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Running Out of Time in Hunt for Suspected Killer; Brazil's Prison Riots Finally Over; Israeli Prime Minister Interrogated in Corruption Probe; Trump Strong Words for North Korea; Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 03, 2017 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: On the loose. Why Turkish police may be running out of time to find the suspected killer in the New Year's nightclub attack.
Plus, deadly weather rips through the U.S., leaving a lot of damage across several states.
And later, a 17-hour prison riot in Brazil is now over. Dozens of people are dead, and we will explain how this all happened.
Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and, of course, all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
The manhunt is intensifying in Turkey for the shooter who killed 39 people at a crowded nightclub in Istanbul. Their families and friends are mourning their loss. The bodies of the three Lebanese killed have arrived in Beirut. One of them was a personal trainer. He posted this photo from Turkey before the attack.
He's posing with a young woman who was also killed.
People have been leaving flowers and Turkish flags outside the nightclub. At least eight people have been detained for questioning.
CNN's Ian Lee has more now from Istanbul.
IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the face of the man Turkish authorities believe is behind the New Year's eve attack, killing 39 people. ISIS took responsibility for the shooting, claiming it's retaliation for Turkey's involvement in neighboring Syria.
Hundreds of police officers are now scouring the country in a nationwide manhunt. Apart from the suspect's photo, authorities say they have his fingerprints. With these pieces of evidence, they hope to not only identify the gunman but also start to work out if he had any help.
Security experts say that is very likely since he planned to escape the scene. Turkey's government has come under fire for a string of terrorist attacks since 2015 that have killed hundreds of people. At a press conference, the deputy prime minister was on the defensive,
saying 248 or so attacks have been prevented. Many attacks, some with car bombs, some with suicide bombers, many have been prevented but those we couldn't prevent result in very sad scenes.
Despite heavy security New Year's Eve, even a police officer at the nightclub's front door, the gunman methodically shot his way inside the club and then escaped in the chaos.
If he is an ISIS operative, there's a chance he could try to slip into the terror group's territory in Syria. If that's the case, authorities are running out of time to catch him.
Ian Lee, CNN, Istanbul.
CHURCH: The victims of this attack began the New Year celebrating, but for 39 people, the first hour of 2017 was their last.
CNN's Sara Sidner has more now from Istanbul.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Video from a party inside the upscale Reina nightclub the moment Istanbul entered 2017. Just 75 minutes later, mayhem. Flashes from a gun held by a man as he begins his killing spree. First, outside shooting a police officer and security guard. Then he opens fire inside.
Thirty nine people are killed. Sixty nine injured. The victims from all over the world, including the United States.
WILLIAM RAAK, VICTIM OF TURKISH NIGHTCLUB ATTACK: I got shot in the leg, man. These crazy people come in shooting everything.
SIDNER: William Jacob Raak survived the night of terror. Seven of the nine people who entered the club left with bullet wounds. Raak now heading home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAAK: For me, I wake up in the United States. I eat breakfast. You guys wake up and have to think of this. It's so, so sad, and I really wish everybody here the best.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: The worst was yet to come for the victims' families. Twenty four hours after the massacre, the funerals began. This one for Fatih Cakmak, another security guard. His mother's moans pierced the silence. His father in shock. His son had survived this car bomb attack three weeks ago at an Istanbul stadium, but not the nightclub massacre.
"He was one in a million. If he wasn't special, hundreds of people would not have bothered to show up here," he says. [03:04:59] This sorrow will be multiplied 39 times. This is just one
of the families forced to say good-bye to their young loved ones after the Reina nightclub attack.
Twenty seven of the 39 victims were foreign nationals, including a film producer and a fashion designer from India. A beautiful 19-year- old Israeli citizen with a full life awaiting her.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Istanbul.
CHURCH: And ISIS is also claiming responsibility for a series of attacks that killed dozens of people in Iraq. The deadliest was in Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad. A car bomb exploded at a busy intersection, killing 35 people and wounding 60 others.
North of the capital, suicide bombers attacked two police stations in Samarra. At least six people were killed, including three police officers.
During a one-day visit to Iraq, French President Francois Hollande said fighting terrorism there helps to prevent terror attacks on French soil.
