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Israeli Police Shoot Stabbing Suspect; U.S. and Russia Close to Syria Air Safety Agreement; Bernie Sanders Rallies After Debate Night; Lamar Odom Fighting For His Life; U.N. Warns El Nino Could Trigger Major Humanitarian Emergency; Kenya to Send Refugees Back to Home Countries; Tesla Unveils Auto Pilot Sedan; Couple Lives on Tight Budget to Give to Charity. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 15, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:09] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour, Israel tightens its security crackdown following a day of violence in Jerusalem.
Plus, Khloe Kardashian's estranged husband is on life support after he was found passed out in a legal brothel in Las Vegas.
And imagine donating half your salary to charity. I'll speak to the couple who say they're doing just that.
Hello, and welcome to our viewers around the world. I am Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
Well, as Israel's government rolls out tighter security measures, the unrest continues in the West Bank with a fresh wave of attacks. Israeli police shot and killed a man near an entrance to the Old City. A police spokeswoman said police spotted a man who seemed nervous and suspicious and that he lunged at them with a knife.
CNN's Ben Wedeman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israeli police shot and killed a man dressed in combat fatigues, armed with a knife near Damascus Gate. The gates of the Old City have been the scene of multiple stabbing attacks. Security camera footage released Monday shows a young man stabbing a police officer in the neck.
The most chilling scene caught on surveillance video was just one of five different attacks on Tuesday. The graphic video shows a man plowing his car into a group of people waiting at a Jerusalem bus stop. He jumps out of the vehicle and begins to attack another pedestrian with a meat cleaver. He was shot and killed by a man with a handgun. The attacker was a 33-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem.
Hundreds of soldiers and border police are being deployed to Israeli cities and under new security measures from the Israeli government allows the police to seal off Palestinian neighborhoods. Under mounting pressure to take decisive action to bring all this to an end, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been meeting with senior security officials.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (Through Translator): I am interested in the immediate resumption of peace talks with our Palestinian neighbors with no preconditions and it will be a difficult negotiation because in order to achieve peace, terrorism must stop and real security arrangements must be implemented on the ground.
WEDEMAN: At least seven Israelis have been killed so far this month and many others wounded. Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, took to Twitter saying, "The Hamas movement blesses the heroic operations in Jerusalem."
Palestinians have taken to the streets of the West Bank clashing with Israeli police and military. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 30 Palestinians have been killed, including several of the attackers.
MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT (Through Translator): Peace and security will never be achieved unless there is an end to the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem at its capital.
WEDEMAN: Ben Wedeman, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, Erin McLaughlin is covering this for us from Jerusalem.
And, Erin, I've got to ask you, are Israelis bracing themselves for another day of violence?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly is a concern, Isha. Yesterday despite heavy security, not one, but two stabbings, including an incident at the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem, in which a 72-year-old woman was stabbed.
CNN spoke to one eyewitness who gave us a sense of the chaos that followed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was sitting inside, I hear screams. Girls were screaming. Terrorist, terrorist, he tried to kill me.
I'm telling you now, if the soldier wasn't here, he was killing two, three girls in one minute. She was going to the store. Tell the man, shoot him, shoot him. The situation very panicked situation. Very lawless at this time. We think the terror thing is very hard. We wait for these things. It's happened now.
I was feeling that something we need to come here, to the Central Bus Station. Maybe it's something else. You see all the forces of the police here, the imam, the SWAT, everybody here, and they are still doing things. Maybe they take five, six people and they separate the streets, two here, two here.
It's starting now. You can't live normal in this life. People gunned down in the streets. It's unbelievable, man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLAUGHLIN: Gives you a sense of the panic people are feeling. People worry that something could happen at any time, Isha.
[01:05:06] SESAY: Yes. Indeed. And that panic that is being felt is impacting daily life. As I understand it, people keeping their kids away from school. Business is down. Talk to us a little bit more about the impact.
MCLAUGHLIN: Yes, certainly it's impacting everyday life. We're seeing fewer people on the streets, Israelis avoiding public transportation, choosing to drive instead. We're seeing more Israelis carrying handguns and pepper spray, applying for gun licenses, and Palestinians, feeling panic as well. This morning checkpoints set up throughout predominantly Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, long lines of cars as Israeli forces are searching each and every one.
