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Afghans Fighting to Retake Key City From Taliban; Mother of 3 Executed in the U.S.; Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Donald Trump's Campaign is Fact-Free; U.S. Pulls Its Spies from China After a Massive Hack. Aired 3-4a ET.

Aired September 30, 2015 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL HOST: Afghanistan is fighting to retake a key city from the Taliban. How the terrorist takeover is exposing big weaknesses in the government's power. Plus...

EROLL BARNETT, CNN NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL HOST: Despite an 11th hour appeal from Pope Francis himself, a mother of three is executed in the U.S. Also...

CHURCH: The U.S. pulls its spies from China, after a massive hack. Also ahead...

BARNETT: Why Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Donald Trump campaign is fact-free, in an exclusive CNN interview.

CHURCH: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Thank you for staying with us. This is the second hour of CNN Newsroom.

There is a fierce battle being fought right now in northern Afghanistan, for the strategic city of Kunduz. Afghan forces are trying to push the Taliban out. A police spokesman said air strikes overnight killed more than 100 Taliban insurgents, along with the Taliban most senior commander there in the province. The U.N. said on past reports up to 6,000 civilians have fled that city.

CHURCH: The militants overwhelmed Afghan forces with a bold assault Monday, and Afghan security official tells Reuter about 5,000 troops masked at the Kunduz Airport on Wednesday, and Taliban fighters were driven back with help from a U.S. air strikes. Now, many see the air strike as evidence of the continued reliance the Afghan government has on support from the U.S.

Kunduz is the largest city to fall to the Taliban since 2001. We have team coverage with Nic Robertson in London. But first, Sunei Engal Rasmussen joined us from Kabul. So Sunei, the Taliban took control of the city of Kunduz with very little resistance. How did that happen? What is the situation on the ground right now and how long will it likely take for Afghan forces to seize back control here?

SUNEI ENGAL RASMUSSEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER: It seems over here in Kunduz, the Taliban managed to infiltrate the city leading up to this attack. During the Eid holiday, this is over the past weekend. And following the attack the Taliban advance, lot of security forces fled the city, the 5,000 troops that you mentioned in your intro here, are reinforcements to replace lot of the troops that fled, but Kunduz has for a long time also been a province where there has been a lot of public...

(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY)

RASMUSSEN: ... Kunduz has been under attack actually for six months, they have been fighting five kilometers away from the city, so this is also likely to reignite the discussion about whether the U.S. should keep more troops in the country beyond 2016, which is President Obama's stated deadline. But you can also ask the opposite question, if the U.S. now supposed to pull out now, when are they supposed pull out? That's something that U.S. officials here are asking at least.

But in general, Afghan security officials and the top U.S. General in Afghanistan all recommended U.S. should stay longer. This is something the (hawks) in Washington, D.C. are also suggesting. We'll see how this affects the debate. It's sure to reignite the discussion about whether to stay longer in the country, that's for sure.

CHURCH: Indeed. It is a big question, isn't it? Sunei Engal Rasmussen joining us there with a live update from Kabul. Many thanks to you.

BARNETT: Let's continue that discussion with our diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, who joins us this morning from London. Nic, this is a stunning lost for Afghan forces, you got two U.S. air strikes made in order to back them up, but the U.S. as we're discussing here is on the way out, what is the skill level of the Afghan forces there, isn't that key to a U.S. exit?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It is. It's a significant part of a U.S. exit, but also, this is not just a stunning military loss. It's a stunning political loss, because the Taliban were on the outskirts of the town for some time. This attack was imminent. It was sort of telegraphed if you'd like. And there was an opportunity here for the government to look at the situation in Kunduz and say why are we losing support, why are we losing popularity, how we're going to bolster that, how we're going to address that fundamental problem, which really was probably the thing that helped the Taliban get into the city, not just be able to infiltrate, but why they were able to infiltrate, why they were very likely able to find places to hide out and stay and not cause an alarm. Because it does seem certainly that there were people there that were sympathetic to them.

