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Obama Believes Bomb on MetroJet; British P.M. Meets with Egyptian President; If ISIS Brought Down MetroJet, Would Be Largest Attack; Carson Faces Scrutiny over Violence Claims; Gliniewicz Relatives Involved in Embezzling; Egypt Insists Airport Safe, British Tourists Returning Home; Worries Over ISIS Bringing Down Jet; Days Away from Myanmar Monumental Elections; NASA Finds What May Have Turned Once-Watery Planet Cold, Dry. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired November 06, 2015 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:25] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Bombing or not? The U.S. president believes there is a chance flight 9268 was blown apart in mid-air, but Egypt and Russia skeptical.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: As the investigation continues, devastated families begin to bury their families, victims of the MetroJet disaster.
HOWELL: Ben Carson claims he was a violent teenager. And we look into whether Ben Carson's story adds up.
ALLEN: And hello, and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell from CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. NEWSROOM starts right now.
A good day to you.
We start with the investigation into MetroJet flight 9268, and for the first time, the U.S. President Barack Obama believes that it is possible that a bomb was on board that plane. But still, Egypt and Russia say there is no evidence to support that theory.
ALLEN: The plane bound for Russia crashed in Egypt, killing all 224 passengers and crew members. A U.S. official says specific Internet chatter around Saturday's crash suggests that is or its affiliates were involved.
Here's what President Obama had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board and we're taking that very seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: Taking it very seriously.
Our senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, is live in Cairo, Egypt this hour.
Ben, good to have you with us.
You just heard the comment from the president suggesting a bomb might have been on board. Are investigators in Cairo giving credence to this possibility at this point?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Egyptian officials haven't categorically ruled out the possibility that there was a bomb on board this airplane. But at the same time, they say until now they have not found any evidence pointing in that direction. Repeatedly we heard Egyptian officials say we mustn't get ahead of ourselves, that we should be waiting for official results of this Egyptian led investigation, but it may be months before that investigation has any results -- George?
HOWELL: Then there has been a great deal of focus on the airport in Sharm el Sheikh. Talk to us also about the issue of checked luggage for people trying to nigh out.
WEDEMAN: There have been many flights halted or suspended to Sharm el Sheikh, particularly from the U.K., but also from Ireland and elsewhere. Today we understand that around 25 flights will come from the U.K. to Sharm el Sheikh to pick up about 4,000 stranded British tourists. But they will not be allowed to have any check-in luggage, only hand luggage in this case. Their luggage will be sent back to the U.K. by flights provided by the U.S. Royal Air Force. There was a security delegation that has been looking at the security measures there, particularly looking at the baggage system. They have met with Egyptian officials and made recommendations which the Egyptians have acted upon. But we're also learning this morning that the Dutch national carrier, KLM, has in Cairo declared they will no longer take check-in luggage, they will only allow passengers bring hand luggage on board. So there may be concerns about the situation here at the airport.
HOWELL: Ben, let's just talk big picture in the sense that so you're hearing one thing in western powers, from the United States, from the U.K. But there's an investigation that is playing out there in Cairo. Is there a sense, given the serious nature of this investigation, that this could be political or played politically in any way?
WEDEMAN: Certainly that is the theme being played up in the Egyptian media, that the whole situation has been politicized by the United States and the U.K. And that against the backdrop of repeated denials by Egyptian and Russian officials that a bomb may have been on board that flight. But they're looking at the cockpit voice recorder, the data recorder for the flight. The cockpit voice recorder apparently was damaged in the crash. So Egyptian officials, as I said before, are saying we must wait for the results of the investigation. But increasingly, you're hearing criticism from many Egyptians that western powers, particularly the United States and Britain, have been hasty to draw conclusions, to circulate unfounded rumors. Egyptian officials say they've been provided with no intelligence, no information by the United States or the U.K. about these suggestions, allegations that there was a bomb on board the MetroJet flight -- George?
[02:06:01] HOWELL: Our senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, live in Cairo, Egypt. Ben, thank you so much for your reporting there.
ALLEN: British Prime Minister David Cameron says it is, quote, "more likely than not" that a bomb brought down the MetroJet flight.
HOWELL: In fact, he met Thursday with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi in London. Meanwhile, Egypt's foreign minister says the U.K. and U.S. have not been sharing intelligence about the crash with them.