The Free Syrian Army says its suspending talks leading up to the peace negotiations in Kazakhstan. The rebel groups accuse the Syrian regime of violating the four-day-old ceasefire by trying to recapture a rebel-held area near Damascus.
The group, though, has not said it will withdraw from the peace talks themselves. Russia, Syria, and Turkey negotiated the talks scheduled for later this month.
Intelligence officials say they've discovered digital fingerprints indicating Russia is behind the U.S. election cyber-attack. But Donald Trump is still skeptical about Russia's role and insists he knows things that other people don't know about the hack.
CNN's Pamela Brown has the latest.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President-elect Donald Trump rang in the New Year still casting doubt on the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia was behind the unprecedented attack of the U.S. election system.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know a lot about hacking, and hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else. And I also know things that other people don't know. And so they cannot be sure of this situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Asked to describe what undisclosed information he had access to, Trump promised to reveal it soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You'll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: And he said the failed intelligence leading up to the Iraq war makes him skeptical.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I just want them to be sure because it's a pretty serious charge, and I want them to be sure. And if you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster, and they were wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Today Trump's incoming press secretary Sean Spicer defended the president-elect's stance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: The idea that we're jumping to conclusions before we have a final report is frankly irresponsible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: CNN has learned the intelligence community traced the hack back to specific keyboards with a Cyrillic text, an alphabet used by Russians. Adding to U.S. intelligence official's confidence Russia carried out the hack.
Last week, the FBI and DHS put out this report naming the Russian hacking operation grisly step and calling out two Russian intelligence service groups for, quote, "The intrusion into a U.S. political party."
Senator John McCain traveling this week with other senators in the Baltic region where countries are most worried about Russia's aggression, said there is no doubt Moscow is the culprit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN, UNITED STATES SENATOR: It is clear that Russia has attacked the United States of America. All of our intelligence agencies will affirm that that being the case. We will work in the Congress to have stronger sanctions in order to prevent further attacks on the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: As we await the comprehensive review that President Obama ordered about the election hacks, officials tell us part of why the intelligence community is so confident in its assessment is because of the high-quality intelligence it has on Russia compared to other more secretive regimes like North Korea. Pamela Brown, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: So let's bring in CNN's Fred Pleitgen. He is live from Moscow. Good to see you, Fred. So U.S. intelligence officials say digital fingerprints indicate Russia was behind U.S. election cyber- attacks. But president-elect Donald Trump is still skeptical. How is that being received across Russia?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly if you look at Russian official media, you look at all the government-run television networks and also news agencies, they do also obviously mirror and echo those doubts by the Trump administration, saying, look, it seems as though there is somewhat of a discord there within U.S. politics with.
On the one side, the Obama administration saying that there are certain -- that Russia was behind these attacks while the Trump administration or the incoming Trump administration seems to be casting doubt on all of that.
[03:09:56] That's something, of course, that's playing very big here in Russian media, especially those doubts that seem to persist. Now, it's interesting to see that source has now told CNN that they are pretty certain that they can trace the hacks back to a Cyrillic keyboard because that, of course, is something that would certainly cast a light on at least a source somewhere speaking Russian, possibly inside Russia even though it's unclear whether or not that would have been by the Russian government.
Now, one of the people who is in the Trump transition team, an adviser to Donald Trump, former CIA Director James Woolsey, he came out and said he believes that the Russians may very well be behind all this. Let's listen in to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES WOOLSEY, FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: It looks from all the indicators that we've read about from NSA and CIA and so forth as if the Russians were there and perhaps even principally there. It doesn't mean there isn't somebody else in there. Donald Trump is an expert at this kind of leading around and attracting everybody's attention. That's exactly what he did during the campaign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you saying he's playing us in effect?
WOOLSEY: I -- there's a possibility that he is a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that something a president-elect should be doing on a serious issue of national security?
WOOLSEY: Why not? I mean, he's not interfering with anything. He's not talking about anything classified.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: So, there you have James Woolsey, who on the one hand says that he believes there may have been Russians involved at some level with these hacks, but at the same time also says that he doesn't believe Donald Trump's comments on all this would compromise anything.
The Russians for their part, of course, Rosemary, like they have been over the past couple of weeks, are continuing to say that the allegations that they were behind these hacks are baseless and also absurd, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yes. All right. Frederik Pleitgen bringing us reaction there from across Russia, reporting live for us from Moscow where it is just after 11 in the morning. Many thanks to you.
