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CNN NEWSROOM

$2 Million Money Grab On the Streets; FAA Calls For Drone Safety This Christmas; Top 10 International Headlines of 2014

Aired December 25, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Pamela Brown in for Brooke Baldwin. We hope you're having a very Merry Christmas. No doubt about it, 2014 was dominated by international headlines.

The very latest, the restoration of diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States,President Obama and Cuban leader, Raul Castro shocked the world by announcing they are putting 50 plus years of mutual animosity behind them.

In our series, "Top Ten of 2014," Anderson Cooper looks back at the other big international headlines of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360" (voice-over): Number ten, pro- democracy protests in Hong Kong. Demonstrators occupy the downtown financial district in what became known as the umbrella revolution.

Late September, police fired tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd prompting thousands more to take to the streets. After more than two months, police clear away the protest sites demonstrators vowing we will be back.

Number nine, World Cup fever, the eyes of the world on the games in Brazil. The host country crashes out in the semifinals and in the final Germany beats Argentina 1-0 in a dramatic overtime win. Number eight, freedom for two American citizens held in North Korea. Bay had been held for two years.

KENNETH BAE: I just want to say thank you all for supporting me and standing by me through this time.

COOPER: Freedom for Bae and Miller came less than a month after release of American Jeffrey Fowle. All of this follows a bizarre disappearing act by Kim Jong-Un not seen in public for more than a month. It turns out he may have had ankle surgery.

And number seven, tragedy and heartbreak in South Korea. A ferry capsized killing more than 300 people, 250 of them high school students on a field trip. Adding to the family's anguish, images of the captain abandoning ship, he is now serving a 36-year prison sentence. At number six, a mass kidnapping that started a movement. More than 200 Nigerian girls snatched from their boarding school by terror group, Boko Haram. "Bring back our girls" becomes an international rallying cry. Months go by.

In November, the leader of Boko Haram says the girls converted to Islam and have been married off.

Number five, Middle East tensions erupt hopes for peace fade. Three Israeli teens are kidnapped and killed and Palestinian boy is kidnapped and killed possibly in retaliation. Israel launches operation protective edge in response to Hamas rocket attacks.

After weeks of clashes and deaths of more than 2,100 Palestinians and about 70 Israelis, a cease-fire, but the bloodshed didn't end there. On November 18th, two Palestinians with butcher knives and a gun attack a Jerusalem synagogue killing four rabbis and a police officer.

Number four, cold war animosities heat up. Russian President Vladimir Putin stuns the west by annexing Ukraine's Crimea's region. Moscow is also accused of sending troops and equipment to help pro-Russian separatists.

And then tragedy in the skies, Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 shot down over eastern Ukraine. All 298 people onboard killed. The west and Ukrainian government blame pro-Russian fighters.

Number three, Ebola ravages West Africa. The CDC announces the first cases in late March, in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. By July, officials are calling it the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history.

The World Health Organization says more than 6,000 people have died. Liberian national, Thomas Eric Duncan, became the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Ten cases have been treated in the U.S. with two deaths including Duncan.

And number two, without a trace, the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The plane with 239 people onboard was heading from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished.

Planes and ships scoured the initial search area, but there's no sign of the missing plane and then new satellite data takes the search in a different direction.

NAIB RAZAK, MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER: According to this new data, Flight MH-370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean.

COOPER: Pings believed to be from the plane's black box raise hopes but don't pan out. Underwater searches come up empty and the effort to solve commercial aviation's biggest mystery goes on.

And our number one international story of 2014, the rise of ISIS, which started as an al Qaeda splinter group emerges as a major threat. ISIS launches a brutal campaign to create an Islamic State across Iraq and Syria. Militants take control of key Iraqi cities. In August, U.S. fighter jets start bombing ISIS positions in Iraq part of targeted air strikes authorized by President Obama.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We intend to stay vigilant and take action if these terrorist forces threaten our personnel or facilities anywhere in Iraq.

COOPER: The strikes also aimed at protecting minority groups like Yazidi refugees left stranded and starving on a mountain top. All the while the extent of the barbarism by ISIS becomes more apparent.

