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Tel Aviv Shooter Remains at Large; New Putin Security Strategy Considers NATO a Threat; Iraqi Forces Working to Secure Ramadi; Several States On High Alert As Flooding Threatens Region; Pope's New Year's Day Message; Obama to Announce New Executive Action on Guns. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired January 2, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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


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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Manhunt in Israel: authorities in Tel Aviv are combing the streets, hunting a gunman who killed two people at a city pub.

(INAUDIBLE) Mississippi after severe flooding in the Midwest, Southern U.S. states are now on high alert.

And admiring the Milky Way, the community that spends a vast amount of time staring at the stars.

Hello. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

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KINKADE: It's 9:00 am in Israel right now where police are searching for a gunman who killed two people and wounded seven others. The shooting happened Friday afternoon outside a pub on a popular street in the Mediterranean coastal city of Tel Aviv.

Officials say it could have been worse but the rain and cold have kept many visitors away. Police believe the gunman used an automatic weapon firing more than 15 rounds. Ian Lee has more on the shooting, including a look at surveillance video that appears to show the gunman as he opened fire.

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IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Police are combing Tel Aviv, as one spokesman puts it, flooding the city, looking for the gunman who carried out the attack. The security camera footage captured the moments before and during the deadly shooting.

The gunman initially appears to be shopping at a supermarket; as he's leaving, he places his bag on shopping carts near the entrance, pulls out a gun and sprays the neighboring pub and sidewalk, killing at least two people.

He then runs off, leaving behind his bag and clip from the gun. These are crucial pieces of evidence investigators hope will bring them some answers. Authorities are searching street by street house by house and they're also scouring videos, surveillance videos to determine where the gunman fled and if he had any help.

The two big questions right now are obviously who and where is the shooter?

But also was this criminal or a terrorist attack?

Now police spokesmen said they're leaning towards a terrorist attack but they're not ruling out criminal. The minister of public security says they still don't know and that the investigation is developing.

A police spokesman also told CNN there wasn't any intelligence leading up to the shooting. And despite all of that and a gunman at large, police are telling Tel Aviv residents to go about their normal lives but to be on alert -- Ian Lee, CNN, Jerusalem.

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KINKADE: In Northern India, security forces stopped an attack on an air base bordering Pakistan. But they say at least two suspected militants remained holed up inside a building. At least two other attackers were killed.

No group has claimed responsibility but officials are stepping up security in parts of Punjab State. Some fear the attack could undermine diplomatic talks between India and Pakistan.

The cause of the fire at the luxury Address Downtown Hotel in Dubai has not yet been confirmed although a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN the New Year's Eve blaze started when some curtains caught fire on the 20th floor. At least 16 people were injured in that incident.

Russian president Vladimir Putin says NATO has become a threat to his country. Mr. Putin signed an executive order on Thursday formalizing Russia's stance toward the alliance. CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance has the details.

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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this isn't necessarily a changing strategy but it's making formal what Russian officials have really been spelling out for years, which is that NATO and the expansion of the military alliance is seen very much here as a threat to Russia's national security.

Russia and the West have been at odds over NATO expansion for several years. It was the prospect of Ukraine being absorbed into the alliance that was one of the reasons that Russia annexed Crimea back in 2014 when it got an important naval base on the Black Sea.

At the new national security paper, which is updated every six years in Russia by law, says that Russia's independent and domestic foreign policy have triggered what it calls a counteraction on the part of the United States and its allies.

Well, the paper is only the latest in a series of Russian statements that put Moscow and NATO at loggerheads. Back in 2014, Russia updated its formal military doctrine, its official preparations to defend Russia with its weapons, to take into account NATO's growing presence in Europe.

At the time, Russian defense officials said that NATO's enlargement meant the alliance was --

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CHANCE (voice-over): -- getting closer to Russia's borders and presented an external threat to the country. It's still the case apparently that that is what's believed is still true here in Russia -- Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

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KINKADE: Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, is dealing with the aftermath of a suicide attack that killed at least one person, a 12-year-old boy. The attack hit a restaurant popular among French expats. The Taliban has claimed responsibility, saying the restaurant was owned by invaders. One suspect was arrested. The attack is the latest in a series of suicide bombings in Kabul and it comes after Afghanistan has set a date for a new round of peace talks.

Iraqi security forces are scouring the city of Ramadi to free trapped civilians and hunt down remaining ISIS fighters. The Iraqi government says it recaptured the key city from the terror group on Monday. ISIS took control of Ramadi in May and has been fighting to keep it since then.

