very difficult time, who are continuing to do the best they continuing to do the best they can, and i wish them well. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com breaking news. hijacked. a passenger jet with hundreds on board. a major airport shut down. a bizarre end to the drama. she says she killed 22 people. the shocking, new claim from a 19-year-old already in jail on a murder charge. why she says she did it. and hang on to your oscar pool. the british academy awards are out and they could shake up who's on top on oscar night. >> good morning, everyone. great to see you. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> and i'm christine romans. it's monday. sorry about that. february 17th, 5:00 a.m. in the east.

and we do begin with breaking news. a hijacking drama unfolding overnight. in geneva, a man is now in custody after apparently hijacking an ethiopian airlines jet. here's the twist -- that man, the suspect, was the plane's co-pilot. the 767 with 200 people on board was supposed to go to rome but was diverted in midair. police say while the pilot was in the bathroom. the plane circled the airport in geneva several times while authorities tried to figure out what was going on. once they landed, the co-pilot apparently climbed out of the cockpit, through a window and down a rope. the passengers were taken off the plane with their hands up. everyone on board is okay. that's the great news. police say they were never threatened. the co-pilot apparently wants asylum in switzerland. a lot going on here. this was huge, huge drama overnight. we'll be following this throughout the morning. all right, here at home, prosecutors in the so-called loud music murder trial say they

plan to retry the defendant, michael dunn, after the judge declared a mistrial on the most serious charge against him. that charge of first-degree murder. the jury did convict dunn on three counts of attempted murder in the shooting that left teenager jordan davis dead after an argument over loud music. dunn's now facing some 60 years behind bars for those other three convictions. we get more on the aftermath of the verdict from cnn's martin savidge. he's in jacksonville, florida. >> reporter: good morning, john and christine. for the first time in nearly two weeks, life, at least outside of the jacksonville courthouse here, is going to be returning somewhat to normal. this case, of course, has occupied the attention of the entire city and a lot of people across the country. yesterday was a pretty quiet day. there were no major protests held in the city of jacksonville for a number of reasons, people say. one, they're still trying to digest the verdict and what exactly it means. two, also yesterday was jordan davis's 19-year-old birthday. and his parents had asked that

they be left alone to mark that occasion in their own way. and i think in a lot of ways, people used it as a day to reflect. the parents were very emotional as they spoke after the verdict was rendered on saturday night. here's some of what they had to say. >> we are so grateful for the truth. we are so grateful that the jurors were able to understand the common sense of it all. and we will continue to stand and we will continue to wait for justice for jordan. >> i thank you all for seeing that we as parents were good parents to jordan, that he was a good kid. he wasn't allowed to be said in the courtroom, but he was a good kid. we will say it, he was a good kid. >> reporter: now, as for what lies ahead, the end of march is when it is thought that sentencing will move forward for michael dunn. he still faces the potential of decades behind bars. there's also been talk on the

part of the defense that there will be an appeal at some point, and then, of course, the prosecutor, angela curry, has said that they will go forward and retry michael dunn on first-degree murder charges. the defense has said if that happens, they'll ask for a change of venue. one thing is very clear, the trial may be over, but the pursuit of justice for jordan davis in the minds of many people still has a long way to go. john and christine. >> martin savidge, thank you for that. a search team is removing the bodies of two skiers found dead after a search following an avalanche in the mountains of colorado. officials say rescuers braved steep terrain, they risked triggering another avalanche while following the signals from emergency beacons of those skiers. the two were part of a group of seven caught in the backcountry snow slide in lake county, colorado. it happened saturday night. >> when the fracture started it started up above, then came down and went back up and came down the mountain about half a mile. >> did they actually trigger the