The group posts a YouTube video showing the beheading of American journalist, James Foley. Another video show the decapitation of Steven Sotloff and then British aid worker David Haynes and Alan Henning, and American Peter Kasig.

America's top general has not ruled out a return of U.S. ground troops to Iraq three years after the last troops pulled out. Anderson Cooper, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: What a year. Great piece there. You can catch the top ten of 2014 special on CNN Sunday evening at 6:30 Eastern Time with Brooke Baldwin right here on CNN.

And coming up on this Christmas day, a big part of the country could get hit with some major winter weather in the next few days so where you can expect the most snow. We'll tell you right after this break. Stay with us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. I'm Staff Sgt. Mary (inaudible). I'm with the 13th ESC. I would like to say a shout-out to my family in Fort Hood. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.

TECH SGT. EARL SCOTT: Hi. I'm Earl Scott currently deployed in Qatar. I want to say Merry Christmas to my family members in Brooklyn, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: And welcome back. This is quite a story. How is this for a Christmas wish come true? Three boxes full of cash fall out of a van sending a blizzard of bills on the street as we see here in this video and leaving pedestrians scrambling in a money grab.

This was in Hong Kong. Nearly $2 million spilled into the street. Twenty nine people confessed to taking the money and they turned in more than $750,000. Of course, that means more than $1 million is still missing. And the company that operates the van has no comment. Local media reported that a broken back door led to the spill. Wow. They are the hot item under the tree, drones. An influx of people are expected to be flying unmanned aircrafts like the one we saw right there in that video after gifts are unwrapped today. Here's CNN's Rene Marsh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Drones are in high demand this holiday. Industry analysts estimate companies like Amazon are selling 10,000 to 15,000 recreational drones every month.

PATRICK EGAN, DRONE INDUSTRY ANALYST: Now we're ramping up to Christmas. There's really no telling. It's just going to be a big drone Christmas. I think Christmas day there will be tons of drones out there flying around.

MARSH: The soaring sales are alarming federal regulators who fear more drones in the sky will mean more crashes. Watch as this drone slams into a building. Here's another where the pilot loses control.

EGAN: You have a lot of inexperienced people pulling them out of the boxes Christmas morning and flying them around and there will probably be some going down in different places.

ANNOUNCER: How do you make sure you stay off the naughty list?

MARSH: The FAA just released a video and web site as part of the safety campaign days before Christmas and there's reason for concern.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had a drone come within 50 feet of us.

MARSH: From July to November, there were more than two dozen reports of drones narrowly hitting commercial passenger planes.

EGAN: Put yourself in the position of where you would be if you were flying and think to yourself, is that safe?

MARSH: The rules are stay below 400 feet, away from airports and crowds and always keep the drone in your line of sight. After the gifts are unwrapped, the industry estimates tens of thousands of additional people will be flying drones, but with thousands already in the air, some are asking whether the safety campaign came soon enough. Rene Marsh, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Thank you to our Rene Marsh for that report. Parts of the country got a white Christmas and the snow is going to hang around for some. Others of us are looking at a soggy few days ahead. CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray has our forecast.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Pamela, after a busy couple of days weather wise leading up to Christmas, actually Christmas day not looking bad at all. That rain has pushed out of the northeast. Sunshine is returning for much of the east. We do have some snow working its way into the Rockies so a little snowy, a white Christmas for a lot of folks in the west. Look at this, winter weather advisories. Winter storm warnings in effect anywhere from Salt Lake City, Idaho Falls, Mazola, Billings included in that and even Rapid City.

So we're going to see lots of snow falling anywhere from 2 to 4 inches in a lot of places, but isolated amounts up to a foot in those higher elevations getting snow as well. So here's the forecast radar going forward in time.

The snow will stick around in the Rockies and eventually lead to a soggy weekend across much of the south even into the east by Sunday, working its way into the northeast.

What we're looking at 1 to 3 inches of rain possibly in portions of Mississippi, Alabama, even into Tennessee and this rain will work in Sunday afternoon into the northeast.

So tomorrow's forecast, we'll see partly cloudy skies in the south. If you are taking back anything, redeeming those gift cards, a lot of people will be out shopping. Snow in the Rockies, sunny in the northeast and mild and a really nice forecast for you.