Iraqi forces have helped save some people from being used as human shields by ISIS fighters. Many civilians still remain in Ramadi. Nima Elbagir tells us one woman's story about coming face to face with the militants before she escaped.

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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sibling squabbles, some semblance of normal life.

ELBAGIR: Just a day ago, these families were still inside Ramadi, uncertain what the future would hold. Today they are tired, they're cold, but they're finally somewhat safe. These few hundred families, though, are amongst the lucky ones.

Iraqi officials tell us that they believe there are still at least a thousand families still inside Ramadi being used, they say, by ISIS as human shields to block off the eastern district of the city and slow the government's offensive.

This camp in Anbar Province was built to hold all of the families that they were hoping to rescue from inside Ramadi. For now, so many of these tents, too many, Iraqi officials tell us, are standing empty. But they're hoping that soon they'll be rescuing more families and bring them back here.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Neda al-Zali (ph) says she and her six children watched as her husband stared down the militants, refusing to allow them to take his family.

ELBAGIR: Neda (ph) says that her husband was taken away by ISIS fighters with a sword held to his neck. She said he managed to save them from being amongst the families that were taken to the east of the city and used as human shields.

ELBAGIR (voice-over): Neda's (ph) husband managed to escape ISIS but now, like many of the men evacuated from Ramadi, has been taken in for government questioning. Until he returns, she says she won't believe their nightmare is truly over.

Night falls and the men gather around the fire. The winter nights are bitter and many fled with only the clothes on their backs. But for now, to be here, to be safe, is enough -- Nima Elbagir, CNN, Habbaniyah Camp, Anbar Province, Iraq.

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KINKADE: Pope Francis is urging people to stop being indifferent to those across the world who are suffering and to aspire to build a more just world.

Here's John Allen with more on the pope's New Year's message and his call to action.

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JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST (voice-over): Pope Francis is one of the most compelling figures on the global stage in 2015. On the first day of 2016, he presided over a very busy day in New Year's Day in Rome. In the morning he celebrated a mass in St. Peter's Basilica in honor of Mary as the mother of God, arguing that alongside a torrent of misery in today's world, there is also what he called an ocean of mercy that is every bit as much part of the picture.

At noon, he delivered his traditional New Year's Day angelus address, focusing on peace, arguing that the real enemy of peace is not just war, it is also indifference, the kind of indifference that walls people off from one another and induces them to think only of themselves.

In the evening, the pontiff traveled across Rome to the Basilica of St. Mary Major to open a holy door for his special Jubilee Year of Mercy, calling on Catholicism to be the kind of church that extends forgiveness to the world without limits.

Now this has been a very demanding holiday season for Francis. And Rome has not been immune to the security scares that very much in the air. Vatican officials released figures a couple of days ago saying that attendance at papal events was down 30 percent in the month December with respect to last year. Related to the fear many people have about attending large public

gatherings. But despite it all, Pope Francis has not lost his sense of --

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ALLEN (voice-over): -- humor. On New Year's Eve, he spent time with some 6,000 young people, taking part in a gathering of youth choirs in Rome, laughing with them, applauding their singing and, at one stage, joking that he doesn't like to sing himself because he's always afraid that he's going to sound like a donkey.

So despite a tough year in 2015 and the challenges that lie ahead in 2016, this would seem to be a pope determined not to lose his ability to smile -- for CNN, this is John Allen in Rome.

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KINKADE: Still to come, authorities in the U.S. state of Illinois are on edge as the death toll and the floodwaters continue to rise. We'll have the latest.

Plus, U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce new executive action on gun control. We'll tell you about his plan when we come back. Stay with us.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. More rain is on the way for parts of the United Kingdom, already dealing with unprecedented flooding. Warnings remain in place across the country. And the threat of ice and snow could hamper cleanup efforts. In some areas, what would normally be a month's worth of rain fell in just one day.

The U.K.'s Environment Agency says more than 7,000 homes have been flooded in the last week.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the death toll is rising from severe flooding in the Midwest. In the state of Illinois, nine people have been killed while in Missouri at least 15 people have lost their lives. People in the southernmost tip of Illinois are watching the levees closely as authorities go door to door asking people to evacuate.

One levee has already been breached; 12 counties have been declared disaster areas with the governor calling in the National Guard.

In Saloon (ph), Missouri, conditions are starting to improve there with two major highways reopening. The state of emergency has also been lifted.

For more on the severe flooding, meteorologist Karen Maginnis is standing by the International Weather Center.

Karen, what is the latest? KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It looks like all of that volume

of water is headed more toward the south to Southern Mississippi. But still, 16 states in the Eastern United States now experiencing flood warnings on major rivers and tributaries.

