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CNN NEWSROOM

Major Cities Boost Security for Celebrations; Netanyahu Says U.S.-Israeli Conflict Strong; Biggest Money Stories of the Year; Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 30, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:30:00] MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump might have a role to play in establishing some sort of cease- fire and some sort of peace agreement in Syria and finally, Martin, putting an end to this bloody war that's waged -- been waged now for almost six years.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it would be such a welcome benefit.

Muhammad Lila, thank you very much.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Martin Savidge in for Carol Costello. Nice to be with you. Thanks for joining me.

The New Year is only one day away and cities across the globe are getting ready for the big celebration. From New York City's Times Square to London's South Bank. security has been beefed up in light of recent terror attacks. London's Metropolitan Police will be deployed and they'll deploy armed officers on the underground. That's the railway system. And for the first time in Madrid, they plan on limiting the amount of people allowed into the main square.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is live from Times Square with more on the security prep there.

Good morning, Brynn.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, Martin, good morning. Yes, security prep really here in Times Square started when the ball dropped earlier this year, 2016, and they just keep evolving because you've said it, there is just an evolving world out there, things that police are seeing happening in other cities, they have to change the security preparations here. Two big things I want to point out to you.

NYPD says they are adding 65 sand trucks and 100 barrier trucks which are basically NYPD department vehicles and they are going to form a perimeter around Times Square. Now that is new, that much is new, especially, because of these truck attacks that happened both in Berlin and in Nice. So police said that is just a new thing and that's what they have to prepare for.

So that's something we'll definitely see when two million people come out here tomorrow to ring in the New Year. Another thing we've been told by the department recently, investigators have been visiting truck rental companies. They've also been inspecting parking garages around this area and even talking to hotel managers and staff, just keeping their eyes open for anything that might be suspicious. And as the police commissioner said, that there will be no complacency when tomorrow comes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES P. O'NEILL, NEW YORK POLICE COMMISSIONER: I know complacency can set in at times but certainly not at an event like this. This is -- everybody knows how important this is. Everybody knows the eyes of the world are upon Times Square on New Year's Eve night. So there will be no complacency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Yes. And people got to do their part as well, keeping in line with all the rules that are in place by police. 7,000 police officers will be here and in New York City on Times Square, Martin, if you can believe that. Over 500 of them just graduated from the academy two days ago. And their first job is to protect Times Square on New Year's Eve -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Well, that's quite a challenge. I've got a question for you, Brynn. The New York City police commissioner which we just showed there said that -- well, he said that people will be safe. I shouldn't say guarantees. But we remember that just a few months ago there were those dual bombings in both New York City and New Jersey. So what's the city doing to try to prevent these kind of lone wolf acts?

GINGRAS: Well, certainly, I mean, those are the big scare, right, that's what's happening in every city. And the police commissioner even said, you know, we are an open society. You can't say 100 percent you're going to be OK but he said because there are so many levels of security especially around a big event like this ball drop, he said everyone should feel safe. That those precautions are being -- are taking place again, as soon as that ball dropped earlier this year so throughout this year goes on. So certainly that's a worry, that's something everyone is going to be looking out for, but he says, you know, come out and have a good time and you're going to be safe -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Right. I believe that. Brynn Gingras, thanks very much for that.

The terror attacks, of course, in Berlin and Nice where were, rather, terrorists intentionally plowed trucks into crowds are undoubtedly on the minds of police this New Year's Eve. Security officials say that the UK has been under a severe terror threat for more than two years with a future attack viewed as highly likely.

And here in the U.S., authorities are doubling down on their security efforts but of course, the question is, is it enough?

Joining me now is former NYPD sergeant and law enforcement trainer Joseph Giacalone. And good morning to you. JOSEPH GIACALONE, FORMER NYPD SERGEANT: Good morning.

SAVIDGE: Joseph, let me ask you say. Some say, you know, the Nice and Berlin-style terror attacks are almost impossible to thwart. So how are cities planning to prevent them from happening?

