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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Ferguson Officials Announce Plans; Qatar Blocks U.S. Couple's Exit; Cyber Monday Madness; Rangers Try to Save the Rhino; Stocks Down Around the World

Aired December 01, 2014 - 05:30   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: Focusing on Ferguson, President Obama is spending his day talking about Ferguson with his cabinet, with civil rights leaders, and police. Can they come up with a strategy to lessen the anger between communities and law enforcement?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The nightmare for U.S. couple in Qatar is not over. After they were cleared in the death of their daughter, that country still will not let them leave. So what's going on?

ROMANS: It's Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year. What companies are doing to get you to break out your credit cards? Are you are decorating your laptop?

BERMAN: The war on Cyber Monday. They write books about this. There are news stations that do full segments about the war on Cyber Monday that you are fomenting.

ROMANS: But more people today will not shop online than will shop online. So think about that for a second. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman. It's 31 minutes past the hour right now. It's great to see you this morning. There are big series of meetings at the White House today about Ferguson and the aftermath that happened there.

The president will devote his day to discussions with law enforcement officials, young civil rights leaders, elected officials and faith leaders. The meetings will cover everything from federal programs that provide military equipment to local police to trying to build trust between officers and the communities that they police.

Attorney General Eric Holder will go to Atlanta today with the same mission today. He holds a series of nationwide public conversations that will begin with a meeting and a speech tonight at the Ebenezer Baptist Church.

ROMANS: Now the conversation on Ferguson extending to the football field, Sunday night. Five members of the St. Louis Rams raised their arms as they took the field against the Oakland Raiders holding their arms up in that "Hands up, Don't Shoot" gesture that has become one of the symbols really of the Ferguson protests.

In Ferguson, Missouri itself, the streets were relatively calm, quiet on Sunday following the resignation of Officer Darren Wilson and the city's announcement to plan increase minority representation on its police force.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is there for us in Ferguson with more this morning.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the streets of Ferguson, Missouri have quieted dramatically in the last week since the riots and the violence of one week ago. But Darren Wilson is no longer a member of the Ferguson Police Department.

He turned in his resignation over the weekend. The mayor of the city accepted it and has also said that there would be no severance package or payments made out to Darren Wilson.

The mayor also focused on Sunday talking about bridging the gap between the African-American community here in Ferguson and its police department also announcing a series of steps and incentives to bring more African-American police officers to the police force.

But the mayor here sounding squarely like he wants to focus on the future and turning this page on this bad --

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MAYOR JAMES KNOWLES III, FERGUSON, MISSOURI: I think it's best that at this point, we continue to move on as a community. Officer Wilson and his family have moved on and at this point, the city of Ferguson is looking to, you know, again talk about how we can bring this community together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: And John and Christine, really the focus also is on getting the businesses that have been shut down over the course of the last week, back up and running. It is interesting as you look up and down many streets here in Ferguson stores that had to board up.

Just kind of organically people have started painting these boarded up windows, kind of symbols that have been left behind after such a terrible week -- John and Christine.

BERMAN: Thanks, Ed. Breaking news this morning, Israeli security forces shot a Palestinian woman in the west bank a short time ago. That after she allegedly stabbed a civilian and attempted stab a soldier.

An Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson says the civilian was slightly wounded. The spokesperson says the alleged attacker, a teenager, was taken to a nearby hospital with serious injuries. Security forces now said to be investigating.

After nearly two years jailed in Qatar, an American couple's hope for freedom it was raised and then it was shattered. Matthew and Grace Huang were charged with starving their adopted daughter to death in 2013.

They were convicted of a lesser charge. They were sentenced to three years in prison. On Sunday, an appeals judge set the couple free, but when they got to the airport in Doha, immigration officials blocked them from boarding their plane.

Matthew Huang tells CNN International that he and his wife are tired of this endless legal wrangling.

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MATTHEW HUANG, TRAPPED IN QATAR (via telephone): Today's ruling, did we hear truth from any justice or anyone involved in the court process? And now again, we are finding ourselves stuck and waiting while we were promised that we would be already allowed to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Secretary of State John Kerry is speaking out over Huang's plight praising the appeals court decision and saying it is time to let them return home.

ROMANS: All right, new concerns about sports-related concussions this morning. After the body of missing Ohio State football player, Kosta Karageorge, was discovered on Sunday. He was found in a dumpster with a handgun nearby. Police say it appears he died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

His parents say he had several concussions and confusion spells and he complained of those symptoms before he disappeared following practice last Wednesday. In a statement, Ohio State Athletic officials said they were shocked and saddened by his death. His body was identified through tattoos.

BERMAN: So how far you can go on Facebook or on a Twitter post. It may be decided in a case before the Supreme Court this morning. Anthony Elonis is hoping to get his conviction for threatening his soon-to-be ex-wife overturned.

