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Investigation Into MetroJet Crash Continues; Volkswagen's Troubles; New Poll Shows Carson, Clinton Tied at 47 in General Election. Aired 3-4a ET.
Aired November 04, 2015 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWSROOM HOST: New clues, warnings and now violence in the Sinai as investigators try to piece together what happened to a doomed Russian airliner.
Lashing out. Donald Trump, the former republican front-runner for the White House, calls on opponents to drop out.
And the ugly truth. A social media star calls it quits on Instagram. Her message to young women.
Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN Newsroom.
We begin with new information with Metrojet flight 9268. At least 33 bodies of victims from the crash have now been identified. That is according to Russia state media. The first victim has been released to the family. Meanwhile, the investigation into the crash of Metrojet flight 9268 and the inconsistent clues are just not adding up. A St. Petersburg newspaper reports that some bodies at the back of the plane showed trauma from an explosion, but investigators say they found no traces of an explosive device in that wreckage.
Meantime, Russian state media reports that the plane's tail was found five kilometers, or three miles, from the rest of the debris. That could further show that the plane broke apart in mid-air. For more on the investigation, we want to turn now to Erin McLaughlin. She joins us live from Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. So, Erin, we understand that the ground investigation will be wrapped up in Egypt, Wednesday, which has surprised many analysts. What's the reasoning behind drawing this to such a sudden close? Can we assume that they've already reached some sort of conclusion on what caused this crash and what do we know so far?
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Rosemary. Well, when it comes to flight 9268, probably best not to assume anything as Egyptian authorities have been very tight-lipped when it comes to the details of the investigation as well as the timetable for the investigation.
What we do know has been coming in bits and pieces. Mainly, from Russian media sources, the latest of which from Russia state media reporting that the tail of the plane was found some five kilometers or three miles away from the rest of the wreckage. And that's potentially significant because we know that in 2001, the same plane's tail struck a runway in Cairo requiring repairs. And some experts say that those repairs if done incorrectly, could lead potentially to problems down the line.
The fact of the matter is, we simply don't know what caused this plane to break apart in mid-air. Egyptian authorities urging people not to speculate. Egyptian President Al-Sisi gave interviews to a number of British media outlets. He's expected in London tomorrow. In those interviews, he called reports that the plane came down as a result of a bomb or some sort of missile projection as speculation. He also called this ISIS claim of responsibility to be pure propaganda.
We know that authorities are analyzing the so-called black boxes, the cockpit voice recorders, as well as the flight data recorder. Those seen as critical to solving this mystery. No indication though as to when we'll get answers or transcripts from that analysis.
CHURCH: And Erin, what are Egyptian authorities doing in terms of security in the aftermath of this plane tragedy?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, right now, Egyptian authorities are telling us they not have increased security. When we arrived here in Sharm last night, we saw no signs of increased security at the international airport or in the resort itself. Interesting to note that earlier in the year, there was an economic summit here, dignitaries in attendance and our CNN producer here at the time, she noticed increased security there. Very tight security. We saw none of that when we arrived here last night. Egyptian authorities saying that's because there's no indication that the plane went down as a result of terrorism. The U.S. Embassy putting advice to U.S. citizens not to travel anywhere in the Sinai until the investigation is complete.
[03:04:57] CHURCH: Alright, Erin, bringing us up to date from Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Many thanks to you.
Well, the fiery air crash on Saturday has some similarities with another disaster. This one off the coast of Long Island, New York in 1996. Kyung Lah has more on the similar circumstances and rumors surrounding both tragedies.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Metrojet crash in Egypt killing all 224 onboard feels eerily familiar to another major disaster. The 1996 explosion of TWA flight 800 off Long Island. Peter Goelz was one of the chief NTSB investigators of that disaster. Like the Metrojet crash, satellite imagery captured a mid-air heat signature.
PETER GOELZ, NTSB INVESTIGATOR: We had that same occurrence with TWA flight 800. A satellite picked up a signature and it indicated. It confirmed for us what eyewitnesses had seen. That there was a fireball.
