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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

More Girl Abducted in Nigeria; Fighting in Ukraine Leaves Dozens Dead; Family Anguish Grows on Flight 370 Search

Aired May 07, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Armed terrorists kidnapping more children in Nigeria, promising to sell them to the highest bidder. This morning, outrage around the world and a passionate push to bring those girls home. Now the United States is getting involved and what's happening on the ground right now, we'll take you live to Nigeria.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: And Ukraine heading closer to civil war this morning. The death toll rising as pro-Russian demonstrators and soldiers turned streets into battlefield. Can an approaching election solve this crisis? We're live in Ukraine with the very latest.

HARLOW: Also at this hour, the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 entering a new phase after weeks of mounting questions, still no answers. Investigators will take a fresh look at finding the vanished jetliner.

We're live in Kuala Lumpur with the latest on that this morning.

A lot of ground this morning. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Poppy Harlow.

FEYERICK: And I'm Deborah Feyerick. It is now 31 minutes past the hour.

In Nigeria this morning, the desperate search continues for more than 200 missing girls kidnapped from their school and held for weeks. Now comes word a group of armed terrorists has abducted at least eight more girls. Boko Haram has threatened to sell those children to others -- it captures insisting women should not be educated. President Obama calls what's happening awful and says the U.S. will do everything it can to help.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are sending in a team made up of our military and law enforcement and other experts. And we're very glad that Nigeria has accepted the help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Vladimir Duthiers is live in Abuja, Nigeria.

And, Vlad, the World Economic Forum is expected to start today in the capital city. Is this abduction going to taint what's happening there?

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Deborah, some would say that it already has. This was meant to be the crowning achievement for Nigeria. They've just revised their economy. They are now the largest economy on the continent. There are world leaders coming here, there are heads -- there are CEOs that are going to be here. But hanging over this event is the cloud of insecurity.

These 200 girls that went missing in the middle of the night when armed attackers stormed into their dormitory, hauling them away to right now we believe, many people believe that they're maybe in neighboring Chad and Cameroon or Niger. In addition to that, right here in Abuja, there were two bombings in -- just a few weeks. And so this -- although it meant to put Nigeria on the map in terms of being a world leader, there is a cloud of insecurity.

And we spoke to some parents who have their daughters abducted -- have had their daughter abducted by this vicious group, Boko Haram. And this is what they had to tell about life -- where they are right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life is very dangerous in Chibok right now. Since on 14th of April, to date, we don't sleep at home. In the evening, right from 6:00, you will be seeing people coming into the town. Bu around five, six, people will disappear to the bush because there is no security. There is no security. We slept in the bush with all our little ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUTHIERS: There you have it, Deborah. No security. That is what they're feeling like having not only their daughters taken into the middle of the night to God knows where, but they can't even sleep in their own home -- Deborah.

FEYERICK: What's so incredible also is that the name of this group actually, Boko Haram, actually -- means Western education is sinful. I mean, this is a group of terrorists, murderous thugs, they believe in a strict Sharia law that women should not be educated. And meanwhile, they are taking them to possibly sell as child brides or sex slaves. It's outrageous.

DUTHIERS: Absolutely outrageous, absolutely despicable. In fact when we sat down with this family who agreed to come forward because they want the world to know the reign of terror that they are living under in northeastern Nigeria since 2009. We showed them the video of Abubakar Shekau saying that he will sell these girls on the market.

And the mother broke down in tears. She essentially told us that what he is doing, he doesn't realized that he may have doctors, lawyers, teachers amongst these girls. And she begged him, pray for him to release these girls, Deborah. But this is what people in northeastern part of Nigeria are living under.

FEYERICK: Yes. A very illiterate group of thugs. All right. Vladimir Duthiers for us there in Nigeria. Thank you so much.

HARLOW: To Ukraine now where this morning fighting in the eastern city of Mariupol has left at least five separatists dead. This after days of intense battles leaving dozens killed. Neither side seemed ready to give in at all and some leaders now insisting the military cannot handle this alone in Ukraine, calling on volunteers to form their own self-defense militias.

Atika Shubert is live in Odessa with the latest.

