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Russia-Bound Airliner Crashes, 224 People Killed; U.S. Special Forces to Assist Kurds; Interview with Mondelez CEO Irene Rosenfeld. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired October 31, 2015 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:14] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, I'm Poppy Harlow in New York, 7:00 Eastern this Saturday night.

We begin with the deaths of 224 people who were on board this Russian airliner. It crashed in Egypt 23 minutes after take off. Seventeen of the victims were children.

Investigators believe a technical failure most likely caused this Airbus-321 to come down. They expect to learn more from the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, both of which have been retrieved.

What we do know is that the weather was clear when this plane began its flight from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, headed for St. Petersburg, Russia, and now in St. Petersburg, instead of homecoming, loved ones are experiencing heartache.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I watched where the plane was on radar, on the Internet, everything looked normal. I came here around 11:30, but the plane didn't appear anywhere on the information screen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Yesterday, my son called and says that the plane was landing around 11:40. He was on holiday with his family, a 10-month-old daughter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: CNN's Ian Lee is live for us tonight in Cairo.

You heard it there, a 10-month-old little girl on this plane, 17 children, 224 people. It sounds like right now they are point to go something technical that went wrong.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. That's what we are hearing from both the Egyptians and the Russians. They believe there was some sort of technical issue. Although, when we heard from the civil administration, the minister, he said that there was a routine check of the plane before take-off. There was nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. And when the plane was at its cruising altitude about 20 minutes into

the flight, that's when it just dropped out of radar. And really it is that gap right before and right after. That's what investigators are going to be looking into. The two black boxes have been discovered. They're going to be brought to Cairo where experts are going to go over that, to go over all the little details to figure out what exactly what brought down the plane.

But the wreckage is over an area that has the diameter of five miles. Right now, as you can see, it's dark. They are still looking for bodies of those who have died, and 224 people lost their lives. Right now, about 130 of them have been brought to morgues and the city of Suez and Cairo.

And what we are hearing from Egyptian officials is they are going through the gruesome task of trying to identify the bodies so they can be returned to their loved ones.

HARLOW: You know this terrain well. When you're talking about where it crashed, give us some background, Ian, if you can, on that area. Because we do know it is a hot spot for militant activity. What are investigators facing there?

LEE: So when you look at this, there is a couple of things to take into consideration. First off, the northern part of Sinai has been a hotbed of insurgency for the past two years, ISIS-aligned fighters have been fighting the government. Hundreds of people have been killed.

So, when you have rescue personnel trying to get just to the site of the crash, they've got to take in security is for themselves into consideration. Also, we're hearing on social media that ISIS is claiming responsibility for bringing down this airplane.

Now, we must say, though, Egyptian officials, Russian officials have said there's no indication that terrorism was involved. Also, it would be from following militants in Sinai. It isn't known that they would have these sorts of weapons to take down a plane like this in the first place. So, it could be just them trying to seize the opportunity to scare people. But we do know at this time that Air France and Lufthansa are diverting from the northern part of Sinai, although British Airways are saying they still feel it's safe to fly over that route.

HARLOW: Ian Lee, reporting for us live tonight in Cairo, thank you very much, Ian. And Egyptian aviation officials say there is really nothing abnormal before the crash, nothing abnormal with the plane. There was a routine check. It came out fine.

So, what could have caused this? Let's bring in our CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo, she was inspector general for U.S. Department of Transportation.

And, Mary, when you look at this plane disappearing off radar 23 minutes into flight, generally when you're going to have an incident and something catastrophic, it doesn't happen once you reach cruise, does it?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Absolutely not. Most of the plane crashes happen at or near takeoff or landing or climbing out or the landing sequence. This is extremely rare.

[19:05:00] What happens at this altitude in recent history, it's been because of severe weather, level 6 thunderstorms, like Air Asia, or Air France 447, or West Caribbean 708 or it's been a missile explosion. Very rare to have, as the pilot allegedly said, a technical difficulty and started descent. It was fast but not out of the parameters for this plane.

HARLOW: Investigators are saying at this point it appears to be a technical problem. We know this is an A-321. This is about 19, 20 years old. But that's not old for an aircraft. What do we know about how sophisticated this plane is?

