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Southern U.S. Ripped by Storm; Taliban Deny Cooperating with Russia to Fight ISIS; Christmas Season in Israel Marred by Violence; Indian PM Visits Pakistan; CNN International Correspondents on ISIS. Aired 2-2:30a ET
Aired December 26, 2015 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Torn apart: more vicious storms rip through parts of the southern U.S. in a week of deadly holiday weather and more storms are on the way.
Will enemies become friends? India prime minister pays a surprise visit to Pakistan's leader, the first such visit in more than a decade.
And reflect on the migrant crisis of this year: CNN's top correspondents discuss a divisive topic.
And hello, everyone this is CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for watching. We're live from Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.
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ALLEN: We are going to begin in the southeastern U.S., where a number of families spent Christmas Day with their homes and streets flooded. Up to 25 centimeters of rain hit Mississippi on Friday.
In Alabama, officials in the city of Alba are afraid the levee could give out. A nearby river is approaching its highest level ever. In the city of Birmingham, what may have well been a tornado caused this damage. Here's the fire chief.
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BIRMINGHAM FIRE CHIEF: The damage was done. It was confined to approximately one square mile. We had three structures, three houses that collapsed. We transported one patient from the scene. There were two others that were removed from the structure. There were reported no injuries.
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ALLEN: The storms have killed at least 15 people, though, in three states. Nick Valencia tells us about the fear residents felt as their homes were torn apart.
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NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A brutal string of storms across the southern portion of the United States has left more than a dozen killed, and there are still some unaccounted for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Started here, real loud, roared, started getting louder and louder, and I told her, we need to get in the house now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounded literally like a freight train. Sounding of the horn. It was coming.
VALENCIA: In Ashland, Mississippi, all that's left of Theresa McKay's (ph) home is the porch. She and her husband were inside when they saw the tornado coming. They ran and hid in this truck.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing left of my house. Not one thing. Nothing but all that debris.
VALENCIA: This building may have saved Tony Goodwin's life when a tornado hit Perry County, Tennessee.
TONY GOODWIN, STORM SURVIVOR: I had my grandson in my arm, under my arm, and everybody got in except for my sister-in-law and I'm yelling at her, come on. You know? And she got in. As soon as she did, I shut the door.
VALENCIA: A tornado knocked his house off its foundation, but he and six others survived by taking cover in the storm shelter.
CAPT. BART ROSSON, PERRY COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: You'll never know how important it is to seek shelter immediately however you can because it's a lifesaver.
VALENCIA: Two of those killed in Tennessee were husband and wife, Ann and Antonio Yzaguirre (ph). According to the Storm Prediction Center, at least 14 tornadoes hit Mississippi on Wednesday, but a single twister did most of the damage.
DR. PATRICK WASHINGTON, ASHLAND RESIDENT: This is a miracle. There's no way that three individuals were in this house at this time and they were able to walk away.
VALENCIA: Communities coming together, thankful to be alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went and bought toys for kids because I also have a little girl, and for them not to have Christmas and toys and stuff, there's -- it's not a holiday.
VALENCIA: Among the youngest victims, a 7-year-old boy in Mississippi. The storm prediction center says the threat for violent weather that dropped dramatically but the threat is not over yet.
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ALLEN: Yes, it's not. Derek Van Dam is following this storm system.
And you're saying it's not only going to perhaps get worse, it's going to get cold.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It depends on what part of the United States you're located or you're traveling to. If you're coming from overseas to this part of the world but just to go back to the number of tornadoes. This is so abnormal for this time of year.
The United States typically sees about 24 tornadoes in the month of December; just in one day alone we saw over 30 tornadoes, that was in the middle of the week and then we continued to have tornado day after day after day, just breaking that average that we typically see.
So it wasn't only the rain or the tornadoes, it was the heavy rainfall, Natalie, as well leading to scenes like this. This is Huntsville, Alabama --
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VAN DAM: -- in northern portions of Alabama, this is actually a rescue operation that took place, two individuals plus a young infant were rescued by the men you see on our TV screens right now. Fortunately, they were safe. But the water just got the better of them. It rose so quickly that they didn't have time to really, you know, make any sound decisions. That's why it's called flash flooding. That is why people get so concerned about that rapidly rising floodwaters.
That's different than just general flooding conditions that slowly, slowly start to rise. Flash flooding is where it becomes extremely dangerous. And you can see just why. That radar estimated rainfall near Huntsville, the northern sections of Alabama, in excess of 200 to 250 millimeters of rain, 25 centimeters of rainfall, and that is in just a one-day period.
And not only that, we had four reported tornadoes. One in Mississippi. Three in Alabama. And we are not done yet. As Natalie just mentioned, a very complex storm system setting up by Sunday and Monday. Snow and ice across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandle.