So the military drawdown of NATO is going to be significant for the Afghan forces going forward. They won't have the opportunity for these air strikes, at least not in the way that they have been carried out so far, Afghan forces do have trained commandos. They do have helicopters. They can certainly use helicopters gun ships, but the precision-guided missiles, that would be something that would be beyond their capability as far as we know at the moment.

So, it's to set a stage for the withdrawal which is already under way essentially and has been for the last three or four years, you really got to sort of be able to push, one of a better word, the political diplomatic power of the government into places like this. And for them to answer the problem of why did they lose this in the first place.

BARNETT: And it appears at this stage, there are some discrepancy between what the Afghan forces and what the U.S. government is saying about the fight in Kunduz. We will continue to watch this closely in the hours ahead. Nic Robertson live for us in London. Nic, thanks.

CHURCH: And we turn now to a troubling report on the fight against terrorism. A congressional report says the U.S. has failed to stop the flow of foreign fighters from joining ISIS.

BARNETT: It estimates more than 25,000 foreigners have gone to Syria and Iraq since 2011 to fight for terror groups. The task force behind the report is calling for an overhaul of the U.S. strategy.

CHURCH: U.S. President Barack Obama says the only way to defeat ISIS in Syria is for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

BANETT: Mr. Obama led an anti-extremism summit of more than 100 countries Tuesday at the United Nations. He says the U.S. approach for fighting the terror group will take time. All countries must do more to keep ISIS from recruiting new fighters.

In the meantime, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is explaining why it's so important for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside. He sat down with CNN's Global Affairs Correspondent Elise Labott.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The problem is that Assad has barrel bombed, and gassed and tortured and starved his way into a complete lack of legitimacy for the three-quarters of Syrians, who have already voted with their feet, by being displaced and moving somewhere else in the country or in Jordan, Lebanon, or Turkey.

So the reality is today, Assad is actually only ruling or governing over about 25 percent of the country. If you're going to actually have a chance of beating ISIL, you have to have the ability of having Sunni come to that fight, in order to hold territory and move against ISIL. If they feel Assad is in fact being propped up in staying, they won't do that. They will not come to the fight and you will not have a solution in Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Kerry says although the Syrian president must go, it has to be an orderly transition over time. Otherwise, he says, Syria will end up with a power vacuum just like Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. And this just in to the CNN Newsroom, 16 Turkish workers kidnapped

nearly a month ago in Iraq are now free. The men were building a sports stadium near Baghdad when they were abducted on September 2nd. It's not clear who took the men, but ISIS has kidnapped dozens of Turkish citizens in northern Iraq over the past year.

BARNETT: authorities in the U.S. state of Georgia have executed Kelly Gissendaner. The 47-year-old was sentenced to death for convincing her lover to murder her husband.

CHURCH: In the 17 years since her convictions, Kelly Gissendaner counsel fellow prisoners and earn Theology degree. Even Pope Francis called for her sentence to be commuted. She was one of two death row inmates in the U.S. the Pope tried to help. Rosa Flores filed this report shortly before Gissendaner execution.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two letters of clemency on behalf of Pope Francis sent to two different states, regarding two different death row execution cases. We start off in Georgia with the case of Kelly Gissendaner. Now, the archbishop there is sending a letter to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole, asking for clemency, asking them to spare her life. Now, the board denied that request, but the archbishop quoting Pope Francis, less than a week after Pope Francis made a plea before Congress, asking for the end of the death penalty. Quoting Pope Francis in part, saying, this conviction of our responsibility to defend human life at every stage has led me, from the beginning of my ministry, to advocate at different levels for the global abolish of the death penalty. Now, here's the back story. Gissendaner was convicted in 1998 for the 1997 killing of her husband. She didn't actually kill her husband. She convinced her lover to do so.

And now, we go to Oklahoma and the case of Richard Glossip. Now, he was convicted in 1977 in the killing of a motel owner. Now, a letter was sent to the governor of Oklahoma asking for clemency, asking her to spare his life. Now, as of this report

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: That was Rosa Flores reporting there before the execution. We wanted to stop it before the outdated information was shared.

Now, U.S. officials share the country is pulling its spies out of China, following the recent cyber attack on the U.S. Office of Personal Management. The U.S. believes Chinese hackers were behind the breach.