GIACALONE: Well, they are going to be using those cement trucks, the sand trucks, as they said before. They will probably put out spike strips. They're going to lock down these streets and create choke points so that the trucks can't get through.

One thing that I do have to mention is that the truck drivers themselves out there, you've got to remember, these guys were carjacked so we -- you know, lock their doors and those kind of things. We have to get that message out, too. So they want to make sure that that doesn't happen. It's very low tech and has, you know, a high impact on the civilian population as we saw.

SAVIDGE: What about this issue I raised with Brynn there, and that is, you know, the lone wolf attack? This is somebody not in a truck but a lone person in a crowd that could do something, say, with an explosive?

[10:35:08] GIACALONE: Well, certainly. I mean, but when you go into these pens, they have metal detectors, the police officers are searching people, they have, you know, canines, they have radiation detectors, they have bomb-sniffing dogs, bomb technicians on staff, and with those 7,000 officers, there's going to be a number of them that are in plain clothes that are just there to watch the crowd, watch what's happening inside and make sure that nothing happens and everyone enjoys their time.

SAVIDGE: And I know, you know, of course, everyone is there to have a good time but does the public have a role here as well?

GIACALONE: Well, absolutely. I mean, if you see something, say something. And this is not a time to -- you know, for somebody to say well, that's nothing. Anything that could look suspicious, there's going to be 7,000 cops there. You can be able to find one real quick and say, listen, I see this package here. This is left there. They screwed down the manhole covers. They locked down post office boxes, so they have tried to think about everything well in advance.

I have done this about 12 years out of my 20 years in the police department and they really have a good take on this. And I think everyone should just go and enjoy themselves.

SAVIDGE: And I want to ask you, if something were to happen, a gunshot or some kind of blast, what is the public, if you are there, supposed to do?

GIACALONE: Well, we want to make sure that doesn't create panic but unfortunately, it will. And this is where we worry about a stampede. But the way they have these pens set up is they have these egress points that people can be filtered through them on either side. So that's something that they could do to mitigate that. We want to make sure that doesn't happen. And we have to make sure that cooler heads prevail. And I think people will be -- feel comfortable because of the security measures that are put in place.

So I think that would be the key, keep people's levels calm, and listen, just, you know, have them go out and enjoy it. That's the idea. The police officers want to go home, too. So they are on their utmost security tomorrow night.

SAVIDGE: Of course they do. Yes. And just yesterday we know that authorities in Sidney, Australia arrested a man for making New Year's Eve terror threats online. And this comes after, you know, police in Melbourne arrested five suspected -- or suspects, rather, who were planning attacks on Christmas Day.

All of this stuff, these kind of threats that come in, there must be many that police get. How do you discern what is real and what is not?

GIACALONE: Well, that's the million-dollar question, so to speak. The police departments, they should have social media investigative teams right now. I know the NYPD does. But every police department should have them. They should be culling the information on the Internet, watching what's happening on social media, creating their hash tags, searching for them, looking for evidence of somebody who is trying to plot something, and everything has to be taken seriously.

They can't afford to say well, this one is no good, this one might be. They have to take a look at these and all the threats will be vetted, so to speak.

SAVIDGE: Right.

GIACALONE: And if they have to go visit people, they will.

SAVIDGE: Joseph Giacalone, I wish you a happy and very safe new year. Thank you very much.

GIACALONE: You, too, Martin. Happy New Year.

SAVIDGE: Still to come, Benjamin Netanyahu sounding off on the state of relations between the U.S. and Israel. A live report from Jerusalem just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:28] SAVIDGE: After the war of words in the wake of that U.N. vote, Israel's relations with the U.S. have been front and center and fractured. But in what seems to be a sharp reversal from his comments earlier this week, Benjamin Netanyahu is signaling that the dispute has not had a long-lasting effect on the two nation nations' ties.

Joining me now is CNN's Sara Sidner. She is in Jerusalem. Hello, Sara.