What is the situation on the ground where you are? Because what's so interesting is the way that this is spreading now from eastern Ukraine into Odessa.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, here in Odessa, today it's quiet. But there are still simmering tensions, a lot of fear and anger over what happened just a few days ago when pro-Russian and pro- Ukrainian government groups clashed. And dozens of people were killed when they were barricaded -- barricaded themselves inside the trade union building here and it was set on fire.

Now still an investigation ongoing into what exactly happened that day, how did the fire start. But clearly, what is left is a lot of fear, a lot of anger that this could happen again. A lot of people here are convinced that Odessa was not going to become violent. That they're sort of immune to what was happening in the eastern side of the country. But unfortunately, what those events a few days ago shown is that it is vulnerable to that kind of violence.

And unfortunately, on Friday, victory day, there are fears that that violence could happen again. As we are seeing in other parts of eastern Ukraine.

HARLOW: You know, the secretary-general of NATO calling this the, quote, "gravest crisis to European security since the end of the civil war." And you've got on one side some of the Russian separatists there saying they're going to hold a referendum on Sunday to try to basically give autonomy to parts of the east.

Does it look like they're going to follow through on that ahead of the May 25th election?

SHUBERT: Well, out of Donetsk, pro-Russian groups are saying that they're going to go ahead with the referendum, no matter what. Now of course the Kiev government is saying that any referendum that is attempted to take place will be illegitimate. But the question is, can the Ukrainian government gain control over these cities before that? So far that's still very much a question.

There's the fighting ongoing in Sloviansk, we've seen flair ups in Donetsk, and today in Mariupol, it seemed as though Ukrainian forces had taken control of the city hall. But then this morning, police left the building and it now looks like pro-Russian groups are back in control of the building, having hoisted up another Russian flag. So it's not clear what exactly they are in control of.

HARLOW: Yes. Back and forth and back and forth as this country falls further into chaos.

Appreciate the report. Thank you, Atika.

FEYERICK: Now to the search for Flight 370 and this morning we have a new sense of what Americans now think about the investigation and just what happened to this jet.

A new CNN/ORC poll finds most Americans support having the search continue. 69 percent think that it should. Only a little over half believe the plane is in the part of the Indian Ocean where search crews are now looking. 46 percent believe it might actually be someplace else. A vast majority, 79 percent, believe no one on board survived. About half of Americans don't think we will ever know what happened actually. 46 percent believe that, 52 percent think the truth will ultimately come out.

As for who was responsible for the plane's disappearance well, 66 percent say it is likely the actions of the pilot or crew were to blame.

HARLOW: And it has now been nearly two months since the jet went missing. Every day that passes, families say it grows harder and harder to make any sense of this tragedy to get any closure whatsoever.

Danica Weeks' husband Paul was on board. You see him right there. She says the hardest of all of this is trying to explain it to her young son.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANICA WEEKS, HUSBAND WAS ON FLIGHT 370: How do you explain to a 3 1/2-year-old that his father is not coming back? He can't -- that's the hardest part. He cries every day for him. He knows he's missing. Paul was a very hands-on father. And he just -- he just can't get the concept that, you know, daddy isn't coming back. And that's just gotten harder and harder for me. This is -- you know, for the families, every day things are hard to do. My -- I mean, my mother has been looking after us for the last 59 days. I find I'm incapable to do even the smallest of things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Of course the families want to know what happened, they want some answers. A lot of other people want answers, too, with the investigation seemingly stalled and search crews having turned up no wreckage. Not only single piece of wreckage yet. Top officials from Malaysia, Australia and China have gathered today to go over all the data once again and make sure they are really looking in the right place.

Will Ripley is live in Kuala Lumpur with that part of the story.

Will, is it fair to say that they have at least somewhat of a belief that they may be looking in the wrong place?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an interesting question, Poppy. And if they -- if they think that, they're certainly not saying it publicly at this point. But when you think about the fact that tomorrow marks the two-month anniversary of the plane's disappearance, I mean I think back to being here in Kuala Lumpur in the initial days after the plane vanished and then going down to Perth, Australia where there was so much optimism at one point that they were, you know, hours or days away from discovering this plane especially after those possible pings were detected in the Southern Indian Ocean.