CHURCH: More than 21 million government workers had their personal data stolen. Now, U.S. intelligence officials are worried hackers could use that information to identify agents assigned to China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN U.S. JUSTICE CORREPONDENT: They have certain advance universal data now on U.S. government workers. They know everybody who's gone through the process of getting security clearances. And it takes years to train people to be able to go to a place like China. They had to have some familiarity with the country. It takes years to train these people.

And so, the fear I'm hearing from intelligence officials here in the United States is that, you know, for years the Chinese are going to have a pretty good idea of who is working for the CIA and other intelligence agencies and they'll have to figure out other ways to get human intelligence from them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: One thing to keep in mind, that this comes just days after U.S. President Barack Obama met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the U.S. and discussed cyber crime. So for more, let's bring in CNN Saima Mohsin, who joins us live in Beijing. So Saima, China says this is not sanctioned by the state, they didn't do it. But you wonder what entity would benefit more than the communist party here. How much do we know about this breach at this stage?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNAIONAL REPORTER: Well, Errol, we're learning more and more about just how deep and far reaching this breach is, by at least the hackers. The U.S. officials have told CNN and they believe came out in China. And, of course, as you say, the Chinese government itself deny any involvement, that is to say this wasn't a state-sponsored hack. In the past, U.S. cyber security agencies have tracked hacks coming into the U.S. from Chinese military unit, but on this occasion, 21 million government...

(TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES)

MOHSIN: It is a huge setback. There may be more to come, Errol. I mean, in terms of how huge a concern this is, despite as you mentioned earlier, the agreement between President Xi and President Obama, they were limited, Errol, to cyber espionage between -- based on commercial gain. So that is to say hackers that go into companies steal their blueprints and steal other information to try and gain a commercial gain. Companies in the U.S. are hugely concerned about that. This is not in that agreement. The game and the courts are really still open for anyone who wants to enter it really. And the problem in this arena is China says look, everybody's doing it. The United States does it. Experts have told me that the United States is one of the best and we know that of course from the Snowden leaks. That is China's stand as well. But they will continue. It's an open field, because the U.S. is doing it, too. And yesterday, in Beijing, there was a conference where 120 experts gathered from around the world for cyber security to discuss internet security.

One of the experts there (inaudible). Now, she is a former general of the People's Liberation Army. She said until one day -- she was referring to the level playing field they believe they're in, that the United States was playing fair. Until one day, Snowden told us that the United States continues massive monitoring on international society is unexceptional. Whereas asking other countries to strictly control themselves and remain within the bounds, which is unsymmetrical thinking. China will probably continue to feel that way, as far as cyber espionage is concern. Errol, Rosemary. BARNETT: In many ways, the hacking cat is out of the bag. And really

even though Xi Jinping and Barack Obama said certain diplomatic areas will be off-limits, the only area off-limits to hackers is a place they can't get into. So if they can, they will. And that seems to be what we're seeing here. Saima Mohsin live for us from Beijing, where it's just a quarter past three. Saima, thank you.

Now, Bill Clinton is speaking out against Donald Trump's tactics on the campaign trail.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You shouldn't be able to insult your way to the White House or use enough politically correct phrases to get you in the White House, on either side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Find out what the former president has to say about his role in his wife's campaign, after this break.

CHURCH: Plus a rough day for Planned Parenthood's President as she defends her group during a combative Congressional hearing. We'll be back in a moment.

BARNETT: Also, Edward Snowden joins Twitter. See which presidential candidate gave him the coldest welcome.

(COMMERICIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN WEATHER WATCH: Good morning to you. I'm Pedram Javaheri, this is CNN Weather Watch. The big story this week is as we approach now the beginning of October, you notice the wet weather squinting on toward the northeastern U.S. pretty impressive rainmaker, in and out itself. In fact, today, take a look at the model depiction, indication of at least 200 millimeters across northern portion of New England, with this storm should be about 4 to 6 inches, I mean exceeding 6 inches locally speaking, especially around the higher terrain of New England. But that's one of the issues we're watching here, because the next weather maker in line, bottom portion of your screen it is tropical storm Joaquin, poised to become hurricane Joaquin in the next couple of days, the model indication on is all over the place right now to be honest with you. Some of them taking it toward the Carolinas, some of them Delmarva, other ones toward New England.