ALLEN: For more on the meeting between Prime Minister Cameron and President Sisi, Diana Magnay is live outside number 10 Downing Street -- Diana?
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Natalie, both Egypt and Russia are very keen to stress that it's important to wait until the results of this investigation come out, not to jump the gun and you can understand why, for Russia as it strikes ISIS and other targets, doesn't want to give any credence to ISIS' claim or their Sinai affiliate claim that they were responsible for this. And Egypt has millions of tourist dollars at stake. There are almost a million British tourists alone who travel to Egypt each year. Since the revolution, those numbers have dwindled. So it is of huge importance for Egypt that its security measures seem safe for tourists wanting to travel there. This meeting coming therefore at a very awkward time. David Cameron deciding to suspend flights, citing concerns over what he considered inadequate security measures at the airports. But those flights will resume today. There will be empty planes frying to Sharm el Sheikh to pick up the stranded British tourists and fly them back home -- Natalie?
ALLEN: I'll be talking with a couple of those tourists about that. What's Russia's response to Prime Minister Cameron's theory about a bomb as a possibility or even probability, Diana?
MAGNAY: They have a telephone call. Yesterday, David Cameron called the Russian president and told him of Britain's decision to suspend flights and explained why. The cell kin came out with a rather sort of muted statement as to their discussion. But clearly, underlying this was president Putin feels that there is no point in jumping to conclusions as Ben was saying, as President Sisi was saying, until the investigation comes out. And precisely for this reason they don't want to give ISIS any credibility. Of course, ISIS claimed that it was behind this disaster. As Russia continues its air strikes in Syria, that is the last thing it wants to give ISIS credit for. So you can understand Russia's reticence. Yesterday, the Russian foreign minister said they found it shocking Britain hadn't shared this intelligence that led the prime minister to suspend flights and said it was shocking that the U.K. hadn't shared any intelligence with Russia.
ALLEN: So many theories right now. Hopefully, the flight data recorders can start pinpointing a little more specificity to what happened with this plane.
Diana Magnay, thank you very much.
HOWELL: Natalie, a very delicate meeting there between President Sisi and David Cameron. Obviously, Egypt relies on the U.K. for tourism, but these two countries not on the same page.
[02:10:07] At this point, though, we know that the plane went down in the Sinai Peninsula, an area plagued by violence and terrorism since that country's long-time president was overthrown in 2011.
ALLEN: If the ISIS claimed that it blew up the Russian jet is true, this would be the Egyptian branch's largest attack so far.
CNN's Ian Lee has a look at the history of militant violence in the region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As investigators comb through the debris and analyze the data recorders, trying to determine what led to the crash of Russian MetroJet 9268, ISIS is claiming responsibility for killing the 224 people on board. In a new audio message purportedly from its Sinai branch, they said, "Find your black boxes and analyze them. We are the ones with God's blessing who brought it down."
Today, Russian and Egyptian officials insisting there's currently no evidence of a bomb. But U.S. officials say their intelligence is pointing to a bomb, possibly by one of ISIS' least known affiliates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Egyptian branch of ISIS has proved itself as very sophisticated terrorist organization over the past five years since 2011.
LEE: It was last year that the terror group, now called State of Sinai Group, pledged allegiance to the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr el Baghdadi.
(SHOUTING)
LEE: With numbers estimated in the hundreds, the group is eclipsing al Qaeda in the region and adopted ISIS's brutal tactics. Here, the aftermath of an attack against an Egyptian army checkpoint in broad daylight. In all, the group claims to have killed hundreds in roadside bombings, drive by shootings and suicide attacks while those captured are brutally executed.
The Sinai group is well known for illicit smuggling and the two most sophisticated weapons include Russian made anti-tank missiles, and shoulder launched surface-to-air missiles here, taking down an Egyptian helicopter. Analysts say what they don't possess are sophisticated missiles to
shoot down a jet traveling over 30,000 feet, like flight 9268. Whether or not ISIS brought down the jet, experts worry commercial airliners could be in their crosshairs.
Ian Lee, CNN, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: And Russian state media reporting another plane with victims' remains is headed to St. Petersburg from Cairo. The aircraft is also carrying personal effects and documents.
HOWELL: Meanwhile, funerals for the victims have started. The first was this 60-year-old school cafeteria worker. She and 14 others who died in the crash were from the same region.
