please tell people the truth. bracing for impact. a strong typhoon forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to higher ground. >> down but not out. france's far right party declares the rise is unstoppable despite failing to win a single seat in regional elections. >> and inside the mind of "star wars," cnn sits down with the director of the film phenomenon just ahead of its premier in the united states. hello and welcome to our viewers here in the u.s., and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. thanks for joining our two-hour block. "cnn newsroom" starts now.

all right. we start with a powerful typhoon that is slamming coastal areas of the philippines at this moment and it's only going to get worse. >> typhoon melor should make land fall at the south eastern tip of an island. the winds are equivalent to a category 3 hurricane, 125 miles miles per hour, and those winds could last up to 18 hours. >> all emergency personnel are on stand by at this moment. more than 700,000 people have evacuated, and most of them are in a southern part of an island. we will go to pedram javaheri. this is a part of world used to storms like this. still, though, this is coming in with a punch. >> correct. the threatening thing with the storm was about 24 hours ago it was a tropical storm. we've seen hundreds of them in recent years over the region. it's intensified.

and in the last five minutes, walking over to the desk, it's now a category 4. the winds have gone from 205 to about 130 miles per hour. this is what is considered a catastrophic strength. we're going to break this down as far as intensity. it's a menacing feature. you're watching this across western europe. if you would place it over western europe, it would take up the entire country of flans. that's the cloud field. the intensity across the northern province of samar, that region where it's skirting the northern province area, that's the highest populated area of the province. in total, they have about 1.7 people in that province. in this area, typhoons are not given a category, per se, but across the atlantic ocean, for the united states, they are. you can extrapolate the wind

speed sitting at 215 kph. that's a category 4 equivalent. that's a catastrophic. signal three. notice the winds now gusting over 260 kph. you can pick out the eye skirting the northern edge of salmar and across portions of lusaan, where we think the wind will be the main problem. 90% of the fatalities are associated with the water that's put down and displaced. this this storm system has the potential for half a meter of rainfall in the next two days alone. we've seen storms in december of 23011, a tomorrow that took 2100 lives across this part of the

world. december 2012 storm took 1100 lives. we're hoping the evacuations in place will save a lot of lives this time. >> you see that radar. it looks intense. we'll continue to watch it closely. >> thanks, pedram. last hour a cnn reporter gave us an update on the storm and the damage it's already causing. >> reporter: we are close to the philippines capital and right now winds and rains are getting stronger by the hour. it's already 2 in the afternoon here, and in the downtown area, things closed around lunchtime to allow their personnel to go home early and secure their families before the typhoon batters the province. melor is expected to hit portions of this province this evening or as early as 5:00 a.m.

central standard time. there's a state of imminent danger. flooding and the volcano are a threat. they are warning people close to the volcano to move to safer ground as soon as possible. and they're also preparing to distribute food and other emergency supplies to these people, and there are about a million residents here, and officials estimate about half a million people will be affected pi this typhoon. >> and we are keeping a close eye on this storm. we'll have another update later in the show. france's far right national party came up empty handed on sunday, unable to win any of the country's 13 regions after leading in six of them during the first round of voting a week ago. >> however, marie le pen and her anti-immigration party, they don't see this as a loss.

they call the outcome a victory. they took their biggest step toward the prize they're really eyeing which is the presidency. jim bitterman explains. >> reporter: kind of a strange election result. no one appears to have lost this election. everybody was claiming victory in the aftermath. the two mainstream parties, socialists and republicans, were happy they had stopped the national front just a week ago. it looked like the national front could win perhaps as many as six of the 13 regions of france. in fact, tonight they won none of those regions. but while they were claiming victory because of that, the national front, the extreme right wing party was, in fact, claiming victory as well. because marie le pen, the leader said we have triple our representation in municipal and regional governments over the last five years and she's right about that. in these regional elections there are national front people who have won seats. they won seats and are representing the opposition in many of the regions. so everybody was saying they

were victorious tonight. the socialist party leader said it's a victory without joy. he said that for one reason because the socialist party told its candidates in regions where it looked like they might lose that they should withdraw in order to form a front against the national front, and, in fact, that seemed to have worked in both the northern region and in the southern region. marie le pen was running there, and her niece was running in the south. both were defeated in the elections tonight. jim bitterman. >> even though le pen is looking forward to a presidential run in 2016 -- 2017, both she and her niece lost in their races. >> it shows that the strategy of the government has worked. the government appealed to the

left wing voters to vote for a right wing candidate in order to basically, well, make it impossible for marie le pen to win any region, and it seems that the strategy has worked. the exit polls are showing that marie le pen has lost in the northern region where she was a candidate, but also her niece, the 26-year-old mp has lost the region in the south. so it's a big set back for marie le pen, and in the speech tonight she said she was a victim of the system. this shows the traditional parties treat the french voters as children, and that she'll be back in 2017 during the french presidential election. at least 45 people have been killed after hours of air strikes near syria's capital on sunday. the syrian observatory for human rights says a principal died when a strike hit near a school.

>> now at least ten children were also killed in heavy shelling. it's not clear whether syrian or russian planes took part in the air strikes. this as the u.s. secretary of state is scheduled to attend a meeting in paris monday about syria. and about 14 hours from now, a cease fire is set to go into effect in yemen. >> the one-week truce is meant to coincide with u.n. sponsored peace talk in twitterland. since march, saudi arabia has led a coalition. the rebels are backed by iran. >> the fighting has killed almost 6,000 people and pushed yemen to the brink of famine. as one country tries to broke a peace, tensions are rising again between two others. ? that's right. russia says one of its warships fired warning shots at a turkish fishing boat sunday in an attempt to avoid a collision. the incident comes after turkey

shot down a russian military plane near the syrian border last month. former cnn moscow bureau chief joins us live from moscow with more on this. jill, we should know there's been no official response from turkey yet. as we mentioned, russia said it was to avoid a collision. relations between these two nations are at an all time low. what do we know about this? >> reporter: they really are, errol, and if you look at this objectively, it's a fishing vess vessel, compared to a destroyer. it seems not that serious at first glance, but what was -- what were they doing if this is what happened? and the russians described it that way, a fishing vessel coming up very close that destroyer, numerous attempts to get into communication including radio, and then finally, they say that they were basically forced to give a warning shot, some warning shots to that pobo,

