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CNN NEWSROOM

War Against ISIS; Two Charged with Hiding Danish Gunman; More Snow and Bitter Cold to Northeast; Hackers Steal Up to $1 Billion From Banks

Aired February 16, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Egypt strikes back against ISIS, launching air strikes in Libya after the brutal beheadings of more than 20 Christians.

And new this morning. Two people arrested in Denmark accused of supporting the man who opened fire on a Copenhagen cafe and synagogue.

What we're learning about the gunman and why police knew him.

Plus, a winter blitz for Boston. Cars piling up on slippery roadways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was total whiteout.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Couldn't see a thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could not see a thing.

COSTELLO: Roads so impassable even emergency vehicles got stuck.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It makes us feel like we're a community that's forgotten about.

COSTELLO: Now the south is bracing for its first major snowstorm this year. Could we see a snow jam repeat?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Let's begin with the spread of terrorism and a widening reach of the U.S.-led coalition. Egypt launching a wave of air strikes into Libya and the ISIS controlled city of Derna. The training camps and stockpiles are part of the ISIS threat sweeping across the region.

CNN's Ian lee joins us live now from Cairo to tell us more.

Hi, Ian.

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And what we're hearing from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry is those air strikes could just be the beginning. The Egyptian Foreign minister is on his way to the United States to push the U.N. Security Council for what they say is to take greater responsibility for international security.

What they're asking for in Libya is that the same international coalition that we see in Syria and we see in Iraq take place in Libya as well. They didn't give any further details but it seems like calling for the similar sort of air strikes that we're seeing in those countries. They also ask for political and material support from the international community as well as they carry this out.

I just talked to a former Egyptian general who says the one thing that the Egyptian military will need is ammunition and the means and the weapons to carry out this mission.

But this latest video, all of this, is revenge for 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians who were beheaded. There was a video that was released. We have pictures of it. A very gruesome video. But what it does highlight is that ISIS in Libya has expanded its presence. It has a very firm presence in that country. And it's exploiting the political and security vacuum that has been Libya since the 2011 uprising that overthrew Moammar Gadhafi.

An uprising that was backed by the West -- by the international community and the West through air strikes. And so the Egyptians are asking for once again the international community, those in the West, to help them fight ISIS in Libya -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Ian Lee reporting live from Egypt this morning.

Let's head now to Denmark where flags are flying at half-staff today as police investigate a terror attack that left two people dead and injured five others. This morning officials have charged two more people with hiding the gunman after the attack before he was killed by police in a late-night shootout.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This morning, Copenhagen, the latest European city traumatized by an apparent act of terrorism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm shocked. It's --

ROBERTSON: As new details emerge about the 22-year-old gang member who killed two civilians and injured several police officers in a frightening attack over the weekend.

His name, Omar Abdel Hamid el-Hussein, according to Reuters. El- Hussein recently served time in jail after being convicted of a knife attack on board a commuter train. According to the police, there were no known ties of Islamist extremism and they believe he didn't travel to Syria or Iraq. The chilling moment the gunman opened fire Saturday afternoon in the

middle of a free speech debate obtained by the BBC.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The turning point is but. Why do we still say but when we --

ROBERTSON: You can hear more than 20 shots fired through the cafe windows. The suspect killing 55-year-old film maker Finn Noergaard and injuring three officers before escaping.

CNN is unable to authenticate the recording.

The assumed target, Lars Vilks, a controversial cartoonist on al Qaeda's most wanted list for his satirical drawings of the Prophet Mohammed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bodyguards, they immediately became active. And they rushed up to the scene, and took me in and threw me into a storage room.

ROBERTSON: Hours later, the same suspect attacked a synagogue three miles south. The gunman killing 37-year-old Dan Uzan, a guard providing security for a bat mitzvah party.

HELLE THORNING-SCHMIDT, DANISH PRIME MINISTER: We will do everything we can to protect the Jewish community in our country.

ROBERTSON: The terror filled weekend ending Sunday outside these apartments when the police killed the 22-year-old in the third gun battle in less than 24 hours.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: So in the following hours after that, police then arrested two men. They've charged them today on what they say -- these two men by prior agreement, the prosecutors say, by prior agreement these two men helped the gunman hide out and the implications there are that they had knowledge of this attack or that he was going to do something violent in advance of it and then hiding him out after the first gun attack potentially being aware that he was involved in it.

So a concern here of potentially more accomplices out here and that's why -- police operations continue at the moment -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nic Robertson reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

The Copenhagen attacks just the latest incident to fuel fears that anti-Semitism is growing throughout Europe. In France where a shooting spree at a Paris supermarket left four Jews dead after the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks, there are concerns. Some 300 Jewish headstones were found desecrated in a cemetery in the northeastern part of the country.

