Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20140825

Area yesterday. Nerves are still frays after dozens of aftershocks still rocked the area today. More than 200 people were injured and dozens of buildings are damaged to the point where they are now off limits. Dance i dan simon is in napa for us. Give us a sense of the scope of the damage. Every building on this one block where im standing has been red tagged. Meaning they are uninhabitable. This is an example of the kinds of things were seeing. You can see, absolutely crumbled. You see all the bricks on the ground. At the bottom, you had an outdoor cafe. At the top, you had offices. What folks are doing now, what crews are doing now, theyre basically assessing the damage, trying to make sure there are no more gas leaks. Trying to make sure there are no water leaks. What we saw earlier today is that crews basically did a great job in restoring the power. Now, its working out some of the other infrastructure problems that you had. You have some roads that are buckled. Thats why so many streets throughout have been blocked off. You really cant get through. Theres a sense that things are turning to normal. Some of the public buses are running. Some of the businesses are starting to open. Its going to be a long time before things truly return back to normal here in napa. Wolf. Any assessment to the damage of the economy of this area . This after all is the heart of wine country. Its a huge Tourist Destination as well. Theres a huge concern that this is going to have a major impact on the local economy. Especially the wine industry. This is a 13 billion industry here in napa. Youve seen these pictures of barrels being toppled over. Of the wine bottles toppled over, broken. The wineries are still assessing the damage. There is broad concern that there are going to be some steep losses, wolf. Dan simon in napa for us. Five days after the release of the video showing the execution of james foley, another american was released. Peter curtis was held by a Different Group than foley. Our Nick Paton Walsh has more. Reporter it is interesting that this particular group chose to release peter curtis right now. They are affiliated with al qaeda. They are described as a terrorist organization. They are at times rival, to isis who are now the target of u. S. Air strikes. Some speculating that perhaps they assisted mr. Curtis in his release because they wanted to score some good pr opponents in the eyes of the west. After a week of horror, finally some good news. An american held hostage in syria by islamist rebels for nearly two years is free. 45yearold peter fior curtis, a freelance journalist, released sunday after being held by the al nusra front, a Syrian Rebel Group with ties to al qaeda. His family thanking the governments of u. S. And qatar for their efforts. While the u. S. Has denied any involvement and details about his release remains unclear. Curtis was handed over to United Nations peacekeepers in the Golan Heights who then released him to u. S. Government officials. My name is peter reporter these videos show curtis during his last few months in captivity. In this video, a rebel points a gun at his head while curtis speaks rapidly as if under duress. Curtis was captured near the syrian turkey border in october 2012 and held in aleppo with american journalist matthew sh rhea. The two locked up for months before planning their escape. Shria breaking free through a window with curtis help. Curtis, however, got stuck trying to escape. Im pulling him and im pulling him as hard as i could. We were not making any headway and we were making too much noise and the windows were open and the lights were above me and the sun was coming up. You must have known then that you had to leave him . Yeah. Yeah, it was one of the hardest things ive ever had to do. Im not going to have closure until hes home. Reporter curtis release comes just five days after isis released a video of one of its militants beheading american journalist james foley. On sunday, his parents releasing a letter on facebook, that they say he composed in captivity. He talked about sharing one cell with 17 others and playing games made up of scraps they found. Foley had a fellow hostage memorize the letter, dictating it to his family upon release. British officials close to identifying the isis militant responsible for the beheading. Expert, say he spokes with a distinctly british accent. Investigators making headway, using clues in the video to pinpoint the killer out of hundreds of british muslims who had joined isis. We were putting out a great deal of resource into identifying this person. I think were not far away from that. Reporter peter Curtis Family are clear, they dont believe money changed hands in this release. They dont know the full details. They say this was a humanitarian effort. And that was the principal guiding factor behind his release. Very many details, though, still to clarify, but one American Family extraordinarily happy. Nick paton walsh reporting for us, thank you. Isis