distribute the movie at the heart of a hacking attack and people across spain pray for a piece of the christmas time payoff. let's again in the united states where we are learning more about the man who ambushed two new york city police officers over the weekend before 28 year old ismaaiyl brinsley killed the police men. investigators say he shot his ex-girlfriend in the state of maryland. he also had a lengthy criminal past. he was behind bars several times in georgia and he was arrested 15 times on various charges. at least one court record says he admitted to mental health issues. right now investigators are combing through his social media posts. people say he appeared to be upset over recent deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of white officers. meanwhile, hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil in the neighborhood where the officers were killed. ramos's aunt expressed her desire for peace. >> i would like to thank all those who have share there had sympathy and support for our beloved family member, rafael ramos, who will always be loved and missed by many. i hope that we can reflect on this tragic loss of lives that have occurred so that we can move forwardage find an applicable path do a peaceful, kee co-existence. >> ramos's 13 year old son reacted to his father's death on facebook saying saturday was some one gets shot dead just for being a police officer. everyone says they hate cops, but they are the people that they call for help. >> well, social media is one of the things police are looking at to figure out, brinsley's motives for the killings. they're trying to piece together the time line starting with the shooting, the phone calls to her mother and his eventual suicide. robert boyce, said sunday afternoon, they interviewed shanika nicole thompson. the two have known each other for about a year. they're hoping to get more information for all of his motivation whuflt we do know about thompson. she lived here in this apartment complex alone. although, brinsley had a key he wasn't suppose to have. he entered at 5:30 a.m. on saturday morning. he wasn't suppose to enter. the two had an argument. he came in anyway. she called her mother, who heard part of the argument. then fired a shot into thompson's stomach, grabbed her phone and fled. listen here to what happened at next. >> at 6:05 he calls the mother, girlfriend any mother on the phone and says, he shot her by accident. he hopes she lives. he at 6:30, begins monitoring his movements. they have him tracked going northbound i-95. during this time he calls his girlfriend's, ex-girl fraend mother several times. and goes through, makes statements. >> from baltimore, police we know that 1:30, saturday. one of thompson's friends called police to warn them about brinsley's instagram feed. he made threats to law enforcement. baltimore police called new york police at 2:10 to warn them about the threats. then the new york police say at 2:50 they got a fax with a wanted flier with his image on it. of course as we know that was just a few minutes too late. at least one new york official is asking for anti-police brutality protests to stop until after officers liu and ramos are laid to rest. there have been weeks of demonstrations over the lack of charges in the death of eric garner at the hands of the nypd. garner's mother says she does not want any violence in her son's name. >> anyone who is standing with us we want you to not use eric garner's name for violence. because we are not about that. these two police officers lost their lives senselessly. >> new york's mayor, bill diblasio has been getting the cold shoulder almost literally for his support for pausful protests against the nypd. saturday. officers turned their backs on diblasio, holding the officers' body. some lawmakers and police representatives say the mayor is responsible for the officer's deaths. >> mr. mayor, you need to have a sit down and you need to get everything corrected from the may your's office down. because this is wrong. we need, we need you to work with the community and the police department. we don't need you to go to one side. the police department need you as well. this is what happens. that's why you got their back yesterday. because of all of this craziness that is going on. >> and the new york police department says it is concerned about more attacks on its officers. right now, the department is investigating a gang member who posted a threatening message to police on facebook. alexander field has more on how the department is trying to pro tkt itself and the may your's rinse to all the criticism he is facing. >> reporter: this is a city still very much on edge. the men and women sworn to protect the team who live here on alert. sources telling cnn extra security added to nypd precincts and threats to the department being made on social media are carefully vetted and investigated. this as the the city mourns the loss of two officers assassinated at gun point in this brooklyn neighborhood. officer liu, officer ramos. while people grieve the loss of the officers, tensions are brewing between mayor bill diblasio and police officer's union, the union accusing the mayor of having the officers' blood on his hand. the union says the may your's support for protesters who have demonstrated against police tactics in the whack of the deaths of michael brown and eric garner jep diopardized the safef the officers. the mayor not directly responding to the accusations. he