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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Israeli Air Strikes Target Gaza City; Militant Killings in Kenya; Pope to Meet with Abuse Victims

Aired July 07, 2014 - 05:30   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm John Berman. Great to see you. It is Monday, but we're forging ahead. Twenty-nine minutes after the hour right now.

This morning, an olive branch amid the cycle of violence in the Middle East. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reaching out to the father of the Palestinian teen killed last week. The prime minister office says Netanyahu expressed shock, called the crime despicable and pledged to bring the killers to justice. Now, this call came several hours after several Israelis were arrested for this murder.

Still many problems persist in the conflict. A teenager from Florida says he was beaten by Israeli Police. And Israel spent the night targeting rocket launchers in Gaza after Israel was peppered with attacks for another day.

Diana Magnay, live in Jerusalem for us with the latest.

Diana, what a busy night and morning it has been in that region.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. Well, it has been and there will be funerals today in the southern Gaza city of Rafah for some of the nine militants who were killed overnight as a result of Israeli air strikes.

Now there has been an ongoing exchange of rockets from Gaza and Israeli air strikes in response over the last few days. And really, the big question of course is whether this will escalate into a full scale conflict, whether the killing of those three Israeli teens last month in the West Bank followed by the terrible murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir here in Jerusalem could lead to a further resurgence of violence in this region.

And all it would really take is for one of those rockets coming over from Gaza to cause Israeli casualties for this escalation, possibly to escalate more. Now both sides on the Israel-Arab leadership are calling for restraints. Israeli defense forces are positions along the Gaza Strip, but in defensive position and their priority, according to the Israelis, is to de-escalate the situation. But you can see from the clashes that took place in east Jerusalem

last week after Mohammed's death that tensions are very high. You can see the video, the cell phone footage where Mohammed's cousin Tariq was beaten by Israeli Police, that shows the sort of anger that we were seeing on the streets. So very, very tense times now. Both Israeli and Palestinian officials trying to keep a lid on it. We'll have to see where it goes from here -- John.

BERMAN: You can see the tension in the face of that young American teen, as you say, who was beaten by Israeli Police. What is his status, at this point? He is with family at home in Israel right now. Any sense when he will be coming back to the United States?

MAGNAY: Just 15 years old he was, Tariq Abu Khdeir. No, for now he is under house arrest. He can't go back to the family home, but he'll be in a nearby neighborhood at his uncle's house. Nine days house arrest. The Israeli officials say that they want to conduct a full criminal investigation into what happened, though they haven't leveled any charges against him. The U.S. State Department says that they want a full account of this apparent excessive use of force. So you can expect that that is quite a lot of pressure on the Israelis to explain what happened and to get him back home as soon as possible -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Diana Magnay for us in Jerusalem, watching the situation there. Our thanks to you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A new video out of Iraq appears to show the self-proclaimed leader of ISIS. It surfaced on social media sites tied to ISIS and shows a man believed to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He's seen conducting prayers in Mosul -- right there, right there in a Mosul mosque.

This will be one of the first known appearances of basically the most wanted terrorist in the world, the extremist militant leader. He's called upon all Muslims to follow him and wage a holy war.

BERMAN: U.S. officials are hoping an ad campaign in Central America can help stem the wave of illegal immigration. The campaign will air through the summer. It is intended to show the dangers to children and families considering crossing the border.

In the meantime, President Obama is taking heat from both sides of the aisle over the immigration crisis. Democratic Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar who represents the district where most immigrants are crossing says the Obama administration is, quote, "one step behind."

ROMANS: Security screeners at overseas airports may ask U.S. bound passengers to turn on their electronic devices. They will want to make sure those devices work and they aren't just well disguised explosives. Gadgets without power won't be allowed on board and the passenger may get extra scrutiny.

This is the latest move from the TSA to beef up security at airports in Europe and Middle East, following threats from al Qaeda. There's a big concern that they are -- that they are really perfecting

their bomb-making technology into something that could be more easily hidden different kinds of ways.