It's leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call for, quote, "a mass immigration of European Jews back to Israel." But the prime minister of Denmark is urging them to stay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THORNING-SCHMIDT: I want to make very clear that the Jewish community have been in this country for centuries. They belong in Denmark. They're part of the Danish community and we wouldn't be the same without the Jewish community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joining me now from Brussels, Daniel Schwammenthal. He's the director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute which seeks to foster relationships between the United States, the European Union and Israel.

Welcome, sir. Can you hear me?

DANIEL SCHWAMMENTHAL, DIRECTOR, AJC TRANSATLANTIC INSTITUTE: Thank you very much for having me on your show.

COSTELLO: Thank you for being here.

SCHWAMMENTHAL: Yes, I can hear you.

COSTELLO: Do you think that Benjamin -- good. Do you think that Benjamin Netanyahu is right? Should Jews leave the country and go to Israel?

SCHWAMMENTHAL: Look, at the end of the day, this decision will be decided by effect on the ground which will lead to very personal decisions. Is it going to be safe enough for Jews to live here? And every Jewish family will have to make the decision themselves and neither the statements by the Israeli prime minister nor by the Danish prime minister as much as I welcome her statements will in the end be effective. The question is, is it going to be safe to be a Jew in Europe?

COSTELLO: I talked with the rabbi at the synagogue that came under attack. He says that he's going to put in bulletproof doors and other added security measures. Is it that unsafe there for Jews?

SCHWAMMENTHAL: Look, since 2012, 13 Jews have been murdered by Islamist terrorists, starting 2012, and to lose three Jewish children and a parent last year in Brussels, we have the Paris attacks, yesterday Copenhagen, it is indeed that dangerous and this is not just a personal assessment. This is the assessment of the security services in Europe.

Put yourself in the shoes of a Jewish parent walking the children to a school that has to be guarded by policemen and now these days in Belgium, in France, by soldiers. And this is not because of paranoia. This is because of what Belgian, French and other European security services think is necessary.

COSTELLO: What should the government do? SCHWAMMENTHAL: Look, at the very least what we need here at the EU

level is a really high level conference on the problem of anti- Semitism. And a task force that really comes up with an action plan and implement it. We need to take on radicalization, Islamic radicalization in a much more coherent and profound way. We need to cut off the funding that still comes in from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries to indoctrinate and brainwash the minds of young Muslims in Europe.

We need to also speak openly about the problem. Too much we still, you know, are too politically correct to really name the problem, which is on the one hand radical Islam but on the other hand also widespread anti-Semitism among the Muslim community, or segment of the Muslim community, but also within the population at large. These are just some of the steps that we need to take urgently.

COSTELLO: All right. Daniel Schwammenthal, thank you so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a slick layer of ice coating parts of the south. Conditions worsening as we speak. Live report from Nashville next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Parts of the south are facing a messy wintry mix. Louisville is getting a slick coating of snow and ice right now. Officials warning people to stay off the roads.

Conditions like this are of course nothing new for the northeast. In Boston, roofs are collapsing under the record snow as the city hits its snowiest month ever.

It's crazy there in Boston.

Nick Valencia, though, is in Nashville. He's covering the southern freeze. Ryan Young is in Boston covering that kind of -- I don't even know what you'd call it in Boston. To me, it's like apocalyptic at this point.

But, Nick, I want to start with you where it's a balmy 29 degrees in Nashville right now.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and for this California boy it feels a lot colder, I'll tell you that, Carol.

A lot of states in the southeast getting hammered by the severe weather. We'll start, as you mentioned, in Louisville, Kentucky, where there was deicing. So much snow there and heavy weather conditions but here the rain as well has been relentless.

Freezing rain in Nashville, Tennessee, a city that you don't really get used to hearing about in the severe weather forecast. But a quarter inch of ice so far on the roads according to officials. And if you just pan down here, you could see what this freezing rain has started to accumulate. Just look at that. It's just hard as a rock, Carol.

We're right here on Broadway which is sort of the main thoroughfare in Nashville and you see behind me the streets are relatively empty, though we have seen a handful of cars and just a little bit of traffic this morning.

The crews have done their best to try to clear those roads and they spent all weekend salting and brining these streets preparing for the three to seven inches of snow that's predicted over the course of the next 24 hours.

We haven't seen that snow just yet. Mostly sleet and freezing rain but as you mentioned, Carol, it is pretty cold. Not quite as cold as it is in Boston there for Ryan Young but people here are definitely feeling it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Wait. Wait. I think I can hear people laughing from Boston right now.

(LAUGHTER)

I mean, it's dangerous there.

VALENCIA: There's this audible gasp.

COSTELLO: You should stay off the roads. But poor, poor Boston. Let's head there right now and check in with Ryan. It's just unbelievable.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable is the right word. And 29 degrees, I will trade him easily any day of the week. The people here are really feeling the cold. And it's no joke. In fact I've talked to some of my friends who've been digging out for days. Look, they hit 58.5 inches so far in this area in terms of snowfall. The shovels like you see the one that's right in front of me, they're in heavy use right now.