LAH: But it didn't explain why. It was simply a clue. Also shared between the two disasters, unexplained, split-second sounds on the flight data recorders before they stopped recording. A possible eruption in the fuel tank which caused the TWA crash may also be to blame in the Russian plane disaster. Investigators found much of the main debris field close together. But three miles away was the tail section that holds another clue. Possible structural failure. In November 2001, the airbus' tail hit the tarmac on landing. The plane was repaired. But the clear break from the debris raises this possibility.
GOELZ: It could have been a structural failure of the plane that ruptured the fuel tanks. So, the explosion could've been coming after whatever the event that initiated the breakup.
LAH: Flight tracking data shows that the plane did slow down significantly before the crash. Many outside experts discount a stall. A stall can prove disastrous like this one in 2013. The 747 cargo plane left Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. It stalled and crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all seven Americans on board. The heat signature clue could also signal some sort of fire damage in the cargo hold. In 1996, ValuJet flight 592 took off with emergency oxygen generators improperly stored that caused a fire. And it crashed.
GOELZ: It could have been something going on in the cargo hold. We don't know what they were carrying. Investigators will look at all of those likely suspects. Until they start eliminating them, it's going to be a mystery.
LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CHURCH: Well, Volkswagen's troubles just got a whole lot bigger. Still reeling from the diesel emissions scandal, the German automaker now says it set carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption figures too low when certifying some models. Volkswagen says it regrets the error and will be discussing ways to fix the issue with the relevant authorities. In addition, U.S. regulators say some Porsche SUVs may have been rigged as well. But, Volkswagen disputes that claim. It says the defeat devices were installed in other vehicles.
Moving on now. U.S. regulators have hit Japan's Takata Corporation with a huge fine for selling millions of airbags with a deadly defect and failing to acknowledging the problem. CNN's Will Ripley is in Tokyo. This causes a problem that spans the globe. What is Takata doing about fixing it?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Takata has been struggling, frankly, Rosemary, to keep up with the replacement parts that are needed to get all of these airbags fixed. You're talking about 19 million airbags just in the United States affected by this recall. About 15 million of them still need to be repaired. And some of the other millions that have already been fixed may need to even be fixed again. This is a really staggering burden on Takata.
In addition to the staggering $70 million fine that U.S. regulators slapped on their company today, they could have to pay an additional $130 million if they do not change their procedures moving forward. The company's stock trading here in Tokyo stumbled 19 percent in the afternoon. It's affecting drivers here in Japan as well. We drive a Honda SUV here at the Tokyo bureau. We took it in yesterday. We had no idea that our vehicle and the airbags in that vehicle needed to be replaced.
So, it's a huge burden. In addition to that, Honda, one of Takata's biggest customers, announcing they're dropping the company saying that they are deeply troubled by what has proven to be systematic behavior over the years of producing a dangerous, faulty product. And even when, apparently, investigators were aware of it, they did very little to fix it. The problem continued. Now, you have the situation that Takata is in today and millions of drivers on the road and around the world. Especially, those 15 million vehicles in the United States where people aren't sure their cars are safe. They're not sure what's going to happen if they get into an accident. Rosemary.
[03:10:15] CHURCH: And Will, let's turn now to a more positive story out of Tokyo. The successful Japan post holdings stock market debut. What is the likely impact of that in the Japanese economy?
RIPLEY: That's a good stock market story today, Rosemary. And I'll walk you down the corner here to my neighborhood post office here in Minato-ku, one of the neighborhoods in Tokyo. Because Japan Post, which has 24,000 branches all over the country, they are a commodity in this country. And the initial day one opportunity for retail investors in Japan to put their money into this company really was a huge success at 19 percent. Far higher of an increase than what a lot of analysts were expecting on the first day of this stock offering. But the reason for it is simple. Japan Post is part of our everyday lives here in japan.
We drop off our mail at Japan post office. We use the bank. It's Japan's biggest bank. It's also Japan's largest insurance company. And it's also one of this country's largest employers with about 200,000 workers at Japan Post. And so by offering Japanese people an opportunity to put their money in this company it's widely regarded a safe investment. Something that people can count on for stable growth in time. It just closed a couple of minutes ago. But I can tell you there was a line out the door just before closing time as there often is every day. You can see one fella in there using the ATM.
