To deal with the heightening crisis in ukraine . Were bringing you live team coverage. Crisis management on a global scale for the president. Good morning, welcome to early start. Im christine romans. And im john berman. A very busy morning. Pressure mounting for president obama to strike back against isis, Authorities Say it beheaded a second american tuesday. The blackhooded executioner hold, a direct message to the president moments before Steven Sotloff was brutally murdered. With your insistence in continuing in mosul despite our serious warnings, you, obama, for your actions just another american citizen. Meanwhile, the president has authorized the deployment of 350 more u. S. Troops to iraq with the white house insisting they will not be serving in a combat role. Anna coren monitoring developments for us live in erbil, northern iraq. Good morning, anna. Hey, john, obviously, the announcement of 350 more troops coming here to iraq is certain welcomed by the iraqis as well as the kurds. Yes, they wont have a combat role but certainly they will be advising. And that is what the forces here node. They need that direction moving forward. Obviously, those air strikes pressuring isis, we heard the executioner of Steven Sotloff making direct reference to those air strikes around mosul dam, around amirli. These are places where isis is on the back foot. Obviously, those air strikes pressuring isis, theyre responding the way they are. We are, though, know they are digging in around certain parts where the air strikes have been. We just got off the phone with military officials who say that the township of zuma where theres fierce fighting going on the bodies of soldiers, civilians, as well as animals are being bobby trapped. This is what the peshmerga are having to deal with. Its a completely different scene out on the battlefield. There are no rules to this war. And obviously, now that a second american has been beheaded apparently by isis there is many people here, john, looking for guidance as to what to do next. Kurdish officials telling us now more than ever is the time the world needs to come together and unite because theres no place for isis in this world. Obviously, as we said, no rules in this conflict. Anna, you sort of mentioned it there. Whats the reaction been to this apparent second beheading. Ive been in iraq where theres awful brutality before, it casts a pall over everybody and even reporters. Whats there to see . Absolutely, people are sickened by it, they are appalled. As far as officials are concerned, they have come out and condemned this hideous brutal act. When we saw Steven Sotloff at the end of that video, many of us dreaded that he would face the same fate as james foley, while that video appeared yesterday, while everybody was shocked it didnt take any of us by surprise because isis is evil. We heard the mother of Steven Sotloff appeal directly to the leader of isis, abu al baghdadi, saying please spare my son he was merely inferior, covering the world, when Media Outlets where no longer going. He was there doing his job, bringing the news to the rest of the world. Sadly, tragically, that plea, that appeal, just fell on deaf ears. When we saw that video yesterday that executioner almost, you know, just its hard to describe the words, but just how he said to obama, obama, im back. You know. Its just the audacity of these people, this righteousness, this selfentitlement to terrorize and to create fear, inflict fear and pain and suffering but as we know, john, theyre also using these videos as propaganda tools as a recruitment tool, it disgusts us to think that people will be attracted to this, but sadly, they are, weve seen more people come to the region, more firefighters join this course. The audacity does leave loss for words. Weve seen this brutality in town after town, youve been covering northern iraq. We thank you for showing us whats going on. Anna coren in erbil, thank you so much. The sotloff family is waiting patiently for the confirmation of the video. Colleagues described him as an honest, thoughtful and courageous story teller. Listen to one childhood friend describe his determination to shed light on injustices. Steven was my hero. He was traveling to the most dangerous troubled places on the planet so he could report back stories of human suffering. He was someone who could not ignore pain and injustices. He felt responsible, and he had to respond. So what do we know about this individual and the isis executioner in it, karl penhaul is live in london with that later this half hour. The president has still not commented on the beheading of Steven Sotloff and the possible strategy to strike back against against isis. Hes in estonia this morning to assure the allies that the u. S. Will protect them against any russian aggression. We will bring it to you live. I want to bring in Matthew Chance, hes live from estonias capital city tallinn. They want assurance that any future aggression they will not be alone . Thats right, theres a couple of crises that president obama is having to deal with, first of all, this isis problem that we expect there will be a statement later on today. Certainly, hell be asked about it in the next half hour with the estonian president. The reason that president obama is here is to reassure estonia and the other baltic republics as well, the three nato states that in fact border russia, the United States stand with them. And allies stand with them in terms of russian aggression in terms of ongoing crisis in ukraine. Russia is