is focused now on victims and families. the may your's office responded to what is being said by the unions saying this rhetoric is everheated. and that it is causing anger and that it is highly divisive. alexandra field, cnn. >> u.s. president barack obama called new york's police commissioner sunday offering his support and any possible assistance he might need. mr. obama also repeated his message for americans to "reject violence" and word that harm, and turn to word that heal. prayer, patient dialogue, and sympathy for the friend and family of the fallen. we turn to a big story. we are following. north korea expected to come under the scrutiny of u.n. security council. the council set to discuss pyongyang's human rights record but may also touch on cyberattacks in light of the devastating hacking of sony pictures. the u.s. blames pyongyang. a rinse to a sony movie about fictitious assassination plot against kim jung-un. an exclusive interview. he told her north korea's actions are a global concern. >> do you think this was an act of war by north korea? >> i don't think it was an act of war. i think it was an act of cybervandalism. costly. expensive. we take it very seriously. we will respond proportionately. ♪ ♪ >> people are entering into the most. >> the film that aggravated north korea, a comedy "the interview" and sony called off the christmas day release after the cyberattack. on nbc. a lawyer for sony insisted the studio still plans to distribute the film. >> remember, sony only delayed this. sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed. it will be distributed. how it is going to be distributed. i don't think anybodies yet. it will be. >> north korea denied any involvement in the cyberattack on sony pictures. and now it is saying the united states government was involved in the controversial movie's production. well this was the scene this weekend on north korea's state tv. the leader kim jung-un mobbed by adoring crowd. north korea state media release aid statement promising attacks on the white house, the pentagon and "the whole u.s. mainland." >> news and entertainment from the jut side world rarely reaches north korea. but one man is trying to change that. and he is determined to make sure north koreans see the move vef at the center of this controversy. >> take him out? >> you want us to kill the leader of north korea. >> yes. >> what? >> americans won't seep the interview in theaters. but park son hop pledges north koreans will. >> dvd? >> this plastic bag packed with clips about brutal atrocities from labor camps to attack on south korea and music videos of how the west views the regime. for years, park, a north korean defector launched the bags across the border. these giant balloons drop bags into north korea with the hope of reaching the average citizen. when it does -- it challenges the sole image north koreans have of the regime. this is all north koreans see their entire life. only one state controlled television station exists in north korea. kim jung-un is god. citizens expected to worship, devout, and loyal to a frenzy or pay the price of befrail. >> nice tank. is that real? >> the interview shatters a revered image of the regime. a silly comb deep to the west. a powerful tool for this defector. he waits and hopes sony reaps the movie on dvd. it is deeply personal. 20 years ago he read a south korean leaflet and realized he needed to flee north korea. >> this is how you see the regime crumbling. >> this will change how north koreans think, says park. when you know the truth it will bring change. we want north koreans to gain freedom and topple the regime. sony pictures caved to north korea, believes park, a regime so sdain dangerous two bodyguard who asked not to be identified for safety reasons, travel with him. north korean spies have attempted to murder park. already heavily sanctioned and isolated the u.s. has few options dealing with north korea. but park believes he can get even. but the very movie the regime tried so hard to block, right in their own backyard. >> all right. we turn now to a scary scene in send tram france. at least 12 people are injured and a man is under arrest after police say he rammed his car into a crowd of pedestrians. now it happened in the city of dijon sunday. witnesses told our affiliate, bfm, tv, the driver was shouting as he plowed into the crowd. now this mark twos days in a rope of violence in france. saturday man entered a police station in a french city, shouting the same arabic phrase. he stabbed three officers with a knife before he was shot dead. >> we'll take a short break now. next here on cnn, a rare glimpse inside isis. we have an exclusive interview with the german author who spent more than a week with isis militants. anticipation building in spain. the drawing for the world's biggest lottery is about to start. a live report coming your way. isis fighters are fleeing sinjar as kurdish fighters have complete control of the iraqi town and villages. isis militants seized the town, causing minorities to flee into mountains. the u.s. military said it carried out four air strikes around sinjar sunday. thousand of those who fled will be able to return over the next month. although most of their homes and religious shrines were destroyed by isis. we are now getting an exclusive look inside isis. a german author spent more than a week with isis fighters in iraq and syria. as frederick blanken reports, the author believes he is the first western