certainly possible that this incident could have taken place. because the level of control that would be necessary to prevent people from going about their daily life would be very, very high indeed. that said, we are always looking at what can be done better. we are always looking at what lessons can be learned and how things can be improved. >> thank you, prime minister. obviously in the coming days and weeks we'll be in a position to answer those questions. for now it's important to reenforce that this is what security agencies and police in this country and political leaders have been saying for the last few weeks and months, that this is an important concern for agencies in this country, the

individuals acting alone as we believe this offender was, without any prior warning or knowledge makes it very difficult for police agencies to disrupt that activity. of course, we need to work through now the facts. we need to work through and establish exactly what we know before we make those judgments. and that will come in the coming days and weeks. >> give that this guy was -- >> i echo the prime minister's comments. we are outraged that this guy was out. we need to understand why he was, why he wasn't picked up, and we'll be working closely with the federal authorities, together with our own authorities to understand what we need to do better. the community has every right to feel upset. i'm incredibly upset and outraged. what we need to do is ensure that everything is done to learn from this. can we do it better, and that's

exactly what we're working with, with the federal government in the coming weeks. >> when you say outrage -- allow this man to be in custody -- to do that? >> i've been premier for seven months. and what i have done is stren h strengthstrengt strengthen it. i've taken advice. i've asked the police to get with the justice agencies to implement them as quickly as they can. the police commissioner confirmed today that the implementation has been brought forward. it was previously 12 months. they are doing everything possible to deliver it. but if they don't do it properly it opens us up to additional risks and exposures in the legal system. the police commissioner is adamant that it can't be done until the 31st of january.

i have to take the expert advice. that's what the mission commissioner tells me that is the time frame. that is the time frame i will ask to be met. we've asked it to be done as quickly as possible. new south wales premier there mike baird saying what so many people are thinking today. >> that is a news conference wrapping up with mike baird and tony abbott. and just to recap, the points that came out of that news conference with tony abbott. there was a lot of talk about the bail conditions within new south wales. essentially this gunman was out on bail. a lot of questions being asked about why he was out on bail. with him out on bail, why wasn't he on a watch list or being watched. these details will come out in

the coming days. this news conference is ongoing. so let's still listen in to mike baird. >> reporter: how they handled a very difficult 36 hours with typical australian decency. and he says this shrine of flowers that we are looking at -- >> it's too early to say, because we don't know exactly what kind of communications this individual has had with others. we just don't know. we may well discover that it would have helped to have this additional legislation in place, but it is too early to say. what i think is clear is that we do face a very real threat from people who want to do us harm and who invoke this death cult

ideology as a justification. and that's why we put forward the meta data retention laws. that's why we are determined to work with them as quickly as we can in the new year. the assurance i give to you and to every australian is that this government will do whatever is possible to keep you safe. that's what we'll do, because nothing undermines a society, a community, an individual than any sense that are you not safe if your own homes, in your own streets. and i pledge myself, and i'm sure mike would say the same. i pledge myself to do whatever is humanly necessary to maximize the protection of you, the australian people. [ inaudible question ] >> again, the terror alert level

is set on the basis of the advice of our expert security analysts, and at the level that it is high, a terrorist act is likely. there are people who have the will and the capability to carry out terrorist acts. now i've had no advice over the last 36 hours to suggest that it should change. if it was to go up another notch, that would be to indicate that a terrorist attack is imminent. and while we can't say what the future holds, i have no intelligence, whatsoever, to suggest that that might be the case. >> would you say that this instills fear that there are more people that are falling through the cracks and also that this incident might prompt people to carry out attacks?

