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CNN International: Anger in Iraq and Iran Over U.S. Airstrikes; U.S. and Somalia Hit Al-Shabaab After Deadly Car Bombing; British Woman Found Guilty of Lying About Rape in Cyprus; Sydney to Proceed with New Year's Eve Fireworks Despite Fire Ban; Heatwave, Drought and Climate Change Fuel Australia Fires; Germanwings Strike Forces 170 Flight Cancelations; Anti-Semitism on the Rise in New York with Daily Attacks; Five Stabbed at Hanukkah Celebration at N.Y. Rabbi's Home; Gunman Kills Two in Texas During Church Service; Chinese Gene-Editing Scientist Sentenced to Prison. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 30, 2019 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: A sharp warning from Iran after U.S. military strikes on a militia group in Iraq and Syria.

Too late to leave, tens of thousands of people caught in the path of bush fires in Australia.

And a British woman accused of making up claims that she had been raped by a group of tourists, to be found guilty by court in Cyprus.

And a Chinese scientist is jailed for creating the first gene edited babies. This is CNN newsroom. I'm Max Foster live from London.

Now the U.S. is calling it retaliation. Iran calls it an escalation. And there's growing anger both in Iran and Iraq over those weekend U.S. air strikes in Iraq and Syria that reportedly killed 25 people.

The U.S. says the strikes targeted facilities used by militia groups linked to Iran that has carried out attacks on American military personnel. Now Iran is warning of consequences. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Prime Minister calls the strikes a violation of his country's sovereignty and the militia group targeted is calling on its forces to, quote, drive the brutal American enemy out of Iraq.

Arwa Damon is tracking developments for us from Istanbul. Ryan Browne is at the Pentagon. First of all to you, Arwa. Any more detail on what happened?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is what we know from what the Pentagon has released. They hit five targets, three of them in Iraq, two in Syria, belonging to this militia group called Kataib Hezbollah.

Now that group has quite a dark and complex history in Iraq because back in the days of the U.S. led occupation, it was part of what the U.S. military called the special groups. These were groups that were funded, trained, equipped by Iran and they were quite devastating when it came to the types of attacks that they were launching back then against the U.S. military.

Fast forward to the U.S. troop withdrawal and then to the rise of ISIS, this group became one of the many various groups that ended up forming what's called the popular mobilization force. This is that predominantly Shia paramilitary force that actually in theory falls under the umbrella of the Iraqi security forces. However, the Iraqi government, the Iraqi ministry of defense in reality, has very little control over their activities. But they are quite a force to be reckoned with, as we saw in attacks that they have launched against locations that do house U.S. military personnel. Such as the one that took place on Friday that ended up resulting in the death of a U.S. contractor.

But this is causing quite a bit of concern, especially for Baghdad that doesn't really want to be caught up in this proxy war between Washington and Tehran at this stage. The militia itself is threatening a larger course of action. The Prime Minister, as you mentioned there, is calling this a violation of Iraq's sovereignty. A senior Iraqi military official said this was a stab in the back. Especially because the Iraqis have asked the Americans not to carry out these kinds of attacks, fearing, Max, a further potential escalation.

FOSTER: OK, and Ryan, what are you hearing about the group and its motivations?

RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON REPORTER: Well, Max, we've been hearing for some time that the U.S. has grown increasingly concerned about this group and its attacks on military facilities that house both U.S. and Iraqi forces. Arwa mentioned there had been a series of attacks, the one on Friday deadly for an American contractor.

But there had been growing concern at the Pentagon that the increased sophistication of these attacks, the brazenness of these attacks, the increased frequency. So the U.S. was prepared for something like this and had been planning for some time that this could escalate and had been thinking about how to deter these militias from conducting similar attacks in the future. These strikes, part of that effort, there's a hope, that this will deter further action.

But again, the U.S. remains very much concerned about the threat to U.S. personnel. There are some 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq still. And you had the Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley, go down to Florida, met with President Trump yesterday.

[10:05:00]

To talk about this operation and to talk about the potential fallout both from a diplomatic side with the Iraqi Prime Minister -- as Arwa mentioned -- complaining about the violation of sovereignty, but also from a potential security side. And Secretary Esper made it clear that U.S. military will act again if the need arises.