and then without communication, the russians claiming there was no communication from the fishing vessel, and then it moved off. if you look at the way the russians are handling it, they're taking it very seriously. remember, just a few days ago last week, president putin was talking to his senior military, and he ordered them that if there were any attempt or any threat to their forces in syria, and this ship is part of this syrian operation, that they should immediately destroy that threat. so they're taking things very seriously. they didn't destroy the fishing vessel, but they did call in here in moscow, the military from turkey. a very stern, described as a strict representation of what russia thinks about it. and, in fact, the person who did that was the deputy defense minister who called it a provocative action and also warned about the consequences of

what they're saying is reckless actions, the quote, that has been on the website for the defense ministry is just by good fortune, tragedy was averted. >> so a bit of aggressive posturing there. jill, former cnn moscow bureau chief joining us. jill, thanks. a new report says social media accounts for one of the san bernardino shooters were not checked before she was granted entry to the united states. and what was found on those accounts is disturbing. that's next. and u.s. republican presidential candidate, donald trump is going on the offensive as his lead slips in an important state. incredible iphone 6s you can reach more people in more places than before. whether you're at home in the basement on the open road or pulling the late shift at work.

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welcome back, everyone. the fbi in california authorities are continuing to track the digital footprint of the san bernardino shooters. they're trying to find a missing hard drive belonging to farook

and ma relik. >> officials claim some items were recovered, but they won't confirm that they're related to the shooting. and this is stunning. a new report indicates u.s. immigration officials missed critical information in their background information for malik. >> she entered the u.s. last year on a fiance visa. "the new york times" reports investigators had not uncovered her social media accounts where she talked about supporting and wanting to be a part of violent jihad. >> there's tens of millions of people coming into the united states lawfully, so this is the legal immigration system. most of them, 99.9% of them are law-abiding immigrants who are coming here for education, for travel, or to actually live here like on a k 1 visa to marry someone. the capacity to go back an

everyone's social media account is just impossible, and what we have to remember is to do that, even if you committed the resources, would so slow up the lawful immigration process for the united states. commerce, vacations, tourism, everything would come to a standstill. it's a constant balancing act. if entsomeone doesn't trigger review, they will not go to social media. >> you remember farook and malik killed 14 people and wounded several others before they were killed by police. we want to turn to u.s. politics now where we are seeing a shift in who is out front in the republican presidential race. two new polls show cruz leading trump in iowa.

cruz with 28% support compared to trump's 26%. >> cruz just edging out trump. a poll shows cruz with 31% backing in iowa, ten points ahead of trump. ? >> in less than 48 hours they'll stand side by side at the last republican debate this year. >> you'll want to see it. cnn is hosting it. we have more on the other players at the so-called table. >> reporter: i'm coming to you from the las vegas strip. this is where it will go down on tuesday night. you can see the main stage has been set. we know the nine candidates who made the cut for the prime time debate. they are john kasich, carly fiorina, marco rubio, ben carson, donald trump, ted cruz, jeb bush, chris christie, and

rand paul. trump is center stage once again. he is still the front-runner nationally, but his front-runner status is being challenged by cruz in the state of iowa. three new polls showing the texas senator leading there. wolf blitzer and dana bash and hew hewitt are spending a lot of time in the cone of silence finalizing debate questions for this huge production. there will be 17 cameras an an invite-only audience of about 1400 people filling this theater on tuesday. this will be the last debate of the year, the last chance for those candidates to make a strong impression with voters heading into the holiday season. millions will be watching. the big question, will donald trump attack cruz. mr. l marco and cruz get into it. will carson and bush and others have breakout performances? we'll be watching to see what happens. >> with donald trump falling behind in the iowa poll, you see

him going after cruz. >> he told jake tapper that he and cruz have gotten along so far in the 2016 race, but that is about to change. >> reporter: why should voters go for you over ted cruz? >> i'm more capable, because i have a much better temperament. because i actually get along with people much better than he does. people don't know that about me. i actually have a great relationship with people. in fact, i was criticized at the beginning because i get along with democrats, liberals, conservatives. i get along with everybody. as a world class businessman, that's what you have to do. i don't think he does, and i like him. he's been so nice to me. i could say anything, and he said i agree, i agree, but i think the time will come to an end pretty soon, it sounds like. >> reporter: let's talk about why republican leaders say they're expressing such anxiousness, and that is your call monday for a total and complete shut down of muslims

entering the u.s. there's now polgiling informati. you cite these. a majority of americans, 58% reject this call and proposal to ban muslims from entering the u.s. i know your supporters agree with you, but this is a poll of the american people at large. >> i didn't do it for polls. so i don't care what they say. my polls happen to have gone up a lot since this announcement. i didn't do it for that reason. but with that being understood, when you're getting a phone call from a polling agency, and they're saying, well, you support the banning of muslims, who is going to say yes? i don't think the polls are accurate. at the same time, i have many friends that are muslims, and they are so happy that i did this, because they know they have a problem. there is a problem. >> your muslim friends are happy? >> i have many friends at the highest level, and -- i have partners that are muslim.

i have unbelievable relationships. >> reporter: they support a ban on muslims in the u.s.? >> no. they said it's about time that somebody spoke up as to radicalism. you have radicalism in this country. it's here, and it's trying to come through. i read where isis has gotten ahold of a passport printing machine to get migrants from the united states. maybe it's true, maybe it's not. it's an early report. how crazy are he for allowing ourselves to be subject of this kind of terror. >> you can watch it live or set your dvrs to see the final debate wednesday. >> and if it's just a little too early for you, tune into the replay that night at 7:00 p.m. in hong kong, 8:00 p.m. in tokyo, right here on cnn. for the first time, women have been elected to public office in saudi arabia. >> state media say at least six

women won seats this weekend on local doubcounsels that oversee planning decisions. >> saudi arabia was the last country to give women the right to vote. >> translator: i'm going to try to cross the saudi boarders. i'm driving a car that i own, and i have a uae driving license. >> reporter: this is a woman attempting to drive across the border late last year. it landed her in jail for two months. take me back to that drove on those days. >> it was just an attempt to confront the ban on saudi women to drive. technically, i was allowed to drive inside arabia with that license. i was arrested regardless. >> reporter: a year later, some

things are changing. while women in the conservative kingdom still can't drive, they can and have now for the first time in saudi history, run for public office, and voted in an election. municipal elections were held and ballots cast on saturday. >> i can't explain how excited i am for this improvement in our country. i'm very proud that -- and lucky that i can participate in it. >> i'm one of the candidates. i work at the university as a lecture in architecture. >> reporter: she also hoped to have her name on the ballot. >> when they announced the final list of the candidates, i discovered that i was eliminated, so i decided to object and then appeal. i went to verify with the council that my name was back into the list, and they said yes, it will be added. but then i discovered yesterday at the voting center that my name wasn't yet added, so no one was able to vote for me.

