Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Carol Costello 20151007

Rubio is serging somewhat but both are trailing trump and carson in that state. Lets bring in athena jones from waterloo, iowa where trump has campaign stops. And trump has to be pleased with these new numbers. Reporter good morning. I can tell you that as much as weve heard trump follows the polls very very closely, surely hes going pleased and i bet were going to hear him mention these latest poll numbers at todays event. The latest polls will give pause to people who thought trump was fading. His numbers had slipped a bit in recent National Polls and his lead has come down to just five points in recent polls out of New Hampshire and right here in iowa. But now you have these three other state, florida, ohio and pennsylvania, where hes clearly out on top and of course as you mentioned, hes leading both rubio and bush in their own states in florida. They are not even in second place. They are in third and fourth. So these are certainly a good numbers as far as trump is concerned, ana. And lets focus on florida a moment. It seems like jeb bush is now going after rubio on his voting record. I want you to listen to something he said yesterday. We should cut the pay of elected officials that dont show up to work. I dont know about you but this idea this idea that somehow voting isnt important . I mean, what are they supposed to do . They should go to the committee hearings. They should vote. The idea that somehow the private sector, when you dont show up to work you get a pay cut. Why shouldnt that exist in state capitals as it does and why shouldnt it exist in washington d. C. So the truth of the matter is athena, rubio has been absent a lot of votes, more so than the majority of his colleagues. Do you think jeb bush now going after him with this is because hes falling behind in florida. It very well could be. You could say its embarrassing for rubio and bush to be so far behind trump in florida in their own state. And of course many people thought that bush would be in front runner status at this point. Hes got to do something. Weve heard him mentioning this more and more without mentioning senator rubio by name. It is clear it is a reference to him. Ba because as you mentioned rubio has the highest absentee rate of most senators. Hes missed the most votes. This certainly is way to g after him. Ill tell you though one of our producers caught up with senator rubio in New Hampshire yesterday and trying to ask him about this. I believe we have that clip. Lets go ahead and play that. Reporter senator. You said you wouldnt miss any [inaudible] it was kind of close. Do you have any response . Was that a risk to take . Reporter so there you see senator rubio not eager to answer that question. And i should remind our viewers here ana that in the past rubio has talked about the importance of doing the job as senator and saying hes got to still do a job in his current role in order to continue to represent the people of florida well. There seems to be a change in tune there and he is not so far answering questions about that. Hes probably going to have to answer it and acknowledge at some point soon. Interesting. Athena, thank you. Lets talk more with cnn political commentators, Maria Cardona and tara setmayor. You can read a lot into the poll numbers and i want to put these up for viewers. What you do make of trump and clinton leading and by fairly large margins in all three states . Its interesting. It doesnt surprise me Hillary Clinton is leading because i think she has very strong fundamentals. She has really come into this race. You know, she had come in as a front runner but she has never taken anything for granted. She is really working to earn every single vote and that is what shes going to continue to do. On the republican side it is interesting because yes, trump does continue to lead. But that race seems to be still very much up in the air. I mean if you talk to a lot of republican strategists, and i dont know if this is hope more than anything else, but they still think they dont think trump is going to be the nominee. What struck me in the polls most is on the democratic side clinton and biden are seen was ones as the best temperament to handle a national crisis. And on the republican side twothirds said that trump does not have that temperament and they dont think that he would be the best one to handle an international crisis. So again i think that underscores the fact that this is still way up in the air on the republican side. People are when they answer pollst pollsters, they know they are not choosing their nominee that day. So what they answer is really all not that consequential at this moment in time. So it is going to move and i think it is going to continue to move. Tara. Well i found a couple of things interesting about this. The fact that Hillary Clinton gets trounced by ben carson by nine points in both ohio and pennsylvania. That is fascinating. I think that Clinton Campaign that is in a general election. And the Clinton Campaign cannot be happy about that. No president ial candidate has won the presidency without winning two out of the three swing states which are in there, florida, ohio and pennsylvania to. See clinton lose by almost double digits to ben carson is almost unbelievable. And hes not the front runner. You have to get through the primaries before you duet to the general. Absolutely. And trump even though hes still leading in the state does not fair a as well in the general election. He loses to hillary by small margins. Biden comes in and he actually beats trump in a couple of places and when you look at ohio, which is also fascinating, that john kasich, who was supposed to be the favored guy in ohio. Hes very popular, i think 65 popularity in ohio, hes way down in his own state and losing. So it is as murray has said, the dynamics of what is going on here in these swing states with own home states and kasich losing in his home state to trump and carson. It speaks to that conversation weve been having [ inaudible ] theyre fed up and they want the outsiders in there. But there is still room. Trump still has unfavorables. 29 of Republican Voters said they will absolutely not vote for donald trump. In both florida and ohio. He does do well in the category of leadership as does Hillary Clinton. Maria just a second. Let me move this conversation forward because i want to talk about the comment ben carson made recently thats ignited a new controversy. Talking about the oregon shooting. And he said basically he wouldnt have just shoo stood there. Many felt he was victim blaming. And today he tried to clarify. Lets listen. Do you believe the victims in oregon just stood there . From the indications that i got they did not rush the shooter. The shooter can only shoot one person at a time. He cannot shoot a whole group of people. And so the ideal is overwhelm him so that not everybody gets killed. Do you know who chris ments is. No. So chris mentz is an army veteran. And he was shot several times. He did actually rush the shooter. He blocked the door. He saved peoples lives so someone that that instance actually did act heroically. And that verifies what im saying. Thats exactly what should be done. Trump surprisingly coming to the defens of one of his competitors. He says that, you know, carson was speaking in general terms, not criticizing the victims. Tayra, has the criticism been unfair . I think its been a little overblown. Ben carson makes mistakes like this a lot. I think hes just being honest how he would feel in that situation. But if i were on his campaign would have not suggested he go down this road. The feelings are still too raw. No one knows what they would have done in a situation like that. And in fact you did have an army hero in chris mentz. And ben carson should have known his name. If he was going to two down that road he should have been prepared to know who he was. He was the guy that actually did go after the shooter u unarmed, took several shots and lived and probably saved many lives as a result of that. Thats his picture there. Right. I think the media is taking it a little too far. I dont think he was victim blaming. He was speaking in a hypothetical but i dont think it was a responsible way to go. There are a lot of different roads he could have gone down as opposed to that one. And maria, what is your response to those comments from carson. That is exactly the point. When you are running for president you need to realize that you are running for president and that everything you say is going to be looked at through that lens. What he said was completely unpresident ial and by way, any Law Enforcement officer would tell you that is exactly not what you should be doing. It did sound like he was victim blaming. Even though yes none of know how he would react in that situation he needs to take a step back and be a little more responsible with a what hes saying. I do want to just mention something for on the general election match ups because it goes to what ben carson was saying. People might like he might make people feel good about these kind of situations when he says things like that. But again, people are not focused on what their vote really means. Lets remember in 2012 in the general election match up, mitt romney at this point was beating barack obama. Look how that turned out. Every word is scrutinized. Maria, tara. Thanks to both of you. Lets turn now to the other big political contest right now, who is going to be the next speaker of the house . And for Kevin Mccarthy and jason chaffetz, their wait is almost over. Tomorrow the Party Members will make their choice for the next speaker of the 246 republicans, a simple majority. Just 125 are needed to be the partys speaker nominee. But then the threshold increases on october 29th and that is when the full house will vote on the next speaker. And 218 votes are needed to win. Chaffetz says republicans want a fresh face. And mccarthy, the current majority leader shouldnt be automatically promoted. And mccarthy did immediate with conservatives last night to tamp down any concerns about his ties to john barroehner. Well cocontinue to follow those developments. Still to come here today, russia ramping up air strikes in syria. And now defense secretary ash carter is firing back. Why hes calling the strikes a fundamental mistake. 