avalanche being up there? >> i think they did, yeah. it was just unfortunate what happened. they had all the right equipment. it just went bad. >> three other skiers in the group were hospitalized. two managed to escape without any injuries. startling, new developments this morning in a murder case from pennsylvania, where 19-year-old miranda barber and her 22-year-old husband, were accused of killing a 42-year-old man they met through craigslist. well, now barber is telling a local newspaper that she is part of a satanic cult and claims she has killed at least 22 other people around the country from alaska to north carolina. >> she's very meek, very mild, very -- she's very low voice. she never hesitated once. she never gave the impression of it was a rehearsal. i said, miranda, you know, as you sit here, do you have any remorse whatsoever? and she said, "none." >> barber offered no details of the killings, other than that she claims she joined a cult in alaska at age 13. police say they're seriously

concerned and are investigating these claims. breaking overnight, three diplomatic officials from the united states expelled from venezuela. president nicolas maduro accusing them of conspiring against his government. the announcement comes after the state department questioned venezuela's crackdown on antigovernment protesters last week and its decision to issue an arrest warrant for a top opposition leader. this morning, monica lewinski is in the news. it is mitt romney now weighing in on lewinski, bill clinton and hillary clinton's presumed 2016 presidential run. governor romney says, going forward, the focus should be on hillary, not bill. >> i don't think bill clinton is as relevant as hillary clinton, if hillary clinton decides to run for president. and in her case, i think people will look at her record as the secretary of state and say during that period of time, did our relations with nations around the world elevate america and elevate our interests or were they receding? and i think her record is what will be judged upon, not the

record of her husband. >> some republicans like senator rand paul of kentucky have been discussing the lewinski scandal again. this is in advance of a possible hillary clinton presidential run. mitt romney doesn't seem to be interested in that, but he would not let mr. clinton completely off the hook. he said president clinton "embarrassed the nation and breached his responsibility as an adult." meantime, president obama speaking out in an interview with charles barkley during tnt's coverage of the nba all-star game. he praised university of missouri football star michael sam for announcing publicly he was gay before the nfl draft. he compared the gay rights fight to what african-americans experienced in sports. >> think about basketball. i mean, you know, you think about what the nba was before african-americans were allowed to play on an equal footing. you know, you think about some of the stories that, even folks like oscar robertson, you know,

tell what they went through, you know? you think about what jackie robinson ended up meaning not just to baseball but to the entire society. i wouldn't be sitting here if it weren't for him. you know, i think america's stronger where everybody is being treated, you know, with respect and dignity. >> as for basketball, the president acknowledged he's a chicago guy. michael jordan will always be the man, but he says lebron james can be the best ever. >> yeah, the president likes to kid lebron about that a little bit. i don't know if lebron thinks he's kidding or not. we'll have to see. this morning much of new england digging out after more than a foot of heavy, wet snow blanketed massachusetts and maine. >> stop. horrible. >> it was worst along the coast. it had 50-plus-mile-an-hour winds. that's along the cape. you can see the exit for hyannis there. thousands of people are still without power this morning. and the legendary eisenhower tree at augusta national gone.

oh, gorgeous! it was so badly damaged by an ice storm last week, it couldn't be saved. the 65-foot-high lob lolly pine stood lovely for decades along augusta's 17th fairway. it was arguably the most famous tree in golf. >> i think easily. >> president eisenhower hit it so often, he tried to get the club to cut it down back in 1956. they refused, and it's been known as eisenhower's tree ever since. >> i got to go to augusta a few years ago to cover the masters, and the first thing i did was race out to see -- >> take a picture. >> under the eisenhower tree right there. this is a tragedy. like when the old man on the mountain in new hampshire fell down. that's the scope of the tragedy. it's a shame. if you thought you might be putting this weather behind you, no. not even close. with that, indra petersons explains it all. justify this for us. >> you have 30 days until spring. >> right? >> i'm giving you 30 days. >> it's fine, because we do have another storm, but at the end of this forecast, you're going to like it, because the temperatures are climbing, meaning instead of snow, we're going to be talking about rain

