Truce Crumbling in Kiev; Closer Security Expected in Airports; Facebook Buys WhatsApp for $19B
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning. Bloody protests taking over the streets of Ukraine. At least 20 people were killed today. We are live with the very latest for you.</s>POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Terror alert at the airport. Why Homeland Security believes terrorists could once again be using their shoes to smuggle bombs on board planes.</s>LEMON: And temperatures are rising. The snow has stopped falling, but there is a new weather warning for a big part of the country. Indra Petersons is tracking this one for us. Welcome back, everyone, to EARLY START. I'm Don Lemon.</s>HARLOW: I'm Poppy Harlow. It is 31 minutes past the hour, 5:31 a.m. here on the east coast, and we are tracking breaking news.</s>LEMON: Yes. We're going to start with some breaking news and it's from Ukraine where this morning a shaky truce appears to have fallen apart in Kiev. Live pictures now. This is Independent Square where protesters clashed with police once again. At least 20 more people are now dead in today's fighting. The city torn apart by some of the worst violence in that country's history. We're going to turn now to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh. He was down in Independent Square in the middle of the latest clashes. So, Nick, what did you experience and what's happening there right now?</s>NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, John, there is a temporary calm. I should say, every once in a while, it's shattered by gunfire that goes down to the left. About half an hour ago, I saw a couple of bodies being taken down there. This has been the main street where the clashes have happened. Let me wind back to this morning. Those of us in this hotel where I am broadcasting out of, many journalists woken by the sound of what seemed like gunfire nearby. According to some of the protesters I spoke to, and their stories aren't unanimous, they're sort of scathing and differing, they said that at one point in the morning, the police withdrew back. They pulled back from their original positions. One protester saying it's because a police sniper fired at protesters, protesters fired back at them. Another suggesting a stun grenade went off, injured protesters causing them to move forward -- simply a tactic police used to create confusion. Then, it seems protesters moved down towards the positions police had previously occupied, and then some sort of exchange of gunfire happened. We know the protesters, as many as 20, have been killed, according to opposition activists here. We've seen 11 what looked like dead bodies in the lobby of the hotel where I'm standing. It's been turned into a temporary medical center here. What has since happened then is the protesters seeing a vacuum of police presence here and just the occasional bit of gunfire, and we've seen AK-47 rounds on news, the shells of them and actually some of the bullet heads have gone into the hotel where we are as well and many shotgun casings inside the areas where the protesters would have fired from. So, there clearly has been a lot of small arms used here this morning. We're now, of course, seeing police being moved back and protesters taking up new positions further down the road from where they previously were, roughly recreating the lines of 48 hours ago police broke through. The fear now, John, is because we're seeing this sort of stand-back approach from the police, although, we are still hearing occasional gunfire, which we can only presume is coming from their direction, it seems to be coming from their direction, what exactly is the next move by Ukrainian security forces? Yesterday, they called terrorists -- they called these people terrorists and an anti-terror operation was needed against them. The president, Yanukovych, said that there were sort of radicals in the ranks of these protesters here. Now, even though nine hours ago, talk of a truce was being passed around between the opposition and the president, that's evaporated, and we're now seeing possibly the worst violence yet in terms of the use of live gunfire here on the streets of Ukraine. John, this is the very center of Kiev. This is Times Square in Ukrainian terms. It's now, frankly, a war zone in many ways. The floor torn up to be used as missiles by protesters. A lot of things burned there, rubble, constant feeling, I think now amongst protesters, they're waiting for the response from the authorities. Back to you, John.</s>LEMON: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much for that, Nick.</s>HARLOW: All right. Now to Venezuela, also racked by violence this morning. The opposition leader remains behind bars as the death toll from intense protests has now reached five. The latest victim, a 22- year-old beauty queen who was shot in the head during demonstrations in her home state west of Caracas. President Nicolas Maduro in a televised speech overnight calling the protesters fascist saying anyone who doesn't like Venezuela should leave. The protesters are demanding Maduro resign because of the faltering economy there and surging crime.</s>LEMON: This morning, if you're heading to the airport, expect closer security or scrutiny at the security checkpoint. Homeland Security is warning airlines to keep a closer watch on travelers because of terror groups that may once again be trying to hide explosives in shoes. Intelligence officials tell CNN this is all based on information gathered overseas showing work may be under way on new methods of sneaking bombs into planes.</s>PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: The DHS warning is non- specific, but the universe of people who have desire and capability is not large. It's al Qaeda and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.