we want to get out to berkeley, california now and cnn's dan simon with the very latest. dan? dan simon, are you there? >> reporter: i haven't heard anything in a minute. are you guys there? >> yeah, apparently dan simon is having an issue. he's not hearing us. but again, we're hearing there are protests. and as you can see, happening in berkeley, california. you can see the protesters there lining the streets courtesy of our affiliate ktvu. we want to get to cnn's deb feyerick who is out among the protesters as well. deb, where are you and what are you seeing? >> reporter: yeah. can you hear me? >> yes, i can. >> reporter: is this don? >> yes, it is. >> reporter: i'm sorry, don. it's a little bit loud here. hold on. i'm going to -- >> what's going on, deb? >> reporter: not much. there are few protesters left. it was much larger earlier on. now there are just a couple of dozen protesters that stayed around. but the crowd is running out. the police have it well under control. the protesters called it at a quarter after 9:00. this is sort of the hardcore group that's here. >> de

dan simon, happy new year's. see you. >> same to you. >> dan simon joining us live. >>> still ahead, a teenager's story of horror. how she says she was recruited by terrorist for a suicide bombing but bravely refused to carry out those sickening orders. >>> as so many of us gather with our families and our children to celebrate this time of year, it is certainly very difficult to understand this next story. this comes to us from nigeria where a 13-year-old girl is now recounting how her own father turned her over to the group boko haram and then strapped a suicide bomb on her. we get the story from jessica king. >> reporter: she's a young teenager and a few weeks ago she almost became a suicide bomber. >> translator: my father took us to the bush, which was surrounded by gunmen. i was asked if i wanted to go to heaven. when i answered, they said i have to go for a suicide mission and if i attempted to run, they would kill me. from there, we were sent to kano. when we came to the kano market, one of us said we sho

dan simon, thank you so much. >>> now something almost never happens. the cia director holding a news conference taking questions from reporters. he took questions whether he answered them, we leave it to you to decide. the cia is not as you might imagine a full disclosure kind of place. not even on cia practices against terror detainees can change that. however, that report put out by committee democrats has shaken the agency and moved director john brennan to speak out. today from headquarters in la lanki lankily, not far from the inscription it reads not far from the truth and the truth shall lay you free. and edited and sometimes contradictory version of the truth as he sees it. the details now from barbara starr. >> reporter: in a 45 minute long press conference, cia director john brennan never used the word torture to describe interrogation practices. >> as i said, in some instances, i considered them a quarant and leave to those how to see those. >> reporter: he defended the agency reminding everyone of the difficult challenges after 9/11. >> we

cnn's dan simon in san francisco. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, carol. as you can tell, it is a lovely day here in san francisco. we'll tell you how the conditions are looking and explain why some say this could be the worst storm we've seen here in decades. i'm not juice or fancy water. i've got 8 grams of protein. new ensure active clear protein. 8 grams protein. zero fat. ensure. take life in. ♪ ah, ♪ h it. ♪ push it. ♪ p...push it real good! ♪ ♪ ow! ♪ oooh baby baby...baby baby. if you're salt-n-pepa, you tell people to push it. ♪ push it real good. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do. ♪ ah. push it. i'm pushing. i'm pushing it real good! come from all walks of life. if you have high blood sugar, ask your doctor about farxiga. it's a different kind of medicine that works by removing some sugar from your body. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. with one pill a day, farxiga helps lower your a1c. and

d dan simon looks at some of the problems. >> reporter: as thousands attempted to flee downtown sydneythe hostage crisis, uber found itself in the headlines again, not for good reason. as car demands surged, the service used in more than 250 cities around the world charged passengers four times the normal rate with uber's controversial surge pricing. the company soon apologized and began offering free rides but the damage was done. it's the latest string of mishaps who went from a no name company to an international juggernaut has led to a series of troubling issues. everything from price gouging and privacy invasion to allegations of assault and rain rape. in boston authorities announced an uber driver has been charged with rape and kidnapping. police say the victim was driven to a secluded location where the driver beat and sexually assaulted her. the company in a statement calling the crime despicable. uber has been working closely with law enforcement and will continue to do everything we can to assist their investigation. in new delhi, a driver was accused of a similar crime. but