Let's turn now to Larry Sabato who joins us via Skype. He is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Always great to talk with you.
So, Larry, Donald Trump says he knows something that others don't about the hacks targeting the democrats. Here's how his senior adviser, Kellyanne Conway, described it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: I want to be clear about the information about the hacks that Trump says he knows. He says, quote, "You'll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday." Will he actually announce what the information is Tuesday or Wednesday as he said he would after being briefed?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, he didn't -- he didn't say that -- he didn't necessarily say that he'd announce it. What he's saying is that he'll -- we'll find out. He'll find out. I think it's all very contingent on what these intelligence officials reveal in their briefing, Anderson.
COOPER: OK.
CONWAY: And everybody should be very happy that the president-elect is open to receiving that briefing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: So, Larry, there is certainly a lot to discuss just in that one sound bite. In fact, least of which appears to be the fact that we should apparently be happy that the U.S. president-elect is willing to receive intelligence briefings.
But as well as that, Mr. Trump appears to be creating some confusion about what is known and not known about the hacking. Why is he doing that, and what could he possibly know outside of what intelligence officials will reveal in this upcoming briefing?
LARRY SABATO, VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR POLITICS DIRECTOR: Rosemary, no one knows, but I think just about everybody is skeptical that he knows something that all the American intelligence agencies don't know. That President Obama, who's been receiving intelligence briefings now for over eight years, also would not know. Now, maybe President Putin sent him a private message via courier as
he mentioned instead of e-mail. That's possible, but I think it's highly unlikely, and I doubt that we ever hear precisely what it is or was that Donald Trump thought he knew that no one else did.
CHURCH: So, let's look now at this New Year's tweet that Donald Trump sent out. We'll bring that up. "Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly. They just don't know what to do. Love." What do you make of this?
SABATO: We're all turning into psychoanalysts because we have to. You have to psychoanalyze what this particular president-elect and soon to be president actually thinks and does because it is so completely unprecedented.
Maybe presidents talk like this with their families or their closest advisers behind the scenes, but never has a president actually advertised his feelings toward his enemies in precisely this way on the brink of a New Year and his own presidency.
Also look at the word "enemies." First of all, wouldn't most politicians, if they had sent out something like this at all, have used the word "opponents" rather than "enemies"?
[03:14:59] He's supposed to be trying, at least pretending to be unifying the country before his presidency begins. There's nothing unifying about that message. It really reminds me of the last president who liked to refer to his enemies and in fact had a long enemies list.
His name was Richard Nixon. He's a favorite of Donald Trump's. Donald Trump plans to display in the Oval Office a letter, an encouraging letter that President Nixon sent him in the 1980s suggesting via Mrs. Nixon that he, Donald Trump, run for office.
CHURCH: Wow, interesting. And, Larry, in 17 days the Republican Party will control the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the White House. And one of the first things house republicans are pursuing in the New Year is reforming the Office of Congressional Ethics.
Now, that's an independent watchdog group that was created after multiple lobbying scandals. Republicans want to take away its independence, and they argue the group has falsely accused members of Congress of wrongdoing. So, is this needed reform, or this just take away the watchdog's teeth? What are we to make of this?
SABATO: Obviously, members of the House and the republican majority have taken this opportunity filled with news and information, so much that most people who even follow the news can't keep up with it. They've taken this opportunity to do away with an institution they detest.
It was established by former democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when she was in that high office. And republicans believe that it is being used to persecute them. I think it's their move to essentially abolish it is going to backfire
on them because it appears to the general public as though they're trying to hide from ethics charges.
And let's remember, what is the popular view of politicians generally and certainly the House of Representatives, which has had too many scandals to recount here? The popular view is that there's a lot of corruption in the House, and this is just another attempt by members of the House to protect themselves and to bury their misdeeds.
CHURCH: It is going to be an interesting year for sure. We will be watching all of these developments very closely. Larry Sabato, always a pleasure to speak with you and get your perspective on these matters.
SABATO: Thank you, Rosemary.
We'll take a short break. But still to come, five people have been killed in severe weather across the southeastern United States. More on the dangerous flash flooding, power outages, and widespread damage. That still to come.
[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Don Riddell with your CNN world sport headlines.