SCHIAVO: This plane is very, very sophisticated. That was good for the carrier in Russia. Any of the old Russian plane, the allusions of Tupolev, I mean, literally, I mean, what I can say, fly them. But this, I mean, for this airline to have an Airbus, at least it's a good western aircraft, very sophisticated. The pilot had a tremendous number of hours, 12,000 hours. That is a lot of experience. Presumably a lot of hours were on this plane.

But the words that he supposedly to get off that he had technical difficulty. And I think it was 6,000 feet per minute descent that started before the planes got off the radar would suggest that it was mechanical.

HARLOW: What about jurisdiction? I mean, who's going to be ultimately in charge of determining what happened? Because you've got Russia demanding sort of in one investigation. You have the Egyptian officials dealing with what's on the ground. You've got the BEA, sort of the European sister to the NTSB, Germany and France part of this.

Who leads?

SCHIAVO: Well, Egypt. According to the Treaty, the Montreal Treaty, which all aviation nations have signed, Egypt has the lead. And we'll remember that -- folks will remember that from Malaysia 370. Malaysia has the lead.

But because the plane is a French manufacturer, the French BEA will be involved. You want them involved. They're pretty good.

And Russia will be involved because of the citizenship of the airline, the registry of the airline and the citizenship of the people on board. So, that's pretty typical. It's not unusual.

Russia announced they are starting an investigation into the airline, which I certainly would too. I mean, that's what you do when an airplane goes down and there's an indication it's mechanical. You need to start a safety scrub of that airline as well. That's actually good thing to do. HARLOW: All right. Mary Schiavo, thank you very much. As we get

more information, we, of course, will get it to you. Again, you have 224 people who perished. Seven of the dead members -- seven of the dead are crew members. Most of the 217 others were Russians on vacation.

CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live for us tonight in St. Petersburg.

I know they have a makeshift memorial that they have made there and I can't imagine what it's like, Nic, just seeing the family members come.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's tough for people here. This is a national day of mourning now. President Putin has called for national day of mourning. We're just, in the last few minutes, people have been coming to light more candles here on the table.

This table was piled high with flowers a little earlier. But there were so many flowers coming, people have been continue to go come. The flurries have been put over on this bench. Also down here, you'll see there are children's toys down here. Teddy bears. Children have been coming and putting these here. Twenty-five children on board the flight.

Psychologists are helping the families who have lost loved ones on board the aircraft. We're told the first of the bodies will be returned here repatriated to Russia sometime on Sunday, 2:00 in the morning here, already Sunday here. So, the first of the bodies arriving back.

The governor of this area who said it's not clear when the bodies can be returned to the families for burial, because that will depend in part on the investigation. And he said, but when that does happen, there will be more days of mourning. And just now, another man, 2:00 in the morning is coming up, leaving a children's toy, placing these brightly colored carnations here.

Everyone that comes, pauses to look. This gentleman just pausing to go take a look, say a prayer before they move off. This is what they have been seeing throughout the evening here.

A psychologist who was inside the airport, we were listening for psychologists talking with a friend a little earlier, explaining how she is feeling stressed, run down, tired because she has been talking to all the families. It's very emotional draining for her. Hundreds of families have had consultation with the psychologist now, 115 families we're told have given DNA samples to Russian authorities to help with the beginning of the identification of all the bodies -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Nic Robertson live for us tonight in St. Petersburg, Russia -- thank you, Nic.

Ahead, President Obama elected on a promise to end America's wars is now expanding the U.S. front in the fight against ISIS.

[19:10:02] Could this move be the turning point against terror group? Or will it just draw America further to a long and bloody civil war in Syria?

Also, the story of an American risking everything on the front lines to fight ISIS. His story from Clarissa Ward, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Rebel groups opposed to the Assad regime in Syria will soon get nearly $100 million in U.S. aid. That news coming today from a State Department official. This after word that the United States will deploy a small group of U.S. Special Forces on the ground in Syria.

There are already a handful of Americans who have gone there on their own to try to take on ISIS. One former U.S. soldier is there alongside Kurdish fighters. He has a warning for other Americans who might want to warn him.

CNN senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward now with this exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Poppy, dozens of Americans and Europeans have gone to Syria to fight with Kurdish YPG fighters against ISIS. One American has been killed. And we met into another one who said he is willing to stay there to continue the fight.