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cnn's dan simon reports from the scene. >> reporter: john and christine, we are at a railroad crossing in berkeley. protesters were able to stop an amtrak passenger train. this has been a massive protest with well over 3,000 people, but from what we have seen, it has been peaceful after the two chaotic nights on the streets of berkeley. we have seen things like this. the crowd was able to shutdown the i-80 freeway in both directions. john and christine. >> thanks, dan. protests elsewhere brought traffic to a standstill. in washington, d.c., demonstr e demonstrators staged a die-in outside the white house. and outside the cleveland cavaliers game in brooklyn, they were chanting black lives matter. >> inside the barclays center, lebron james was wearing a shirt i can't breathe. the gesture was aimed a eric garner's family. >> the message to the family that i'm sorry for their loss and sorry to his wife and that's what it's about. everybody is getting caught up in everybody besides who is feeling it. the family. >> lebron james is the biggest sports star in the united states. he has taken

dan simon reports on the wild weather. >> if it isn't heavy snow, it's torrential rain.l nor'easter slams the northeast in the jersey shore in ocean city, streets underwater. in new york on the far eastern side of the state. similar conditions in upstate new york, as much as ten inches could hit the area before the end of the week. >> we're stuck at home until this dies down. i'm not even sure if i'll be able to get kids to school. >> reporter: and no veteran boston, where the streets are lined with ice. people and cars sliding. an suv ramming into a parked car. >> i couldn't stop the car. it was so icy. >> reporter: all this bad weather having a ripple effect on air travel more than a thousand flights cancelled and what happened on the east coast could pale in comparison to the west coast. bay area communities gear up for flooding, a winter storm expected to hit the region tonight. it could be the worst storm we've had here in five years. public schools already closed in advance. wor worrisome, yes. the moisture is also a welcome relief for a state in the middle of a re

and there's a real concern we're going to see a repeat of what we've seen the last few days. >> dan simon in berkeley, california, thank you so much. the aftermath of michael brown and eric garner and with more developments in the tamir rice case, all three involving white police officers acting against unarmed black suspects, it's ignited tensions between african-americans and police. here to talk about it, former st. louis police officer. thanks for being with us, officer, appreciate it. as a former police officer, do you think it's the case that tamir rice in cleveland or eric garner in new york or michael brown in ferguson had been white they might be alive today? >> potentially. i just saw video yesterday on facebook where someone was illustrating the difference between how white subjects and black subjects are handled. it showed middle-aged, little older white guy in the street with an assault rifle. and the calls went in complaining about this guy and the police arrived and listened to him for ten minutes tell them what they would and wouldn't do about him having the assault rifle.

fred. >> dan simon, thanks so much. hopefully not far away from the university. >>> rolling stone quietly changing its apology for the uva rape story. find out what the magazine is saying now. get to t-mobile and knock out your gift list. with zero down and zero interest on all the hottest gifts. like the samsung galaxy note 4 and the note 10.1, plus the beats solo 2, the ue boom and more. yep all of them, zero down, zero interest. we know, we're out of control. looks like the big guys job just got easier. ensure active heart health. i maximize good stuff, like my potassium and phytosterols which may help lower cholesterol. new ensure active heart health supports your heart and body so you stay active and strong. ensure, take life in. add brand new belongings from nationwide and we'll replace stolen or destroyed items with brand-new versions. join the nation ♪ nationwide is on your side >>> rolling stone magazine now changing its apology for that article it published about an alleged rape on the university of virginia c

cnn's dan simon is covering the storm, he's in san francisco this morning. good morning, dan. >> reporter: good morning, carol. we are in downtown san francisco. the rain just starting to come down. as you said this area is going to get hammered and the city itself could get up to nine inches of rain, and if it isn't the rain, it's the winds. you talked about hurricane force winds could see 50 to to 0-mile-per-hour gusts in the city, maybe 90-mile-per-hour gusts outside of the city. they've been preparing for this event here over the last day or two. we had the utility cruise trimming tree limbs to make sure they don't fall on power lines, clearing storm drains to prevent the possibility of flooding. some say this is a welcome relief given the fact that the state is in the middle of an historic three-year trout so we could certainly use all the precipitation but if you have so much rain of course in a short period of time you could have monumental problems, carol. >> dan simon reporting live from san francisco, thanks so much. >>> let's head to the middle eas