Elonis posted graphically violent rap lyrics about his wife on Facebook. He was sentenced to 44 months in prison. He claims the posts were artistic and cathartic free speech. So far he has lost his appeals.

Now at the court today, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be back on the bench. This follows heart surgery that she had. She had a stent implanted last week.

ROMANS: All right, 36 minutes past the hour. Happy Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, U.S. sales expected to reach a record $2.6 billion. That doesn't count sales overseas.

CNN international correspondent, Jim Boulden joins us now from an Amazon warehouse in the U.K. Jim, is today Amazon's big day worldwide? JIM BOULDEN, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christine, that is an interesting question. Because last year, it was Amazon U.K.'s biggest one day. They sold 4.1 million items here in the warehouses around the U.K. But I have to tell you, Black Friday was so successful here. We had arrests in some stores.

Amazon had 5.5 million items sold on Friday. So they can't say that today, Cyber Monday, will be its biggest one day, they just aren't sure. The time people that shop the most at Amazon is in the evening.

Not at work that some people might think, but when people get home. So they won't know until tomorrow whether this will be its biggest one day ever -- Christine.

ROMANS: It really is remarkable to think of Cyber Monday as something that didn't even exist in the early 2000s, right? It was the industry made up this new label to try to get you to spend a little bit more money to stretch out the sales weekend.

Jim, it is all blending together. There is buying on Thursday. There is buying on Friday. There's online buying today. It's all kind of one big ball of wax.

BOULDEN: Yes. Well, Amazon says they are putting 3,000 items in special deals today. So they are hoping that will entice people to come. But then we have Manic Monday, don't we, Christine. Next Monday. It used to be you shop today because you were afraid it would not be delivered in time for Christmas.

Well, we've moved beyond that, haven't we? We know things can be delivered within days. So now here in the U.K., they are talking about Manic Monday next week saying, well, maybe the 7th of December is the last time you can really risk shopping online.

So we'll have to see whether anybody -- but, you know, we'll in a deflationary era now in Europe and I have to say, I think, some people are going to wait and shop a little bit later, a little bit closer to Christmas.

ROMANS: Well, just between you and me, Jim, the best bargains are just before Christmas and just after. If you are shopping for yourself, maybe wait until later. Jim Boulden, thank you so much. Manic Monday --

BERMAN: The Bengals were so big in the U.K.

ROMANS: There is another holiday made up, Manic Monday, all right.

BERMAN: All right, 38 minutes after the hour, a travel nightmare for millions of people might finally be over this morning. We're going to show you the incredible waits that some people had to endure this weekend, one line, allegedly, a mile long.

BERMAN: People are sending in pictures of the line, a mile long in Chicago.

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ROMANS: Those security lines, those flying home from the holiday weekend faced another round of travel woes. Thousands of flights were delayed. Hundreds more were canceled on the busiest travel day of the year.

The security line at Chicago Midway International reportedly over a mile long, people are sending me pictures on Facebook showing me just like all these people in line. Nearly 50 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more for Thanksgiving.

That's the highest volume since 2007. I flew back on Friday so I missed all that. But I am always terrified.

BERMAN: So you do not care about all the people who were stuck in line?

ROMANS: I feel your pain.

BERMAN: One person who narrowly escaped being imprisoned at the airport for hours is Indra Petersons. Good morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I have never been more lucky. I had to go through three airports on Wednesday. All has snow, all smooth sailing. I made it out and back home. There is another system out there today generally light.

We shouldn't see too many problems with it. Northeast back down through Texas bringing some light rain, but also today in through the Midwest, we are going to be talking about a chance for some freezing rain. That could be a trouble spot.

In through tomorrow, you are actually going to watch this cold air bring in a chance for flurries. D.C., during commute time, you are going to see a little bit of that wintry mix and making its way into northeast, same thing with a wintry mix and kicking out of here.

The cold air is making its way in. You can see the divide. D.C., almost 70 degrees today, meanwhile, single digits out towards Minneapolis. This cold air, of course, is making its way in.

Temperatures are dropping significantly. Some places 30 even 40 degrees from what we are seeing today down into tomorrow. You will feel that bite. It will last for one day. That's the good news.

The other big story is out west, huge low out there bringing definitely plenty of showers. We had drought conditions. So there is a plus side, but heavy amounts of rain after drought conditions with concerns of flooding over the next several days.

ROMANS: All right, thanks, Indra. Let's take a look at what is coming up on "NEW DAY" for this new month. Same old guy, though, Chris Cuomo. Hi, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": I appreciate the enthusiasm, Christine. It's nice to see you both there. J.B., good to see you fighting back a little bit on Christine. She's gone a little rogue with you --

BERMAN: What is up with that?

CUOMO: That's all right. You'll fix it. We will see what is going on in Ferguson. It is not over and for real reason. It is not just about the desire to cover it. There are issues that exist there that exists all over the country and that's why it's become such a flashpoint.

