sense of family. >> michael had many options. he destroyed his family. and everything he touched. >> in a way it's fair. >> it's fair? >> indeed, a good movie, sure. >> coppola, he didn't [ muted ] it up? >> no. >> you are watching cnn. a big welcome to our viewers in the u.s. and around the world. >> i'm zain asher. let's get straight to our top stori stori stories. u.s. law makers blaming the sony attack on pyongyang. the shadowy group of cyber warriors suspected of acting on behalf of north korea. >> the pentagon's budget is ten times more. $575 billion and you are trying to say we are pursue an gre policy? >> the defiant president, vladimir putin answer tackles

questions amid economic crisis and tough sanctions. >> also, getting excited over the prospects of tourism to cuba finally, but hurdles still remain. >> plus lawmakers losing it. what was behind this outrageous outburst. but first, let' begin with the sony hack. so many apgles and pieces to this story. investigators are building evidence now that north korea is, in fact, behind the cyberattack on sony to the point the u.s. government could publicly blame north korea sometime in the coming day. >> and officials now tell cnn hackers stole credentials of assistant administrator, that is how they got access to sony's computers. so they have ruled out the fact that it may have been an inside

job. it was definitely not an inside job. that's what we know so far. but after the cyberattack, sony axed the release of the new mu view "the interview." that's what everyone is talking about. it is, of course, about a fictional assassination attempt on north koreaen's leader, kim jong un. >> the white house calls the cyberattack a national security matter, and a serious one at that. the key question is how will it respond? some are saying the u.s. government trying to calibrate an appropriate response right now on chief u.s. security correspondent jim schuto lays out some possible options. >> with the administration close to publicly blaming north korea for the sewn any attack amid calls of proportional response. >> as members oof the national security team meet to discus this matter, they are considering a range of options. >> theed a many instrags has several powerful steps at its

dispos disposal. the u.s. could enforce further economic sanctions on north korea, including access to dollar-denominated trade. the desperately poor communist country's economic lifeline to food, fuel and crucially, weapons. >> if we block them from the international financial community, they can't get the hard southecurrency that they n order to carry ute the clandestine activities they're doing, as well as their nuclear weapons program. >> this is a tactic the administration has applied with great effect against iran regarding its nuclear program. and more recently against russia following its invasion of crimea and eastern ukraine. naming and shaming north korea publicly is another step. a move the u.s. took to beijing despite its multiple and systematic cyberattack against u.s. businesses and government departments. if u.s. investigators identify

the individuals behind the hack, the u.s. could also levy criminal charges against north korean hackers. a step the u.s. took against an elite group of chinese hackers earlier this year. this building outside of shanghai and known as unit 61398. so who are the alleged north korean culprits? u.s. december tors suspect a top secret group within the north korean military called cryptically, bureau 121, made up of at least 1800 cyberwarriors scattered around the globe. >> one of the reasons you haven't seen an aggressive u.s. response is we don't know what they would do back and we don't want to start a second korean war. we don't want to see cyberattacks that we can't stop. so north korea, not at the top of the league when it comes to cyberattacks. not even as good as iran, but very dangerous. >> and you heard there jim mention bureau 121, that's the secretive north korean spy and hacking agency that is suspected

to be behind all of this. >> yeah. and it's believed the cyberwarriors have struck before. a north korean defector gaving us a glimpse inside the secret world of north korean's hackers. >> they are shadow warriors, battleground -- cyberspace. they're placed around the world with one sole mission, hack into and disrupt u.s. interests. a force against the west. on state-run television, a near ridiculous bravado of the military, but there are unseen soldiers in kim jong un's cyberwar against the west. they have no face and only known by a number, bureau 121. what is bureau 121? they conduct the cyberattacks against overseas and enemy states, says this man. jong is a north korean defector,

a former military computer systems work e, now in south korea, independently attempting to crumble an agency nearly impossible to chase. bureau 121, shadow agency with an unknown numb bher of the regime's hand picked shadow agents, placed in countries around the world. he believes there are approximately 1,800 of them, though he says the agents themselves don't know how many exist. we can't verify jong's claims about the shadow group, but he says he's obtained from a current operative hundreds of financial files, hacked from south korean banks, complete with names and other bank account details. >> is the cyberwar the real war for north korea? raising cyberagents is fairly cheap, he says. the world has the wrong view of the north korean state. with that incorrect world view, north korea was able to increase its ability to launch cyberattacks. south korea learned the hard way. banks across the country were

