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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

All Quiet In Gaza; U.S. General Killed in Kabul; Ebola Outbreak; Russia Ready to Invade Ukraine?

Aired August 06, 2014 - 04:30   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: A temporary truce holding in Gaza for now -- now on the second day of a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel. But how long can it last -- can lasting peace be worked out? Negotiators from both sides gathering in Cairo this morning.

We'll take you there live in just a moment.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A U.S. general gunned down in Afghanistan, ambushed at a military academy in Kabul. This attack raising concerns about the safety of troops overseas.

We're live with the very latest.

HARLOW: Also, the Ebola outbreak. The virus raging across western Africa this morning. Communities quarantined airlines banning travel. This as the second infected American gets treated here in the United States. We'll get you an update on their conditions, straight ahead.

Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Thirty minutes past the hour right now. We want to welcome all of our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

Up first, silence in war-torn Gaza. The 72-hour cease-fire now in its second day and all is quiet between Israel and Hamas. The people of Gaza slowly emerging now from the ruins. The Israeli troops are gone. But now comes the real challenge, talks to build a lasting peace that will start soon in Egypt.

That is where we find our Reza Sayah live in Cairo this morning.

Reza, what's the status of these discussions?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We just talked to a member of the Palestinian delegation, and he tells CNN that they haven't started talking to the Egyptians yet. But we do know that the Israeli delegation is here in Cairo. So, this process is slowly and steadily moving forward. The Israelis arrived here last night. The Palestinians, of course, were here already. They arrived over the weekend. We do have some information about the format, about the arrangements

of the talks. According to a senior official here in Egypt, these are not go to be direct talks. In other words, you're not going to have the Israelis sitting across the table from Palestinians. These are going to be indirect, where in one location of Cairo, you're going to have Israelis talking to Egyptians. In another location in Cairo, you're going to have the Palestinians talking to the Egyptians. And the Egyptians are going to be the go-between between, shuttling back and forth between these two groups.

Obviously on the agenda: an immediate cease-fire to the current conflict.

But much of the world wants more. They want a permanent truce. And one of the people calling for that is the Pierre Krahenbuhl, he's the head of the U.N. Works and Relief Agency.

He's what he had to say about the prospects for a lasting truce.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERRE KRAHENBUHL, UNRWA: A cease-fire in itself is not enough. It is essential because it's life-saving and it was needed now. But we cannot have the situation in Gaza simply returned to the pre-existing conditions of the blockade. This is -- was already unsustainable before this conflict, and it will be worse because of the destruction of property, infrastructure and the loss of life that has occurred during this conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAYAH: That was Pierre Krahenbuhl of the U.N.'s Relief and Works Agency, making reference to some of the demands of the Palestinians, some of Hamas' demands. Obviously, Israel has demands too, John. History has shown that these two sides have both failed when it comes to compromising in the talks. We're going to see if this time, anything is going to be different.

BERMAN: And there are interests, Reza, in both countries obviously pushing for something more lasting as well. They don't want just the pause in the fighting they had after 2009, 2012. A very positive development, at least that all the parties there are.

Our Reza Sayah for us live in Cairo this morning -- thanks so much, Reza.

HARLOW: The U.S. military officials reeling from the loss of a two- star general this morning. General Harold Greene is the highest ranking U.S. officer to die in a war zone since the Vietnam War. He was killed at a military academy in Kabul by a man believed to be an Afghan soldier. More than a dozen other coalition soldiers were wounded in that attack. Despite this incident, U.S. military officials insist Afghan sources are ready to take over security in that country 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)

HARLOW: Anna Coren is tracking the latest developments for us live from Hong Kong.

And, Anna, you know, we saw so much of this in 2012 and it was devastating. And they really increased the vetting process in terms of who was serving and being trained by Americans in terms of the Afghan forces. And now, this happens as the U.S. prepares to wind down and eventually pull out by 2016.

How does this change the equation?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, it's absolutely devastating. And I think that's what's so difficult for everybody to fathom, is that this general, the most -- the highest ranking U.S. officer to die in the war in Afghanistan, killed just months before the majority of forces withdraw from Afghanistan and complete their mission.

Major General Harold Greene, he's 55 years old. He was there with a group of other senior American coalition forces at this military academy outside of Kabul. It was a routine inspection. Something they often do.

And shortly after they arrived, an Afghan soldier fired a machine gun from a nearby building, spraying the group with bullets, killing the major general, and as you say, injuring more than a dozen others.

Now, officials say that this was an Afghan soldier who fired that machine gun. This wasn't a member of the Taliban.