>> well, i don't want to engage in a crystal ball gazing exercise. i think that would be wrong. i want to tell the australian people what has been done and what will be done. i want to reassure them that this is a government of practical initiatives to respond intel jeligently to all the exigencies that we may face. and i'm sure premier baird has the same attitude as the new south wales government. the frinteresting, the interestg feature of this incident, this brush of terrorism that we've just experienced is that the individual concerned is obviously, was obviously, a deeply disturbed person. deeply disturbed person.

and i can't imagine that any sane person would want to emulate someone who had a long history of violence, including violence against loved ones, a long history of sexual assault, a long and incredibly erratic history of infatuation with extremism. he was consistently weird. i don't think anyone would want to emulate that. >> can you verify when this man was on watch by intelligence agencies? >> look. to answer as candidly as i can, in the past, he certainly had been well-known to the australian federal police and to azo. he obviously is currently

well-known to the new south wales police, but i don't believe that he was on a terror watch list at this time. >> prime minister, do you agree that this was largely an unsophisticated attack, if you like? what does that say about the ability of one man to summon chaos and the ability for that to happen? >> there was obviously a very great degree of disruption in the city of sydney yesterday, as you'd expect. but i am confident that normal life -- in sydney normal life went on. do i think that jobs will be left undone because of this? or do i think that things that people would like to do won't be done because of this? no, i don't. australians will continue to work, socialize, to do all the

things that make us the people that we are, because we are not easily put off. we are particularly not easily put off by individuals as sick and deranged as this particular person was. so sure, it made an impact yesterday, but i think the message that we take, as australians, and i think the message that the world gets from the way this has been responded to is that australians are a very capable and resilient people, a very, very capable and resilient people, and that's a very reassuring message for ourselves and for those who watch us around the world. >> can you explain whether other world leaders can speak to hostages or -- >> look, i have spoken to the brave police officer who was injured in the assault last night. and i have to say that he is

bearing up pretty well, as you'd expect from a highly professional, very well-trained police officer. and i have taken a number of calls from overseas friends and leaders. i've received a number of messages from overseas friends and leaders, and i've responded to them all. we've seen the public messages from people like president obama, prime minister cameron, prime minister abe, prime minister modi, and i'm pleased at the way our friends have rallied to us at this difficult time. as for the families of the victims, look, i certainly don't want to intrude on anyone's grief, but at the appropriate time, yes, i will be making contact. >> do you have any words for the

community that may be feeling -- >> we are a very united society, and yes, we have amongst us a few deranged individuals who may choose to try to wrap their, their sipsychoses in a politica ideology. but the point i keep making is that the isil death cult has nothing to do with any religion, any real religion. it has nothing to do with any particular community. it is something to which sick individuals succumb, and sick individuals exist in all communities and in all societies. this idea that you know, isil is

somehow spawned by any particular religion, frankly, it's probably even less true than saying that catholicism spawned the ira. they're just completely separate things. >> can you tell us anything about what you're learning with the investigation ongoing and the reports today that two of the two victims acted particularly bravely in their last moments. >> yes, thank you. we do have a critical investigation under way at the moment, so i am restricted in what i can talk about because it is important that we allow that investigation to be undertaken independently of the operation that was in place. and we are conducting this investigation in behalf of the coroner, and we will report to the coroner, and the coroner will then make determination. so if there are lessons to be learned or issues for us to take

on board, that is the process that will be undertaken. and clearly, if there are lessons, we would welcome them absolutely. in terms of what actually might have gone on inside the location, it's two early for us to speculate. we're clearly speaking to those victims. and we're clearly speaking to other witnesses. but this is going to take a bit of time to piece this together. because a lot of those people are quite traumatized, as you could appreciate. and they have health services, they have counseling, and they have a range of other factors that we must deal with, so over the short period of time we will obtain their statements, and we will obtain information, and we will put the picture together, but it will take a little bit of time. i do understand that there are stories coming out about the heroic efforts and about the

trauma that went on in there, and i have no doubt it was. it was a tragedy. it was a terrifying ordeal for them all. it was 36 hours ago when we were standing here saying our aim is to have a peaceful resolution to this incident. and our priority was the safety of every person who was held hostage. we stand here today where we did actually save the lives of some people. but unfortunately, there were two hostages whose lives we could not save. and the whole operation that was in play will now be investigated as a part of that critical incident investigation. >> thank you. >> any further questions? thank you so much. thank you. anna wd that was a news conference from sydney. the prime minister saying this