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i think millions of people in cities across the country and around the world want. >> reporter: dan simon, san francisco. >>> well, ahead here, efforts to lift the veil of secrecy on the group suspected of hacking sony's computers. we'll look into that. >>> also, the boston bombing suspect appeared in court thursday. and there were shouting matches inside and outside the courtroom. people with type 2 diabetes come from all walks of life. if you have high blood sugar, ask your doctor about farxiga. it's a different kind of medicine that works by removing some sugar from your body. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. with one pill a day, farxiga helps lower your a1c. and, although it's not a weight-loss or blood-pressure drug, farxiga may help you lose weight and may even lower blood pressure when used with certain diabetes medicines. do not take if allergic to farxiga or its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include rash, swelling or difficulty breathing or swallowing. if you have any of these symptoms, stop takin

dan simon, thank you very much. we appreciate it.right here in "newsroom," the top ten trending moments of 2014. find out what topped the list up next. ♪ make the best entertainment part of your holidays. catch all the hottest handpicked titles on the winter watchlist, only with xfinity from comcast. >>> it might seem like "the interview" was the only thing trending on twitter lately, but this year, perhaps more than any other year, has been defined by its hash tags on twitter, from bring back our girls, to yes all women. our brooke baldwin takes a look at the year in hash tags. >> social media's role in breaking news is undeniable, but sometimes it's the hash tags themselves that start a movement, whether serious or hilarious, so here are our top ten trending hash tags for the year 2014. >> alex from target. >> #alexfromtarget. >> alex from target. it was trending for days. no one could figure out why, including alex. >> my manager came up to me, and she showed me the actual picture. >> there was a text start-up firm that tried to c

. >> dan simon in san francisco, thank you so much. into in >>> congress is now just hours away from shutting down the government because they just can't seem to work together. this time it's not just democrats and republicans battling each other, it's democrats against democrats, republicans against republicans. will they finally get something done before the midnight deadline? that's next. [ telephone rings ] [ shirley ] edward jones. [ male announcer ] with nearly 7 million investors... oh hey, neill, how are you? [ male announcer ] ...you'd expect us to have a highly skilled call center. kevin, neill holley's on line one. ok, great. [ male announcer ] and we do. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. >>> welcome back to "the lead," i'm jake tapper. the politics lead. there are literally just hours left to pass a spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. usually the fight is between house republicans and senate democrats. but this battle is different. we witnessed a senate democrat making an impassioned appeal to tea pa

cnn's dan simon on the scene. >> reporter: protesters have been able to stop an amtrak train from moving. you see it on the tracks behind me. this is a massive protest with well over 3,000 people, but from what we have seen, it has been peaceful after the two chaotic nights on the streets of berkeley. we have seen things like this. at one point, the crowd was able to shutdown the i-80 in both directions. john and christine. >> thanks, dan. protests brought traffic to a standstill. demonstrators staged a die-in outside the white house. and in brooklyn, demonstrators chanting hands up, don't shoot. >> and eric garner's children have spoken out to our don lemon. >> they were laying out in front of the eiffel tower. it is an everybody thing. for celebrities to support the garner family because that was wrong -- it was wrong. there is nothing they can do to make it right. we can fight for justice so it won't happen another time. >> u.s. attorney eric holder announced a ban on profiling by federal law officers. it expands prohibited characteristics. these new rules don't apply to local law enf

that's the good news, but there's lots of bad news and dan simon joins us live from san francisco with the latest. how is it looking, dan? >> well, good morning, alisyn, with widespread power outages and flooded roadways, this is a storm that certainly lived up to its billing. now city agencies are scrambling to try to get neighborhoods cleaned up. a deadly monster storm battering the west coast. ferocious winds and torrential rain bearing down on residents. leaving more than 225,000 people without power, from san francisco to the canadian border. in oregon, the storm turning deadly, with record-breaking wind gusts, fallen trees claiming at least two lives. the powerful winds of nearly 70 miles per hour, blowing at giant sheet of metal into the windows of this office building in downtown portland. >> it was like being in a tornado. it was such a big piece of metal, it was going so fast -- i thought you know this may be the last moment. >> strong winds also to blame for this partial roof collapse further north. >> i'm not sure if i've ever seen anything like this before, it's pretty unb