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Treatment with xarelto®. Was the right move for us. Ask your doctor about xarelto®. Suffering from ringing in their ears, theres no such thing as quiet time. But you can quiet the ringing with lipoflavonoid, the numberone doctorrecommended brand. Relieve the ringing with lipoflavonoid. The United States slamming the military action in syria by russia. And just moments ago u. S. Defense secretary ash carter calling the campaign a, quote, fundamental mistake. Strategy. They continue to hit targets that are nice isil. We believe this is a fundamental mistake. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is now joining us following the story. I understand russia is not just attacking from the air but from the water now as well. Indeed ana. Good morning. The defense secretary went on to say that the u. S. Military would not be cooperating with the Russian Military because of what the russians are doing. Carter wants to have a second round of technical talks with the russians about keeping that air space safe when they are bloet flying so there is no inadvertent accidents but not military cooperation. Why is he saying this . Well today the russians said that they are beginning naval attacks from the caspian sea into syria. What the u. S. Is able to tell us, u. S. Officials is the russians have moved four surface warships into the caspian. And that gives them a missile path over iran, iraq and into western syria. So the u. S. Watching that naval bombardment very closely. The russians are also in ground action. The russians several days ago moved artillery and rocket launchers on the ground also into western syria. U. S. Officials tell me that now they are beginning to see the russians fire those weapons in support of Syrian Ground action. So the russians and the syrians very much linked up in their Ground Campaign in western syria. Where does this leave the United States . No indication of a change in u. S. Military strategy. The u. S. Still going after isis targets. But a lot of concern. You know, where does it go from here . Because every day the pentagon is seeing the russians take one more step forward. Ana. Barbara starr, keep on top of it for us. And really that whole region is having trouble right now. Tensions flaring in the old city of jerusalem. As forces clash over a disputed territory both sides hold sacred. Two palestinians were hospitalized moments ago. They were hit with both live and rubber bullets. And this comes on the news that an israeli soldier was attacked by a palestinian who tried to grab his gun. Netanyahu has called off a trip to germany today because of the violence is expected to meet with jerusalems mayor today. We spoke about the recent escalated violence. Meeting the Prime Minister regularly the last few weeks and will probably meet again later today. Were going through a period where incitements and using lies, as if though israel is trying to change the status quo in the temple mount, which is not the truth, nothing to do with the truth. Using the incitements to have independent people take naive, butcher knives, kitchen knives and stab people and hurt people. And this is all coming from the excitement side t Palestinian Authority and from other unfortunately other leading arab leaders. This has to stop. We have to stop this. Both through discussions in telling the people the truth and security, making sure that our security is upgraded and this is exactly what weve been discussing and doing . You talk about this wild incitement by the palestinian side in this conflict. But we have seen some recent photos published that appear to be you carrying a weapon out in open public. What is the thought process behind that . Well it is very simply. Many israelis like me, an ex combat paratrooper, have a permit, license to carry guns. We know how to use them. And in this case last night when i sent to see a delicate place where violence occurred, you know, and this is also showing showing other residents that the ones that do have license and know how to use the guns, you carry your gun for safety and security. For me and for the benefit of people around me. It is very standard does that not incite more violence . Well how could that incite more violence . It is self defense pistol. And you use it god forbid if you come into situation that people attack it. It is not used for attack. It is used for security and defense. This is what Israeli Security forces do. And this is what i as many, many other israelis do. And just today we had a similar incident where a civilian, welltrained, armed with a pistol, was stabbed in the back. He turned around, used his pistol and eliminated the stabber. I think one of our advantages in israel, that we have many many ex military, like myself, that know how to use guns and know how to use them in a wise way. And eliminate terror. Eliminate and defend ourselves. I got to tell you, this is one of the best advantages israel has. Because we know how to help each other and use guns for security and eliminate challenges when they happen. Our thanks to nir barkat, the mayor of jerusalem on those ongoing tensions and the rising violence. Still to come new clues and search for survivors on board missing cargo ship el faro as loved ones cling to hope. This isnt a memorial. They are still out there. This is more the community to keep that hope to show that were rooting for them and they are going to get home safe. When youre not confident your companys data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. Thats where at t can help. At at t we monitor our Network Traffic so we can see things others cant. 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Or choose 300 in free gifts with Stearns Foster. The triple choice sale ends soon at sleep train. Be with them. By night and day. For merchant mariners we pray. Families and communities not giving up hope as coast guard crews continue their desperate search for survivors of the missing cargo ship el faro that is presumed to have sunk. New debris surfacing in the caribbean overnight. An update on the investigation in a moment but first we are learning more this morning about some of those missing. These seven crew members and 26 others were aboard. They road that ship right into a hurricane and among the missing, 34yearold daniel rudolph. A second mate. She emailed her mom ahead of the storm writing quote, we are heading right into a category 3 last we checked. Winds are super bad. Love to everyone. And this is Keith Griffith a soon to be dad. His wife expecting twins in fact. The couple planned to foint find out the babys genders when he returned him it. And dylan malcolms family says they are simply trying to remain resilient in the face of such uncertainty. Were not giving up. We cant. We cant. We have to i dont know if it will ever be clear in our minds but no. Nobodys given up yet. The ntsb trying to figure out what happened and why. Alexander field is with me for the latest on the investigation. And alexandra i up understand the black boxes are key to get the answers. They will be. But at this point they are devoting so many of the resources to finding possible survivors that were going to have to wait a bit it seems for them to move the resources and turn the attention to finding the ship and recovering those voice data recorders but in the interim we are learning more about what was going in the days before the ship sank. Tote maritime, is the company that owns the ship. And on wednesday they were aware of the weather conditions ahead. But he was reporting that the conditions in the area the ship was in were favorable. The company has said they leave it to the judgment of the captains. The captain had planned to bypass the storm but we know that on thursday he reported that the ship has lost propulsion. It disabled the vessel in the middle of the storm. Why . Thats one of the questions the ntsb says it is on site to answer. Our Investigative Team expecting to be on scene from 710 days. Our mission is no understand not just what happened but why it happened. And to issue recommendations and findings to prevent this from happening again. We will not be determined the probable cause of the accident while were here on scene and we will not be speculating about what may have caused this accident. Ana, as you point out those voice data recorders could be a big part of the picture here in terms of finding answers the ntsb is looking for. We know the voice data recorder