just across the border from estonia, estonia deeply concerned it may be next on the russian list, thats made these republics very unsettled indeed. So president obama here, ahead of that nato summit to say, look, if youre a member of nato, were going to protect you. Arsenal five protecting attack is attack against call. The subtext of that and if youre not a nato member, you dont qualify for that kind of protection, of course, ukraine, where the crisis is right now is not a member of the nato alliance. Indeed, one of the reasons why ukraine would like to move forward closer to these european groups they want to be more alive with europe than russia and thats something that Vladimir Putin does not want. Quickly, this is the first time well be hearing from the president since the murder of Steven Sotloff. I can expect that well hear the president talk about that on the top of his remarks . This was always going to be on the agenda. He wasnt going to discuss this, it wasnt part of the agenda, but obviously, this gruesome video merging just after president obama got on the plane. Hell be asked questions about this issue in the press conference in the next 45 minutes. Thank you, matthew. Ukrainian Officials Say they are now engaged with direct forces with Russian Forces. Were live ten minutes from now. A military official said hamas suffered a huge dramatic hit during the 50day clash saying senior commanders were killed thousands were likely wounded and major damage was done to the groups military infrastructure. He also told the New York Times that hamas lost twothirds of its rockets. But only several hundred operatives out of a total of 16,000, thats heir estimate, only a few hundred were killed. Another american doctor has been diagnosed with the ebola virus. The doctor was treating pregnant women in liberia when he became ill. He was not treating ebola patients so its not sure how he got infected. The cdc says the window of opportunity to stop ebola from spreading that window is closing. Every nation needs to be concerned. Mean kyle, dr. Kent brantly is speaking out about his life and death battle with ebola after being brought to an atlanta hospital for treatment. I dont think they ever said, kent, i think youre about to die, but i felt like i was about to die. And i said to the nurse who was taking care of me, im sick. I have no reserve, and i dont know how long i can keep this up. I felt im not going to be able to continue breathing this way. And they had no way to breathe for me if i had quit breathing. World Health Organization meets this week for several promising drugs that could help in the fight against ebola. A new study says the virus is mutating dramatically, a development that could reduce the effectiveness of the drugs. With mapp experimental to speed the drug zmapp. The aclu is challenging the agencys Surveillance Program that was revealed by nsa whistleblower edward snowden. Attorneys for the nsa told the panel tuesday that the phone data is next to prevent terrorist plots. European stocks higher ahead of tomorrows European Bank meetingasian stocks ended the day higher on strong stocks on china. The s p 500 pointing very close to its record close. Our big story this morning, home depot investigating a huge security breach. This hack first reported by the cyberjournalist brian krebbs after a massive amount of debit card went on sale online. Krebbs said the hackers were at home depot since may. That could make the breach even larger than target last year that affected 110 million customers. Its remarkable to think about your information, john berman available on the black market. A few dollars, maybe 20 for people to create their own identity. Do you feel mine is not more than a few dollars . Im going to guess a few bucks. Were standing by this morning on early start because president obama is expected to address the media in less than an hour, in tallinn, the capital of estonia. So much to talk about. We have Major Developments right now in the fight against isis. The apparent beheading of a second american there. And Major Developments in the fighting in ukraine as well. Well bring you the very latest live from ukraine after the break. President obama in estonia at this hour for the start of a threeday european swing. Hes still not commented on the apparent beheading of american journalist Steven Sotloff by isis extremists. The president will be addressing the media in the next half hour. There are so many questions this morning. Well bring that to you live. Of course, hes also there to discuss russias aggressions in ukraine. Hes talking to baltic leaders. After that, the president heads to wales for a twoday summit. Breaking news the president of ukraine says hes spoken to russian president Vladimir Putin and the two leaders have agreed on a permanent ceasefire. This after ukrainian officials reported they are fully engaged with troops. An official told he could take kiev in two weeks if he wanted to. Reza sayah joining us. What do you know, reza, about a reported ceasefire, this could be a development in this conflict . Indeed it would, christine, it sounds like a breakthrough. We dont have all the details button its surface, it certainly seems like a pro development. Within the last hour, enter fax reporting that in a phone conversation between russian president Vladimir Putin and the ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko agreed on a path out of this conflict. Heres a quote from the spokesperson saying the viewpoints of the president s of the two