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Angelina Jolie to Address U.N. Security Council; Terror Threats in Italy; Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Italian Coast; Chile Volcano Erupts Twice in 24 Hours; Pepsi Removing Aspartame from Diet Pepsi; Family of Slain American Paid Ransom; U.S. Drone Program Faces Harsh Criticism. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired April 24, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:20] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're following some major stories this hour.

The U.N. goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie about to speak. She's expected to brief the United Nations Security Council on the Syrian refugee crisis.

In Chile this volcano shooting new plumes of smoke and ash into the air forcing nearby communities to evacuate.

And in Baltimore, anger growing over the death of a man in police custody. The clergy and the community now gathering to call for new leadership at the Baltimore Police Department.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

First to this, anti-terror raids sweeping across Italy this morning. And a network supposedly linked to al Qaeda. Sources telling us some of the suspects may have had close ties to Osama bin Laden and may have been just as ambitious. We've learned the Vatican may have been one of the targets of this group and that mission may have been far enough along that some was actually brought into Italy to carry out the attack.

We're going to have much more on this. We're expecting Nic Robertson's report. We'll have him in moments.

Now to the United Nations where any minute now the U.N. goodwill ambassador, actress Angelina Jolie will be addressing the U.N. Security Council on the Syrian refugee crisis. All this as concerns over the migrant crisis intensify. The cargo ship crescent when a boat overloaded with migrants capsized. It's now docked in Sicily. The captain expected to face tough questions about that disaster.

Let's get the latest now from CNN senior United Nations correspondent Richard Roth.

Good morning. RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning,

Carol. The United Nations Security Council knows it's got problems and that it's divided on a major crises. The diplomats will hear it personally from a more famous figure who (INAUDIBLE) at the council table.

Angelina Jolie, the goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency is going to be one of the morning's speakers coming up shortly and she is going to describe in very personal terms what she feels about the situation and the thousands of refugees that have poured out of Syria and the inability of the powerful Security Council members to put an end to the crisis. She will talk about people she has met, she says, in her literally 12 -- 11 visits to Syrian refugees, in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Malta -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Richard Roth reporting from the United Nations. We'll get back to you when Angelina Jolie takes the podium there at the United Nations Security Council, but back to those terror rates sweeping across Italy this morning. The Vatican, one of the targets.

Nic Robertson is following the story live from London for us. He joins us now with more information.

Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol. The Italian police is saying this is their first ever operation of this scale and type. Eighteen people are on their target list. The operation still ongoing, making arrests in the center of Italy, the north of Italy, and the Italian island of Sardinia.

At the center of this, 18 men, they say, are Pakistanis who were supporting al Qaeda, two members of the group indeed were very close to Osama bin Laden, they say. The Italian police believe that this group was plotting an attack in Italy in early 2010. They believe it could possibly have been the Vatican and in fact this group brought into Italy, somebody who seems best described by the police as a suicide bomber.

The Italians also say that this group were responsible for plotting and planning and financing terror attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan that -- that they were behind a very deadly attack in Pakistan in 2009. Over 100 people killed in a market bombing in the border town of Peshawar in one of those attacks.

Why the police are rounding these men up right now isn't clear. But they do say that they've had them under surveillance since 2005 so a long ongoing operation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So do we know anything more about this supposed attack on the Vatican. I mean -- I mean, it hasn't happened. I don't want to give people the wrong impression but these terrorists were apparently plotting to attack the Vatican in some way. Do we know anything more about that plot?

ROBERTSON: The plot was to detonate explosives in a crowded place. And again this is one of the things that will perhaps lead the prosecutors to think that the Vatican could have been one of the other targets. They say that the -- you know, what they understand about the plotting and the planning, this was solid, that somebody had been brought into the country, that the prosecutor used the word kamikaze had been brought into the country but in the context of, you know, an explosion in a crowded place, would seem to these types of terror groups that they tend to use suicide bombers for that sort of thing.

[10:05:07] So that seems to the context of what we're learning from the Italian. This was 2010. We don't know why that plot didn't go ahead. We do know that the prosecutors were -- had, through the authorities in Italy, had the group's telephone wiretapped but in 2012 they say the group became suspicious and they stopped the wiretapping. They had other means, they say, to sort of monitor what the group was doing. They haven't specified precisely what that was.

But how this potential attack that was possibly going to take place in the Vatican in early, we're told, March of 2010 is still unclear. Obviously that time of year is a busy time in the Vatican. A lot of people in that lent period leading up to Easter would be -- would be going to Vatican.

COSTELLO: All right. Nic Robertson, reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, stunning images as a volcano in Chile sends a new plume of smoke and ash into the air. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: You're looking at live pictures now from the United Nations where any minute now U.N. goodwill ambassador, actress Anna (sick) Jolie will be addressing the U.N. Security Council on the Syrian refugee crisis.

[10:10:04] And here's why Jolie will be talking about refugees. The migrant crisis is now severe. Hundreds died when a migrant boat capsized off the coast of Italy. Authorities say the captain of that migrant boat disaster is now denying he was in charged.