journalist to be allowed to visit the group. >> reporter: an extremely rare glimpse into the inner workings of the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world. german author managed to visit isis territory in iraq and in syria. >> they are only 1%, 1% movement. in the islamic world. but this 1% movement has the power of a nuclear tsunami. it is incredible. i was so amazed. i was -- i was -- i couldn't understand this enthusiasm. >> reporter: he spent several days in iraq's second biggest city, conquered by isis in june. he visited the mosque where a speech was given earlier this year. he also met with child soldiers. >> how old are you? >> i am 13. >> he managed to get access to a kurdish prisoner in the hand of them. >> what did they till you could happen to you. >> troy: our captors said we have islamic state fighters in prison with the kurdish regional government. you are prisoners here. we will trade you back for our fighters. they didn't say they would kill or slaughter. >> people living in isis controlled areas are in fear of the harsh penalties for infringement of the stringent laws. there is also a sense of order and stability. according to the author, fighters say they often manage to defeat larger armies like the iraqi military because they're not afraid to die. how many days to conquer mosul? four days. we didn't kill 24, but we killed a score of them. so they got terrified and ran away. we don't retreat. we only fight and god al mighty will victorious. those have reverted from islam do not have a solid ideology, so they ran away. they came to fight for the money. >> during battle he learned. many of the isis fighters wear suicide vests. willing to blow themselves up rather than be captured. in one interview the senior isis fighter warns the u.s. and europe. [ indiscernible ] we will kill 150 million, 200 million. we don't care about the number. >> reporter: atrocities, isis committed suggests they're serious about their threats. this german author's visit to the islamic state shows a brutal merciless group but one that won't go away any time soon. fred blanken, cnn, munich, germany. >> and we will bring you more on this story, later today, during a special edition of amanpour. and sits down with the man profiled in fred's peach. watch the interview monday at 7:00 p.m. in london. 8:00 in berlin. only here on cnn. >> an historic day in tunisia. reuters is reporting, that essebsi declared victory in sunday's run-off vote. the 88-year-old anti-islamist made the announcement before a crowd of supporters, chanting his name. he was running against interim president masuki who has refused to concede. official election results not expected until later in the day. the tunisian vote comes after 2011 arab spring uprisings that ousted the then president from power. >> for the drawing for the world's biggest lottery is about to start. billions of dollars are in play. we will take you live to anywhere it will all unfold. that is next! well there are probably lots of crossed fingers in spain right now. as the the drawing for the annual christmas lottery, elgordo should start at any moment. this is the world's biggest lottery. the prizes this year, total $3 billion. yeah, i said billion. let's go to cnn correspondent, al goodman, joining is live from madrid, spain. al, a big day for spain. this is the hour it all happens. right. how is this organized? how will the nearly $3 billion or so be divided up? >> well, let's start right there, rosemary. this is a 20 euro ticket. this is worth $400,000 euros if i win the fat one. this happens to be my ticket. the one that is going to win. in a bar next to the opera house here in central madrid. where the nationally televised drawing is about to start. what happens is, the situation, like you have right here in the bar. with the -- the bartender, simona, she has act of the tickets with her co-workers. so if it hits to any one of the eight. they share it. that's what you have got across the country. which is why there is so much interest in this. families, co-workers, all sorts of people are sharing their luck. now in this bar, there are also some tv, tv guys who are working across the street. about to hustle back there. everybody has got a ticket except for one guy. he says he didn't buy it. didn't want to spend the 20 euros. he is sure it will fwhot him him. he is in the minority. rosemary. >> sound that way. al, give us an idea of past stories of this -- this holiday lottery how it plays out there in spain? and, you know how the winnings are dispersed? >> how it plays out is for the first year, it doesn't seem to be much of diminished interest. for the first year, the tax, tax authority is going to take a 20% cut. that is a sign of spain redoing things after this long economic crisis trying to find money any which way. in any case, i'll be welling to take the 400,000 euros. less than 20% for the tax man. you are having people really trying to change their luck. change their lives with this lottery. because it's not a one winner takes all. nobody walks away with, near three $3 billion. one person. you have, the money spread all over the country. that's why there is so much interest. rosemary. >> good thing. nice to see it all divvied up. $3 billion. a lot of money. al goodman. thank you so much. good luck with the ticket. we'll see what happens. all right. well now to biz ngs news. in a few hours, we could find out more about how badly the collapse of oil prices and the fall