And mothers deciding not to go out with their children. There's a sense of apprehension of what could happen if everyday ordinary activities are somehow misinterpreted. What could happen if, say, you reach for your cell phone and an Israeli security perceives that as something else. So really what we're seeing is a sense of panic and fear on both sides -- Isha.
SESAY: Erin McLaughlin, joining us there from Jerusalem. Thank you, Erin.
Now Russia is downplaying the latest close call between its fighter jets and U.S. planes in the skies over Syria.
Chief U.S. security correspondent Jim Sciutto has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. and Russian military officials meeting for a third time Wednesday, saying they are close to an agreement to avoid risky contact in the skies over Syria. But their warplanes are already coming dangerously close. Two U.S. and two Russian aircraft came within miles on Saturday, so-called visual range before they moved away.
JOHN KIRBY, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: You need to make sure that you can continue to answer all bells, as we say in the Navy, and that means having an assurance of safe and professional conduct in this case by the Russian side.
SCIUTTO: Russia insists its fighter jets intended no harm. MAJ. GEN. IGOR KONASHENKOV, RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE (Through
Translator): Our jet turned and approached it, not to scare someone, but to identify the object and whom it belonged to.
SCIUTTO: The close encounter comes as Russian aircraft continue to shadow U.S. drones monitoring the border with Turkey amid a massive expansion of Russian air and ground operations inside Syria.
ASHTON CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: We've seen some unprofessional behavior from Russian forces.
SCIUTTO: Defense Secretary Ash Carter calls Russia's actions in Syria a mistake, saying that of the 80 airstrikes the Russians have conducted so far, only a fraction have struck ISIS targets.
CARTER: Russia has chosen to double down on their longstanding relationship with Assad, committing additional military hardware, capabilities and personnel. We have not for our part and will not agree to cooperate with Russia as long as they continue to pursue a misguided strategy.
SCIUTTO: Relations with Moscow made more tense with a new Dutch investigation concluding it was a Russian-made and supplied missile system that shut down the Malaysia passenger jet MH-17 over Ukraine last July.
(On camera): Presidential candidate Donald Trump waded into the MH-17 issue expressing doubts about the certainty of Russian involvement saying, quote, "You'll probably never know for sure." That of course contradicts not only the Dutch investigation, but also findings of U.S. intelligence, which determined very quickly after the attacks with confidence that it was a Russian system fired from within territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Well, for more on Russia's involvement in Syria, let's bring in Jill Dougherty. She's a researcher with the International Center for Defense and Security and CNN's former Moscow bureau chief.
Jill, good to have you on the show. As we understand it, Russia and the U.S. close to completing an agreement that would avoid any kind of confrontation or conflicts in the skies between the militaries as they engage in this conflict in Syria. But let me ask you, can the U.S. rely on any agreement that they reach with Russia in this arena?
JILL DOUGHERTY, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY: Oh, I think they can. I mean, but don't forget that this is very technical. It's in both sides' interests, of course, to make sure that planes do not collide in the sky, or that they have some international incident.
But, you know, Isha, that's really just the military, very technical side. But then you have the broader issue of what Russia is doing in Syria. I'm listening as the spokesperson said -- the U.S. spokesperson said misguided policy. I don't think that President Putin believes that that is a misguided policy. I think he thinks that it's exactly what Russia should be doing. It has a long-term relationship, like 40 years, with the Assad family. They want to maintain that influence, whether Assad is here or gone.
[01:10:11] And then they also want to be part of the equation when it comes to some type of -- if it does come -- a political solution or what comes next after Assad. So I do think there are a lot of reasons that he's there, and it's not necessarily misguided in that sense. How it turns out could be. You know, you never know how military operations will go.
SESAY: As you lay it out, Putin's reasons, his motives for getting involved in Syria, that's one thing. How have those same motives playing with ordinary Russians on the ground in Moscow? How does the Russian public feel about this intervention by their president?
DOUGHERTY: You know, the polls that I've seen show extraordinarily high support. And I think that's to be expected because, as I watch Russian television, it's very impressive video coming out, kind of like Pentagon briefings, lots of video that the Russian military are showing every day, how they're hitting ISIS, how -- what they say is ISIS. They are also saying that they are protecting the homeland.
