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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

First 50 U.S. Troops Arrive in Iraq; Obama Seeks Common Ground with China's Leader; South Korean Ferry Disaster Crew Sentenced; Michael Brown Family in Switzerland

Aired November 11, 2014 - 04:30   ET

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

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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now: more U.S. troops arriving in Iraq to take part in the war on ISIS. What these soldiers will be doing as the Obama administration shifts strategy in fighting these terrorists. We're live.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: In just hours, President Obama meets one-on- one with China's leaders, such an important meeting trying to find common ground in a tense relationship. We are live with what the president hopes he can accomplish.

ROMANS: Breaking news overnight: a judge delivering punishment for the captain of the South Korean ferry disaster. More than 300 people, mostly students, killed. We are live in South Korea with the new developments there.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now.

New this morning: 50 service members now on the ground in Iraq, paving a way for a larger contingent in the battle against ISIS. The Pentagon says they are the first to arrive since President Obama ordered 1,500 more troops to Iraq. The Pentagon spokeswoman says the troops are there to advise and train Iraqi forces. They're not there, says the Pentagon, in a combat role.

Now, we have new information on an airstrike that may have wounded the head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. U.S. officials say coalition forces did launch airstrikes in two parts of Iraq targeting ISIS leaders, but there is still no confirmation that al Baghdadi was injured in either attack.

While this is going on, an Egyptian Islamic militant group pledged obedience to ISIS. Up until now, the group is focused almost exclusively on attacks against the Egyptian government.

A lot going on in that region. Our senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is in Southern Turkey with the latest.

Good morning, Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Quickly, in reference to the Egyptian group you were mentioning right there, this is not the first obscure group that we have been hearing posting statements online declaring their alliance to ISIS. You've got groups doing the exact same thing across northern Africa and Libya, for example. It seems as if ISIS is gaining support rather than losing it when it comes to this broader fight against terrorism, with regards to the fate of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, still very muddy, unclear at this stage.

You have the Iraqis who say they carried out a strike in the town of al Qa'im. This right against the Syrian-Iraqi borders. They were targeting ISIS leadership there.

It is only the ministry of interior that is saying that in that particular strike, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi was wounded. The Iraqi minister of defense posting on the Facebook page about another strikeout, this one taking place outside of Mosul. And it is in that strike that he claims al Baghdadi was wounded and his number two Abu Muslim al-Turkmani was killed.

Now, the U.S. is saying that there was a coalition air strikeout side of Mosul that was targeting a ten-vehicle ISIS convoy. The U.S. says that they do not know who was in that convoy. They say that it presented a target of opportunity and therefore they launched numerous strikes on it.

At the end of the day, regardless of the fate of al Baghdadi, it is highly unlikely that his death or injuring him or even the top leadership of ISIS would decimate the organization. Al Baghdadi has restructured it since he took over from his predecessor Abu Omar al- Baghdadi in such a way so that the leadership can be taken out, but the organization can continue to survive. He has deputies, he has an entire cabinet, he has a war office. And some areas, cells operate individually and then in some parts, such as this city of Raqqa in Syria, their stronghold, they have government institutions that they have set up.

So, while al Baghdadi being wounded or killed most certainly on the one hand would be a victory for the coalition and its allies, it's unlikely to actually impact ISIS capacity to continue to carry out terror strikes and also to take over large swaths and maintain control of large swaths of both Syria and Iraq -- John.

BERMAN: No doubt. So, there's keen interest I think this morning in his well-being and we will keep an eye on that. Arwa Damon for us in Southern Turkey -- thanks so much.

ROMANS: All right. In just a couple of hours, President Obama has his first one-on-one meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two presidents set to enjoy a walk, a private dinner and tea.

Now, hanging over their meeting, an array of tensions between the two governments. Among them, U.S. concerns that pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong could end in violence. And word emerging today, Monday actually, that the U.S. Postal Service suspects Chinese government hackers are breaking into its computer system and stealing data on more than 800,000 of its employees.