And I think that is what is extremely frightening. This is somebody that the Americans were working with. They're training, they're assisting these people and for them to turn on them like this is just crushing.

Just really destroys and undermines everything that has been worked towards the last 13 years. He was killed shortly after by forces.

The Taliban, of course, have come out and said he isn't one of theirs, but they have praised him as a hero, obviously for the family of major general green, they're heartbroken and devastated.

Let's now listen to what the family spokesperson had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: You know, Poppy, I was in Afghanistan back in April for the first round of elections. And yes, the Afghan military forces certainly did a great job in providing security, but that was for one day. We heard from Rear Admiral Kirby a little earlier, believing that the Afghan forces can stand on their own two feet once the U.S. withdraws.

But I can tell you the reality on the ground is very, very different. There are real concerns that once the Americans pull out, that this could all fall apart. And that all the blood and treasure that has been spent, all the hard work, everything that has been built, all the progress made over the last 13 years, will be lost, Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, a big, big question there. Very troubling. And our hearts go out to his entire family. What a devastating loss.

Anna Coren, thank you.

BERMAN: Thirty-seven minutes after the hour.

The second American stricken with the Ebola virus back in the United States this morning and getting treatment. Nancy Writebol was airlifted out of Liberia and admitted to Emory University Hospital In Atlanta. She is in the same isolation ward as her colleague, Dr. Kent Brantly. Her family hopeful how that she will pull through.

Let's get more now from CNN's 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 a 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)

HARLOW: All right. Thanks to Dr. Sanjay Gupta for that.

Now, when you look at this big picture, the Ebola outbreak is quickly spiraling. British airways becoming the second major airline to cancel flights out of West African countries impacted by this deadly virus.

Here in the United States, Delta Airlines said it is monitoring the situation. In the U.K., health officials have confirmed several people are quarantined with suspected cases, possibly Ebola after returning from West Africa. They're being watched closely. The disease is spreading so fast, the U.N. Health Agency is calling an emergency two-day meeting starting today in Geneva. They could declare the outbreak a public health emergency.

Meantime, government officials in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea now enforcing widespread quarantines in their countries, closing schools, even tracking the movement 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.

BERMAN: Such a high mortality rate.

Intelligence officials in the United States trying to find at least one new leaker who is exposing government secrets. As first reported by CNN, government officials want to know who leaked documents about terror suspects. They were dated from last August and appeared in a story in the news Web site Intercept. NSA leaker Edward Snowden had already flooded the country at the time the documents were written. So, the suspicion is that it was someone else, someone new.

HARLOW: All right. Time now for an EARLY START on your money. Market jitters back in full force. Stocks are down. Asian stocks

ending the day lower. In Europe right now, midday trading stocks are much lower. Here in the United States ahead of the open, futures are pointing slightly higher. We had an ugly day on Wall Street yesterday.

The Dow lost 140 points that's almost 1 percent. Down to its lowest level since May. Why this happening? A lot of it because of global tensions, renewed fears that Russia may invade Ukraine, that is rallying markets across the globe.

Also really big headline in the cyber security world this morning. A Russian criminal ring has stolen 1.2 billion online passwords.

BERMAN: One, two, three, four, five.

HARLOW: A lot. A lot.

The collection of credentials discovered by Hold Security is likely the largest ever.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX HOLDEN, HOLD SECURITY: What they managed to accomplish, and it's global, how they managed to accomplish, is just mind-boggling. These hackers managed to run a virus computer network that broke into 400,000 different Web sites.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Four hundred thousand different Web sites. That was Alex Holden who runs the security firm out of Milwaukee that actually discovered this. No word yet on which companies are affected. They're not making that public. But he did say this ranges from huge household name Web sites, et cetera, just smaller Web sites.

So far, they haven't tried to get into people's bank accounts, which is interesting. They're using this information, believe it or not, largely to send spam e-mails.

BERMAN: Massive theft, a gang operation designed to annoy you.

HARLOW: I know. That's what you've been saying whole morning.

BERMAN: I mean, it's crazy.

HARLOW: But let's hope it doesn't get worse, but it just shows how unprotected a lot of us are like you with one, two, three, four, five password.

BERMAN: My password if 12345. But it's not ABCDE. Or 11111. Or Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Now, to the crisis in Ukraine, war raging between pro-Russian rebels and Ukraine's military this morning, as the new threat lines the border. Is Russia ready to move in? We're live with what's happening right now.

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HARLOW: All eyes on Ukraine this morning as fears mount Russia may be planning a large-scale invasion. Thousands of Russian troops assembling on the border as officials in Moscow declare eastern Ukraine as on the verge of a, quote, "humanitarian catastrophe."