SARA SIDNER CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, you know, listening to Theresa May, the prime minister of Britain, talk about this, it's interesting to note that some of the diplomatic fallout is now a bit of a row between the United States and Britain, very close allies, with Theresa May coming out and saying, look, we don't necessarily agree with Kerry's comments and they feel like, you know, there are a lot of other issues that are stopping the peace process, not just settlements.

But to the settlement issue, the Palestinians sort of saying look, settlements are one of the biggest obstacles. The reason why we won't come to the table is because more and more settlements have grown in, for example, east Jerusalem and the West Bank, and they say that is a sticking point.

So you're seeing here kind of the diplomatic fallout after this U.N. Security Council vote, number 2334, and the United States right in the middle of it. But you are hearing Benjamin Netanyahu admit that the relationship between the United States and Israel is still strong despite some of this back and forth, and they did feel like it was a final slap from the Obama administration as that administration leaves office to abstain from this vote and allow this particular proposal to pass and be put into words, put down on paper, basically saying Israel is acting in an illegal manner against international law when it comes to settlements -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: And I'm wondering what do the Israeli people think of this row, this divide that has suddenly flashed between the U.S. and Israel?

SIDNER: It depends on whose side you're on. I mean, they certainly worry that they don't want Israel to be more isolated, but a lot of people back Benjamin Netanyahu. He has been in power for quite some time now and they see things his way. They see some of the comments he makes about the Palestinians and some of the violence that has happened, for examples, that have happened here, some of the shootings. Rockets that come over from Gaza. They talk about that, and then they feel like look, those are issues, too, why are settlements turning into kind of a number one issue as the stumbling block for peace?

On the other hand, the Palestinians saying look, we've been talking for a very long time and these settlements are taking over land that was supposed to be part of the two-state solution so how will there ever be two states. And a lot of people feeling like two state solution may be near dead at this point -- Martin.

SAVIDGE: Yes. And that is the worry. Sara Sidner in Jerusalem, thank you.

Coming up, tragedy strikes a Colorado ski resort. What happened on that ski lift?

But first, here's a look at some of the musicians we lost in 2016.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:48:46] SAVIDGE: Let's check our top stories now. A Texas mother dies and her two young daughters are hurt after falling from a chair lift in Colorado, according to our affiliate KCNC. The family fell 20 feet into the snow while on vacation at a small ski resort about 90 miles west of Denver. No word at this point on what exactly caused that family to fall. The accident is of course under investigation.

A South Carolina judge is ordering Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof to undergo a second competency evaluation before his sentencing. It comes a day after Roof, who will represent himself in the trial's penalty phase, this is a federal trial, by the way, said he would give an opening statement but not call witnesses or submit any evidence. The competency hearing is set for Monday. Roof faces the death penalty for killing nine black parishioners at a Charleston church last year.

Another creative delivery idea from Amazon. Floating warehouses. The company recently filed a patent for the idea. The so-called Airborne Fulfillment Centers would use blimps at 45,000 feet. They would store products and send out delivery drones like this one to fulfill orders in minutes. Amazon has already laid out plans to start using drone delivery next year. How about that?

Tennis star Serena Williams announcing her engagement to Reddit's co- founder Alexis Ohanian.

[10:45:06] The two got engaged while on vacation in Rome. He surprisingly popped the question. Williams even took to Reddit to announce the news herself. The couple began dating last year but have kept their relationship out of the spotlight. Good for them.

From economic whiplash to smartphones that literally were too hot to handle, business headlines dominated the news in 2016.

Here is CNN's Money's Richard Quest and Christine Romans with a look at the top 10 moments in money.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, HOST, CNN'S QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Bank account faking, smartphones exploding.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Markets tanking. Then rallying.

QUEST: And a billionaire businessman winning.

ROMANS: Here are the top 10 money stories of 2016.

QUEST: Number 10. The biggest jackpot in history. Powerball Mania spread as the prize climbed past the billion-dollar mark. Then on January 13th --

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Three winning tickets in the record $1.6 billion Powerball drawing.