So much so that you now have President Obama meeting with cabinet members to figure out how to deal with these fundamental tensions that exist between authorities and communities all over the country.

The question is, what can you do? These issues have existed for a long time. So we will see what the strategy is there. We will bring in the mayor of Ferguson. We have talked to him a bunch. He says he has a plan. We will see what they are going to do there.

Also, Ray Rice, you know, what's going on with the NFL and their policy has been confusing at best. The law made that clear. Ray Rice won his appeal through arbitration. He and his wife are speaking out.

The question is how are they dealing with this and how is the league dealing with it and what is his future in the league? Will somebody take him on?

And then we are also going to be dealing with what said about Obama's kids. I think that there are very few lines in politics that don't get crossed these days, but when that one got crossed, I think it was too much. We're going to take it on and tell you what.

ROMANS: If she wasn't a congressional staffer, would anybody have cared? I mean, there could be people talking about Obama's kids online. You know, it's a free country.

CUOMO: It matters exactly because she is a big shot congressional staffer. It matters because the fact that she did this and nobody else knew is hard to believe. The apology itself, going to prayer, now that is some salve, a lot of trouble about it. You don't go after this guy's kids. We will discuss it.

BERMAN: All right, Chris, look forward to hearing that discussion.

Big effort under way to save one of the world's most endangered animal. CNN goes along with rangers in South Africa as they try to protect the rhinos from poachers. The remarkable effort to save these beautiful animals ahead.

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BERMAN: A remarkable new effort to save a beautiful animal. Rangers in South Africa's Kruger National Park say they are at war to save rhinos from poachers. They are going to stunning efforts to do so. CNN's Diana Magnay joins us now with more inside look at a very complicated effort -- Diana. DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. What they are doing is they are moving rhinos from one of these poaching hot spots in the Kruger National Park to a much safer area within that park. This park is the size of Israel. It is absolutely gigantic. It shares a very long 300 kilometer border with Mozambique.

Most of the poachers, the rangers in the park tell us, are coming across the border from Mozambique and killing these rhinos, which effectively are carrying the valuable asset on earth in their nose. Rhino horn is worth 100,000 kilograms up to -- sorry, dollars per kilogram.

Fueled by demand from Asia where they believe it has medicinal benefits, which it has been proven not to have incidentally. I think that is a very important message to get across. What they are doing to try to locate the rhinos and we went along with them on the program.

They dart them from a helicopter and the rhino is effectively put to sleep, immobilized and they blind fold it to calm it down. They take DNA samples and microchip the horn. Then give it a boost to get back on its feet with the help of the team.

It is incredible to watch them do this. Load it on a trailer and drive it somewhere safer. This kind of relocation it is quite new now because the poaching numbers have really escalated this year.

It is something that veterinarian teams in South Africa have been doing for 30 to 40 years to build the rhino populations back up. It was pretty much near extinction in South Africa -- John.

BERMAN: Diana Magnay, what an effort, thanks so much for bringing us that story. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: The pictures are just, you know, beautiful.

All right, gas prices dropping again, the price of oil collapsing. Will gas prices fall any further? How long will you get a break at the pump? We have an EARLY START on your money next.

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ROMANS: All right, let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning. Not a very good start to December for stocks around the rest of the world. Asian shares ended the day mostly lower.

European stocks moving lower right now and so are U.S. stock futures. Let's just basking in November for a minute, it was a great month for stocks. The Dow and the S&P 500 both up 2.5 percent. The Nasdaq gained 3.5 percent in November.

Now December historically is the second best month for stocks so far today, but not off to a very great start. So what is troubling the markets? How about free falling oil prices? Right now, crude oil is $64 a barrel, the lowest in five years, down 40 percent from the summer peak. Why the downward spiral? Production is booming here in the U.S. and last week, OPEC countries decided not to cut output. So that means over supply is driving prices down plus global demand is weakening.

You are seeing it at the pump. The average price for a gallon of regular is $2.78 a gallon. Gas is expected to stay cheap, guys, through next year. Some predicting prices as low as 2$2.50 a gallon.

Are you ready for Cyber Monday shopping? In the United States online sales expected to reach a record $2.6 billion, 127 million Americans planning to join in. That is down a bit from last year.

Plus, more Americans will not shop online than will. Also, Cyber Monday is not really a one-day event anymore. Now this is stretched into week long deals. Giving you opportunities to spend money, you know, pretty much morning, noon and night either in the store or online.

Now some of the most coveted deals, discounted TVs at Target, Best Buy and Amazon, 40 percent clothing deals at Gap, Old Navy, Coles and other, but a lot of consumer experts, me too, say there will be better deals later.

BERMAN: You can get a nice pair of slacks for 40 percent off today, which, you know, is something everyone wants on holidays, nice pair of slacks.

Lots of news to get to, including the president's meetings today on Ferguson, "NEW DAY" is going to have more on that starting right now.