Turning now to CNN's David McKenzie live in Beijing.

Good morning, David. You know, these stresses in the relationship over the past year have really started to mount, especially the cyber espionage and theft, the Chinese government always says it doesn't conduct, and the U.S. government strongly worries that it's hurting American companies and the American government.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. Good morning, Christine.

And, certainly, the U.S. Justice Department has tried to start prosecutions against members of the military here in China for hacking into the U.S. assets. That will be one of the thorny issues when both President Obama and Xi Jinping meet in those meetings and dinners you describe. It is a very rare face-to-face meeting between the two leaders of the two biggest economies. Both sides will try to mend some of the relationship that has deteriorated a great deal in last two years because of cyber theft and other issues of Chinese brinkmanship in the East China Sea.

We'll have to see if anything substantial comes out of it. But there will be a lot of face time between these two leaders, Christine.

ROMANS: A lot of face time, and certainly, the president needs to develop a relationship with this president because frankly, it is getting closer and closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin and obviously the U.S. is at odds with Putin and his strategy.

Let me -- tell me about this one-on-one. Has there -- can we expect the U.S. leader to get close to Vladimir Putin on this trip?

SAVIDGE: He has gotten close to him physically several times. Obviously, you cannot all be in a room 21 leaders without being in close proximity, including Vladimir Putin attempting to give the president of the U.S. a tap on the back.

But we have heard from the U.S. government and U.S. government official telling CNN and others that they did actually meet several times today. At least three times for around 15 to 20 minutes. President Obama met with Vladimir Putin. They discussed according to the official, issues of Iran, Syria and Ukraine.

Now, in 20 minutes, you can't solve global problems, particularly Ukraine, which the U.S. has accused the Russians of backing rebels in a fast deteriorating cease-fire in Eastern Ukraine. But, certainly, those face-to-face meetings might have value for the U.S. government to try and press home their point of view to tell Vladimir Putin to step back and potentially avoid stronger sanctions from the U.S. and its allies -- Christine.

ROMANS: I guess 15 or 20 minutes is something, David -- David, I just have -- sometimes we see you in Beijing and we can't see anything behind you. It's so foggy and muggy. But I can see. I can see behind you. You can breathe. What's new? MCKENZIE: You can see me and I can breathe. It is glorious weather

here in Beijing long it may at last. But I have a feeling when the world leaders leave, I might be getting out my face mask to talk to you once again.

ROMANS: Pollution, pollution. Thank you, David McKenzie. Nice to see you.

BERMAN: So interesting.

President Obama taking his most aggressive stand yet in favor of net neutrality. That is a free and open Internet. He called on the FCC to adopt the strictest rules possible to regulate Internet service providers such as Verizon and Comcast, basically treating broadband as an essential public utility like electricity for instance. The president endorses a popular proposal that would provide Internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally and not charge content provider for better access. It would be like giving Netflix faster Internet if they paid more for it.

ROMANS: Right. And some of the reporters covering the president noted that while the president is in China, someplace where they cannot freely even surf the Internet at all.

BERMAN: At all.

ROMANS: All right. Obamacare enrolments are likely to be significantly lower than the White House expected by the end of next year. Administration officials now project between 9 million and 9.9 million people will be insured under the Affordable Care Act by the end of 2015. Now, the Congressional Budget Office had been predicting 13 million enrollments. The sign up for the exchanges begins on Saturday. Open enrollment, everyone.

BERMAN: On this Veterans Day, there is an overhaul on the way at the V.A. Veterans Affairs officials announcing plans for a new customer service bureau that will train employees to focus on customer satisfaction. The idea is to make the V.A. more accountable to the millions of veterans it serves. The department is also looking to consolidate wide range of functions under a handful of regional offices. No timetable for the proposed changes.

ROMANS: Accountability is so important. But, you know, customer -- you think customer service and you think, oh, wow, is that just more -- is that more red tape? Is that going to really be a game changer? We hope it is.

Customer service and health care don't go together.