by the end of the week, and who cares, as long as it's warmer out there, right? let's talk about what's going on right now. minneapolis starting to see some snow showers. concerns for the morning commute as they are looking for snowfall rates about an inch or so an hour. also some freezing rain kind of moving in towards the st. louis area. what are we talking about? well, some heavy snow is going to be out there today. notice minneapolis, chicago seeing 4 to 6 inches of snow. snow no one wants at this point anymore. pittsburgh 2 to 5 inches. and eventually, overnight tonight into through tomorrow, about 1 to 3 inches of snow again out towards new york city, even in towards boston. here's the timing of it. you can actually see that low again right now making its way through the ohio valley tonight. and then by tomorrow morning, commute time, there you go, starting to see that snowfall and then kind of making its way through new england throughout the day, exiting off by late evening tomorrow. remember, on the back side of this, though, temperatures, they are going to be going up. this is what you want to know, guys. look at the jet stream. it's been dipping down, bringing cold air on the eastern half of the country. notice the change by the second half of the week here. we're going to be talking about warmer temperatures out there. let's take it day by day.

you're going to love this. notice still below normal on the east coast, but watch these temperatures quickly climb. notice to above normal by wednesday. >> nice. >> got to get there, because look at that. looking for 57 in d.c. may want to go to the south? look at that, almost 70 degrees. see? i can end on a good note, guys. >> feel like it's like a third grade math problem, trying to figure out how long it will take at 45 degrees to melt 2 1/2 feet of snow in my front yard. >> with rain, right? >> i know, with rain. thanks. >> but that snow on the roof, that could be an issue with melting there, flooding issues around the east coast. >> we need a countdown clock. every time indra comes up, i want a countdown clock to spring in the bottom right corner. a countdown clock to spring. >> you can talk as long as you want as long as you bring spring. 11 minutes after the hour. kickstarter has closed a security breach, but it's telling users to change passwords after learning that site was hacked. in an e-mail, the ceo says hackers did not get credit card information, but they were able to access personal data, including usernames, electronic and mailing addresses, phone

numbers and encrypted passwords. stock markets overseas higher this monday. japan's nikkei recovered from early selling after a report showed much slower-than-expected growth. hong kong and london trading higher as well. u.s. stock markets are closed today for the presidents' day holiday. the dow jumped 127 on friday. dow up more than 2% last week. it was a decent day last week for the dow. the nasdaq rose 3%, about. the s&p up more than 2%, now just a few points away from its record closing high. so much for all of those fears about a big correction, right? turned right back around. february looking good following a bruising january when the dow lost 5%. this month, the market has been able to shrug off a disappointing jobs report, a change at the fed, weak retail sales, warnings that back-to-back winter storms are taking a toll on the economy. less than two weeks to go now until the academy awards, and the race for best picture is oh so close. "12 years a slave" won best picture at sunday's baftas,

britain's version of the academy awards, like with the funny accent. the rival for the oscars, "gravity" won a leading six bafta awards, including one for best british film, like space travel, again, with a funny accent. "gravity"'s director was also a winner. coming up, he became famous for handling snakes on tv, but fans are now mourning this kentucky pastor, dead because of his faith. >> the way he died, fascinating. but first, a cnn exclusive. we go inside northern syria, where a rebel group is accused of atrocities. arwa damon went there. she joins us live, next. [ male announcer ] this is the cat that drank the milk... [ meows ] ...and let in the dog that woke the man who drove to the control room [ woman ] driverless mode engaged. find parking space. [ woman ] parking space found. [ male announcer ] ...that secured the data that directed the turbines that powered the farm that made the milk

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and syria. now, arwa damon and her producer and photojournalist traveled there to investigate. we should warn you, some may find parts of this report disturbing. arwa joins us live from beirut. arwa, what did you find out? >> reporter: it really is absolutely terrifying, the stories people telling us, hair-raising. isis, the islamic state in iraq and syria, is a group that is so radical that even al qaeda itself has reportedly distanced itself from it. isis appeared in syria about a year ago and managed to entrench itself in various cities and towns throughout the country. people in the town of addana, where myself, producer and photojournalist clayton nagle went for a couple hours. people were telling us when isis initially arrived, they were welcomed, viewed as being there to help the people, wanting to educate them religiously, but not really imposing any sort of