For people to put their money into this, the Japanese government, it's a $12 billion IPO, they're hoping the Japanese investors can make some money off the Japanese stock market which has been doing quite well as of late. Most of that money has been going to foreign investors. This is an opportunity for Japanese, with 80 percent of the Japan Post's stock allocated for Japanese investors and another 20 percent for foreign investors. And so far so good. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Alright. Our Will Ripley with the good, the bad and the ugly out of Tokyo. Many thanks to you as always.
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Well, let's turn to Houston, Texas now, where voters have repealed a law designed to protect lesbian, gay and transgender people from discrimination. The city passed the Houston Equal Rights Ordnance, also known as HERO, last year. And conservative activists spent millions trying to get rid of it, claiming it would allow, quote, troubled men to go into women's bathrooms and locker rooms. But supporters of the law called that fear mongering. The city's mayor spoke out after the vote.
ANNISE PARKER, HOUSTON CITY MAYOR: I have been an activist for more than 40 years. I have stood here in Houston four times when people were given the opportunity to vote on my right.
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CHURCH: Plus, a little girl with an incurable disease, makes a heartbreaking decision. Go to the hospital or go to heaven.
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[03:16:24] DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Don Riddell with your CNN World Sport headlines. It's been another great night for the two Manchester football clubs in the latest match of the league. Manchester City's highly impressive 3 to 1 victory in Sevilla means the city has qualified for the last 16. It got off to a blistering start when Raheem Sterling and Fernandinho putting them in the driving seat after ten minutes. City make it out of the group with two games to spare. And Manchester United atop of their group, too, after Wayne Rooney repaid his manager Louis van Gaal's faith in him by scoring the winner at home.
And one of the night's other big games, Real Madrid qualified for the knockout round for the 19th consecutive year. It was Nacho Fernandez who made the difference, the winner scored two minutes with 1 to 0 as the final score.
On Wednesday night in the Champions League, the focus turns to Chelsea and their embattled manager Jose Mourinho. They have lost three games in the last ten days and it's been rumored that some of the players are in revolt against their manager. Cesc Fabregas has taken to social media to deny involvement. Mourinho called the rift allegations sad. That's a quick look at your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell.
CHURCH: Well, we are just about one year away from the 2016 U.S. presidential election and a new poll pitting the republican democratic front-runners against each other, shows a close race. In a hypothetical matchup, an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey shows republican Ben Carson and democrat Hillary Clinton tied at 47 percent. The poll was done before last week's republican debate. That's critical. Meanwhile, the former republican front-runner Donald Trump met with reporters in New York and unleashed a barrage of name-calling against his rivals. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, 2016 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE-REPUBLICAN: Jeb, he lacks the quality that you need. I think Marco is highly overrated. Ben Carson does not have that energy. Marco doesn't show up to the United States senate. What Jeb Bush was saying at the last debate? I don't know, but he didn't say it well. When the e-mail problem came up Bernie Sanders lost his whole campaign. I mean, what he did was so stupid from his standpoint. Marco Rubio's personal finances are discredited. Just look at his credit card. He's a disaster with his credit cards. He certainly lives above his means.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: With me now is republican CNN political commentator Tara Setmayer. Thanks so much for joining us. As we just heard there, Donald Trump is calling for Jeb Bush and other low-polling candidates to drop out of the presidential race. What is your reaction to that and how do you think republican voters will likely respond to his call to essentially eliminate the competition?
TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen. This is the first time he's losing in consistent polls. He's going to continue to throw haymakers because that's what he does. He needs to bring the attention back to him. He had a rather lackluster debate last week. He really wasn't a standout. It wasn't all about Donald Trump. So, Donald Trump is good at making it all about Donald Trump. By making outrageous statements like this, and just saying hey you guys just need to give up and let the rest of us just duke it out, that just makes news.