The Premier League kicked off the New Year with Chelsea six points clear at the top of the table. But since the Blues aren't in action again until Wednesday, the chasing pack had a chance to close the gap.
Liverpool did not, though. The Reds could only manage a draw struggling Sunderland. Twice they led the game, but twice the black cats came from behind with penalties from Jermain Defoe.
The big winners on Monday were Manchester United who are on their best streak since the days of Alex Ferguson. Thirteen games unbeaten in all competitions. And against West Ham at the London Stadium, United won 2-nil to lock up their six consecutive Premier League win.
Juan Mata came on as a sub to put United ahead in the second half before Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored yet again.
United's rivals Manchester City were in desperate need of a big win and they got it against Burnley, but this came the hard way. Fernandinho just cannot seem to stay on the field these days. He was sent off for the third time in just six games.
It seemed apparent from his simmering post-match interviews that manager Pep Guardiola was furious with the referee. But city still found a way and claimed the points with points from Gael Clichy and Sergio Aguero. A 2-1 win that makes up some of the ground they lost in their defeat to Liverpool on New Year's Eve.
That is a quick look at your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell. CHURCH: New video coming into us from Alabama. Four people were
killed there after a tornado tore through their home in a rural community. The severe weather has hit several states in southeastern U.S. Flooding killed a 70-year-old man in Florida. He drowned near his home after a storm swept through.
And we want to get to more on this. Our weather man Pedram Javaheri joins us now. Just terrible at this time of year to see this sort of weather.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. You know, when you look at your calendar, you see January, you see February, you know historically this is as quiet as it's supposed to be at this time of year. And of course, multiple tornadoes, now fatal tornadoes and rather unusual because last year, we had a rather quiet year as far as tornadoes are concerned.
So I want to break down exactly what we're seeing at this hour. Rosemary, you take a look at this map. You look at the temperatures at the top corner of your screen, 1 degree Fahrenheit. That is about minus 20 Celsius for international audience sitting there across portions of the Dakotas.
Temps into the 60s Fahrenheit at this hour we're closing in on it around Nashville, Tennessee. That is about 15 degrees Celsius. So, again , incredible disparity in the air math in place there with thunderstorms left and right across portions of the Panhandle.
That is of course, the reason we had the flooding concern across that area and a fatality out of that region and then the tornado as well. But in total, over 130 severe weather reports, 12 of which were associated with tornadoes, much of them across portions of Alabama into southern Georgia.
And this is what Rosemary and I were talking about as far as the unseasonable nature of this, where December you typically see 24 tornadoes in the U.S. January and February, about 30 to -- about 35 or so tornadoes respectively. You work your way of course April and May, that number gets up into the peak season.
And when you look at the state by state average for the month of January, the only western state, California, on average one tornado in January. You notice across the southeast, this is where you would typically see it.
But again, rather high concentration coming in in one day very early in the calendar year. And fatal tornadoes in 2016 were the lowest number we had seen. Only 17 lives were lost. That was the lowest number since the 1980s. Of course, four of them now in the first couple of days of 2017.
That storm system it is all done with. It is moving off toward the northeastern portion of the U.S., becoming mainly a heavy rain event. Notice that storm around the western part of the United States. That is actually a potent storm system coming in. A lot of rainfall from say, St. Louis of this towards San Francisco. Tremendous mountain snowfall. In fact, off the charts there.
Potentially three feet of fresh snow in the next two days around parts of California into the forecast. But look what happens here. There we go.
Arctic air begins coming in sometime Thursday into Friday. Could shift far enough south to where the impact certainly could be felt around parts of the southern U.S. In places like Atlanta, the temperature is at 66 degrees, dropping off into the 20s by Saturday. And that, my friend, is a potential for some snow mixing in even as far south as places such as Atlanta if everything holds.
But at this point, it is looking very interesting going into the next couple of days as winter weather beginning to really, really take shape across parts of the U.S. in the next few days.
CHURCH: Yes, it's a real concern. And of course we worry about the extremes.
JAVAHERI: Absolutely.
CHURCH: Which is what we're seeing right now.
(CROSSTALK)
JAVAHERI: Earlier and earlier, yes.
CHURCH: All right. Thanks so much, Pedram. I appreciate it.