government will do whatever is humanly possible to keep you safe. he went on to say, i pledge myself to do whatever is humanly possible to maximize the protection of the australian people. he described the hostage taker as consistently weird, deranged, deluded, indulging in a sick fantasy. now andrew stevens is in sydney. he was listening to what the prime minister had to say as well as the new south wales premier. so andrew, a couple of issues that came out of that. first of all, the good news coming from the prime minister there. no intelligence of another threat, but he did say at great lengths that this was in fact a deranged individual and no amount of surveillance may have prevented this attack. >> reporter: yeah, it was interesting. this is almost a double-edged sword, john, because in a sense it's good news that this was just an individual. it's been made quite clear at

that conference and preceding press conferences that the hostage taker was acting on his own. time and again we come back to this deeply disturbed individual, infat situation with extremism. deranged. that sort of line to describe the hostage taker. on the other side of that, of course, is the fact that you cannot prepare against people like this. it was interesting. that press conference clearly saying that the terror alert which is high, it was raised to high in september. they're not going to raise it another notch which would indicate an attack is imminent. they're leaving it at high. they are not seeing anything on the horizon. and that's after this attack. more and more, it looks like this was a lone wolf attack. of course, the other side of this is what on earth was he doing on the streets in the first place. he was out on bail for two very,

very serious sets of charges. >> and that's what the new south wales premier spoke about. he said we are all outraged that this guy was on the streets. the community has every right to be upset. he says i am upset. they're now reviewing the bail laws. that has been under review for quite some time. it seems to me that the politicians may be getting ahead of the public. because right now it seems most people are just shocked at what happened. they haven't moved to that point where there was this outrage that this guy was on the streets. >> reporter: and they're looking for a scapegoat, if you like for someone to pour their anger on. walking around the streets talking to people, i've been on the ground for about eight hours now. and i've been talking to a lot of people. there have been some who said what on earth, what the hell, basically, was he doing on the

streets. but the majority saying it was a shocking episode in sydney's history. we've never seen anything like this. it will not change us. this was, from what they were telling me, they think this was the actions of one deranged individual, and it wasn't going to change the character of the city, how people went about their business, which is pretty much what the prime minister was saying. he was applauding and saluting australians for getting back to normal, getting on with their normal lives. but this question of what he was doing on the streets, he was facing sexual assault charges, 45 sexual assault charges. he was facing two counts of being an accessory of murder of his former wife. sending poison pen letters to the families of australian soldiers serving overseas. he has a long history, as we heard at that press conference of brushes and run ins with the law. yet he was allowed out, facing

these serious charges, the bail, this part of the judicial system will be looked at very, very closely. whether it will lead to changes we can't say at the moment. but they feel that it is generally an excellent system. so whether they change it or not, we'll have to wait and see. but certainly, that sense of anger not here yet, but you wouldn't be surprised if as the days go on, as more details become available about what he was doing out, why he wasn't being monitored even, the anger may start to focus. >> and finally, one of the highlights i guess, one of the interesting points that came out of that news conference just moments ago with the australian prime minister and several others, he went on to describe isil or isis as a death cult which attracts people like the gunman yesterday. what i thought was interesting, he said it is very wrong to associate this death cult, isis,

with any community or faith. they're against god, faith, community, and this is very significant coming from tony abbott, a man who once considered joining the priesthood. >> reporter: isil, isis is not representative of any sort, any angle of the islamic religion. this is, as he said, is a death cult. it has nothing to do with religion. it's masquerading as being a religious organization. speaking of which, the reaction of the muslim community here in sydney has been unanimous and strong, an outpouring of anger, sorrow of what happened here in sydney a little more than 24 hours ago. the muslim community really, really reaching out. in fact, the grand mufti has been saying that it was an

appalling crime, what happened. this is not, obviously, what islam is about and reaching out. and it will be, again, going forward to see how this settles down, as the positioning seems to suggest, this will go down as a lone gunman who was perhaps trying to use religion, if that is dismissed, if that becomes the story, and the fact that he was just using religion when there was absolutely no basis for it, community relations will be fine, but there's always the risk that community relations could be strained by something like this, john. >> we'll leave it there. andrew stevens live for us in sydney giving us some analysis and perspective after that news conference from the prime minister and premier of new south wales. let's stay with this story a little longer. we're joined now by our counter terrorism expert, clark jones.