of the ruble is hurting the russian economy. the government is expected to release gdp numbers for november. the russian central bank says, 2015 could see the economy shrink by 4.5% if oil stays around $60 a barrel. and that would be the biggest decrease since 2009. >> impressive business news, filled 2014. but which stories stood out most. here's michael holmes joined by a panel of cnn correspondents and anchors with the top business moments of 2014. >> a lot of business buzz in 2014. from a pretty wide spectrum too. for the first time. a woman became chair of the u.s. federal reserve. chinese company, alibaba, biggest ipo in u.s. history. seemed however that apple was it often does dominated headlines for various reasons. it released the iphone 6. and bought beat electronics for $3 billion. also, apple ceo tim cook, the first fortune 500 ceo to come out publicly as gay. apple was all over the news. >> i remember you talking about. apple paid. i have friend using it. people are going, uh, uh, uh, what do you think about it? next big thing. change the way, get rid of the wallet. >> google should get credit. phones have already had this technology. but when apple does something, it's big. we are going to have a cashless society. but we are just not there yet. what happens if the battery on your cell phone dies. then you need your credit card. look, at some point this will happen. apple is kind of the last of the big first step. i'm sure it will come a point where cash will people look at it, what's that? kind of with records. >> you don't think so? >> cash remains king. >> you are so wrong, richard. remains now, but not forever. >> what do you think? >> young and the old. >> i don't use cash as it is. >> you never spent a penny anyway. >> from isis to ebola, ukraine to the search for a missing malaysian airliner, cnn takes a look back at the stories that captured our attention this year. join us for defining moments. 2014. correspondents discuss the events that moved them the most. international viewers see it this thursday, 9:00 a.m. in hong kong. 10:00 a.m. in tokyo. next here on cnn, residents in the new york city neighborhood where two officers were gunned down get emotional as they describe what they saw and heard. that day. >> plus, cybercriminals hide in dark corners of the internet to sell their hacking skills. we'll have that and more when we come back. stay with us. ♪ make the best entertainment part of your holidays. catch all the hottest handpicked titles on the winter watchlist, only with xfinity from comcast. a welcome back to the viewers in the united states and of course all around the world. i'm rosemary church. want to check the headlines for you this hour. new york's police commissioner is telling his officers they bind the city together and will not be broken by the ambushed killing of two of their own. a candlelight vigil was held sunday night for liu and rafael ramos. police say they were inside their patrol car saturday afternoon when a man walked up and shooting. he later killed himself. north korea is making more threats against the united states. it comes after the u.s. blamed pyongyang for a cyberattack earlier against sony pictures which north korea denies. the studio produced a film that ridicules north korea's leader. isis militants are fleeing sinjar as kurdish fighters claim they now have complete control of the iraqi town and surrounding villages. isis seized the town in august, causing minorities to flee into nearby mountains. the u.s. military said it carried out four air strikes around sinjar on sunday. as news of the shooting death of the two new york city police officers spread, the tight community where they lived and worked, felt the pain of their loss particularly hard. tara lynn wagner with our affiliate new york one has the story. >> my wife screamed in the house. she says, al, al, al. it's our neighbor! >> reporter: alexander is in shock after learning neighbor rafael ramos was one of two officers gunned down in the loon of duty. ramos was a good husband and wonderful father to his sons. >> they were so close. they were so close. it was unbelievable how close they were. every day you see him with his sons. every day. go play basketball. >> through out the day this memorial grew at the site of the shooting. nypd officers bowed their head in silence and commissioner bratten left flowers. members of the community stopped by to pay their respects. >> it could have been my son. >> because everything that is going on. it is really sad. for everybody's life. you know, not only the police. >> they were just here to protect us. and, they got ambushed. >> one person we spoke with said there has been tension in the community for weeks but never expected it to lead to this. >> cop killing ain't the answer. killing civilians. >> three city boroughs presidents echoed the call for unity. >> we are asking all new yorkers to turn this pain into purpose. and to ensure that we send out a clear and loud message. all lives matter. >> message should be that we are one city, that we absolutely do not support any life being killed. >> what happened here yesterday is wrong. what happened here yesterday was an assassination to all of us as a society. >> the brooklyn borough president, eric adams said he contacted organizers of recent demonstrations to ask that protests be put on hold out of respect for the officers until they can be buried in peace. >> all right, let's return now to one of the day's other big