BERMAN: No.

ROMANS: So, we'll see how that works out.

Forty minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money.

Asian stocks mostly higher. Japan's benchmark index ending its day. Look at this, John, up 2 percent. That's a big move. The Bank of Japan stepping up stimulus measures. European stocks also higher. U.S. stock futures are higher. It means it could be another record day on Wall Street.

Yesterday, the Dow notched a 40-point gain. That made it a record. The S&P 500 ended its day with a 39th record close this year.

Now, a lot of businesses are saying thank you to veterans today with a bunch of free stuff. So, everyone, pay attention here. Just to name a few deals here. Veterans can get a free haircut today at great clips. A meal at Golden Corral or Hooters, a burger at Shoney's or Red Robin, a coffee at Starbucks, pancakes at IHOP, or Bob Evans. There you go, just a little way --

BERMAN: That's nice.

ROMANS: -- of saying thank you. Yes.

BERMAN: All right. Breaking news this morning: the captain of the South Korean ferry and some of the crew have been sentenced for their role of the deaths of more than 300 people. But the families of those killed are not at all happy this morning. We are live in South Korea ahead.

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ROMANS: Breaking overnight: a court in South Korea sentenced the captain of the ferry that capsized in April to 36 years in prison. More than 300 passengers perished in that disaster. Many of them high school students going on an outing. The captain was convicted of negligence, but acquitted of homicide.

I want to turn now to CNN's Paula Hancocks live in Seoul.

You know, good morning, Paula. I think the families here don't think this 36-year sentence is worth the lives of all the children who were lost. They are still upset, aren't they?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRSPONDENT: Absolutely, Christine. They are devastated by this verdict.

One of the mothers of the child who died onboard this ferry said the verdict and the sentencing was outrages. They are calling for the prosecutors to carry out an appeal. It looks like the prosecutors will at this point. Whether it is against the captain or all crew members on trial is not clear at this point.

But many of the families who actually in court when this verdict was read out were crying out, causing commotion, saying this, how can you call this law and what about our children's lives? And afterwards, they did say that they wanted the death penalty for all 15 of these crew members. They had been to many of these court cases. They have been to dozens of the days. They say it is very difficult for them to watch the people they believe killed their children.

But according to these three judges, the captain at least has been acquitted of murder. They believe to his account of his events that he had actually called for the ship to be evacuated. His order was not followed by those below him.

He has got 36 years, he was found guilty of negligence. Only one of the crew members was guilty of murder. This was the chief engineer who was sentenced to 30 years.

And the reason he was found guilty of murder is because he saw two fellow crew men who were injured, but did not help them and just escaped from the ship. No one has been found guilty of murder of the passengers themselves.

And as you can imagine, the families really are devastated. And also, on South Korean media obviously, this is a very high hot level of conversation at the moment. Many of the pundits are saying they are surprised they believe the sentences are fairly low.

So, you can definitely guarantee there will be an appeal. Of course, the families are hoping there will be stricter sentences if the appeal goes through -- Christine.

ROMANS: It's a national tragedy for South Korea.

All right. Paula Hancocks, thank you.

BERMAN: State officials are faulting the New York City clinic where Joan Rivers went into cardiac arrest for numerous violations of medical practices. A report says Yorkville Endoscopy failed to identify her deteriorating vital signs during the routine throat procedure. The 81-year-old comedienne died a week later. Investigators found a doctor took a cell phone picture of Rivers while she was sedated. They also blamed the clinic for letting an unauthorized doctor to operate when only credentialed physicians are permitted to.

ROMANS: Exclusive allegations that if true could derail the Jodi Arias sentencing trial and potentially even set her free. Listen to this. Attorneys for Arias are asking the judge to dismiss all charges claiming prosecutorial misconduct. The defense motion alleges thousands of files containing mostly pornography were deleted from a computer belonging to Travis Alexander while it was in police custody. Arias has already been convicted of murdering him, her ex-boyfriend. She is facing a second trial to determine if she should be sentenced to death.