Ukrainian forces now advancing on Donetsk. Heavy fighting with pro- Russian rebels, they're keeping international investigators from finishing their work at the crash site of MH17. This as Japan announces new sanctions against Moscow, including the freezing of assets and dozens of Russians connected to the conflict in Ukraine.

Let's go straight to Nick Paton Walsh, live from Donetsk this morning.

Nick, for our viewers who didn't see your reports last night. It was incredible. I mean, you were crouched down, could barely have the lights on, having to whisper because the shooting and the fighting was just blocks from where you are. Has this situation improved at all?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's very quiet this morning.

HARLOW: Yes.

WALSH: Again, normal life resuming. Strange, the hours we saw last night, we heard explosions in the distance. And then as you say, yes, just a few blocks from where we are, what certainly must have been an exchange of fire between two sides, giving the suggestion that perhaps they thought the militants, separatist militants of the Ukrainian army was very close indeed.

Now, we know that they are advancing over my shoulder here behind the hill that you can't quite see, into one of the southeast districts of Donetsk city proper, two dead in fighting there, shelling, they're moving as close as they can. Apparently not much of a presence on the streets so far this morning, but it just increases the moment where many fear we'll see fighting more openly on the streets here in central Donetsk, separatist militants edgy.

And, of course, that raises the question what does Moscow do? They have now double in a week the forces on the streets they have on the border to about 20,000. That's special forces, anti-aircraft, artillery, armor, very mobile -- as one NATO official put it, the capacity to seriously intervene here in eastern Ukraine.

I think most people recognize there aren't enough troops there to actually occupy part of this country.

So, Kremlin faces a complex decision, do they risk Western sanctions? And support openly on the ground the separatist militants they've armed and backed from the beginning, many say, or do they let go advance to the Ukrainian army that's taking ground extremely fast? Poppy? HARLOW: Appreciate the update, Nick. We'll get back to you later in

the show. I'm glad things are calmer there than they were certainly last night. Thank you.

BERMAN: About 10 minutes to the hour right now.

We have dramatic new video to show you this morning. A woman stranded in a raging flood as her car swept into the water comes barreling toward her. We'll tell you what happens next, right after the break.

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BERMAN: A huge cleanup under way right now in the Las Vegas Valley. Torrential downpours over the last three days triggered these danger floods. Rescue crews as well as airmen from the air force base called in to save stranded drivers there. You have dramatic scenes like this playing out all over the city.

HARLOW: Wow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out! Get out! Hurry!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So the cleanup from all of these mudslides and this flooding could last days. Luckily, no injuries reported.

HARLOW: Also, cars emerged in Albany, New York, flash flooding pouring through that city on Tuesday, leaving several hundred people without power. Many residents forced to come to grips with the fact that they have lost everything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's unreal. That's the word. It's very unreal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the time I get back to my car, open the door up, the water was coming up and flooded me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My closet in the bedroom, it went all the way up to my knees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, the Red Cross had to set up a shelter in a local middle school there. It's going to remain open for, of course, as long as needed. But those are so dramatic from that flash flooding.

Well, also this, this morning, two giant wireless carriers they were looking to merge now. No merger, deal off.

BERMAN: Say it ain't so.

HARLOW: It is so. An EARLY START on your money, next.

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HARLOW: Welcome were back.

Time now for an EARLY START on your money.

Fears over the growing crisis in Ukraine really rattling markets across the globe. Asian stocks ending the day lower. In Europe, midday trading stocks are much lower.

And here in the United States, ahead of the open, futures have turned down slightly. A really ugly day on Wall Street yesterday. The Dow lost 140 points almost 1 percent, it's now at its lowest level since May.

It's a big week of potential mergers frankly falling apart. Sprint has reportedly given up trying to acquire T-Mobile. This plan would have joined the country's third and fourth largest wireless providers. It was, of course, attracting a lot of attention from antitrust regulators and according to "The Wall Street Journal" sprint is standing down because of all of those potential legal hurdles.

Sprint and T-Mobile shares are both down steeply ahead of the open here.

Also, a mega media merger that could have been apparently is not going to be. Rupert Murdoch withdrew his bid from Time Warner, CNN's parent company. Twenty-First Century Fox shareholders were not thrilled about Murdoch potentially bidding too much, and a dip in Fox's stock price, along with Time Warner's refusal led Murdoch, he said, to back down from that. Twenty-First Century Fox bounced on that news late yesterday, Time Warner shares are down about 10 percent right in pre- market trading.

BERMAN: Yes, I notice that one.

HARLOW: Did you pay attention to that?

BERMAN: I paid attention to that story. Just saying.

HARLOW: Just saying.

BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.

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