paralyzed. atms frozen for dpas. media outlets went darks, servers jammed or wiped. north korea denied it was the source of the hack. but in the wake of the attack, south korea beefed up its own cyber forces, declaring the online war as dangerous as pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. north korea exists in the land of over the top propaganda, while experts say it wages its parallel war in cyberspace, led by a young man of the internet age, ushering in a new phase of the korean conflict. what north korea craves most is visibility on the map. what sony has done is given them exactly that. >> well, now sony is saying if you want to see this movie "the interview" because of the cyberattack, you are out of luck. it's remarkable that north korea

can actually prevent americans from watching a movie. obviously a lot of people are weighing in what this means about freedom of speech. not only did sony pull the release of this film in its theatre, it's not even going to allow people to see it on demand. >> but a renowned author wants to buy a copy from sony. brazil's best seller of "the al alchemist" says he evening offering $100,000 for the rights to the movie and he'll post it on his blog. he's among a growing list of celebrities criticizing sony's decision to pull the film. >> a lot of tweet from people. >> later in the program, we'll show you some of that reaction. >> now, also going to be going live to tokyo to learn about past cyberattacks on sony. a lot of people asking, should the learned from past lessons? >> do stay tuned for all of that. at this point, though, we want to bring you what is certainly an unsettling story.

a following story out of australia. police have found eight children dead inside a house. this is in cairns, and the ages range from 18 months to 15 years old. police say a woman connected to the case is receiving treatment for her injuries and is assisting with the investigation. these are early reports here. we still don't know how or if the woman is related to these children, but we do know that she is not under police custody. this was the scene as the bodies were discovered. australian media outlet reports some of the victims were believed to have been stabbed. police have not confirmed that information yet either. australian prime minister tony abbott reacted by calling it an unspeakable crime and that all parents would feel a gut-wrenching sadness at what happened. we do expect local police to update the media within the hour. as soon as that happens, we will bring it to you live. but a disturbing story there. eight children's bodies found dead inside a home. we hope to get new information. >> still so many unanswered

questions about what actually happened inside that home. okay, we turn now to another main story we're following. the european union has now banned all investment by its members in crimea, even blocking european cruise ships from docking. the eu has a strong policy of not recognizing moscow's annex says of crimea, which happened earlier this year. it still says crimea still belongs s ts to ukraine. >> meanwhile, barack obama signed a bill calling for stricter sanction against russia. he says he has no intention of using them just yet. >> at this time, the administration does not intend to use under this law, but it could be utilized if circumstances warranted. >> in a news conference lasting more than three hours, russian president vladimir putin blamed oil prices on what he called external economic factors for his country reese financial

troubles. here's our matthew chance. >> it's promised to be more like a hollywood blockbuster an an annual press conference. vladimir putin not missing a chance to cast him as the hero. with russia in the grip of an economic crisis, all eyes were on its president for reassurance. and he gave it, promising to diversify the russian economy away from oil and spend currency reserves on supporting the ruble. >> translator: we are going to use the measures we used in 2008 quite suck siszfully. and in this situation, we'll have to focus attention on those people who need it. social problems, pensions, salaries of budget employees. if things develop unfavorably, we'll have to make adjustments and reduce something. our economy will overcome the current situation. >> but overcoming doesn't apparently involve climbing down. there was no u turn on russia's actions in ukraine, nor any

softer tone towards the west. when asked if russia's economic crisis was the result of sanctions, the price of annexing crimea, he rejected it outright. >> translator: no, it's not the price we paid for crimea. it's what we have to do to preserve our nation and maintain our state. if we want to maintain and to fight, we have to further work. we want to achieve that or do we want our bear to become a stuffed animal? >> this was yet another classic putin performance, polished and confident, even in the face of an economic meltdown. and there wasn't even a hint of compromise. if you were waiting for vladimir putin to back down in the face of economic pressure, you would have been disappointed. the issue of russian military flights probing nato defenses, a case in point. president putin rejectling allegations of cold war style aggression in the skies. it is the united states, not russia, it said, that's the