BERMAN: Michael Brown's parents taking their call for change to the United Nations. Demanding the police officer who killed their son be arrested. That the police chief step down and asking for an apology from the Missouri's governor. We are live in Geneva with what they are hoping to accomplish, next.

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ROMANS: Welcome back.

In Ferguson, Missouri, gun sales are spiking. Tension is mounting there in anticipation of a grand jury's decision whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson. Wilson, you'll recall, shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August.

Gun shop manager John Stephenson says his sales are up 40 percent to 50 percent.

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JOHN STEPHENSON, MANAGER, METRO SHOOTING RANGE: The bottom line is, there's a lot of people that are scared and not necessarily -- I don't like to use the word "scared", I'd say very concerned. But there is an element that is -- they are fearing what's going to transpire next.

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ROMANS: Meanwhile, Michael Brown's family flew to Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday. They are set to speak before the United Nations Committee Against Torture later in the week.

Our international correspondent Erin McLaughlin is live for us now from Geneva.

And, Erin, what's the connection here? What can this -- tell us about their events and who they're expected to meet with.

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the parents of Michael Brown are expected to testify before a closed-door session here in Geneva before a U.N. committee later today. They're going to be presenting a brief that has been written with the help of a team of legal experts. The brief looking at the circumstances surrounding the death of 18-year-old Mike Brown, as well as the police response to the protests that followed.

And the brief also expected to include allegations of racial profiling, police militarization, as well as police brutality.

I spoke to one of the experts who helped write that brief. And he told me this is about creating a spring board for change across the United States. He said they went to great lengths to be able to be here. Crowd funding the trip under the #Fergusontogeneva -- Christine.

ROMANS: What can the United Nations actually do? What authority -- could anything change?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, it's important to point out this is part of a much broader review. Looking at the United States compliance with the U.N. Convention Against Torture. One of three human rights treaties the United States has actually ratified, that out of 10 treaties.

And this process last took place in 2006. So, it's really a regular review looking at a broad range of issues. Now, tomorrow, a panel of eight independent experts are expected to pose questions to the U.S. delegation here. On Thursday, the U.S. delegation is going to have the right of reply. And then, this committee is expected to publish its report with the findings on November 28th. Now, under the terms of this treaty, the U.S. is legally obligated to

follow-up on the recommendations -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you so much, Erin McLaughlin, for us this morning in Geneva, Switzerland.

BERMAN: Five minutes before the hour right now.

McDonald's is recalling more than 2 million Happy Meal toys. Which ones? Early start on your money, next.

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ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on money this morning.

Stocks at record highs. Futures pointing higher again right now could mean another record day if it holds. Yesterday, the Dow added 40 points to close at a high. The 23rd record high close so far this year. The S&P also closed at the high.

What a great few weeks for stocks, despite that scare at the beginning of October. Companies are reporting solid growth, and the economy is steadily improving.

McDonald's recalling a potentially dangerous Happy Meal toy. This Hello Kitty themed toy was given out in the last few weeks. Now, McDonalds has received two reports of children coughing up pieces of the attached whistle. The chain has recovered more than half of the 2.5 million toys made. Customers can change whistles for a new toy and free side item.

Today is the biggest shopping day of the year, and you've never heard of it. It's called singles day. It is a Chinese holiday that started as a way to celebrate being single and has turned into frenzy deal shopping for everyone. Now, retail giant Alibaba has racked up $5.7 billion in sales by about 5:00 p.m. in Beijing that's already more than last year.

Overall last Singles Day, total online sales were $8 billion. Look at how that compares with the U.S. That's way more on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Singles, so, 11/11, meaning singles. That's why it is Singles Day. It's only a few years old and it is a shopping phenomena. It shows you that even when there's a small movement in China that, you know, gains popularity, it is really big.

BERMAN: Never heard of this Singles Day.

ROMANS: Singles Day. We don't (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: Put the stocking up.

All right, EARLY START continues right now.

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