And yet here we are now on the eve of the two-month anniversary and they found nothing. So there's obviously a healthy amount of skepticism out there around the world and perhaps even amongst the international team of investigators that are working right now in Canberra, Australia.

This is a team comprised of some of the top aviation experts in the world. Many of them were here in Kuala Lumpur. They're now down in Australia. We're talking about people from the U.S., the UK, from Australia, Inmarsat, the satellite company, Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, all of these minds in one room going over every piece of data that they have gathered thus far to figure out if they still believe, if their calculations, their educated guess still places this plane in this area in the southern Indian Ocean off western Australia.

And it's important work that they're doing, not only because of the fact that we're looking at an investment of 12 months and up to $60 million bringing in technology from all over the world, private companies, working with the government to search this area. But it's also so critical for the families of these 239 people who are living in a state of painful limbo, not knowing where their loved ones are right now, two months later. It's impossible to fathom. Nobody expected, frankly, I think that we'd be here at this -- at this point -- Poppy.

HARLOW: No. I agree. That's a very good point. Thanks so much. Appreciate it, Will.

FEYERICK: And time to bury the blue dress. Just cut it up into pieces. Get rid of it. Monica Lewinsky for the first time in a decade on the record about her affair with former president, Bill Clinton, and the lessons she's learned since.

HARLOW: Also straight ahead, the White House on lockdown. A man arrested accused of following President Obama's daughters. We are learning information this morning about what happened, straight ahead, after the break.

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HARLOW: Monica Lewinsky breaking her silence in writing for the first time about her affair with President Bill Clinton. It's an affair that led to his impeachment and made her a household name. In "Vanity Fair" Lewisnky writes that she deeply regrets what happened and that her boss took advantage of her but she insisted her relationship with the president was consensual. As for why she is speaking out now, Lewinsky wrote it was time to stop tiptoeing around her past and finally take back her own narrative.

FEYERICK: Charges this morning for a man police say followed a motorcade carrying the president's daughters through the White House gates. The building was shut down for about an hour. The man never got past the checkpoint. The Secret Service says the 55-year-old driver, Matthew Evan Goldstein, has a pass for the U.S. Treasury building which is right next door. He has been charged with unlawful entry. He is due in court this afternoon.

HARLOW: And stocks in Europe are down right now for four straight days. Investors worry about a potential civil war in Ukraine. Here in the United States, quick check of futures point to a slightly lower open this morning.

The big story today is Alibaba. That company filing for an initial public offering. The Chinese giant filed to raise $1 billion that will likely go much higher some analysts predict. It could be the biggest IPO in U.S. history.

What is this company? Major online retailers, think a combination of eBay, Amazon and PayPal. Putting this it into perspective for you the price tag is currently at $1 billion. When you look at Visa, Visa holds the top price for an IPO, $19.7 billion back in 2008. GM and Facebook round out the top three.

Alibaba is a true, fascinating Chinese success story. The company was founded by an English teacher Jeff Ma after he couldn't get a job anywhere else. Guess what? He even got turned down for a manager job at KFC. Look what he built now. Get this number now, four out of every $5 spent online in China is spent through this company.

FEYERICK: Yes. He who laughs last.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: Yes. What an amazing -- love to sit down and talk to him, right?

FEYERICK: Yes, you know what. Exactly. Absolutely. You know, can you imagine saying, yes, I really couldn't get a job at KFC, so yes --

HARLOW: Look what he got.

FEYERICK: I become a billionaire.

HARLOW: Right.

FEYERICK: That's how dreams were made.

Well, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Chris Cuomo joining us now -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Can't think of a name that typifies Chinese enterprise better than Alibaba. HARLOW: Right. We need to get to the bottom of that name, by the way.

CUOMO: It's worth a lot of money. That's for sure. I guess that's all that matters in that game right now.

So n "NEW DAY" we're going to be taking on the situation in Nigeria. Let's call it just what it is. The Nigerian nightmare. Eight more girls abducted, this on top of the almost 300 that were taken supposedly by this man and his group in Nigeria here, Boko Haram, which means Western education is a sin in the local language of Hausa there.