has a 30 day battery life. That is why the focus is able to remain on finding sfiefrs that could be out there. There is time to try and retrieve that voice data recorder. It should be pinging by now. I once it hits the water it should start pinging and it records events that happened 12 hours prior. To so it should have a clear snapshot of what was going on on board. Thank you very much. Thanks finish staying with me. Im ana cabrera f. Joe bidens decision could and we stress could, be made this weekend. A source close to the Vice President tells cnn that is when a, quote, family conversation will be held to discuss his potential candidacy. This news comes as draft biden the super pac urging him to run releases its First National cable ad. This features the Vice President in his own words. The title is my redemption. Things can change in a heart beat. I know. Six weeks after my election my whole world was altered forever. I got a phone call. My wife and three children were christmas shopping. Tractortrailer broadsided them and killed my wife and killed my daughter. And they werent sure that my sons would live. Incredible bond i have with my children is a gift im not sure i would have had had i not been through what i went through. But by focusing on my sons, i found my redemption. Many people have gone through things like that. My dads definition of success is when you look at your son and daughter and realize they turned out better than you. And they did. You are on the cusp of some of the most astonishing breakthroughs in the history of mankind. Scientific, technological, socially. It will be up to you in this changing world to translate those unprecedented capabilities into a greater measure of happiness and meaning not just for yourself, for the world around you. I want to bring in jeff zeleny, cnn senior washington correspondent and steve shale, the Senior Adviser to draft biden. Jeff, to you first, tell us more about this ad. Well ana, this ad is going to start airing next week, on tuesday in fact, in the run up to the first democratic president ial debate. Joe biden is not going to be on stage in las vegas. Were told hes not taking steps to prepare. We dont even know if hell be a candidate at that point. But what this ad is designed to do, it is by the draft biden movement, which is a group that want him to run and believe hes on the cusp of running. They want to tell his life story and get the word out there about what makes Joe Biden Joe biden. And by doing this ad, a very interesting 90 second, this will certainly inject a lot of joe biden into the conversation next week. The question is will we have an answer to if hes not running by then or not. Hes having a family conversation this weekend. It is not the first conversation. It is in fact one of the last conversations before he actually makes up his mind. Well have to wait just a couple more days at least to know what hes doing. But this ad really interesting and gives the sense of the type of joe biden who would be out there presenting himself to the American People if he decides to run. And stay with me. I want to bring steve into the conversation and ask more about the intentions behind running this ad now. I understand one your fellow advisors tells us it wasnt meant to lure the Vice President into the race but why now . Why put it out there before hes even officially declared . Well i mean obviously the attention is being turned to the democrats with the debate on tuesday. We want to be part of the conversation. And frankly joe bidens story to be being knocked down and getting back up is this constant struggle between grief and redemption and the fact hes never lost hope in the greatness of america despite it is we think important and nobody better to tell it than himself. Let us into your circle and behind the scenes. Any feedback from the biden camp on what they are planning . You know, i think jeff probably knows more than i do at this point. We are in the window they have pretty much been indicating in the last few months will be when the Vice President will make up their decision. Very honest they were going to get through september and the governoring side of the Vice President ial job with the pope coming to down and the chinese premier. So i think well know something in the next few weeks. And the biden family conversation we mentioned scheduled for this weekend. Even if the family is on board here, does biden have the support among the Democratic Leaders and the donors that you have been hearing from . Well, that is a key question. There are Many Democrats who would like to see more competition on the democratic side. I am here in iowa where Hillary Clinton is going to be speaking behind me at a rally in an hour or more. We talked with several democrats yesterday. Some in fact want him to run. They want to see more competition. Of course democrats have been watching the republican side with great interest. So many options. So some democrats would like a few more options on their side. But others i have to say wonder if joe biden is going to complicate things for Hillary Clinton. Is he going take voters away from her . They do occupy basically the same lane of establishment democrats here. So the question is, is Bernie Sanders going to be sort of the winner in all this . He is the insurgent, the outside the outside democrat candidate here who is really inspiring these liberals and these progressive democrats. It is a mixed bag among voters we talked to. But the money will be there. I have no doubt that a sitting Vice President , someone whos been in public life as long as joe biden will be able to raise the money to be competitive in this president ial race if he decides to get in. Well him waiting is sure creating a lot of talk about him. Nonetheless. Steve shale, jeff zeleny, our thanks to both of you. And dont forget the first democratic debate is now less than a week a away. The cnn facebook democratic debate is next tuesday, six days, at 8 30 p. M. Eastern. Breaking news just into cnn. A u. S. Law enforcement official now confirming that the fbi helped stop a plot to smuggle radioactive, and even nuclear materials. Now, this is a concern that is going to get into the hands of terrorists, possibly even isis and other groups. And mall dove is where it us all taking place. Joining me now on the phone, what have you learned even. Well this is a Law Enforcement operation down by the maldova police and the concern is that smugglers in that region, this region where you can pretty much buy anything you want to buy is available in that area. And the concern was that they were trying to target uranium and Radioactive Material and try to sell it to extremist groups are perhaps even isis. There were no jihadi groups involved but the concern by the moldovaen authorities was this was where the market was going to head to. So they brought in the fbi and with that assistance were able to arrest a number of people who they believe were responsible for the smuggling. Are they concerned there are others out there still trying to infiltrate these organizations with this dajsz material. Well they will have a high degree of confidence that there arent other smugglers out there that they arent keeping tabs on who may be trying to do some of the same stuff. This is a very lawless region on the russian border there. And it is it is very easy to buy pretty much anything. You can get smugglers to sell, you know, any type of Raw Materials to make dirty bombs. So the concern that the fbi has had and u. S. Intelligence has had is that, you know, these things could end up in the hands of very bad people and could end up being used either in an attack in europe or United States or somewhere else. And so that is why they are keeping tabs on it. And that is why the fbi got involved. All right evan perez. Thank you very much. Still to come the president of Doctors Without Borders condemning the air strike on a hospital in afghanistan and using some very strong language. That plus new reaction from the secretary of defense next. When broker chris hill stays at laquinta and fires up free wifi, with a network thats now up to 5 times faster than before you know what he can do . Lets see if hes ready. He can swim with the sharks book your next stay at lq. Com its here the most advanced iphone yet. Get the new iphone 6s at tmobile. The network thats double its lte coverage in the past year. Our new extented range lte™ signal now reaches twice as far as before. And its 4x better in buildings. 