>> reporter: i know your experience of these elections has by no means been perfect, but just how significant are these elections? >> as for the impact, i think it's important, especially for women, to finally feel and experience how it is to be socially and politically equal to men. that's a great more forward, and it's also a good opportunity for men to see how capable women are. >> be optimistic for the future, are you? >> extremely optimistic. >> reporter: an historic election, raising hope that change can come one vote at a time. becky anderson, cnn. just want to update you on the story. state media say at least 17 women won seats on councils that oversee planning decisions. >> people scrambling to escape

the typhoon in the philippines. also coming up, strong reactions from world leaders to the climate change deal reached at the cop 12 summit. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is here. lease the 2015 gs350 with complimentary navigation system for these terms. see your lexus dealer.

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a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. let's update you on the top stories right now. after leading the first round of voting france's far right national front party failed to win a single region on sunday. still, it was the anti-immigration party's strongest showing yet in the wake of the terror attacks in

paris. the party's leader, marie le pen promised she'd run for president in 2017. at least 45 people have been killed in syria after hours of air strikes near the capital. the syrian observatory for human rights says at least 10 children were killed in the heavy shelling. it's unclear whether syrian or russian planes were responsible for the strikes. russia says one of its warships fired warning shots at a turkish fishing vessel to avoid a collision. they said the turkish boat did not respond the warnings. more information to needed from the fisherman to figure out what happened. a powerful typhoon is slamming the coasts of the philippines. moments ago, wind speeds reached 215 kilometers per hour. the equivalent of a category 4

hurricane. >> a lot of people are watching from the philippines right now connecting with us on social media. we're letting you know to stay safe. our meteorologist, pedram javaheri joins us with more. pedram, it's a powerful storm. in the last hour, it just got stronger. >> it has. and this is a storm that we've seen intensity so quickly. that's what i think the main concern with this storm is. you take a look at it, a menacing feature, spans about 60 kilometers across. want to go across the province of salmar, riding across the northern tier of this province, 1.7 people in this province. it will push in and at that point, several land falls possible before it moves into the south china sea. the dense population of this nature, the center of the storm right here across the northern

portion of the province, the light orange, at least 100 people per kilometer of land. about 7100 islands make up the philippines. this is a concern about getting people evacuated across this region. that involves getting them on boat. with the rapid intensification, this is what we've seen in literally an 18-hour period. it's now a category 4 equivalent storm in this region. here's what we have in storm with winds gusting to 260 kilometers per hour. to the east of the philippines, rainfall totals up to a half a meter. i talk about fatalities related to the water. notice the eastern portion of the philippines indicated in purple, this is where we have no dry season.

december through february is the wettest time of the year, so what we're watching here for a potential of landslides and flash flooding. and the storm will eventually move into open waters in the next 36 hours. we think it will end quickly, but it's moved into the region quickly. and rosemary and airlierrol, th an area where thousands of fisherman are all on vessels. potentially they were not giving the warnings because they were on the waters when this was a tropical storm. something we'll watch carefully. >> it got more powerful quickly and will move faster. these next 24 hours will be key to watch. we'll keep checking in with you. >> thank you. world leaders are reacted to what's being called an historic climate change agreement. nearly 200 countries reached a deal during the cop 21 summit in paris. limit global warming to 2 degrees celsius, the goal.

>> president obama calls it a turning point for the world, and the pope is calling for all countries to follow through with the deal y. and john sutter joins us live from paris with more. john, an historic and an ambitious climate change deal. what more are the world leaders saying about this and how tough was it to get to this point? >> reporter: so, i really do think we saw history made over the weekend, and the mastatemen that have been coming out from world leaders, china and india, the biggest polluters in the world are saying this is a turning point that could mark the start of the end of the era of fossil fuels. we'll have to be off of fossil fuels or carbon neutral between about 2050 and 2080. think about what the world would have to look like to meet that goal. we would not be using the same

energy sources. we need to move rapidly toward greener energies, and as others have been saying, invest billions of dollars in new technologies. i think this is a water shed moment. 196 countries came together to say we need to do something to tackle global warming. it's in our interest as well as in the collective interest of the world. the question is whether these countries will be willing to do enough to meet this ambitious target they set here in paris. >> that's the thing. there's always a lot of talk with these sorts of discussions, and a lot of excitement at the end of it, but then it's making sure that something happens within the next few months, within the next few years. what systems are in place to ensure that happens? >> reporter: so this is a legally binding framework. it makes the countries keep coming back to the table every

five years. they came to paris and submitted plans before they got to paris saying this is how much we want to cut our carbon emissions. china said it wants to peak emissions and then drop down. the u.s. made a fairly ambitious pledge as did the eu, but the targets are not what's legally binding. it's essentially the peer pressure system with a legal underpinning to keep bringing them back to the table. and we have seen some leaders, particularly in the just, the u.s. senate majority leader saying this could be swept off the table if a republican is elected into the white house in 2016. i think there are some questions going forward, and we'll have to see how committed the countries actually are to making the goals. i think right now the mood is that there is just a lot of operati anticipation and hope that the world could turn the corner and move off of fossil fuels.