stories. an attorney for sony pictures says the company is intent on releasing the controversial comedy the interview. the film depicts a fictional plot to assassinate kim jung-un. sony canceled its release after a cyberattack that the u.s. blames on north korea. pyongyang insists it was not involved in that hack. u.s. president, barack obama, called the attack an act of cybervandalism. but u.s. senator john mccain described it as an act of war. >> when you destroy economies, when you are able to impose censorship on the world, and especially the united states of am kate is more than vandalism. it's a new form of warfare that we are involved in. and we need to react, react vigorously. including reimposing sanctions that were lifted under the bush administration. including other actions that will squeeze them more economically. but most of all, we have to really work together with the president and the congress to come up with counters and abilities to -- to respond to, but more, more importantly, to prevent. >> john mccain there. well the director of bbc television is also weighing in on the issue. danny cohen. oversees, bbc entertainment programming says he is deeply concerned about the implications of sony's decision. >> the big thing the most important thing is that this doesn't limit freedom of expression in the west. if we allow this to limit freedom of expression, creative expression, stories that people naturally want to write about this will be a very, very bad moment. >> and it is worth noting there is a vast, ominous area of the internet that is not accessible to most people no matter whey they are. it is known as the dark internet. and it is a place where hackers are more than willing to cyberattack your enemies for surprisingly low price. lori siegel takes us inside. >> you want us to kill the leader of north korea? >> yes. >> what? >> reporter: the next sony hack is for sale in the dark corners of the web. bring down a web page for an hour, $2 to $60 on the russian underground page. redirect people to a fake site. that is going for $750. and what about an attack like the one on sony? >> out of pocket looking at $500 $1,000 of encoding time. >> all services available for purchase on illegal form on the dark web on the deep corners of the internet. accessed through encrypted browsers. in the wild west of the internet. you don't have to be a sophisticated criminal to launch a devastating cyberattack. you just need an internet connection. >> you don't need to learn how to build a gun. don't need to learn to be a coder to purchase a cyberattack. >> many in russia, brazil, china are making billions. not just anyone can enter. >> those thinking they want to visit forums and buy capabilities you should be well aware the second you enter the forum you have probably been hacked. as online communities thrive. more cybercrem naltz could get their hand on keys to major corporations. what makes the sony hack different. it wasn't about money. >> most hack attacks have a financial motivation and this one didn't. is significant. geom mopolitics are a harbinger attacks. >> certainly a wake-up call there isn't it. let's tornado to the weather. midweek storm in the u.s. is threatening to slow travel for millions of people. meteorologist aaron cabrera joins us now for details on this. this is going to be unbelievable. because of the timing. >> timing is not going to be great. not talking about a storm that will have people sleeping at the airports. that would be a nightmare. not the case. a nuisance storm. going to be mainly a wet storm that is heavy rain. as opposed to snow. will be areas that will get snow. talk about thatten a second here. certainly not a blockbuster winter storm by any stretch of the imagination. it is not going to be quiet either. the way it is going to be across the airports. we will have delays. the storm is getting organized here. and, the next couple days. we'll really get it going. what we have done to the southeast. unradioe late unrelated. nasty weather. rolling through the state of florida. late word. as many as 11 injured. from a light nining strike. nfl game in tampa. as a result of line of storms rolled through sunday. that is going to continue. we will have flooding issues down in the south and east. then the storm system is going to get cranked up. this is going to be a low that will come up from the colorados, head up to the midwest. essentially. we will be on the eastern side of it here. across the eastern united states. on the eastern side of the low. that means a wet scenario. keep in mind. area of low pressure right, basics are. on the eastern side of it. wind from the south. a warm wind direction. on the western side of it. come from the north. that's where you get the snow. if this low was of course, a hatteras low, we call northeasters then we are talking nice blockbuster snow. that will not ham pen here. what will happen is we are going to get some severe weather potential on this southern flank of this here. i think by tuesday and even into christmas eve, we have the potential, slight risk severe storms. large hail. damaging wind gusts. and rotating thunderstorms. upper low. to the north. slowly move across the northwest. and bring a swath of 4 to 6 inches. friend in the north. that is of course not going to paralyze the roads. it is going to slow us down. there is severe weather threat. rosemary. not just for tuesday. generally, the same area under the gun again for the same impasse through