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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

World Stands With France Against Terror; Divers Retrieve One Flight 8501 Black Box; Boko Haram Massacre

Aired January 12, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The world united against terror. World leaders joining millions in France in an unprecedented show of solidarity. That country reeling from terror attacks that killed 14 people as ISIS repeats it threats against the West.

Live coverage breaking down all the developments and what comes next.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans. It is Monday, January 12th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around world.

France and the world standing together against terror this morning in the wake of last week's deadly attacks on the satirical magazine "Charlie Hebdo" and a Jewish supermarket. At least 3.7 million people marching in an anti-terrorism rally in Paris on Sunday. Officials there say it is the biggest such gathering in French history.

Among the millions, 40 world leaders, including Britain's prime minister and Germany's chancellor, but no top level American official.

The event was peaceful despite its huge size and despite renewed threats of terrorism inside France and elsewhere. French police sources telling CNN that terror sleeper cells were activated over the weekend.

In the U.S., NYPD and other law enforcement on alert after an ISIS video is re-released. That video calls for followers to rise up and kill intelligence officers, police, soldiers and civilians.

From Paris, senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen joins us with the latest.

And, Fred, what a game-changer for France this weekend to see all of those people take to the streets. Something new, something amazing happening in that country.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, something amazing, Christine, and certainly something where you can really feel that this nation really is redefining itself and redefining the way it wants society to be organized. I'm right outside the headquarters of "Charlie Hebdo", the satirical magazine that, of course, was hit by that initial attack where 12 people were killed. And as you can see, there are still people who are coming out here who

are paying their respects. There is still that sea of flower. And so, we can say that even five days after this horrific attack, the pain still persists here in Paris.

Meanwhile, there is a lot going on in the investigation. One of the things that's happened this morning is that the French prime minister, Manuel Valls, has made a lot of news. He says he is going to massively beef up security at Jewish institutions here in this country, at least 5,000 additional security personnel at Jewish schools and other institutions. Of course, we know that one of the places that was hit was a Jewish kosher supermarket by Amedy Coulibaly.

And meanwhile, the hunt is still on for the last remaining suspect in this week's terror attacks. Police say that Hayat Boumeddiene was the girlfriend of Amedy Coulibaly, the man who hit that kosher supermarket. He killed four hostages at that market, before police finally shot him.

We have gotten some news just a couple of minutes ago, and this comes from the semi official Turkish news agency. And they say that Hayat Boumeddiene apparently went to Turkey from a flight from Madrid. So, she went there on January 2nd. They say she was tracked by Turkish authorities and apparently now believed that she made her way into Syria on January 8th. So, they believe she is now out of the reach of investigators. That's something that's very important moving forward because, of course, she is one of the primary suspects that investigators would like to speak to find out what could possibly be behind the plots.

One of the interesting things, of course, she was implicated in some of the acts that Amedy Coulibaly perpetrated and police, of course, now are saying that apparently she left the country before any of this kicked off. However, they do believe that she was part of the wider plot.

Police are also investigating certain area here in Paris, a park where it seems as though many of these radicals associated and stayed together. They also managed to find the apartment that Amedy Coulibaly apparently used as a weapon stash there. They found ISIS propaganda, they found weapons, they also found explosives there.

So, it seems as though he was preparing this for a long time. There was a video where he pledged allegiance to ISIS, where you see Amedy Coulibaly standing, sitting in front of an ISIS flag, saying this was in retaliation for the West's military campaign in Syria. That, of course, is very interesting because we know the other two people who perpetrated the attacks at "Charlie Hebdo" here apparently pledged allegiance to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. It is interesting to see what connection there is were and how close these were.

And for more on this, I'm going to bring in our senior international correspondent and bureau chief here in Paris, Jim Bittermann, a man who knows French like almost no one else.

And, Jim, can you bring us the latest on the investigation, what's going on today?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, one of the things we just heard this morning from the prime minister himself is that he believes that without a doubt that Coulibaly had an accomplice. Now, we're not certain whether he is referring to the -- Boumeddiene, the woman that fled to Syria, but he may be indicating there is someone else out there that was an accomplice that helped Coulibaly in his attack on the kosher supermarket. We are waiting for more information about that, some specifics.