We're talking about it now. And the more that Trump is in the news, the more -- it's gratifying for him. That's what his whole campaign's been about. He's gotten over probably worth about $50 million in earned media. He hasn't had to run a paid ad campaign. He gets free media all the time for making statements like that.
[03:20:30] CHURCH: Alright. Let's listen how Jeb Bush responded to Donald Trump's call for him to drop out in an interview with Jamie Gangel.
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JEB BUSH, 2016 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE-REPUBLICAN: As it relates to Donald Trump, he's run for president twice and quit. And I have run for governor in the biggest swing state and won twice. I know how to win. I have done that. I actually know how to govern, which is going to be an attribute when we get closer to the election.
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, for the record. For Donald Trump. You're not quitting?
BUSH: No. I mean, do we have to talk about Donald Trump? No. I'm not quitting. He's entertaining. He's fun. He says really funny things in the breaks at the debate. I'm running for president of the United States. And it's a serious endeavor. And I do it with joy. There are a lot of fun parts. For sure.
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CHURCH: Jeb Bush saying he's not dropping out. He doesn't appear 100 percent committed to this. He keeps talking about his experience as governor, when the voters have clearly turned their backs on political insight. So, what does he need to do to turn things around for himself? What would your advice be to him?
SETMAYER: Right. Well, listen. Jeb Bush has dug him into a hole. I don't know if he can turn it around, to be honest with you. He's going to fight tooth and nail. He's establishment. He's got money behind him. There are a lot of people that still support him in the establishment that will prop him up, but ultimately, I don't see how Jeb Bush turns this around.
CHURCH: I want to ask you this. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows that if an election were held right now, Hillary Clinton would beat all of the republican candidates except Ben Carson. How is the Republican party machine likely to respond to this new information given it appears he's the candidate to go toe to toe with Clinton?
SETMAYER: Listen. We're so far away from a national election head to head like that. Those polls are really insignificant. At this time point last cycle, I believe Herman Cain was winning nationally. And we saw what happened to him. So, like I said before. A week is an eternity in politics. We're over a year out from the general election. So, the fact that Ben Carson leads Hillary Clinton now, in two weeks, it could be someone else. So, we don't take too much stock in those polls at this point.
CHURCH: Alright. Tara Setmayer. Always great to your political analysis. Appreciate it.
SETMAYER: My pleasure.
CHURCH: Iran's supreme leader is clarifying the meaning of the decades old chant of death to America. On Twitter, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said and I'm quoting here directly, it is clear it does not mean death to the American nation. This slogan means death American policies. Death to arrogance. But Khamenei has emphasized relations between the U.S. and the Iran are not normalized despite their nuclear deal.
Well, 20 years ago today, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated. For some, this was also the day of possible solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Today, there's still tension and deadly clashes. But many feel things may have been different had Rabin lived. CNN's Oren Lieberman joins me now from Jerusalem with details on how Rabin is being remembered today. So, what has been playing out there?
OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, there have been a number of ceremonies all week to remember, not only Yitzhak Rabin but, everything he stood for and everything he believed in. Everyone is aware here that this comes at a very difficult time right now. As you mentioned, there is tension, there's violence, near-daily clashes. It's difficult to see Rabin's vision. But this is what his followers say is most important to believe and to pursue that vision they believe could have been achieved had he lived.
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The bullets that killed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin tore a hole in the delicate fabric of peace he was weaving, that no one has managed to mend. Twenty years have passed since Rabin's assassination at the hands of Jewish extremist. The crowds then look like the crowd now. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians still grinding along. Yet, his daughter Dalia Rabin believes things could have been different.
DALIA RABIN, DAUGHTER OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER YITZHAK RABIN: If he stayed alive and was prime minister for a few more years, I think we opened to the world during his tenure as prime minister. There were a lot of investments. There was a belief in Israel. There was a hope.
[03:25:05] LIEBERMAN: The hope evident in a rally in Rabin Square. Tens of thousands of people have come here to Rabin square to remember how much Yitzhak Rabin meant to the peace process and Israel. And even in these difficult times there is still a chance for peace.
RABIN: There are supporters of my father's legacy and there is hope.