>> john live from paris, many thanks to you. renewed pressure on brazil's president, after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets sunday demanding her impeachment. >> take a look at some of the demonstrations in cities held across the country. the first since the congress opened an impeachment against her. brazil's economy is in a deep recession, and some of the president's allies are accused in a corruption scandal. >> still to come, bizarre details in the disappearance of a chinese tycoon. for adults with an advanced lung cancer called "squamous non-small cell", previously treated with platinum-based chemotherapy, it's not every day something this big comes along. a chance to live longer with... opdivo,

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welcome back to "cnn newsroom." we appreciate you staying with us. it's been a rough start to the week for the stocks in the asia

pacific region. markets have closed for the day in sydney and in tokyo. >> look at that. in australia, down more than 2%. the nikkei moving in a similar direction. you can see the shanghai composite up 2.5%. generally it doesn't reflect what's happens in the region, and also down half a percent for hong kong. after being suspended friday when a firm's billionaire firm owner went missing. >> the company released a statement saying guo guangchang is assisting in certain investigations carried out by mainland judiciary authorities. there were no further details. let's bring in sophia who joins us from hong kong with more. fill us in on what we know about guo guangchang, and the possibility here of any wrong doing. >> yes. as you said, what we do know

here at this point is that the company has said he's assisting authorities with an investigation. the company has not disclosed what the investigation is about, and who exactly is being investigated. he could be assisting with another investigation into a separate individual, if he had some sort of information about that. at the moment, it's inclear. it's sort of a stock phrase that's been used in a number of cases where many other business executives have been detained, mysteriously. now, the company shares were halted from trading on friday. they've since resumed today and immediately were down about 10%. now, the two companies traded in hong kong, both are linked to fosun group. they invest in everything from

real estate to entertainment. they own club med and even a steak in cirque du soleil. >> he's often referred to as china's warren buffett. this is getting a lot of attention. it doesn't appear to be an isolated incident. it fits a larger trend of powerful top executives going missing in china. what is the changing relationship between big business in china and the all-powerful ruling party? there is an effort to stamp out corruption right now. >> reporter: that's exactly right. a lot of executives have gone missing. a lot of them are at brokerage firms in china. now, the government has been casting a wide net. there's been a huge anti-corruption campaign since 2013 when the current president took office. now, that particular crack down has since widened to include the financial sector. government authorities are looking around to cast blame on

individuals, on companies for the summer stock market crash. now, in these cases, it's really difficult to know what's happening. oftentimes there's no details released. sometimes the company will announce they have not heard from their executive, it's a strange thing to say. but they are beholden to shareholders to let the public know what's going on as it could have a material impact on the company's bottom line, but it also does point out at this point, the opaque nature of china's legal system. a lot of people are, perhaps, tried behind closed doors. they could be detained. it's very murky, what's going on. >> we appreciate you explaining some of that to us. sophia joining us from hong kong. a quarter to four in the afternoon there. thanks very much. we keep our focus in china now because scuffles broke out near a courthouse in beijing earlier as a prominent human rights lawyer went on trial.

take a look. you're seeing supporters and journalists j clashing with security officials. >> the u.s. embassy is urging them to release the man. the u.s. says the charges are suspicious and inappropriate. >> the embassy of the united states remains concerned that this man, a prominent chinese defense lawyer is being tried under vague charges of inciting ethnic hatred and provoking trouble. lawyers and civil society leaders such as much should not be subject to continuing oppression, but should be allowed to contribute to building a prosperous and stable china. >> the indictment claims he made statements that criticized the

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>> those stories about what happened? >> it's true. all of it. >> that's right. it's almost time. the latest installment in the legendary "star wars" film fr franchise is nearly here. >> less than 24 hours from now, folks are already lined up waiting to see this thing. as the fans eagerly await the movie, the team who made it wants to hear what they think. cnn sat down with the director to talk about opening up a new chapter. >> we are here on day one of "star wars," episode seven. how incredible is that? >> reporter: you've said that you were inheriting the "star wars" legacy.

i also know you are one of the legion of souper fans of the films. i'm wondering how, with that, that pressure, that love of the films themselves, how you even begin the process of imagining a new chapter? >> well, first of all, i had to put my being a fan aside somewhat, because that wasn't the job. you know, i couldn't just be a cheer leader for this thing. it had to be story telling. and working with others in writing the script, we can't just talk about the continuum of the story, but also, what's the point of telling the story. in talking about it from the most basic point of view, this is a story about a young man who, talking about the story was the thing that we needed to do to tell a story that was worth telling and not just a trip.

>> a diverse cast, something you deliberately set out to do? >> i knew when we were writing it that i wanted this movie to look more the way the world looks than not, but we didn't write any of the characters with that in mind. we just wrote the story. we didn't know who would look like what. we just started to cast the movie. >> reporter: but then you have the added dimension of blending the old with the new. >> yes. >> reporter: and seeing how that chemistry works. >> if it didn't work well, it would have been a disaster. you have these actors like harrison ford and people are obviously just wonderful and established in this iconic way, and then you've got these absolute unknowns who are stepping in, and it wasn't clear what that alchemy would result in. what was so lucky was to a

person, they were supportive of each other. there was no trying to edge out someone. they were all there to kind of raise each other up, and that was sort of a beautiful thing to watch. >> reporter: are you worried about the numbers, the box office numbers? is it something you're concerned with? all the projections is this will blow totals out of the water. is that something you care about? >> the success is if people go and like the film and kids go and see themselves in the movie, and the numbers are the numbers, and people feel better when they leave the theater than when they got there. >> i think i'll wait until the crowds go down. >> the 2016 u.s. presidential election is providing a comedy show, snl with great material. this week, snl, will ferrell reprised his role as former

president george w. bush and poked fun at the republican candidate. >> it was funny. he could barely keep it together when he got to the front runner. watch this. >> this is an important day, and you got this knuckle head. [ laughter ] >> with the hair. and the 100 foot wall. bring that picture back. i'll tell you something, whenever i get in a bad mood, i just picture his big fat, orange ump a lumpa face. poor jeb. it's a pretty good plot twist that i turned out to be the smart one, you have to admit. i wish you would have asked me

about the exclamation point on the end of his name. look, i don't like the taste of broccoli, but it doesn't get any tastier if you call it broccoli. >> so much material to work with. thanks for watching "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. more live reports around the world. we've got one more hour to go. join us after the break. get ready for homecomings. i see you brought a friend? i wanna see, i wanna see. longing. serendipity. what are the... chances. and good tidings to all. hang onto your antlers. it's the event you don't want to miss. it's the season of audi sales event. get up to a $2,500 bonus for highly qualified lessees on select audi models. ♪

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>> slam, typhoon melor roars into coastal areas of the philippines with high winds and heavy rain. >> also elections set back the far right party in france. the party's leader promises nothing will stop us. and coming on strong, cruz surges ahead of donald trump in iowa just days before the last republican presidential debate of the year. welcome our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. thanks for joining us as we kick off this second hour of cnn news room.

a powerful typhoon is slamming the philippines right now and it's only going to get worse. >> typhoon melor has made one land fall and several more are expected as the storm moves across the islands. the winds are equivalent to a category 4 hurricane, that's 130 miles per hour, and those winds could last up to 18 hours. >> all emergency personnel are on stand by right now. more than 7 00,000 people have been evacuated. most of them in southern lusan, and we are joined now on the phone by a cnn philippines correspondent what is there right now. so, george, talk to us about this storm that's now just getting stronger. what is the situation on the ground right now where you are?