agret aggress aggressor. the budget has grown. it's about $50 billion, and the pentagon's budget is ten times more, $575 billion and you're trying to say we are pursuing an aggressive policy? >> reporter: it's the kind of jab that's resonated with russians in the past, making putin a popular hero. but will it be enough to comfort russians, now mired in economic pain? matthew chance, cnn, moscow. >> popular hero, indeed. earlier this week, vladimir putin was named russia's man in the year for the 15th time. remarkable given what's going on in that country. >> who was number two? who is he competing against? >> you wonder. coming up next, the boston bombing suspect appeared in court on thursday. take a look at the drawings there. details on the shouting matches that took place both in and out of the courtroom. that's coming up. >> plus, europe's highest court makes a ruling that could impact

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>> eight hours ago, pletty significant gains earlier today. i'm talking the dow jones soaring for the second straight day. up 421 points, imagine that.

it closed at 17,778. that is the dow's best one-day gain in three years. the nasdaq and the s&p 500 were also up more than 2%. investors were certainly encouraged by the fact that the fed is going to hold off on raising those interest rates. people will be happy about that. >> next month, he's going to go on trial for the boston marathon bombing which killed three people and injured a lot more as well as later killing a police officer. >> our first video showing the boston bomber where he's wearing a jump suit and sporting a

beard. heavy security as tsarnayev attended a hearing also atenned by survivors. he briefly had words with protesters outside. >> i just asked if he wanted to make the evidence and make those choices and decisions of how he feels, that's all. >> during the hearing, he asked if he had chosen not to respond to previous status hearings. the judge asked if he was kept up to date and tsarnaev again said yes, sir. when it was over, a woman shouted to tsarnaev. she identified herself as the mother-in-law of a man killed by fbi agents in florida during questioning about tsarnaev's roles in the triple murder. i said in the court, jahar, you have a lot of supporters.

we pray for you, we know you're innocent. be strong, son. >> she said something to the effect of don't kill an innocent boy. and that was tough. that was tough. >> karen, who was wounded in the first bomb blast was in the courtroom. she tells us she hopes to be here often. >> i want to be here, not to see him so much as for him to see me. >> the police chief and dick donahue who was wounded in the shootout left work without saying anything to the cameras. >> that report, jury selection in this tsarnaev trial begins january 5. closer ties between the u.s. and cuba may have american tourists warming to the idea of a cuban vacation, however, it may not happen right away. but u.s. carriers and travel agents are already planning for it. >> they are already geared up for that day. they know what their itineraries

will look like. they are salivating at the potential that cuba holds. sheila! you see this ball control?

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what you're doing now, janice. blogging. your blog is just pictures of you in the mirror. it's called a fashion blog, todd. well, i've been helping people save money with progressive's discounts. flo, can you get janice a job? [ laughs ] you should've stuck to softball! i was so much better at softball than janice, dad. where's your wife, todd? vacation. discounts like homeowners', multi-policy -- i got a discount on this ham. i've got the meat sweats. this is good ham, diane. paperless discounts -- give it a rest, flo. all: yeah, flo, give it a rest. >> who knew politics were so painful? the kenyan parliament as lawmakers debated an anti-terror bill. the government backed a bill saying tougher measures are needed to fight terrorists. but opposition lawmakers say

personal liberties and press freedoms will suffer as a result. that's a debate we've seen all over the world. this brawl forced repeated delays. look, people throwing papers. but in the end, law makers did approve the measure. >> yeah. mechanical if there was that every time there was gridlock in the senate. >> the u.s. is leaving open the possibility of a presidential visit by raul castro to the united states. the united states said it would not rule out welcoming raul castro to the united states. >> this was after the u.s. announced it would restore diplomatic ties to cuba. it's a political standoff that lasted 50 years. raul castro's daughter earlier spoke to cnn about the historic deal. >> i feeling that a dream has come true, smug we wanted so many years, normalizing

relations. >> you mentioned fidel castro, who is your uncle. does he know about this? how does he feel about this? >> i'm not going to answer. i don't know how he feel about this process, but i imagine at any moment he's going to write his reflections as usual and i'm certain he's really happy about it. and he participated in the decision making. i want to take you back before the u.s. and cuba ended diplomatic ties. the island was a popultourist destination. a lot of americans would visit cuba, especially when the united states was going through the prohibition era. all of that changed in 1961.