radical rule of law upon them. rebel fighters then focusing on the front lines with the assad regime entrusted the protection of addana to isis, and that is when the organization really began carrying out its draconian and brutal tactics. public executions became the norm. one rebel fighter describing how they would leave the bodies of people they had executed at checkpoints so that every single vehicle driving by would be forced to slow down and look at them. there were also a number of mass graves that rebel fighters uncovered when they managed to recapture addana. we were at the scene of one of them, where volunteers were digging up a grave that they had, in fact, already dug up before. a family was waiting on the sidelines looking for closure. one man believed that his two brothers, perhaps, may be buried there. and the day after we left, he discovered that it was, in fact, not two, but three of his brothers that had been murdered

by isis. now, various radical and moderate rebel groups did ban together in early january to launch an offensive against isis. this was a decision that a lot of fighters were telling us they were hoping they would not have to take, saying that would be incredibly difficult for them to fight on multiple fronts, but because of isis's sheer brutality, they said in many cases, they did take the decision to fall back from the front lines where they were battling government troops and launched various offenses to try to kick isis out of some parts of syria. they have managed to do so for the time being in adana, but isis still looms large in other parts of the country, christine. >> arwa damon in beirut for us this morning. thank you, arwa. meanwhile, secretary of state john kerry is blaming the assad regime for this weekend's breakdown of talks aimed at ending this war in syria. the secretary writing that while the opposition put forward a roadmap for negotiations, the government continued to attack civilians.

no word yet if both sides might meet again, for now, a third round of talks. >> so much tragedy there, so many lives lost. this morning rescue operations are over at a gold mine in south africa because a group of miners once believed trapped we fused to come out. about 19 of them are staying under ground in the abandoned mine where they were looking for gold illegally. 11 others left after a rockslide, but the others are apparently worried they could get arrested if they come out for breaking the law. followers and fans of his television show today remembering jamie coots, a pentecostal pastor and tv star famous for handling poisonous snakes. he died over the weekend after being bitten by one of those snakes during a service. he refused treatment because of his faith. his son told the "associated press" his father had been bitten before and did not expect a severe reaction. 20 minutes after the hour. coming up, he is an olympic champion, but this medal, this one hit him hard.

bone miller breaking down after taking the bronze in a pretty controversial interview that a lot of people are talking about this morning. joe carter has it all in the "bleacher report," coming up next. ♪ [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact hey there, i just got my bill, and i see that it includes my fico® credit score. yup, you get it free each month to help you avoid surprises with your credit. good. i hate surprises. surprise! at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card and see your fico® credit score. [ cellphones beeping ] ♪ [ cellphone rings ] hello? [ male announcer ] over 12,000 financial advisors. good, good. good. over $700 billion dollars in assets under care. let me just put this away. [ male announcer ] how did edward jones get so big?

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welcome back, everyone. moments after winning a bronze medal, bode miller was brought to tears during a postrace interview. >> some are saying it's because an nbc reporter pressed a bit too hard when she repeatedly asked questions about his brother, who passed away. joe carter has more in this

morning's "bleacher report." hey, joe. >> hey, good morning, guys. to set the scene for you here, bode miller had just tied for a bronze med yell in the super-g event, and during the postrace interview, he was being humanized, you know? the story lines were playing out -- here's the party boy turned family man, the 36-year-old whose younger brother had just passed away from a seizure last year. and it wasn't out of bounds for nbc's christin cooper to ask him a question about his brother's death. it was a relevant area to pursue, and his initial response was raw and emotional, but it's when she continued to press, it's when she continued to ask about his late brother that not only brought him to tears, but it also brought him to his knees. >> for him to, you know, pass away the way that he did really kind of, i don't know, it sort of connected with my sort of journey coming back. and today i felt like that was all very connected and very raw and emotional for me. >> now, miller did come to nbc