Well, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under investigation for possible corruption. Police questioned him for several hours on Monday. It's not the first time Mr. Netanyahu has been investigated.
[03:24:59] CNN's Oren Liebermann reports.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is officially a suspect in a criminal investigation in Israel. Police and the attorney general saying he's suspected of having received gifts and benefits from businessmen, though they won't say too much more about the suspicions fearing the investigation may become biased one way or another if they reveal too many details.
The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denounced the allegations and the investigation against them. This is what he posted or part of what he posted on his Facebook page on New Year's Day.
He said, "Unfortunately you'll have to be disappointed this time as well like you were disappointed in previous affairs. As usual, there will not be anything because there is nothing. Try replacing the prime minister at the ballot box as is customary in a democracy."
There Netanyahu is referencing a previous criminal investigation into his affairs. That happened back in the late '90s during his first term as prime minister. It didn't lead to an indictment and it didn't lead to any charges. Netanyahu predicting this current investigation won't lead to any charges as well. Now this started about six months ago as an examination as the
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit looked into affairs relating to the prime minister. But the attorney general said it wasn't until a month ago that they had the evidence to believe this would lead to a criminal investigation.
So what happens now? Well, Netanyahu doesn't have to do anything as long as this remains a criminal investigation without an indictment. Under Israeli law, only when it becomes a conviction and that conviction is upheld at the highest levels that the Israeli high court does he have to resign.
That being said, if this becomes an indictment with serious charges, he may face tremendous political pressure to step down. But we're not there yet. At the moment, this is the beginning of a criminal investigation. Police investigators were at his house for about three hours on Monday night. This is just the first stage. It remains a criminal investigation.
That is what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicts it will end.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, Jerusalem.
CHURCH: And we'll take a short break here. But still to come, Donald Trump lashes out at North Korea after its leader, Kim Jong-un threatens the United States. We'll get reaction from North Korea's neighbors. That's coming your way next.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you now on the main stories we've been following this hour.
Turkey says it has the fingerprints of the shooter who killed 39 people at a popular nightclub in Istanbul. Police put out this photo of the suspect. At least eight people have been detained for questioning. ISIS is claiming responsibility. Turkey believes the shooting was retaliation for attacking the terror group in Syria.
Convicted church shooter Dylann Roof will represent himself in the sentencing phase of his trial. A federal judge ruled the self- proclaimed white supremacist is mentally competent. Roof shot and killed nine African-Americans in a Charleston, South Carolina church in 2015. He could be sentenced to death.
A large fire has destroyed at least 100 homes in central Chile, forcing about 400 people to evacuate. Officials say 19 people are slightly injured. Investigators are determining the cause of the fire, which broke out in a fisherman's club. Gusty winds and high temperatures helped fuel the flames.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has a powerful response to Kim Jong- un following the North Korean leader's threatening New Year's announcement. Trump tweeted this. "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the United States. It won't happen."
Trump also had some strong words for North Korea's neighbor. "China has been taking out massive amounts of money and wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade. But won't help with North Korea. Nice."
Well, North Korea has been working to improve its missile capability. The country conducted a fifth nuclear test in September.
Well, CNN has reporters across the region. Saima Mohsin is in Seoul, South Korea, and Matt Rivers is reporting in Beijing. Thanks to both of you for joining us.
So, Saima, let's start with you. How can President-elect Donald Trump be so sure that it won't happen, referring of course to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, threatening to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile. Does Mr. Trump know something we don't?
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the big question, Rosemary. Of course, President-elect Donald Trump does have periodic intelligence briefings according to his team, so is he privy to information that we don't have? We're not sure about that. Maybe he'll reveal that in the days to come.
But it's important, of course, to assess what we do know about North Korea's capabilities. Is he referring to the fact that we don't think that they yet have managed to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and attach that to a long-range missile.
Of course, we also know that the majority of North Korea's long-range missile tests have been unsuccessful according to intelligence reports and North Korea watches.
What we do know, though, Rosemary, is that back in February 2016, North Korea launched a satellite which a lot of experts said could be a guise for launching a long-range missile. The technology is similar.
And in April 2016, Kim Jong-un presided over, according to state media, the testing of a new engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile. And at the time, he said this will now help North Korea target its enemies including the U.S. mainland.
