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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Temporary Truce in Gaza; U.S. General Killed in Afghanistan; Ebola Outbreak: Second Infected American Treated with Experimental Drug

Aired August 06, 2014 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: the truce takes hold in Gaza. The second day of the temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel holding for now. But what is the status of the peace discussions?

We're live with the latest developments.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: A U.S. general assassinated in Afghanistan. An insider attack, catching victims by surprise. The ambush raising new concerns this morning over the safety of our troops in America overseas.

We'll take you live with the very latest on that as well.

BERMAN: Ebola outbreak. The second infected American now back in the United States being treated with an experimental drug, this as the virus rages across Africa. We'll tell you what is being done to stop this.

Good morning, everyone. Great to see you today. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

HARLOW: And I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for Christine Romans. It is Wednesday, August 6, 4:00 a.m. here on the East Coast.

We welcome all of our viewers both in the United States and around the world.

And up first this morning, peace in Gaza, for now at least. The 72- hour cease-fire now in its second day, and all is pretty quiet between Israel and Hamas. The people of Gaza emerging from the ruins with Israeli troops gone from the ground there.

The tricky part now: trying to make this last. Talks to build a lasting peace soon to get started in Cairo.

Let's go straight to John Vause who is live from Gaza for us this morning.

So, John, let's begin with this. What is -- what is it like today? Because it was pretty stunning to see the images emerging yesterday of people coming out of all those shelters, going into the markets, getting food. Some of them going home to try to see their homes, many of them destroyed. JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy, absolutely. And you say

it is peaceful between Israel and Hamas. But it's not exactly peaceful right now.

In fact, just a short time ago, there was a funeral here down one of the main roads. It was a funeral procession for a senior leader with the militant group Islamic Jihad. There was the sound of gunfire in the air as they passed by us here. They're now heading east towards Gaza City.

So, here with Israel's military offensive on hold, they're essentially burying their dead, be it senior military commanders or those who were trapped beneath the rubble and those bodies which were pulled from under the debris of those homes. Everyone here, though, keeping a close eye on what's happening in Cairo, hoping that maybe this cease- fire will turn into something more permanent. But in the meantime, they're dealing with some pretty big problems.

We know that the big issue is now getting electricity back on. Israel is reportedly working on repairing those transmission lines which supply much of Gaza with electricity. They were damaged last month. And last week, Gaza's only power plant took a direct hit.

And so, this territory here, 1.7 million people have been without power for more than a week now and that's a big problem, especially at the hospitals which are being powered by generators right now, trying to treat thousands of people who are being wounded.

Aid, too, is coming across the border from Israel. The U.N., the Red Cross, they're bringing in temporary housing because apparently, 10,000 homes have either been damaged or destroyed. They're also shipping in medicals and other supplies, work is beginning on trying to repair the water pipes, as well as the sanitation systems here, too. They have been badly damage.

And any talk of rebuilding in the longer term, well, that's pretty much on hold. They're waiting to see exactly what comes out of those negotiations in Cairo, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, and that's exactly what I wanted to ask you. I mean, you got Palestinian representatives already in Egypt. They got there over the weekend. You got an Israeli delegation either on its way or already there.

Interestingly, the United States not represented in these peace talks. What are we expecting to happen? And in terms of the U.S. role, is it pretty nil at this point?

VAUSE: Yes, look, as far as I understand, we have a delegation there now from Gaza. And that's significant because it's pretty hard to have negotiations with Hamas, without representatives there, directly from Gaza. There are other representatives from Hamas. But they live in other Arab countries. So, it's important to have the delegation from Gaza.

They managed to cross over the Rafah border into Egypt yesterday. So, they are there. They will be talking indirectly with the Israelis.

As to the American presence there, I'm not entirely sure how that is working out. But at least you do have the Israelis there. You have the Gaza representatives there. We're told, the list by Hamas, it's long. And Israelis are likely to agree to most of it.