now this deal doesn't lift the ban on u.s. tourism to cuba, but travel companies are hoping that will change. >> havana, once dubbed the latin las vegas. similar imagines of carmen miranda swinging with fruit in her hair and movie stars dancing the night away at the tropicana nightclub. exotic caribbean flavor and distinct culture made americans fall in love with cuba before the revolution. caught in a time warp, it still looks strikingly similar to when ricky and lucy visited when the 1950s cars were new. >> only 90 miles from u.s. shores. it's really a no brainer, the demand is there.

>> the president's new policy makes some travel, like educational and humanitarian trips easier, but it does not lift the embargo or allow for tourism. >> we got the forbidden fruit aspect, so much pent up energy of millions and millions of americans wishing to explore cuba for themselves. >> last year,less than 100,000 americans visited. most on charters operated by airlines like american and jetblue. but an industry group predicts 2 million more would go in the next two years if all restrictions were lifted. and the infrastructure may not be ready. the retrolook contracting americans conceals decades old water, electric and transportation systems. >> it's going to take some time for the airlines and cruise ships to put their plans in place. but they are already geared up for that day. they are salivating about the

potential cuba holds. >>. >> reporter: but congress would have to lift the embargo and there's resistance. but wednesday's decision has filled the travel industry with hope that cuban tourism is around the corner. >> it changed the ball game and the discussion in congress. >> i'm sure a lot of people would be excited. a lot of americans would love the island instantly. >> we want to follow up on another story we're following. obesity can, in certain case, be considered a disability. >> my eyebrows are up here. obesity, for instance, can cause obstacles that could count as a disability. the decision is expected to impact employment right across europe. and it's considered a step ahead

in the fight against obesity discrimination. some employees did not feel obliged to accommodate overweight employees because they considered it to be a personal lifestyle choice. >> the big question is, should sony have been better prepared to stop hackers? >> plus, two little girls brutally murdered back in 1944. a 14-year-old boy con vingted and executed for the crime. why south carolina courts finally clearing his name.

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we're watching developments out of cairns, australia. the ages range from 18 months to 15 years. now, police say a woman is receiving treatment for her wounds and is assisting officials with their investigation. australia's prime minister calls the news heart breaking. we are expecting an update from officials any moment when it happens, we'll bring it to you live. vladimir putin did his best to ease people's fears over a humbling economy. he also went on the defense saying the country needs to guard its sovereignty to avoid what he called becoming a chained bear. u.s. investigators are building evidence to implicate north korea in the cyberattack of the sony's computer system.

officials tell cnn they stole information from an administrator. the u.s. could publicly blame north korea in the coming day. zain? >> errol, the planned release of the movie "the interview" triggered this cyberattack that everyone is talking about. bit's not the first time sony has been victimized by hackers. will, i mean, it's no secret that sony has experienced hackers before, i guess. sony playstation was hacked back in 2011. sony pictures was also hacked. now former sony employees are suing the company. what could sony have done in this instance to protect itself, if anything. >> we asked those questions. it's almost impossible for any company to protect against the kind of attack that has devastated sony.

>> hidden behind security doors, a tokyo office that could be the set of a si-fi movie. they say this is the map that shows all the cyberattacks launched on japan in just the last month. >> hackers, targeting thousands of companies. for hundreds of them, this tokyo cybersecurity firm is the only line of defense. the hackers are always getting more advanced. sometimes too advanced for those trying to keep up. the chief technology officer knows a devastating hack like the one on sony pictures can penetrate even the best cyberdefense. >> you have all these experts here. could you have protected against an attack like this? could anybody protect against it? not 100%, he says. it's like watching a cold or getting the flu. or in sony's case, a disease that crippled a major

corporation. for a better part of a decade, the electronics and entertainment giant has been a popular cyber target. three years ago in 201 1, hackers stole 77 million playstation accounts, knocking out the network for almost a month. >> people thought about cyberterrorism, they thought hacking. a strategist said sony was taken by surprise last month. cybercriminals took control of sony pictures' computer system and they did something unprecedented. stealing massive amounts of data and using it to devastate the company. >> they can inflict severe damage to corporate america. the japanese government is also distancing itself, telling cnn, it's a united states issue. >> one of the reasons why no one is willing to make a statement is because they don't know what to say.