(voice-over): Randy Roberts has spent much of the last seven months on the front lines.

The former U.S. Army specialist who deployed twice to Iraq was studying graphic design in the U.S. when he decided to join the fight against ISIS.

RANDY "RED" ROBERTS, U.S. ARMY VETERAN: I felt like I could, given my past military experience, that I had been to this region before, that I could contribute and I could actually help the cause.

WARD (on camera): How did you get guidance as to how to get here, who to link up with?

ROBERTS: Well, Google.

WARD: Google? That's how you planned your trip to come and fight ISIS?

ROBERTS: Believe it or not, yes. I just -- I simply looked up Westerners who had come over here before me.

WARD (voice-over): Roberts is one of more than one of 100 Westerners who have come to Syria and Iraq to fight with Kurdish forces. The Internet is full of slickly produced YPG propaganda videos

featuring American volunteers.

[19:15:02] There's even a Web site selling ISIS hunting kits and offering packing lists on what to bring.

At a small training camp in northern Syria, we watch some new recruits, among them, two Americans. Most did not want to show their faces. Unlike Roberts, few had any military experience.

ROBERTS: You also meet a lot of people who think this is going to be the gaming experience, "Call of Duty". They think because they understand how to pull the trigger on a control, they know how to do it in real life.

Elbows in and tight to your body.

WARD: Roberts believes the most valuable gift he can offer Kurdish fighters and his fellow volunteers is training.

ROBERTS: So, when you need to reload, take a knee behind cover, mag out, up, stock in here.

WARD: While some Kurdish fighters welcome western volunteers as a morale boost, others have dismissed their presence as a nuisance.

(on camera): Do you think you have helped?

ROBERTS: I believe, yes, I have.

WARD: But some people would say this isn't your war. This isn't your business.

ROBERTS: It's better to stand up and do something if you think you can help than to sit back and watch. Hey, it's on the other side of the world, not my problem.

WARD (voice-over): Certainly, the risks are real. One American, Keith Brumfield, died fighting along side Kurdish fighters this past summer in Syria. And Roberts has seen for himself how tenacious an enemy ISIS can be.

ROBERTS: Outside of the mines that they emplaced all in the fields there to keep us from advancing on these villages, they also have little wadis and trenches that they hide in. So, then they pop up in machine gunfire.

WARD (on camera): Has it ever crossed your mind you could get killed?

ROBERTS: Yes, yes.

WARD: That's a price you'd be willing to pay?

ROBERTS: Yes. If I got to the end of my life and I hadn't come -- and I looked back on this and I had to choose not to come out, then it would have bothered me. Like it would have bothered me for the rest of my life.

WARD (on camera): The United States government says it is not technically illegal for Americans to go to Syria and Iraq to fight against ISIS as long as they are not doing it with a terrorist organization. At the same time, though, Poppy, they do say that they strongly discourage it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Clarissa Ward, fascinating report. Thank you for that.

President Obama this week committing a small number of ground troops inside Syria. The White House saying fewer than 50 special operations forces will take on this mission to counter ISIS.

With me now, CNN global affairs analyst and "Daily Beast" contributor, Kimberly Dozier. Also with me, CNN intelligence and security analyst and former CIA operative Bob Baer.

Bob, to you first -- what is your reaction to what we heard of the former American soldier on who took himself to fight alongside Kurdish forces?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, any time Americans go volunteer for a foreign conflict, Poppy, it worries me. It means messy front lines. It is wars that we don't -- they don't understand, we don't understand, and you have to understand he is fighting in a civil war. He is fighting for the Kurdish side.

And, you know, any civil war like this is really messy and the lines are very unclear.

HARLOW: I was certainly struck when Clarissa asked how did you find out how to do this and he said Google.

Kimberly, now, he will have some extra help, American hands on the ground, right? You're going to have 50 of these special ops inside of Syria. I just wonder what you think the impact of that will be, because it sounds like a small number, but actually the impact could be big, couldn't it?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, what the forces are going to be doing is a quasi-headquarters of the rebels. So, they won't be out running into this guy somewhere with front line forces, at least not at first. It's going to take about a month to get them there. And then every two months, the Pentagon is going to assess what else should these guys do.