>> reporter: i'm in a coastal town. the winds are getting stronger by the hour. it's almost zero possibility by the coast, and the waves are slamming into a wall. this were evacuation, and mostly children fit themselves into small classrooms. we talked to somebody earlier, and they said they got -- the typhoon in their province, and they say it's better like this than to risk their lives in danger zones. now, typhoon me lore is expelor to hit areas. they've declared a state of emergency danger. officials continue to urge residents who are staying in

coastal areas and around the volcano to move to safer ground as soon as possible, and they're also preparing to send emergency supplies, and there are around a million residents here, and officials estimate that some half a million people will be affected by this typhoon, so currently, we're still being battered by strong winds and rain. and we'll see in the coming hours if it gets stronger. >> and tourists as well as residents have been stranded. how difficult was it to get the majority of the people out of harm's way? >> reporter: yeah. actually, the problem now is that the passengers are currently stranded here in the province. there are around 650 stranded passengers, and nationwide more than 8,000 stranded passengers. we have monitored only minimal

flights that have been cancelled so far, and we'll continue monitoring this very closely to bring you the latest as information becomes available. >> we appreciate that as do our viewers. of course, george, he joins us on the phone, keeping a close eye on the situation here as the storm strengthenins storm strengthenintrengthens. for the latest on melor, let's turn to pedram javaheri, who is at the international weather center. pedram, it's always such a reality check when you're talking to someone who's right at the center there, and watching this situation. so many people have been evacuated. but a lot of people still there. >> it's going to be a difficult place to get everyone out of the path of the storm system. part of the reason is because they went to bed about 24 hours ago and this was a tropical storm. they wake up and now it's a

category 4 equivalent storm. you take a look at this region. there's the center of the storm system. we know officially it's made one land fall, potentially three or more ahead of the storm system. southern portions of it also, lusaan. this is a volcano. and another volcano, one of the most active in the country there, 49 eruptions in the last 500 years. that draws plenty of people. we know some of the evacuations in line over the region because it was a popular nature of tourist activity in that area. with a 215 kilometer per hour winds puts the storm in a catastrophic category. we're watching it carefully when it comes to the storms and the wind intensity. here we go with the forecast. we know this part of the world, they've issued a signal three. 120 kph or greater for 18

consecutive hours, that's issued. that's what's happening. about 250 kph wind. it moves into southern lussan, we think heavy rainfall an issue. landslides follow suit as well, and it lights up here when you take a look at the colors. the top of the charts, purple and white. that's indicative of a quarter of a meter of rainfall over the next couple of days. let's talk about december storms. there's notable storms in december. in december, 2011, we had a tropical storm that took with it 1200 lives. in december, 2012, took with it 1100 lives. and december 2012, winds at 285 kilometers per hour.

less fatalities because of that they learned from the previous storms. we're hoping that's what's happening here also. >> mass evacuations the key to something like that. thank you for keeping us up to date on this. >> france's marie le pen and her party came up empty handed on friday failing to win a single region after leading in six during the first round of voting. >> they were defiebt in the face of her party's losses. her niece was particularly vocal about the lengths her opponent's went to beat her. >> translator: there are victories that shame the winners. in the name of the republican, they have sunk democracy tonight. to win ten against one isn't anything but a defeat in. they tried everything, slander, lies, vote catching, communetarianism, and many other things in the past ten days, so

don't listen to them. >> statements like that and these regional election results could make for an interesting presidential race in 2017. >> reporter: kind of a strange election result. everybody was claiming victory in the aftermath. the two mainstream parties, socialists and republicans were happy they had stopped the national front just a week ago. it looked like they could win perhaps as many of 6 of the 13 regions of france. they won none of them. while they were claiming victory because of that, the extreme right wing party was claiming victory as well. the leader of that party said we have tripled our representation over the last five years, and she's right about that. in these regional elections, there are national front party people who have won seats. they've won seats and are representing the opposition in

many other regions. everybody was saying they were victorious tonight. the socialist party leader said it's a victory without joy, however, and one of the reasons is because the socialist party told its candidates in regions where it looked like they might use that they should withdraw to form a front against the national front, and that seemed to have worked in both the northern region and the southern region. for marie le pen and her niece who was running in the south, both were defeated in the elections. >> jim bitterman. >> want to get you the latest information out of syria. at least 45 people killed after hours of air strikes. the syrian observatory for human rights says at least 10 children were killed and heavy shelling outside damascus. >> it's not sure whether syrian or russian planes took part in

the air strikes. this comes as john kerry is planned to attend a meeting in paris. >> russia says one of its warships fired warning shots at a turkish fishing boat in the sea on sunday after it didn't respond to radio or spishl warnings. >> turkey says it wants more information from the fisherman to find out what exactly happened. the incident comes after last month's tense situation when turkey shot down a russian military plane near the syrian border. >> jill joins us live from moscow with more on this incident. relations between these two nations are the lowest they've been in recent memory. what do we know about this incident, specifically, and why a fishing vessel would cause such a dust up? >> you know, it's still not clear, errol, as you just said,

the turkeys are still, they say looking into this. the russians are taking it seriously, and the way they describe it is their destroyer was in the sea, it was near the island of lemnose, and a fishing vessel, turkish fishing vessel approached it and came close. they tried to warn them off, they say, with radio communications, et cetera, and when there was no response, they fired some warning shots. at that point, still no communication, and the turkish vessel steamed off or sailed off. no explanation why they were doing that, why no communication. and as i said, the russians are taking it very seriously. sunday afternoon they called in the military here in moscow, and it was apparently a very stern conversation. it took place with the deputy defense minister, and he called