I mean, this is a message that works in the United States, of course, against terrorism, and here in Russia, too, people have been the victims of terrorism for many years. So when you say that there's a blood-thirsty group out there, namely ISIS, ready to strike at the homeland, then -- which they do ultimately, then Russians are going to support that. So also, I think there's another thing, Isha, which is they -- President Putin is striking chords with Russians in terms of the greatness of Russia, its influence on the world stage, that it is back, that it is a force to be reckoned with and respected. And that's something, too, a message that's going over apparently quite well.
SESAY: Jill Dougherty joining us there from Moscow. Jill, always appreciate it. Great to talk to you. Thank you.
Well, the U.S. presidential campaign trail, comments from Donald Trump are making headlines yet again. This time he's weighing in on the downing of a commercial jet over Ukraine. In an interview with MSNBC, the Republican presidential candidate said there is not enough evidence to blame Russia for shooting down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17. Then he later said it probably was Russia. CNN asked Trump to clarify his comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I think some people might be worried you're defending Russia when you say there's no way --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I'm not defending Russia. I think it's despicable, it's horrible, but they deny it totally. And they don't even say what was it, where it came from, nobody really knows, and I'm sure reports are going to be done, maybe someday we'll find out, but right now, Russia is totally denying it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, U.S. intelligence said early in the investigation that it believed pro-Russian separatists fired the missile.
Trump's daughter said her dad would be, quote, "amazing for women," as president and leader of the U.S. Ivanka Trump defended her father Wednesday against controversial comments he has made about women and their looks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Look, my father is very blunt. He's very direct. He is non-gender specific in his criticism of people and people that he doesn't particularly like, or people that he does like, but thinks they're wrong on a particular issue. So, you know, I don't think that he's gender targeted at all.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What would a President Trump do for women in this country?
I. TRUMP: He'd be amazing for women in this country. He would be incredible for women in this country, and he's starting to articulate his positions. It's not my place to articulate those for him. I'm not part of the campaign.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, Ivanka Trump also said the controversies were driven by, quote, "sensationalism and orchestrated largely by the media." She's executive vice president at the Trump Organization.
Fresh off a strong debate performance Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Hillary Clinton got back on the campaign trail in the western United States. She stopped in a nearby Nevada City where she got an endorsement from some union workers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm feeling really lucky in Las Vegas, Kent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.
CLINTON: Yes. Feeling really lucky. And I think --
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: You know, last night was a good night, today is just as good. Getting the endorsement of this union and the members that you represent, and what it means to really focus on the trades, it doesn't get any better than that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SESAY: And her rival Bernie Sanders was here in Los Angeles just a few hours ago, raising money for his campaign. He once again touched on his big moment from the debate, and earlier in the day, he taped an appearance for a daytime talk show.
[01:15:11] Sunlen Serfaty has the details on that and Senator Sanders' next step.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bernie Sanders is really trying to capitalize on his debate performance and for the moment his focus is on momentum and money. Already touting that the campaign has raised $2 million since that debate and here in Los Angeles, Bernie Sanders, in his first comment since the debate, touted all that money that he sees pouring into his campaign, and talked about that memorable moment he had up there on that debate stage, talking about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. That got a big crowd reaction here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: I'm tired of Hillary's e-mails. Let's talk about real issues.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Bernie Sanders will make an attempt to show his softer side, something that has significantly challenged him while out on the campaign trail. We got an early look at his interview with "Ellen" and, yes, he does do a little dance. He divulges that his favorite song is "Staying Alive" and that he thinks he has the best hair of any of the candidates.
Now going forward, there will be a small shift in strategy among the standard campaign events. Instead of holding just these big booming rallies, he will continue to have big campaign events, but they're also going to make pains to place the candidate in smaller, more intimate events where he can really have one-on-one conversations with the voters and that is going to start this weekend in Iowa.
Back to you.
SESAY: Many thanks for that, Sunlen.
Well, at least one more celebrity seems to be feeling the burn. TV series creator and filmmaker and actor Seth McFarland introduced Sanders at the senator's Hollywood rally, of course, with a few funny quips thrown in.
And just a few days ago, McFarland tweeted that Sanders would make an A-plus president. He joins a list of celebrities who have thrown their support behind the senator.