fighters have captured more territory, this time in syria. The insurgents cea s seized a my base in the north. It effectively gives insurgents control of the raqqah province. The Syrian Government saying its willing to accept support from u. S. And others in its fight against isis. President obama considering taking military action to stop the surge of isis terrorists there. Air strikes have slowed the Extremist Group from advancing in neighboring iraq but isis is thriving right now in the chaos of syria. Cnns Barbara Starr is joining us from the pentagon. Barbara, the president is sounding serious about possible air strikes. What kind of pressure is he under to move in that direction, not only launching air strikings in iraq but expanding to air strikes in syria . By all accounts, the president has yet to make a decision to give the go ahead for it. But some initial steps could be under way. What officials are telling us is before they would even do air strikes, they will have to fly reconnaissance flights into Northern Syria over this raqqah stronghold of isis. They need to get a very closeup look at the ground. Where are the isis troops. Where are the command and control centers, the training camps, the installations. That would be the targets that they want to go after, again, to sort of stop isis momentum across this wide swath of Northern Syria. To deny them this safe haven. Nobody thinks air strikes are going to put isis out of business, but they have seen, they say, some evidence in iraq that its working, that its putting them on the run a bit, that theyre not as free to move around, that they cant just simply sweep into towns anymore, so theyre hopeful if they get the go ahead, they can do something similar in syria. Still, make no mistake, its a very long road. One of the questions, would the u. S. Coordinate any of this with the Syrian Regime. Right now, indications are the u. S. Military would not coordinate with the assl acissa regime but if it got started this could go on for months. The u. S. Does coordinate air strikes in iraq with the Iraqi Military as well as the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. In syria, theres a free syrian army, as its called. But its rather limited in its capabilities. The u. S. , if it doesnt want to coordinate with Bashar Al Assads military, its going to have a problem in syria, right . Well, it may get a bit difficult for the u. S. Military. I mean, look, assads forces have been fighting for the last several days to try and hold on to that air base you were just talking about that isis, by all accounts, has now taken. You know, in this area of Northern Syria that is now essentially the isis safe haven, how much influence syrian forces, assads regime, have here really part of the intelligence question. Right now, all the indications are isis has a pretty good grip on this area. If the u. S. Can get in and out with its aircraft, with a minimal risk of encountering the syrians or being shot down by them, it may be a risk that military planners are willing to take. One of the things we continue to hear is that this area of Northern Syria may not have the level of air defenses that you see the Syrian Regime maintain further south around baghdad pardon me, around damascus and other key areas. The Syrian Air Defense is very well built up over the years, also along the coastline, because they feared an israeli incursion, if you will. So this area in the north may be something that the u. S. Can deal with without coordinating directly with the syrians. If you start air strikes, they could go on for months to have any meaningful impact. So well see if not coordinating with the assad regime to something they can stick to. Well see what the president decides to do. Barbara, thank you. Lets get some more now on the funeral of Michael Brown, the 18yearold whose death touched off protests and marches. Jake, give us a little sense of the message were hearing from browns Funeral Service today, after days of angry protests. Is there a sense of hope coming from the service . Well, wolf, i think its fair to say, apart from all the cameras and the celebrities, this is clearly a time of personal grief for Michael Browns family. And one of the things thats been so important about the service is how much meaning those speaking have been trying to find in his death. About what his death has spoken for. About who has been moved by this and about the fact that for many people Michael Browns death is about a larger issue, about a larger movement, and thats the hope that im getting from people speaking here, that the idea that something more meaningful can come from this dialogue or perhaps more. Wolf. Is there a sense that the folks there will honor the desire by the family that they avoid protest marches at least on this memorial day . Well, you can hear right now, wolf, people coming out of the overflow, chanting hands up, dont shoot, hands up. This is an the scene going on right now, young men, yelling, hands up, dont shoot. And a woman saying, i love you, but dont come out here