he's joining us on the line. so clark, you listened to the prime minister there. is he accurate when he says that even if this gunman haron had been under 24-hour monitoring that this attack could have still happened? >> caller: i'm not sure about that. the likelihood of the watching, i mean, apparently, he was carrying a bag with a shotgun. i mean there would have been indicators, plearior to carryin out the act. it depends on how much surveillance or how much attention is placed on the person. so obviously, this person had been released on bail even though he'd committed many criminal acts. there would have been an assessment made as to the level of threat he posed. so i'm not sure about that.

but the other thing is, he hadn't, he had converted from shia to sunni. he had his own website. there were some indicators that the level of radicalization, but he hadn't voiced that he was, that he had potential for violence or violent extremism. maybe it's hindsight to say these things, but i'm not sure i agree with everything that was said there. >> if we take the flag away, if this was a guy who was just having some issues and was, as the prime minister said, deluded, in the days before isis, we wouldn't have called this guy a terrorist, would we? we would have called him a crack pot or a loon. >> caller: that's right. we need to be careful of what we, we feed to need to be caref what we call these people. i'm not sure it's correct that

we can call them deluded either. he certainly had mental health issues and had spent time in prison, which probably didn't help his mental health issues, but we really need to be careful how we phrase things. i'm not even sure if we should be calling this a death cult. we need to be very careful on what sort of terminology we use for this type of actor. i'm wondering what sort of attention this would have drawn if we took away the islamic flag and we took away the terrorism connotations to this. i mean, how we treated this would have been, whether there would have been world attention on this, i'm not so sure. >> the bottom line from what i've read, about 40% of these gunman or terrorists who are described as lone wolves, about 40% of them according to some studies are in fact suffering from some mental illness. so how does that complicate the

trying to predict, monitor what someone with a mental illness will do? >> caller: it makes the whole situation more unpredictable. you don't know whether they're medicated or unmedicated. for example the isil member who came from australia and was holding severed heads. he had schizophrenia and other mental disorders. let's be careful not to profile all oefd offenders and identify one type. >> what is the headline here for the lesson which law enforcement officials, not just in australia but around the world, what can they learn from this? >> caller: look, in terms of tactical operations, they ran a

textbook, they need to be commended for what they did, what a fantastic job to not use force. they waited out as long as they could and only went in when they needed to. but we need to get down to the root cause. we need to develop community intervention programs. we need to look at trying to bridge, trying to work some of these individuals in as far as preventing this feeling of alienation. there's a lot of areas where for socioeconomic reasons they need to be addressed. tony abbott said it's not about religion in many of these cases. their understanding of religion is very shallow, and they don't represent the muslim communities in australia. it's not one community. it's many communities in australia. >> yeah. >> caller: i think we can do a lot more on the social level, whether that be through

continuing community engagement programs, but i'm talking more intervention. people at risk can come and talk. >> okay, clark, we'll leave it there. but thank you for jumping on the line. very interesting point you raised about labeling people and how those words in fact do matter. we'll take a short break here on cnn, but still to come, how the sydney hostage situation unfolded on social media from inside that cafe. dad, i know i haven't said this often enough, but thank you. thank you mom for protecting my future. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life.

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thanks for staying with us here on cnn, whether you're in the united states or anywhere around the world. i'm john vause. we'll check the headlines this

hour. australian prime minister tony abbott held a press conferences a few minutes ago. two hostages were killed along with the gunman. in pennsylvania, a man hunt for a man suspected of killing his ex-wife and other family members. the man is armed and dangerous. he has been in a custody battle with his ex-wife. u.s. secretary of state john kerry wants vatican help to relocate gitmo detainees as the obama administration looks to close the facility and transfer detainees to other countries. some say the tragic events in sydney shows that australians are just as vulnerable as

americans, canadians and europeans to homegrown terror attacks. tony abbott addressed that during his news conference. >> there are people, even in a society such as ours who wish to do us harm. we are not immune to the politically motivated violence which has for so long stalked other countries. but over the last 36 hours, we have responded to this in character, with grit, with stoicism, with equanimity. and i am absolutely confident that whatever happens in the days and weeks and months to come, australia will always be a free and open and a generous society. >> still, concern is growing as more and more radicalized individuals are rallying behind extremist groups like isis.