So, certainly it looks like at this point it will impact portions, northern portions of the United States in the next couple of days, the extent of it still yet to be seen. We'll call for thunderstorms around New York City, 23 degrees. Chicago will go to 17. Back to the west, it's heating up around Los Angeles, sunny skies into the upper 20s possible 7 degrees temperature there. In Havana thunderstorms around 30 degrees. Guatemala City in point the south there, temperatures ranging from the mid-20s to about 30 or so degrees. And taking down toward South America, Belin around 32 some showers come back. And around La Paz, 17 is your high temperature. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(PEOPLE RALLY)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Dozens of people gathered Tuesday in the U.S. State of Missouri rallying for Planned Parenthood.

BARNETT: Their protests just like this all across the U.S., where people took part in what was called Pink Out Day. Planned Parenthood asked people to wear pink to show their support for the organization.

CHURCH: Now, while Planned Parenthood supporters rallied, the organization's president faced a grilling from Republican lawmakers. The combative Congressional hearing focused on undercover videos that increased the pressure to defund the organization.

BARNETT: Now, these videos allegedly show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

CECILE RICHARDS, PLANNED PARENTHOOD PRESIDENT: The outrageous accusation leveled against Planned Parenthood, based on heavily doctored videos are offensive and categorically untrue. I realize, though, that the facts have never gotten in the way of these campaigns to block women from health care they need and deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Now, those undercover videos have been repeatedly mentioned by U.S. Republican presidential candidates during recent debates.

CHURCH: Carly Fiorina is one of those candidates urging Congress to defund Planned Parenthood. Take a listen.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here's the deal. Yesterday, I was protested by Planned Parenthood, people who was throwing condoms at me. I don't know what's that have to do with this. They're trying to distract the American people from the hideous reality, that Planned Parenthood is aborting fetus who is alive to harvest their brains and other body parts. That is a fact. Planned Parenthood will not and cannot deny this, because it is happening. It is happening in this nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Though House conservatives were threatening to shut down the government over this issue of Planned Parenthood funding, the senate passed a Stop Gap Bill that funds the government through mid-December. And the House is expected to pass it Wednesday. CHURCH: Bill Clinton is defending his wife as he considers his role in Hillary Clinton's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. In an interview with CNN's Erin Burnett, the former U.S. president praised his wife's achievements during her time as Secretary of State.

BARNETT: This comes after Donald Trump told Burnett on Monday, Hillary Clinton's tenure as the top U.S. Diplomat was a failure. Burnett spoke to former President Clinton on Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: The question, how much a force will you be in this campaign? We haven't seen a lot of you.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: First of all, it is true that I have done markedly less to this point, than I did eight years ago when she ran. Eight years ago, I did a lot by now of what I have only done two things. I did some of the fundraising events, so she will be free to campaign. I have no idea what else I'll do. I -- you know, I'll do what I'm asked to do within the limit. She was great about this. She said in the beginning, you got to take care of the foundation first. It's your life. You built it over 15 years. And whatever you can do when you can do, I'll be grateful. We sat down and mapped out the year, and said well let's wait until it's over. I'll do the best I can.

BURNETT: You say you can't insult your way to the White House. You said Donald Trump could be the nominee. So I have to play this for you. This is something you said in the interview yesterday about your wife and I want to play it for you and get your reaction. Here's Donald Trump in my interview yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I always respected him. I actually liked him over the years. But when we look at what's going on in the world, when we look the job that Hillary did as Secretary of State, she goes down as perhaps the worst Secretary of State in history. When I run against her evenly in the polls, I'm doing very well against Hillary and beating her.

Erin, if you look throughout the world during her rein and the reign of Obama, the whole world is blowing up. We have lost our friendships, we lost everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Well, the thing about branding is, you don't have to be -- you can be fact-free.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Even the Republicans admit that the sanctions on Iran were well done. And that it was a major achievement to get Russia and China to agree to sign off on these sanctions and to enforce them. She did that. That's what made the talks possible. So, even people who don't like the Iran deal, like the sanctions.