QUEST: That's about $187 million for each winner. Don't forget, after taxes. ROMANS: Number nine, the Donald Trump stock bounce nobody saw coming.

The market gyrations began as Trump's victory looked more certain election night.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. stock futures are down nearly 500 points.

ROMANS: Dow futures kept sinking then Donald Trump gave his acceptance speech, promising to heal wounds. Futures bounced off the lows and by the end of the trading day stocks were rallying. The Dow hit a record high the next day and surged more than 1200 points in the month after the election.

QUEST: Number eight. The crash in oil prices. A global supply glut drove crude to $26 a barrel in February. A 13-year low. By the summertime, gas was the cheapest since 2004. Oil prices eventually found their footing and then surged because of an OPEC deal in late November. The promises to cut production.

ROMANS: Number seven, Apple versus the FBI. The government ordered Apple to help it break into the phone of one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple CEO Tim Cook refused arguing it would compromise security for all iPhone users. A showdown in court loomed until an unnamed third party helped the Justice Department crack that phone. But it won't be the last clash between tech and the law.

QUEST: Number six, the conflict of interest battle. Trump Inc. versus President Trump. With stakes in more than 500 companies, Donald Trump has more potential business conflicts than anyone ever elected president. He has promised to address the issue in January but ethics experts say anything short of selling his businesses and putting the proceeds into a true blind trust don't go far enough.

ROMANS: Number five, exploding Samsung phones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is absolutely disastrous for Samsung.

ROMANS: The company forced to recall millions of Galaxy Note 7s after some caught fire while charging. The fiasco could cost the company $10 billion in sales but Samsung's pain was Apple's gain. It released the iPhone 7 and even without a head phone jack, demand was brisk.

QUEST: Number four. Donald Trump breaks with a 40-year tradition by refusing to release his tax returns. The GOP nominee blamed an audit by the IRS for keeping them under wraps. Then after pages of his 1995 tax return was leaked, Mr. Trump seemed to confirm what many had suspected.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Did you use that $916 million loss to avoid paying personal federal income taxes?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT: Of course I do. Of course I do.

QUEST: Presidents of course are under no legal obligation to release their tax returns so we might still never see them. ROMANS: Number three. Scandal at Wells Fargo. Two million fake

accounts secretly created by employees facing unrealistic sales targets. The bank was fined $185 million, fired 5,300 workers and dropped those sales goals, fueling all that bad behavior. CEO John Stumpf was hauled before Congress in September for a tongue-lashing.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Your definition of accountable is to push the blame to your low-level employees. It's gutless leadership.

ROMANS: A month later, he was out. Now Wells Fargo is trying to repair its shattered reputation, even as it faces a series of class action lawsuits and investigations.

QUEST: Number two. Brexit. Investors around the world are in crisis mode after Britain in June voted to leave the European Union.

[10:55:07] The decision stunned the global markets. The British pound plunged to a 30-year low. And the Dow dropped more than 600 points.

TAPPER: And the vote as you might expect is having an immediate impact on markets throughout the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lot of fear and uncertainty.

QUEST: Stocks stabilized a few days later but Brexit won't be cheap. Businesses are already reporting they're cutting investment in the UK. The country is facing a $31 billion budget shortfall. Questions about just how Britain will leave the world's biggest trading bloc are still largely unannounced.

ROMANS: Number one. The deep economic anxiety threatening to end globalization. It powered Donald Trump's victory, energized Bernie Sanders on the left, drove Brexit and is spreading across Europe. But even as the working class revolt against free trade, there's a disconnect.

The big headline, though, I would tell you here is the unemployment rate, 4.6 percent.

Unemployment at a nine-year low. Home prices back at all-time highs. Growth picking up. The middle class even got a pay raise.

The gulf between those doing well and those left behind is widening. The question in 2017, will populist prescriptions rescue the economically displaced or just deepen the divide?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: There you have it. Your year in money.

Thanks for joining me today. I'm Martin Savidge. I want to be one of the first to wish you a healthy, happy and prosperous new year.

Berman and Bolduan will begin right after a short break.

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