>> reporter: the sydney siege raises the specter once again of what the intelligence community calls lone wolf attacks, the most difficult to predict and stop. australian officials estimate at least 100 people in australia support jihadist groups in syria and iraq, providing money or assisting with travel for example. but intelligence chief david irvine said this in august. >> a recurring nightmare for me has been the so-called lone wolf, often radicalized over the internet and has managed to avoid coming across our radar. >> reporter: dozens have gone to fight in syria and iraq. among them, this 17 year old, abdullah amir. in june, he told his mother he was going fishing. four months later, he fronted this isis video. >> and i deliver this message to

you, especially the people of australia. >> reporter: another tweeted a photograph of his seven year old son holding a severed head. this man has become a prominent voice in isis. he is mohammed ali bayolet. >> muslim is the slave of god. >> reporter: they believe he helped arrange the travel of australians wanting to fight in syria and iraq. he is also alleged to urge associates to launch attacks? australia. there are reports he may have been killed in october. but weeks earlier he spoke by phone with a 22 year old in sydney. he was arrested during extens n extensionive police raids.

muslims have been called on to launch attacks on countries in the coalition against it. is is the australian government has boosted the surveillance services and has pushed tough new laws to increase surveillance and search powers and deprive people of passports if they are suspected of traveling to fight jihad. the tough laws and greater police powers will rarely help detect an individual committed to violence. aim ra walker, cnn. for more on the threat of terror, i'm joined by an expert on radical islam and homegrown terror. he is live from sydney at this hour. you heard the prime minister tony abbott who say haron monis

is a typical person attracted to isis. is that right? and if so, why? >> he certainly fits the bill on the periphery of society. but his attraction to or involvement with isis is still questionable. you'd really have to ask what is the nature of this attack, when it's a terrorist attack or whether it's just a crazed gunman with problems with the law. so on one level he does fit the bill for people who are attracted. but we're not quite sure yet whether that was the motivating factor. >> is that why we haven't heard anything from isis, no praise for this, no messages on social media? >> certainly, that's probably one of the indications that there's no close connection. one of the issues is the gunman is facing accessory to murder

and sexual assault charges were pending. he's already lost a high court challenge for sending letters to the families of australian soldiers who have been killed. so his motivation for doing this kind of attack doesn't really fit the classic radicalized isis follower in many ways. it's just somebody who's disaffected with society and his lot in society. >> i think monis's lawyer described his client as being someone who is damaged goods who felt as though he had nothing else to lose. >> will, certainly, there's probably a degree of substance to that. the fact that he chose a cafe in the middle of the city, but not only just in the middle of the city, but directly opposite one of the major tv channels servicing australia meant that he certainly wanted publicity for his actions. and the fact that his past history as being a

self-proclaimed spiritual healer, a self-proclaimed shia cleric and a convert to sunni islam would probably indicate this person has got some kind of personal issues that might fall well short of being a terrorist but don't make him short of being a radical. >> monis was not on a terror watch list. we had that confirmed by the prime minister just a short time ago. surely that raises concerns about who else is out there and h not on a terror watch list. >> well, certainly, just being put on a terror watch list, as your briprevious segment pointe out. one of the difficulties is trying to track the movements of people who committed to doing some kind of violent action, but individuals that are not part of a large group, they don't undertake the type of collective

planning that would leave signatures for security organizations to track, somebody like the gunman yesterday, who just walks into a coffee shop with a sawed-off shotgun hidden in a bag. those are the kind of people that would be very high on the watch list for security agencies, but at the same time, the kind of people who it's very difficult to keep tabs on. >> everything that the prime minister outlined, upgrading the security, raising the terror alert level, boosting and funding for security agencies, none of that, really, could prevent what happened yesterday. so i guess, does that raise questions about how effective is the current strategy there in australia? >> well, i think it raises questions everywhere. the reality is there is no 100% blanket solution to provide security for the entire population at all the time. that goes for criminality as