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MARK ESPER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: I would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in our own self-defense and we defer further bad behavior from militia groups or from Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWNE: So the U.S. had attempted to warn both Baghdad and Iran about these attacks and that those warnings had come to little avail, forcing the strike, and the U.S. will be watching carefully if Iran or Iranian backed groups in Iraq decide to retaliate.

FOSTER: OK. And, Arwa, how does this play into the balance of power there and stability in the region?

DAMON: Well it certainly doesn't help it, Max. Look, alongside everything else, Iraq is also going through some pretty serious political turmoil. You'll remember for weeks now of there been protests in Baghdad against the Iraqi government that ended up being quite violent. When the largely peaceful protesters were attacked, hundreds of protesters were killed. This led to the resignation of the Prime Minister in early December.

And the President has so far missed two deadlines to nominate a new Prime Minister. And that is because President Barham Salih is saying that none of the candidates being put forward by the leading political blocks are acceptable to him. Because, he has said, they are viewed as being too affiliated with Iran and that they don't fulfill the demands of the protesters on the street. Who have also come out chanting anti-Iran slogans.

You have this core of youth in Iraq that is absolutely fed up with all sorts of foreign interference, whether it's Iranian interference or U.S. interference. So you have this country in many ways that is not only a proxy battlefield between Washington and Tehran, but even within its own structure, it's facing something of an internal battle in terms of what direction it is going to go in.

Is Iraq going to continue to be heavily under the influence of Iran or is it going to be able to somehow pull itself from that sphere that it has found itself in? Pretty much since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and emerge as a country that actually can have a healthier relationship with its neighbors. So there's a lot at stake right now for Iraq and these strikes, especially when it comes to the perspective of the Iraqi government, are not at all in the interests of Iraq.

FOSTER: Arwa, also, Ryan, thank you both very much indeed.

Onto Somalia now -- U.S. forces were involved in another series of air strikes there on Sunday. They worked with the country's government to target Al-Shabaab militants. Groups blamed for car bombings in Mogadishu that left at least 85 dead and more than 100 wounded. Officials say Sunday's strikes killed four members of the group including a senior operative. Let's go to CNN's Farai Sevenzo live in Nairobi in neighboring Kenya

and you're getting more details in the last few hours you've had some detail.

FARAI SEVENZO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I have, Max. I mean, basically there's been a huge response as well from nations like Qatar and Turkey to take out the injured from Mogadishu and take them for better, more sophisticated health care in places like Turkey and Qatar.

But of course, what we definitely know is that the air strikes carried out by U.S. command were in conjunction with the Somali forces. But remember, Max, this has been an insidious group, al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab, is a huge threat to the entire region. You remember, back in January 15th, 2019, they even hit a hotel here in Nairobi where I'm speaking to you from, killing over 20 people.

Now, this truck bomb that went off on Saturday is the biggest loss of life in Mogadishu this year. Now remember, back in 2017 in October, another truck bomb killed over 500 people. Of course even though the Somalis have the support of U.S. Africa command and they have the support of African Union troops, al-Shabaab still remains a huge threat.

Just to give you an example of what American commander said about al- Shabaab, this is Major General William Gate, a director of operations for U.S. Africa Command. He says they have attacked and killed African partners, allies and fellow Americans. They are a global menace and their sights are set on exporting violence regional and ultimately taking it to the United States homeland.

[10:10:00]

So very serious words indeed, but of course, the biggest brunt of suffering has been borne by the Somali people.

FOSTER: There have been these defections. There've been strikes. There're been lots of successful attacks on al-Shabaab but they're showing how resilient they are. Aren't they? And still able to carry out these large attacks. So the efforts against them isn't really working.

SEVENZO: Well, it's a really big problem for the Somali government. Remember, that they seem to melt into the society. When hotels were attacked, we later found out that some people were actually workers in the hotels, waiters. So with all that kind of thing going on, the Somalis need much better intelligence to stop these attacks before they happen and to stop them hitting mainly Somali victims. Remember, this attack happened near a university, Max, Benadir University on Saturday. So it's without a doubt that young Somalis would have been amongst the dead.

FOSTER: OK. Farai in Nairobi, thank you.