</s>PHILIP MUDD, FORMER CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF COUNTERTERRORISM: I'd be as concerned about the bomb maker as I am about the bomb. You'd be surprised how difficult it is for a terror organization to find a bomb maker with the sophistication to build a shoe bomb. We're not talking about a roadside device, we're talking about something that can get past sensors at an airport. So, I'd be trying to figure out not only how to stop the bomb but how to find whoever can make something like this.</s>LEMON: The warning is apparently not tied to a known plot and comes some 13 years after Richard Reid (ph) attempted to detonate a bomb in his sneakers on a flight from Paris to Miami. That's led to new TSA rules that travelers must take off their shoes at airport security checkpoints.</s>HARLOW: A deal to tell you about between Iran and six world powers over future nuclear negotiations, as the latest round of talks wrap up in Vienna. Reportedly, all sides have agreed to a framework for future talks likely to resume in March. Those negotiations are working towards some sort of long-term agreement to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions and ensure that it does not build atomic weapons. It is expected to take at least six months before any kind of final agreement can be reached.</s>LEMON: Breaking overnight, a new report claims the U.S. broke its own rules in carrying out a drone strike in Yemen that left at least a dozen people dead. The group, Human Rights Watch, says the strike failed to comply with the Obama administration's protections designed to avoid civil casualties. The people killed were part of a convoy leading a wedding. The report says shrapnel even hit the bride near her eye.</s>HARLOW: And this morning, there's another hang-up for a very controversial pipeline. A judge in Nebraska has rejected a law that would allow the Keystone XL Pipeline to run right through that state. Now, Nebraska's attorney general is appealing that ruling. President Obama has not yet signed off on the pipeline, which would carry some 830,000 barrels of oil from Canada to Texas every day.</s>LEMON: And breaking overnight, a new leak at the troubled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. Its operator says some 100 metric tons of radioactive water got out of a holding tank and is being absorbed into the ground. The company does not believe the water got into the Pacific Ocean. No water is now flowing into that tank.</s>HARLOW: And now, to the U.S. economy and whether or not it is improving in a meaningful way. Our Christine Romans got a chance for a rare interview with the U.S. treasury secretary, Jack Lew to ask him that very question. I know you also asked him about minimum wage, income inequality. What did he have to say?</s>CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's so interesting, Poppy, because basically, they've gotten more work done in Washington the past four months than they have the entire two or three years prior to that, and Jack Lew, the treasury secretary, remarking that, you know, there seems to be -- he doesn't want to overstate it, but there seems to be this thawing, if you will, in Washington, that's allowing them to get some of the president's priorities done. Listen to what he thinks that's going to portend for the future.</s>JACK LEW, TREASURY SECRETARY: You look over the last year, we've gotten a lot done. We've made real progress implementing financial regulatory reform. We've seen a little bit of regularity return to Washington where, you know, we had a budget agreement at the end of the year, an appropriation bill in January. The debt limit was approved. There was an agreement after years on a farm bill. And maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to for a couple of years continue doing business that way and keep doing the business of the American people.</s>ROMANS: More action in four months than we saw in two or three years.</s>LEW: Yes. And you know, you look at the economic growth over the last six months, a decided arc of progress.</s>ROMANS: A decided arc of progress, you know? And he notes that we have a lot of work to do. We talked about income inequality. We talked about how we have to grow these big, good, middle-class jobs, and that's still a trouble. He goes back again and again, you guys, to training, education, early childhood education, a very big picture of this administration still at this point. Raising the minimum wage still a priority. Will they be able to get that? Not clear. Immigration reform still a big priority. He's actually more confident on that right now than he's been in some time. Meanwhile, look at the markets, guys, this morning. You know, around the world, looks like a sell-off. We'll see if that filters into the U.S. Futures are down right now. We'll be watching also WhatsApp, WhatsApp and Facebook. That's a big deal. $19 billion, you guys, $19 billion is what Facebook is going to pay for this company that's only five years old. The numbers are just stunning on this. Facebook shares are down in premarket trading, you guys, but I'm really not surprised because it is a very big deal. And also, that stock hit a record high yesterday. It's up like almost 30 percent since the beginning of the year's last earnings report.</s>HARLOW: Don still wants to know if he can get WhatsApp on his iPhone, right?</s>HARLOW: So, we'll see what happens. I was floored with that deal. It's going to be really fascinating to watch. Christine, appreciate it. Great interview. Thanks so much. All right. Well, this morning temperatures are rising, spring is in the air, but with that comes a new warning. Our Indra Petersons is tracking it for us. We'll have that right after the break.