>> how are they going to deal with it? we don't know yet. >> for now, a new sense of urgency, figuring out how to fend off a new kind of enemy. >> all right. at this point, we want to get you live now to cairns, austral australia, the scene where eight bodies of children were discovered within the fast few hours. let's listen in and see what more we can learn. >> we believe it's a family member. >> the one booef seen images of, is there a relation with his brother? can you talk about that? >> we believe we've identified that man and we will speak with

him presenty. >> we're not 100% sure on that yet. >> [ inaudible ] how are people holding up? >> what we had done is we got a range of strategies. my investigative team, we've spoken to none of the people and the district office is putting other strategies in place as well to support the families through this very, very difficult time.

>> can you describe the scene, what the officers are facing at the moment? >> no, no, i can't. simply because the city is locked down. after that time, investigators will go and start their investigative process. >> [ inaudible ]. >> no, i'm not going to confirm that at all. >> what are they doing.

can you explain what their vomit is? >> they're asitsing us with managing the crime scene. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i don't want to discus that or confirm that at this point. >> is there some suggestion? >> i said we haven't identified any of the children. that's the price to be ongoing. >> [ inaudible ]. >> to my knowledge he's in stable condition at the hospital. >> is she a suspect? >> anybody who's had any vomit. everybody who's had any

involvement at all. we're not ready to identify any particular suspects. the officers involved in this. it's distressing for everybody. we want to support everybody. >> [ inaudible ]. >> we have fantastic frepzic experts and pathologists. i that'll tell us. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i would think so.

>> i have as many as i need will be provided to me. >> we have intelligent specialist, we have flenzic specialists and homicide detective detectives. [ inaudible ]. >> at this stage, i don't want to discuss that. >> can you elaborate? >> at this stage, quite frankly,

i don't know anything. and there's a brother, son of the children, age 20, might have been around here? have you talked to him already? >> we'll talk to everybody. of course, we'll be talking to all of them. >> how does this criminal event, how does it compare to others you've been involved? ? >> that is a tragic event for so many people with but as always, as i said earlier, detectives that we in place are second to

none. >> thank you. >> listening there to detective inspector speaking in cairns australia after what continues to be a murder mystery. eight bodies of children discovered today in a suburban neighborhood. one woman is being treated at a hospital, but as you heard him say there, no suspect at this point has been identified. the woman possibly could be related to the deceased children. that is not clear at this hour. the detective inspector saying he's getting the resources he needs to get to the bottom of this mystery. this is taking place in australia in a week where it's already been, the nation has already experienced horror in the form of that lone wolf

attack earlier in the week. but as far as whether this was a zmesic incident or something more serious, it's unclear. we will continue to gather details on this and bring you this story and others. i'm mike, and i'm very much alive. now my doctor recommends a bayer aspirin regimen to help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. you never dwell on how you don't it was made...ut it... it's just a blanket after all... but when everything else has been lost, the comfort it provides is immeasurable. the america red cross brings hope and help to people in need every 8 minutes, every day. so this season give something that means something. support us at redcross.org so far, you're horribleht. oat this, flo.use and a car!

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44 years ago, a teenager charged with murder who was

wrongfully convicted has finally found justice. but not really. >> kind of, right? a south carolina court has exonerated george stinney jr. 70 years after the state executed him. cnn's david mattingly has his story. >> at 5'1" and 95 pounds, he was just a skinny little teenager. only 14 years old, growing up in a town in south carolina back in 1944. george stinney jr. was tending to the family's cow with his little sister in this field near an old set of railroad tracks. when they crossed paths with two young white girls looking for flowers. ja george's sister remembers it clearly. >> they said could you tell us where to find some mapops? we said no. and they went about their business. >> they were the last known to see the girls alive. a coroner's report describes a vicious murder. an 11-year-old and 7-year-old