BERMAN: And this will add another level of security in foreign airports coming to the U.S.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: U.S. Marine jailed for three months in Mexico showing signs of optimism he could be coming home soon. Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi has been held since he drove into Mexico with three guns in his trunk. He admits his mistake, says it was all an accident. And after early struggles Tahmooressi now says things are looking up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. ANDREW TAHMOORESSI, JAILED U.S. MARINE SOLDER: Once the media started covering it, maybe like a month into it, yes, things did start changing. And I think I have earned some respect from the guards here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Nice to hear his voice sounding strong. Tahmooressi could learn more at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

ROMANS: Just hope your airline pilot never have to do what you're about to see here next. A near collision caught on camera in Barcelona. That's a jet from Russia coming in for a landing. It has to pull up when another plane starts crossing the runway right in front of it. This plane ended up landing without incidence.

This wasn't the only close call this weekend. The FAA says air traffic controllers in Houston narrowly averted a potential midair collision between two planes.

BERMAN: You have never seen fireworks this close before. Drones sent up with cameras. Captured just amazing views. This is from a show in Nashville over the weekend. Some people, as pretty as it is, say they are concerned because the drone could pose a danger to people below, you know, what happens if the drone catches fire in the fireworks? You know, what goes up must come down.

ROMANS: Always that.

BERMAN: That type of thing. Falling drones.

ROMANS: A different type of threatening skies over Iowa. Take a look at this. This is the scene Sunday in Fayette County. You can see this super cell look at that rotating before it forms a brief funnel cloud. Now the storm didn't last long. But it wasn't after it tore the roofs at home, uproot trees and downed power lines.

BERMAN: Is it wrong when you say super cell? I think it's soft cell. Like "Tainted Love" from the '80s. ROMANS: It's wrong. Super cell is much important and cool.

BERMAN: It was a totally different band.

ROMANS: Totally.

BERMAN: It's a much edgier stuff and thought so.

ROMANS: "Tainted Love" is going to be in the back of my mind now for the rest of the day.

BERMAN: I know.

ROMANS: Thank you, John Berman.

BERMAN: You're welcome. You're welcome.

ROMANS: If there's one thing I learned from John Berman today it is that.

Indra --

BERMAN: Let's talk about the actual weather. Indra Petersons with a look at that.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Here we go, right past some '80s baby, they'll go what? Right over the head, guys. All right. Let's talk about what's going on. We're talking about this ridge of high pressure in the southeast, is going to be building in so some warmer temperatures for the start of your week.

Meanwhile, looking at middle of the section of the country, we're talking about the Midwest starting to spread into the northeast. We'll be watching some storms firing up right along where the jet stream is along with those cold front kind of kicking on through. So very easy to see those cold fronts kind of through.

The Ohio Valley gets the rain tomorrow and then eventually the northeast in through Wednesday. As far as the severe weather, we still have it. Looks like from New York today. Really the entire area into the Midwest still looking in the same region for that severe weather threat. And then a little bit more concentrated in through tomorrow. You'll see that kind of spreading really (INAUDIBLE).

Still, though, pretty big all the way in through upstate New York. Rain kind of scattered. Some places you see the heavier amounts. It's hard to pinpoint where is this we're talking about, kind of thunderstorms out there. But let's talk about the temperatures. Kind of warm in the beginning of the week and then behind the cold front as it does come on through.

We'll start to do some milder temperatures. So first in the Midwest and eventually by the middle of it, we could get those showers in the northeast. We'll see some of those milder temperatures here as well. So nothing too major hopefully as long as none of those major thunderstorms fire up. ROMANS: All right. Baby of the '80s, she said.

BERMAN: Yes. Rubbing it in. Rubbing it in.

PETERSONS: I know. I know.

ROMANS: Translation, Berman is old.

Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Asian and European markets mostly lower. U.S. stocks also lower after a three- day weekend. Stocks having a good run this year. Even just a half day of trading Thursday couldn't stop the Dow from crossing 17,000.