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The United States to take responsibility for any mistakes that resulted in the loss of innocent life in condition does in recent days. We are conducting a full and transparent investigation and well make the findings of that investigation known as they are found. And well hold accountable any responsible for conduct that was improper in this connection. Meanwhile these are some new images of that hospital before the air strike. The attack killing 12 medical staff and at least 10 patients. The president of Doctors Without Borders is now calling the bombing a war crime and has requested an independent investigation. All of this as a top u. S. Commander recommends the president revise his plan for withdrawing u. S. Troops in afghanistan. Lets bring in cnns Nick Robertson in kabul. Fill us in. Reporter well the assessment is by general campbell who is making the recommendations to president obama about draw downs and what those should look like. Is that not only are you now facing an afghanistan a stronger taliban, tens of thousands. You have al qaeda coming into that mix. You have isis coming into that mix as well. You have more more militants coming across the border from pakistan. So the picture has changed. The taliban has gotten stronger. So have some other groups. The afghan army not measuring up at the moment. The u. S. Invested so much in training and helping the Afghan National army and the thinking now is that process may need to go on longer. To the point about the air strike that hit the hospital in condition does, the Doctors Without Borders hospital. Weve heard now from the president of that organization say not just the war crime but the strike on this hospital is a strike against the geneva conventions as a whole. And what they want is an International Independent investigation they say that it should be done by the International Humanitarian factfinding commission. Not just any organization they plucked out of the air. But this is an organization set up under the geneva conventions to investigate such situations. They are saying the president of Doctors Without Borders is saying what happened there cannot be written off as a mistake. This is what she said. It is unacceptable that the bombing of a hospital and the killing of staff and patients can be dismissed as Collateral Damage or brushed aside as the mistake. Today we are fighting back for the respect of geneva convention. As doctors we are fighting back for the sake of patients. We need you as members of the public to stand with us to insist that even wars are rules. What they are saying is not that they want people necessarily to be held to account in a legal way, a long process of ten years or something they said. What they want quite simply is to know if the rules of engagement have changed. They understand them. They adhere to them from their sides. If they have changed from the u. S. Side or anyone elses size they side they need to understand so they can make a decision whether or not they go into these conflict zones, which they do with eyes open and very carefully knowing the environment and situation. Nick robertson, thank you. Still to come, breaking news out of the flood weary South Carolina. One dam now stabilized. But officials are dealing with another very serious situation this morning. Well have details when we come back. When cigarette cravings hit, all i can think about is getting relief. Only nicorette mini has a patented fastdissolving formula. It starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. I never know when ill need relief. Thats why i only choose nicorette mini. Lets take you to South Carolina where Officials Say they have secured this dam, fearing it was going to fail at any moment. Thats the good news. But now Officials Say theyre facing another very big challenge. We have our nick valencia there in South Carolina with some breaking news for us. Nick, whats going on . Reporter sad news to report right now, we just got confirmation from the Richland County Sheriffs Office that an active search is under way for two missing people. Divers are searching the waters right now. They believe these individuals went around a barricade and were swept away by stillactive floodwaters. Three people were able to get out of that truck, but two people did not. And they are currently missing. This just speaks to the situation. Yes, its not raining. The weather has gotten better, the sun is water and some of the floodwaters have started to recede, but it is still a very dangerous situation for many of the residents here. Were staring at the beaver dam. The stabilization of that dam. The Sheriffs Office telling me that more than two tons of rock have been used since sunday to put this dam back into a good situation. That situation, though, is still volatile on it. The Sheriffs Office tells me that theyre taking abundance of caution. Still only voluntary evacuations. I was speaking to residents in this neighborhood. They said they feel safe for now. They dont feel that they need to evacuate. The Sheriffs Office saying its their choice to say. However, the situation still volatile and fluctuating by the hour. Ana . We heard there were 12 or so dams that had breached or were failing. There were 35 dams that they were concerned about. So nick valencia, we appreciate you keeping us honest on whats happening. If you want to find out how you can help in the South Carolina flood relief, head to cnn. Com impact. Still to come here on newsroom, forget fighting for the armrest on your next flight. But its not going to get any better. A new airbus design, have you heard about fighting for head space now . [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare . Thats a good thing, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. 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Sleep train your ticket to a better nights sleep from and the people whought you underwhelbrought youet speeds. Temperamental satellite television. Introducing. Underwhelming internet speeds and temperamental television. In one. Welcome to the moment no ones been waiting for. The Fastest Internet and the best tv experience is already here with x1. Only from xfinity. All right. Youre going to love this next one. Of course, planes are already a bit of a tight squeeze, especially if youre a frequent flyer, you know what im talking about. But listen to this. Airbus now has a new plan to maximize seating capacity. Heres their idea. Theyre filing a patent this month for splitlevel seating for use on widebody planes. Sort of a doubledecker approach. Ultimately passengers would be stacked, as you can see, above other travelers heads. Lets bring in cnns christine joining me with more on this. This seems like a crazy idea. Its nuts. Its kind of like a double decker but without the middle separating the seats, right . These passengers would literally have to climb into their seat, and theres no separation between the people underneath you, right . This is all in an attempt to get another two seats and make the row the row goes from six to eight seats, so you maximize seating, right . But lets put this into perspective. Companies file patents all the time for all sorts of crazy things and never make it to the market. And if this isnt offensive enough, theres another company out there that wants to turn the middle seat of the airplane in a 180 direction so youre literally staring at the two people next to you for an entire flight. I mean, this is horrendous awkward. But listen. I called airbus, and they said we file all sorts of things. That doesnt mean theyre going to make it to market. I dont know if this ones going to really the passengers are going to swallow this one very well. Well, no, its a talker and maybe well get some initial response that will have them can this idea. Cristina alesci, thank you very much. The next hour of newsroom begins next. This is cnn breaking news. Good morning, im in for carol costello. Thank you for joining me. I want to get right to this breaking news out of washington were following. Cnn now learning that the fbi has helped to thwart a smuggling ring that involved nuclear and Radioactive Materials. Now, authorities believe the smugglers were trying to put these deadly materials into the hands of isis and other extremist groups. Justice report evan perez is joining me on the phone with more on this. Evan, tell us what youve learned. Reporter well, ana, this is an operation done by moldovan Law Enforcement with the assistance of the fbi. You had smugglers in that region in moldova and across the border in a russian region which if you have smugglers who might want to sell materials such as this, Radioactive Materials, that could be used to make a dirty bomb and that this would end up in the hands of extremist groups, and isis one of would be those groups, obviously this is something thats a big concern for u. S. Law enforcement, for the u. S. Government. The idea that one of these groups could get their hands on these materials has been a big concern for many, many years. So there were a number of arrests in the last couple of years done by moldovan authorities with the assistance of the fbi. These were sting operations. So there were no actual jihadi groups or anybody actually involved in them. These were simply targeting these smugglers to try to make sure that this material did not get into the hands f these bad groups. Scary situation, evan perez, keep us updated on what you learn. And right now, lets move to politics where we are just six days out. Lots going on this morning. The first democratic debate here on cnn. Guess whos up in the polls this morning. Well start with the democrats. New numbers from Quinnipiac University show Hillary Clinton with a doubledigit lead in three key swing states. Clinton now ahead of rival Bernie Sanders in florida, ohio and pennsylvania. On the republican side, donald trump remains on top and gaining traction in florida and ohio. Well dissect all the poll numbers in just a moment. But first, all eyes on iowa today. Hillary clinton and donald trump both hitting the campaign trail there. Lets bring in cnn senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny in mt. Vernon, iowa. Were also joined by cnns athena jones in waterloo, iowa, following donald trump. Jeff, Hillary Clinton holding that sizeable doubledigit