ALLEN: Services were also held for a 31-year-old male, who received the trip as a bonus from his job. More funerals are expected in the coming days and weeks.
HOWELL: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, a tail of two Ben Carsons. The soft spoken presidential candidate makes claims of a violent past, but his childhood friends tell CNN a very different story.
HOWELL: Also ahead, who detectives are investigating now in the case of an Illinois police officer who authorities say staged his own death.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[02:16:08] KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley, with your CNN "World Sport" headlines.
Liverpool made it six in a row unbeaten, as their good form continued in the Europa League. This is their first away win in Europe for three years. Tottenham, who were 10 games unbeaten in the English Premier League also welcomed a win. The north Londoners had Harry Cane offering as a sole striker. He scored his fifth goal in three games. Spurs go top of their group.
And French footballer Bensemar was placed under investigation Thursday morning in connection with a sex tape and blackmailing of another player as part of an inquiry into corruption and doping. He was held in police custody overnight. A formal investigation does not necessarily mean he will be tried. His lawyers maintain his innocence.
That's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ALLEN: In the U.S. race for the White House, we know which candidates will be on stage and who has been bumped from next Tuesday's Republican debate. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee had both been dropped from the main stage and will join Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal at the undercard debate.
HOWELL: As for the main debates, front-runner Donald Trump will appear at center stage, flanked by Dr. Ben Carson and Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Joining them will be Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, and Rand Paul.
Republican candidate, Ben Carson, is facing scrutiny over claims about his violent past. Known as a soft-spoken doctor, he claims he used to have a psychological temper, which often led to acts of violence.
ALLEN: CNN talked with some of his childhood friends who say that doesn't sound like the person they remember.
CNN's Maeve Reston has this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. BEN CARSON, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & RETIRED NEUROSURGEON: I'm Dr. Ben Carson, and this is my story. Poverty.
MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER (voice-over): Dr. Ben Carson has captivated voters from an impoverished youth in Detroit to a neurosurgeon.
CARSON: And I picked up a large rock, throwed it at his face, broke his glasses.
RESTON: Central to his appeal to the evangelical voters who have fueled his surge to the top tier of the presidential field, is his account of a religious epiphany that changed him from a violent, angry young man to the composed figure who stands before voters today.
CARSON: Another time, a fellow was trying to close my locker at school and I didn't want it closed and I struck him in the forehead with my fist.
I would go after people with rocks, bricks, baseball bats and hammers.
RESTON: A version of the most serious attack is portrayed in a 2009 television movie based on his autobiography "Gifted Hands."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SCREAMING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARSON: Had it not been for a belt buckle under their clothing, they would have killed or seriously injured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel I should move my chair.
(LAUGHTER)
STEVE CHOICE, CHILDHOOD FRIEND OF BEN CARSON: That was not his demeanor around here.
[02:20:06] RESTON: CNN set out to find the classmates who Carson says were the victims of the attacks but so far has been unable to locate any of them.
The Carson campaign declined to provide names of those involved or eyewitnesses, calling CNN's examination into Carson's past a witch hunt.
CNN interviewed nine of Carson's friends, neighbors, and classmates, and all say the violent, impulsive person Carson has described himself as is unrecognizable to them. A 10th person said he might have heard a rumor about a knife attack at the time but couldn't be sure.
All of those interviewed recalled Carson as quiet, bookish and nerdy, a kid who wore thick glasses and a pocket protector for his pens.
MARIE CHOICE, CHILDHOOD FRIEND OF BEN CARSON: He was just smart, a bookworm.
STEVE CHOICE: He was calm, easy, a lot of fun, easy, always.
RESTON: Siblings Steve and Marie Choice grew up next door to the Carsons.
STEVE CHOICE: I was surprised when I read he tried to stab someone. I was like, what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never saw the police over here?
STEVE CHOICE: No, no, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does it fit with the guy who you knew, that kind of activity?
STEVE CHOICE: No.
MARIE CHOICE: I was shocked. I was surprised because he was quiet and calm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never saw any sort of violence or anger?
MARIE CHOICE: No, I did not. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No?
MARIE CHOICE: Very nice young man.
TIM MCDANIEL, FRIEND OF DR. CARSON: I did not witness those things. I don't have really independent knowledge of those things. RESTON: Tim McDaniel is a former classmate and life long friend of
Carsons. He said the behavior Carson describes is out of character with the young man he grew up with.
