few hours, Pope Francis is expected to deliver his Christmas address to the Vatican administration. During this annual event, the pope will likely indicate what he would like the Catholic Church to focus on in the coming year.

Now, FIFA, football's world governing body, is set to announce a verdict of possible sanctions against two of the sport's biggest names, suspended FIFA President Seth Blatter and UAFA suspected president, Michele Platini.

CNN's Alex Thomas shows us how we got here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR (voice-over): Although Seth Blatter has been at FIFA for 40 years, the last six months appear to have been the most momentous. Blatter's rise began in the 1970s, and after six years as technical director and 17 as general secretary, Blatter won FIFA's top job in 1998 after a bitter election battle against the president. Blatter's popularity was puzzling to those outside the game. He once suggested women's footballer's should wear tighter shorts and racism on the pitch could be sold with a handshake.

SETH BLATTER, FIFA PRESIDENT: There is no racism. There is maybe one of the players who has worked for a gesture which is not a correct one. But also the one who is affected by that, he should say, it's a game, we're in a game, and at the end of the game, we should shake hands.

THOMAS: Despite his reputation and controversy, Blatter was re- elected four times. He appealed particularly to the smaller footballer nations taking the World Cup to new frontiers, Asia in 2002 and Africa in 2010. He also made FIFA richer than ever before and spread the wealth through football development programs.

Although the world's national soccer bosses continued to vote for him, Blatter's stock was falling with fans. He was booed at the Brazil World Cup in 2014, and in May of this year, several FIFA officials were arrested in early morning raids in Zurich just days before the latest presidential election. Swiss police were acting on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department, who outlined a list of damning charges, although Blatter himself was not charged. Nonetheless, he was re- elected for a fifth term.

BLATTER: We, or I, cannot monitor everyone all of the time. If people want to do wrong, they will also try to hide it. But it must fall to me for the responsibility for the reputation and well being of our organization and to find a way for us to fix this.

THOMAS: Four days later, as the outcry continued, Blatter announced he would step down after a new election scheduled for 2016. The 79- year-old Swiss planned to remain in charge until then. But now he's been suspended by the ethics committee. Blatter said he was disappointed that he was not given a chance to be heard and present evidence on his half. His future, in football, though, has never been more in doubt.

Alex Thomas, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARNETT: Now to something much more light. Beauty queens from around the world descended on Las Vegas Sunday to compete in the 2016 Miss Universe Pageant. It was Miss Colombia who was rewarded the most coveted title. End of story, right? Wrong?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE HARVEY, MISS AMERICA PAGEANT HOST: Miss Universe 2015 is Columbia. (CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Oh, there you go. End of story. Well, there was just one small problem. Host Steve Harvey had apparently misread the card with the official results. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARVEY: OK, folks --

(CHEERING)

HARVEY: There's -- I have to apologize.

(CHEERING)

HARVEY: The first runner up is Columbia.

(CHEERING)

HARVEY: Miss Universe 2015 is Philippines.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:55:11] BARNETT: See, I think it's hilarious. Others will say that's quite sad. Steve Harvey, though, was visibly embarrassed, calling it a horrible mistake. Miss Philippines gracious there. And #poorsteveharvey is trending right now.

The force is with the new "Star Wars" movie. "The Force Awakens" has earned $517 million during his first weekend at the box office worldwide and the film hasn't even opened in China, yet. That makes the new "Star Wars" the second-highest global debut of all time, second only to "Jurassic World," which brought in $525 million in its opening weekend, including China, earlier this year. Incredible stuff.

We covered quite a lot this hour. Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Errol Barnett. Remember to connect with me on social media anytime.

There's one more hour to go with me with live reports from India, Kenya, and stories as they break, next.

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