and protest, dont come out here with this. They have since quieted down. Obviously, there is an effort to quell and quiet any of those passions, at least right here in the immediate vicinity of the funeral, wolf. Im sure the brown family is pleased that three officials from the white house had decided to attend this Funeral Service, right . Im sure they are. There are a lot of Public Officials here, i should point out that those who are affiliated with officer Darren Wilson feel like the presence of a white house delegation, the presence of other Public Officials here, is unfair, because obviously officer wilson has his side of the story. We have yet to hear what it is. From what weve heard from the police, they maintain that he was attacked by Michael Brown, and the idea that there are white house there is a white house delegation here, there are Public Officials here, to those affiliated with officer wilson, and of course he has the presumption of innocence just like anyone else. They feel like that is the government weighing in and saying, well, we believe this version of events, we dont believe officer wilsons version of events. Its a very sensitive time. People who are coming to the funeral are trying to say this is about the loss of an 18yearold, this is about one familys personal loss. But there is so much politics and protests surrounding it, there are those who take issue with the white house delegations presence, as well as the presence of other Public Officials, wolf. Well be checking back with you, jake, throughout the day. Jake will be anchoring the lead, 4 00 p. M. Eastern, from st. Louis, ferguson, area. Much more coming up on the lead. Jake, thanks very much. Coming up here, the latest on the federal investigation into Michael Browns death. Was racial hostility a factor in the shooting . Also coming up, well have more on the search for foleys killer and how british investigators may be closing in. 0 years of swedish experience in perfecting the rich, never bitter taste of gevalia. We do it all for this very experience. Thats good. I know right . Gevalia. This is charlie. 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Asked by our own Candy Crowley as to whether they have the name of the person would did this, the British Ambassador to the u. S. Said were close. It doesnt mean we know if theyre that close to getting the name, or are they close to being able to tell us who the name is. Do the british know the name and theyre not able to tell us yet who it is . We do know were close to having a name of somebody to be revealed later this week. We do know from our conversations excuse me with british officials, that theyre going over every piece of this video. The voice on it of course is key. The background. The terrain where they were. Theyre looking at the editing of the video because the video does go black during the apparent moment when hes being killed. Those are all the forensic things were looking at in this video. Of course were told theyre close to being able to say the name of this person. Do we know how many british citizens are part of isis in iraq and syria now . Our conversations with intelligence officials here in the United States indicates there ahundreds of british citizen, somewhere between 400 and 500 british citizens who have gone to fight in syria and within them, hundreds are members of isis. Theres a strong british contingent of fighters within isis. Americans, only a handful. British, french and german, they number in the hundreds, those numbers in isis it the scary thing is of course wolf weve all been reporting they all have western passports, they dont necessarily need a visa to get back in the United States, so they can travel here fairly easily and thats what u. S. Officials, you can sense their concern over this is ratcheting up. The British Ambassador says theyre close. Well see how close they are to identifying this individual. Thanks very much for that report. In the days leading up to the killing of the journalist james foley, isis made two demands. Before the terrorists demanded a 132 million ransom, they offered a prisoner swap. In exchange for foley, they want a woman released whos serving 86 years in a texas prison. Jean casarez introduces us to the woman known as lady al qaeda. What im saying is simply that a woman is not an unpaid slave. Reporter this is dr. Sadiki, also called lady al qaeda, a pakistani national, her release from a u. S. Prison was one of the demands made by isis in exchange for american journalist james foley before he was beheaded by his captors. In an email sent to foleys family on august 12th, isis wrote, we have also offered prisoner exchanges to free the muslims currently in your detention like our sister dr. Afia sidiqqi. She is an icon, she is the poster girl for jihad. And in that way, she served as a sort of rallying point. She is the premier symbol of the muslim woman in distress. Reporter sadiqqi earned degrees from mit and bran dies university outside boston. This petite 44yearold woman, a neuro scientist and mother of