lead in three swing states, but right now shes focusing on iowa. Whats going on there today . Reporter . Ana, shes focusing on iowa because thats where this president ial race is going to start in february, of course. And she does not have the Comfortable Lead in iowa that she has in some of those other general election battlegrounds. So, of course, the process goes iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, nevada and then on to those states. So what the Clinton Campaign is trying to do is focus on this democratic race. Theres so much uncertainty inside this campaign right now. Not only is Bernie Sanders surging in New Hampshire and right on her heels here in iowa, theres also so many questions about is joe biden going to jump in this race or not . But the Clinton Campaign is trying to stay focused. Theyre going to be having an event in an hour or so. You can see behind me the chairs are set up in mt. Vernon, iowa. She is going sort of town by town trying to win over these democratic activists here. But with all the uncertainty in the democratic race, she is trying to show she is focused on being the strongest democratic candidate to take on the republicans. Last night at an event in muscatine, iowa, she told supporters that she has actually sent a copy of her book hard choices, an autographed cope with a letter to each one of these republican president ial candidates. So she is trying to push back on the fact that she say she has no accomplishments. She said, look, i just thought i would send my book to them. Even though shes trying to talk about the republicans, they are focusing on the democrats and all this uncertainty on this side of the race. And trump, you know, has got out his victory pompoms this morning with those new polls showing him in the lead. So athena, lets bring you into the conversation to talk more about whats happening there on the republican side as you follow the Trump Campaign in iowa. Reporter good morning, ana. Well, were told by a trump aide here today that we expect donald trump to talk about his tax policy, that tax plan he rolled out just last week that, of course, lowers tax rates across the board while also getting rid of a loophole that allows Hedge Fund Managers to pay less in taxes. One thing we wont hear him talk about likely on that front is what kind of tax rate he pays. Hes talked about how he fights hard to pay as little as possible in taxes. But youre right, ana. As much as we hear donald trump talking about polls, im going to venture a guess, without much fear of contradiction, that hes going to mention these latest poll numbers in iowa sorry, in ohio, pennsylvania and florida. You know, these new numbers show him on top in those three states, and theyre going to give pause to folks who thought that maybe trump was fading a little bit. His lead in National Polls slipping a little bit, and even in iowa and New Hampshire coming down to just five points. But the fact of the matter is, hes still out in front. And look at florida, of course, where hes leading both senator M Marco Rubio and jeb bush, the former governor of that state. Hes way out in front of them in double digits. And were likely to hear him talk about that a couple of times today. Ana . All right. Athena jones, jeff zeleny in iowa, thank you both. And Hillary Clintons team is hoping to sustain this boost in the polls with a little help from her husband, of course, a very popular democrat, the former president embarking on a busy month of campaigning for her. One of the stops on the trail, well, it was the late show with Stephen Colbert last night where clinton talked about his wifes recent appearance on saturday night live. Who do you like for 2016, and please try to be impartial here. Who do you think is the most qualified to hold office in 2016 . The lady i saw singing on saturday night live. She was very good. She was good. Yeah. That vowel woman was wonderful. She was really wolf. Yeah, made me want to take a drink with her. Yeah. Well, joining me now, cnn political analyst and the editor in chief of the daily beast, john avlon. John, i hope you can hear me. We saw you looking down. Some would say sending in bill clinton could carry both reward and risk. And i understand he cannot hear us right now, so well have to come back to john to talk more. Can you hear me now, john . I can hear you. Thank you. I can hear you now. Okay, great. Well, were going to talk about bill clinton now on the campaign trail with Hillary Clinton. He was on Stephen Colbert last night. We just played one of his clips. Reward or risk having bill clinton out there in such a spotlight when youre talking about hillary and her campaign . Yeah. I mean, the Clinton Campaign has apparently decided to deploy bubba, and thats never a bad idea. There is nobody whos more of a warrior than bill clinton. He just does well and hes in many ways his wifes best advocate. Even though it was sort of a softball interview, he made a lot of commonsense arguments and was in all his full glory. Bubba is out. Bubba has been released, people. Watch out. Some have said that this may have to do with clinton trying to shore up support with some of the minority voting groups, africanamericans, hispanic voters. We know that bill clinton is well liked in those states. Its important to remember that, you know, eight years ago when Hillary Clinton ran for the democratic nomination against president obama or thensenator obama, she actually did very well among bluecollar elements and particularly latino voters, that particular part of the storys been largely forgotten. So shes got a strong base. Bernie sanders has the activist crowd really excited. But the crowds are sort of monotone when it comes to racial diversity. Actually, Bernie Sanders, for all his liberal bona fides, has a lot of ground to make up. Hillary clinton cant afford to recede in those areas. Shes seen down support among women voters, but bill coming out, i think, will galvanize the base as well as democrats who are ultimately the folks are the best case for a general election win. And lets not forget all of this primary stuff is preamble to winning a general on both sides of the aisle, something that activists tend to forget. Good news for Hillary Clinton, she is still on top by double digits in these three key swing states. But the bad news that weve learned from when you look inside some of the polling that she is still considered very untrustworthy. The majority of the voters in these states say they dont think shes honest. Of course, shes going before the Benghazi Committee here coming up in the next few days and weeks. Is that going to help her, do you think . That is going to be a Major Political highwire act, the likes of which we really havent seen in modern american politics. Now, in the wake that Kevin Mccarthys unwise comments that the Benghazi Committee had contributed to her decline in the polls, Hillary Clinton has found some righteous indignation about the politicization of the Benghazi Committee. And that genuine passion and fury, i think, resonated. Its what we dont see too often when people retreat behind talking points and get in a position where theyre afraid to lose, so theyre afraid of offending and therefore they dont say or feel what they think. Thats what is the core of authenticity. She needs to tap into that, stop trying to pander to specific n constituen constituencies, be who she is which is a passionate Public Servant and really bring heat on the politicization on the Benghazi Committee which she did last week to great effect. She was fired up and it showed. I dont have avlon of the daily beast, good to have you with us. Thanks, ana. We want to take you now back to washington where House Republican leadership is holding its weekly news conference. Outgoing speaker john boehner, he is there along with the man hoping to replace him at the top job, House Majority leader Kevin Mccarthy. And theres Kathy Mcmorris rogers. Again, one of the rising stars believed to be there in the Republican Party and the house of representatives. Were going to monitor this conference. Well bring you any updates. Of course, were listening to hear any highlights regarding that House Speaker race as the republicans get ready to vote on their nominee tomorrow. And still to come here on cnn right now, looking for survivors from that cargo ship presumed to have sunk during hurricane joaquin. This morning, withhat were learning about those missing. 50 more data. Thats 15 gigs of data for the price of 10. Because the more data you have, the better. 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If you have any sudden decrease or loss in hearing or vision, or any symptoms of an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Why pause the moment . Ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. For a free 30tablet trial go to cialis. Com the great beauty of owning a property is that you can create wealth through capital appreciation, and this has been denied to many South Africans for generations. This is an opportunity to right that wrong. The idea was to bring capital into the Affordable Housing space in south africa, with a fund that offers families of modest income safe and good accommodation. Citi got involved very early on and showed an enormous commitment. And that gave other investors confidence. Citis really unique, because they bring deep understanding of whats happening in africa. I really believe we only live once, and so you need to take an idea that you have and go for it. You have the opportunity to say, ive been part of the creation of over 27,000 units of housing, and to replicate this across the entire african continent. Families and communities not giving up hope as coast guard crews continued their desperate search for survivors of the cargo ship alfaro has presumed to have sunk. Be with them by night and day for mariners, we pray. The vigil held last night at the same school where four of the missing crew members on board studied. This isnt a memorial for anyone because theyre still out there. This is for the community to keep that hope, to show that, you know, were rooting for them and that theyre going to get home safe. So people still staying optimistic even though its been almost a week since that ship went missing. And here youre looking at seven of those crew members aboard the ship as it sailed right into a hurricane. Among the missing, were learning their stories. 34yearold daniel rudolph, a second mate. She emailed her mom ahead of the storm. This is what she wrote. We are holding right now and heading right into a category 3 hurricane. Last we checked, winds are super bad. Love to everyone. Take a look at keith griffin. He is a soontobe dad. His wife, in fact, expecting twins. And upon his return, they hope to learn their gender. Now, though, were getting word of a possible break in the investigation. Some new debris found overnight possibly from alfaro, surfacing in the caribbean. Alexandra field will join me now for the latest on that investigation. Look, all efforts have been focused on trying to find any survivors who are out here. We know that there were 33 people on board this ship. So theyre devoting these resources, trying to see if there are people out there. That is all they care about at this point. They have not been trying to find the ship which they believe sank itself. They are still considering this a search and rescue operation. They are still working around the clock. We know that theyve got a number of coast guard cutters in the water as well as commercial vessels which are ep hadding them with the search. At this point, the coast guard has already reported that theyve searched more than 174,000 square nautical miles. Its a huge area. But they have honed in on these two separate debris fields. One is right sort of in the area of the ships last known location, northeast of the bahamas. The other debris field about 16 miles north of that. So they have had some direction in which to concentrate the efforts. But ana, you know that this has been just an agonizing wait for Family Members to get any information. They are also now looking for answers, asking a lot of questions of the company that owns el faro. They have been moving through the time line of what happened to this ship. We know that it left on tuesday. We understand now that on wednesday the captain of the ship had made contact with the parent company, saying he was aware of the worsening weather conditions, but he felt that the ship was in a good position and in favorable conditions. By thursday, we know that the ship had lost propulsion. Thats when they lost contact. So now you have the ntsb, and it is their job to get on site and to try and determine why the ship lost propulsion. Theyll be on site for seven to ten days. But as youve pointed out this morning, a key piece of this investigation could be recovering the data recorders. And while the focus is on finding survivors, some of those resources will have to wait to be deployed in order to go search for those data recorders. And, of course, the clocks ticking on those because the pingers only work for 30 days. So the countdown is on in many ways. Right. A 30 days, but they should be pinging once they hit the water. Alexandra field, thank you. Lets check top stories. Texas death row inmate apologized to his victims family shortly before being executed last night. Juan garcia was convicted of shooting and killing a Christian Missionary during a robbery back in the 90s. Now, the victim had just 8 at the time. Garcia is the 11th inmate to be executed in texas this year. The Justice Department announcing it will release around 6,000 inmates from prison at the end of this month. This is the largest number ever released at one time. Officials say the move is an attempt to reduce prison overcrowding and to ease harsh sentences in drug cases. About onethird of the inmates are undocumented immigrants who supreme courts ruling on samesex marriage. The resolution which was sponsored by a fellow county commissioner said, in part, we adopt this resolution before god that he pass us by in his coming wrath and not destroy our county as he did sodom and gomorrah. Now, so far it doesnt appear that one in the county is taking any action to actually stop samesex marriages from taking place there, but certainly trying to make a statement. Still to come, less than a week from that first democratic debate here on cnn, well have a look at the big challenges Hillary Clinton could face when squaring off against Bernie Sanders. Plus, just two aleve can last all day. Youd need 6 tylenol arthritis to do that. Aleve. All day strong. [during sleep trains the triple choice sale. Big for a limited time, you can choose up to 48 months interestfree financing on a huge selection of tempurpedic models. Or choose to save 300 on beautyrest and posturepedic mattress sets. You can even choose 300 in free gifts with sleep trains most popular Stearns Foster mattresses. The triple choice sale ends soon at sleep train. Sleep train your ticket to a better nights sleep welcome back. The United States slamming Russian Military action in syria. And earlier this morning, u. S. Defense secretary ash carter called russias airstrike campaign a, quote, fundamental mistake. Russia has the wrong strategy. They continue to hit targets that are not isil. We believe this is a fundamental mistake. What we will do is continue basic technical discussions on professional safety procedures for our pilots flying about syria. Thats it. But we will keep the channel open because its a matter of security and safety for our pilots. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr following this story. And barbara, we keep hearing from u. S. Officials saying, you know, russia is saying this but doing another. At this point, is the u. S. Indicating its planning to intervene, to do something to stop russia any time soon . Well, good morning, ana. I dont think youre going to see that from the u. S. Military at any point. It was last week, of course, that president obama said he didnt want to turn this into a proxy war between the u. S. And russia. So expect to see the u. S. For now continue on the path of airstrikes against isis. But this comes as russia seems to be stepping up its combat action and its combat power almost every day. Now today we are learning that the russians have begun naval strikes into syria. They moved four warships into the southern caspian sea to the east. That put them within range of syria and by all accounts, they are using some very hightech missiles off those ships to strike targets. Nobody at the pentagon can really recall the last time the russian navy was in combat in this way. In addition, u. S. Pardon me, Russian Ground units in combat in western syria now. Russian artillery, Russian Rocket launchers that had moved into western syria now striking as well in support of Syrian Regime airstrikes and ground action. So youre seeing the russians step it up almost every day. Youre seeing a u. S. Administration, a u. S. Defense secretary obviously very unhappy about all of this. Dont expect to see a change in policy, a change in u. S. Military action, at least not for now. Ana . All right. It is concerning. Barbara starr, thank you for your reporting. Hello again and thanks for rolling with us into the back half of the hour. Im ana cabrera in for carol costello. Good to have you with me. In just a matter of days now, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders go head to head in the first democratic president ial debate. And this means both campaigns are, of course, preparing right now, gearing up. Heres what the times writes. Over the next few days, mrs. Clinton and her aides will look for the best way to explain to viewers why she is a better choice than her nearest rival without sounding condescending to mr. Sanders or dismissive of his views so she does not risk alienating his growing army of supporters. Among clintons tactics, perhaps, her focusing on those new guncontrol proposals, her challenging some of sanders spending plans. Lets discuss more about this. Political science professor Jason Johnson is joining me, also a contributor on sirius xm potus channel. If you were advising clinton, what would be your advice in these final days before that debate . The most important thing for Hillary Clinton to do is say what she has accomplished. Thats something that Bernie Sanders cant really talk a lot about. Hes been in the senate for a long time, but clinton can say, look. I ushered through the violence against women act. I was secretary of state. I got osama bin laden. She needs to focus on what she has done versus what Bernie Sanders has talked about. And thats a way to draw a contrast without seeming condescending or too harsh. Right, because a lot of people view Bernie Sanders as this very nice almost grandfatherly figure. Now, on the