Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

A Cold Snap Beyond Ordinary; Boston Digging Out from Mounds of Snow; NSA Developing Encryption-Busting Computer; Al Qaeda Linked Groups on Rise in Iraq

Aired January 04, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. More on George's story and others Thursday night at 9:00, watch "SOLE SURVIVOR" right here on CNN.

All right, that's going to do it for me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. See you again here tomorrow. Much more of the NEWSROOM straight ahead with Martin Savidge.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Martin Savidge. Thanks very much for joining me.

This is one of those weeks when the weather is so extreme that it rises to the top of our news. And before you say it's January and it's supposed to be cold, let's just hold on a moment.

This cold snap that is deeply freezing nearly half the nation right now is exceptional. And even cold weather veterans in the polar bear states are taking their tough talk down just a notch or two this weekend.

In parts of -- Minnesota, that is, famous for its long and brutal winters, the temperature will not get above 20 below in the coming days with the wind chill 65 degrees below zero. That is the coldest air to wash across Minnesota in more than 20 years.

Chicago, they have more lake-effect snow and then plunging temperatures. Sunday night into Monday will shoot temperatures to 15 below zero with plenty of Chicago's famous wind.

And even in the normally mild deep south, Atlanta, where the giant peach dropped to usher in the new year, the next few days will be colder here than in Anchorage, Alaska.

We'll get the big picture from the CNN Severe Weather Center in just a minute but first let's check in with Rosa Flores in New York and Margaret Conley in Boston.

Rosa, a foot of snow on the ground there now. The big freeze on its way. People getting ready?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Martin. Well, let me, first of all, set the scene for you. You can see that the sun is coming down at this hour. It's probably in the 20s right now here in Sayreville, and just to give you an idea, Sayreville is in the south shore of Long Island. Take a look around me. You can see that this area got about a foot of snow.

The good news is that all of the plows were out, the roads were sanded, they were iced, and so folks were able to go about their day. But take a look at this. This kind of gives you an idea. This is the story right now. Here's the headline, "The Big Chill, Frigid Follow- Up to the Snow." That's what people are bracing for because we're going to see rain later and then the temperatures are going to drop. And you know exactly what that means, it's going to mean ice.

Now this is a very quaint town. I've got to introduce you to Mary. I met Mary down the street in a little boutique in a little shop.

And, Mary, first of all, thank you so much for joining us. Now you and I were chatting about earlier this morning and you were telling me it was very, very cold and you were out and about taking your son. Tell me about it.

MARY, PARENT: I had to leave at 5:30 this morning to take him to school for his track meet and it was freezing. The car took about 20 minutes to defrost and to get ready. And, yes, I can't believe how cold it is.

FLORES: What was the temperature?

MARY: Well, I heard that Sayreville was two degrees. I don't know where I live, Holbrook, was around 10 degrees maybe at that time. So, it was very, very cold. It was very cold.

FLORES: Now I know that a lot of folks from here they live in the neighboring towns and they come here to work.

MARY: Yes.

FLORES: Tell me about your drive here. Kind of what you had to do. I know you had to be very careful.

MARY: Well, I live about 10 minutes away. I live two towns away. And the main roads are OK, just the side roads are very icy and slippery. And I actually drove my husband to the train station because he doesn't have a big car. He has a little car and he would have been sliding all over the road. So, yes, that's what we have to do to get by around here.

FLORES: Yes. And I was also talking to folks about how quaint this little town is.

MARY: Oh, yes.

FLORES: Lots of little boutiques. Lots of things to do and to buy. Unique, a lot of stuff handmade. Tell us about this little town.

MARY: Well, it's got great shops and restaurants. And everybody lives in this town and, you know, buys in this town. A lot of gift shops. It's a great place. It's a great place to work and live. FLORES: Mary, thank you so much.

MARY: Thank you.

FLORES: We appreciate it.