In the warm sector of this storm, you guessed it, another chance of tornadoes. That comes into Houston, perhaps into Dallas as well as New Orleans. And then we have another round of low pressures that are going to bring more rain to an already saturated environment. That means the potential for flooding continues.
Look at our five-day rainfall totals for Eastern Oklahoma, Missouri, even into Arkansas and Texas. Easily exceeding 300 millimeters or more on top of what they've already experienced.
So Natalie, it is going to be extremely, extremely busy here in the weather department. And we really think of the people and the individuals that are affected by this weather.
ALLEN: Yes, absolutely.
Did New York have one of its warmest Christmases?
VAN DAM: It did. They broke all kinds of records. In fact, it was warmer than Los Angeles on Christmas Day.
ALLEN: That's unreal. OK. Derek, thank you. You're going to be busy.
The Syrian rebel group, Jaysh al-Islam has confirmed the death of its leader. Syrian state media reports Zahran Allouch was killed by an airstrike on a suburb of Damascus.
State TV aired this video, which they say shows the airstrike that killed him. It's still unclear if it was Syrian or Russian aircraft which dropped the bombs. Jaysh al-Islam has no affiliation with ISIS or Al Qaeda but the Syrian still government referred to Allouch as a terrorist when it proudly reported his death.
The Iraqi military says it is closing in on an ISIS-held government compound in the important city of Ramadi in its attempt to retake the city. Iraqi soldiers are slowly combing through the area, searching for terrorists and defusing booby traps. We're concerned civilians are still living in militant territory. Winning Ramadi would be the most significant victory for the Iraqi military since 2014.
Encouraging signs the icy relationship between India and Pakistan may be thawing some. On Friday, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi became the first leader of his country to visit Pakistan in more than a decade. Modi met with his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif and talked about restarting a dialogue and increasing contact between their nations. But as CNN's Sumnima Udas reports, the countries have much to overcome if they are ever to be able to live side by side in peace.
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SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Any time the prime ministers of India and Pakistan meet, it becomes significant. The two countries have been arch rivals since independence nearly 70 years ago.
But India prime minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lahore is getting particular notice; it was a surprise layover after a visit to Kabul. It's the first time an Indian prime minister has visited Pakistan in almost 12 years.
Modi's visit with his Pakistani counterpart was brief. Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif welcomed Modi at the airport. They exchanged pleasantries over tea at Sharif's ancestral home. It also happens to be Sharif's birthday.
But is this all symbolism or is there anything more to it?
That's what many people are asking today. Relations between Pakistan and India have been tense for the past few years. The two sides weren't even talking and cross-border skirmishes have been routine. Contentious issues, like terrorism and the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir remain.
But political commentators in India say there appears to be a shift in prime minister Modi's foreign policy, vis-a-vis Pakistan. On the sidelines of COP 21 in Paris this image of Modi and Sharif talking created a lot of buzz. It was just a 2-minute meeting but it symbolized a perceived thaw in relations. Whether there is anything beyond the optics is still to be seen. But many analysts say this impromptu meet is a step in the right direction -- Sumnima Udas, CNN, New Delhi.
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ALLEN: Six American troops killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan are being hailed as outstanding --
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ALLEN: -- men and women by U.S. President Obama. The president and first lady visited a Marine Corps base in Hawaii on Friday as part of Christmas celebrations. Mr. Obama took a moment to pay tribute to those who lost their lives.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As we know, you know, when you're deployed overseas, it's tough. And even though we've been able to reduce the number of folks who are deployed in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, there are still folks over there every single day.
And it's still dangerous, as we saw this past week, where we had some outstanding, brave men and women who were killed.
And so we never take for granted what all of you do for the American people. You help keep us free. You help keep us strong. And whatever service you're in, whatever branch, we are extraordinarily grateful for everything that you do every single day.
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ALLEN: The Taliban has claimed responsibility, it is the deadliest attack on U.S. forces this year.
Conflicting words from Russia and the Taliban.
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ALLEN (voice-over): Moscow says the two are sharing information about ISIS, claims the Taliban denies. We'll have the latest on that story coming up for you in a moment.
Plus violence breaks out in the West Bank on Christmas. But Bethlehem goes on with its celebrations.
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ALLEN: It is still unclear how many people were killed in a gas tanker explosion in Southern Nigeria. The country's president says dozens were killed, several sources quote a local journalist saying it may be up to 100 who died.
The explosion happened as people were lined up to refill their cooking gas containers Christmas Eve. The fire engulfed a factory and surrounding buildings. Authorities still don't know what caused the tanker to explode.