three, lived in the u. S. For more than a decade, and in 2003, she disappeared. In 2004, was put on an fbi alert list, considered a clear and present danger. In 2008, sadiqqi was stopped by Afghanistan National police for acting suspicion outside a government building. According to court documents, officers searched her handbag and found numerous documents describing the creation of explosives, chemical weapons and other weapons involving biological material and radiological agents. Handwritten notes by sadiqqi referred to a mass casualty attack. Listing various locations in the United States, including the empire state building, wall street and the brooklyn bridge. When american authorities came to question her the next day, she grabbed one of their rifles and started shooting. Sadiqqi was flown to the u. S. Where she was never charged with terrorism but convicted of attempted murder. Sadiqqi claimed she was framed. She interreupted her trial repeatedly with heated outbursts, antisemitic outbursts about jews, all kinds of things. The judge found she was mentally capable of standing trial, but that she needed some sort of treatment and thats why he sentenced her to a prison in texas where she is able to receive psychiatric care. Reporter she has a notorious inlaw. She married the nephew of Khalid Shaikh mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9 11 attackings. Basically, is she a scientist or a terrorist . Shes definitely a terrorist sympathi sympathizer, theres no doubt about that. And she was helping terrorists. But she was never shes never been accused of actually committing a terrorist act herself. Reporter whether she has committed a terrorist act or not, isis clearly considers her to be of great value. Jean casarez, cnn, new york. Just ahead, hackers target Online Gaming networks but did they also target a passenger jet with a sony executive on board . Leater, many questions still remain in the shooting death of Michael Brown. So far, the fbi has interviewed more than 200 people. Were about to get an update on the federal investigation. Over the weekend, hackers took down Sony Playstation and other Online Gaming networks. The American Airlines flight with a sony executive on board was forced to land in phoenix on sunday after the same group reportedly sent out a tweet claiming there were explosives on the plane. Our aviation correspondent rene marsh. This is American Airlines flight 362. It was supposed to go from dallas to san diego but was forced to divert to phoenix. What we also know, two fighter jets had to be scrambled as this plane was coming in for a landing. It apeers this is all because of a hacker group that goes by the name lizard squad and they say theyll keep on doing what theyre until the bombing of isis troops stops. On board flight 362 was the president of sony online. Apparently, this group knew he was on board, because he tweeted directly at him, as well as American Airlines, saying i believe we have the tweet there, that we were concerned there were reports of flight 362 from dallas to san diego had explosives on board. The tweet went on to say, look into this. They also paired that tweet with images from september 11th. Should tell you the plane landed safely. However, cameras did capture that sony exec when he landed. He sent out his own tweet. Essentially confirming that, indeed, the plane was diverted, saying he wasnt going to discuss any more than that, and he ended the tweet saying justice will find these guys. Of course, no explosives were on board. That being said, the fbi is investigating. Were talking about a false threat here thats a criminal offense so theyre looking into it. You know, people believe eventually they will find out whos behind this. Diverting a jet, a passenger jet, and foreing fighter jets to go up there, those seem like two very different things. I mean, like i said this is a this is a criminal offense when you have this false threat that you are making towards an airliner which had passengers on board and now you have f16s called into the picture. So now the fbi wants to know who is behind this. They told cnn that they are this investigation is very much under way at this point, wolf. Do we know if theres some sort of late connection between the lizard group and sony . Not only did they bring down the online game bing, but they o appeared to know this exec was on this flight. We should mention, they also took down other Online Gaming sites as well. So not just specific to sony, but im sure this is something the fbi will be this is a federal investigation right now. This is a big deal. Yes. All right, thanks, rene, for that report. Still to come were Michael Browns civil rights violated when he was shot and killed by police . Thats a question investigators are trying to answer. Well have a live report on the latest. Next, to the heart of california whi wine country. Theyre picking up the mess. Im type e. My golden years will not just be gold plated. I had 3 different 401 k s. E trade offers rollover options and a Retirement Planning calculator. Now