But primarily it's the Mississippi that was deluged with heavy volumes of rain, that beginning about December 26th to the 28th, very atypical for this time of year. Usually it's the spring flooding after we've seen the snowfall, the melting of the snowfall. That's when the rivers typically rise.

So this is very unusual. What is the cause of the fatalities or what are the causes of fatalities for the United States, in floods, overwhelmingly it's the number of people who think they can drive through the flooded waters but in fact get stuck or the automobile or vehicle is washed away. Now 280 rivers --

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MAGINNIS: -- now experiencing some form of flooding, primarily from the Lower Great Lakes down toward the Gulf Coast region and then towards the Carolinas and into the mid-Atlantic.

Let's go ahead and show you some pictures coming out of St. Louis. This is the state of Missouri. This is Interstate 55. There were three interstates, 70, 44 and 55, that were shut down at the height of the flooding.

Now flooding records go way back but the most recent that these are compared to was back in 1993. But now many cities along the Meramec River, which feeds into the Mississippi, have reported historic flooding.

When you see this from the air, it is staggering. Well, now that moves toward the South. So places like Cape Girardeau, Missouri, can experience those high waters over the next several days. But in fact, it's going to take several weeks for it to make its way all the way down into the mouth of the Mississippi.

Let's take a look across the United Kingdom. You heard about the severe flooding, especially across the Highlands and into Wales. It looks like back-to-back storm systems going to usher in 25 to 100 millimeters of rainfall, with gale force winds expected over the next 48 hours.

So this is going to aggravate the already flooded regions, across Cumbria and into Northwest England, also into Ireland we'll expect some gale force winds, perhaps not quite as much rainfall. Most of that will fall into the Highlands -- back to you, Lynda.

KINKADE: OK, Karen Maginnis, thanks so much for that.

Well, now to the race for the White House.

(MUSIC PLAYING) KINKADE: Some presidential candidates took a break over the holiday while others like Donald Trump kept up political attacks on social media. CNN's Mary Moloney has a look at what's ahead for these presidential hopefuls as the race gets serious.

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MARY MOLONEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Rose Bowl parade, skywriters weren't focused on football, instead set sights on Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.

The message, "America is great. Trump is disgusting."

Trump, known for his biting insults hasn't been shy on the trail or on Twitter, writing, "People ask why do you tweet and retweet to millions about Jeb Bush when he's so low in the polls? Because of his big- dollar hate ads on me."

Those ads irritate Trump.

DONALD TRUMP, AMERICAN BUSINESSMAN: It bothers me when I see a guy spending, you know, $60 million on ads against me, a lot of it, right?

MOLONEY (voice-over): Trump vowing to start spending about $2 million a week to ensure victory.

TRUMP: I'm going to start spending a lot of money because I don't want to take any chances.

MOLONEY (voice-over): For his part, Jeb Bush cancelled pricey ad buys, moved staff to early voting states and insisted Trump will fail.

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're living in this reality TV kind of political environment, where he fills the space by saying outrageous things. I think the emotion of the here and now will subside.

MOLONEY (voice-over): Ben Carson overhauled his staff, losing three top aides. His team says the campaign is gaining energy.

On the other side of the political aisle, Hillary Clinton will bring her not-so-secret weapon, President Bill Clinton, on the campaign trail, but she may not change much in the new year.

Friday her campaign announced it raised $112 million for the primaries since officially jumping into the race in April. Both Republican and Democratic candidates will hit the trail Monday, marking a new phase in the new year -- I'm Mary Moloney reporting.

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KINKADE: Let's take a look at some key dates coming up in the U.S. presidential race. After months and months of campaigning, voting finally kicks off with the Iowa caucuses on February 1st; a little more than a week later, it's the New Hampshire presidential primary because they come first. Both contests could have a major impact on the race. March 1st is Super Tuesday, a potentially make-or-break day with primaries and caucuses held in 15 states and territories across the U.S.

Party conventions in the summer mark the culmination of the campaign with the party nominations.

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce new executive action to expand gun control in the coming days. Sources at the White House say his plans will increase background checks on people purchasing guns. CNN's Jim Acosta has more.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For President Obama the final round is about to begin.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In 2016, I'm going to leave it out all on the field.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Up first in the president's eighth and last year in office, Mr. Obama's long-promised response to mass shootings in the U.S.

Sources familiar with the plan say it will be a package of executive actions on gun control, expected before the January 12th State of the Union and aimed at the gun show loophole, which allows some firearms sellers to avoid conducting background checks on their customers.