At least 30 people were injured when a 6.3 earthquake shook Northern Afghanistan late Friday. It happened on the mountainous border with Tajikistan, where most homes are made with mud and prone to earthquake damage. Most of the injuries occurred in Peshawar, Pakistan, about 320 kilometers from the quake's epicenter.
The Taliban deny claims they have been cooperating with Russia in the fight against ISIS. The denial comes just days after Moscow said the militant group is exchanging information with the Kremlin.
CNN's Robyn Kriel reports from London.
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ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Russian foreign ministry initially said that Moscow was working with the Taliban to share intelligence and information as the number of ISIS fighters grow in its regional neighbor, Afghanistan.
However the Taliban on Friday refuted that, saying they did not need any help --
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KRIEL: -- fighting ISIS.
Just why would the Russians work with an old enemy?
Well, a U.S. commander last month said to Congress that ISIS had gained strength in Afghanistan in recent months with as many as 3,000 fighters there. And Russian president, Vladimir Putin, it seems, would prefer to work with his enemy's enemy. Experts also tell CNN that Putin could also be working to cut off the pipeline of ISIS fighters closer to home, given the ties between ISIS and the insurgency in the North Caucasus.
They say that Putin's moves are all about projecting relevance and strength.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allahu Akbar!
KRIEL: A U.S. official in Washington told CNN that while they don't believe that possible cooperation between Moscow and the Taliban would undermine the stability of what the Afghan government and coalition forces are trying to achieve, they do worry that this kind of joint effort could be potentially destabilizing, allowing the Taliban to receive international recognition and legitimacy -- Robyn Kriel, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ALLEN: Violence in the Holy Land has cast a dark shadow over the
holidays. On Christmas, Israeli police say they shot and killed a Palestinian woman who tried to ram officers with her car. It happened in a West Bank village. Near Bethlehem, rocks and Molotov cocktails flew between Israeli forces and Palestinians. Christmas celebrations carried on, despite the violent backdrop but tourists stayed away. Here's CNN's Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem.
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OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a subdued Christmas in the Holy Land this year in the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ, the very beginnings of Christianity, festivities in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity, not as big, not as crowded as they have been in previous years.
But there was still very much an effort to hang on to a celebration of Christmas Eve to forget, if only for a moment, the violence and the tension surrounding the holiday in Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank.
And you can feel it. There was a very large security presence in and around Manger Square but it still felt very much like Christmas Eve. The faithful coming out to celebrate and to take part in midnight mass.
But the violence continues here. Since the beginning of October, some 20 Israelis have been killed and more than 130 Palestinians have been killed, approximately 70 of which Israeli authorities say were killed while carrying out attacks.
Because of that number, some Palestinian Christian communities in West Bank have scaled back their Christmas festivities as a show of solidarity with all Palestinians. That, unfortunately, is the reality that hangs over Christmas in the Holy Land. And it is a reality that does not seem to be on it's way to ending any time soon -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
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ALLEN: A "Washington Post" journalist imprisoned in Iran was allowed to spend part of Christmas Day with his wife and mother.
These are file photos of Jason Rezaian when he was free. His mother said they had a wonderful time reminiscing. Iran has held Rezaian for more than 500 days. A court sentenced him to prison for an unspecified time for espionage and other infractions. "The Washington Post" denies the charges.
After nearly four decades, Americans taken hostage at the U.S. embassy in Iran will be compensated for their ordeal.
This is how the former hostages were welcomed back to the U.S. in 1981 after 444 days in captivity. The U.S. Congress just passed a budget bill that will give each of the surviving hostages up to $4.4 million. Earlier our Jon Mann spoke with CNN's Deborah Feyerick about the deal. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks so much for being with us. This seems to come out of some distant corner of the remote past.
What exactly are they going to get and why did it take so long?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really interesting. A lot of victims of terror have been fighting to get some sort of compensation, to get some sort of justice. The Iranian hostages will $4.4 million each, that's about $10,000 a day for each of the 444 days that they were held in captivity when those Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy back in 1979.
But this doesn't only impact these hostages; it also impacts other victims of terror, that includes those victims of the U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam and Kenya back in 1998.
It also includes those Marines, who were killed in Beirut in the bombing of barracks there back in 1983.
So this is really wide-reaching and goes back many decades to give the victims but to give the families also some sort of compensation because they haven't been able to get anything up to this point. So it's really crucial to these people to, in some ways, be made whole.
MANN: How are they reacting after all this time?
FEYERICK: Well, they're relieved. A lot of people are very, very hard to get this done. And they tried going after frozen assets here in the United States. That didn't work. They were told they couldn't sue the government of Iran, the hostages, when they were --
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FEYERICK: -- released as part of their release deal. So they've really been trying different ways. They even tried to get Congress to pass some sort of legislation. This was a very interesting way to do it, within the guise of a budget bill.
