[Rep. Eric Cantor , Majority Leader:] We had a we had very useful meeting. It was clarifying I think for both sides as to where we are.
[Sen. Harry Reid , Majority Leader:] Let's wait and see what the count does. When they send us something, we'll look at it as clearly as close as we can
[Zoraida Sambolin, Cnn Anchor:] A very useful meeting. So could this be a breakthrough? The possible new path this morning to avoiding economic disaster. Is Washington on the verge of actually working?
[John Berman, Cnn Anchor:] Chaos in Egypt. Protesters preparing to hit the streets marking 100 days since a violent military coup took out the president there. We are live.
[Sambolin:] Freak accident or murder cover-up. Parents demanding answers after facts of their teenage son's death just don't seem to add up.
[Berman:] This story gets more and more interesting every day.
[Sambolin:] It's incredible. Incredible.
[Berman:] Good morning, everyone. Welcome to
[Early Start. Sambolin:] It's Friday.
[Berman:] It is. I'm John Berman.
[Sambolin:] And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. It is Friday, October 11th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.
[Berman:] Which is early, folks. But let us start with the very latest from Washington. Because this morning after a standoff now in its 11th day there are signs of crucial progress. Overnight on Capitol Hill, they have reportedly been working. At a minimum they are not finger pointing and that in itself is a huge, huge development. This after Republican leaders emerged from a 90- minute meeting with President Obama at the White House and called the meeting useful.
[Sambolin:] Useful. Yes.
[Berman:] Useful might not sound like much to regular human beings but in Washington these days, honestly I think those words are close to epic. On the table right now is a possible temporarily deal to raise the debt ceiling which could avoid what most economists believe would be near-certain economic disaster.
[Sambolin:] Well, what about the government shutdown?
[Berman:] Ending the partial government shutdown is another matter completely, but there are signs there might be some movement on that this morning as well. Senior White House correspondent Brianna Keilar has the latest.
[Brianna Keilar, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] An encouraging sign after House Republicans met with President Obama at the White House.
[Unidentified Male:] I would characterize this as probably the most constructive.
[Keilar:] And pledge to keep the talks going.
[Cantor:] We'll have more discussion. We'll come back to have more discussion.
[Keilar:] On the table a compromise that would increase the debt ceiling for six weeks. The White House said the president looks forward to making continued progress with members on both sides of the aisle but the government shutdown is still up in the air. President Obama and congressional Democrats insist the government reopen as part of a deal. Republicans want concessions from the president to make that happen.
[Unidentified Reporter:] Republicans were pretty clear earlier today they want to negotiate for you to reopen the government. Is that
[Reid:] Not going to happen.
[Keilar:] Even as they were meeting, more signs the Republican strategy is hurting them in the public's eye. In a new NBC"Wall Street Journal" poll, 53 percent of Americans now blame Republicans for the shutdown, 31 percent blaming the president. Only 24 percent have a favorable opinion of Republicans, 21 percent have a favorable view of the Tea Party. Both numbers at an all-time low. And governors in states where national park closures are hurting tourism are starting to get fed up.
[Unidentified Male:] Come on down to southern Utah. The parks are open.
[Keilar:] Utah brokered a deal with the Department of the Interior to fully fund park service personnel and reopen its parks. Colorado, Arizona and South Dakota may follow suit. On Wall Street, the Dow soared to its biggest one-day gain for the year. Hungry for good news just one week before the U.S. is set to hit the debt ceiling. A six-week debt ceiling deal would take us to November 22nd just as holiday shopping season gets under way.
[Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary:] The president said the other day that if they were to send them a clean debt ceiling extension, no partisan strings attached, he would sign it.
[Keilar:] Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.
[Sambolin:] Our thanks to Brianna. And one consequence of the shutdown that had many people angry is now resolved. The president has signed a bill allowing the Pentagon to once again pay death benefits to families of fallen service members. A private foundation has stepped in to provide the money with the promise of government reimbursement to once the shutdown ends. That will remain in effect until the Pentagon is able to once again get its program up and running.
[Berman:] You know, as Brianna mentioned, one sign that a lot of people like this deal Wall Street was very happy with the news that both Republicans and Democrats are talking and potentially close to a possible deal on averting at least the default. Stock index shot up more than 2 percent. The Dow climbed 323 points. The Nasdaq was up nearly 83 points and the S&P; up 36.
[Sambolin:] So right, John. But that does not mean that the markets are not still nervous. JPMorgan Chase is the latest big-time money manager to pull out of short-term government bonds amid worries the country could default. The company sold off all of its government debt that might come due in late October or early November. Fidelity investments have also sold off its holdings in short-term bonds.
[Berman:] Five minutes past the hour. And some different news out of Washington. A report accuses the Obama administration of taking unprecedented steps to block reporter access to government information. The report by the Committee to Protect Journalists says that President Obama has fallen well short of his promise of government transparency. It found sources in government officials are increasingly afraid to talk to the press and a group said anti-press measures are the most aggressive since the Nixon administration.
[Sambolin:] Americans are slowly getting on board with Obamacare. CNN has reached out to officials in Washington, D.C. and the 14 states that operate their own insurance marketplaces. And their numbers show more than 122,000 people have created accounts and over 75,000 have made their selection and they have signed up. The federal government is not releasing figures for the other 36 states.