High temperatures will be around 53 in D.C., 48 in New York City, 50 in Chicago, 33 in Minneapolis, 27 in Billings. This is a sneak peek at your weekend forecast. New York City, the clouds move in on Saturday. Rain expected on Sunday with 44 your high temperature.

Chicago, temperatures close to 50 degrees tomorrow and then you'll be cooling off, 32 by Sunday in Atlanta. Clouds return for the weekend, but temperatures will be in the 60s -- Pamela.

BROWN: A little bit of a mixed bag there. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much. Coming up right here on NEWSROOM, from the football stars in the NFL to a Little League star who throws like a girl. It's been a big year for sports. We're counting down the top ten sports stories of 2014. Find out what made our number one spot up next after this break.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANETTE BARRY: Greetings. I'm Technical Sgt. Jeanette Barry here in Alaska. I would like to say happy holidays to my family in Reno Valley, California, and my grandma in Los Angeles, California. Happy holidays again. Have a happy new year and I'll see you in 2015.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: The 2014 sports year will be remembered not just for highlights on the field but also the low lights off of it. CNN sports anchor, Rachel Nichols, counts down the top ten stories of the year.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: This year sports seemed to touch nearly every corner of American society dealing with issues way beyond the playing field, domestic violence, racism, feminism, gay rights. Everywhere you turned, sports was part of the national conversation. Of course, the games were pretty good too.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICHOLS (voice-over): A 13-year-old Little Leaguer who completely changed what it means to throw like a girl. Mo'ne Davis became a sensation in August. She is the first girl to ever pitch a shot out in a Little League World Series. And the first Little Leaguer of any strikes to make the cover of "Sports Illustrated."

Seattle Seahawks corner, Richard Sherman, unleashed some legendary trash talk after the NFC championship game, but a backlash strongly tinged by racism soon followed.

RICHARD SHERMAN, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS CORNERBACK: To those that did react with racial slurs is sad. I'm not out beating on people or committing crimes or getting arrested. I'm playing a football game at a high level.

NICHOLS: But it was Sherman who had the last laugh. The attention earned millions in new endorsements. A couple weeks later in the first cold weather outdoor Super Bowl, he and the Seahawks thrashed Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

(on camera): There have been plenty of gay athletes in the four major American sports.

(voice-over): But none who has been out while still playing. That changed this year. S.E.C. defensive player of the year, Michael Sam came out before the NFL draft. Sam was taken by the Rams.

And openly gay basketball player, Jason Collins, signed with the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets made it to the second round of the playoffs. Collins then retired.

Florida State quarterback, Jameis Winston, started off on a high note leading his team to a comeback victory over Auburn in the national championship game, but off the field, Winston was a lightning rod for controversy.

He was arrested for shoplifting and was suspended one game for publically shouting vulgar language. In December, Winston was the subject of a student conduct hearing on allegations he sexually assaulted a fellow student two years ago. But the investigation did not find enough evidence to punish Winston.

Olympics are not usually known by a hashtag, but even before this year's opening ceremonies, Sochi problems became short-hand for everything from shoddy construction to housing shortages to security concerns for Russia's first ever winter games.

In the end, the event came off without major issues highlighted by a big hockey win by the USA over team Russia. It has been 29 years since the Kansas City Royals made the playoffs. This fall a scrappy postseason run took them all of the way to game seven of the World Series. Unfortunately, for Kansas City fans, the only thing hotter than their team was Giants pitcher, Madison Bumgarner. His legendary performance clinched the championship.

The tapes released by TMZ were shocking, Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, making racist remarks about his own players as well as NBA legend, Magic Johnson. It was baptism by far for new Commissioner Adam Silver.

But his response was swift and significant, banning Sterling from the league for life and announced his intention to force Sterling to sell. Sterling fired back.

DONALD STERLING: You have more of a plantation mentality than I do. I think you are more of a racist than I am. I'm not a racist. I have never been a racist and I'll never be a racist.

NICHOLS: But the final move belonged to Sterling's estranged wife, Shelly, who sold the team for a record $2 billion.

The World Cup stormed into Brazil and while the event was peppered with criticism over construction costs and dismay over the host country's on-field collapse, it was also ripe with thrills.