flipside, clinton being a woman, you dont want to sound patronizing to her either. So if you were Bernie Sanders, what do you do . Well, what Bernie Sanders has to do is simply say, look. We need something new. Thousand, its interesting because, you though, theyre both fairly old candidates, but sanders is going to say i am new. Im going to bring something new to washington. Hillary is old guard. Shes been in washington for 20 years. Shes part of this disappointing administration. But heres the catch. Its also going to be interesting to see what do the other three candidates do . Lincoln chaffee, jim webb, martin omalley. Are they going to strike at clinton . Are they going to strike at bernie . Both of the two frontrunners have to be careful as well. You talked about clinton really touting her accomplishments, but weve also float ised in recent weeks shes gone out of her way to highlight her differences from the Obama Administration in their current positions, things like issues of syria. She says she supports a nofly zone. Shes had differences in talking about immigration and deportations. You know, she came out recently with a stance on the keystone pipeline. Were still waiting to hear a specific stance from the Obama Administration. Do you expect her to try and play up her differences from president obama, and is that a good strategy . I think thats a good strategy in a general election. It doesnt really matter now. Remember, its a democratic primary. Most democrats actually like president obama. So Hillary Clinton doesnt need to say im that much different than him. But should she win the nomination next summer, if shes up against marco rubio, jeb bush or even donald trump, shes going to need to say, look. Im my own woman, and im different from this administration. But right now, i dont think its necessary. When you look at these recent poll numbers from Quinnipiac University this morning, while clinton does lead in all three key swing states, florida, ohio and pennsylvania, another thing we learned about in these numbers is that joe biden has much more favorable ratings overall when you look at the majorities there. Hes looked like somebody whos more honest and trustworthy than either clinton or sanders. Hes looked at as somebody who has more empathy for the average person that he cares about me. He, too, seen as a good leader. How is he going to throw a juggernaut in this race, should he enter . I am putting down my foot as the joe biden is not running campaign. Okay . Really . Ana, i dont think hes running. And so i think to a certain extent, all of these numbers that show what a fantastic candidate he is, Everybody Loves the backup quarterback. I mean, Everybody Loves joe biden because hes not running. I think if he actually had to run and was held under scrutiny and people look at him putting together the crime bill in the 90s, what he did to anita hill, i think his numbers would drop. Sanders and clinton have to focus on each other because biden is probably not getting in this race. Jason, thank you very much. Just a quick programming note for our viewers, you can catch the first democratic debate here on cnn next tuesday starting at 8 30 p. M. Eastern. Lets go to the hill now, cnn senior political reporter manu raju has been tracking the latest developments as republicans are preparing to vote for their House Speaker nominee. Manu, we know the Republican Leadership just wrapped up their weekly news conference. They were talking benghazi right . Reporter they were. Its really the comment that Kevin Mccarthy made last week that shook up this House Speakers race. In that comment, of course, he suggested that this Benghazi Committee was a Political Committee to go after Hillary Clinton. Since that time, he has walked that back. But he continues to face questions from Hillary Clinton and democrats who are seizing on that to suggest that this is clearly an effort, a political witch hunt, but its something that has given an opening to other candidates in this race. Jason chaffetz has claiming that hes a candidate who could actually have a message that could deliver to the republicans their vision for the future. But what were learning right now is that mccarthy has really moved behind the scenes to lock down a lot of support. He probably has enough support to be to win that critical nomination tomorrow. That doesnt mean, however, ana, that republicans are not still on damage control on this benghazi comment. Speaker boehner, Kevin Mccarthy were asked about those comments just moments ago. Heres what they had to say. Committee is about what happened before, during and after a terrorist attack in libya. Where four americans died. The American People deserve the truth about what happened, period. We have to deal with the debt ceiling here by early november. With that consideration and the gravity of dealing with the debt ceiling and a lot of consternation whether or not we can successfully elect a speaker at the end month, if they are stymied at the end of the month, would you consider and commit to staying on . Reporter okay. Now, a Key Development in the halls just now, we learned that the House Freedom caucus of conservative voting bloc is telling us that they will not vote as a bloc tomorrow when that key vote happens to nominate a Republican House candidate for speaker, but theres a bigger vote on october 29th to actually elect that speaker where you need 218 votes on the house floor. Those conservatives have not decided how theyre going to vote at that point. So even though thursdays a key day, this issue, this fight, is going to continue for the next couple of weeks. Ana . Very quickly, manu, you bring up the 29th is the vote with the full house. And if neither candidate has 218 votes and then Speaker Boehner leaves on the 30th, i mean, whats going to happen . Reporter well, he was asked at this press conference whether or not he would stay as speaker. And john boehner said that he really dismissed that possibility. He said that, you know, im confident someone will get 218 votes, but its really uncharted territory, ana. There could be multiple ballots. Maybe theyll have to lead to some deal making on the house floor. Its going to lead to a very dramatic finish if that indeed happens which, of course, is uncertain at this time. All right, manu raju, thank you. Still to come, desperation in a search for two people missing in that South Carolina flood. Well go there live next. We stop arthritis pain, so you dont have to stop. Because you believe in go. Onward. Todays the day. Carpe diem. Tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. The first is fast. The second lasts all day. We give you your day back. 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Nick valencias in columbia with the latest right now on the search for these two missing people. Nick . Reporter good morning, ana. Tragic news to report this morning, according to Richland County sheriff, they are actively searching for two people who are missing. According to the sheriff, they were part of five people who were in a truck. Workers in the area who he says had a reason to be there. They did, though, drive around a barricade and were overcome by some of those floodwaters. So that active search is under way by those dive teams in this area behind me. Now, this what you see behind me is the army corps of engineers working actively to stabilize the beaver dam. And a short time ago, we heard from the fire chief here as well as the sheriff who says that they dont anticipate any more failure. Filling this dam with rock, and i believe the last count was probably about two tons of rock to just make sure that this dam stabilized and would not breach. And again, early this morning even late last night, they were really concerned about that. And thats why the release went out, and thats why the phone calls went out, and thats why information went out as far as alerting citizens about this dam. Reporter those voluntary evacuations have been lifted. Theres no active evacuations in this area. We are joined by a resident whose home sits on the bank of this dam. Ryan turley, how are you doing . Im doing fine. Its very surprising to see all this in my backyard. Reporter how has the flood affected your home . Are you planning on leaving . Do you feel safe enough here right now . I do feel safe because i do feel like we kind of have, like, a geo sort of kind of a bit on a slant on the house. So the water, if, like, you know, the dam goes or whatevers going on, it wont really affect us. But probably the people that are maybe on the lower part of the bank over there probably might be affected. Im guessing. But, i mean, weve had deputy sheriffs come by and say, you know, you should probably think about evacuating. And, well, we kind of, you know, were kind of, like reporter we wish you the best of luck. We hope you stay safe. This has been a lifethreatening storm. 