well as terrorism. but i think the one thing we should probably focus a bit more on is the fact that the security agencies have been quite successful in stopping potential foreign fighters going overseas by stopping their passports. two days ago there were another two arrests of people who are facilitating foreign fighters. and there's been a steady flow of people who have been arrested throughout the year and the past 18 months to two years. so while the security agencies are certainly very active, the government's giving them support financially and legislatively, there is no 100% guarantee of success. >> roger thank you, roger shanahan with the lowry institute. we appreciate you being with us once again. now social media played a very big part of the 16-hour hostage situation in sydney. police monitored websites as

captors were forced to post the hostage taker's demands online. we get the details from cnn's tom foreman. >> reporter: from the beginning right until the bitter end, the gunman put social media in play, and police were sharply aware of the impact. >> i think that there's probably a number of mediums being used at the moment, but it is, we all have to be very careful not to completely overreact at this time. >> reporter: four times the gunman apparently forced hostages to record video of his demands and post them online. in a final one, the woman says urgently, this is all he wants. it's not hard, why are we still here? please help us. i'm begging. but the gunman also used these messages to say he had bombs planted elsewhere and to imply that he had outside operatives to set them off. police have found no evidence of that. >> to the people of sydney, this was an isolated incident. it is an isolated incident.

>> reporter: still, as authorities tried to calm fears, the gunman was ramping them up, apparently urging his hostages to use their social media accounts to publicize this. >> he's going to twitter, through radio announcers, it is a very bizarre situation. >> reporter: radio announcers? yes. four times a radio announcer says he was called by a 23-year-old hostage apparently at demands by the gunman. >> he was calling me a scumbag for incorrectly reporting isil as being murderous bastards who have no regard for human life. >> reporter: authorities scrambled to shut down the gunman's social media outlets, but with so many in play it was not easy. >> and after the hostage situation in sydney, many

australians are showing solidarity against islam phobia with the hash tag, i'll ride with you. it started with tessa kum for anyone in muslim attire not feeling comfortable riding by themselves. social media was flooded with similar offers. in indiana, a pastor wrote, people are choosing love and standing up for others in pain. it's awesome to see. and one from jordan said this, thank you, australia. you show the world how the way of life should be. still to come here on cnn, six family members are dead and a man hunt is under way for their killer. we'll details of the violence that has rocked a community in pennsylvania. arthritis lasts 8 hours but aleve can last 12 hours.

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police in pennsylvania are searching for a man suspected of killing his ex-wife and five of her family members. the violence has shocked the quiet community not far from philadelphia. susan canadiotti reports. >> reporter: the ram page started about 3:30 monday morning near philadelphia. at one home, bradley stone kills his former wife's sister, her husband and their 14 year old

daughter and seriously wounds her 17-year-old brother. about an hour later he goes to the home of his ex-mother-in-law, killing her and her elderly mother. then he drives to his former wife's house, kills her and leaves with his two daughters in their pajamas. he drops them off with one of his own neighbors, and they are safe. a law enforcement source says the motive appears to be domestic. according to court papers, it was not a happy divorce. there were child custody and support problems, and some neighbors say the two exes constantly fought. stone is an eczema reason reservist who served in iraq in 2008. in court papers it said i was permanently disabled. he is considered armed and dangerous. susan canada yotsy.

new york. >> a shelter in place or lockdown alert was ordered. k-9 units were sent in. >> we're also reaching out to the public to see if anyone has sighted him. at this point we do not where know where he is. we do not have vehicle information. we recovered his vehicle and personal cell phone. so we don't have information about how he might be traveling. >> a friend of stone's described him as a good guy who helped people when they needed money or a hand. the current commander of the american legion post where stone was once president said he was shocked. hackers have been leaking more documents from sony entertainment, including embarrassing e-mails. the company is trying to reel in those secrets while the hackers are claiming there's a whole lot more to come. here's pamela brown.