were beaten to death. multiple severe head injuries suggested the killer used a hammer. the stinney family fled in fear after police came for little george. >> they were looking for somebody to blame it on. so they used my brother as a scapegoat. >> the motive was attempted rape. and in a dizzying rush to judgment, storage stinney's trial reportedly took three hours. the all-white jury deliberated just ten minutes before the judge sent him to the electric chair. his defense attorney called no witnesses and filed no appeal. with attorneys representing the stinney family today, i went back to where that tragic encounter happened to find the railroad tracks rusted, and the field littered with painful memories. >> a rush to judgment i can almost understand, but why was there no appeal? >> george stinney needed to be

dead soon. george stinney sitting in jail for a year would have been an incredible difference in the facts and circumstances of this case. and i think in that way, they swept it completely under the rug. >> in spite of a confession police say they got from stinney, a new examination of the few records that still exist show a botched investigation. stinney's alibi, his little sister was never questioned. no evidence of attempted rape, no blood on stinney's clothing and no murder weapon. assignments like an impossible story that little george stinney was somehow able to murder these little girl, beat them to death without a struggle then carry both of their bodies and their bicycle about 300 yards that way to hide them in a ditch. 70 years later, the stinney

family asked a south carolina court to throw out george's conviction. all the authorities from that era are gone, along with most of the court records. surviving relatives of the murdered girls continue to believe in stinney's guilt and question his family's timing. >> i have sympathy for the parents and the sisters and the brother. i feel like that they know that he did it and that's why they never have revisited the grave. they never have put a headstone there, a foot stone. and they never talked about it. >> if we had allowed a stone to be there and someone found out where my brother was, they probably would have dug his grave up and throw him to the wolves. even if you think i'm wrong, my brother did not do it. and i hate no man. >> in the end, the stinney family got what they were looking for. the judge agreed young george's rights had been violated and

threw out his conviction. described by hi family as bright and talented, george stinney wanted to be an artist when he grew up, daring to dream in the south. instead, his name will be forever linked to a tragic story of jim crow era injustice. david mattingly, cnn, south carolina. you don't need to think about the energy that makes our lives possible. because we do. we're exxonmobil and powering the world responsibly is our job. because boiling an egg... isn't as simple as just boiling an egg. life takes energy. energy lives here.

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>> in the annals of history or

whatever oriface they stuff it in, let's not say it was important. from the beginning of my show, it was my goal to live up to the name of this network, influence central. >> is it the end of truthiness there. nine years. >> so sad. we love him. >> i lou. >> nine years of late night high jinx. but only for the time being. >> comedy central actually aired the final episode of "the colbert report" on thursday night. it's been a long run. the show started in 2005. this is hilarious. and colbert never broke his character as the conservative host delivering the fake news of the day.

>> ariana huffington there. a rousing edition of "we'll meet again." he'll take over for david letter as host of "the late, late show." >> we'll return now to weather. we've seen a little persistent rain in california. they've, of course, been suffering from this drought that's going on for quite a long time. but luckily, they have some relief. >> erik van dam is a bonified meteorologist. >> the drought conditions in california have slowly improved. in fact, the drought monitor coming out with a recent statistic that brought it from extreme drought conditions, 55% of the state to 32% of the state. >> that's something. >> it's significant. people want to see these numbers

keep going up. or decrease, rather. and the other thing about it is the reservoirs across central and northern half of california have also seen an increase of 6% to 10% of their capacity. so that is good news. this is how we got there. look back to september of last year. none of the state of california with any exceptional drought. but as we progress from 2013 into the second half of this year, we had a widespread exceptional drought conditions for the better part of california. 55%. but with this recent onslaught of hateful that we've experienced across central and northern california, even into southern california, we have eaten away at that all-important percentage, dropping into 32.1%. we still have a long way to go, but this is some welcomed news for people across california. we just want to see some of that rain move a little further south to help the drought-stricken regions in its southern california.

>> another system over the pacific northwest. we have another wet weekend located in seattle. look at this constant flow of moisture. we're used to hateful this time of year. but take a look at how much rain we're actually expecting. here's a look across the united states. we're monitoring a weak storm that will bring rain to the gulf coast over the next couple of days. all right, zain and errol. >> you had to think for a second didn't you? >> you guys are still influential. >> not quite as much as stephen colbert. but a little bit, i think.

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