15 people have lost their life throughout the state. Those two people are still missing. An active search is still under way. The weather is much better than it has been. The sun is out. The locals here, the government anyway, saying it is still a volatile situation. Ana . It sure is nice to see that sunshine behind you, nick valencia, thank you. Lets check our top stories now. An unexpectedly strong typhoon creating rare and deadly tornadoes in china, leaving at least 19 people dead and 4 more missing. The storm slam into the Southern Coast and rapidly intensified, sending those twisters then spiraling into the region. The tornadoes hit houses and other buildings in two different cities. Ahead of the 2016 olympic games, Rio De Janeiro is now boosting security along its beaches. Swarms of robbers have been attacking beachgoers recently, stealing wallets and cell phones. About 700 officers will be posted all along the beaches during the busy weekends. Washington, d. C. s council is trying to give families a break. Theyve proposed a new bill that would offer families up to 16 weeks paid leave, time to bond with a new child or even just take care of a Family Member while recovering from an illness or military leave. Now, if passed, this would be the countrys most generous leave policy. Cnn money correspondent Christina Alesci is following the story for us. This is a big deal because we are the only developed country that does not have a federally mandated leave policy. So this is yet another example of cities and states taking matters into their own hands. Weve seen this with the minimum wage, right . That rate has not changed on a federal level, but on a state and city level, weve seen increases pretty much across the board. Now, this particular proposal would work like this. If youre making 52,000 or less, you would get pretty much all of your salary for those 16 weeks. If you make more, you get a significant portion. Now, no surprise, the Obama Administration is definitely behind this. But heres the thing. How do you pay for Something Like this . And the only way to really do it is to tax businesses for it. And so the Business Community in d. C. Is saying hold up. We cant afford this. This is going to make it harder for us to attract new companies or more expensive for us to operate in the municipality. So obviously, a lot of opposition from the Business Community. On the flipside, though, i would say that this makes d. C. Companies more attractive to talented workers, right . Because d. C. Based companies are competing with netflix, with apple. And those companies have very generous leave policies. Whens the vote . Thats in a few weeks. All right. Well keep watching. Cristina, thank you very much. Still to come, the fallout from the u. S. Airstrike of a hospital in afghanistan. Why Doctors Without Borders is calling it a war crime and whats next in the investigation. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair has the fastest retinol formula. To work on fine lines and even deep wrinkles in just one week. Neutrogena®. Its a highly thercontagious disease. Here. It can be especially serious even fatal to infants. Unfortunately, many people who spread it may not know they have it. Its called whooping cough. And the cdc recommends everyone, including those around babies, make sure their whooping cough vaccination is up to date. Understand the danger your new grandchild faces. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about you and your family getting a whooping cough vaccination today. 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Were conducting a full and transparent investigation and will make the findings of that investigation known as they are found and will hold accountable any responsible for conduct that was improper in this connection. I want to give you a better sense of this place. I mean, this hospital was there for about four years before the airstrike. These are some of the images of the hospital before the airstrike happened. The attack killed 12 medical staff, at least 10 patients. Now, the president of Doctors Without Borders has called the bombing a war crime and has requested an independent investigation. All this as a top u. S. Commander has recommended the president go ahead and revise his plan for withdrawing u. S. Troops in afghanistan. The majority were set to come home at the end of this year. That may not happen now. Cnns Nic Robertson is in kabul with more details. Nic . Reporter yeah, ana, you have about 9,800 u. S. Troops in country right now. By the end of 2016, that was supposed to be drawn down to about 1,000. But what general campbell has said now is, look. There are many, many taliban sort of areas of control and influence where theyre contesting with the Afghan Government around the country, more places than there were a few years ago. Thats a change. Plus you have al qaeda coming into the country. You have isis coming into the country. Thousands of them. You have more militants coming in from pakistan. The picture has changed, he says, since these sort of drawdown assessments were first made. So he is relooking at that right now. Of course, you have the situation in kunduz where the hospital was struck. Doctors without borders are saying that the strike against the hospital is essentially like the geneva convention. They believe that this amounts to a war crime. Its not a mistake, they say, cant be swept under the carpet. This is how the president of Doctors Without Borders explained it. This is unacceptable that the bombing of a hospital and the killing of staff and patients can be dismissed as Collateral Damage or brushed aside as a mistake. Today, we are fighting back for the respect of geneva convention. As doctors, we are fighting back for the sake of patients. We need you as members of the public to stand with us to insist that even wars have rules. Reporter what they want to do is to use the geneva convention, the International Humanitarian factfinding commission, that was set in place by the geneva convention, to investigate situations like this to be the impartial International Body to do the investigation because its really quite simple, what they say. Its not about a legal case. Its for them to know because they say they observe the rules of engagement. They go into conflict zones across the world with their eyes wide open. But on the basis that they can do it in a safe way. They say, you know, if the rules of engagement have changed, the United States interpretation or the afghan armys interpretation has changed. Thats something they need to know and understand. So all that needs to come out. That needs to be put on the table. Then they say as Doctors Without Borders, they can decide can they go into this situation, or do they need to reassess the way that they operate . Ana . All right. Nic robertson, thank you. Well be right back. Hritis pain has two layers of pain relief. The first is fast. The second lasts all day. We give you your day back. What you do with it is up to you. Tylenol®. It takes a lot of work. But i really love it. S. Im on the move all day long. And sometimes, i just dont eat the way i should. So i drink boost® to get the nutrition that im missing. Boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. All with a great taste. I dont plan on slowing down any time soon. Stay strong. Stay active with boost®. Want to survive a crazy busy day . Sfx cell phone chimes start with a positive attitude. And positively radiant skin. Aveeno® positively radiant moisturizer. With active naturals® soy. Aveeno® naturally beautiful results®. [during sleep trains the triple choice sale. Big for a limited time, you can choose up to 48 months interestfree financing on a huge selection of tempurpedic models. Or choose to save 300 on beautyrest and posturepedic mattress sets. You can even choose 300 in free gifts with sleep trains most popular Stearns Foster mattresses. The triple choice sale ends soon at sleep train. Sleep train your ticket to a better nights sleep lets get one last check of top stories. Another scary incident involving a pilot getting sick midflight. And this time a United Airlines copilot passed out about an hour after takeoff. Now, the plane was forced to make an emergency lending in new mexico. Its still unclear exactly why the copilot got sick, but he is said to now be okay. The scare comes just after that American Airlines pilot died of an apparent heart attack midflight earlier this week. Fiat chrysler workers say theyre planning to strike by midnight tonight. That threat comes after workers rejected a tentative deal over wages. Now, if the strike happens, it will be the first in the industry since 2007. And would affect around 40,000 workers. It seems that a merger between the two biggest beer makers in the u. S. Isnt going to happen after all. Miller has rejected a 104 billion offer from rival anheuserbusch. A bud miller combination would have been the Worlds Largest brewer by far. And a new York State Attorney general is now launching an investigation into two leading fantasy football sites, draft kings and fan duel. Now, this comes after allegations that the employees cheated by playing at each others site. Essentially taking part in insider trading. Officials are looking into whether they gained an unfair financial advantage in a game known as daily fantasy football. Thats going to do it for me today. Thank you so much for being with me. Im ana cabrera. At this hour with berman and baldoan starts now. Is isis trying to build a nuclear bomb . A sting operation targeting gangsters raises new fears now about Radioactive Material being smuggled to extremists. Russia striking from the air and now the sea. Can Russian Ground combat troops be far behind in one of the most combustible places on earth. Is the u. S. Out of options . You cant win the white house without winning two of these three states. Despite their critics, donald trump and Hillary Clinton are rocking their rivals. This is cnn breaking news