And, Martin, I've got to tell you about something else. So we're here and we've seen people running in shorts. Now it's about 29 degrees, maybe 28 degrees. So there's a lot of brave souls here in the northeast, even though it's cold, even though there's snow out, they're still exercising and making the best of it -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Rosa, thanks very much.

To Boston now we go where the thermometer sits currently at 23 degrees. Add in the wind, though, it feels just nine degrees. People there including our own Margaret Conley know what that feels like.

I'm wondering, Margaret, are people out and about?

MARGARET CONLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are, Martin. And that 23 degrees, that's about 21 degrees warmer than it was this morning, and overnight there were near record low temperatures. But as you can see, people have started to come out today. We're standing in a parking lot near a church. Mass is going to begin at 4:00. So people have definitely started to go in.

One of the biggest obstacles as you can see around me here is also the snow. They've been plowing it and pushing it aside, so people have been trying to maneuver their way around. Statewide they had 3,394 plows working through Massachusetts. They have capacity of 4,000 so that's how much snow they've been having to deal with.

And as Rosa was saying also, you know, we've been through the snow, we've been through the wind, but guess what's coming next? That's right, the rain. Tomorrow night and into Monday we're expecting a lot of rain. We have emergency workers that have already sent out warnings to people about their roofs because a lot of snow has stacked up. The rain on top of that is going to make it heavy and they're concerned about roofs actually staying intact.

So they're warning people to clear off their roofs going forward. And to be very careful when they do that because when you climb up those ladders it's slippery and it's cold -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: So, Margaret, just so I understand this, right, you're going to go from snow to rain and then into extremely cold temperatures again. I mean, how is that going to impact the ability to keep people on the road safe?

CONLEY: That's right. The roads are actually very dangerous right now. They've been issuing warnings about the possibility of black ice. It's also affected travel. But, again, we've come through the worst of it. I don't even want to say that right now, but it seems like we've come through the worst of it especially when we had the light fluffy snow and the visibility problems. But right now Logan Airport we can hear the planes landing and taking off above us. So it does seem that flights are back on schedule. My flight was canceled last night. It seems like it's going to be on time today -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes. We don't want to curse anything. All right, thanks very much, Margaret.

Of course when just a few major airports get shut down by the bad weather, it sends that whole air travel system into chaos. More than 3,000 flights were canceled yesterday and nothing arrived or took off from Chicago, New York or Boston for several hours. And of course that means a backlog, long lines and frustrated passengers are going nowhere.

As of 90 minutes ago we have a report that nearly 1100 U.S. commercial airline flights have been canceled today.

January, of course, is typically cold. But not cold like this. CNN meteorologist Alexandra Steele explains what's behind the frigid temperatures.

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Martin, it is cold. How about the coldest in two decades for some? So this is really legitimately cold. What this is, is a piece of the polar vortex which is the coldest air in the northern hemisphere, that's what's coming our way.

All right. So here's the forecast wind chills for tomorrow. You can see this is noon, of course, the game, if you're going to be out there, 14 below is what it's going to feel like. The key number what it feels like maybe besting that old 1967 game. Five is what it's going to feel like in Green Bay. Flint, Detroit, you can see how cold it gets.

Topping it all, though, Duluth feeling like 53 below zero. So this really is historic cold, Minneapolis on Monday, 18 below. The record 14. But dating from 1909, so this is historic on so many fronts not only the wind chill dropping to 60 below perhaps. In Chicago all-time coldest daily high. And then in Cincinnati and Detroit potentially the coldest subzero stretch that we've ever seen.

So take a look at these numbers, Chicago a high temperature. These aren't even wind chills. Thirteen below, dropping to 20 below, rebounding to two and then to 18. The Monday-Tuesday is really the heart of this arctic cold, and look what happens in New York. Fifty degrees on Monday with rain.

See, moisture is moving in and it's going to be quite a snowstorm for the Midwest, Chicago and Detroit and Indianapolis. But for the northeast, it's not going to be a snowstorm. It's going to be rain. Because the moisture comes before the cold air gets there so the timing is being missed.