Well next on CNN, Lamar Odom once battled on the basketball court, now he is fighting for his life. More on the reality star's condition straight ahead.
Plus, the U.N. warns this year's El Nino could trigger a humanitarian emergency. We will tell you why. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
[01:21:11] SESAY: Hello, everyone. Rappers Jay-Z and Timbaland say they paid for the rights when Egyptian melody they used in their 1999 hit "Big Pimpin'." Jay-Z arrive in court Wednesday to testify in a copyright suit that has been working its way through the legal system for eight years.
The nephew of the late Egyptian songwriter alleges the rappers used the tune without permission. Timbaland's attorney said he used it without realizing it was owned by EMI Music Arabia and later paid $100,000 to acquire the license.
Now former basketball and reality TV star Lamar Odom is fighting for his life right now. The estranged husband of television star Khloe Kardashian is hospitalized in Las Vegas. Odom was found unresponsive Tuesday at the Love Ranch, a legal brothel near Las Vegas.
Kyung Lah has details on what may have harmed the superstar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isha, investigators are announcing that they're at the very beginning of this investigation, but so far they've already determined that some of this is fueled by drugs, both illegal and herbal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAH (voice-over): The Love Ranch, a legal brothel that promises discretion even to celeb VIPs, but when manager Richard Hunter saw former NBA star Lamar Odom unresponsive, he immediately called 911.
RICHARD HUNTER, LOVE RANCH EMPLOYEE: They did asked what he had taken. The girls gave me an herbal supplement.
LAH: An herbal sexual enhancement supplement, says Hunter. One sold here at the ranch and commonly other sex shops. Hunter asked we not fully show his face on camera. He claims, since Odom's arrival on Saturday, employees did watch him take a number of the supplements.
HUNTER: They were ballparking, like maybe 10 over three days or something like that. And I gave the milligram dosage to the 911 operator.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please hurry. He's got blood coming out of his nose, white stuff coming out of his mouth. I can't get him to wake up. He's like almost not breathing.
LAH: Two female employees say they left Odom asleep in his room Monday night and found him unresponsive nine hours later.
SHARON WEHRLY, NYE COUNTY SHERIFF: The reporting parties informed Nye County Sheriff's office dispatch, the male had been using cocaine. They confirmed his usage on Saturday, but were unsure if it had continued through the weekend.
LAH: Now at the hospital, the Reverend Jesse Jackson visited Odom. Jackson says Odom is unable to speak, breathing with the help of a machine.
REV JESSE JACKSON, ODOM FAMILY FRIEND: Yesterday, he was almost totally unresponsive. And now there are signs of responsiveness. To that extent, that's good news.
LAH: Jackson says former NBA Lakers player Kobe Bryant also visited and by his bedside remains Khloe Kardashian.
LAMAR ODOM, FORMER NBA STAR: I don't want to hang out forever. I want to get married right now.
LAH: Former co-star and reality television, both on their own TV show capturing their brief marriage and in "Keeping up with the Kardashians."
KHLOE KARDASHIAN, REALITY TELEVISION STAR: Lamar has suffered so much loss in his life.
LAH: A life filled with loss from an early age. His father left the family, addicted to heroin. Odom's mother died of colon cancer when he was 12. He was raised by his grandmother who would also die of cancer. And his first marriage in 2006, Odom's infant son, Jayden, died of SIDS. His father would return to Odom's life on reality television, asking for money.
ODOM: Well, we got like a lot of handsome men in our family.
LAH: The consistent anchor appeared to be basketball. Odom rose to fame early in high school, then winning two NBA championships. But his tabloid life eclipsed his professional one. Rumors of drug addiction and a failed marriage to Khloe, she foretold of Odom's struggles in a recent episode of her reality show.
KARDASHIAN: I'm really on high alert for Lamar because, I mean, anything, I think, will set him to spiral and that's kind of the last thing I want for him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:25:03] LAH: The sheriff's department also announced that they obtained a warrant to draw blood from Lamar Odom. That happened while he was in the hospital. Those results are not back as of yet -- Isha.
SESAY: Kyung, thanks for that.