What is going on? Is the U.S. helping? Is that help being accepted by the Nigerian government? If not, why? The politics are getting a little confusing there, but the reality is all too painful. We're going to bring it home to you with the parents of some of these missing girls. For the first time they're speaking out. You're going to want to hear from them.

Plus, we're also going to talk with a U.S. senator and an official from the State Department about what the best course of action is for the U.S.

We also have what you're looking at right now. What is this? It is brand-new surveillance video of that teen, remember the kid that stowed away on that five-hour flight from California to Hawaii? We couldn't believe it was true. We couldn't believe he survived. And there he is, he's kind of like staggering out of the plane afterwards on to the tarmac. Fascinating to us medically and also why he did it. So we're going to break it down for you.

How about that, ladies?

FEYERICK: That is something to watch. In fact, I can't even imagine what -- how cold it must have been in that plane when he was up there. But boy, you know, where there's a will, there's a way.

HARLOW: Glad he made it.

FEYERICK: Unbelievable.

HARLOW: Absolutely. See you soon, Chris.

FEYERICK: Thanks, Chris.

HARLOW: Appreciate it.

Well, a heartbreaking call after a gunman opened fire at a workplace near Atlanta. What we're hearing about the shooting, straight ahead.

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FEYERICK: We are getting chilling new details this morning about what happened inside a FedEx facility near Atlanta when a 19-year-old armed with a shotgun, knives and bombs opened fire. Six people were hit including a security guard named Christopher Sparkman. He called 911. It is dramatic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: 911, what's the nature of your emergency?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1675 Airport Road, I've been shot.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: 1675 Airport Road?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kennesaw, Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Who did it, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, a young gunman. He's got a shotgun. I have been shot. I have been shot.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 DISPATCHER: OK. Stay on the line with me. OK. Stay on the line. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, tell my wife I love her. Please hurry. Please, God, hurry. I do not want to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Sparkman, the security guard that you heard there, is still in the hospital. He is expected to recover. The shooter, 19-year-old Geddy Kramer, took his own life. Police say they still don't have a clear motive for what happened.

HARLOW: #selloff, we're talking about Twitter. Big day for Twitter yesterday. Shares falling dramatically. Billions of market value, their market cap lost in a single day. We're going to explain why that happened in "Money Time" right after the break.

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HARLOW: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. It is "Money Time." All eyes on Twitter today after shares took a big hit yesterday in trading. The stock dropped 18 percent losing a full $4 billion off its market value, that's according to the "Wall Street Journal."

Why did this happen? Well, yesterday was the first day that initial investors in Twitter were allowed to sell off their company shares. The lock up ended, as they say on Wall Street. Looks like some of them did sell. This selloff comes despite a vote of confidence from the company's co-founders and CEO who all said they would not sell their shares.

Meantime, the "Wall Street Journal's" Twitter account was hacked yesterday by the Syrian Electronic Army, the same group that hacked the Associated Press account last year. Yesterday tweets showed the head of an American cyber security expert Ira Winkler on a cockroach. Winkler is the go-to expert for companies who have been hacked by this group. And "Frozen," that movie continuing to make headlines, this time for helping boost Disney's bottom line. The entertainment giant reported blockbuster earnings yesterday. Profits jumping 27 percent from last year thanks in large part to "Frozen." Disney CEO Bob Iger also posting what many believe may be the first photo from the set of a new "Star Wars" movie this weekend. A selfie of him and Chewbacca.

FEYERICK: Loved that movie, "Frozen." Unbelievable.

HARLOW: Everyone did.

FEYERICK: I'm waiting "Star Wars."

All right. Thanks, everybody. Have a great morning and great day. "NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the women, we mothers, started crying because we have nobody to help us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Bring back our girls. Growing pressure on the U.S. to help rescue the hundreds of kidnapped girls as senators are pushing to president to do more. We hear exclusively from parents in Nigeria for the first time.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Caught on tape. Just released, the moment that 15-year-old stowaway climbed out of the plane's wheel well. How he acted immediately after and what it tells us about how he survived.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking her silence. Monica Lewinsky speaking out for the first time in years about her affair with President Clinton but new questions this morning. Why is she talking now?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, May 7th, 6:00 in the East.