OBAMA: And all across America, survivors of gun violence and those who lost a child or a parent or a spouse to gun violence are forced to mark --

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OBAMA: -- such awful anniversaries every single day. And yet Congress still hasn't done anything to prevent what happened to them from happening to other families.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The president will review the slate of administrative changes with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday. The White House argues the president's actions will be within his executive authority and in line with polls that show broad support for tightening background checks.

OBAMA: Change is always going to take all of us; the gun lobby is loud and well organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone. The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well organized in our defense of our kids. That's the work of citizenship, to stand up and fight for the change we seek.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Vowing to fight the move, the nation's biggest gun lobby, the NRA, says the president is doing what he always does when he doesn't get his way, defying the will of the people and using executive action. Another controversial proposal coming in the new year, the president

will ask Congress to shut down the terror detention center at Guantanamo, a facility Mr. Obama may close on his own if lawmakers balk at the White House plan.

OBAMA: It'll be an uphill battle.

ACOSTA (voice-over): The president also hopes to travel to Cuba and perhaps more than a dozen other countries in what's shaping up to be a global farewell tour.

But the president's agenda could be upended by setbacks in the war on ISIS, a foreign policy crisis that could complicate White House plans to have the president campaign heavily with the 2016 Democratic nominee, a prospect that may well put him and Hillary Clinton on the trail together again.

OBAMA: I think we will have a strong Democratic nominee. I think that Democratic nominee will win. I think I will have a Democratic successor.

ACOSTA: But, first, the president will lay out his plans for his final year in office at the fast-approaching State of the Union address, which is less than two weeks away.

White House officials say don't expect a long laundry list of proposals, in part because the president is almost out of time -- Jim Acosta, CNN, traveling with the president in Honolulu.

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KINKADE: The island of Puerto Rico is going to default on some of its debt yet again. Puerto Rico owes $1 billion to creditors and it's due in just a few days. According to the governor, the territory's government will pay all but $37 million of that. The governor says the money was never guaranteed and creditors should know this.

It will be the second default in the island's history. The first was in early August.

Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, U.S. hockey celebrated its annual winter classic for the new year, going back to its roots with an outdoor game.

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KINKADE: Welcome back. U.S. hockey went back to its roots this weekend for the annual winter classic. The Boston Bruins faced off against the Montreal Canadiens before a crowd of 67,000 people. The cloud thick (ph) is played outdoors, a change of pace from the modern- day stadiums. Players even wore throwback jerseys.

The Canadiens defeated the Bruins 5-1.

Some amateur astronomers in the U.S. state of Georgia have turned their hobby into a way of life. Likeminded stargazers live on a plot of land illuminated only in red, so they can always see the twinkles in the night sky. Some residents stay there occasionally while a couple of others have retired there.

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KINKADE: Take a look.

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JANE KUEHN, ASTRONOMER (voice-over): Before we came Deerlick Astronomy Village, I lived in a five-bedroom house in Maryland with sidewalks and pristine lawns. Down here at Deerlick Astronomy Village I'm 11 years old and I just have to be home in time for dinner, whatever time that is.

We have come to a really remote location. We are not quite halfway between Atlanta and Augusta. And so it minimizes the light pollution. When the sun goes down at the village here, you might take the roof off your observatory. It's a roll-off roof.

For me, I'm a visual observer, so I'll bring my telescope out of my shed and position it so that I am prepared, when it does get dark, then I can do my observing.

DAN LLEWELLYN, ASTRONOMER: This is a community where people have bought property and put houses on or just put observatories on to get away from the light pollution. The light pollution is really severe and it makes the sky gray and you can't see things like the Milky Way.

No white light is allowed at the Deerlick Astronomy Village. The whole community is just red lights only. And it preserves the integrity of the observing experience. And the planetary imaging for 15 years. People like me and others here will take shots of Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and we submit those images.

The amateur community is very important. We're the backbone of images that get submitted. It makes you feel excited and relevant about contributing to science and it's wonderful, wonderful.

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KINKADE: Now to the U.S. state of California, where parents in the city of San Diego are celebrating the birth of twins, born only minutes apart but in different years. Jaelyn Valencia was born at 11:59 pm on New Year's Eve in 2015 while her brother, Luis, was born three minutes later at 12:02 am on New Year's Day 2016.

Both babies are happy and healthy and although they'll be sharing many things over the coming years, a birthday will not be one of them. And as a fellow twin, I think it's exciting they get their own

birthday. Thanks so much for watching this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade. Next on CNN, it's "AFRICAN START-UP." But first I'll be back with a quick look at your headlines.