Now this digging out effort has had people all across this area involved in a massive operation of trying to make sure even emergency vehicles can get around. We actually saw some of the efforts to make sure those emergency vehicles don't get stuck. You really have to give the work crews in this area a lot of credit for trying to keep things moving in this city.

Don't forget, though, roof collapses were also an issue. And in fact, there's been several of them overnight. Now we've covered this story and talked about the idea that they would have crews knocking out -- professional crews knocking some of the snow off the roofs here. In fact one mayor closed some schools to make sure all the kids were safe.

The sun is coming out. It used to be negative 25. We now moved up to negative 14 windchill. If you look up here, you can see some melting but yes, negative 14 feels great. I have to say it's a warm front moving through. But you've got to think about the impact to a city like this. Over $30 million so far has been spent trying to clean this city up.

And I can tell you, where do you put all this snow? Who knows? That's something that we're dealing with for quite some time.

COSTELLO: Yes. I don't think that snow is going to melt until when, August? I wouldn't be surprised. It's just crazy.

YOUNG: Maybe.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Yes. Ryan Young, thanks to you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, digital thieves find a way to steal upward of a billion dollars from banks around the world and you won't believe how they're doing it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It sounds unreal. But kind of appealing in a way. ATMs rigged to spew out cash. And that's not all. And what could be one of the largest bank heists ever. Hackers found a way to steal up to $1 billion, yes, a billion with a B.

CNN Money tech correspondent Laurie Segall joins me now to tell -- how did they figure out how to do this?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: I know. It's so unreal. This one's kind of -- we hear about hacks all the time. But this one feels like unprecedented. I mean, just the scope. A hundred financial institutions in 30 different countries. We're talking hackers from Russia, hackers from China, a lot of eastern European countries. And also the way they did it. Very basic.

Someone at a bank got an e-mail. It had an attachment. They thought it was legit. They clicked on it. Their computer was infected with malware. But then this is what's a little bit different. They just sat around. The hackers sat and they watched and they learned and they recorded all different types of banking credentials and then they attacked. And this took -- each attack took about two to four months.

They would only take certain amounts of the money out. So let's say you had $1,000 in your bank account. They would go in, they would make it so you had $10,000 in your bank account and they would transfer 9,000 into their own private account. But what you mentioned is the whole idea of hacking ATMs from afar, which is what they did. And I -- actually I had the opportunity to speak with someone who helped uncover the hack. And I asked him specifically about hacking ATMs. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: When we look at the report, one of the most fascinating parts is when we talk about ATMs just spewing money. Hackers controlling ATMs from afar. How are they able to do that? CHRIS DOGGETT, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KASPERSKY LAB NORTH AMERICA: We

refer to them as money mules. These are basically members of the organized crime ring that was doing this whose job it was to go pick up money and then deliver it at a specified location. And we saw instances where the criminal didn't -- the money mule didn't even touch the ATM machine. They just walked up to it. The money came out and they walked away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: I mean, it's pretty unbelievable. And he compared it to "Oceans 11," this kind of attack, because there are so many different people doing so many different things at different levels. You talk about, like, the money mule. He also said that good hygiene, good security hygiene could have prevented this. They use an --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Wait. Good security hygiene?

SEGALL: This is what he calls it. He calls it good security hygiene. Whatever you want to call it, I hope all the banks start doing it. But they did -- they had -- didn't have an updated Microsoft software and hackers were able to exploit Microsoft Word. I kid you not.

COSTELLO: You're kidding.

SEGALL: Yes.

COSTELLO: That's just wrong.

SEGALL: Yes. Yes. All the way to the money mules who are getting all the cash. That's pretty unbelievable.

COSTELLO: Laurie Segall, thanks so much.

SEGALL: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, ISIS gains ground and another country strikes back. We'll take a closer look at the spreading tentacles of the terror group.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

In Denmark, police have charged two men with helping to hide the gunman after the weekend attacks on a cafe and a synagogue. The country's flags are flying at half-staff for the two people killed and five others wounded.

This morning the Danish prime minister urged unity as police investigate radical Islam as a possible motive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) THORNING-SCHMIDT: This is not a conflict between Islam and the West. This is not a conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims. This is a conflict between the core values of our society and violent extremists.

Collectively and united, we will remain who we are. As one lights in the dark, we are once again seen and felt that we're not alone in this struggle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Also new this morning, Egypt launches a wave of air strikes into Libya that target the training camps and weapons stockpiles belonging to the terror group ISIS.

Also, in western Iraq, one tribal leader says ISIS fighters are gaining ground in Anbar Province and Iraqi troops are in danger of collapse.

CNN's Phil Black joins us now from Irbil in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq.

Tell us more, Phil.