Well, earlier I spoke with Segun Oduolowu, a pop culture contributor to "Access Hollywood Live" about the superstar's condition. Here's his take on what was saving Lamar Odom's life and who he thinks helped to destroy it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Basketball was what was saving his life. I believe basketball was the lifeline. And you can see that now at his hospital bed, guys like Kobe Bryant and --
SESAY: Yes. They've all been to see him.
ODUOLOWU: And you think about him growing up. He does not have family.
SESAY: Yes.
ODUOLOWU: Mother died at the age of 12. Dad's absentee junkie on heroin. His teammates and the connections that he tried to forge because he didn't really have a family. Grandmother died. You know, infant child died. Best friend OD'd, died. All of these people that were really, really close to him are all gone. So now you try to replace that with surrogates or outside influences, and I think that's what he succumbed to, just this outside influence. And once the basketball was taken away, once the "Keeping up with the Kardashians" became so much that it took the basketball away from him, I feel that he spiraled out of control.
SESAY: But he said that he considered the Kardashians to be the only real family that he had. I don't know if that's still standing, but that was the comment that Lamar made.
ODUOLOWU: But look at what -- I mean, look at what that family has done to him. I mean, literally -- they took away the one thing that he had, that he was the best in the world at, his basketball. To finally the NBA didn't want him around, a 6'10" gifted athlete was asked by the Dallas Mavericks, don't come back, we don't want you. And you can see in that press conference, he's breaking down and he's crying. That leads to the video where he's rapping and you can tell he's on drugs.
SESAY: Yes.
ODUOLOWU: He's talking about the infidelity. There's so much swirling around this guy that to have -- you know, the Kardashians now are using it almost as fodder for --
SESAY: That's how you see -- you feel that it's being exploited this moment?
ODUOLOWU: Yes, I do. Because those are vultures. And I'm going to just put it flat on the table. They're vultures. If you cared about this man, where were you the entire time he was using these drugs, watching best friends dying, going through all of this turmoil? Where were you when you exposed his entire life for a reality show? So when you tell me, when they tell, he's the only family, we're his family, I find that to be a farce.
SESAY: Yes.
ODUOLOWU: I find that to be offensive. And I really wish that he had not, you know, distanced himself from people who really cared because those are the people that should be at his bedside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Segun Oduolowu, an entertainment journalist who actually knew Lamar Odom, sharing his thoughts with us a little bit earlier.
Next on CNN NEWSROOM, this year's El Nino, could be as severe as the worst on record. We'll tell you what that could mean for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:28] SESAY: Hello, everyone. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
The headlines this hour, Wednesday was yet another violent day in Jerusalem. Police shot and killed a 19-year-old Palestinian man near the entrance to the old city. Investigators say he was armed with a knife and lunged at officers. At the central bus station, a 72-year- old woman was stabbed. Fresh clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians were also reported in the West Bank.
Russia says it has attacked 40 ISIS targets in Syria in the past 24 hours. This video shows air strikes on Aleppo, which Russia said hit workshops used by terrorists to make explosives. Iranian media report they're gearing up for a major assault on Aleppo.
Employees at a Nevada brothel say basketball and TV reality star, Lamar Odom, had used cocaine and sexual performance enhancement pills before he was found unresponsive on Tuesday. He's now fighting for his life at a Las Vegas hospital with his estranged wife, TV star, Khloe Kardashian, at his side. Odom has a history of substance abuse.
Now, the United Nations is warning this year's El Nino could trigger a major humanitarian emergency. Scientists say the warm-water phenomenon in the eastern Pacific could be as severe as the worst El Nino on record. That was in 1997, '98. Peru had severe flooding. El Nino was also blamed for drought, disease, and severe food shortages in other countries. California also saw flash flooding, mudslides destroyed houses, and citizens rescued from their homes. Rain from El Nino could help the Western U.S. coast which is going through a very severe drought, but our guest says it's not that simple.
Jay Famiglietti joins me. He's a professor of earth systems science at the University of California, Irvine.
Jay, there is so much I want to talk to you about. Welcome. Thank you for being here with us.
JAY FAMIGLIETTI, PROFESSOR OF EARTH SYSTEMS SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE: Thanks for having me.
SESAY: But first, I want to bring in our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri to give us some perspective --
FAMIGLIETTI: Sure.