♪ >> reporter: james bond appears to be battling a new enemy, not on the big screen. the sony hackers who call themselves guardians of peace are believed to have stolen an early version of the script for the upcoming bond movie "speck tor", and concern is that they will leak it to the public. they posted online, we are preparing for you a christmas gift. the gift will give you much more pleasure. >> i have a gift for you. >> ooh, ooh, this dog is killing me with its cuteness. >> reporter: christmas day is when the movie is set to release, a movie about kim jong-un which the country has strongly condemned. >> i don't think this is a good time to withdraw. i think it's a good time to stand your ground. they've already weathered a strong attack. >> reporter: sony is still deciding whether to sencensor ps

of the film. authorities are looking into whether north korea is behind the hollywood hack that has opened up a treasure trove of embarrassing e-mail communications about angelina jolie and george clooney. the latest leak says clooney was apparently upset by the bad reviews of "the monuments men." i fear i have let you down. not my intention. i apologize. i've just lost touch. pascal called leonardo dicaprio's behavior despicable after he backed out on the steve jobs biopic due out next november. >> it seems to be very concerted and very intelligent people doing this. they know how to damage the studio. >> reporter: as the leaks slowly trickle out, sony hired david

boise who sent a threatening letter to the media, including cnn, asking it to stop publishing leaked information or face legal action. if you do not comply and the stolen information is used or disseminated, sony will have no choice but to hold you responsible. >> david boise is going to argue that this is stolen material, that the media is aiding and abetting a burglar in the knini who's broken into a computer and is trying to get the benefit of it. on the other side, media outlets are going to say, hey, this is information of enormous public interest. it doesn't matter how it came into our hands, the public has a right to know what goes on in this very important industry. >> reporter: pamela brown, cnn, washington. falling oil prices are hitting the ruble hard and sending russia's economy into a

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key interest rate from 10% to 17%. it's pumped in $90 billion to stabilize the ruble and the bank warns if oil prices remain close to the $60 per barrel, russia could sink into a deep recession next year. well, for the second time in as many weeks, much of the western u.s. is getting soaked by another storm. this is in fact very good news. pedram joins us with all the details. >> last week's storm system in los angeles county, about 2 billion gallons of water were collected by the reservoirs. that's how much rain is coming down. that's a decent amount of rainfall. but that's only enough for about 50,000 people in a city of over 17 million when you consider the metropolitan region. the vineyards looking much like this. you work your way towards south of san francisco there and the roads looking something like this. 3 to 4 inches coming down in a matter of 24 hours in a few of

these spots. that is equivalent to all of the rain in 2013 they've seen in a couple days time. in napa, wind speeds of about 44 miles per hour. roughly 65 to 70 kilometers per hour. we show you another active band of weather moving into the region. it's going to push in on wednesday. so a stream of wet weather. we had rain on monday, we'll have it on tuesday across much of coastal california. on wednesday more wet weather in the forecast too. we go two years without significant rainfall and now in a seven to ten day time span, a significant amount of rainfall. unfortunately, these type of storms typically happen once, maybe twice a year. so it takes several years to get there if conditions quiet down. at this point, it's not necessarily the case. through the afternoon, san

francisco towards monterey, heavy rainfall moves in towards southern california where some of the passes out there around southern california or los angeles, some sleet could mix in. temperatures in l.a., about 60 degrees for a high, fahrenheit which puts you around 15 celsius. plenty of colors to go around on the map. that is good news for california and even better news, not just for the skiers in the higher elevations, but the snowpack could really help the water situation for later on into the spring and summer of 2015. so good news right now for california. >> it makes a nice change. okay, pedram. thanks so much. you are watching cnn. i'm john vause. errol barnett takes over at the top of the hour with more on our top stories. we will be hearing more from the lawyer of the hostage taker in sydney. and more on what the prime minister had to say just a short time ago. stay with us. you're watching cnn. so,as my personal financial psychic,

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look, credit karma-- are you talking to websites again? this website says "free credit scores." oh, credit karma! yeah it's actually free. look, you don't have to put in your credit card information. whew! credit karma. really. free. a big welcome to our viewers in the u.s. and all around the world. i'm errol barnett with you for the next two ours on cnn. coming up -- >> this won't change the things we hold deal in this country. >> australians lay flowers at the site of a shocking hostage crisis that ended with the police raid. we'll bring you what we're learning about the victims and the gunman's very bizarre past. plus, an intense manhunt is happening right now in the united states. police still trying to track down a man suspected of killing six people. coming up later bill cosby's wife comes to his