countries largely coincide on possible ways out of the grave crisis. We then waited for reaction from ukrainian officials here in kiev. And they verified this, and in fact, they seemingly took it a step further. According to the president s office, the result of the conversation was an agreement on full ceasefire in dunbas. Thats the south ukrainian region where the conflict has taken place. Theyve also reached steps on peace. We dont know all the details of this agreement, but it certainly sounds like a ceasefire has been established. And the question is what concessions did the two sides make . Remember, kiev, the ukrainian officials, they wanted the prorussian rebels to lay down their arms, did that happen . We dont know at this point. On the other hand, the prorussian rebels want the a guarantee, autonomy of a centralized government. Did they get that. Were going to work to find out if they agreed that as part of this agreement, but in a conflict where we havent had much good news in the past several months, this looks to be potentially a stage for a possible ceasefire. The russian president s office saying the two spoke by phone and their views largely coincide. And its the ukrainian side taking a step further to say theyve agreed on a permanent ceasefire. Were waiting to get more on that, reza, thank you. The president s of the two countries, thats a very big deal. And president poroshenko tweeted out as a result of my phone conversation with the russian president , we reached an agreement on a permanent ceasefire. So this does seem to be the case right now. That say Major Development this morning. One of many Major Developments were following. As the president is there in the region. Exactly. And the president will no doubt take questions on. Hes in eastern europe, expected to speak to the media within the next 30 minutes . Will he address the apparent ceasefire . Will he discuss the apparent beheading of Steven Sotloff . Were live from london after the break. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare . Thats a good thing, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. So consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, they could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call today to request a free decision guide. With these types of plans, youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. 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Analyzing the electronic impulses. The video, the audio, the speech identification, geography, for whatever information it can provide. As well as the production techniques and any embedded information that may be there. Again, the news coming in just moments ago, the u. S. Intelligence committee now does believe that this video tragically is authentic. So the big question now this morning is there any evidence on that video that could lead the United States to sotloffs executioner, karl penhaul live from london this morning, good morning, karl. Good morning, john. British authorities are working to try and gain whatever clues they can from that video and also compare it to the previous video in which james foley was murdered two weeks ago. In fact, in a few moments saying the Prime MinisterDavid Cameron has concluded his meeting. We would expect a statement from him shortly. What we do see, certainly the video leased yesterday and a few weeks ago appear to be named in a certain days of investigation. Why Steven Sotloff appears shavenheaded and with no beard. And in the video we saw yesterday he has a stubbly growth of hair and a stubbly beard. A number of days have passed also in the executioner in that very familiar british accent also refers to bombing raids around the town of amirli. Those took place saturday and sunday. And that raises the possibility that sotloff was murdered in just the last three days. Bringing you on to the executioner, he certainly looksing the same height, the same stature, the same build as in the first video. That accent, we ran that past a language expert and he believes the video is the same. And he believes that is a multicultural accent from a multicultural region of london. Karl penhaul in london, england, just one of the countries analyzing the video. And pouring over the names of hundreds of young men who they think are britishborn jihadis and where they are. 27 minutes past the hour. Were following the execution of the american Steven Sotloff. All of that as we await word from president obama. Hes set to speak to the media within the next 30 minutes. Weve got live teeth coverage of the president s arrival in estonia and his speech after the break. Bulldog quarterback takes the snap. Oh, he fakes a handoff and hes making a run. For mattress discounters fall kickoff sale right now, save up to 300 on Sealy Posturepedic and serta mattress sets. Even get 24 months interestfree financing on every tempurpedic. Youre going to love their football fieldsize selection. This calls for a little touchdown dance. Dont miss the fall kickoff sale at mattress discounters. Mattress discounters an american murdered by terrorists on camera. Isis claiming it has killed u. S. Journalist Steven Sotloff, the horrific video ending with the threat to kill again if u. S. Air strikes continue in iraq. Whats now being done to take down the organization. And new clues about the executioner were learning. President obama just minutes away from speaking in eastern europe, dealing with the crisis in russia. News this morning, the two countries just announcing a ceasefire. Ukraine and russ