LIEBERMAN: Rabin's funeral brought together Jordanian, Egyptian, Palestinian and American officials in Israel. Hard to imagine a similar scene today. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a very different vision of the region.
Israel is the very haven of freedom of human rights, he says, an area where the sword is in control and only the sword. In death Rabin has gained new life not as a man but a myth. His followers still look forward to his words and dreams to this day. And so does his partner in peace, former President Shimon Peres.
SHIMON PERES, FORMER PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL: I think basically we might have concluded the peace process with the Palestinians. We started it but we didn't finish.
LIEBERMAN: As a soldier turned statesman, Rabin believed the best way to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish democracy was to accept the Palestinian state. Rabin knew his vision would include a sacrifice. He was murdered by that belief.
PERES: You have to do things and pay prices. Peace is costly. The only thing is, war costs more.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIEBERMAN: For thousands of Israelis, the 20th anniversary of Rabin's death is another reminder of the effort it will take to make peace work. Rabin's last campaign was his most important. A fight for lasting peace with Palestinians. Rabin's daughter said it's very difficult to predict what it would be like if Rabin had still lived because so many things have changed. Especially in the Middle East in the last 20 years, let alone on the last year. As for how things are today, there's a relative quiet here, but Rosemary, we all know how fleeting that quiet can be with the tensions on8 the ground here.
CHURCH: Yes, sir. We can only speculate how different it may have been had he not been assassinated. Oren Lieberman joining us there live from Jerusalem. Thanks to you.
And we have this breaking news just in to CNN from South Sudan. Reuters quotes a presidential spokesman said a Russian-made cargo plane has crashed in the capital Juba. The spokesman says the plane may have had about 20 passengers and crew onboard. He says two survived but people on the ground may have been killed. We're working to get more information for you and we'll of course bring you any updates as they come into us.
We'll take a very short break here on CNN Newsroom. And we'll hear from an aviation safety official on the investigation into Metrojet flight 9268.
Plus, an Australian Instagram star says she's quitting social media. What she says was really behind her preoccupation with likes and views. We're back with that.
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[03:31:40] CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Want to update you on the main stories we're following this hour.
For the first time since 1949, the leaders of Taiwan and China are scheduled to meet on Saturday in Singapore. Taiwan Central News Agency reports the President Ma Ying-jeou and the Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss peace. In 1949, China split from the mainland government. Beijing considers it a breakaway province.
Volkswagen share price is down by more than 6 and a half percent at the start of trading in Europe. It comes after the German automaker admitted it set carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption figures too low when certifying some models.
Reuters quotes a presidential spokesman who said a Russian cargo plane has crashed in the capital Juba. The spokesman said the plane may have had about 20 passengers and crew onboard. He says two survived but people on the ground may have been killed.
As investigators wrap up their field work at the crash site of Metrojet flight 9268, the bodies of victims are returning home. A few victims have now been identified. According to the Task News Agency, the first victim has been released to a family.
Joining me now to talk more about it is CNN Safety Analyst David Soucie. He is also former FAA Safety Inspector. Thank you, sir, for being with us. The cause of this crash appears to be boiling down to either a catastrophic mechanical failure or a bomb. With all the details you have been able to put together, what is your sense now of what may have caused this Russian plane to crash in the Sinai.
DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST CORRESPONDENT: It's very difficult at this point to make the distinction between the two. Even narrowing to those two is kind of dangerous in an investigation. But between the two, I'm leaning towards a mechanical failure or rupture of the frame itself than a bomb. Simply because the flash point, this infrared flash that they're reporting, it would indicate the aircraft came apart, it slowed its movement and then went down. Typically, in a bomb, or instantaneous rupture, the aircraft might even accelerate. So, there's still a lot to be looked at and determined, but that's the way I'm leaning at this point. But they're very close.
CHURCH: Another piece of information that's coming out. The tail of that plane was found separated from the rest of the body of the plane. Five kilometers away in fact. The largest piece of debris to be found. What does that tell you?