i know when im going to retire. Not if. Big day . Ah, the usual. Moved some new cars. Hauled a bunch of steel. Kept the supermarket shelves stocked. Made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. Whats up for the next shift . Ah, nothing much. Just keeping the lights on. laugh nice. Doing the big things that move an economy. See you tomorrow, mac. See you tomorrow, sam. Just another day at norfolk southern. [music] defiance is in our bones. Defiance never grows old. Citracal maximum. Easily absorbed calcium plus d. Beauty is bone deep. Having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pickup truck slams into your brand new car. One second it wasnt there and the next second. Boom youve had your first accident. Now you have to make your first claim. So you talk to your Insurance Company and. Boom youre blindsided for a second time. They wont give you enough money to replace your brand new car. Dont those people know youre already shaken up . Liberty mutuals new car replacement will pay for the entire value of your car plus depreciation. Call and for drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. Switch to Liberty Mutual insurance and you could save up to 423 dollars. Call Liberty Mutual for a free quote today at see Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. Welcome back. Im wolf blitzer reporting from washington. Two separate investigations under way in the shooting death of Michael Brown. One is a 12member grand jury. The other is a federal civil rights probe, focused on whether the killing involved racial hostilit hostility. Evan perez joins us. Whats the status of the civil rights probe . How is it different from what the grand jury is doing . I think weve just lost our connection. Were going to try to reconnect with him and get an update. Evan, are you there . Give us an update on the federal. What do we know . Well, wolf, we know its still at the very, very beginning of this. Were talking about a long process. The fbi, as you said, has done about 200 interviews with people here in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred. Also, theyre going to not only look at those interviews, theyre going to look at some of the practices of the Police Department to discern whether this officer or the Police Department has a bigger problem. Officials are very much expecting that the Justice Department is going to be scrutinizing this Police Department for the next couple of years to look at, for example, the pattern of stops of africanamericans who are passing through ferguson. And also looking at whether or not any other incidents of violent which have happened in the last couple of years, wolf. If the county grand jury does foot hand up an idea, how will that impact the federal investigation . Well, you know, there are separate investigations. So it does have a role in the sense that the feds will look at whether or not there was something in the county investigation that they can pick up and then bring into the federal investigation. Thats why we fully expect the federal government will wait to see how this investigation turns out, before they decide whether to bring any civil rights charges, wolf. So this could go on for weeks, indeed, months, theres no time limit, right . Right. Also, this can steins play out in years. Were talking about, for example, as a comparison, the Trayvon Martin investigation is still ongoing. It is something that obviously has been in the spotlight in the past. This is exactly what the federal officials ive talked to are preparing us for, that this is going to be a long time before they get to the end of this. If the federal investigation determines there was racial hostili hostility, what happens . Well, you know, they can bring charges against this officer and they can also, in the next few months, find out whether they want to look at ferguson Police Department, perhaps the st. Louis Police Department, and look at this area, whether theres a bigger problem, whether theres some changes needed, whether theres some oversight that needs to be had. So these Police Departments can improve their relationship with the community. Clearly from the disturbances we saw in the last few days here, we believe there perhaps is a bigger problem here. Evan perez in ferguson, missouri, for us, evan, thanks very much for that report. Up next, were going to go back to napa. We have some dramatic pictures coming in from the damage from yesterdays earthquake. When folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. It can help your business save money. False. 