reporter christin cooper's defense on twitter, saying "my emotions were very raw. she asked the questions that every interviewer would have. pushing is part of it. she wasn't trying to cause pain." all right, so in other olympic news what a great weekend it was for men's hockey. americans from coast to coast were up early both saturday and sunday celebrating a thrilling win over russia, then a dominating win over slovenia. and these fans are going absolutely nuts over a winning goal against russia. it was an absolutely great scene of patriotism, of great joy. and coming out of that weekend, america has a new olympic hero. his name is t.j. oshie. he's the player who iced the 3-2 win over russia. you know, that game had something reminiscent about the epic miracle on ice at the 1980 games and team usa certainly carrying that huge boost from saturday into sunday with a 5-1 win over slovenia. so, now it's on to the quarterfinals with a ton of momentum heading into the medal round this week. and this story is trending this morning on

bleacherreport.com. american ice dancing pair meryl davis and charlie white are going to take the ice this morning looking for their first gold medal. now, this pair has been skating together for 16 years. davis was 9, white was 10 when they first danced together. they're in first place after yesterday's short dance. today's the free dance competition. and here's sort of a medal breakdown for the latest in the games. the netherlands now has the lead with a total of 17 medals. usa is tied with the host nation, russia, with 16 medals apiece. and germany still leads the charge with the most gold medals at seven. that's your "bleacher report" update. >> just killing it at speed skating. we watched the game saturday morning with my boys. we were screaming at the top of our lungs. t.j. oshie, he's my hero. >> i saw your tweet on friday that your olympic spirit was down a bit. i'm hoping that game saturday sort of lifted spirits again. >> that was like olympic spirit cialis right there.

let's leave it at that. very dramatic. all right, joe, thank you very much. >> good to see you guys. >> thank you so much. developing this morning, a plane hijacked by the co-pilot. we're going to have the latest on this developing story overnight, after the break.

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breaking overnight, drama in the sky. a pilot hijacks a passenger jet with 200 people on board, and it flies to geneva. we have the very latest on this story breaking overnight. accused of murder, a 19-year-old comes forward with a

new claim. she claims she killed at least 22 people. why police are taking her very seriously. and an awful winter just getting worse. more than a foot of snow falls on new england, and now more in the forecast. indra petersons watching the next storm that is poised to strike. wipe that smile off your face. >> 30 days until spring, america. welcome back to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> and i'm john berman. about 32 minutes after the hour right now. an ethiopian airlines pilot is in custody after apparently hijacking a jet so he could seek asylum. the 767 with 200 people on board was on route from addis ababa to rome when police say the co-pilot diverted it to geneva. the co-pilot diverting it to geneva while the pilot was in the bathroom. once they were on the ground, the co-pilot apparently climbed out the cockpit window and out of the plane on a rope. passengers were taken off the

plane, their hands up, but police say the passengers on board were not threatened. all are okay. we're going to continue to follow this developing story all day here on cnn. this morning both the prosecution and defense in the so-called loud music trial are planning their next move after the jury delivered a partial verdict following 30 hours of deliberations. michael dunn was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting that left teenager jordan davis dead. this followed an argument, apparently, over loud music. but the jury was hung on the first-degree murder charge, also lesser included murder charges, leading to a mistrial. reaction from both sides, a mixture of relief and disbelief. >> it has not sunk in. even when he sat next to me, he basically said, how is this happening? >> we are so grateful for the truth. we are so grateful that the jurors were able to understand the common sense of it all, and

we will continue to stand, and we will continue to wait for justice for jordan. >> now, prosecutors say they do plan to retry michael dunn for first-degree murder. in any case, dunn faces 60 years in prison for the attempted murder convictions when he's sentenced at the end of march. from search-and-rescue to search-and-recovery. the bodies of two missing skiers lost in an avalanche, they have now been found. the two were part of a group of seven experienced, backcountry skiers caught in a massive snowslide in the mountains of lake county, colorado. it happened saturday night. >> when the avalanche started, it started up above and then came down, went up a little bit, fractured, then came down the mountain about half a mile. >> did they actually trigger the avalanche being up there? >> i think so. it's just unfortunate what happened. they had all the right equipment, it just went bad. >> three other skiers suffered injuries in the avalanche and were hospitalized. two managed to escape unharmed.