let's go straight to dan simon live for us in berkeley. dan, it looks calm behind you, but boarded up. that's the result of what happened. the vandalism that happened. >> reporter: exactly right. we're in front of a trader joe's, and the store had its windows smashed in last night. of course, as you know, berkeley is known for its protests. it's famous for. all the way going back to the '60s, why the situation last night turned violent, we don't know. other than to say it appears that there was an anarchist fashion within those protesters according to police. there was some splinter groups that started out peacefully enough, but at some point, people in the crowd became unruly and started throwing bricks at police officers. officers responded using tear gas and fired rubber bullets and then things really became chaotic. they hit this trader joe's. they also hid a wells fargo bank branch down the street. also targeted a radio shack where we also saw some looting. here's what some of the store employees had to say about that. >> next thing yo

here now is dan simon. >> reporter: chaos on the streets of berkeley, california. protesters demanding to be heard after a grand jury decision not to indict police in ferguson, missouri, and new york turned violent. there were hundreds of local police that donned full riot gear. police used tear gas to disburse the crowd. >> berkeley is mn for protests and the first amendment, and we do everything we can to insure that people can peacefully exercise their freedom to express themselves. in this case our response occurred because, you know, the group -- they did start throwing rocks and bricks and bottles. also small pipes were thrown at our officers. >> this -- >> reporter: the overnight violence follows several days of protests in the area and across the country. in new york and in washington d.c. saturday hundreds of protesters conducted several die-ins taking over train stations in both cities as well as major department stores. cnn's nick valencia was on the scene. >> right now we're standing in front of toys "r" us building where this group has decided to walk

dan simon is joining us live. many people thought this may have been the christmas surprise that sony hackers were warning about. that may not be the case though, right? >> it's not the case. this is a group called lizard squad and they said they wanted to expose the security holes in the playstation and xbox networks and to that i say mission accomplished from this hacking group. so brianna, a lot of people are unhappy who are unboxing their brand-new consoles and can't get them to work properly and at this point it appears that xbox may be up to par at this point, that it's working normally. but playstation is still down and this is a group that is notorious, that it's done this in the past and we'll see how the dayca carries on. >> tell us about "the interview." are you hearing anything about it being pirated, perhaps? >> well, at this point, 750,000 people have downloaded "the interview" illegally. that's according to the stats that we are seeing. it's probably a lot more than that and that's just indicative o

here's cnn's dan simon. >> reporter: as thousands attempted to flee downtown sydney during the deadlyer found itself in the headlines again and not for good reason. as car demand surged, the service in more than 250 cities around the world, charged passengers four times rate. the company soon apologized and began offering free rides but the damage was done. it's the latest in a string of high-profile mishaps for uber which has led to a series of troubling issues. everything from price gouging and privacy invalsion to allegations of assault and rape. authorities announced that a uber driver has been charged with kidnapping where the driver beat and sexually assaulted her. the company, in a statement, calling the crime despicable. uber has been, working closely with law enforcement and will continue to do everything we can to assist in their investigation. and in new delhi, a driver had been accused of a similar crime as the company stresses that safety is its number one priority and that it is working on security enhancements. there have been other recent issues. in san francisco, the

cnn correspondent dan simon is in san francisco and cnn legal analyst paul callan joins me as well. with you. tell us about this suit. >> well, carol, if you look at today's situation, digital music is pretty much a commodity. you can get it from any number of services and play it on an infinite number of devices. but if you go back ten years, the ipod was the king. it had 70% mark share in the portable music player market and they had a monopoly, according to this lawsuit. and they were able to keep this monopoly, according to the suit, by not allowing you to play other music purchased from other digit a.m. music store fronts. you had to get it from itunes. we asked the plaintiff's attorney what's wrong with that. take a look. >> there's nothing inherently wrong with having a closed system, you can make that decision, that business decision. what you can't do is to try to hold on to your monopoly if you gain one through that system. >> the most popular mp 3 player in the world. yes just pro introduced no one today and they're thinner and lighter. >> how much of this case hinges on