MCDANIEL: As long as I have known Ben, I associated him with a lot of things, but never stooping to the level of a common street thug. So I was a little surprised by it.
RESTON: Still, McDaniel says he believes his old friend and says Carson may have kept those incidents secret out of embarrassment.
MCDANIEL: I think he tried to hide it for as long as he could, until he realized that in order to really, really clear his conscious that he had to make a confession. He said that honestly, and I believed everything he told me.
RESTON: While all of the friends and classmates interviewed by CNN are perplexed by the stories of violence Mr. Carson describes, most still expressed admiration for him.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: CNN's Maeve Reston reporting, not finding out there.
The story is weird.
HOWELL: No. Looking into his past, but really not getting any stories that match up to what he's saying.
CNN followed up with Ben Carson on Thursday, asking why we haven't been able to find anyone who can corroborate his recollections. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARSON: The names that I used, for instance, are fictitious names because I didn't want to bring people into something like this, because I know what you guys do to their lives.
RESTON: Have you reached out to any of them since you've become a candidate?
CARSON: There are some I stay in contact with, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Important to point out those fictitious names, no footnotes about that in the book. We will continue to follow that story.
And "Political Mann" is coming back, hosted by Jonathan Mann. It's a show host that brings you the latest on the candidates, the platforms, the political missteps.
ALLEN: The show premieres this Saturday on CNN International at 11:30 in the morning, Hong Kong time, and 1:30 at night for those watching from London. In Illinois, authorities released new details in the case of a police
lieutenant who they say staged his suicide.
HOWELL: Sources say relatives of Joe Gliniewicz were involved in his alleged embezzling of funds from a youth program.
Details on that and more from Rosa Flores.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: CNN sources confirming that Lieutenant Gliniewicz's widow and son are being investigated for possible involvement in the embezzlement of thousands of dollars. Now, remember those deleted text messages that were released by authorities when they made the shocking announcement that Lieutenant Gliniewicz was not murdered but that he committed suicide. CNN sources confirming that the individuals that Lieutenant Gliniewicz was exchanging these text messages with were his widow and his son. That individual number one was the widow, and individual number two was his son.
But perhaps the most shocking revelation is that authorities now believe that Lieutenant Gliniewicz was thinking, exploring the possibility of killing a village administrator. Again, all of this still under investigation. But that village administrator addressed these allegations.
ANNA MARTIN, FOX LAKE VILLAGE ADMINISTRATOR: It's very unsettling. Again, you know, my concern is my family. It's quite unbelievable, and almost surreal, I would say.
[02:25:18] FLORES: Oh, but there is more. CNN sources confirming that authorities found cocaine inside Lieutenant Gliniewicz's desk after his death. Now, the big question to administrators, was that cocaine going to be used to plant on this village administrator, as well? Because there are allegations about that also. That village administrator also addressed that concern, only by saying that she didn't know if that cocaine was going to be planted on her desk. Again, a lot of disturbing revelations.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Rosa Flores there. The more revelations we learn, just the more sick that story becomes for sure.
Chicago police believe a 9-year-old boy killed in their city was the intended target of a gang related shooting. That is the little boy. One official calling it a cowardly and unfathomable crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY MCCARTHY, SUPERINTENDANT, CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: We want to be clear at this point, we believe that Tyshawn was targeted, lured to this spot, and murdered. And we believe that this is the most recent in a series of gang-related violent events that may go back as far as august, may go back a little further than that. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: McCarthy added that Tyshawn Lee was gunned down because his father is an alleged gang member. The father is not cooperating with authorities. No arrests have been made. Police are looking for a number of people who may be tied to the police.
They have this saying in Chicago that snitches get stitches. Throw that out. The police need help. They want information. A 9-year-old was killed. Call the police.
ALLEN: What a cute little boy.
HOWELL: Yes.
ALLEN: How safe is the Sharm el Sheikh Airport in Egypt? Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, we take a behind-the-scenes look at this small Egyptian airport at the center of an international tragedy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:30:59] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Natalie Allen. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Atlanta. Here are our top stories.
Authorities from both Russia and Egypt say there's no evidence yet to support the theory that a bomb brought down MetroJet flight 9268. U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron said intelligence suggests there was a bomb on the plane.