And so, all of these stages allude to the fact that he is on the path to getting an intercontinental ballistic missile. We just don't know how close he is to that, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Yes. Of course, and Saima, what are we to make of Mr. Trump chiding China for not helping when it comes to North Korea? How much control does China really have over North Korea and its leader, of course, Kim Jong-un?
MOHSIN: Yes, according to President-elect Trump, he seems to see this in very black and white terms, that China is an ally of North Korea. Therefore, China wields a lot of influence and should be able to use that influence to stop North Korea in its tracks.
The reality is that recently, as recently as December, we saw that China actually sided with the U.N. on sanctions against North Korea.
[03:35:05] And although there is a close relationship between the north and China -- China or in North Korea and China, we haven't seen any summits between Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un. He hasn't visited North Korea or Pyongyang, whereas, Xi Jinping has made several visits to North Korea and met with President Park here. So, just how much influence China really has is up for debate. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Saima Mohsin reporting there from Seoul in South Korea. I want to turn to Matt Rivers now in Beijing. So, Matt, what has been the reaction in China to Donald Trump's tweet accusing the country's leadership of taking out massive amounts of money from the U.S.
But at the same time, in his words, it won't help with North Korea. What's being said about that? And, again, let's look at this control. How much control does China perceive that it has over North Korea, and how is that relationship between China and North Korea changed?
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a line of argument from Donald Trump that China is very used to responding to because frankly, this is the same argument that we've heard from Donald Trump throughout his presidential campaign. And now that he is getting ready to take on the presidency, he's apparently sticking to this same rhetoric.
And so, what we heard at the daily scheduled press briefing today at the ministry of foreign affairs is the same thing we've heard from China. Every time Donald Trump says something like this, they come back and say, look, China has been a responsible member of the United Nations Security Council. It has actually helped draft some of these sanctions against North Korea. It is very much in favor of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.
But it says that in order to do that, all parties must directly engage with North Korea and with the Kim Jong-un regime. China's contention is that you can't just simply sanction your way out of this problem and that all parties involved, including the United States, including China, including Russia, all the members of the six-party talks that ended some years ago should come back to the negotiating table and resolve this issue responsibly as China says it.
But you know, to your question about the China/North Korea relationship, while there might be some debate over how much influence China actually has over North Korea, and China would say that it can't just simply tell North Korea what to do, the fact is that China is the largest trading partner for North Korea.
China controls the purse strings, the economic life line to North Korea. It is by far its largest trading partner. And what the contention of critics of China say is that if China were to more effectively enforce these sanctions, if it really wanted to turn the screws on North Korea, it could do so by using that economic leverage against the Kim Jong-un regime.
China would say, look, that's not our only our issue. The way to solve this is to through direct negotiations, Rosemary. Very complicated issue both for China and the United States.
CHURCH: Yes. And getting more and more complicated as the days progress. Matt Rivers joining us there live from Beijing, where it is 4.38 in the afternoon. Many thanks to you.
Well, Donald Trump may hesitate to blame Russia for the U.S. election hack, but Moscow has been accused of cyber-attacks on its neighbors in the past.
Ivan Watson reports.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The war in eastern Ukraine. For more than two years, Ukraine has been fighting separatists supported by its eastern neighbor, Russia, in a conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives and displaced some two million people. A shaky ceasefire is barely holding.
But this isn't just a conflict being fought with bullets and bombs. Ukraine says it's recently survived at least 10 major cyber-attacks that have targeted organizations like the state railroad company, the ministry of finance, the ministry of infrastructure, agencies that a society needs to function normally.
So far, Ukrainian officials aren't publicly blaming the latest cyber assault on anyone. But Ukrainian and American investigators did blame Russian hackers for a separate attack on an electric company in December 2015. It cut power completely in more than 100 cities across the country.