Here, British woman has been found guilty of lying to Cyprus police about being gang raped back in July. The woman who was 19 years old at the time, claimed she was raped by a dozen teenage Israeli tourists. She later recanted her statement to police but her lawyers insist she was coerced into the retraction and cite numerous irregularities in the case. The British woman will be sentenced next month and could face up to a year in jail.

Mark Bolton joins me now with more on this case. There are pretty clear arguments on both sides on this one.

MARK BOLTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, pretty unsavory events, Max, a pretty unpleasant case. This unnamed British woman essentially has been found guilty of causing public mischief a single count of that. The judge who gave the verdict said she didn't tell the truth throughout the case. He said she tried to deceive the court with convenient and evasive statements. He essentially said that she'd made these claims because she felt ashamed of the events on the night when she found out subsequently, she had been filmed having sex.

She claimed in court that she had been raped and she had been coerced into retracting the original claim because of the scenario with the police. It's an appalling case. She was attacked on July 7th in Ayia Napa. Has her passport removed, hasn't left the island since and now potentially faces 12 months in jail when the sentence is handed down on January 7th.

Her lawyers though, as you say, state there are several grounds potentially to take this case all the way to the European court and human rights. They will appeal to the Supreme Court in Cyprus. And essentially, it's all about the retraction of the original allegation. They say she didn't have representation of a lawyer at the time when she was quizzed for seven hours before making the retraction. That itself is against the rules by si Pratt and European law. That's the first in major grounds.

There's no translator available to her when she made the statements. And also, they claim she was suffering from PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder and they can cite they say a doctor whose an expert in that field that will say that anybody put under duress while suffering is likely to essentially give in and try to retract any statement just to seek their own freedom.

There're also suggestions that she can document discussions through social media, most notably, Instagram, with friends she felt could be implicated in these problems if she essentially didn't drop the case entirely. It certainly is set to continue. There are grounds it would seem for appeal. Even in more intricate legal sense that the actual rape case wasn't allowed to be mentioned in court by the judge presiding. And obviously this is a misdemeanor because of the grounds she claimed to have made a statement about rape, then retracted it.

In legal wrangling if the rape doesn't exist how could she have made the claim in the first place. It's obviously very deep judicial sort of wrangling. But yes, this seems to be here an ongoing case and I think we'll hear more of it. But the overriding thing, it's very unpleasant from the sight of the youth the 12 that were implicated in all this this. Their lawyer has said he's pleased that this is the result that has come forward and hopes for a strong sentence which would reflect the damage that he believes it's done.

Notably also, none of the 12 Israeli youths that were implicated who were brought into court. That in itself could be another ground potentially for one of these appeals.

FOSTER: OK, Mark, thank you.

BOLTON: OK.

FOSTER: Still head on CNN NEWSROOM -- raging fires take the life of another firefighter in Australia and forced thousands to flee. Details on that to you next.

Plus, the U.S. holiday weekend is marred by violent attacks on a Texas church and New York rabbi's home.

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[10:15:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

INGE SOLHEIM, NORWEGIAN EXPLORER: Otta is one of my favorite places. And up here I find this intense life in the summer and the barren landscapes and the cold and extreme environment in the winter. It's one of those places where it's just got everything. You have the beautiful nature. You have the very special culture up here, it's like a frontier town.

We meet all those weird people like scientists and explorers. A lot of people when they come up here, they get bitten by what we call the polar bug. And it does something to me. I don't know what it is. But it feels like I belong up here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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FOSTER: It's too late to leave. That's the morning from authorities to those remaining in the midst of these raging fires in Melbourne, Australia and at least five suburbs. Thousands have already evacuated. But authorities are warning it may not be possible to provide aid to those remaining as major roads have been shut down.

Right now, more than 100 fires are burning across Australia. In the face of a prolonged drought and a total fire band authorities are moving forward with Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks. CNN's Rosemary Church has more on this and the outrage against it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): As the new year approaches Australian authorities have a clear message for anyone in Eastern Victoria.

ANDREW CRISP, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMISSIONER: If you're holidaying in that part of the state it's time you left.

CHURCH: Tens of thousands of residents and vacationers in southeastern Australia are being told to evacuate as strong winds and soaring temperatures fuel massive bush fires.

Across the country, extreme warnings in effect as firefighters battle dozens of blazes, the worst blaze near Sydney, where fireworks are set to be lit on New Year's Eve, despite a total fire ban there. Officials say the world-famous display will ring in 2020.