Let's talk about one reason for the market's run. Signs of an improving housing market.

But listen to this. A leading real estate expert told CNN Money the recovery is not a sure bet in housing. Last week rock bottom mortgage rates hit a 2014 low. Look at that mortgage rate, Berman. You can refinance again if you want. May home sales climbed the most in more than two years.

But Karl "Chip" Case, co-creator of that famous S&P Case-Shiller index for home prices said he's seen a more negative vibrations in housing surveys about home ownership than ever before. Case also said the most important gauge going forward will be new home construction. So watch that.

BERMAN: All right. Coming up for us, brutal violence. Kenya marred by another attack from militants. Why there is little hope for this to stop any time soon.

ROMANS: And free cash in California. And it's coming. It's real coming today. We're going to tell you how to get your hands on it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The death toll climbing this morning after unspeakable brutality in Kenya. Militants killed 22 people in separate attacks, 13 dead in a public market, nine dead at a police station. And the militants are not letting up, vowing to continue the bloodshed until their demands are met.

CNN's Nima Elbagir has more from London.

Nima, what can you tell us about these attacks?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the third very similar attack within the last month, John. And it really just further compounds the horror for those incredibly vulnerable people out in the Kenyan coastal area of Lamu County. This is absolutely the tourist heartland for Kenya. So this has hit them on many levels, one, of course, in terms of just the broad of vulnerabilities of people here. The sense that authorities can't get to the heart of this problem and

the continuing insecurity but also in terms of people's livelihoods. Back in May the United Kingdom actually took the pretty extreme step of evacuating its tourists from just further down from Lamu, further south in Mombasa, and raising their terror threat levels.

The U.S. terror threat level is already very high. It spans not just the coastal areas of Lamu and Mombasa but also in Nairobi. The U.S. actually advises its citizens to stay away completely from areas in which there is any kind of a broader, public presence.

The al-Shabaab/al Qaeda linked militant group has claimed responsibility for this, John, in spite of the fact that Kenyan authorities tried to dismiss its responsibilities last time. But the body of evidence is just growing that the insecurity in Kenya isn't going away any time soon -- John.

BERMAN: There could be demonstrations today which can only make things worse.

Nima Elbagir for us, monitoring the situation in London. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: And breaking overnight, 63 women and girls, 63 of them kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria have managed to escape. They were taken from their village in northeast Nigeria on June 18th. The militants killed 30 men and burned the village.

Now these individuals who just escaped are not the nearly 300 schoolgirls abducted April 14th. Those girls remain in captivity in a case that drew international outrage. These are more women who were abducted in June and 63 of them have managed to escape.

BERMAN: That's good.

The mother of the Georgia boy who was left to die in a hot car now under the watchful eye of investigators. It is unclear whether police suspect Leanna Harris played in any role but her reactions to the boy's death and statements at the police station have authorities giving her a closer look. The young boy, Cooper, his father Justin Harris remains in jail on murder and child cruelty charges.

ROMANS: All right. Happening today, a California probate court will examine whether Shelly Sterling had legal authority to manage the trust that controlled the Los Angeles Clippers. She used the trust to negotiate the sale of the team after her estranged husband, Donald, was caught making racial remarks. Mr. Sterling is now asking for the proceedings to be moved to federal court. The $2 billion sale to former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer hangs in the balance.

BERMAN: The man behind the hidden cash craze is back and sending money seekers on a Twitter treasure hunt. This time he is hiding cash in Southern California. Today's stop is in Fresno. Jason Buzi is the man behind the Twitter handle @hiddencash. He revealed his identity last month after anonymously leaving envelopes of cash in various parts of the country. There are people who find this amusing. I'm on the side of people who

thinks it's a little creepy. He says, you know, it's a social experience. I think it's a bit demeaning. Some people love it. Other people love it.

ROMANS: People who like free stuff, they really love free money.

BERMAN: Yes. Tweet us what you think, @christineromans. Tell her what you really think.