SESAY: -- some overview on exactly what El Nino is -- Pedram?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Isha. In its simplest form, we're talking about warmer sea surface temperatures around the equator. The warm temperatures observed in July of this year, you see the disparity of the dark reds in place across portions of the Americas where the warm water is had in place. El Nino pattern is observed every three to seven years, but when you peel back the map and look at the sea temperatures, you're seeing the warmest waters back towards Asia, strong trade winds across the Pacific that force the waters along that region. Cooler waters across the Americas. In an El Nino pattern, the warm water is spread across sometimes favoring the eastern side along the America's coastline and this trade wind pattern is weakened in reverse. The storm activity is prevalent. El Nino, the term, actually comes from where fishermen, back across the areas of South America many years ago, they noticed that their fishing harvest in the cold season, around Christmas time, was bringing up empty nets. They were not able to get as much fish. They noticed the water temperatures were far warmer across the region. And they've dubbed this term and give it the word El Nino, Spanish for Christ child, or little boy, because it coincided with the Christmas season. So that's where the name comes from. We touched on the warm in the water temperatures. Here's from the 1997, '98 historic winter with tremendous rainfall across portions of the southwestern U.S. Temperature anomalies, two to three degrees warmer, look at the forecast, the projections take it even higher than that, to the top of the chart. So that's why this could be a very profound impact as far as the weather pattern around the world. And I'll break this down again in further detail with your guest here -- Isha?
[01:35:40] SESAY: We certainly will.
Pedram, thank you. Appreciate it.
I want to turn now to Professor Famiglietti.
So good to have you with us.
We're all talking about this.
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: Don't quite understand all of it. One climatologist has described this season's El Nino as too big to fail.
FAMIGLIETTI: Yes.
SESAY: Break that down for us.
FAMIGLIETTI: I think what he's referring to is the size of the sea surface temperature anomaly, the fact that the trade winds are breaking down, so it does look like some of the strongest El Nino events that we've seen before in 1997, 1998, and 1982-'83. Those dumped a tremendous amount of rainfall on California. The thing is it is weather. It is unpredictable. And that correlation between El Nino happening and how much rain happens in California is not necessarily one to one. SESAY: When people hear rain coming to California, bearing in mind
the severe drought, everyone says, yay, but not so fast, right?
FAMIGLIETTI: That's right. The size of the deficit that we have in California is somewhere around 12 or 13 trillion gallons of water. And that means water in storage. So that's how much additional water we'd have to get back in our snow pack, in our surface water and reservoirs and in ground water. To accumulate that much storage, that will take three or four winters of above average precipitation. So one El Nino winter is certainly welcome and will make a contribution, but it's certainly not a drought buster.
SESAY: What about the snow?
FAMIGLIETTI: There's an issue with this upcoming El Nino in that it's a little bit warmer than the '97-'98 El Nino. So that may translate into more liquid precipitation, more rainfall rather than snow. The reason that's a problem is that we really rely on snow. We rely on the mountains to store that snow over the winter. Like another reservoir. And then it melts slowly in the springtime and trickles into the reservoirs and we can use that water for the rest of the year. If we don't get the snow, then it's like having that water in the freezer. If it's not in the freezer, there's nothing to count on in the spring and summer.
SESAY: How should California be preparing for El Nino? Considering all the projections, it's going to be pretty bad. Talk to me about that.
FAMIGLIETTI: Well, there's two sides to it. One is the severity of the weather. And so we do see a lot of people, rightly so, thinking about trimming their trees. We've done it in our yard. Cut down from suspect limbs. People are getting their roofs fixed. And so those are all good ideas. But the other side of it is the water supply side. And because that rain falls so heavily, the intensity is so high, that it would be difficult to capture a lot of that winter rainfall. What that means is that we can't give up on our conversation just because it rains. This drought -- I guess another way to look at it is that California is really experiencing chronic water scarcity. So a wet winter will help us, but it will not eliminate that chronic water scarcity. We have to make that adjustment and make it a permanent adjustment.
SESAY: It's a message people need to hear and they need to act on it.
FAMIGLIETTI: They sure do.
SESAY: Professor Famiglietti, It's a pleasure.
FAMIGLIETTI: Thank you.
SESAY: Thanks so much. Thank you.