Right now, they are just assessing, are the people they're working with worth investing in? Can they be trained? They're going to try to advise them on things like if you're going to take this town over here to the south, here are the methods you should use. And then assess how well they do at taking that town. So, it's going to be a very basic kind of grading system at first before they decide, should we work alongside these guys like we are inside Iraq with Kurdish forces. HARLOW: Bob, what about the potential for intelligence gathering on

the ground? I mean, you had the former Obama ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, coming out yesterday and saying, look, this move is significant because you have had intelligence challenges on the ground in Syria. You can't get all that from just being in the air. Now, you're going to have people on the ground.

BAER: Well, I agree with Ambassador Hill. Anytime you can put people on the ground, you're better off. You need to be in daily touch with these people.

[19:20:01] You need to vet sources. You need ISRs on the ground, small drones. Language expertise on the ground and we're going to be a lot better off, because right now, we know next to nothing about the Islamic State.

Even this raid last week was helpful and because you've got prisoners. You've got documents. And if you know nothing about a movement like the Islamic State, something will -- you're getting there, sort of like we did in Iraq in 2006, 2007. It took us two or three years of actually being on the ground to figure out the way things work and run sources and defeat the enemy.

HARLOW: Kimberly, what about the fact that you do have some that say this is too little and too late, right? Including, you have Texas Republican, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Max Thornberry saying, I don't agree with the strategy, and this administration, he said, is trying to avoid disaster. While the president runs out the clock.

Does he have a point?

DOZIER: Well, even many defense officials I have spoken to say this is yet another incremental step up to where we should have been years ago, that we have expanded our cooperation slightly with the Iraqi forces on taking Ramadi, a bit more with the Kurdish who trust more. And now, a bit more with Syrians on the ground, that it took utter failure and billions of dollars wasted before we put people on the ground where they could assess who we can really trust and see them when they are closer to the front lines and see how they react to stress, and determine who we should put more of our resources into.

So, can they turn things around now? I think what we are seeing more is they are making sure, just like the Russians are making sure Assad isn't going to fall. Now, our input is going to make sure that at least for now some of the Syrian rebel forces will stand firm. And that helps drive future negotiations like the ones discussed at Vienna this week.

Hopefully, we'll put pressure on Russia to put pressure on Assad to step down. At least that's what administration officials are hoping.

HARLOW: Right. It's not what we heard from Putin.

On Russia, Bob, it is a bit more complicated now because you have Russia's involvement in these airstrikes. Then you put U.S. troops on the ground in the north where we haven't seen the strikes from Russia. But still, doesn't that complicate things tactically?

BAER: Absolutely. You need better deconfliction at a very serious level. You almost need Russians in eastern Syria with our troops to make sure we don't get bombed because those front lines are moving all the time. The last thing we need to do is have the Russians get one of our positions in Syria, which is possible, and also, you've got the Iranians. You need deconfliction with them. They are fighting a war not all that far from where we are.

So, the more troops we send the more complicated it gets. And, you know, frankly, I just don't see any solution with American troops or without them. I mean, the country, I have said it over and over, is gone. We need a strategy. We need to agree on what Syria is going to be in the future.

We need to sit down with the Russians and Iranians and even Bashar al Assad and figure this out. But 50 troops alone isn't going to do much.

HARLOW: Bob Baer, Kimberly Dozier, thank you for expertise as always to both of you.

DOZIER: Thank you.

HARLOW: Still ahead, gunfire in a Colorado springs neighborhood. Today, police say four people are dead. What investigators say happened. A live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:47] HARLOW: A Connecticut man's troubled relationship with his parents now at the center of a double murder investigation. Kyle Navin was charged with two counts of murder. His parents vanished in August. When their remains were found earlier this week, police felt they had enough evidence to charge him.

Here's CNN's Sara Ganim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, for months it wasn't clear what happened to this couple. Police had been suspicious of their son Kyle Navin, but it wasn't until remains were found on Thursday police felt they got the break they needed to file charges.

(voice-over): On the day Jeffrey Navin and his wife Jeanette were last seen in august, Jeffrey and his son Kyle Navin exchanged an ominous series of text messages, according to court documents.

Jeffrey writes, "I'm not going home until I know mom is OK. Did you hurt mom?" Jeffrey asked.