So the rain and the warm air, cold air, 14 in New York. Dramatic temperature drop and similar to Nashville as well -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Thanks, Alexandra.

Some of the other stories in the news now. Secretary of State John Kerry says progress has been made bringing peace to the Middle East. Today Kerry met for a second time with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and then flew back to Jerusalem for a third meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in as many days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: The pathway has to be laid down in which the parties can have confidence that they know what is happening and that the road ahead is real and not illusory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Kerry shuttled diplomacy aimed at setting up a framework to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine. If we define borders and address other issues like security and the refugee problem.

The CDC, and this is probably no surprise, reports a big jump in flu cases in the last week. Now half the nation reporting widespread activity up from just 10 states a week before. The most severe activity seems to be in the southeast. The CDC says that so far it is looking like a typical flu season which normally peaks in January or February.

Good news here, former first lady Barbara Bush is spending her first night at home in six days. Doctors released her from the Houston Methodist Hospital today. They've been treating the 88-year-old Bush family matriarch for pneumonia. Mrs. Bush thanked the doctors and nurses in a statement for, quote, "making sure I got the best treatment and got back to George and our dogs as quickly as possible."

Sad news, Phil Everly of the legendary Everly Brothers has died at a California hospital. Phil seen on the left and his brother Don recorded more than 35 hits during their career including "Wake Up Little Susie," "Bye-Bye Love" and "Cathy's Clown" and "All I Have to Do is Dream." The brothers quit performing together in the '80s but they did later reunite. Phil Everly was 74 years old. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Still to come, Green Bay, Wisconsin, prepping for what could be the coldest game in football history with temperatures that may feel 40 below. And they aren't the only ones.

Plus, the NSA is working on a super computer that could crack any encryption, meaning there is nothing you could to protect your information online. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: A live look at the U.S. Capitol, and late afternoon sunlight there. Temperature in D.C. 33 degrees.

Republican Senator Rand Paul has announced a class action lawsuit aimed at stopping NSA surveillance of cell phone use by Americans. He says that the goal is to uphold the Fourth Amendment Right against unreasonable searches and seizures. He says the NSA's Data Collection Program is so widespread and indiscriminate that nearly everyone in the country could be affected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: We now have several hundred thousand people who want to be part of this suit to say to the government and to the NSA, no, you can't have our records without our permission or without a warrant specific to an individual. So it's kind of an unusual class action suit in the sense that we think everybody in America who has a cell phone would be eligible for this class action suit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: The NSA meanwhile denies that its actions violate the privacy of U.S. citizens.

All of us do rely on some level of encryption to keep our online bank and medical records safe from prying eye. But encryption might be considered a dirty word by the NSA.

CNN's Brian Todd says the agency is working on a new generation of supercomputer that can break even the strongest of security codes.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not just the encryption codes that guard government and business secrets that the NSA will be able to break. It's also the encryption many of us use every day to access our bank accounts, medical records.

When the NSA finishes the so-called quantum computer, just about all of that encryption can be broken and it may be pointless to try to protect anything online.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): Encryption, those scrambled codes that protect our most sensitive information online, shield the most top- secret, crucial data that governments possess from hackers and cyber-spies. Now the NSA is reportedly developing what's called a quantum computer. When it's complete, it will be able to break just about any encryption in the world.

(On camera): When NSA gets that quantum computer, what will it be able to do?

JAMES LEWIS, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Quantum computing will be a game changer. It will make it a lot easier for NSA to break the codes that foreign governments use, that foreign criminal groups use.

TODD (voice-over): But NSA will also be able to break encryption codes that we all use to protect or bank accounts, e-mails, medical records. A privacy advocate says that may lead to a world with no secrets, where it would be almost pointless trying to protect anything.

MARC ROTENBERG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: We don't know for the most part in fact what the capabilities are, what steps are being taken to undermine the types of encryption that you and I might rely on, for example, when we go online to purchase a book or download some music.