Still to come on NEWSROOM, L.A., Somalia refugees left war and famine behind, now they could be sent back to the horrors they escaped. We'll take you to Kenya, to the world's largest refugee camp. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:42:42] SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. Kenya's government has begun testing a program to send thousands of Somalia refugees back to their homelands, but many of the migrants don't want to return to what, for them, is now a strange land.
As David McKenzie reports, for more than 20 years, they've been sheltered at the world's largest refugee camp.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They came to Kenya, escaping war and famine. Now they're heading back to Somalia on a United Nations plane. For the youngest, born into the Dadaab Refugee Camp, it's a home they never knew.
(on camera): This is the first plane to Mogadishu this morning. It's a pilot program to resettle Somalis back in their homeland. They say they want to send hundreds of thousands of refugees in the next few years. But many say it's not an option.
(voice-over): Because for most of the refugees here, Dadaab has become home. The sprawling complex is a refugee city of more than 300,000, making it the largest refugee camp in the world. Living crammed together, some have been here just a few years, some, a lifetime. And at first glance, for those refugees, it can seem strangely normal here.
26-year-old refugee Mohammed Abdullah helps run a transfer shop. He's been here since childhood. But as a refugee, he cannot buy his own goods to sell. He can't leave the camp without permission. He isn't allowed a formal job. Abdullah says that Dadaab is like a prison.
MOHAMMAD ABDULLAH, REFUGEE: I don't know another country. What I know is only this refugee camp.
MCKENZIE (on camera): You know no other life?
ABDULLAH: No.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Abdullah's mother, Howa (ph) arrived with him in 1994. His wife, Sarah, was born here. So was their daughter, Samir (ph). They are three generations of refugees living under one roof.
ABDULLAH: What I fear is going back to Somalia. And right now, there is no business Somalia. There is war. So I don't want to go back there.
MCKENZIE: He says, he has no farm, no family, no reason to go back, and he wants a better life for Samir (ph) in Kenya, or the West.
But some are willing to take a leap of faith. Each refugee is given about $100 to return to Somalia. They face an uncertain future in a place they once fled. David McKenzie, CNN, Dadaab Camp, Kenya.
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[01:45:20] SESAY: Well, David's remarkable story about life in the world's largest refugee camp continues online. There you'll learn more about the people who call Dadaab home. And find out why many residents say they feel abandoned by the agencies that are supposed to help them. All of that and much more at CNN.com/dadaab.
Well, one U.S. couple is making generosity a top priority and they're backing it up with a major financial commitment. We'll talk to them next.
Plus, we'll take you on a test drive in a Tesla, featuring the carmaker's new auto pilot feature.
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DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Don Riddell with your CNN "World Sport" headlines.
Jose Mourinho may be one of the most entertaining managers in world football, but he's been sanctioned again and threatened with a one- match ban. He was fined over $77,000 after suggesting that referees are afraid to give decisions to his team. His comments were made after the blues home loss to Southampton earlier this month. Mourinho's total fines now stand at almost $140,000. If he's found guilty again, within a year, a one-game ban will be imposed.
Meanwhile, as the sports world's governing body FIFA lurches from one ethical crisis to another, it's still trying to be the moral standard bearer and investigate others' of wrongdoing. FIFA has confirmed it's investigating last summer's transfer of Mangala form Porto to Manchester City. They're probing a possible breach of third-party ownership rules. Man City themselves are not under investigation, but Porto could be fined or prevented from making transfers in the future.
The young Australian tennis star, Nick Kirgyos (ph) has further consolidated his reputation for being the most badly behaved tennis player. During his recent defeat to a Kenya player, Kirgyos (ph) slapped the ball away in frustration and nearly hit a line judge. It was his third code violation in just six days. If he's not careful, he could be banned from the tour.
That is a quick look at your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell
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[01:49:52] SESAY: Netflix is growing around the world, but expansion in the U.S. failed to meet the company's prediction for the third quarter. The streaming service added 880,000 subscribers in the U.S., but that is far short of the more than one million users they were expecting. Overall, they have more than 69 million subscribers. Netflix stocks plunged 6 percent at one point in after-hours trading. It is now down about 3 percent.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says pretty soon drivers won't use steering wheels or pedals. The electric car company unveiled a new auto pilot feature for their luxury model sedan on Wednesday.