Germany was the (inaudible) in its title winning domination and Team USA ignited a rarely seen level of soccer fever across the states advancing out of the group of death and making a star out of goaltender Tim Howard.

This was the year of the return of the king. Lebron James came home to Cleveland. The place where just four years earlier fans had been burning his jersey, this time he was seen as a hero.

LEBRON JAMES, CAVALIERS: I had dreams of going back home. It's where I bled and sweat and cried and laugh. Still, it is not even was. It's right now. I love you. I'm back.

NICHOLS: The NFL spent much of this year fighting to regain its credibility after a series of scandals after Commissioner Roger Goodell only suspended Raven's runningback, Ray Rice, two games for knocking his wife unconscious.

A backlash started to build exploding after TMZ released an elevator tape of Rice's punch. Goodell's handling of the incident put the commissioner under fire.

ROGER GOODELL, COMMISSIONER, NFL: I got it wrong in the handling of the Ray Rice matter. I'm sorry for that.

NICHOLS: And then there was the case of Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. The league was slow to act after a Texas grand jury indicted Peterson on child abuse charges for his heavy discipline of his 4-year-old son.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NICHOLS: Of course, as the calendar turns to 2015 and NFL kicks off its playoffs, despite all that's happened, fans will likely still follow each pass and each scramble with their usual gusto. That's the promise of sports.

Even after a difficult stretch or an exciting stretch after the highs, the lows, moments we'll never forget and there's always a next game, a next quarter, a next year. We'll all be watching.

BROWN: Thank you to Rachel Nichols for that. You can catch the special Sunday evening at 6:30 Eastern Time here on CNN. You don't want to miss it.

It's one of the inevitable things that marks the passing of each year. In 2014, we lost more famous names and faces, celebrities, newsmakers and other notable people who had impact on all of our lives. This year's list ranges from a famous deejay with an unmistakble voice to the most popular child star of all time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBIN WILLIAMS: I could never look to the woman who had been totally wrong, someone that could level you with eyes.

HAROLD RAMIS: Something very important I forgot to tell you. Don't cross the streams.

JOAN RIVERS: You go through life once. It's all about looking good and what would you rather have, an old face come out of a new car or a new face come out of an old car.

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN: I want to be a doctor. This isn't a game to me. This isn't play time. This is serious business.

CASEY KASEM: Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Welcome back, everybody. The true meaning of Christmas is alive and well in a Detroit suburb. The community rallied together 500 carolers to serenade and lift the spirits of a 14-year-old girl who has brain cancer.

The teen has been in the hospital for most of the year and doctors recently discovered the girl's cancer had spread. Here's Priya Mann from our affiliate, WDIV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRIYA MANN, WDIV REPORTER (voice-over): The true meaning of the holiday season was displayed outside a home in new Baltimore.

LINDA CAMOTHERS, FAMILY FRIEND: Everybody being here and everybody giving out of their pockets and their hearts is just beautiful.

MANN: Five hundred people gathered to pray, fund raise and sing Christmas carols for the family's youngest daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much for coming. We're so overwhelmed. We appreciate all of the support and love.

MANN: Her parents, Pamela and Craig, listened quietly as their community showered them with love and prayers.

PAMELA MERRITT, DAUGHTER DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER: Our journey is so difficult. There has been a lot of beauty along the way. It carries us. It definitely carries us.

MANN: The family has chosen not to continue with medical treatments in the U.S. due to health risks, but aren't giving up hope.

The 14-year-old loves to sing and tonight the Anchorbay High School choir sang for their absent member.

SEAN BAGAN, CHOIR MEMBER: She's amazing. She's the strongest girl I have ever known. She's really sweet, always nice to everybody, can put a smile on your face.

MANN: The New Baltimore Fire Department showed up with well-wishes and a check for $3,000.

BRIAN BILINSKI, NEW BALTIMORE FIRE CHIEF: Seeing all these people out here, this is what makes New Baltimore. And it really fulfills my heart with the Christmas spirit.

MANN: The night ended with the Merritts' favorite song, "It's a Wonderful World," as neighbors sent lanterns of hope into the night sky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)