SOUCIE: Well, it must have been at the very high altitude when this tail came off. Which would be consistent with what we're learning from the flight radar 24 and what we're learning from this flash point. When the flash actually occurred. So, that would make sense that the tail came off separately. Another thing that supports that argument. There isn't any burn residue that's obvious on the picture. If you look at it more closely, there doesn't appear to be burn residue on the tail. The tail came off before the explosion. The tail coming off and subsequently opening the fuel cell to cause that explosion.
[03:35:23] CHURCH: Interestingly, too, the inspection on the ground is going to be wrapped up Wednesday. Are you surprised that they're finishing up so early and your assessment how the Egyptians and the Russians have been running this investigation?
SOUCIE: I'm pretty pleased about the Egyptians and the Russians and how they're working together. They have a good relationship and investigators there seem to be working well together in moving this along. I am a bit concerned that they're out of there so quickly. There are a lot of clues, a lot of things that are small in nature that need to be looked at. But, you got the pressure that this is not exactly a stable environment there to be doing an investigation. Normally, you'd have more time to do this. But, they're taking a lot of documentation, they're marking the parts and getting that taken and photographed. They'll probably do this as what we call a digital investigation. They'll take that back and map that out in a three- dimensional model and try to re-create that way.
CHURCH: David Soucie, we always appreciate your analysis on this. Many thanks.
SOUCIE: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Well, Greece is beginning to send migrants to other European countries under the EU's relocation. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was on hand as the first group boarded a plane from Athens to Luxembourg.
ALEXIS TSIPIRAS: We all have a sense of responsibility. We know we're responsible for involving more smiles. And hopefully, there will be an end to the loss of human life under GMC. CHURCH: Under the plan, about 160,000 migrants will be sent to EU countries after they're processed in Italy or Greece. The U.N. said more than 200,000 migrants arrived in Greece last month alone.
Well, it is just before noon in Yemen right now where residents are dealing with major flooding after a rare tropical cyclone called Chapala hit on Tuesday. It dropped at least a year's worth of rain in some areas. Mudslides are a concern in the country's dry, rugged terrain. And video shows people trying to rescue some who are stuck in a car. Now, CNN can't independently confirm the authenticity of the video. But just looking there. Unbelievable.
And heavy fog is blanketing parts of the United States and Europe. Right at this hour, our Meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us now. And of course, we talked about last hour how expensive it can be.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: If you're planning to travel anywhere, you may want to check with your carrier to make sure you don't have delays. Even though the city you're departing from doesn't have fog, your arrival city might have something. Let's take a look at the areas in which we'll be dealing with some of that fog.
This was actually earlier on Tuesday. The bright white that you can see is actually clouds basically above some rain showers and thunderstorms. But the darker gray tone is the fog. This shows you how widespread this event actually was. As we transition into Wednesday, into Thursday, we're dealing with heavy fog. You'll notice the numbers change as we transition into Thursday. Again, still very low, now we're starting to add some cities to the list, including Indianapolis, Detroit, New York City, even D.C. not in the United States.
Europe will be dealing with a similar scenario. This was Tuesday. The brighter white clouds dealing with that rain system. But the darkish, grayish white is the fog. Look at the some of the numbers as we go from Wednesday into Thursday. London, Manchester, Leeds, Hamburg, Oslo. We got a ton of cities that will be dealing with very dense fog.
So again, as we mentioned, if you have some travel plans, check with your carrier. Into the United States, part of the reason with that fog the moisture is coming up from the gulf and dealing with above- average temperatures. Out on the west coast, it's much cooler than normal. Some of these cities are seeing temperatures ten degrees below zero. One perk with that snow and rain, has been the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Tack a look at 2012, 2013 and 2014. All had seasons well below-normal for the snow back. This being an El Nino year, which typically means much more snow pack than those areas will finally be able to get back to normal with the amounts of snow fall. And also, good news for all those ski resorts that are out there as well.
[03:40:13] CHURCH: We like to keep them happy.
CHINCHAR: Yes, we do.
CHURCH: Alright. Thanks so much, Allison. I appreciate it.