One of its demands, they want the airport reopened back. It's pretty unlikely it's ever going to happen but they do want the borders reopened. And there does seem to be a growing sense there does seem to be an easing of the economic blockade of Gaza over the past seven years, if there is to be some kind of long-term political solution here.

For Israel, though, pretty much only two demands. They don't want Hamas to rearm in the short term. And in the long term, they want Gaza to be demilitarized. How you meet those two competing demands, lift the blockade, make sure Gaza is demilitarized, that's going to be the tricky part and even if there is an agreement, making it stick is going to be even harder -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Let's hope they can reach some sort of agreement. At least there has been relative calm there for the last two days.

Appreciate the update from Gaza, John. Thank you.

BERMAN: About five minutes past the hour right now. A two-star general killed in Afghanistan is the highest ranking U.S. officer to die in a war zone since Vietnam. General Harold Greene gunned down at a military academy in Kabul by a man believed to be an Afghan shoulder. More than a dozen other coalition soldiers were wounded, many of them Americans. Despite this incident, U.S. military officials insist Afghan forces are ready to take over security for themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The Afghan national security forces continue to perform at a very strong level of competence and confidence and warfare capability. They have had a good year, securing not one but two national elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Anna Coren is tracking the latest developments for us live from Hong Kong this morning.

Anna, what a blow?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, John, because as we know, the U.S. is just months away from pulling out of Afghanistan. Yes, they will leave a residual force of 10,000 troops but the majority of American soldiers will be out of Afghanistan by the end of this year, which is why the death of Major General Harold Greene comes as you say as such a blow.

Fifty-five years old, the highest ranking U.S. officer to be killed in Afghanistan. He and other senior U.S. and coalition forces were visiting this military academy on the outskirts of Kabul when this Afghan soldier opened fire with a machine gun from a window of a nearby building, spraying the group with bullets, killing Major General Greene and injuring at least 15 other soldiers.

Now, obviously, forces returned fire killing that Afghan soldier, immediately interestingly enough, John, he's not an insurgent. Officials have said he's an Afghan soldier. He's been with the Afghan military for some time and he went through the vetting process.

You have to remember that back in 2012, there was a spate of green on blue attacks in which dozens of coalition forces were killed. So, as a result there was a real crackdown in that vetting process, making it much tougher, much tighter so as to weed out the Taliban and insurgent plots and sympathizers. The Taliban, however, have come out and said they were not responsible for this attack, but they consider that soldier to be a hero.

Well, as to the family of Major General Greene, they're obviously heartbroken and devastated.

Let's have a listen to what Army Lieutenant Juanita Chang has to say on behalf of the family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. JUANITA CHANG, GREENE FAMILY SPOKESPERSON: He really believed in what he was doing over there and proud to serve. The family has asked that I pass along that they believe the area as well as Afghanistan and America has lost a true hero.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: More than 2,300 U.S. forces have died in what is America's longest war, they've been in Afghanistan for some 13 years. As I mentioned, the majority of troops will be pulling out at the end of this year, there will be a residual force of 10,000 troops who will stay on to train and assist Afghan forces.

But, John, as we know, despite what the rear admiral had to say before I began, you know, there are great concerns as to whether the Afghan forces can stand on their own two feet. Fight off the Taliban. Fight off the insurgents which are making ground every single day. There's real concern that once U.S. forces leave that the Taliban will take hold and that Afghanistan will once again become a safe haven for terrorists.

BERMAN: And that's the big picture question here. Our hearts go out to the families of General Greene, a man known for keeping his head down and doing his job.

Anna Coren covering that for us, thanks so much.

HARLOW: Well, the second American infected with Ebola virus is back in the United States this morning. Missionary Nancy Writebol airlifted out of Liberia and admitted to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. She's been treated in that same isolation ward as her colleague, Dr. Kent Brantly. Her family is hopeful right now that she will pull through.

We get more now from our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the family of the second patient infected with Ebola feels that she now has a fighting chance. She was medevaced out of Monrovia, Liberia, arrived here in Atlanta yesterday, and she was quite sick just a couple of days prior.