HOWELL: And Mr. Cameron defending his decision to suspend flights to and from Egypt's Sharm el Sheikh Airport after the crash. He met with Egyptian Abdel Fattah el Sisi in London on Thursday. The U.K. is sending several planes to Egypt in the coming hours to bring home British tourists.
ALLEN: Russian families, meantime, have begun holding funerals for their loved ones. The first services for the victims of the flight started Thursday in St. Petersburg. Most of the 224 passengers and crew were Russian.
HOWELL: Thousands of British tourists stranded in Sharm el Sheikh could start coming home in the next few hours.
ALLEN: As a precaution, passengers will only be allowed a carry-on bag. Checked baggage will be transported separately.
Egypt insists the airport meets international standards and took our Erin McLaughlin on a behind-the-scenes tour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sharm el Sheikh Airport. Hundreds line up for their first security checks. Everyone is searched, young and old. They're all waiting for a flight some officials aren't ready to put their citizens on. Thousands are stranded after their governments halted planes in and out of this airport.
British authorities have asked for more security.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: We feel like it will be the safest flight back that we've ever had. So we're glad that the governments are putting security measures in place for us.
MCLAUGHLIN: Mary and Claire Foster are two of the tourists stranded. For them, the trip home will be bittersweet. They stayed at the same hotel as some of the passengers killed on flight 9268.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: So the night before, we were watching the little girl dancing and parenting singing. And then the next day, they weren't there anymore. So it was really sad for us.
MCLAUGHLIN: Egyptian authorities want to show the world the tragedy won't happen again. So they took us on a tour of the airport, but wouldn't talk on camera.
They showed us security for passengers and employees.
(on camera): Every employee is required to go through the same security screening as passengers, but they're required to have a special I.D.s
(voice-over): We're in the area where they scan the luggage. They use x-ray machines and equipment that detects explosives.
Here's a room where they monitor cameras located throughout the airport and they say they have taken an extra step for British passengers.
(on camera): Two years ago, British authorities requested this machine be used before every flight to the United Kingdom. It's capable of detecting explosives. Egyptian authorities say this kind of machine is not used on any other flights.
(voice-over): Officials promised to increase security but tell us it's too soon to say what more will be done to reassure everyone that it's safe to go home. Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Sharm el Sheikh International Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: If ISIS did bring down the MetroJet flight, it would mark a significant leap forward in their capabilities. The idea of a bomb causing the disaster has drawn comparisons to tactics attempted by al Qaeda.
CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) [02:35:00] NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice- over): In 2009, I asked explosives expert, Sydney Alford, to show me what al Qaeda's top bomb maker was capable of.
(on camera): This is what six grams of PETN does to something twice as thick as an aircraft fuselage.
(voice-over): He had mastered the powerful white powder explosive, PETN. The al Qaeda bomb maker made this, the underpants bomb, targeting a U.S. passenger jet in 2009.
(on camera): Here in Russia, the question is likely to become who made the bomb that brought down MetroJet 9268? Was it ISIS or al Qaeda? What we do know is that after the underpants bomb, al Qaeda's bombs became even more sophisticate sophisticated.
(voice-over): 2010 --
(EXPLOSION)
ROBERTSON: -- printer bombs hidden in cargo on two planes. Fortunately, they were intercepted.
SYDNEY ALFORD, EXPLOSIVES EXPERT: He's at the clever end of the scale, no doubt about that. This is an ingenious way of doing it.
ROBERTSON: He deconstructed, remade the bombs, and explained al Qaeda's deadly cunning.
ALFORD: Three, two, one --
(EXPLOSION)
ROBERTSON: In 2014, a few years later --
(EXPLOSION)
ROBERTSON: -- I came to see Alford again.
(on camera): So that is a T-shirt dipped in explosives and dried, blown up and that would bring down a plane.
(voice-over): American sources fearing the next terrorist bomb could be a clothing bomb. He shows me how easily it can be done, leaving out some key details.
(voice-over): This is where the T-shirt bomb was sitting on the thick, steel plate.
(on camera): Imagine if that was the skin of an aircraft, thin. It would have blown a hole right through it.
(voice-over): The printer bomb, the underpants bomb were made by al Qaeda's top bomb maker in Yemen. His expertise has been taught to others. The question now, does ISIS have these skills or could they use more rudimentary bombs with conventional explosives, stolen from military stores?