Volcanic ash from Indonesia's Mount Rinjani is grounding flights at Bali's International Airport and two domestic airports until Thursday. Officials say tremors were recorded continuously and there's a good chance of more eruptions. The Transportation Ministry says nearly 700 flights have been canceled so far.
Still to come. A 5-year-old girl with an incurable disease, makes a heartbreaking decision about her own health care. We're back with that in just a moment.
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The widow of comedian Robin Williams is talking publicly for the first time about why her husband decided to take his own life. In an interview with ABC, Susan Williams said the actor suffered from an undiagnosed neurological disease called Lewy Body dementia. It affects the brain's ability to transmit signals. And its symptoms include confusion, memory loss and motor problems. Williams committed suicide in August last year. Susan Williams says he had been sober for eight years and was not depressed.
A 5-year-old girl in the U.S. is dying of an incurable disease. Any germ, even just the common cold could kill Julianna Snow. So, her parents gave her a heartbreaking choice. Here's our Elizabeth Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What princess are you today?
JULIANA SNOW: Cinderella.
COHEN: Julianna Snow has a neuromuscular disease that's slowly taking her life. She can't walk or breathe on her own or even use her hands to play with glitter.
[03:45:05] SNOW: There's no such thing as too much.
COHEN: There's no such thing as too much. Okay. The next time Julianna gets a cold or any infection, her body will be too weak to fight it off. What did the doctors tell you were likely to happen if she were to get another cold?
STEVE SNOW, PATIENT'S FATHER: She'll most likely die if she gets another cold.
COHEN: Julianna's doctors presented her parents with two devastating options. Julianna could die at home in her pink princess room made comfortable, surrounded by family. Or she could go to the hospital where treatment likely couldn't save her. Or even if it did, she would likely have a terrible quality of life.
MICHELLE MOON, PATIENT'S MOTHER: Everyone told us there's no right answer.
COHEN: So, Michelle and Steve asked Julianna something almost no parent could even fathom. When she was just 4 years old, they asked her what she wanted to do. Go to the hospital or go to heaven?
COHEN: You blogged about it?
MOON: Yes.
COHEN: Let's take a look.
MOON: So, me. Julianna, if you get sick again, do you go on to the hospital or stay home? Juliana, not the hospital. Me, even if that means that you will go to heaven if you stay home? Julianna, yes. Me, and you know that mommy and daddy won't come with you right away? You'll go by yourself first? Julianna, don't worry. God will take care of me. Me, and if you go to the hospital, it may help you get better. You'll come home again and spend more time with us. I need to make sure you understand that. Hospital may let you have more time with mommy and daddy. Julianna, I understand.
COHEN: Julianna told her parents she hated the hospital. Especially, a procedure called nasal trachea suctioning.
SNOW: They basically stick a tube on a suction machine and you stick it up the nose, down past the tongue, back into the throat, as deep as you can go, and you start suctioning it. If given the choice of me or one of the respiratory infections, I would ask for me to do it.
COHEN: Was that hard to do?
SNOW: Yeah.
COHEN: Could you watch her go through that again?
SNOW: If I had to, I'd do it.
COHEN: Would it save her life to do it again if she were to get an infection?
SNOW: I don't think so.
COHEN: Michelle and Steve say when the time comes they'll honor their daughter's wishes to die at home over the hospital.
Some parents wouldn't have consulted a child so young. You asked your daughter at the age of 4 what do you think? What should we do?
MOON: Julianna had to go through hundreds of rounds of nasal tracheal suctioning. She knows exactly what that was. She was awake for every single one. She knows what that is. I think she has a right. I think she has a say.
COHEN: Julianna's doctors told CNN that she's an exceptionally wise 5-year-old and they support her parents' decision to carry out her wishes. But for now, Julianna's enjoying her life with her parents, her big brother Alex. And her princesses.
Are Elsa and Anna cousins? Or are they --
JULIANNA SNOW: They're sisters.
COHEN: I'm sorry.
JULIANNA SNOW: She forgives you.
COHEN: What are your realistic hopes for her with the rest of the time she has left?
SNOW: Be comfortable, be happy and feel loved.