In fact, I want you to listen to how her husband described the situation to SIM USA president Bruce Johnson.

DR. BRUCE JOHNSON, SIM USA PRESIDENT: A week ago, he said, we were thinking about the possible funeral arrangements. Yet, we kept our faith. Now, we have a real reason to be hopeful.

GUPTA: Now, part of that hope may come in the form of this experimental therapy that she received. It is something known as ZMapp. It's a monoclonal antibody. And she received two doses while she was in Liberia. The first dose didn't have as dramatic an impact on her as it had on her colleague, Dr. Kent Brantly, but the second dose seemed to have a dramatic improvement for her, making her stable enough to actually fly here.

Now, she's on the hospital over here right behind me. She's going to be in the same isolation ward as Dr. Brantly. And the doctors are going to assess just how much damage, how much of an impact this viral illness has had on her body. Assess her heart, her lungs, her kidney, her liver.

And she is going to get the third of those three doses of that ZMapp on Wednesday. That's according to Emory University doctors who've been in consultation with the NIH and the FDA.

It is too early to tell how things are going to go for her in the long run. Although, again, doctors here are pretty optimistic about her recovery overall. She's also expected to see her family. Many of her family haven't seen her in some time. When they do get a chance to see her, it's going to be through this glass wall because she's in isolation. They'll be able to see her and they'll be able to talk to her because she'll have an intercom and phone in her room.

We're going to get more details on her recovery over the next couple of days, and as we get them, we'll certainly bring them to you.

Back to you for now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Sanjay. We look forward to hearing those updates. This Ebola outbreak having such a global impact, British Airways becoming the second airline to cancel flights out of West African countries that are being infected right now by the deadly virus. Here in the United States, Delta says it is monitoring the situation. And in the U.K., health officials confirmed several people are now quarantined with suspected cases of Ebola after returning from West Africa. They are being watched closely.

This disease spreads so fast that the United Nations Health Agency has called an emergency two-day meeting starting today in Geneva, they could declare the outbreak an international public health emergency.

Government officials in Liberia, and Sierra Leone and Guinea as well now enforcing widespread quarantines in their countries, closing schools, even tracking the movements of citizens who may be infected. As of this morning, there are 1,603 suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola, 887 of those patients have died.

HARLOW: Wow.

All right. Time now for an EARLY START on your money.

Market jitters back in full force. Stocks down once again. Asian shares ending the day lower there. In Europe, stocks are much lower in midday trading.

Here in the United States, ahead of the open, futures are pointing slightly higher this morning after a really ugly day on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow lost almost 140 points, almost 1 percent. It is now its lowest levels since May after record highs we were just seeing.

Why? A lot of it having to do with renewed fears that Russia will invade Ukraine. That is rattling markets across the globe.

A Russian criminal ring, also this headline, has stolen $1.2 billion online passwords. The massive collection of credentials was discovered by Hold Security firm, that is a firm based out of Milwaukee. This is likely the largest data breach stolen from more than 420,000 Web sites, ranging from some big names, to some really small Web sites. The criminals have mostly used those passwords to send spam for advertisements trying to sell different things.

What's interesting, John, is that they say, at least, according to all of these reports, that they really haven't broken into people's bank accounts or taking their financial data.

BERMAN: They're sending spam?

HARLOW: Which is what's valuable, they're sending things -- spam for things like different drugs they're trying to sell, medications, et cetera.

BERMAN: Crime to annoy you, at least for now.

All right. Fourteen minutes after the hour. Happening now -- is Russia readying to invade Ukraine? Troops lining the border this morning. We're live with the very latest after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Huge concerns this morning on the Russia/Ukraine border. Russian troops assembling by the thousands as officials in Moscow declare Eastern Ukraine is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Ukrainian forces now advancing on Donetsk, heavy fighting with pro- Russian rebels, keeping international investigators from finishing their work from crash site of Flight 17. This as Japan announces new sanctions against Russia, including freezing of assets of dozens of Russians connected to the conflict in Ukraine.