"CNN Money" took it for a test drive.
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PETER VALDES-DAPENA, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Tesla cars, some of them have insane mode, where you can go zero to 60 in 3.-something seconds. This feels even more insane. I'm driving down the Westside highway without touching the brakes, the gas, or the steering wheel. It's driving itself. And it's doing a pretty good job of it. It's just weird, really weird.
So this Tesla has ultra sonic sensors at all four corners that allow it to see 16 feet away from the car in every direction so that it knows when you're getting too close.
By the way, it also handles lane-changes. I use the turn signal, it does the lane change for me. No hands.
But it does occasionally remind you, you need to put your hands on the steering wheel. Here I got to brake.
That's the importance of the driver paying attention, one thing this thing cannot do is know when the light is red.
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SESAY: So, so weird. But cool at the same time. The question is, can it self-park? If it can park itself, then I'm in.
Luxury sedans are not a part of one Boston couple's life. In fact, they don't even own a car. Jeff Kaufman and his wife, Julia Wise, live on a tight budget, so they can donate half their salaries to charity.
I spoke with them about their decision and how they do it.
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SESAY: Jeff and Julia, thanks so much for joining us on tonight's show.
Explain to me how you got to the point where you decided you wanted to give most of your money away to charity.
JULIE WISE, COUPLE DONATES HALF INCOME TO CHARITY: I'd say it was something that I'd thought about even since childhood, but it was something that we started putting into practice when we finished college and started working our first real jobs. So we started trying to just test out how much we could donate and trying to sort of edge it up a little bit each year. So for the last few years, it's been around half of our income.
SESAY: And why? Jeff, tell me why.
JEFF KAUFMAN, COUPLE DONATES HALF INCOME TO CHARITY: So we're -- in some sense, we're incredibly lucky. We live in a pretty rich country. We have more than we need. And when we can, we like to try and give back to help others who haven't been as lucky.
SESAY: I think I should make clear and, correct me if I'm wrong, you guys aren't millionaires, right?
WISE: Certainly not, no.
KAUFMAN: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SESAY: OK. So we got that bit out of the way. How easy is it to stick to this? And how difficult has it been to make a decision like this and go with it?
WISE: We really haven't found it difficult. We find that having a pattern that we're in, you just sort of go with the system that you've set up. And so each year, we pick what percentage we're going to donate and then we live within that budget, just the same as you would live within any sort of budget that you would plan for yourself.
SESAY: And who are you giving your money to?
WISE: We tend to go with charities that are recommended by an evaluator called "Give Well," so one of their top charities that we've been giving to for several years is called "Against Malaria Foundation." They distribute bed nets to prevent people from getting malaria. It's particularly meaningful to us now that we're parents because malaria is one of the big killers of children and pregnant women worldwide. So it's particularly meaningful to us now to be able to spare other families from losing a child to something that's so preventable like malaria.
SESAY: One of the things I take away from this conversation with you guys is that you have a very unique relationship with money. Money doesn't seem to hold a power over you, which it does for most people. How would you describe your relationship with money?
KAUFMAN: Money is still pretty useful. I would say it certainly has a big effect on us.
(LAUGHTER)
WISE: I think the difference is that we've decided what portion of our budget we're going to live on, and what portion we're going to give away. So within the portion that is for us, we make financial decisions much as any family would. But the difference is that there's this other portion that's already set aside for other people. [01:55:09]SESAY: Well, Jeff and Julia, it's really great to talk to
you. You really are inspiring, and proof that we can all do a lot with a lot less.
Thanks so much for joining us.
KAUFMAN: Thank you very much.
WISE: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Very, very inspiring, indeed, and something for us all to work towards.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
Stay with us. The news continues with Rosemary Church and Errol Barnett right after this.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Israel cracks down after more attacks, sending troops into major cities and loosening gun licensing rules.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. says it's close to an understanding with Russia on the safety of aircraft flying over Syria.
CHURCH: And Kim Jong-Un's gifts to the people of Pyongyang.
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[02:00:00] WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four- stories, eight restaurants and cafes, 11,000 square meters, all floating on the Taedong River.
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CHURCH: CNN takes an exclusive tour.
Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world.