And this afternoon, Christiane Amanpour from CNN is going to be talking to the prime minister. So, maybe she will get more information from him at that point.

A couple of other things he said this morning that are interesting and a bit surprising, actually. He said that they are going to enforce -- better enforce the idea that radical Islamists in prison should be separated, that anybody that has radical intentions should be put in separate prisons or at least separate cells so they are not allowed any kind of contact.

One would think this would have been done over the years, but he confirmed that he's going to ask the parliament for a law about that. He also seemed to indicate that he would be in favor of a parliamentary investigation, a commission, to look into all of the various security questions that have been raised by the attacks last week. They are considerable.

How many people were involved exactly? Are there more sleeper cells out there? How in fact did the Kouachi brothers who carried out the attack at "Charlie Hebdo" -- how did they know the editorial meeting was taking place, exactly when and where it was taking place? They must have had inside information or at least really close surveillance to know that.

So, there are a lot of questions out about what's happened over the last few days. We had the feel-good moment with the demonstrations yesterday. Now is the time to get real. The president has had a big security meeting this morning to talk about the issues. We heard from the prime minister to get specific over the next few days. One would hope, anyway -- Fred.

PLEITGEN: Yes, Jim, there are a lot of questions, a lot of short- term questions as to how the investigation moves forward, also, of course, a lot of long-term questions as to how France might want to reorganize its entire security apparatus, what new laws might be enacted in the wake of his.

In all of this, there is one bizarre figure named Farid Benyettou. He appears to be a guru who many people say radicalized the Kouachi bothers. What do we know about him and the role that he might have played?

BITTERMANN: Well, he is a very odd character. He is a self proclaimed imam. He said he knew a lot about the Koran and people should listen to him. And he was at the heart of about six or seven young people like the

Kouachi brothers, like Coulibaly. All of whom apparently were first playing football together and later on got into radical Islam with Benyettou in this park in northern Paris called Buttes Chaumont. So, they became known as the Buttes Chaumont cell.

As they became more radicalized, it was -- it became to the attention of French police and, in fact, they were put on trial in 2008. There were a number of them found guilty, including Benyettou found guilty of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts.

Now, Benyettou served time for that. And when he got out of prison, he in fact, decided to go straight. Or at least that's what he said.

And he trained as a hospital assistant and the unbelievable irony of this, that he -- according to press reports this morning, he in fact, was at the hospital, the Salpetrier Hospital, here in Paris as an assistant working there this week. And one of the victims or maybe several of the victims from the kosher supermarket attack were taken to that hospital. So, it's a height of irony that this once radical imam has a job in a hospital where some of the victims of the terrorist attack, he was sort of tangentially involved in, at least radicalizing the people that carried it out. That he was a hospital a hospital attendant.

Now, since then, the hospital has taken him off the duty roster as one would think. But in any case, it's a very odd set of circumstances that he would end up at the hospital where some of the victims were treated.

PLEITGEN: Thank you very much, Jim Bittermann. Certainly, another interesting twist as we try to find out what the connections are between the attacks that have been going on over the past couple of days between all of the players here and try to uncover what exactly led to all of these attacks taking place. Again, thank you, Jim Bittermann. You're going to be covering these events and giving us more as we go along.

And, Christine, it's been so interesting the past couple of days, especially yesterday with the unity march where --

ROMANS: Right.

PLEITGEN: -- France acknowledged that, of course, it has a problem with radical Islam. But at the same time, it also has a lot of moderate Muslims who are standing up against that.

I just want to give you one little story that I had happened to me yesterday, because I was at the unity march. A group of Muslims came up to me, and they said that they wanted to show the world that they stand with the Jewish population here. In fact, one of them had a poster on her chest saying, "Je Suis Jewish", "I am Jewish". And they said that they were absolutely sickened by the events that happened here over the past couple of days.

And they said that they realized that this was an attack on French civil society. And so, therefore, that big unity march yesterday was civil society fighting back -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Fred Pleitgen for us in Paris this morning -- thank you, Fred.

As Fred was saying, 3.7 million people in attendance for those unity rallies, 40 world leaders.