BURNETT: Obviously, CGI is this week, the U.N. is this week. The Pope was just here, pretty overwhelming.

CLINTON: He had a great visit. He did a wonderful job in Washington, New York, and Philadelphia. It was a great thing for Roman Catholics throughout the world especially in America. But also, I liked it because I went to Georgetown which is the oldest Jesuit University in America. And he's the first Jesuit Pope. I liked it because he was inclusive. He was communitarian. And you could have a fairly wide range of political views and still identify with his call to not forget the people who were the most unfortunate among us. In fact, we had to find a way to go forward together. It was very moving to me.

BURNETT: It truly was. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama at the U.N., they met, they have met in a couple of years, but they met at the U.N. They're deciding what happens with ISIS and Syria. When they met, they gave -- they both gave dueling speeches, the speeches was very critical of each other, confrontational. Their handshake was icy. How worried are you about how bad their relationship is?

CLINTON: Well, only a little bit about that. What I'm worried about is that Putin essentially changed the direction of Russian foreign policy in general, and decided to go all-in on defining Russian greatness in the 21st Century in terms of their ability to control their neighbors. And to have an influence in the Middle East, at least, that depends upon -- at least to this point, they're increasing their influence at the expense of the United States and Europe. And that ignores what I think should be the priority, which is using their influence vis-a-vis Europe to build a cooperative relationship. If they thought as Ukraine as a bridge between Europe and Russia, everybody would win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And Clinton also mentioned the controversy over Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server. He blamed her struggles in recent polls on media reports about the issue.

A big day ahead for the Palestinian Authority at the United Nations. Up next, we will go live to Jerusalem to see why the group's flag will be flying high.

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

BARNETT: A warm welcome back to our viewers here in U.S. and those of you watching from around the globe. This is the last half-hour of the day of CNN Newsroom with us. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. It is time to check the headlines for you.

New developments in Afghanistan, where security forces are battling the Taliban for control of Kunduz. A police spokesman says air strikes have killed more than 100 militants, including the Taliban's most senior commander in the province. The U.N. says it has reports that up to 6,000 civilians have fled the city. The Taliban launched a surprise attack on the city on Monday.

BARNETT: A U.S. official says the country's pulling its spies out of China following the recent cyber attack on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The U.S. believes Chinese hackers were behind this breach, which exposed the personal data of more than 21 million U.S. government workers.

CHURCH: Authorities in the U.S. State of Georgia have executed Kelly Gissendaner. The 47-year-old woman had been convicted of murder. She convinced her boyfriend to kill her husband back in 1997. Her children, her lawyers, and even the Pope had appealed for clemency.

BARNETT: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will address the U.N. General Assembly in the coming hours before the world body raises the Palestinian flag outside its New York headquarters. The flag will join more than 190 others there in the U.N. Rose Garden. Traditionally, only member states' flags are on display outside the U.N. tower.

CHURCH: The Palestinian Authority has non-member observer status and Palestinians see this as another step towards cementing their place in the international community.

Well, CNN's Oren Liebermann has been talking to Israelis and Palestinians about their reaction to the flag-raising and he joins us live from Jerusalem. So, Oren, how significant is this, does it represent, perhaps, a step closer to Palestinian statehood or is this simply symbolic?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a very significant moment for Palestinians. It fills them with pride to see their flag raised at the United Nations, but that exactly, as you mentioned, is the fear here; that it becomes purely symbolic, a nice ceremony that lasts a few minutes, the spotlight is on the Palestinians. But then that spotlight passes without any real progress towards the question or the issue of a Palestinian state and no progress towards a creation of that state. Now, this move here, the raising of the Palestinian flag, has upset the Israeli leadership. In fact, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N. said instead of raising the Palestinian flag, the U.N. should raise a white flag of surrender to its principles. So, that gets at the emotions and the controversy surrounding the Palestinian flag.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: Nothing is simple in and around Jerusalem and symbols can carry tremendous significance. Perhaps, no symbol stirs up more emotions and controversy than the Palestinian flag. You'll see the flag in Bethlehem in the west bank and now you'll find the Palestinian flag at the United Nations.