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: Thanks, John. First you put "Tainted Love" in my -- near the back of my head, now everyone will tweet me about that.

Hello, Kate Bolduan. Good morning.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: Hello, I was just listening in. Just watching and enjoying the show.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: We're great. We're great. OK. Good. A lot of news to cover. We're going to be following up story I know you guys have been following as well. The latest on the American teenager who's seen on amateur video being beaten by Israeli Police. He was taking part in a protest after his Palestinian cousin was murdered.

Why is he under investigation now and being held under house arrest?

And we're going to hear from the family's lawyer as well as a spokesman for the Israeli prime minister about this case and the escalating violence. What is the latest on why we're still investigating the deaths of four innocent teenagers in the back and forth between Israel -- between Israelis and Palestinians. What is the very latest, we're going to stay on top of that.

Plus, did the Obama administration ignore warnings about the current crisis in Iraq? We're going to talk with the man behind a new striking opinion piece. It came out in the 'Washington Post", examining how U.S. officials were warned about Iraq's prime minister and the possibility he could let Iraq collapse into sectarian violence. We are going to talk with the author of this piece. He's going to give us his take. What does he think also needs to be done now. What can be done now. We are going to talk to him about that.

BERMAN: Excellent.

ROMANS: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, guys.

ROMANS: Nice to see you.

BOLDUAN: We'll see you in a bit.

ROMANS: Happy Monday.

All right, coming up. Pope Francis meeting today with the victims of the church's sex abuse scandal.

Will this meeting heal scars or will this just open fresh wounds? We're going to take you to Rome next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Pope Francis looking to make amends and look to the future today. He's set to meet for the very first time with victims of the church's sex abuse scandal. Those victims will attend the Pope's morning mass before a formal sit-down with the Pope. But is the meeting coming too late? Some people say yes, far too late.

Delia Gallagher is in Rome with that.

Delia, and that's the big question. Is this a Pope who is opening up and trying to help heal these sex abuse victims or is it just a reminder that this church has been very late in coming to grips with this?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting, Christine, because this Pope has been much praised for many things. But this is the one area where he has been criticized. He's been criticized because he had met earlier with sex abuse victims. We're now 14 months into this pontificate and this is the first time Pope Francis is meeting with them. He's been criticized also because he has said that he felt the church has been unfairly attacked in the sex abuse crisis.

So this is an important meeting not only for the victims but for the Pope himself. Now it's a meeting which he announced when he was on the papal plane coming back from Jerusalem in May. And at that time, he said that Boston cardinal Sean O'Malley was helping him to organize the meeting.

Now Cardinal O'Malley is one of the members of a new commission which Pope Francis instituted called the Commission for the Protection of Minors to advise him on best practices for sex abuse. This commission is important because it's the first time that we've got a commission for the Pope made up. There's eight people on it, four of them are women. One of those women, Marie Collins from Ireland, is herself a sex abuse survivor.

This commission has been instrumental in helping the Pope arrange this morning's meeting. They are also present at the meeting. And the hope, Christine, is the victim's will be able to be heard in their journey on healing and that the Pope himself will be able to hear firsthand some of those stories, to allow him to publicly reiterate his commitment to zero tolerance on the part of the Catholic Church -- Christine.

ROMANS: What about the internal politics behind this? I mean, is there -- you know, you talk about the fact that some feel as though the church has been unfairly targeted, you know, for the child sex scandal there or abuse scandal. What's happening -- what are the cardinals telling him?

GALLAGHER: Well, what's happening now is what has been happening basically for the past 10 years, Christine, since this really came to light. And that is a continual effort to try to establish norms and protocols to keep all of the diocese around the world -- this is an international issue -- on the same page. And so what began really with Pope Benedict and the Catholic Church in the United States, establishing those norms that become a standard for all of the diocese and all of the cardinals are really on board with that.

The question is enforcing it.

ROMANS: Right.