it a provocative action, and they also outlined, the russians, saying that there could have been detrimental consequences of this wreck rrec action. they are, i think you'd have to say following the orders of president putin who last week when he met the senior top brass of his military told them to be very serious and alert about any threats to any type of either the operation on the ground or the base, or anything else include syria, and this ship, the russian ship, was actually part of that syrian operation. in fact, president putin said that they should destroy any threat immediately, and you can see that they jumped right to it. luckily, nothing happened. the russian statement said luckily just by good fortune, nothing bad happened, and danger was averted. but this gives you an indication, i think, errol, of

how tense the situation is, and as we all know, one tiny incident could be the spark that could lead to something serious. >> and, of course, this happens in the wake of turkey shooting down a russian plane along its border with syria. what about the economic relationship between these two? you have russia banning imports of some turkish goods off the shooting down on its plane, but russia is in a fragile economic state. surely both sides will want to resolve this. >> well, they do, but i think you have to note that not only president putin but a lot of russians are very angry about the action that they perceive as an action that shooting down that should have never taken place, that it was provocative, and so president putin is instituting these controls, especially on the import of turkish products, and that does hurt some russians. there are things that can't

immediately be made up for. it affects both the middle class and people below the middle class, and then also travel to turkey, building projects, a lot of different things across the board are stopping because of what's going on. so even though you might look and say economically it would be in everyone's interest to solve this, there's still a lot of emotion to this and anger over that shoot down. >> a good point. cnn, jill joining us from moscow this morning. a quarter past 11:00 there. >> a group of high level diplomats say a deal is the culmination of talks by representatives from 17 countries led by italy and the united states. >> it calls for an mediate cease fire and threatens to cut off contacts with factions that don't sign on. john kerry said the unified

government is important for fighting the growing threat of isis. >> we cannot allow the status quo in libya to continue. it is dangerous for the viability of libya. it is dangerous for libyans, and now because of the increased presence of daesh purposefully migrating there, it is dangerous for everyone. >> and libya dissolved into civil war back in the 2011 arab spring. official results in saudi arabia's historic election are due monday. for the first time women have been elected to public office in the kingdom. >> state media say at least 17 women won seats. they are the world's last country to give women the right to vote. >> still to come, ted cruz is

surging in the white house race and taking the lead in a key nominating state. also coming up. >> i have many friends that are muslim, and i'll tell you, they're so happy i did this. >> donald trump stands by his plan to ban muslims from entering the united states. what he's saying about his proposal and his rivalry with ted cruz, after the break. right when you feel a cold sore, abreva can heal it in as few as two and a half days when used at the first sign. without it the virus spreads from cell to cell. only abreva penetrates deep and starts to work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. you could heal your cold sore, fast, as fast as two and a half days when used at the first sign. learn how abreva starts to work immediately at abreva.com don't tough it out, knock it out, fast. with abreva. if you struggle you're certainly not alone.

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♪ >> surely you remember that hit from the 80s? ringing a bell? >> of course. >> were you born? >> i was just coming into the world, but that is the latest hit in a growing rivalry between two u.s. presidential candidates. first two new polls show cruz leading donald trump in iowa. iowa is the first state to vote in the presidential nominating process. >> a poll shows cruz with 31%, ten points ahead of trump.

>> on the national stage, cruz is five points behind. >> donald trump and cruz have avoided any major spats in this election, but that could change. >> why should voters vote for you over droocruz? >> i'm more capable. i have a better temperament. i have get along with people better. i have a great relationship with people. in fact, i was criticized at the beginning because i get along with democrats and republicans and conservatives. i get along with everybody. >> and he doesn't? >> as a world class businessman, that's what you have to do. i don't think he does, and i like him. he's been so nice to me. i can say anything, and he said, i agree, but i think the time will come to an end soon. >> reporter: let's talk about reason the why a lot of republican leaders say they're expressing such anxiousness these days and that is your call

monday for a total and complete shut down of muslims entering the u.s. there's now polling information, and you cite polls all the time and say what can you go by if not the polls. a majority of the americans, 58% reject this proposal to ban muslims from entering the u.s. i know your supporters agree with you, but this is a poll of the american people at large. >> i didn't do it for polls. i don't care what the polls say. my polls happen to have gone up a lot since this announcement. i didn't do it for that reason. with that being understood, when you're getting a phone call from a polling agency, and they're saying, well, do you support, you know, the banning of muslims, who's going to say yes? i don't think the polls are accura accurate. at the same time, i have muslim friends, and they are so happy that i did this, because they know they have a problem. there is a problem. >> reporter: your muslim friend are happy?

>> i have many friends at the highest level, and -- i have partners that are muslim. i have unbelievable relationships -- >> reporter: they support a ban of muslims in the u.s.? >> no. they said it's about time somebody spoke up as to radicalism. you have radicalism in this country. it's here and trying to come through. i just read where isis has gotten ahold of passport printing machine to get migrants into the united states. maybe it's true, maybe it's not. it's an early report, but how crazy are we allowing yourseour to be subject to this kind of terror and cruz east rise has been linked to his conservative stance. we have profiled the texas senator. >> he is someone who believes that the conservative cause needs to be pushed from every branch of government, and he was

involved as a litigator in texas. he was the top courtroom lawyer in the state of texas before he was elected to the senate, and he's only been a senator for less than four years. i mean, he is still in his early 40s. he is someone who believes to the core of his being that republicans fail when they move to the center. he cites mitt romney and gerald ford as examples. he believes conservatives succeed when they run to the right. these are his political heros, ronald reagan and bush, and you can argue about why these politicians succeeded, but his view is the most conservative candidate has the best chance of getting the nomination and of winning the election. >> and ted cruz took to twitter to e are respond to donald trump, calling him a bit of a maniac. during an interview on fox news,

trump said cruz isn't qualified to be president. >> that's why we showed you the clip earlier. cruz tweeted the video maniac, in honor of my friend donald trump, and good-hearted maniacs everywhere. >> they will face off at the last debate this year. >> cnn will host the event in las vegas. athena jones tells us who else will take the main stage. >> reporter: i'm coming you right here on the las vegas strip. this is where it will all go down on tuesday. you can see the main stage has been set. we know the nine candidates who made the cut for the debate. they are in order, john kasich, carly fiorina, marco rubio, ben carson, donald trump, ted cruz, jeb bush, chris christie, and rand paul. trump is center stage. he's still the front runner

nationally. his front runner status is being challenged by cruz in the state of iowa. three new poll showing the texas senator leading there. wolf blitzer and dana bash are spending a lot of time over the next several days in the cone of silence finalizing debate questions for this huge production. there will be 17 cameras an an invite only audience of about 1400 people filling this theater on tuesday. this will be the last debate of the year. the last chance for these candidates to make a strong impression with voters heading into the holiday season. millions have been watching. the big questions, will donald trump attack ted cruz? will rubio and cruz get into it. will others have broke out performances? we'll be watching to see what happens. >> and as we will keep telling you, cnn will host the final debate of the year for the republicans. coverage begins tuesday at