SHANE FITZSIMMONS, NEW SOUTH WALES RURAL FIRE SERVICE: Obviously, this is not a new thing, New Year's Eve, and other events coincide with bad fire weather and total fire bands. But what we will be doing is working with local fire and rescue, the authorities and just making sure that any perceived risk based on the conditions are ameliorated appropriately to ensure they can go ahead safely.

CHURCH: Despite assurances from officials calls grow louder to cancel the fireworks. More than a quarter million people signed a petition to scrap the event asking that millions of dollars usually spent on the display be redistributed to efforts like firefighting and animal care instead. But organizers say canceling would only hurt local businesses.

TANYA GOLDBERG, SYDNEY CITY COUNCIL EVENTS: Preparations for these celebrations began 15 months ago. Which means that most of the budget largely used for crowd safety and cleansing measures has already been spent. So canceling would have little practical benefit for devastated communities.

CHURCH: In some of those devastated communities, homes and businesses are left in ruins. Since September, the prolonged fires have left little respite for those fighting the destructive flames and they're often volunteers.

SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Payments for income lost --

CHURCH: The Prime Minister says volunteers will now be compensated for their efforts in the worst hit state of New South Wales.

STEWART TEMESVARY, VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER: 15, 16-hour shifts in a row you're exhausted at the end of that and you might have one day break and then they want you to go again. It's tough. It's tough. The payment is just a recognition of what we're doing. It doesn't compensate us for what we're losing, but it's recognition.

CHURCH: Some volunteers saying they appreciate the acknowledgement after fighting weeks of raging fires that show few signs of stopping.

[10:20:02]

Rosemary Church, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: The fires also forced about 100,000 residents and tourists to flee Melbourne suburbs in the state of Victoria. Simon Cullen has more from New South Wales.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMON CULLEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A small glimmer of hope is a cooler change that has been moving across parts of Australia. But that's still some way off the fire front of Victoria. And of course, with that colder weather comes more erratic wind conditions which present its own challenges for firefighters.

But this is not isolated to Victoria. This is a national bush fire crisis. The fire threat is extreme in several states. Here in New South Wales, I am standing about an hour outside of Sydney. As you can see, this is not cloud behind me. This is actually thick bush fire smoke. There are ash particles falling from the sky from fires nearby. There are fires burning still out of control while the 900 homes in New South Wales alone have been burned and lost in this bush fire crisis.

And, of course, Sydney is still affected by thick smoke. That has led to calls to cancel Sydney's New Year's Eve fireworks. Now, at this stage, the fireworks will go ahead. But for the rest of the state, several New Year's Eve celebrations have been scaled back because there is a total fire ban in place and fireworks have been cancelled. It just goes to show this fire threat is still far from over as Australia swelters through yet another heat wave. Simon Cullen for CNN, in Barrow, New South Wales.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Let's go to the CNN meteorologist Chad Myers from the weather center. Is there any hope you can offer people who are effectively stuck now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're stuck in the dry season now for sure, the hot season. We do see rain on the forecast map on Sunday, and then again 15 days from right now. So almost like Sunday and Tuesday or Monday of next week.

Now some areas could pick up 40 millimeters of rainfall that would be amazing if you could get it over the fire but the temperatures here with sunshine all day yesterday, in the middle 40s. And still right now, even though it's getting dark 37 there in the middle part of the country.

There is a cold front that is going to try to come by and push cooler air in. Now it's not going to make enough rainfall because the ground is so dry, this feedback effect. If nothing is evaporating from the ground, then the air doesn't get moist enough to actually rain again. So it's like one thing piling on, on top of the other. Birdsville will be 44. Sydney will be 36. These are just very hot temperatures. Somewhere in the neighborhood of ten degrees warmer than we should be.

And here is the front that's supposed to cool us down. Well, it doesn't have any rainfall at all. Sure, there are a few showers offshore and some light sprinkles with it but this is Tuesday and Wednesday. We think another storm system will come in on Sunday night that will bring some rain.

The problem is these storm systems also bring wind, wind gusts to 36, 37 kilometers per hour. Well that may not seem like a lot if you're up hanging around outside but when you have embers that are blowing down wind and making the fires worse farther away from these firefighters or even ahead of them, that's why those winds are so bad.