the day on wednesday. then of course, by christmas, everything quiets down. just in time. >> oh, good. i like that. but, we're all watching very carefully. thank you, ivan. appreciate it. take a short break now. still to come here on cnn. a member of the cuban turns home after years in a cuban prison. how his wife got pregnant while he was locked up. ♪ make the best entertainment part of your holidays. catch all the hottest handpicked titles on the winter watchlist, only with xfinity from comcast. well iran is weighing in on the united states decision to re-establish ties with cuba after five decade of cold war standoff. in a statement, iran says washington's decision shows the policies of isolation and sanctions imposed by major powers are ineffective. iran and the u.s. cut off diplomatic ties after the 1979 takeover of the u.s. embassy in tehran. well, the pope played a key role in historic u.s. cuban deal with days until christmas. thousand gathered in saint peters square for the prayer and to see the pope of course. next, pope francis will address the cardinals and bishops who govern the catholic church for the annual exchange of holiday greetings. >> senior vatican analyst, john allen, joins us now with more. so, john, what can we expect to hear from the pope and his christmas message today do you think? >> good evening, rosemary. this speech is build by the vatican as the pope's state of the union speech. as you say, meeting with the upper echelons of the vatican. cardinals archbishops. an opportunity for the pope to look over the last year. and one to come. francis is an activist pope. internally and externally. internally launched a pro gram of reform at the vatican including a thorough financial house cleaning. also has a new commission to lead the fight against child sexual abuse in the catholic church. externally involved in the affairs of the day as you said, just coming off a big diplomatic coup in terms of having played a pivotal role restoration of diplomatic relations between the u.s. and cuba. early in january, second foreign trip to asia, to the philippines. and sep o we may get a hint. all of what's on the to do list. one thing to add. francis has broken protocol. in addition to meeting with the upper tier of leadership today, he is also scheduled a special session for sort of the worker bees of the vatican. that its the blue-collar employees. in their families. which will be happening late tire day. we expect that one, rosemary to be a festive encounter. >> no doubt. >> the pope has played a central role in making changes to people's lives this year. as we have mentioned, encouraged talks, the u.s. and cuba. won a battle to welcome gays into the church. saying who am i to judge. a taste of what the pope did in 2014. what can we expect from him in 2014. what are the expectations? what are people saying? >> rosemary, the short answer is more of the same. by this point. pope francis's broad program, projecting a compassion that, tolerant face of the church. trying to make the church relevant in the affairs of the day. we would expect in the big picture sense for that to continue. and we can say about 2015, two pivotal moments to look for. one in september, he is going to be making his very first trip to the united states. not just as pope, but his first ever, trip to the united states. and it will be his in the flesh debut on the american stage. that is going to be a huge moment. that'sen september. then in october. he is going to be convening a senate. a senate of catholic bishops around the world to talk dritically important issues having to do with the family, the role of gays in church, including role of women. the hot button issue whether divorced and civilly remarried catholics ought to receive communion. in play in 2014. very much on the pope's agenda for 2015. rosemary. >> john allen, many thanks we'll be listening. new details surfacing abut one of the cuban five members released by the u.s. last week. as part of efforts to normalize diplomatic relations. the spy's wife became pregnant while he was in a u.s. prison. >> reporter: just released from u.s. prisons, cuban five receive a heroes welcome from raul castro and top poe officials. the men's returns have cubans buzzing not just over secret neg ge -- negotiations but the pregnancy of the wife. adriana perez was with child is all too clear. after 16 years, languishing in u.s. federal prisons. greeted by admirers in his old neighborhood, he said, "as much as i prepared for my return" it was still surprising. the couple's pregnancy is also surprising. since adriana was long banned from visiting him in u.s. federal prison for herself being a cuban intelligence officer. the family of other members of the five save she was inseminatinseminat inseminated artificially. in good shape. strong. happy. she told me about the expecting father. he'll ex-plane how it happened. it was science. skew ban five member, rene gonzalez, told cnn he can't disclose how a pregnancy worthy of a spy thriller was pulled off. [ indiscernible ] >> in a statement released to cnn, a justice department spokesman said, we can confirm the united states facilitated mrs. hernandez's request to have a baby with her husband in light of mr. hernandez's two life sentences. the request was passed along by senator leahy seeking to improve conditions for mr. gross while imprisoned in cuba. herrardo received a double life sentence for downing of two planes by cuban air force that killed four