"No. Absolutely not. Why would you think?" his son Kyle Navin replies. "I go home and get framed for murder. I'm going to the police first." And then, "You are setting me up." The text messages sent from Jeffrey Navin's phone leading a month's

long investigation into the disappearance of the couple, who owned a refuse collection company.

Police also focused on text messages between Kyle Navin and his girlfriend Jennifer Valiante. In one text he says, "We need to figure out the best way to take them down, whether it is to get money out of him somehow. F him, at the business, the house, something."

Another text in July, one before his parents disappeared reads, "It would solve every single problem and give us a wealthy, amazing life."

The case stalled for months, but a break came Thursday when human remains were found in the yard of an abandoned house about nine miles from where the couple lived.

POLICE: Detectives are actively work to go process the scene and exploring the possibility that this is continued to the missing persons case.

GANIM: Police identify the remains as those of the Navins and quickly moved to charge 27-year-old Kyle Navin with their murder. Authorities say those messages and cell phone power pings contradicted the story Navin told when questioned about his parents' disappearance. They also found two bullet holes in his car and blood that belonged to his mother Jeanette. In Kyle's home, police found footprints in his dad's blood.

Navin's girlfriend Jennifer Valiante was also charged with conspiracy to commit murder and hindering prosecution. CNN reached out to both attorneys and neither have commented.

When they searched Kyle Navin's home, authorities found a Home Depot receipt for August 5th, a day after his parents disappeared, showing he bought bleach, stain remover and contractor clean-up bags. After months of mystery, neighbors say they want answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if you didn't know them, it has been very taxing on the people in this town.

GANIM: Both Navin and Valiante are being held on $2 million bail. Police talked a little bit about a motive, Poppy, saying that the parents had expressed concern about Kyle's drug habits and had talked to a witness about possibly cutting him out of their will -- Poppy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[19:30:07] HARLOW: Sara, thank you very much.

Coming up next. Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio at the same event in Iowa today after a tense week. It was topped off with Rubio getting a key endorsement from a major billionaire. Who that came from also. Also, how Bush is trying to pop up his low poll numbers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARLOW: A commercial airliner bringing vacationers home to Russia from Egypt went down today in the Sinai Peninsula. The plane's wreckage is scattered across the desert. Authorities say all 224 people on board were killed. Emergency crews are pulling bodies from the debris and trying to figure out what happened.

Crews found both of the plan's flight data recorders. Now victims' families face an agonizing wait for answers. More than 100 relatives gave DNA samples to authorities trying to help identify their loved ones. Egypt's government says there are no signs of terrorism at this point. Russia's President Vladimir Putin has declared Sunday a day of mourning.

And this just in to CNN, police in Colorado Springs, Colorado responding to reports of a shooting that killed the suspect that they say started shooting at them. After that they found three people dead. They are investigating any potential link to the suspect. Police are not releasing any more details at this time. They shut down 10 square blocks in downtown Colorado Springs for this investigation.

Cars are under water and highways are shut down as floodwaters soak parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast. In Houston, fire crews rescued more than 130 people stranded by high water. Four people were killed in water-related incidents. Flood watches and warnings were placed for much of Eastern Texas with a rain-soaked ground is already saturated. This slow moving storm system now heading to Louisiana and Mississippi.

[19:35:00]

To politics and a major Republican fund-raiser and donor wants Marco Rubio to be the next president. Paul Singer backing Rubio before in his Senate campaign five years ago. Well, Singer will now likely be a huge contributor to his superpacs. The billionaire reporting that he is backing Rubio, trying to convince others to do the same. This endorsement is seen as a setback for Jeb Bush, who recently had to start slashing expenses and spending. But he says his campaign is not on life support.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is on the campaign trail in Iowa with Jeb Bush.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he actually got a pretty good reception here, Poppy. This is a forum where many of the GOP candidates appeared. The crowd really did seem to stay and listen and were engaged when Jeb Bush spoke.

Afterwards, he was mobbed by supporters. He spent about 30 minutes shaking hands and signing autographs. But this really is despite the realities on the ground for the Bush campaign. He is just not invested a lot of time in this state. There was a weak strategy memo from the Bush campaign that was released this week in which it really details and admits that, saying he is paying much more attention to places like South Carolina and New Hampshire than he is here in Iowa.