EDWARD SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER: Recently we learned --

TODD: The Quantum Computer Program is revealed in documents provided by NSA leaker Edward Snowden and reported by "The Washington Post."

How would this supercomputer work? When a regular computer tries to solve a problem, it has to go through each possible solution one by one by one until it arrives at the correct answer. What makes a quantum computer so special is that it simultaneously tries every possibility, arriving at the correct answer much quicker.

According to the documents, the Quantum computer is being developed at this lab in College Park, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Quantum computing is so difficult to master and this computer is so fragile, that it's being built in special room-sized cages that have to seal out any electromagnetic energy in the air, like cell phone or GPS signals.

How close is NSA to finishing the computer? Experts say it could be anywhere from five years away to a decade or more.

Contacted by CNN, the NSA would not comment on the project.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: CNN's Brian Todd. Thanks very much.

Coming up, Green Bay Packers fans bracing for what could be the coldest game in football history. Just how low will those temperatures go? Well, let's just say that they'll be happy with zero.

Plus, there are passionate football fans and then there's this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: Speaking of brr, you are looking at Green Bay, Wisconsin, where the wind chill is about 18 degrees there. That is actually -- they should enjoy the heat while they've got it because it's practically balmy compared to tomorrow's forecast.

The NFL showdown between Green Bay, the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers could be -- could be -- the coldest game in NFL history. The temperatures in Green Bay are to nosedive tonight to minus two degrees.

And the Green Bay Packers are giving fans hot drinks tomorrow as part of a way to make them feel a little bit warmer.

Here's a look at icy Lambeau Field. The Packers hired people to help shovel ice out of there.

I want to bring in now CNN.com sports contributor, Terence Jones. He's here with me in Atlanta.

Nice to see you.

TERENCE MOORE, CNN.COM SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR: I feel cold just watching that.

SAVIDGE: I do. I feel the temperature in the studio beginning to plummet here. You know, you've covered some of the coldest games that have been played.

MOORE: Yes.

SAVIDGE: How do you prepare? What do you do?

MOORE: What you do, you stay away.

SAVIDGE: Yes, stay away.

MOORE: Don't go. I mean, it's unbelievable. And you talk about Lambeau Field tomorrow, I mean, that's going to be -- they're talking about minus three at kickoff and by the end of the game, minus 10, I mean, that's bad. But here's the thing, people think that will give the Packers the advantage? But do you know what their record is when the temperature is six degrees or lower at Lambeau Field?

SAVIDGE: No.

MOORE: Three in four. So it's cold for everybody.

SAVIDGE: Yes?

MOORE: Not just for the Packers and the other team.

SAVIDGE: The temperature is kind of the great equalizers here.

MOORE: Yes.

SAVIDGE: We mentioned the fans, OK, they do have the option. They don't have to go, they could stay home. But of course the players can't.

MOORE: Right.

SAVIDGE: So what do they do? How do they stay warm and is it a danger potentially?

MOORE: Well, I mean, you've got -- in NFL history you've got the stories back in the old days, Minnesota when it played outdoors, bud Grant, who was the coach of the Minnesota Vikings, used to put the heater on his side of the sidelines and the visiting team would just have to fend for themselves.

So you've got these little tricks that take place, but really there's not a good way to do this and then you got mind games to take place. And we can talk about this at some point. But I covered the 1982 Freezer Bowl in Cincinnati, AFC championship game, between the Chargers and the Bengals, and that was the coldest game. Wind chill factor-wise minus 59 below zero in Cincinnati and the actual temperature was minus nine.

I bring that up because the Bengal offensive linemen came out in short-sleeve shirts to try to intimidate the Chargers and it worked because the Bengals won.

SAVIDGE: Right. I've seen that actually in the military, too, where that's been done.

With athletes, though, you know, I worry, muscles tighten up.