cuban americans. the u.s. officials helped him conceived a child is sure to add salt to the wounds of cuban exiles, enraged and rekindled u.s. cuban relations. the couple say in two week's time they're due to have a baby girl. and thanked the u.s. officials who made this unlikely pregnant see possible. definitive proof of the old saying that politics really do make strange bedfellows. well, devil offing out of sydney, australian court has revoked bail for the wife of the sydney siege gunman. the widow of the gunman. she was free on bail after being charged with the murder of the ex-wife. now in custody after the court ordered her to return to jail to await trial. an allege add complice in the murder, was also out on bail. that led to widespread criticism of the storming of a sydney cafe at gun point last monday. sparking a 16-hour hostage standoff that led three dead including himself. >> next on cnn what caused justin bieber and other celebrities to lose millions of instagram followers overnight. we'll explain. we want to pause to note the passing of an acclaimed british actress, stage and screen star, billie whitelaw died at a nursing home in london. she was 82 years old. whitelaw appeared in more than 50 movies from classic horror film "the omen" to alfred hitchcock's "frenzy." whitelaw best known for collaborations with play right samuel beckett who called her "the perfect actress." >> big celebrities may be nursing their egos after a significant downgrade on social media this week. a short time ago i caught up with kim serafin, senior editor at "in touch weekly." kim, thank you so much for joining us. now, of course in the whack of the instagram purge, a whole lot of celebrities have lost millions of followers, what's been the impact of that? >> yeah, anyone out there who has instagram, woke up thursday morning or looked at instagram, thursday, friday, realize they'd lost a lot of followers. though you didn't probably lose as many as justin bieber who lost $3.5 million followers from his instagram. a lot of celebrities lost millions. kim kardashian lost $1 million. beyonce. taylor swift. kim kardashian, this instagram purge has been her gain too. now, since justin bieber lost so many. she is the most followed celebrity. 22 million. justin bieber down to 20 million. yeah, celebrities across the board lost millions. instagram account lost followers. because instagram said they were trying to purge all the spammy accounts. all of those fake accounts that are out there. if you are on instagram. you know you get weird, fake, spam accounts that follow you. it happened to justin bieber. some times buy the accounts. people go out, celebrity or average person. you can buy accounts. instagram trying to get rid of all that. not great. if you are trying to brand yourself as a big celebrity. you want to show you have followers on instagram. though again, 20 million, 22 million. doesn't really matter the not going to hurt. >> still a lot of people isn't it. >> now, madonna is responding to the leak of her album. by, by releasing her songs early. so tell us more about that. >> yes, madonna. always had things leaked working on an album. new album working on. suppose to release the first track on valentine's day. the album was going to follow in the spring. recently in the past week or so. 10 tracks started floating around the internet. initially responded saying these were unfinished demos stolen a long time ago. but now she just released from this new album she released six tracks, finished track. an early christmas gift to her fans. initially thanked her fans for not listening to unfinished tracks floating out there. she wanted people to listen to the finished tracks. six new tracks. one with mickey minaj. produced by various people. different styles of music. classic madonna. going to capital ties on this. get publicity. get six tracks out. rest of the album out later >> she knows how to play the game. >> ys she does. >> huge numbers for the, the final installment of the hob bit. what sort of numbers are we talking about here? >> huge. final installment of the hobbit. people have been waiting for this a long time. here in the u.s. $90 million. number one box office, moneymaker at the box office. and worldwide, globally made $350 million. so this is huge. people were soechl anticipating this. of course you have money coming in from 3-d. imax. long awaited to see the hobbit. >> always a pleasure. >> thank you so much. >> and you have been watching cnn. i'm rosemary church. thatly natalie allen will take you through another hour of global news after this short break. do stick around. ♪ music ...the getaway vehicle! for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. i don't know who in the heck got the impression this community is not behind their police department and they think it enough they can come hee and take them out. that's not going to happen. we're not going to allow that to continue to happen. it's unacceptable. >> a community unites and the new york steep police department goes on alert after the death of two officers. we look at the extra steps taken to protect the lives of police. new warnings from north korea in the wake of the massive sony hack, and sony exec.s say the movie that started the whole controversy is delayed but certainly not dead. >> we have not caved. we have not given in. we have persevered. and we have not backed down. and talk about a holiday wish. billions of dollars on the line in the world's lar