Just a couple of states here that are in extreme. Nothing in catastrophic at this point like we had over the weekend, but still, extreme is category five out of six. So not six out of six. It's burn bans all over the place. So keep that in mind. You wouldn't want to burn anything really, would you?

Sydney 34 for Tuesday, Saturday to 33, Adelaide to 41 by Friday as we warm back up. A couple cold areas come through -- cold fronts come through, but these are not cold fronts anymore because we're going into summertime. Summertime actually starts in Australia December 1st, not 21st like most northern hemisphere countries. So this is when it gets dry and gets hot and we just didn't get enough rain to make this saturated soil even a chance of any showers let alone in this week or even into next week -- Max.

FOSTER: It's a real worry, isn't it. You will know as well, Chad, that this has been a political issue within Australia. Because young people say this has to do with climate change and the government aren't doing enough. But what's the science behind that? Have they got that to back them up?

MYERS: You know, we have five things or even six things that we can attribute to climate change. And the top two, the most notable things that we know are going to happen when the earth heat up, now about we're about 1.3 degrees C above preindustrial levels, we know that. As the earth heats up there are going to be more heat waves. That's a no-brainer because it's getting hotter, and there are going to be more drought. But there also will be more floods. Because when it does rain it's just going to continue to rain. But when it doesn't rain then all of a sudden you have this drought that most of eastern Australia has been in for a long time and there's just everything is there just waiting to burn -- Max.

[10:25:02]

FOSTER: OK. Chad, we'll keep an eye, of course thank you.

Now, there are some travel hiccups now for Germanwings. Passengers although not because of the weather, budget carrier Germanwings has canceled flights over the next three days as cabin crew go on strike. Those cancellations will impact airports across Germany of course, but there will a knock-on effect -- won't there -- across Europe presumably. It's a big airline.

HADAS GOLD, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes, Max, I mean, Germanwings is the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa. And as you noted, this strike will mostly be affecting the domestic flights within Germany, although some flights to places like Austria and Switzerland will also be affected.

The strike started Sunday evening and runs through New Year's Day with even the possibility that it could be extended. Around 170 flights, possibly a bit more have already been canceled. But this is only about 15 percent of the total flights that were scheduled for these three days.

Now the cabin crew strike is due to disagreements between their union, the flight attendants' union, and the Lufthansa Group with Germanwings specifically. But this has been a long running issue, dispute that Lufthansa has been having with these labor groups. And it specifically with Germanwings about part-time work and about the regulations around who and what kind of part-time work can be done.

Now the union said that Lufthansa has not given them any sort of clear options for the future. They said that they announced these strikes early on purpose to give people the opportunity to reschedule their flights. Because this is the holiday season. A lot of people are probably either flying to family, flying to friends, flying home from all these holidays, so it can cause quite a bit of disruptions.

But Germanwings in a statement has been pretty strong about this. They said that this strike is unfounded and incomprehensible to us. We are doing everything to offer our passengers a normal flight schedule between Christmas and New Year.

Now so far this strike has not affected as many people as there was another strike in November, for Lufthansa that affected about 200,000 passengers, about 1,300 flights were canceled and the union is warning that they could increase this strike to go even longer past January 1st unless they can get to some sort of agreement, come to the table and have some more talks.

FOSTER: And we keep getting these strikes, don't we, among the budget airlines. But presumably that's this pressure on the industry to cut costs and not increase salaries and pensions and the like.

GOLD: It's sort of the race to the bottom we're seeing amongst the low-cost carriers especially in Europe. There is really a race to get the cheapest tickets out there. That's of course affecting how and whether you can pay for your employees and there's a lot of -- I mean to work on these airlines it's a tough thing to do and it's tough to get people to come work for them and to maintain them. There's a lot of stresses on both sides of the situation.

FOSTER: OK, Hadas, thank you very much indeed.

Still ahead on CNN newsroom -- a wave of anti-Semitic violence in the U.S. what authorities are doing to stop it.

Plus -- there's been another deadly attack at another U.S. church. We'll look at some dramatic video and tell you what we know so far.

[10:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: This holiday season there's been two horrifying attacks on people at religious gatherings in the U.S. The latest is in Texas where a gunman opened fire inside the church during Sunday services. Two people died before he was shot and killed by parishioners.