11:00 p.m. for those of you in london, for viewers in the states, 6:00 p.m. eastern time and 3:00 p.m. on the west coast, only here on cnn. renewed pressure on brazil's em battled president after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets sunday demanding her impeachment. >> demonstrations were held. the economy is in a deep recession and some of the president's allies are accused in a corruption scandal. stock markets in asia pacific area began the week with a rough start. >> as we take a live look at the markets still open. the shanghai is the only one making gains. australia is down 2 %, and the knee chi and hong kong is

pulling back right now. >> a new report says social media accounts were not checked before one of the shooters in san bernardino was not checked before she was granted access to the united states. what was found is very disturbing. >> and the terror threat level is raised in switzerland. we'll bring a live report after this short break. i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms. breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a long-term asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. breo won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a

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a warm welcome back to those of you watching here in the states and those of you tuned in from all around the world. i'm errol barnett. >> and i'm rosemary church.

let's check the headlines a powerful typhoon is slamming areas of the philippines right now. it's made one land fall and several more are expected in the next day or so as the storm moves across the islands. the winds are equivalent to a h category 4 hurricane. >> scuffles broke out monday as a well-known human rights lawyer went on trial in beijing. he's represented artists, and is accused of criticizing chinese policy and government officials. people were pushed away by the police outside the courthouse. >> after leading the first round of voting, france's far right national front party failed to win a single region on sunday. still, it was the anti-immigration party's strongest showing yet in the wake of the terror attacks in paris. the party's leader, marie le pen promised she would still run for president in 2017.

there are new reports about what u.s. immigration officials may have missed when they did background checks on the woman who would become one of the san bernardino shooters. >> the fbi and california authorities are continuing to track the digital footprints of farook and malik. ana cabrera has all the developments. >> reporter: this is a makeshift memorial that's been set up honoring the 14 people who lost their lives. funerals are continuing throughout the week. the community moves forward and tries to heal and the investigation continues. we've learned that a search yielded to evidence that was connected to this case in the lake. investigators have not given up on finding that missing hard drive that could have more of the couple's digital footprint. and now they'll work on trying to access some of the data on

the missing hard drive by working with internet providers who have kept records of internet activity that could be connected to the i'm address. that online communication could be see in this investigation. the female killer was talking openly about violent jihad on social media prior to even coming into the united states. they're citing law enforcement forces here in the u.s. who say that the social media posts she made talked about supporting violent jihad, that she supported it and wanted to participate in it, and she made it through three background checks prior to getting her fiance visa without social media being looked at. it was not part of the background screening process. since that time in the paths few months, officials have begun looking at social media dm

communication. but that was not the case with malik when she came to the u.s. in july of 2014. president obama since the shooting as ordered a thor rereview of that fe yawn say visa process. geneva officials say two men held syrian passports, but they're trying to determine if there's a link between the suspects and explosive material. >> we are joined live with the details. what more are we learning about this, and how long will it likely take authorities to determine if there is a link between the two suspects and this explosive material that was found in their car? >> reporter: what was found in the car was traces of explosives, according to the

geneva prosecutor, a european security source tells us that this was, in fact, traces of the precursor chemicals that could be used to make explosives, and this, therefore, is leading the authorities to look at the link between the traces and the men according to the lawyer for the men, they'd only recently purchased this vehicle, so this is the sort of direction and avenue that the police are proceeding in. this is only one of two investigations, two terrorism investigations going on here at the moment. the authorities had already launched or the swiss authorities had launched a counterterrorism investigation because of a tip off from u.s. intention officials saying they picked up chatter between members of isis, that they were planning an attack possibly here in geneva or toronto or chicago, so it's two investigations ongoing. the authorities here are not giving away a lot of details. they say the syrian passports

they had appeared to be authentic, but we know the syrian passports, fake syrian passports are readily available and used by refugees and other terrorist suspects. they're looking at that angle as well. they won't say if these men had visas that allow them to travel freely within europe, cross the borders from france into switzerland and gain legal entry into europe. this is another avenue of investigation. and police say in the coming days there will be more house searches and maybe more arrests. they said don't read into that everyone they arrest is a terrorist. still a heightened ahert at the moment, and investigations, police looking to see if there are ties between these men and it's organizations. >> a heightened alert. how tense is the situation in geneva right now?

how concerned are citizens? >> reporter: i would say that right now people are not concerned. they're certainly aware. the authorities here in geneva and the federal swiss authorities did take some time to decide whether or not to go public with the terror threat. they decided to do that because they thought it was the best step moving forward. there was celebrations over the weekend or commemoration, if you will, here. the last time the citizens of geneva went to work, 16902 -- 1602, that was celebrated over the weekend. a lot of people in the streets and dressed in festive costumes of that era. marching bands with music, guns firing. you could see by that the police allowed it to go ahead and the people coming out on the streets to enjoy it. they're concerned but not fearful and worried.

>> nick reporting there from geneva. many thanks to you. from religious leaders to business tycoons, there are strong reactions to the climate deal reached. >> and j.j. abrams talks to cnn about getting the keys to the "star wars" universe. after a dvt blood clot.mind when i got out of the hospital what about my family? my li'l buddy?