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My little brother, hes 11 years old, hes startled and rattled as well. I was asleep and was woken from my very deep sleep. It feet lilt like a ride, felt being on a roller coaster. It felt longer than it actually was. It felt like it was occurring for about five minutes. I do not have power. We do not have water. Im first of all thankful im okay and everyone we know is okay. It gives me the chills. This morning when it was really quiet down here, it is its like a scene out of a movie. Its, like, really crazy and eerie. It looks like a fairly typical kind of earthquake. The magnitude is much larger than weve seen for a long time. The hard est part was having to deal with the lack of water for the incident and knowing that you had structures immediately threatened like the ones that were burning. You pretty much knew you were destined to lose additional units. So there wasnt a lot of hope of saving that particular unit. Was very difficult. We currently have four structures to the ground. Mobile homes. And 6 to 8 with varying degrees of damage. Anybody hurt . At this time, we have no report of injuries and none of the occupants are reported missing associated with the units that are burned to the ground. Serious earthquake out in napa. Out in the california. Just ahead, hamas sets up firing squads as they respond to new air strikes from israel. Well have a full report. Thats coming up next. I make a lot of purchases for my business. And i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. Like 50,000 bonus points when i spent 5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. And i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at Office Supply stores. With ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. Travel, gift cards, even cash back. And my rewards points wont expire. So you can make owning a business even more rewarding. Ink from chase. So you can. Its monday. A brand new start. 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As our ian lee reports, hamas is blaming part of their troubles on suspected spies. Reporter a death sentence read aloud by hamas militants. Telling this crowded mosque, were implementing gods judgment by executing traders of god and country. Moments later, their justice comes swiftly. A bullet for each man. A graphic warning for a crowd of onlookers. One that resonates with the people of gaza. Each spy deserves the death penalty, this man tells me. Without spies, israel would have no information. Hamas says at least 22 alleged collaborators have been executed since the war began. There is a war and dangerous spies are operating in gaza, says this hamas spokesman. They forced us to take harsh measures in the form of executing these spies. It sends a strong message to israel and other spies. The militant group blames collaborators for recent air strikes that killed three hamas commanders in southern gaza. 18 people were executed publicly the following day. This is where those alleged collaborators were killed. You can see the bloodstained ground and a bullet hole in the wall. Hamas says these are necessary actions during a time of war. But human Rights Groups argue that its this time particularly where you shouldnt lose sight of the rule of law. They are tantamount to extradition executions. Reporter this human rights advocate criticizes the lack of transparency during the trials. He condemns not just public executions but every death sentence. We are worried that more executions may be coming out in the future. Reporter thats likely to happen again, as the war enters its eighth week. Israeli strikes continue. So, too, does hamass hunt for collaborators. Ian lee, cnn, gaza city. Ians joining us on the phone from gaza city. Is there any movement at all in try to get that ceasefire back on track, getting these indirect negotiations in cairo back on track . Whats the latest on that . Reporter well, theres definitely a lot of diplomatic efforts here with hamas. The Palestinian Authority and the egyptians, they just cant seem to come into agreement, at least so far. A lot of people here in gaza would like to see some sort of ceasefire. A lot of people here are war weary. They would like to see this war come to an end. Theyve had enough. But, still, they want to get some sort of conflict they dont walk away emptyhand emptyhanded. And i think thats holding up a lot of these discussions, especially for a permanent ceasefire, hamas wants some sort of listing of what they say is prestige of gaza, goods to flow in and out. And really thats been the Sticking Point we have seen all along. What about today . Its now nighttime. Nighttime over there, approaching 9 00 p. M. In gaza where you are. Was it exceptionally busy as far as hamas rockets and missiles going into israel, israeli air strikes launching attacks in gaza . What happened today . Reporter well wolf, it has been a fairly busy couple of days here. We have seen a lot of rockets go out and israeli air strikes than when israelis had their Ground Troops here. There was a lot of fire from artillery, from mortar rounds. At this time were seeing a lot of air strikes. And a lot of these air strikes came to be pinpoint strikes on cars, on houses. But we saw the other day a 14story building hit 20 minutes prior to that. They were given a warning. So everyone was able to evacuate. But still, despite that, there has been the death toll is still rising here in gaza. Every day we see at least a dozen People Killed in these sorts of strikes. The israelis claim that 11 