And it wasn't money that came from Iran or other state sponsors of terrorism, it's money that came from one of the world's largest banks that was found to have violated U.S. sanctions against Iran. And they were made to pay billions of dollars, $1 billion of that was set aside to help these U.S. citizens who are victims of terrorism overseas.
MANN: So just to be clear, none of this money comes from Iran and is there any apology, any statement from Tehran involved in this?
FEYERICK: No, none whatsoever. They haven't offered any sort of apology. The hostages were told point-blank you cannot sue. And so this was a way because a lot of people trying to find some creative alternatives and what they realized is that when BMP Paribas was fined some $9 billion because they violated those sanctions, it was a way to get some of that money that they were forced to forfeit or pay in fines, sort of siphoned off to these families and to the victims of terrorism.
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ALLEN: Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, our correspondents weigh in on one of the biggest stories they've covered this year, the refugee crisis.
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ALLEN: We all know the stories that dominated the news this year, ISIS and the refugee crisis that has dominated this year because of ISIS and the war in the Middle East.
Five of CNN's top international correspondents who covered these stories all year sat down to discuss what they've learned and how the migrant crisis may impact the years to come.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Did you ever think you'd see these masses of people marching into Europe like that? I don't think I would have imagined.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When they get to Greece and the boats keep on coming and coming.
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DAMON (voice-over): There's this logic out there of, well, why don't they stay in Lebanon or Turkey, they are safe.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But those are the question, is would you?
I mean, would you? I mean, I think that's --
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DAMON: No, because you need a life. You need to be able to build a life. You need to be able to build a future for yourself. And you're not going to have a future sitting in a refugee camp or in a country where you can't actually get a job, you can't pursue your education, pursue your life.
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DAMON: And you know what?
Sadly, the reality is, they are not going to go home. The war in Syria isn't going to end anytime soon. And even if it were to end tomorrow, I mean, the country is... NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's this awful consequence for the decades to come, though, that the dentists, the architects, the boring people who do those important jobs are not going to be there and they are not going to want to go home. And they're going to be doing that job in Germany.
WARD: This isn't necessarily the poorest of the poor that are making this journey. They can't afford it.
WATSON: No, these were like middle -- a lot of these folks from middle class families.
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WATSON: They're coming from the safe parts of Syria.
DAMON: Syria's poorest of the poor, sadly, are the ones that are either still in Syria, because they can't afford to leave and getting bombed just about every single day, or they are the ones who are stuck in the refugee camps. It's not a cheap journey.
WALSH: But it's so universal. It's the sheer volume of people doing it for totally understandable human reasons.
WATSON: There's no way the way that refugee trail unfolded was good for any of the refugees and migrants or for any of the European --
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WATSON: -- states. It kind of weakens European institutions, it weakens boundaries and borders and --
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DAMON: And that idea of -- that idea of Europe or even America, it's meant to be a democracy. It's meant to uphold all these ideals and values. And to be treated like trash, that's how they felt. They felt like they were being treated like trash.
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WATSON: It's dependent on the country or the border as well. It's not entirely fair because there were people who welcomed migrants.
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and people who made very difficult political decisions.
WATSON: Exactly. But it also created more of a pull factor. And that's...
Was that better?
ELBAGIR: Then we had that conversation in the U.K. where the Conservatives said if you stop saving them, they will stop coming. And then you have to debate what that does to your humanity.
Can you really watch thousands upon thousands of people washing up on shores?
DAMON: But then also why does it have to get that bad for people to react?
Why does it have to take that image of Alan Kurdi on the beach --
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DAMON: -- for people to begin to react?
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ALLEN: You may recall Angela Merkel reacting to a young Palestinian asylum seeker this past year, who broke down in tears in front of the German chancellor. Well, she's now allowed to stay in Germany for now. Germany's "Bild" newspaper is reporting that Reem Sahwil and her family received an extension to remain in the country for October of 2017.
That's Angela Merkel comforting her when she broke down in tears, when Ms. Merkel told her that Germany could not accommodate everyone who applied for asylum.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking German).
ALLEN: Even though Germany under Ms. Merkel has accepted hundreds of thousand of refugees, her interaction with this 14-year old sparked criticism and it called the chancellor insensitive to the plight, this girl's plight. But again her family has been allowed to extend their stay in Germany.
December 26th is known in many parts of the world as Boxing Day, a day for huge retail sales. Australians are predicted to spend $1.7 billion on Boxing Day this year, that's up about 4 percent from last year. And in the U.K., analysts see Boxing Day sales topping $4 billion. Online shoppers got a jump on Boxing Day, spending an estimated $1 billion starting on Christmas Day.
People have the shopping bug.
Thanks for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Natalie Allen. Next here, it's "WINNING POST." But first, I'll be back with our top stories.