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welcome back, everyone. pope francis is urging the global community to follow up on the climate deal reached in paris. speaking in some square on sunday, he praised the agreement reached at the cop 21 summit. >> representatives from almost 200 countries agreed to limit global warming. barack obama called it a turning point for the world. business leaders are also

praising this deal. poppy harlow spoke with richard branson earlier. >> to get 200 countries to agree to do their best to keep it at 1.5 degrees, it's just historic, wonderful. it would be great if the countries could come together to agree on other things, but i think there's a real chance of keeping it at around 1.5 degrees. it should save the reeves. over that, we would lose every reef in the world, and it should say a lot of people. so a truly wonderful week. >> but in the united states, some republican lawmakers are down playing the deal. the the republican on the senate's environmental committee says the agreement does not have any teeth. >> these people have been talking to each other in these

21 years. they all get together. the developing countries come and they expect billions of dollars to be spent and given to them so that they can do something with their greenhouse gas emissions, but there's nothing historic about this, and they keep talking about this. there's no specifics for enforcement. i don't know what's historic about it. >> wefor more on the reaction, let's go to john sutter who joins us from paris this morning. john, this is a massively significant step, but as one of the distractors there from oklahoma was saying, what mechanisms are there to enforce what's being agreed to in paris? >> reporter: the paris agreement as it's being called, is seen as a hugely historic moment. it's all these countries, 196 of them coming together to send the

signal that we want to move toward the clean energy. we heard some consequences if we don't do that. i think the detractors are hammering on the point that this -- that countries aren't bound to cut emissions by a certain level. they're each bringing their own plans to the table. china said it wants to peek emissionsly 2030 and decrease after that. they're bound into a framework to keep negotiating every five years. they'll have to come back to the table, those signing on to the agreement, and ratchet up their ambitions. it's seen as a legally binding framework that can push countries in the right direction. there's a peer pressure aspect, and that's what you heard. i think it's worth noting that senator enof is one of the vocal

climate skeptics. he doesn't believe the science is real. there's a lot of politics surrounding this, especially in the u.s., but mostly from paris, we're hearing optimism that this could be a real turning point in the fight against climate change. >> explain the importance of the 1.5 degrees celsius increase. that's a more ambitious goal an two. and it would have been unthinkable to set a 1.5 goal before this climate meeting. >> i would have never expected that to be on the table, to be honest. i think it came from a moral voice. a tiny country in the middle of the pacific, i visited it earlier this month. their foreign minister got center stage during the paris talks and he was saying if the world warms more than 1.5 degrees, our country may not exist because of how much seas could rise, and he has science

to back that up. some of the scientists i talked to said that's likely true, and there are many consequences to warming at the 2 degree level. this moral voice saying 2 degrees is too much. i think these countries have to think about what is required to get to the 1.5 degree mark, or not to cross it. essentially, that's a decarbonization of the global economy by 2050 and being 80% of the way there by 2030 according to some of the experts i've talked to. that's a rapid shift in the way we're making our electricity and heat, and i think it will be seen in coming weeks and months whether countries on the national level are willing to put forward the policies that could get them toward their goals they've set. >> all right. john sutter, joining us from paris this morning with this encouraging development. 9:47. thanks j john. and we'll take a break right

here. but don't go anywhere. the new "star wars" premiers later today. we'll discuss how big it could be at the box office. i've smoked a lot and quit a lot, but ended up nowhere. now i use this. the nicoderm cq patch, with unique extended release technology, helps prevent the urge to smoke all day. i want this time to be my last time. that's why i choose nicoderm cq.

"star wars," the force awakens, is almost here. the big premier is monday night in los angeles. >> it's the latest installment in the legendary movie franchise and the first since disney acquired law kas film in 2012. >> it looked poised to deliver big results at the box office. >> cnn sat down with the director who talked about what it was like to be handed the reigns to the "star wars" universe. >> i had to put my being a fan aside somewhat, because that wasn't the job. you know, i couldn't just be a cheer leader for this thing. it had to be story telling, and working in writing the script, we didn't just talk about the continuum of where things may have gone and what may have happened to some of the characters that people know, but also why do we want to tell the story now? what's the point? and so in talking about it from

the most basic point of view, not just as a "star wars" movie, but just talking about the story was the thing that we needed to do to tell a tory that was worth telling and not just a innostala trip. >> we're joined more to talk about the hype of the opening of the film. most analysts predict the movie will make a lot of money. what are you hearing on this? >> right now jurassic world holds the record for opening weekend. 250 million for "star wars," potentially more. disney is down playing the expectations because you don't want it to get ahead of you, but consider the buzz for "star wars" and how many people are talking about it and how huge

the premier is. it could potentially make more than avatar in terms of the worldwide record. look for "star wars" potentially to make even more to beat avatar's record. >> we hear some tickets with being sold for $200 a piece. i want to talk about the golden globe nominations. >> it's all over the place. there's not a front runner right now. there's a lot of films not getting a lot of buzz. a lot of popularity in the sag and golden globe. look for the big short and also spotlight. the big short about the financial crisis in 20008. it's a funny take on it. it's getting great reviews. it got recognized at sag awards and golden globe, and then

another great cast with michael keaton who i think a lot of people thought he should have gotten an oscar last year. johnny depp gets recognized but sag but not golden globe. matt damon gets recognized but one but not the other. it's all over the place this year. >> mixed messages. the golden globes usually indicate what might happen with the oscars, but jennifer lawrence was nominated for a globe but not a sag award in the movie "joy". >> this was a big surprise. you always see her during award seasons. she's an oscar winner. she didn't get a sag nomination. got a golden globe nomination in

"joy". and this is the really one to see the two of them. jennifer lawrence is saying she and amy schumer want to dress exactly alike on the carpet. >> many thanks. >> thanks so much. >> and that does it for us. i'm rosemary church. >> and i'm errol barnett. remember to connect with us any time on social media. it's always great to hear from you. have a great day. yes, we are twins. when i went on to ancestry, i just put in the name of my parents and my grandparents.

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a big shake up in the polls one day before the cnn republican presidential debate. which candidate is the focus of his competitors. president obama trying to reassure the public in the war against isis meeting with military leaders this morning. is the president's strategy working? welcome to "early start." i'm alison kosik. happy monday. >> i'm christine romans. it is monday, december 14th. it is 1:00 a.m. in las vegas. nine candidates in vegas tomorrow for the fifth republican debate on cnn. the last debate of tea