COHEN: What has gotten you through it?
SNOW: This. Whoever you may pray with, wherever you may be, I can guarantee for certain God listens to you and me. Faith that she'll be in a better place when her time comes. And we go join her some day and this will all pass away.
COHEN: What do you want people to remember about Julianna?
MOON: Her heart. She is just so much love. So much love.
COHEN: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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[03:50:32] CHINCHAR: I'm Meteorologist Allison Chinchar and you're watching CNN Weather Watch. We'll be dealing with some fog in parts of the southeastern United States. Also into parts of the Midwest as well. So, if you have some travel plans in cities like Chicago, Atlanta, and even Nashville, you may want to check with your carrier just to make sure you don't have any delays or cancellations. The rain that came to parts to the west coast has pushed east. Sunshine back for parts of San Francisco and L.A., with a temperature around 20 for Los Angeles. We do expect at least a few more isolated showers out of that system before it finally begins to push off. Montreal, sunshine and high temperature of 13 degrees.
In western Colorado, they could pick up another additional foot of snow. An excellent news for snow resorts which are about to open in the next two weeks or so. We expect mostly sunny skies in Guatemala City. Partly cloudy in Mexico City with a high temperature of around 24 degrees. We are looking at a lot of showers and thunderstorms across Brazil, even a few isolated showers and thunderstorms north of Belem. Rio, 28 degrees and rain is expected to continue for the next couple of days.
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CHURCH: Okay, so if you miss the quick wit and biting humor of comedian Jon Stewart, you're in luck. He's making a television comeback on another network. The former host of Comedy Central's fake news cast, The Daily Show just signed a deal with cable giant HBO. He'll start by creating short-form digital content for several of the network's platforms with the potential of films and TV ventures in the future. We look forward to that.
And an Australian teenager made herself famous on Instagram and gained hundreds of thousands of followers. But, she recently surprised everyone when she deactivated many of her social media accounts. She says behind the scenes she felt lost and lonely. Our Lynda Kinkade has more.
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: About the number of likes when posting an image or video. For 18-year-old Essena O'Neill, it became an obsession.
ESSENA O'NEILL, INSTAGRAM CELEBRITY: I had the dream life. I had a half a million people interested in me on Instagram. I had over 100,000 views on my YouTube. To a lot of people, I made it. I'm signed with one of the biggest agencies in Australia for modeling. I have one of the biggest agencies in America wanting to sign me for my modeling and for my YouTube. I want to tell you that having it all on social media means absolutely nothing to your real life.
KINKADE: The Australian teenager reveals just how contrived in a YouTube confession.
O'NEILL: Everything I did was for views and for likes.
KINKADE: To her more than half a million followers on Instagram, O'Neill revealed the truth. The touched-up, enhanced photos of her social media life are far from real. She writes, spray tan paint, barely any clothes, I was 15. This is what I thought was inspiring. On this image, I had acne here. This is a lot of makeup. And here, not real life, took over a hundred in similar poses trying to make my stomach look good. Would have hardly eaten that day. Would've yelled at my little sister to keep taking them until I was somewhat proud of this. On this one, was paid $400 to post this dress.
[03:55:18] O'NEILL: The social media which is now a business. If you don't think it's a business, you're deluding yourself.
KINKADE: She claims her fixation was prompted by insecurity, not by confidence.
O'NEILL: Everything I did in a day was to be that perfect person online.
KINKADE: The teenager's confession received a lot of support on Twitter. Cara wrote I never paid attention to Essena O'Neill but I really admire her bravery and honesty now.
Lindsay pointed out the irony - Essena O'Neill social media isn't real. Please stop worshipping me. She responded, worships her even more.
And a few are skeptical. Amy wrote, I feel like, in ten years, she'll watch it back and perhaps wished she hadn't posted that video.
O'Neill followed with this, confidence is not so they'll like me. Confidence is I'll be fine if they don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: We'll see what impact that has on others. Thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Early Start is coming up for our viewers here in the United States. And for those of you elsewhere, stay tuned for more news from the CNN Newsroom. Have a great day.