The Palestinian flag will be raised at the United Nations. What does that mean to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know me, that will mean for us, as a Palestinians, that maybe this is the beginning to get the freedom in Shalal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a first step forward. I hope it will be followed by much bigger steps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We feel happy when we see our flag. But we don't want to see only flag.

LIEBERMANN: What does it change here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a sense, nothing much in theory or ideology. It means that people are beginning to recognize us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I waited a long time ago for this moment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can put a million flags out, but if the flag doesn't support where somebody's from, it's only color.

LIEBERMANN: No surprise here that we got very different answers when we asked Israelis the same question.

The Palestinian flag will be raised at the U.N. for the first time. What do you think about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't agree with it.

LIEBERMANN: What do you think about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very happy for that and I hope it means that it's only the beginning for something more than official action.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They've had many opportunities to bring peace to their land, to flourish. Our leaders have offered amazing deals and I feel that at this point in time, to give them any credence in the world, an audience, is just totally insulting to humanity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIEBERMANN: The flag-raising ceremony gives the Palestinian leadership a chance to put the issue, or the question of the Palestinian state back on the U.N. agenda where it hasn't been these last few days. President Obama didn't mention the conflict of the Israelis or the Palestinians in his speech and that was disappointing to Palestinian leadership. So this puts it back on the agenda. The question is, can it go anywhere from there? That's only part of the story, this flag-raising ceremony. We're also here in Jerusalem on the west bank, seeing a tremendous amount of tension. A tremendous amount of clashes over the last few days and weeks, in and around the old city surrounding Al-Aqsa, one of the holiest sites for Jews and Muslims. We very much expect those tensions, those clashes, to become a part of the speech of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a little later on this afternoon. And then of course, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speech tomorrow. Rosemary?

CHURCH: We know you will be watching for reaction there in Jerusalem. Reporting for us live, Oren Liebermann. Many thanks to you. BARNETT: Now, let's get you to Kenya, where a dispute over teachers'

salaries is keeping millions of Kenyan school children away from class.

CHURCH: Yeah, teachers walked out over the government's inability to pay them their court-ordered wage increase. The strike is keeping more than 12 million Kenyan children at home or spending all day in slum cinemas.

BARNETT: CNN Correspondent Robyn Kriel brings us more from Nairobi this morning. Robin, these 12 million students have to get back to school at some point. At the very least, this puts the issue of fair teacher pay on center stage, but how far apart are the two opposing sides right now?

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I don't think they can be more far apart. It's important to remember, Errol, that this is a public school teachers' strike, which means this is affecting the poorest sector of Kenyan society and 12 million students is almost a quarter of Kenya's population, which means almost a quarter of Kenya's population has nothing to do all day. And their parents often times holding two or sometimes more jobs. Both parents are working. They cannot afford child care. So, what do these children do all day? We went to Kenya's, one of Nairobi's most vibrant and poorest slums, Mathare, to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRIEL: It's one of the summer's hottest block busters. And while the movie Spy sounds admittedly very little like the original, kids pass the day here with discounts for double features. Outside, there are popsicles for those with 10 U.S. cents to spare and a spin on a bike for those with 20. But this isn't a careless day. And in this Nairobi slum, very little comes free. What does this mean, No Sare?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It means, no free.

KRIEL: No free?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

KRIEL: Across Kenya, 12 million children, about a quarter of the country's population, are exactly where they shouldn't be. They've been left at home for a month because of a teachers' strike. Government says it can't pay the 50 percent wage increase demands upheld in court, which are now on appeal. But many Kenyans are crying foul, pointing to government corruption as a problem, what U.S. President Barack Obama, on his visit in July, called Kenya's biggest impediment to growth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you cannot have your children go to school, you are a failed state. If you cannot pay your teachers, you are indeed a failed, a completely failed state.

KRIEL: Since the strike started, how much do you come to the video theater? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every day. We are just entering, just for fun.

To have fun. A waste of time. I want to reach my goal like to be an engineer. So this strike is unfair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KRIEL: For now, some have taken the time to make an extra buck or care for siblings. It can't compare with school, but it's the best these older children can do to keep the little ones out of trouble while waiting for the grownups to start doing the same.