I want to bring in Nick Paton Walsh live from Donetsk right now in Ukraine.

And, Nick, these Russian troops massing on the border, a lot of concern.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, they're not enough in number to occupy parts of the Eastern Ukraine as many had been concerned that might be the Kremlin's game plan that seems to being dampened by any ideas of Western sanctions worsening against Moscow. But they are certainly in words of one NATO official to seriously interfere in what's happening here in Eastern Ukrainian. Special forces, logistics, anti-aircraft, armor, anything you might need to try and do something to perhaps change the tide of what's happening here in eastern Ukraine which has certainly separatist militants on their back.

Last night, in the city center, we heard sustained exchange of gunfire near where I'm standing a few blocks away. Hours earlier, explosion, in the distance. It's all this according to local officials and residents that the Ukrainian army is advancing in that direction, certainly was trying to yesterday. Two killed as they made those moves.

The question really is, does Moscow sit back and let the separatist insurgency here that many say is funded and even organized, let them in fact be set back or even crushed by the Ukrainian military, or do they intervene somehow?

That's why people are looking at the raise in the number of Russian troops on the border reported yesterday from 12,000 to 20,000 in just one week.

Tense days ahead, John.

BERMAN: Any signs what the intentions might be, Nick?

WALSH: Not at this stage. I would be surprised personally if the Russians openly intervene. They're making a lot of noise about a humanitarian catastrophe. Yes, there are a lot of people fleeing the city because obviously, the separatist militants that many accused Moscow of supporting and arming in fighting the Ukrainian military. So, yes, there's a war for many to flee here.

The fear is when Moscow starts talking about humanitarian catastrophes is that laying the groundwork for their eyes morally to militarily intervene in what they would call peacekeepers, and what the Ukrainian would call an occupying invasion force? We'll have to wait and see.

Moscow in a difficult situation here. It's created an internal appetite for intervention, domestic, TV networks constantly telling Russians of the threat, what they refer to as fascism in Ukraine and (INAUDIBLE) on the ground. And the Kremlin is often forced to be tougher than their own propaganda.

So, we have to see important they succumb to that and intervene, or whether we see the separatists here basically arming on their own, the Ukrainian army that is -- John.

BERMAN: I think that is the concern. Are they laying the rhetorical groundwork right now for greater intervention. Nick Paton Walsh live in Donetsk this morning for us. Thanks so much, Nick.

HARLOW: All right. Coming up next here on EARLY START, homes breaking into pieces this morning. A neighborhood evacuated as a landslide moves in. Dramatic new video, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Holy cow, that is not a good sound!

Residents in an upscale Utah community picking up the pieces this morning from a landslide that destroyed at least one home, forced dozens of evacuations. Officials worried for nearly a year about cracked soil on the hillside above the houses in this Salt Lake City community. But homeowners say they were told -- sorry, look at that. Homeowners say they were told they were safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDY PETERSON: Last night, all of these people came to the home at 10:30, said, no, you're fine. You can stay here.

We weren't fine. People that have experienced landslides know what's happening!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Wow.

The slide hit after severe thunderstorms rocked this area. The city plans to declare a state of emergency to seek federal help for these residents.

HARLOW: Imagine, a lot of them probably at home when that happened.

All right. Also this, a huge cleanup under way in the Las Vegas Valley. Torrential downpours over the last few days there triggered these devastating floods. Rescue crews as well as airmen from the air force base were called in to save a lot of those stranded drivers unbelievable video there. This one playing out -- video frankly like this, scenes like this playing out across the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God! That car is --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out! Get out! Hurry!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: It's always amazing to me, people can film this while things like this are happening.

In terms of the cleanup from all of these mudslides and flooding could last for days. Incredibly, thankfully, no injuries have been reported in all of this.

BERMAN: Twenty-six minutes after the hour right now.

Silence over Gaza for now. A temporary truce between Hamas and Israel is holding for a second day. But what is the status of the peace discussions. Negotiators in Cairo this morning. We'll take you there right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)