[Berman:] To Egypt now where it has now been a hundred days since President Mohamed Morsi was ousted from power. Violence there has only been increasing ever since. And now with the U.S. planning to withhold some aid to the military there, tensions really could not be higher. Ben Wedeman in Cairo this morning. He joins us on the phone. Ben, we understand in the city there they are gearing up for what could be some very large protests today.
[Ben Wedeman, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Yes, that is the fear that there could be big protests. For instance, last Sunday, there were large protests where more than 50 people were killed. Now there are, for instance, armored personnel carriers, stationed on bridges leading to Tahrir Square. The government has made it clear it has a zero tolerance policy toward these demonstrations, but has to step back and look at the situation is, indeed, very difficult since the military overthrew the rule of President Mohamed Morsi. More than a thousand people have been killed in violence. More than 2,000 members of the Muslim Brotherhood have been imprisoned including most of the senior leadership. And there doesn't seem to be anything in the way of an olive branch being extended by the government here towards the Muslim Brotherhood. Quite an impasse and it appears that most of the political action is really just street action and street violence.
[Berman:] Ben, we mentioned in the toss to you that the U.S. has cut off some aid to the Egyptian military. There have been a lot of criticism here in the U.S. from like Senator John McCain and others that the U.S. had not cut off this aid earlier. I'm wondering what the reaction has been on the ground in Egypt to that?
[Wedeman:] Well, there's a variety of reaction, sure. Yesterday we heard from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry saying in a statement that it was an ill-advised decision certainly given the fact that the Egyptian army is currently in a low-level fight against what they call terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula. Yesterday four soldiers were killed, five were wounded when a car bomb went off in the Sinai and the Egyptian government is saying this is the worst possible time to cut off aid when they are fighting terrorism. So there really is a sense of anger at the United States which really predate that decision. Many Egyptians angry because the United States is perceived to have been supportive of the government of Mohamed Morsi and on a personal note, I first lived in Egypt back in 1980 when sort of the relations in a honeymoon phase. At this point it's really gone downhill. I've never seen such a high level of anti-Americanism in Egypt ever John.
[Berman:] Well, Ben, fascinating to get that perspective 33 years later. Appreciate it. Ben Wedeman, in Cairo this morning, thanks so much.
[Sambolin:] Very compelling images there. Terrible. All right, a government warning about Edward Snowden. Apparently slipped through the cracks years before he leaked thousands of classified documents. Back in 2009 when he worked at the CIA in Geneva, a supervisor wrote that he suspected Snowden was trying to break into classified computer files. That report wasn't in Snowden's personnel file but apparently it went unnoticed. It was four years later when working as an NSA contractor that Snowden leaked the information about the U.S. surveillance programs.
[Berman:] Snowden's father is actually in Russia today, hoping to meet with his son for the first time since he became an international fugitive. Russia granted the 30-year-old temporary asylum. You'll remember last August he's not been seen in public since. Snowden is wanted in the U.S. on espionage charges. His father said he's not sure if his son is will ever return to this country. So you're wondering what it's like outdoors? I am.
[Sambolin:] Let's get an early look at our weather with Samantha Moore.
[Samantha Moore, Ams Meteorologist:] We have a nor'easter working its way up the coast for the end of the workweek and that's going to bring in the clouds and the rain and New York City and to D.C. Philadelphia as well. And Houston is going to be low clouds that could slow you down if you're heading in or out of international or out of Houston Hobby Airport. It is going to be a wet kind of gray end to the workweek and start to the weekend across the northeast and we will see coastal rain from this nor'easter that's just lingering why off the coastline. That'll bring in those unsettled conditions there. Plenty of sunshine across the southeast in through the central plain states but we have a series of systems working their way through the intermountain west that will bring rain and the snow and those cold conditions continuing here across much of the Rockies in through the Wasatch. Ahead of that front, some showers across. Texas will just want to keep those umbrellas handy if you're out and about in the Austin area. And then across the Pacific Northwest it is still cool and damp. I mean, these temperatures are on the coolish side across much of the Pacific Northwest in the 50s as we head this day on our Friday. Pretty nice across Southern California and upper 60s there. Cool for them. Across the southeast incredible temperatures. We'll be looking at 79 in Atlanta, just perfect conditions, 83 in Memphis. We should make it up to 87 in Dallas and in Houston still a little hot and sticky there. We'll let's stay cool and gray and damp in the northeast. I hope you guys have your sweaters handy. Back to you.
[Sambolin:] Actually, I thought it was kind of warm this morning when I walked out.
[Berman:] Really?
[Sambolin:] Maybe I'm just a little crazy.
[Berman:] Yes, a little yes, other things going on there, I'm sure.
[Sambolin:] Apparently. I don't know what you mean by that.
[Berman:] No. Coming up, angry and ignored. Parents demanding justice when questions about their teenage son's mysterious death go unanswered.
[Sambolin:] And three rabbis accused of kidnapping, torture for a price. Who paid the holy men to get them help from hit men? Coming up next.