The Texas attack followed in the wake of a stabbing rampage that was -- and that was inside a rabbi's home near New York City during a Hanukkah celebration. Five people wounded in that incident. New York's governor calls it an act of domestic terrorism.

Saturday night's stabbing rampage is the latest in a wave of anti- Semitic attacks in New York this month. This past week there were attacks on Jewish people every day in the state. Some days there were even multiple instances marring this year's Hanukkah with hatred. Our Brynn Gingras is in Monsey, New York, where the latest anti-Semitic attack took place. And obviously, the incident is horrific on its own but the wider community must be so concerned about the series of attacks there've been?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean the community is in disbelief at this point. Particularly this community, Monsey, New Jersey. It's in the county of Rockland County, Max, which per capita has the largest amount of Jewish population in the total United States. So this particular community is close knit. They're now having law enforcement in front of their synagogues, in front of their other places of worship. I mean, that is just not a typical day for them especially.

But in particular, this home behind me, the rabbi's house where this attack happened, authorities can't answer just yet why it occurred here as to the motive and those are the answers we're still trying to learn at this point.

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GINGRAS (voice-over): A gruesome stabbing on the seventh night of Hanukkah leaving five people injured, just as Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg was lighting the menorah in his home right outside of New York City. Police say Grafton Thomas entered, pulled out a large knife and began his stabbing spree. Nearly 100 people were gathered in the home celebrating the holiday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started walking by the door, I asked who is coming in in the middle of the night with an umbrella. While I was saying that he pulled it out from the think and I throw tables and chair that he should get out of here.

GINGRAS: After the attack a witness tells CNN the attacker tried to go to a nearby synagogue but the worshipers inside locked the door. This surveillance video captures the suspect fleeing the rabbi's home running toward his car moments after the attack. Witnesses gave police the license plate number, a plate reader located the suspect's car crossing over the George Washington Bridge in New York City nearly two hours after the attack where he was apprehended by police. Thomas was arraigned Sunday morning, charged with five counts of

attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary. He pleaded not guilty. In a statement, Thomas' family lawyer says that he has no history of violent acts and has a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations. Thomas' pastor who says she has known him for more than ten years echoed the sentiment.

WENDY PAIGE, SUSPECT'S PASTOR: Grafton is not a terrorist. He is a man who has mental illness in America and the systems that be, have not served him well.

GINGRAS: All five victims are Hasidic Jews and they are being treated at area hospitals. One was the son of the rabbi.

DANI DAYAN, CONSUL GENERAL OF ISRAEL IN NEW YORK: In this Hanukkah we suffered more anti-Semitic incidents that the counties that we live and that it's impossible to bear. We are in a completely different game.

GINGRAS: This attack comes just weeks after a deadly terror attack at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey. Over the last week there have been at least nine attacks on Jews in the New York area. Governor Andrew Cuomo says he wants to classify hate crime attacks against religious groups as domestic terrorism.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): And I want this state to be the first state to have a domestic terrorism law. To express how ignorant this is, how intolerant it is and how criminal it is. And I'll be proposing that law for this state.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS: Thomas is behind bars right now on 5 million dollars bail. He is going to be back in court, Max, this Friday. Back to you.

FOSTER: This idea of domestic terrorism and that, you know, what's sort of process would that involve? I mean, how likely is that? Some people suggesting it's really a political statement on behalf of the governor.

GINGRAS: You know, they're still trying to determine that. I mean that is the statement that the governor made and he's going to put forward laws to actually be able to label this as domestic terrorism.

[10:35:02]

But at this point we just know law enforcement has stepped up patrols in this community and communities all across the states in response to all of these attacks.

FOSTER: OK, Brynn, thank you.

Also in the United States, police are investigating a deadly church attack. A gunman killed two people during Sunday morning services at a church near Dallas, Texas. The attacker fatally wounded two victims before he himself was killed by armed church security volunteers. Our Lucy Kafanov is standing by in White Settlement, Texas with the latest from their -- Lucy.

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Max, another American community is grappling with yet another act of senseless violence against a house of worship. This attack taking place less than 24 hours ago at the church you see behind me. The gunman wearing dark clothing sat in a back pew. He gets up, has an interaction with a church member before pulling out a long gun, opening fire. Two armed volunteers at the church swiftly responding. The whole thing captured on camera because the services were live streamed. I should warn your viewers this footage is disturbing.