or 12story building was a command and control contained a command and control center for the hamas military. Have you been able to check that assertion out . Reporter well, the people there denied it flat out. Hamas has been tightlipped. And going to this area, there is nothing that really is left of this building that you can make out that would be some sort of command and control center. It really is hard to tell when you have these two narratives, hamas saying it was just a civilian building and israel saying that it was a command and control center. When you especially if you havent been in that area, its really hard to sift through that rubble and find anything. But thats where you have to just take it as two different narratives. Ian lee, working for us in gaza. Ian, thanks very much. Be careful over there. Up next, there are new tensions rising now along the border between ukraine and russia as the countrys leaders get ready to meet facetoface. Were going to examine whats at stake. 150 years of swedish experience in perfecting the rich, never bitter taste of gevalia. We do it all for this very experience. Thats good. I know right . Gevalia. This is bill. His doubleheader day at the park starts with back pain. 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Our Matthew Chance and will ripley take a closer look at the issues and whats at stake. Im Matthew Chance in moscow with the russian perspective on the summit. Im will ripley in kiev, reporting on the view from ukraine. Russia has for months been insisting on two things. A ceasefire on the ground in Eastern Ukraine and direct negotiations between the government in kiev and the prorussian rebels. So far, Vladimir Putin has shown no sign of backing down from that position. And has, in fact, according to western officials, been increasing support for the rebels. So unless there has been a dramatic change of heart from the kremlin, i expect a message may be make concessions or face more bloodshed. Ukraine wants the control under the International Monetary agency and made allegations about russia interfering in their conflict it to stop. They want to stop supplying the prorussian separatists with weapons and ammunition. Ukraine is highly dependent on russia economically. Its current leadership, once they reorientate the country towards the west. But presently needs access to russian markets. And in particular, russian energy. In fact, one of the issues that i expect will be high on the mind of president poroshenko is that winter is almost upon us in this part of the world. And ukraine will desperately need vast quantities of russian gas, to heat its homes and cook its food. So the need for a deal with russia makes a thaw in relations even more pressing. Right now ukraine knows they dont have an upper hand with russia, because russia is such a big neighbor. They control the gas prices, a lot of economic ties. So what ukraine is trying to do to reduce that reliance on russia is to more closely align with the european union. Trying to integrate their trade and their Energy Sectors with the eu and trying to, of course, increase economic ties, as well. So, again, they can reduce their dependence on russia. Internationally, hes under enormous pressure. Western sanctions have been biting and ratcheted up, especially since the downing of the malaysian airliner over Eastern Ukraine. More eu and u. S. Sanctions could be imposed if russia continues to support the rebels there. But in terms of pressure at home, the impact has been limited. Putins popularity remains skyhigh. The key figures around him who have been sanctioned remain more or less loyal. The big problem, of course, his big problem, could be if that starts to change. Ukrainians have huge expectations of their new president. But the Public Opinion seems to be swaying in his favor right now. In recent polls, more than half of people surveyed now say they support the operation against prorussian separatists, a number that has gone up. The number of ukrainians elected poroshenko with more than half the vote but with a long list of things they want him to do. Of course, solve the crisis in Eastern Ukraine is top of mind, but also weed out government corruption and improve the economy. Will ripcally, Matthew Chance, good reporting. Well have much more on the putin and poroshenko meeting tomorrow, of course. Thats it for me. Ill be back at 5 00 p. M. , a twohour edition of the situation room. Meantime, newsroom with ana cabrera filling in for Brooke Baldwin starts right now. Hello, im ana cabrera in for brooke today. Right now the funeral for Michael Brown is wrapping up. He is, of course, the unarmed 18yearold shot to death by a Police Officer in broad daylight more than two weeks ago. There is his mother, giving hugs. Thanking people for coming. His death, of course, sparked protests in ferguson, missouri, and all across the nation. We will take you there live to the funeral and show you more reaction in just a few minutes. But first, we have to start today with isis, because this isis terrorist army, as s