You know what, the highest level American official as Sunday's anti- terror rally in Paris was U.S. ambassador to France, Jane Hartley. Secretary of State John Kerry was in India attending a long scheduled entrepreneurship summit. President Obama stayed in Washington.

The absence of top level officials is drawing criticism.

CNN's Erin McPike is in Washington with more on the administration's decision.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, keep in mind when President Obama travels anywhere in the world, it activates some very deeply complex security protocols that could, of course, be distracting and take away from the overall significance of the event. But the White House did send U.S. Ambassador Jane Hartley to the event and then, also, the deputy homeland security secretary was in Paris for meetings, as was Attorney General Eric Holder. And he met with some foreign leaders on counterterrorism efforts.

And he addressed that on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".

ERIC HOLDER, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have seen these kinds of attacks, or attempts at these kinds of attacks certainly in the United States. We have seen things like this in the United Kingdom. We've seen this in Nairobi. We've seen this in Australia and Canada.

This is the nature of the new threat we must confront. We can, I think, successfully confront it if we share information in a way that perhaps we have not in the past and do a variety of other things. But I am very concerned about what we saw this week in France.

MCPIKE: We also learned early Sunday that the White House will be hosting a summit on countering violent extremism. And that summit will take place on February 18th -- Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Erin McPike, thank you for that.

We are following the latest development in the Paris attacks all morning long.

But, first, breaking news in the search for AirAsia Flight 8501. One black box recovered. The other has been located. We are live with new developments, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: Happening now: people around the world standing with France opposing terror. Officials in France say more than 3.7 million people attended the rally in Paris on Sunday, following last week's terror attacks on "Charlie Hebdo" and a kosher market. Forty world leaders linking arms ahead of the march, a remarkable -- a remarkable show of solidarity against terrorism. But there was no top level U.S. official among them.

The final suspect in last week's attacks is still at large, an international manhunt under way now for Hayat Boumeddiene. The girlfriend of the man who police say killed four hostages in the Jewish supermarket before police shot and killed him. Officials say her last known location was on Turkey's border with Syria.

Now to the breaking news in the search for AirAsia Flight 8501. Divers have retrieved one of the jetliner's two black boxes. It was uncovered under part of the plane's wing. Now, efforts are underway to recover the critical cockpit voice recorder.

I want to bring in David Molko, tracking the very latest developments for us live from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Certainly, an important in the search for what happened to this jetliner, David.

DAVID MOLKO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christine, that's right. Certainly probably the biggest development we have seen to date. We saw that tail pulled out of the water just a few days ago. And today, the discovery and recovery of that flight data recorder from Flight 8501 absolutely crucial.

We just saw a few moments ago the first pictures coming in of that black box. Of course, it is bright and orange, those key words. "Flight recorder, do not open" painted across the side of it.

That box we understand will now be transported back here to Jakarta. That's where investigators will begin the process of downloading the data. The box from those early pictures looks like it's in relatively good condition. Investigators who do this all the time, one in particular in Australia that I talked to says, when the black boxes are in good condition, getting the data off, it's almost like plugging a USB stick into your computer.

The other recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, officials now are saying they are 100 percent certain where it is, but weather is causing problems in the Java Sea. Those deep currents we have been talking about for the past week and a half preventing divers from getting into the water to take a look at it.

Of course, the flight data recorder discovered underneath one of the wings of the plane from Flight 8501. They are still looking for the fuselage. It is believed where most of the bodies of the passengers and crew remain at this point.

Families saying do not forget about us. One gentleman who lost seven relatives on the flight telling, look, I'm really thrilled about the news about the flight data recorder. I hope this clears things up. But I'm still missing members of my family. Please do not give up search.

Christine, the president of Indonesia promising the search and rescue effort will continue until all of those on board are returned home.

ROMANS: Important developments in terms of unlocking the mystery of what happened to the flight. For those families, they just want their loved ones. The end does not change for them.

Thank you so much, David, for that in Jakarta, Indonesia, this morning.

Now to the unimaginable slaughter unfolding in Northern Nigeria. Boko Haram militants wiping out entire villages, leaving bodies littered in the streets, even burning some victims inside their homes. It is feared this morning as many as 2,000 people may be dead.

I want to get right to senior international correspondent Nic Robertson. He's in Abuja, Nigeria, this morning.