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(SHOTS FIRED AND PEOPLE SCREAMING)

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KAFANOV: Six seconds, that's how long it took for these armed volunteers to respond. Now some viewers may be wondering with why there were these guns at the church. Well that has to do with another mass shooting at a church here in Texas in 2017 in which 26 people died. In the aftermath of that Texas enacted legislation allowing licensed handgun owners to bring firearms into houses of worship. Law enforcement here and the minister here say that is why the response was so quick, praising the two-armed volunteers as heroes. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF WILLIAMS, TEXAS DPS: Citizens who were inside that church undoubtedly saved 242 other parishioners.

BRITT FARMER, SENIOR PASTOR: Today is one sermon I'll never preach. It will go away. It was called "leaving a legacy." two men today left a legacy. And the congregation is going to build on that legacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAFANOV: Now authorities have not revealed the identity of the shooter but the FBI says he was a relatively transient person with roots in this area. We know that he's had previous multiple encounters with law enforcement. He's been arrested in multiple municipalities but we don't know what for. What I can tell you, Max, is that he has not been on any watch list, no terror watch list, no database, and so we are waiting to learn more from federal and local officials about what his motive could have possibly been -- Max.

FOSTER: Outside the U.S. there will be a lot of surprise that churches are arming themselves effectively at this time. But actually this is an argument that shows that it has worked in at least one incident. It limited the harm that could have been done.

KAFANOV: It certainly is going to deepen the debate already a divisive debate here in the United States. We haven't seen the President weigh in, for example, but this is certainly going to be ammo for both sides of this divisive debate. FOSTER: OK. Lucy, a big debate, thank you very much indeed.

Coming up -- Chinese scientist shocked the world with his experiment and now he's going to prison. That story is up for you next.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) . FOSTER: Well it was a controversial experiment from the day it was announced. Now a Chinese court has sentenced a scientist to prison for his role in the creation of gene edited babies. Our David Culver has the details.

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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Chinese scientist will spend the next three years in prison and pay a hefty fine for his role in gene editing. Chinese state-run media says a court sentenced He Jiankui Monday. He said he altered the DNA of three babies before birth when they were embryos.

The scientist claiming in 2018 that his changes reduced the risk of the baby's contracting HIV. The announcement led to an immediate backlash, critics from international medical communities slammed He and his team warning their actions could lead to unknown genetic problems for the three children later in life. And Chinese authorities began an immediate investigation alleging that He and two others violated an explicit law banning embryo editing.

State media says the three men pleaded guilty ahead of their sentencing Monday. Adding that He and two medical researchers, quote, failed to obtain a doctor's qualification and pursued profit, deliberately violated the relevant national regulations on scientific research and medical management, crossed the bottom line on scientific and medical ethics and rationally applied gene editing technology to human assisted reproductive medicine disrupting the medical treatment.

The state media also saying that provincial authorities held accountable the unit and personnel involved, banning some of those involved including He from taking part in human reproductive research for life. David Culver, CNN, Hong Kong.

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ANDERSON: Well, we're going to get back to one of our top stories this hour, Australia's wildfires for a moment that inspires a little bit of hope. Take a look at this incredible moment. The koala in the middle of a road approaches a group of cyclists appearing to beg them for water. As you can see, one cyclist gives every last drop of her water to the thirsty koala. Officials say almost a third of koalas in Australia's New South Wales region may have been killed in the deadly bush fires there. We'll have more on those fires in the next hour for you.

This just into CNN, Iran's state news agency reports the Revolutionary Guard Corps has seized a ship in the Persian Gulf for fuel smuggling. The report says 16 Malaysian crew members were arrested. The Revolutionary Guard Corps often seizes ships in the Gulf for smuggling and it's not clear what nation's flag the ship was actually sailing under. But the timing is notable since it happened just after those weekend U.S. attacks on Iranian backed militia in Iraq and Syria that sparked anger in Iran. We'll have more on the story in the next hour.

Thank you for joining us. I'm Max Foster. I'll be back with another hour of news in 15 minutes. In the meantime "WORLD SPORT" is just ahead.

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