On Friday, a labor court ordered teachers to return to classrooms on Monday, giving them 90 days to sort this issue out, but unions, Errol, have refused and the talks are dead locked. It must be said that this is the third and final term of the school year here in Kenya, 1.4 million children due to write extremely important exams at the end of this term. And at this stage, it's not clear who will (inaudible) the exams, never mind who will mock them. And as I said, the talks are deadlocked.

BARNETT: And it is a shame. Compromise will be key here, but you don't want those students to now lose 90 more days of school because of it. We know you'll be watching this closely. Robyn Kriel live for us in Nairobi. Thanks.

CHURCH: Well, states in the Eastern U.S. have already faced days of rain and now there's even more in the forecast.

BARNETT: That's right. We'll look at the flooding concerns and bring you the complete forecast after this short break. Stay with us here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, more than 20 million people are on alert across the northeast U.S. as a one-two punch of tropical weather moves towards the region. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now with all the details and what's going on there. Pedram?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey good morning, guys. So yeah, it's been so quiet so far this year when it comes to tropical activity, really any severe weather for the eastern half of the country. Especially, as we head into the autumn months right now. I want to show you what transpired in recent days out of Mobile, Alabama. We've got heavy rainfall on order of 30 centimeters, or a foot, that have come down over this region.

And the tropical disturbance was in place, even sending some moisture up to the north, Arlington, Virginia. We had some viewers sharing with us some photos across their basement as water was beginning to be brought in. And Harrisonburg we go, James Madison University, look carefully, you'll see a student floating down. We know the student was just having fun. But certainly not something we recommend doing at this much moving water across this region. The concern is we look farther to the south, plenty of moisture locked in in tropical storm Joaquin. Joaquin is poised to become a hurricane category 1 inside the next couple of hours.

We want to show what the models have this storm system doing because the bottom portion of your screen, the GFS model, an American model it brings the category 1 hurricane, makes it landfall somewhere around the Virginia coastline Sunday night, Monday morning. This would bring in tremendous rainfall towards an area we just touched on that has already seen rainfall. Top of your screen there, is a European model wide discrepancy as far as what the forecast is with this one as it takes the storm system well offshore past the Bermuda inside the next couple of days.

Again, the concern is of the 20 million people, as Rosemary was telling you, with the flood watches in place there is the rainfall has already been there, notice the models going in the next 24 hours, heavy rains expected from New York City towards Boston. The most densely populated corner of the U.S. Some areas, we could see upwards of 6 inches of rainfall around, say, southern and central Maine. Work your way farther to the south, the major cities could see upwards of 2 inches of rainfall. And here's where we look at the complexity of the forecast, because I want to stop it for you. Friday night, right before midnight, the upper level energy shows the massive storm system locked in across the southeastern U.S. and a category 2 hurricane Joaquin, notice that it's much, much smaller. It's a compact storm with plenty of tropical moisture.

Now, I want to put it in motion, and look at what happens in this tropical feature and that front right there. You put it together, they merge, and we have additional rainfall coming in, kind of resembling what we saw back 3 years ago with superstorm Sandy when a feature came and a cold front interacted with a tropical storm and eventually, had ourselves a powerful and a very wet weather maker. And you notice this, if this all plays out, the way some of the models are indicating through the next six to seven days, we could be looking at a tremendous amount of rainfall across the eastern seaboard.

Notice the white indications here on the color contours, across the areas of North Carolina, that would be in excess of 10, maybe 15 inches approaching 20 inches of rainfall if that verifies. Work your way to the north, still talking about 4 to 6 inches across some of the most densely populated area, so this again has the potential to be a very, very serious situation with the amount of rainfall that has already come down on top of what could come down this weekend, guys.

BARNETT: Yeah. Autumn and fall comes with a vengeance there.

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: Thanks for keeping us up to date on that. And we have this report just in, out of Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked the country's federation council to allow him to use military force abroad.