MOORE: Yes.

SAVIDGE: Do you see greater injuries? Do you see a different type of injury?

MOORE: Well, there's no question about that. And then, you know, people talk about the '67 Ice Bowl between the Packers and the Cowboys at Lambeau Field when it was minus 13 below zero, minus 37 wind chill factor.

I can't believe I know all these numbers for coldness. But Dan Reeves played in that game, and Dan Reeves was the famous NFL coach in later years. You look -- you talk to Dan Reeves today, he still has a scar above his lip where he bit through his lip during that frigid day and it just still hasn't healed properly after all these years so there's some repercussions playing in those type of temperatures.

SAVIDGE: Yes. I think people don't realize that that is a very different kind of cold.

MOORE: It very much is.

SAVIDGE: And affects you in different ways.

Well, hang around because I want you to take a look at something and we'll maybe chat a bit here.

Oklahoma, stunning 45-31 upset the Sugar Bowl. It didn't go over well with one die hard Alabama fan. The woman had already been pulled away from a group of rowdy Oklahoma fans and looked like it was all over. Then one of them supposedly called her a word we won't repeat and that set her off. She circled back, dove headfirst into the group. She managed to land a few kicks before security escorted her out of the stadium.

So clearly she defended her honor well.

MOORE: Yes, I think she got a little bit excited there. You know, bringing new meaning to roll tide because she's rolling through the crowd as we see, just -- particularly if it's an Oklahoma fan in her sights.

SAVIDGE: There you have it. The play-by-play of that particular moment.

(LAUGHTER)

Thanks very much. Great to see you.

MOORE: Thank you.

SAVIDGE: Coming up, the violence is surging in Iraq and al Qaeda is at the center of it once more. Find out what is going on right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAVIDGE: The last U.S. troops left Iraq three years ago. I know that because I left with them. Now the government is facing a critical battle for control in the city of Fallujah.

For the first time al Qaeda-linked militants have taken over parts of that city. About 90 people have been killed in the last two days in Fallujah and Ramadi. Another 40 have been wounded including children.

CNN's Hala Gorani has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Unrest intensifies in Iraq's volatile Anbar Province. Fighting has now gone on for days between security forces from Iraq's Shiite-led government and Sunni militants linked to al Qaeda.

Clashes erupted Monday in the city of Ramadi west of Baghdad after troops moved in to take down a Sunni anti-government protest camp. Violence quickly spread to nearby Fallujah. Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have reportedly taken control of parts of Ramadi, holding territory for the first time, torching several police stations in the area.

The group is allied with al Qaeda, and it is also active in neighboring Syria. Aerial surveillance video from Iraq's Defense Ministry shows what appears to be air strikes against those al Qaeda- linked militants as security forces fight to retake the cities.

This is a region with a history of bloodshed. American troops saw some of the heaviest fighting of the Iraq war in Fallujah.

WILL DUNLOP, JOURNALIST: This has harkened back to previous years where Ramadi and Fallujah were militant strongholds in the insurgency after the 2003 U.S. hard invasion. GORANI: With growing sectarian tension and the continuing civil war in Syria, the power of al Qaeda militants in the province is once again on the rise.

Hala Gorani, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: And you can join me at 6:00 in the Eastern hour, that is, of the NEWSROOM when we speak with a foreign policy analyst about the rise of al Qaeda in Iraq. That will be at 6:30 p.m. right her on CNN.

Now a quick update on a story that we've been monitoring for you in New York. A small plane had a hard landing on a highway in the Bronx this afternoon. You're looking of an iReport of that just submitted to CNN. It happened on the Major Deegan Expressway. WABC reports there were three people on that plane but no one was seriously hurt. Very good news.

We'll bring you more on this at the top of the hour.

Also at 5:00 p.m. World War II veteran jailed simply because he couldn't make a repair on his home.

Plus, why U.S. ships may now be deploying to Antarctica. CNN NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour. Right now keep it here for "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D."