It was very interesting when Jeb Bush spoke here earlier today. He opened up his speech, really brushing aside the poll numbers in the state. Here's what he said earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The poll numbers go up and they go down. Iowa proves that in every caucus. And when they go down, you don't insult Iowa voters. Because they're the same discerning voters whether your polls are going up or going down. You learn from Iowa voters. So it is a joy to be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: So never a bad thing of course to butter up Iowa voters that was also not so subtle shot at Donald Trump who got in a little hot water with Iowa voters, really criticizing them after his low poll numbers were just revealed. Retweeting on his account a criticism of Iowa voters. He later of course, Poppy, blamed that on an intern. Poppy?

HARLOW: Sunlen, thank you for that. And the campaigns for several GOP candidates are set to meet tomorrow night in Washington. They are coming together again so Republican National Committee campaigns are frustrated with the way they think the RNC is handling the debate process. They want more control over it.

The RNC not invited to that meeting tomorrow night. Many of the candidates as well as the RNC are not happy with what they are calling gotcha and biased questions during Wednesday night's debate.

The top two democratic presidential candidates received key endorsements on the campaign trail today. Bernie Sanders picked up the support of three New Hampshire unions in his third speech of the day. Sanders said middle-class Americans are working hard and long hours without reaping the benefits.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And yet amazingly enough, despite how hard our people are working, you have a husband who is working 50 or 60 hours a week. Wives working 50 and 60 hours a week. Fifty eight percent of all new income generated today is going to the top one percent. That is not acceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Hillary Clinton received the nod from a big union today as well. The International Long Shoremans Association. She got that endorsement in South Carolina where she said the defining economic challenge of our time is raising income for working people.

Straight ahead, what would make a person want to run five marathons in five days? I have no idea. But this man, my friend and colleague, Tom Foreman, did exactly that. Guess what, he's up for another one tomorrow? He has run 131 miles. D.C., New York, many other places. He talks to me next live with his daughter who inspired it all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:41:58]

HARLOW: He is someone who has covered war zones, riots and interviewed serial killers. His name, Tom Foreman, my friend and colleague here at CNN. But the most terrifying moment of his life came at the Thanksgiving dinner table when he and his daughter, Ronnie, were chowing down and she asked if he would run a marathon with her.

Tom Foreman is the author of the new book. "My year of Running Dangerously." He joins me now along with his daughter, Ronnie. There's the book. There are the well-worn shoes. Tomorrow, these two crazy people are running the New York City marathon but they thought they would come hang out with me beforehand. Thank you for being here.

RONNIE FOREMAN, TALKED FATHER INTO RUNNING MARATHONS: Thank you.

HARLOW: So you start, why the challenge to dad?

RONNIE FOREMAN: I was starting college at Georgia Tech. It's hard when you are the first kid out of the house. You want to spend more time with your parents. It's hard to be the first one who is not home with the group (INAUDIBLE) tight knit family. So I asked him to run a marathon with me because I knew he wouldn't say no.

HARLOW: Why is it so scary for you, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because I was over 50. I used to marathon when I was young, when I was in my 20s. I liked it back then but I know it is really hard. I honestly didn't know if I had one left in me but you know, dads and daughters, she asked, I said sure, we'll take a swing at it.

HARLOW: How many marathons have you run since that day?

TOM FOREMAN: Since that day, official marathons? I think 13, 12 or 13. I think that doesn't count the half marathon. (INAUDIBLE) marathon and now I have done three ultra marathons, over 50 miles.

HARLOW: Incredibly, you are what they call an ultra runner.

TOM FOREMAN: Well, I know ultra runners. I hang out with them sometimes.

HARLOW: I ran three miles this morning.

TOM FOREMAN: Hey, that's good.

HARLOW: Thanks. So the book, what is really interesting to me here is the fact that this is about - those of us who run even short distances, like me, know that it's not about the run. It is about the process, it's about the thinking that goes along. It is about so much more. This book is about a lot more than running.

TOM FOREMAN: Absolutely. It's about what you go through running with somebody who you care about and it's also about what you learn through running. Because you learn an awful lot about yourself and about how to deal with change and about challenges. I knew it was important to you. Because she's going to college, studying very difficult things. You need something to pace yourself out.