GALLAGHER: And that's why a lot of the victims groups talk about accountability, in particular bishops' accountability even for those people who were not directly responsible but may have not, you know, handled the cases properly. So that's what they're looking at now, working with the civil authorities and trying to get accountability for bishops. Something the Pope has said he is in favor of -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Delia Gallagher, certainly will be a historic meeting. Thank you, Delia.

Reaction to the meeting in the U.S. is mixed. It's hopeful that it will be a step toward reform or is it a hurtful stunt.

George Howell has that from Chicago.

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one I spoke to questions whether hearing from victims is important. But critics here in Chicago, far from the Vatican, they question whether it's a grand gesture that really doesn't have any teeth to it. In fact, one victim I spoke to says more still needs to be done to address specific policy changes within the church itself. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't believe that we should get our hopes up so high as to believe that this is going to bring about some kind of global reform from Pope Francis. If he was really interested in making reforms, there's some basic things that he would be doing. For example, he would be focusing more on prevention, grown adults who have been hurt can heal ourselves even though it's painful. It's far more important to protect vulnerable children today who can't protect themselves.

I think he would stop talking about this sex abuse crisis as though it was history. And I believe, because we know this is still ongoing today --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Though no new policy changes are set to come out of today's meeting, the Pope says that part of the plan is to address best practices and encourage local responsibility for dealing with this issue head on in countries around the world.

George Howell, CNN, Chicago.

ROMANS: All right. Coming up, you may have had a barbecue over the holiday weekend, you may even had a beer this holiday weekend. Maybe a few beers.

OK, which states consume the most? Think about that for a second. I'm going to tell you the answer and early check of your money, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It's Monday morning. U.S. stocks lower. Futures are lower after a three-day weekend.

You know, stocks having a great run this year. The Dow topped 17000, that was on the half day of trading before your long holiday weekend. The Dow and the S&P 500 hit new highs. But this bull market is more than 1,000 days long. The longest without a real correction since the late 1980s.

But is it time to sell? Experts tell CNN Money no. The reason, no great alternatives. Bonds are just as expensive and foreign stocks can also be fickle.

So there you go. That's the verdict on CNN Money.

There's one thing you can find at most July 4th barbecues. Beer. "USA Today" tallied up the states that probably has the most beer drinking at Fourth of July celebrations.

Here are the top five U.S. states for beer consumption in 2013. North Dakota, 40 gallons a year per drinking adult. That's more than double the 19 gallons in the low consuming state of Utah, by the way. New Hampshire, Montana, South Dakota and Vermont round out the top five. In the U.S. overall believe it or not beer consumption actually fell a little bit last year.

There you go. You had to know that number, didn't you? To start your week.

"NEW DAY" starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They attacked him. He's 15 years hold. He's a child.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Caught in the conflict. New video showing an American teenager beaten by Israeli Police after the brutal death of his Palestinian cousin. We're going to talk with the teen's family lawyer about why he's under investigation as arrests are made in the murder of his cousin. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The face of extremism. A new video has

surfaced that appears to show the leader of ISIS delivering a sermon in Iraq. It is one of the first known appearances of the militant leader on tape. We'll look at what we can learn from this new video.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Close call. Dramatic new pictures of a jet coming in for landing almost hitting another plane on the runway. Why does there seem to be a rise in these near collisions and just how safe are the skies.

BOLDUAN: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

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

BOLDUAN: Good morning and welcome to NEW DAY. It is Monday, July 7th, 6:00 in the East. John Berman kind enough to be here with us. Chris is off today.

Decades of fighting and mistrust rising to new levels in the Middle East right now but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be trying to break the latest cycle of violence to calm things down a bit reaching out by phone to the father of a Palestinian teenager who was killed, believed to be burned alive. Calling -- the prime minister calling the killing a despicable murder. Several suspects are now in custody.

All of this as troubling amateur video surfaces showing the teen's cousin, a Palestinian American -- you see the video right there -- being allegedly beaten by Israeli Police forces.