And, Nic, it is almost hard to grasp the scope of this disaster that Boko Haram brought.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This appears to be the biggest attack so far. Eyewitnesses we talked to spoke about the heavy gunfire. Thinking the army was doing some training and seeing the army from the outpost nearby running away. The town's residents saying they saw hundreds of Boko Haram fighters arriving on trucks. They tried to form a militia to take them on, they realized they were outmanned and outgunned.

One witness hiding for three days until Boko Haram finished the killing spree. He said when he walked out of there, he was passing bodies for five miles along the roads. He estimates as many as even 3,000 people.

A new tactic for Boko Haram, overrunning the military out of the area, burning the town down, putting 30,000 people to flight. But over the weekend, Boko Haram using an incredible tactic, using three young girls as unwitting suicide bombers to attack markets and important towns in the northeast of Nigeria. This killing over 20 people in those twin attacks on those crowded markets -- Christine.

ROMANS: Nic Robertson for us this morning in Abuja -- thank you for that, Nic. Taking a new turn, using children as suicide bombers for Boko Haram.

Twenty minutes past the hour.

Secretary of State John Kerry touching down in India. He'll be meeting with the prime minister, laying the groundwork for a visit from President Obama at the end of the month. The goal is to boost trade between these two very big countries and to promote sustainable energy initiatives. Government officials in India have also expressed an interest in making the country more hospitable to foreign investors.

Secretary Kerry said this morning he will be traveling to France on Friday.

Time for an early start on your money. U.S. stock futures pointing higher right now to start the week after stocks fell on Friday. The Dow closed down 170 points. S&P lost about 1 percent as well.

It has been a bumpy start for stocks. They made up early losses until Friday put it down for the year. Hackers declaring war on terrorists and retaliation for the attack on "Charlie Hebdo."

Members of the group Anonymous announced #CharlieHebdo. They have hijacked a French jihadist Web site which now redirect the search engine (INAUDIBLE). The group also named dozens of Twitter accounts they say belong to terrorists.

Twenty-one minutes past the hour.

Millions marching in France uniting against terror as Israel prepares to bury some of the Paris attack victims. We are live in Jerusalem with the new help being offered by Benjamin Netanyahu.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The four French Jews killed in the hostage standoff at the kosher supermarket in Paris will be buried tomorrow in Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is filling the family's requests and he added that any Jews who want to immigrate to Israel will be received with open arms.

Ian Lee is following those latest from Ashdod, Israel's Mediterranean coast.

Ian, that's a city where many immigrants to Israel from France settle. Why there?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christine. A sharp increase in the number of French Jews immigrating to Israel. 2013, there was 3,400. Last year, 7,000. And this year, they are expecting 10,000 people to come here.

And Ashdod has been one of the main places they arrive to and they created somewhat of a little Paris. There's a French bistro, a French art center behind me, and over here, an apartment complex that caters to the French community.

I talked to some of the residents here. Many of them are new arrivals, a couple of weeks, a few months. The many reason, though, was security. They just did not feel safe in France.

I talked to one mother. She told me it wasn't so much her security, but that of her four children. She told me when they would leave their house, she would make her son would take off his yarmulkes, anything really that identifies them as being Jewish. I asked her, what was the reason behind the sense of insecurity? She said, twofold, and a lot of criticism toward the French government. She said, one, that there were not enough security officials around them to secure the Jewish community there. But she said also, more importantly, that the government isn't doing enough to make an inclusive environment. So, they don't need the large security presence in the first place, Christine.

ROMANS: So interesting, Ian Lee. France is going to call up about 10,000 military personnel to bolster security inside, to try to protect some of those sites. But for many of those people, they have already left -- 10,000 expected this year.

Ian Lee, thank you so much.

Twenty-six minutes past the hour.

We are following the latest on the Paris terror attacks all morning long. The unprecedented unity, the search for one possible suspect still on the loose. And the investigation into what inspired these gunmen in the first place. Live team coverage after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: world leaders joining millions marching against terror in France. France reeling from the terror attacks that killed 17 people, trying to figure out the events that led up to the violence and find the one possible remaining suspect who may be still on the run. This as ISIS warns the West about new, new lone wolf attacks. We are live on the ground breaking down all the latest developments overnight.