this morning police say they're taking very seriously a new claim in a murder case from pennsylvania. amanda barber and her 22-year-old husband are accused of killing a 42-year-old man they met through craigslist. now barber is telling a local newspaper that she is part of a satanic cult and claims she has killed at least 22 other people around the country from alaska to north carolina. >> she's very meek, very mild, very -- she's very low voice. she never hesitated once. she never gave the impression of it was a rehearsal. i said, miranda, you know, as you sit here, do you have any remorse whatsoever? and she said, "none." >> barber offered no details of these killings, other than that she claims she joined this cult in alaska at age 13. the fbi is now offering to help with any investigation. all right, breaking overnight, venezuela expelling three american diplomats. president nicolas maduro says the three were kicked out of his

country for conspiring against his government. the announcement comes after the state department questioned venezuela's crackdown on antigovernment protesters last week and its decision to issue an arrest warrant for a top opposition leader. in new england this morning, thousands still without power after more than a foot of heavy, wet snow blanketed massachusetts and maine. it was worst along the coast with 50-plus miles an hour winds that took down trees, power lines. the power company is hopeful customers will see their electricity turned back on at some point today. and this morning, golf lovers saddened by the news that the legendary eisenhower tree at augusta national is gone. it was so badly damaged by an ice storm last week, it had to be removed. the 65-foot lob lolly pine stood along august yahoo!'s a's 17th r decades. president eisenhower hit it so often, he tried to get club officials to chop it down in 1956 while he was still in office. they refused. ultimately, i guess a higher authority than the president of

the united states got it done. >> so sad to see that tree gone, so iconic. and here we go, another storm coming together right now, set to drop more snow this evening. indra petersons tracking this storm. okay, so, i mean, i'm resigned to it actually, you know? i'm not surprised, but how bad will it be? >> this will be a little system, not a huge one, but do you guys think this is a bad winter? i mean, look at the numbers, guys. we're talking about new york city now being the eighth snowiest since we've been keeping records. talk about philly, indianapolis, all of you seeing over 50 inches of snow this season. you guys are now the third snowiest since we started keeping records. so, yeah, i'd say it's pretty bad, especially considering it's my first time living in seasons. thanks! so, 4 to 6 inches up towards minneapolis, chicago looking for the same thing, pittsburgh 2 to 5 inches, then overnight as the storm makes its way into the northeast, 1 to 3 inches for new york city into boston. the timing of it, already seeing the snow towards minneapolis, chicago as well, and even st. louis looking for the concern of freezing rain this morning. there you go, kind of seeing it

push into the ohio valley tonight. and then tomorrow morning for a commute time, that's where we're looking for the snow to be falling in through d.c., also new york city, then kind of clearing out by late day and kind of moving in towards new england, moving out of new england by the evening tomorrow. so, that's the timing on it. but here's the good news we've all been waiting for, the change. and wow, have we been waiting for it. yes, we're going to finally see the jet stream lift up, which means warm temperatures starting to move in. going to feel so much better. still a little bit below normal today, but a quick change, especially in through the south, temperatures a good 10, even 15 degrees above normal, which also does mean a lot of snowmelt and flooding concerns, but i will take snowmelt right now. i'm good with it. >> i know. what happens with the snow cave in your backyard? >> slush. it's going to be a slush cave in the backyard. >> slush cave. >> new york city's already a slush cave. >> thanks, indra. overseas markets higher this morning, stocks in europe and asia with a good start to the week. the stock market is closed in the u.s. today. of course, it's presidents' day. stocks makingcomeback so far in february, reversing big declines for the first month of the year.

last week the best week of the year for stocks. that's not saying much. the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 all gaining 2% or more. we're going to be hearing a lot about how the u.s. consumer is feeling this week. we've got household names like coca-cola, walmart, nordstrom and priceline all set to report earnings, so, that will be the next kind of stimulus for the market. new this morning, a study looks at the lingering effects of childhood bullying. the study published today in the journal "pediatrics" says those who were bullied for a period of time as children were most likely to have poor mental and physical health well into their teens. this includes suffering from depression and low self-esteem. the researchers tracked thousands of kids from three big cities at different times in their development, in the fifth, seventh and tenth grades. >> it's a big study and what surprised me is the big percentage of kids by tenth grade who said they had been bullied at some time during their academic life. that's what really surprised me. >> over half, right? almost more -- i mean, it's an awful thing. all right, coming up, arrested in sochi.