dan simon with the power of uber. >> reporter: as dozens flee in the hostage crisis, uber in the headlinest for good reason. as car demands surged, the service used in more than 250 cities around the world charged passengers four times the normal rate with uber's controversial search pricing. the company suit apologized and began offering free rides but the damage was done. it's the latest in a string of high profile mishaps for uber whose high speed growth in the company to an international juggernaut has led to a series of troubling issues. everything from price gouging and privacy invasion to allegations of assault and rape. in boston, authorities just announced an uber driver charged with rape and kidnapping. the victim was driven to a secluded location where the driver beat and sexually assaulted her. the company in a statement calling the crime despicable. uber has been working closely with law enforcement and continue to do everything we can to assist their investigation. and in new deli, a driver accused of a similar crime as the company stresses that safety is the number one prior

dan simon, cnn, san francisco. >> dan simon, thank you so much.ate it. >>> i lot of other news to tell you about this morning. here is your "morning read." >> former president george h.w. bush will spend at least one more night in the hospital. he was hospitalized tuesday for shortness of breath. bush who is 90 years old is in good spirits and is remaining in the hospital. >>> north korea is fuming over the release of "the interview" and it's blaming president obama. saying he forced sony to release. in a new statement, pyongyang compared obama to a monkey to the fallout. saying the film that predicts kim jong-un is illegally dishonest and reactionary. >> sony's decision to release "the interview" is paying off, however. $1 million at the box office christmas day. sony pulled the plug as you remember, on the original release day after hackers threatened to attack the theaters who showed it. >>> and spacex will try to land a rocket on a tiny ship at sea. how challenging is that? well, spacex says it's like trying to balance a rubber broomstick on y

cnn's dan simon is standing by. what's the latest over there, dan? >> reporter: hi, wolf.ere in berkeley are preparing for another round of protests tonight. the word has gone out on social media for the protesters to organize near the university later this evening. what has happened over the past few days is the marchers sort of romed the streets, and thenspli and vandalize the area. police are trying to keep these areas secure, but obviously when you have a group that's intent on causing violence, it's hard to keep things contained. >> dan, thank you very much. let's go to new york right now. protests are planned outside the brooklyn nets basketball game. it's being called a royal shutdown, because prince william and the duchess kate will be in the stands tonight. that's the schedule. the game is supposed to start a little more than an hour or so from now. our correspondent is joining us from brooklyn. what's the latest over there? >> reporter: we've seen about 60 police officers just a short while ago. they've now taken to the perimeter of barclay center. you can see ny

dan simon is live in san francisco. look at the winds near the san francisco bay bridge. e are in downtown san francisco. right now things are relatively calm but the city is expected to get absolutely hammered, two between four and nine inches of rain, that's why some say this could be the worst storm in a nun of years, it could rival the worst storm we've seen in 50 years. if it isn't the rain it could be the wind. we expect hurricane force winds could get anywhere from 50 to 60 miles per hour, as you said they're taking a close look at the bridges. the golden gate bridge hasn't been closed since 198 3. if they have to close the bridge it would be historic. all kinds of preparations in the last few days. public schools are closed today. utility cruise trimming tree limbs to make sure they don't fall on power lines, clearing storm drains, so you don't have much flooding but we'll keep a close eye on the situation as i said right now, things relatively calm, but could be seeing a lot of rain in a matter of minutes, alisyn. >> be careful, dan, take cover. thanks so much. >>

. >> al: there is tharold simon down on the ground for the moment and needing a little bit of attention. >> cris: and he's a contributor, no question to this team. dan quinn was telling me that he's a guy that, in training camp, basically, nobody want to really challenge paul richardson, the speedster wide receiver that they have, but he never left the line of scrimmage. he was the only one play after play would challenge him. he slips on the play and his leg just kind of -- he grabs his arm. but he's the dime which means the sixth defensive back if they go to six on the field. i have a gut feeling on what is happening out there right now. >> al: me too. >> cris: sometimes they have to -- i'm not going to say it. no reason to guess. >> al: good news he is able to get up. >> al: sometimes your shoulder pops out. you got to pop it back in. they may be deciding they are going to try that on the sideline. good player. tough kid. >> al: they take simon back to the bench. one or two more plays will end it. the regular season will end next sunday night with our game as the bengals go into the burgh to take on the steelers. lindley is going to avoid a sack