Officials in other former Soviet republics like Latvia say they too are frequently targets of their Russian neighbor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANIS GARISONS, STATE SECRETARY, LATVIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENCE: We've been facing those challenges on all fronts. Information warfare goes on on a daily basis. We're facing Russian propaganda information warfare and even psychological warfare.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: It's not easy to pinpoint the source of a cyber-attack, but experts here argue they appear to be state-sponsored.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANIS SARTS, DIRECTOR, NATO STRATEGIC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE: Some of the programs that we've seen, it is very evident that no commercial criminal sector or hacktivist would be ready to invest time and resources to such an elaborate program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:40:05] WATSON: When former Soviet republic Georgia went to war with Russia in 2008, the deadly battles were accompanied by hackers attacking Georgian government web sites. The former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accuses Moscow of
further meddling during elections four years later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI, FORMER PRESIDENT OF GEORGIA: In 2012, they were heavily involved in Georgian elections. They've done cyber-attacks over different time periods. They've done all kind of media provocations. They've spread rumors. They've sent operatives to do all kind of dirty tricks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: But Russia does not have the monopoly on cyber warfare tactics. A computer virus called Stuxnet was discovered in Iran's Natanz nuclear facility in 2010. It caused centrifuges to spin out of control and destroy themselves. Though no government officially claimed responsibility, many experts accused the U.S. and Israel of carrying out the attack.
Now, with the outgoing Obama administration announcing new sanctions and the expulsion of Russian diplomats, the threat of further retaliation has some experts worried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT TAIT, CYBERSECURITY EXPERT: Cyber warfare is something that is very worrying because of its danger of escalation. You know, this is not a domain in which only, you know, governments and the military play. This is, you know, we've seen it with things like attacks on DNSF as causing mass outage, you know, attacks on banks. These are, you know, parts of civilian infrastructure that we all rely on day to day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: The threat of a possible cyber war could take our interconnected, highly computerized society into uncharted territory.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Kiev.
CHURCH: Coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM, family members rush the gates of a Brazilian prison after a deadly uprising. What sparked the riot? That's still ahead.
[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, Danish authorities have arrested the daughter of the woman at the center of South Korea's presidential corruption scandal. Chung Yoo-ra is a medal winning equestrian and trains in Germany. She was wanted for alleged interference of business after months of hiding.
Her mother, Choi Soon-sil, is on trial, accused of abusing her friendship with South Korean President Park Geun-hye for financial gain. South's Korea parliament voted to impeach President Park in December.
A party to ring in the New Year ended with deadly gunfire in a city near Sao Paulo in Brazil. Friends and family held a mass funeral Monday. Police say the shooter opened fire on 12 people including his wife and young son. Then he turned the gun on himself. They believe he was angry over a split with his family. Four other people were injured.
Brazilian authorities are now investigating a lengthy prison riot that left at least 56 people dead. They say the death toll could rise as they get a better idea of what exactly happened.
CNN's Rafael Romo has the details.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Brazilian officials say the riot lasted 17 hours from New Year's Day in the afternoon until Monday morning when prison guards were finally able to regain control.
Family members of inmates desperate to find out about their loved ones rushed the prison gates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I want to know how my son is. My son is in there. This is a bullet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Anguish is plain to see on their faces. Violence broke out Sunday in the prison complex in the heart of the Amazon near the city of Manaus. Officials told state-run media that the bloody riot was sparked by a battle between rival drug gangs.
Prison guards along with 74 prisoners were taken hostage during the 17-hour riot. The bodies of some of those killed were thrown over the prison walls. Some of them decapitated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There were deaths unfortunately. We have some outside the prison who were thrown from the prison by the inmates themselves. There have been escapes. We don't yet know how many. We're already looking for the escapees in the forest and highways.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Brazil has more than 600,000 people behind bars, the fourth largest prison population on earth. Prisons there have long been criticized for being overcrowded, violent, and disease-ridden.
In addition to overcrowding, a Brazilian security official acknowledged that the two gangs were probably fighting each other because they each wanted to control drug trafficking inside the prison. Rafael Romo, CNN.
CHURCH: Myanmar says it will investigate a new allegation of police brutality against the Muslim Rohingya minority. A video that's gone viral prompted the investigation, and we do warn you the images are disturbing.
It appears to show police officers beating Rohingya villagers in November. One officer records the video as the violence plays out behind him.
Phil Robertson from human rights watch says this. "If the police feel so immune that they film themselves inflicting such brutal beatings, one wonders what other horrors might be taking place off camera that they were not willing to record."
Four policemen are now in custody, and there's growing criticism of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi over her handling of human rights abuses against the Rohingya Muslims.
We spoke to the former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEREK MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO MYANMAR: This context of decades if not centuries of mistrust, of the sense of Myanmar people that the Rohingya are not only not citizens, they're illegal immigrants and potentially the vanguard of terrorism.