Karl Penhaul has -- we just saw Angelina walking in. There's the man who's accused of being the captain of that doomed ship.

Karl Penhaul has more of this. So, Karl, tell us more about this story and this man who's now denying he was captain of that ship.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as we know, Italian authorities have arrested a Syrian man and Tunisian. They say that those were two of the people sailing that fishing boat overloaded with migrants last weekend. They are accused of also being part of the human trafficking ring themselves and also their negligence authorities suspect may have led that boat to capsize.

However, if they genuinely are part of that human trafficking ring, they're likely to be very small cogged in a much larger wheel because as we know the bulk of those trafficking rings, the brains behind those operations are well out of reach of Italian authorities. They're on the coast of North Africa, probably in Libya or possibly even backed by armed militias there.

This boat you see over my shoulder, that's the King Jacob container ship. That was the one that went to the rescue of those migrants last weekend. And when that docked in port here in Palermo, Sicily today the captain and the first white mate were taken away by police to give witness statements to see if authorities can get a little more clarity on exactly what happened that night and how many people died in that tragedy, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Karl Penhaul, reporting live from Sicily this morning.

A plume of smoke now filling the skies over Chile. Here's a look at the Calbuco volcano. This week the volcano erupted twice in just 24 hours. Nearly two feet of ash are now covering some areas, as thousands evacuate. It is the first eruption for this volcano in more than 40 years.

Jennifer Gray has more for you.

Scary pictures, Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, really scary. It's scary for the people in Chile. It is known as one of the places in the country with the highest number of active volcanoes and this one in particular is considered one of the most dangerous. And so as we zoom down on this, we do have an area about 12.5 miles wide. This is the evacuation zone.

Ensanada has been evacuating but keep in mind, there are some towns just on the fringes of that, basically tourist towns. We have Puerto Montt and we also have -- just to the east, we have Puerto Varas, and that's just on the fringes of that evacuation zone. That is considered a red alert.

And so we are looking at pictures right now of Puerto Varas. Look at this. This picture came in, in the past day or so. This is the city lights of Puerto Varas. So you can imagine, being in a hotel room, looking out the window and seeing this, lava, ash, spilling into the sky also lightning which is not unheard of when you talk about these volcanoes. Lightning is possible because we have the debris, spilling up to the north. We have -- into the sky, rather.

We have positive charges up high and then those negative charges down low. This is what lightning does is that the balance of those charges. And so a lot of times we do get lightning within these volcanic eruptions. You can see them from space. This is a plume of ash, you can see for the first eruption. The second one much, much bigger. And so it is spilling into portions of Argentina and so that is something to watch as well. Folks with respiratory problems, definitely a concern.

This is the advisory of the next 24 hours. Surface to 12,000 feet, that's what we can expect that ash and then as well spill out a little bit wider, circus to 12,000 for the next 24 hours or so. Very dense, very heavy, Carol. We have to worry about people's roofs collapses. This weighs more than snow. We're also concerned with water contamination as well, as I mentioned, those respiratory problems so this is going to be something that we'll be talking about for days, weeks, even months to come before we know the extent of the damage that it'll cause.

COSTELLO: All right. Jennifer Gray, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an American held by terrorists and his family's desperate efforts to bring him home. New details on the failed negotiations to free Warren Weinstein.

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[10:18:17] COSTELLO: A surprising announcement from Pepsi. Listen to this. Pepsi will take what some say is a controversial ingredient out of its diet soda.

Alison Kosik has the details. This is -- this surprised me actually because this has been a controversy for so long.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It has been and what Pepsi is saying in a statement is that diet cola drinkers in the U.S. have been saying for a long time that they wanted Aspartame-free Diet Pepsi. And what Pepsi Cola is saying is that we're delivering so if you ask PepsiCo why they're doing this, they're going to say because you're looking to the consumer. And part of the reason they made me listening to the consumer as you look at how sales have been.

You look at even the first quarter for Pepsi, it just reported, saying that beverage revenue rose a little bit to $4 billion but not because necessarily of sales but because of a price increase. You look at for the past 10 years in a row, soda consumption in the U.S. has really declined. A lot of it are most -- health conscious, rather, and there's this sort of persona about these artificial sweeteners that they may not be healthy.

Now whether or not that's true, we're not really sure. But that personal about that makes people kind of shy away from sodas these days and they're going toward more natural ingredients.

Now what PepsiCo says it's going to replace Aspartame with is sucralose and that another ingredient, artificial ingredient that I can't even pronounce. I'm not even going to try to but what's ironic is that PepsiCo seems to be trading one artificial ingredient for another. And the big question is, are consumers going to go for this instead of Aspartame.

COSTELLO: Exactly. We're going to have Dr. Sanjay Gupta on in just a couple of minutes. We are rounding him up, you know.

KOSIK: Sounds good.

COSTELLO: It's hard to find him sometimes.

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COSTELLO: But he's going to be on to talk about exactly the concerns that you brought up because you do wonder, right? Does that mean Aspartame is dangerous and we've been drinking Diet Pepsi for a long time with that stuff in it? And --

[10:20:03] KOSIK: Well, you wonder. I mean, you think about it. We grew up among Sweet'n Low. Remember Sweet'n Low?