HARLOW: So not only are you this amazing runner, great daughter. You're a real life rocket scientist.

RONNIE FOREMAN: I'm working on my masters in aeronautic at M.I.T. right now and also a masters degree in technology and public policy.

HARLOW: So what has this been like for you to do with your dad, the bonding and the closeness?

RONNIE FOREMAN: It's been great. It was a really nice way to kind of transition from being the high school kid with lots of questions about where I was going and everything else to change the conversation to something more about being friends, right? We're not just father/daughter. We're really very good friends. Our family has always been incredibly very close. It was nice to kind of - running really started with us. Now, all four of us do stuff together. My sister and I ran a 10 mile race in Atlanta last weekend. It's a nice way to keep up with people. We do kind of the running and vacation thing. We ran in California over the summer. It's been a lot of fun.

HARLOW: You can't just go be a bum and lay on the beach?

[19:45:00]

TOM FOREMAN: Why didn't you suggest that? That would have been fun.

RONNIE FOREMAN: That's the next thing, ultra of each leg.

HARLOW: What do you make of the book? Is there a moment in here that stands out most to you?

RONNIE FOREMAN: My favorite part I think is the conversation he has with his brother while he's running the ultra. Because it wasn't just our nuclear family, right? It was his brother and his sister and his parents and my mom's family and everything else. We had a tremendous amount of encouragement. I think that that's my favorite moment even though it had absolutely nothing to do with me. It's the moment that I really think that captures it. It wasn't just the two of us, it was a Foreman family effort, extended and nuclear. So it was a lot of fun.

HARLOW: Tom, finally to you. You are an Emmy-award winning journalist, you've covered war zones, you have been in the line of danger. For you, as you compare this part of your life to your career, what part of this has shaped you the most?

TOM FOREMAN: Oh, I think, you know, Poppy, from what we do for a living, a lot of what we do and a lot of what many people have to do in any profession and just in life in general is about endurance. It is about the ability to keep going when you don't feel like going. When I ran the five marathons in five days to get here. That was

about saying every day, look, I can't think about 131 miles to New York. I need to think about the next couple of miles. And I have found through this experience that it is - I'm better now at thinking about just the next few little steps. If you keep taking care of those, the big picture will take care of itself.

HARLOW: Put one foot in front of the other.

TOM FOREMAN: One foot in front of the other and try to keep up with your daughter.

HARLOW: Good luck tomorrow. Please send pictures. I'm amazed by you.

TOM FOREMAN: Thank you.

HARLOW: Tom, thank you so much. Ronnie, nice to meet you. Thank you so much.

TOM FOREMAN: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up, next. The antithesis of running. Some of the most indulgent snacks in the world. Oreos, Cadbury, chocolate, (INAUDIBLE), You name it.

I sat down with the CEO of this company. She is not only a powerful woman but she has been ranked number one previously on Fortune's most powerful women's list. What she told me about success, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:10]

HARLOW: It is one of the largest snacking companies in the world bringing in more than $30 billion a year. You know it because of brands like this. Oreo, Cadbury, Ritz, Trident. You get the picture.

Well, I sat down with the woman in charge of it all. The chief of Mondelez International, Irene Rosenfeld. With among Fortune's top 10 most powerful women in business this year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IRENE ROSENFELD, CEO AND CHAIRMAN, MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL, INC.: Snacking is a $1.3 trillion category around the world. Our categories are growing at a rate four percent, five, six percent. They're very attractive.

HARLOW (on camera): You spoke on a recent earnings call about the cost cutting and the move to boost profits. I'm interested in the parts of the company where you're not cutting costs and you're investing and pouring resources into it. What are those?

ROSENFELD: Well, I would tell you, it's a misconception that one cannot cut costs and make investments. In fact, in our case, that's the reason we're cutting costs is not only to expand our margins but also to provide the fuel to make investments in growth opportunities.

And so it's been a really important part of our equation, particularly during the challenging macro environment that we've all been dealing with over the last couple of years. It's really been imperative that we find ways to lower costs so that we can protect the investments that we're looking to make to protect our growth.

HARLOW: Where are you putting that money?