(EXPLOSION)
ROBERTSON: Nic Robertson, CNN, St. Petersburg, Russia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOWELL: Police and protesters scuffled with each other in central London on Thursday.
ALLEN: The protesters were supporting the activist group Anonymous who sponsored the Million Mask March. Some arrests were made and at least one police car was set on fire. An activist said they were demonstrating for equality and against censorship.
HOWELL: At least one person is dead after a dam burst at an iron ore mind in southeast Brazil. You could see the widespread destruction here from the flooding that followed.
ALLEN: One official says Thursday's burst flooded an area with 200 homes. Look at that mess! And it's not yet clear how many people may be missing or homeless.
We're getting some cool images of Arizona's first snowfall of the season. It may be autumn there, but look at that. Already looks like winter.
HOWELL: Snow on the ground there. That same storm system is charging east, bringing rain, potential flooding and severe weather along with it.
Derek Van Dam is here to tell us more about it.
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I walked into a department store earlier today and there was Santa Claus staring me in the face, already. Wasn't it just Halloween three days ago?
(CROSSTALK)
HOWELL: Too soon, too soon.
VAN DAM: That same storm system responsible for the first snowstorm in Flagstaff, Arizona. Take a look at the satellite. You can see how it evolved over the Western half of the United States. Now pressing eastward across the plains states and it's brought around severe weather. They had one tornado in Oklahoma State. Roughly 10 to 15 wind damage reports across this area, stretching from Texas to Kansas. The current system associated with all this rainfall is bringing unfortunately too much unwanted rain to Texas. We are extremely saturated. We're talking about the ground below. We've had so much rain across Texas. You recall the flooding we've incurred. You can see where that area of green, that's where the highly saturated under go is. Even if we added one to two inches of rainfall, which they have already received from this current storm, they are going to add to the potential of more flooding. Let's compare it to where we would normally be this time of the year. Austin, Texas, year to date, we should have 30 inches of rain. We've already had 55 inches of precipitation. There's our chances of rainfall and severe weather today, stretching from Louisville, to Little Rock. You can see the temperature contrast from the intermountain west compared to the eastern half of the U.S.
Before I bring out this next photo, we're going to try to break Twitter records with a new #shellfIEDownunder. That is a shelf cloud. And if you think you're having a bad day, try being the guys in that boat on the ocean.
ALLEN: Oh, my. Oh, no.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN DAM: This is a phenomena that occurs with thunderstorm clouds, and it creates a beautiful scene just like that. It can be rather dangerous and I would not want to be on that boat.
[02:40:42] ALLEN: Selfie of the shelfie.
VAN DAM: Yes, that's the shelfie down under. Hash tag it.
ALLEN: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
VAN DAM: I'm trying. I'm trying.
(LAUGHTER)
HOWELL: Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, just days away from a monument election in Myanmar. What we know about the woman who vows to be its next leader, as NEWSROOM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: To Myanmar, where Friday is the last day of campaigning before the historic election there. And Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition party, is not backing down from comments she made about being, quote, "above the president." Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AUNG SAN SUU KYI, OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER: I was not saying we are going to win. I said if we win and we reform a government, I will be above the president. It's a very simple message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: She's certainly the most famous politician or person in Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi explained, while the current constitution prevents her from holding the office of president, it does not say anything about someone holding an office above president.
It is said to be the freest election in Myanmar in decades.
Aung San Suu Kyi has won election in Myanmar before, but it landed her under house arrest shortly after.
[02:45:05] HOWELL: CNN's Ivan Watson has more on the woman who is so revered by the people of Myanmar.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aung San Suu Kyi is arguably one of the most loved people in Myanmar. And a big part of the affection people have for her has to do with her father. Her father was a military officer who helped fight for Burma's independence after being a British colony for about a century. He's revered here as the founding father of Independent Burma, now officially known as Myanmar. He was gunned down by political rivals in 1947 when Aung San Suu Kyi was only 2 years old.
For much of the first 40 years of her life, Aung San Suu Kyi lived overseas. It wasn't until 1988 that she moved back to Burma. In 1990, she founded the National League of Democracy, and by all accounts, her party won. But the military rulers of this country annulled the results. They placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for much of the next 20 years.