COSTELLO: Yes.

KOSIK: It's saccharin and we found out that saccharin can cause cancer in certain amounts. I'm not saying that that's the case here. I don't know. But it does make you question. I can't wait to hear Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

COSTELLO: Me too. Absolutely.

Alison Kosik, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Also this morning, we have new details on efforts to free American hostage Warren Weinstein. Within hours of learning that he was mistakenly killed by a U.S. drone strike, CNN has found out more about his family's attempts to free him. A source telling CNN Weinstein's wife and children gave money to his kidnappers three years ago. And while that did not buy his release, their mediator was able to speak to the captors nearly every single day since.

Let's get more on this from CNN's global affairs correspondent Elise Labott.

Good morning.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. That source talking to CNN's Saima Mohsin, telling us extraordinary details about these talks between the source and the kidnappers of Warren Weinstein all those years ago. Now we understand this source was talking to the kidnappers of Warren almost every day since 2012. There were moments of great hope, moments of, you know, dashed hopes.

The family transferred money to the captors in 2012. At which point the captors' sole focus was trying to get prisoner swap between some Afghan and Pakistan al Qaeda-linked prisoners and Warren. But also the kidnappers made comments suggesting that ISIS wanted Warren Weinstein, Carol, saying that they -- the Iraqis wanted him, that they were preparing an orange jumpsuit for him.

And you know that orange jumpsuit so synonymous with those videos we saw of the beheadings of several Americans including James Foley which is when that began. And we also understand that this source was constantly asking for a proof of life that Warren Weinstein was alive. That took a really long time, Carol, but in fact we understand that a phone call took place between Warren and his wife Elaine in June 2012, bringing hope that Warren could come home. Those conversations, we understand, went up until April 6th or 7th.

So if that drone strike took place in -- that killed Warren in January, Carol, it's possible that those captors were stringing a family along. Unfortunately or perhaps maybe he wasn't killed in the drone strikes. We just don't know. But obviously there was a lot more discussion between the captors and the source and the Weinstein family than we were originally led to believe -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Elise Labott, reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

So let's talk more about those new details. Joining us now to discuss this someone who knows Pakistan very well. Former CIA analyst Lisa Curtis. She's also a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

Thank you so much for joining us, Lisa. I appreciate it.

LISA CURTIS, FORMER CIA ANALYST: Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: What do you make of what this source is telling CNN, that the Weinstein family actually gave money to these captors?

CURTIS: Well, first, let me say what a terrible tragedy this is. Warren Weinstein was well-known, well respected for his humanitarian work in Pakistan in the South Asia policy community and we're all mourning his death. But as far as the family contacting the kidnappers directly, this doesn't surprise me.

What the family has to decide early on is whether they rely solely on the U.S. government which has very tough policy towards kidnappings and hostage situations in which they will not negotiate for very good reasons. But the family then has to decide if they'll take matters into their own hands and reach out to the hostage takers themselves. And it obviously looks like in this case that is exactly what they have done.

And it's not surprising that they were searching for proof of life first and that al Qaeda looks like they strung the family along for years, in fact, which is very typical.

COSTELLO: Yes. The reason I asked you about this is that there are some who believe the U.S. government should negotiate with his captors and provide them some money to release American hostages. But in this particular case it's certainly an illustration of why that might not be the best idea.

CURTIS: Well, I think certainly there is a good reason that U.S. does not negotiate for the release of hostages. That would simply result in Americans all over the world being taken hostage. And this -- so there is a good reason for that policy. But I think we also need to look at what were the U.S. government's efforts to release, maybe stage a rescue operation. How would the U.S. government cooperating with the Pakistan government.

[10:25:03] It's clear by the statement from Warren Weinstein's wife that she was very unhappy and discouraged by the lack of Pakistani cooperation. So we have to remember that he was kidnapped in August 2011, a time of very high tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan. This was just a few after the bin Laden raid, the Ray Davis issue. So we have to ask these questions. Were the U.S. and Pakistan cooperating effectively to try to gain his release.

COSTELLO: I want to focus a little bit on the drone strike that killed Mr. Weinstein and others. The president feels deeply sorry about what happened. He's not going to stop the drone program, though, it appears. But there's going to be a review. So in your mind, what needs to be looked at. What does the United States not doing right when it comes to its drone program?

CURTIS: Well, certainly the CIA needs to review its policies and procedures. This was a major mistake. They need to figure out how this could have happened and how to prevent in the future. I think they need to review this whole signature strikes program which was the kind of drone strike that was taken. That took the life of Warren Weinstein and the Italian hostage. They have to review that policy.

But all of this said, we also know that the drone program has significantly degraded al Qaeda's capabilities and we know these from documents that were retrieved from the bin Laden compound in which bin Laden himself talked about the huge toll that the drone strikes have taken on his organization. So as you said, it's not the end of the drone program but I certainly think some changes are in order.

COSTELLO: Lisa Curtis, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

CURTIS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Baltimore Police under fire after a man dies in police custody. Witnesses say he was folded up like an origami. We'll talk about that, next.

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