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an italian television host and former member of parliament has been arrested after challenging the law by holding up a sign reading "gay is okay." nick paton walsh live in sochi. nick, tell me what happened here and what the reaction was. >> reporter: yeah, i mean -- well, john, it was the first transgender person to hold a petition in the italian parliament but is now a prominent gay and transgender gay rights activist here. as you say, she held up that sign and according to her accounts, police tried to take it from her and she was detained for a brief period of time. now, this is where, of course, it gets controversial, because

the olympic committee was asked about this and they in turn asked the police and police told them they have no such record of any such event. so, given the scrutiny and focus on the kremlin's attitude towards gay rights here, this incident is bound to play out in the days ahead, exactly what vladimir putin doesn't want, given how he's trying to keep an apolitical, smooth atmosphere here, john. >> it was the kind of controversy people thought was inevitable when the games were beginning. nick, i need to ask you, it looks beautiful where you're standing right now. looks like, you know, the height of summer, at least early spring. i understand some events have been delayed because of the weather there? >> reporter: the weather's been all over the place, john. just a few days ago, we drove up to the hills, very little snow to be seen apart from the area where it was laid out. now the issue is fog. you can't blame the kremlin for that. that's not something you can predict for choosing to hold the games near a tropical area, but it's impacting events today. we're seeing the male snowboarding cross delayed until this afternoon and the biathlon 15-kilometer put off for a day. so, a real impact on events here, but perhaps this is simply

nature, rather than the questionable decision to hold winter games in the only place in russia where you can't guarantee snow this time of year. john? >> can't really do the biathlon if you can't see the target through the fog. nick paton walsh in sochi, appreciate it. let's look at what's coming up on "new day." chris cuomo joins us with a little preview of a revealing interview with george zimmerman, chris. >> hey, how are you doing? happy monday. with the michael dunn verdict, there are issues in the case there and in the george zimmerman case that go beyond the facts of the trial. so, the timing really couldn't be better. we're going to be talking about the michael dunn trial, how the jury may have arrived at what's being called a split decision or impartial verdict, attempted murder, but not murder for the life that was taken. what does it mean about the self-defense laws? and of course when you talk about self-defense laws in florida, you can't not talk about george zimmerman. he's the man at the center of the debate, but we have never heard from the figure of a major criminal trial since the verdict. and so, he sits down with us, talks to us about the issues

that are involved in his own case, regrets he may have, what life is like for him now, which is another important part of the analysis, what happens in cases like this after a verdict. is there really punishment? what are the consequences? and i think what will be interesting for people, guys, is not so much what he talks about but what he cannot talk about. this is a man who's been given a lot of power by people in terms of what his actions represented and what his motivations were. so, on that basis alone, i think it's a pretty interesting interview, but we're going to have a lot of smart people on today talking about the issues that have been raised by this michael dunn verdict and whether or not people under the law in florida can get away with murder. >> serious question right now and a lot of people asking, chris. can't wait to see that interview. hopefully answer questions people have light now. coming up, peace talks in syria have fallen apart and now blame is flying at the obama administration. we'll have the latest. ♪ turn around ♪ every now and then i get a little bit hungry ♪

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breaking overnight, a new condemnation of the assad regime in syria by secretary of state john kerry. he's blaming the syrian government for this weekend's breakdown of talks aimed at ending the war there. the secretary writing that while the opposition put forward a roadmap for negotiations, the government continued to attack civilians. no word yet if both sides might meet again for a third round of talks. meanwhile, one of the biggest supporters of u.s. action in syria is blasting the obama administration for not doing more to stop the bloodshed. senator john mccain telling cnn's "state of the union," u.s. policy's been a failure and the administration must revisit all of its options for removing assad from power. >> there are viable options, there is a viable free syrian army, there are people who, there's groups that have joined together against these extremists, isis, radical al qaeda extremists that are there.