This sort of anti-Muslim attitude in the country going back decades. This is what is necessary to solve the question, and this is what she has been trying to get at.
Aung San Suu Kyi has tried to say look, give us some space to solve this. It requires some very sensitive understanding, but I think she does need to step up and do more to speak to the urgent immediate issue of the human rights of these people, and again hold these folks accountable on the ground in the video and let people in who are objective so that we can understand really what's going on on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Derek Mitchell talking to CNN about the situation there in Myanmar.
[03:50:01] We will take a very short break here. But still to come, beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but authenticity, that is a whole different story. Spotting counterfeit art. That's next on CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JAVAHERI: Quickly approaching the coldest few days of the year across parts of the sea, I should say, of course, across parts of the eastern United States. You take a look. Heavy rain showers beginning to push in across a pretty expansive area of the eastern U.S. at this point with cold air of course back behind it.
And you take a look. The rains will continue migrating off to the north and should transition to a few snow showers around the New England portion but still a little too mild at this point across the area.
New York at 7 degrees. Montreal even above freezing at 2 degrees. Well, Winnipeg towards Vancouver should stay subzero across that area.
But here comes that cold air we're talking about. It really gets frigid across Friday and Saturday over a large area of the eastern United States. Could get that air far enough south to where some wintry weather possible across even the southern U.S.
You notice the temps approaching 20 in Atlanta and then just getting barely above freezing by later into the week around say Friday into early Saturday time period.
The western U.S., a different story. The storm door is continuously remaining open across this region, so we're continuing to pump moisture in as well. And that's all transitioning into tremendous snow accumulations of upwards of 60 centimeters in the next couple of days in the high Sierra.
And coastal California gets in some beneficial rainfall out of it as well. Across Havana, Cuba, we go where some thunderstorms expected at around 31 degrees. Kingston, Jamaica should be on the dry side, also in the lower 30s. Thunderstorms at Sierra and Bogota, wet weather, as well.
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, the price of art has skyrocketed in recent years, attracting more criminals to produce counterfeits. Fakes have gotten so good that experts can't always spot them.
Nina Dos Santos has more on the rise of fine art forgery and what's being done to stop it.
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPPONDENT: Old Masters and iconic art from Italy. Pictures like these have always been coveted by collectors. But in today's $63 billion art market, they've also become a lucrative target for forgers.
IAN DEJARDIN, DIRECTOR, DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY: Such a famous painting.
DOS SANTOS: To highlight the increasing incidence of fakery, curators at this London gallery once replaced one of their works with a $100 copy made in China.
DEJARDIN: The idea was we commissioned a copy by simple means. You can order them over the internet.
[03:55:01] We took the replica, put it in this frame. This beautiful painting by Frans Hals went into store temporarily, and we hung it on the walls and put the usual label on it. DOS SANTOS: And they challenged visitors to spot it. Ticket sales
doubled. Only 11 percent of viewers got it right.
DEJARDIN: The art world has always, always been plagued with forgers. It's not new. It's always there, and that's because of the art market. The value of paintings is so astronomical these days. I mean, it's kind of shot. And so obviously where there's big money involved, criminals, which is what it is, criminals will follow.
DOS SANTOS: But the value of fine art doubling over the past decade, the threat of forgery has also risen, netting some of the biggest names in the business, like Sotheby's, which had to reimburse a client $10 million after it sold a Frans Hals which wasn't what it first seemed.
So, while buyers used to rely on the eye of the expert, the eye of the x-ray now offers the ultimate guarantee. And that means big business for this authentication lab in south London.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCIS EASTAUGH, GENERAL MANAGER, ART ANALYSIS & RESEARCH: What we do here using science and forensics to uncover these fakes and forgeries is not common in the art market, but it's becoming more so. And that just means inevitably a little more is coming out. You're finding these cases of forgeries.
We're really looking at the material that makes up these paintings. So, the paint, the stretcher, the canvas, all the different constituent parts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DOS SANTOS: Fake or fortune, when it comes to buying, the age-old rules still apply.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEJARDIN: Think twice. If you can't trace it back, think twice. Caveat emptor, buyer, beware.
DOS SANTOS: Nina dos Santos, CNN Money, London.
CHURCH: And thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have a great day.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