ROSENFELD: Primarily our growth is coming in the emerging markets, 40 percent of our revenues are in those markets. Even though they have slowed down relative to where they have been in the past, they're still growing a couple of times the rate of the developed market.

HARLOW: Your goal is by 2020 to have 25 percent of your revenue from better choice products.

ROSENFELD: Actually 50 percent.

HARLOW: Fifty percent now.

ROSENFELD: Yes.

HARLOW: The last I read - so 50 percent. And also to put the calorie count on the front of packaging.

ROSENFELD: Yes.

HARLOW: Where is corporate responsibility in that?

What role do companies have in being as open as they can to consumers about exactly how healthy or unhealthy this product is for you?

ROSENFELD: As the largest snacking company in the world, I think it's imperative that we be responsible and do what we can to help consumers make informed choices. It pertains to calorie labeling, it pertains to taking some of the things that consumers don't want, like sodium, like saturated fat, it involved adding more things that are good for them. Whole grains, proteins, for example.

We're doing all of those things in addition to making sure that our products are available in portion control sizes like 100-calorie packs or just smaller pack sizes so that they can eat as much or little of the product as they want.

HARLOW: Leadership, you are consistently named one of Fortune's most powerful, if not, the most powerful woman in business. You've held that number one spot before. You said recently that you learned a very significant lesson in leadership. Over the past year or so about transparency. What is that?

ROSENFELD: You know, especially in tough times, it is so important that people trust what you're saying. So I have found even when the news is not good, my willingness to be straight with people, to tell it like it is goes a long way toward their willingness to accept whatever that news is. HARLOW: How did you learn that lesson? Because you've said silence is far more frightening than bad news. As the companies in the midst of the $1.5 billion in cost cutting, some leaders do step back and keep it in the boardroom and in the executive offices. Not communicated to the employees. Why did you learn to do differently?

ROSENFELD: You know, after years of being on the receiving end myself, of difficult news, I came to realize that the best way to deal with others is the way I would like to be treated myself. I had found that even if the news is not what they want to hear, my willingness to get out there, to tell them the truth and to be clear about what's going on goes a really long way.

HARLOW: You're here at the Fortune's most powerful women summit. You've come for many, many years. For future female leaders, for whoever, whatever leader follows you, what advice do you have for them that you have learned along the way?

ROSENFELD: Take a risk. I think that is the best advice I can give to female leaders. I think there are so many opportunities to make a difference in our world, there are so many challenges, I think women can bring a unique set of skills to those challenges and I think the - but you have to be willing to go for it.

HARLOW: Even if it gives you that feeling in your stomach, like -

ROSENFELD: Especially then.

HARLOW: Especially then. I read that you said that your childhood ambition was to become president of the United States.

ROSENFELD: That's true.

[19:55:00]

HARLOW: Certainly not too late. Might we see you run one day?

ROSENFELD: I think I have met so many of criteria in having the privilege to lead Mondelez International, it's been a significant role, I've been able to have an impact which was what motivated me when I was younger to aspire to, to do something as profound as the presidency.

HARLOW: Have people come to you and asked you to run?

ROSENFELD: Not yet. I'm very happy what I am doing. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Coming up next, tonight's number, the number is two. Try to guess. We'll explain after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Finally tonight, the number. Tonight's number is two. We chose two because we learned this week that married couples in China can now have two children. For decades, couples in China were limited to having just one child. That was enforced through fines and sometimes forced sterilization.

With more than 1.3 billion people in China, well, they instituted the one child policy in the 1970s to try to control population growth. But now it's all about the economy. China's demographics have changed in a major way. It's population is aging. China wants a younger and more revitalized workforce. This is a tremendous change for the world's most populous country. Now some questions though.

Will couples living in cities choose to have more than one child given the high cost of raising kids there. Also, could the new policy help end the gender imbalance in China where men outnumber women by 34 million. Researchers at Peking University expect this could affect up to 100 million Chinese couples.

Coming up next, Lisa Ling takes a look at what it takes to break into the modelling industry - "This is Life with Lisa Ling" is next. Then the story behind all the viral videos you love. Like this soldier saving people from an exploding car. Kyra Phillips special report at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Thank you so much for being with me tonight. I'm Poppy Harlow. I'll see you back here at 5:00 Eastern tomorrow. Have a great Halloween.