there is still viable opposition that we can help and assist. we can do that. and to do nothing, of course, will see a further deterioration and a regionalization of the conflict. >> mccain quite concerned. he said what's happening in syria is destabilizing the entire region, and that will eventually mean the u.s. will have to get involved. this morning there is a new u.s. push to stop uganda from implementing a law criminalizing homosexuality. the president of uganda could sign that law as soon as today. it's a law that president obama condemned over the weekend, calling it an affront and danger to the gay community in uganda and a potential complication to uganda's relationship with the united states. national security adviser susan rice spoke this weekend with uganda's leader, but no word yet on whether he might change his mind about this law. the u.s. up until now has been one of uganda's biggest financial backers. in ukraine this morning, there are no protesters at the city hall in kiev.

it's the first time that has happened in months. the demonstrators ending their occupation in an amnesty deal that will clear them of all criminal charges in exchange for giving up their protests. protesters have been on the streets since december, upset at ukraine's president and his close ties to russia. followers and fans of his hit tv show today are remembering jamie coots. he is a pentecostal pastor and reality tv star famous for handling poisonous snakes. coots died over the weekend after being bitten by one of those snakes during a service. he refused treatment. his son told the "associated press" his father had been bitten before, did not expect the severe reaction. all right, the popular online coupon company groupon may need to brush up on its american history after it mistakenly sent out a presidents' day promotion honoring alexander hamilton. groupon referred to hamilton as "one of our greatest presidents." hamilton was the first treasury secretary but was never a president. he does, however, appear on the $10 bill and is considered the

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three minutes to the top of the hour. welcome back to "early start." it's "money time," monday edition. a great start to the week for stocks overseas. asian and european markets all higher. the u.s. stock market closed for presidents' day, but it's following friday's 126-point jump, so take the pause while you've got it. it's been a crazy start of the year to stocks after a brutal january. stocks have now taken off in february. the s&p 500 is now down just slightly for the year, and not very far toward a record high.

it's going to take a lot more than flowers and candy to make up for the botched valentine's day 1-800-flowers caused for many. the company spent all weekend apologizing to customers on twitter and facebook for gifts that never showed up. the company says they are "committed to" their "100% mile guarantee," blaming the winter storm. so are truckers and shippers where backups at ports are leading to costly delays across the country. the "wall street journal" forecasts the harsh winter will trim growth to the economy by 0.3%. tax season is here. we all dread it, but some of us may hate it more than others depending where you live. a government survey looked at tax burdens, property sales tax and more. they found those paying the highest household income pay the highest taxes in bridgeport, connecticut, philadelphia, milwaukee, baltimore and columbus, ohio. if you want to lower your tax burden, move west. cities with the lowest tax burden are cheyenne, wyoming,

las vegas, billings, montana, anchorage and sioux falls, south dakota. we're taking the show to vegas next week. >> it's a tough commute from sioux falls, though, to new york. >> and the weather isn't any better. >> no. all right, thank you so much for watching. watching. "new day" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com breaking overnight, a co-pilot hijacks his own plane, forcing it to land in geneva. why did he do it? >> and a man convicted killing a child over loud music is convicted but the jury deadlocked on first degree murder. >> and george zimmerman opening up about the night he killed

trayvon martin. does he have any regrets? plus we ask about the string of run-ins since the trial and his nasty divorce. >> your "new day" starts right now. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo, kate bolduan and michaela pereira. >> good morning. it's monday, february 17th, 6:00 in the east. breaking news, an ethiopian airline yet hijacked but by its own pilot. >> this plane was bound for rome. this happened early this morning. we do know according to swiss police that the man who is accused of hijacking this plane was actually the co-pilot of the plane. we know that he was in his 30s and according to swiss police, here's what they