In 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest. It was part of a transition to a civilian system of government. Aung San Suu Kyi and her party were allowed to compete in elections in 2012 and won dozens of seats in parliament. Among the electoral victories there was Aung San Suu Kyi herself.
Aung San Suu Kyi is a living symbol of this country. Part of the respect people have for her is due to the sacrifices she made shared by many people in this country during decades of strict military rule.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Finally, she's got the political power that she's had under house arrest, but now it's legitimate.
HOWELL: And saying she could hold a position above the president. Very interesting. We'll watch these elections play out in Myanmar.
More than 100 years ago, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt described his foreign policy as "speak softly, carry a big stick." That is what the U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said he hoped to convey to China on Thursday. While on the carrier, the "USS Theodore Roosevelt," in the South China Sea, Carter said he hopes to reach an agreement, an understanding rather over China's disputed claims of the area but that the U.S. would remain resolute.
ALLEN: China's foreign minister said the transit by a U.S. warship through the sea harmed mutual trust. And another Chinese said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: China has always respected freedom of navigation other countries enjoy in accordance with international law. We've never opposed anything consistent with international shipping lanes. We oppose the militarization of the South China Sea or even provoking or threatening another country's sovereignty and secure interests in the name of freedom of navigation. In this regard, we hope the United States will act in a more above board and transparent way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: In the meantime, Taiwan's president said that he doesn't expect to discuss the dispute with China's president at their summit on Saturday.
ALLEN: NASA has big news about Mars. Scientists reveal what may have turned the once-watery planet cold and bitter. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:52:44] ALLEN: All right. NASA scientists believe they now know why Mars is no longer the flourishing planet it once was.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEN: Measurements from the spacecraft show that solar winds, which are charged particles from the sun, stripped away most of the Martian atmosphere. This could theoretically happen to earth.
HOWELL: Great.
ALLEN: The former NASA astronaut, Mark Polanski, explained why it hasn't.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK POLANSKI, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Because of the magnetic field we have around our planet, we actually are able to deflect a lot of the harmful radiation and electronic particles of the solar wind, unlike what we have at Mars, which does not have the strong magnetic field that the earth has had.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Well, thank goodness for that.
(LAUGHTER)
Another finding, NASA says that the auroras discovered on Mars may resemble the northern lights on earth.
ALLEN: There's no segue to go from space news to this. I'm just going to read it as is.
(LAUGHTER)
Now to a fish tale with a truly unbelievable ending. It features a 3- month-old puppy, doggy paddling for his life.
HOWELL: Let's turn to CNN's Jeanne Moos for this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the story of a Labrador retriever --
(SHOUTING)
MOOS: -- retrieved from the sea off the coast of Italy. Six sailors from a yacht club were sailing the gulf of Naples with no other vessels in sight, when something made a beeline for their boat.
RENO GROSSO, YACHT CLUB MEMBER: We thought we are crazy. This dog is coming from the sky. It's impossible.
MOOS: Reno Grosso shot the rescue with his camera. The dog was a 3- month-old named Noodle, though his rescuers gave him another name.
GROSSO: We called the dog Moses.
MOOS: Moses, best known for --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: -- parting the sea.
The part that they didn't know was the pup had been riding a hydrofoil ferry, like this, with his brand new owner when he slipped his leash and fell into the sea.
(on camera): The owner tried to get the ferry to stop, to go back and look for the pup, but crew members refused, saying the dog would have already drowned.
(on camera): Half an hour or more later, Noodle was still dog paddling for dear life.
(SHOUTING)
[02:55:17] MOOS: He was trembling and crying as he was cuddled, cuddled and rubbed and covered with a jacket.
Back on land, he was handed of to his new family.
There was anger at the ferry crew.
GROSSO: Really wrong thing, because the dog was alive and they didn't try to find him.
MOOS: Now you can find him everywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
MOOS: He's the toast of Italy, appearing in the arms of his owner.
Noodle may have survived a great struggle with the sea, but two minutes on TV left him looking like, well, a wet Noodle.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Sweet Noodle deserves a nap, a good long nap.
HOWELL: After what he went through, absolutely.
(LAUGHTER)
ALLEN: Thank you for watching this hour. We have another hour ahead. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: I'm George Howell.
The news continues right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:09] HOWELL: Tourists stranded in Sharm el Sheikh.