BARNETT: Russia has been building up its forces in Syria over the past few weeks. Mr. Putin has said he's considering air strikes against terror groups fighting government forces, this is just in to CNN and we'll bring you more information as it becomes available. CHURCH: And still to come here on CNN Newsroom -- how one innovative

leader stumbled on a cheap and renewable energy source. Back in a moment with that and more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Don Riddell with your CNN world sports headlines. There's been a compelling night of Champions League Football with 27 goals scored in 8 matches. The reigning champions, Barcelona, were given a scare by Bayern Leverkusen with the Germans leading until the final 10 minutes but then Barcelona burst into life, scoring twice in as many minutes to snatch the points and show there is life without Lionel Messi, who is out injured.

And former Barcelona manager, Pep Guardiola, once again witnessed a striking master class from Robert Lewandowski, whose hat trick in a five (inaudible) win against (inaudible) which made it ten goals in just a week for him. Elsewhere, it was another miserable night for the English clubs. Jose Mourinho made his name by winning the tournament with Porto, but his return with Chelsea was a bit of a nightmare. Andre Andre's goal was canceled out by Willian but Maicon restored Porto's lead and held on for a 2 to 1 win. And twice, Arsenal came from behind against Olympiakos, but the Greeks still won 3 to 2 at the Emirates.

Michel Platini may not be the subject of a criminal investigation, but he has accepted the fallout from the FIFA scandal could damage his bid to become the next president. Platini spoke with the Associated French Press and denied any impropriety of awaiting 9 years to take payment from FIFA for work he did in 2002. He's still determined to run for the presidency. Those are your headlines. I'm Don Riddell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

CHURCH: And as we mentioned just before the break, from Moscow, the Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked permission from the government to allow the use of military force abroad and according to Reuters, senators have voted unanimously to approve that request.

BARNETT: Now, this is a significant development because as you know, Russia's been building up its forces in Syria over the past few weeks. Putin is considering strikes against ISIS which is fighting al-Assad's forces and of course, there was a development of intelligent sharing between Russia, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. And also considering that frosty meeting between Putin and Obama last week. So now the news that Putin is getting, reportedly, permission to use military force abroad is significant. We'll bring you more on this in the hours ahead.

Now, for Tesla car enthusiasts, the wait is finally over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: That is the highly anticipated Model X rolling off the company's assembly line in Fremont, California. Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, showed off the electric crossover at a special event on Tuesday. Listen to the cheers. Tesla unveiled a prototype Model X SUV back in 2012. It was supposed to hit the market in 2014, but production was delayed until now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Here's a story everyone's talking about. Twitter's newest high-profile user is already generating controversy. Edward Snowden, you'd recall, is the American whistle-blower who leaked thousands of classified documents regarding U.S. surveillance programs to some journalists. Some call him a hero while others consider him a fugitive from justice.

BARNETT: Hours after he joined Titter, U.S. Republican presidential candidate George Pataki called Snowden, quote, a traitor who put Americans at risk, hides in Russia and belongs behind bars. At last check, it hasn't stopped anyone from following Snowden. He has more than 870,000 followers on Twitter right now.

Now, in the U.S., Police in Ohio say a man robbed a bank, but he wasn't hard to find because he posted pictures of the huge wads of cash in his face and put this on Facebook. They show the suspect and his girlfriend playfully grinning while holding stacks of money.

CHURCH: Thank goodness they're not so clever robbers. And one police official said it best -- good decision making isn't this guy's strong suit. The couple now faces felony charges. Not smart.

BARNETT: No, not at all. And sharing it online.

Finally, we head to Florida and the story of an escapee monkeying around in one neighborhood.

CHURCH: This is Zeke, a monkey that some residents are all too familiar with. Neighbors called police after the animal was spotted on the loose earlier this week. Zeke was seen climbing poles and even eating one neighbor's mail.

BARNETT: This is the second time this monkey has been able to manipulate the locks on his cage to escape. Officers were able to capture the monkey and return him to his cage where he remains locked. That is for now.

CHURCH: Having a fun old time there. And many thanks for watching us here on CNN newsroom. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Early Start is next for those of you in the states. And for everyone else, stay tuned for CNN Newsroom. We'll have more on the breaking news of Moscow and the Russian President getting permission for his government to use military force abroad. Stay with CNN.

CHURCH: Have a great day.