Unrest in the West Bank Continues With Fresh Wave of Attacks; Iraqi Military Launches New Campaign to Take Back Baiji From ISIS Control. Aired 3:00-4:00 a.m. ET
ERROL BARNETT, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Jerusalem on alert, as assailants target Israeli civilians in deadly attacks. The government takes action.</s>ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Plus, an American basketball player and reality TV star is on life support after he was found passed out in a brothel.</s>BARNETT: And later, you will not believe what you're looking at now, a bee, a mouse, and a plant. We'll show you the winners of Nikon's Small World photo competition.</s>CHURCH: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.</s>BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett and this is CNN Newsroom. As Israel's government rolls out tighter security measures, the unrest continues in the West Bank with a fresh wave of attacks. A 72-year-old woman was stabbed near Jerusalem Central Bus Station on Wednesday. Israeli police later shot the alleged assailant. In a separate incident, Israeli police shot a Palestinian man near the entrance to the Old City. Israeli investigators say he was armed with a knife and lunged at police officers.</s>CHURCH: Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas blamed Israel for the violence and for what he called extra judicial executions. Former U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East tells CNN, peace talks must resume.</s>GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE: I believe that all sides should take strong steps, including the right words to tamp this down. I think President Abbas should, and I think Prime Minister Netanyahu should, and I think it's imperative that the United States and its allies under take another effort to try to bring calm and hopefully get some process going again. Because the history of the Middle East, Anderson, is that when there is a peace process in place, the parties tend to be stable, although still very hostile toward each other. When it appears that it's breaking down or broken down, as is now the case, then violence occurs.</s>BARNETT: Our Erin McLaughlin is covering events for us from Jerusalem and joins us now live. Erin, give us a sense of the fear everyone is feeling as they try and go about their daily lives amid all of these violent attacks.</s>ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Errol, people here are on edge. Israelis and Palestinians are feeling scared. Exempt, there's a sense of anxiety. They're apprehensive. And to illustrate that, this morning, there was an incident that happened on a train to Haifa, according to Israeli police, a group of soldiers were onboard the train. One of the soldiers, they say -- saw someone they thought looked suspicious. The soldiers screamed out on the train, "terrorist." An Israeli police officer also on board that train fired a shot. The train pulled up to the station in Haifa, everyone got off, and they then searched the train. Israel security forces, and found absolutely nothing. I saw -- I just saw a social media video of that incident. You can hear the fear in the passengers' voices, and it really illustrates just the anxiety people are feeling here. Israelis, more and more Israelis, authorities say, are carrying weapons, applying for gun licenses. They're avoiding public transportation networks, instead, choosing to drive, not as many people out on the streets. And Palestinians that you talk to say, they're also scared. There are checkpoints that now have been set up in predominantly Arab neighborhoods, throughout east Jerusalem. They're being stopped and checked and they're apprehensive about what could possibly happen if something they do is misinterpreted by Israeli forces, if they reach for their cell phone and that's perceived as something else. So there's a real sense of fear on both sides as the violence continues and really shows no signs of stopping.</s>BARNETT: And Erin, what you just talked about there, speaks to some of the risks that this new security climate brings. You know, some Palestinians have criticized it as collective punishment, checkpoints closing off entire neighborhoods. Is there not a fear of backlash or that, you know, all of these efforts to make things better may actually worsen the situation?</s>MCLAUGHLIN: Well, that absolutely is a concern that the measures that have been put in place will serve to fuel the violence even further. But I also think, you know, there is a concern that this violence, these acts don't show any signs of stopping. Yesterday, in the face of increased police on the streets, more security guards at public transportation points, we saw two separate stabbing incidents. One outside the Damascus gate of the Old City, Israeli police said they shot a Palestinian man dead because he had attempted to stab a group of Israeli officers. And they also inadvertently shot a tourist as well as an Israeli, a local Israeli. And then at a Central Bus Stop in Jerusalem, police say a Palestinian man stabbed a 72-year-old woman. CNN spoke to an eyewitness following that incident and describes the chaos. You could really see the panic that people were feeling. So I think the question becomes, what more can authorities, Israeli and Palestinian officials do to stop these incidents, the so-called Lone- wolf attacks? So far, there are no clear answers.</s>BARNETT: And as we heard Senator George Mitchell refer -- mentioned a few moments ago when he's speaking to our Anderson Cooper earlier, without a peace plan in place, there's very little that these security measures can do as far as addressing the underlying issues. Our Erin McLaughlin, giving us the latest information out of Jerusalem, where it's just past 10:00 in the morning, Erin, thanks.</s>CHURCH: The Iraqi military has launched a new campaign to take back the northern city of Baiji from ISIS control. A spokesman said army troops supported by U.S. and Iraqi air strikes, managed to fight their way into the city center.</s>BARNETT: Now this area is home to the country's biggest oil refinery and has changed hands several times over the past year. We move next door to Syria now where a major assault aimed at recapturing the country's largest city, maybe in the works. Around semi-official TASS news agency cited intelligence sources can say Syria, Hezbollah and the Russian air force are gearing up for an assault on Aleppo. Other media sources report hundreds of Iranian ground troops may take part.</s>CHURCH: Aleppo is currently split among various rebel groups and militants, as well as government forces. The sources (inaudible) Russian planes are now carrying out their final reconnaissance flights in preparation for the attack. Well, Russia is downplaying the latest close call between its fighter jets and U.S. planes over Syria.</s>BARNETT: Chief U.S. Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto has more.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. and Russian military officials meeting for a third time, Wednesday. Saying they're close to an agreement to avoid risky contact in the skies over Syria. But their warplanes are already coming dangerously close. Two U.S. and two Russian aircraft came within miles on Saturday, so-called visual range, before they moved away.</s>JOHN KIRBY, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: You need to make sure that you can continue to answer all bells, as we say in the navy, and that means having an assurance of safe and professional conduct, in this case, by the Russian side.</s>SCIUTTO: Russia insists its fighter jets intended no harm. MAJ.GEN. IGOR KONASHENKOV, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON</s>SCIUTTO: The close encounter comes as Russian aircraft continue to shadow U.S. drones, monitoring the border with Turkey, amid a massive expansion of Russian air and ground operations inside Syria.</s>ASH CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: We've seen some unprofessional behavior from Russian forces.</s>SCIUTTO: Defense Secretary Ash Carter calls Russia's actions in Syria, a mistake. Saying that of the 80 air strikes the Russians have conducted so far, only a fraction have struck ISIS targets.</s>CARTER: Russia has chosen to double down on their long-standing relationship with Assad, committing additional military hardware, capabilities and personnel. We have not, for our part, and will not, agree to cooperate with Russia as long as they continue to pursue a misguided strategy.</s>SCIUTTO: Relations with Moscow made more tense with a new Dutch investigation concluding it was a Russian-made and supplied missile system that shot down the Malaysian passenger jet MH17 over Ukraine last July.</s>CHURCH: And that was CNN's Jim Sciutto reporting.</s>BARNETT: And some other stories we're following for you, the Philippines says it will not negotiate with kidnappers who abducted four people in the southern part of the country.</s>CHURCH: The hostage-takers are demanding an end to government military operations in the region. Michael Holmes, reports.</s>MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A new video posted online purports to show four hostages kidnapped from a Philippines vacation resort last month, pleading to their governments to help save their lives. The video, too disturbing to show, but reveals that the hostages are alive, at least, at the time of its publication.</s>COL. RESTITUTO PADILLA, SPOKESPERSON, ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES: The positive thing that we derived from this video is that the kidnap victims are in good health, appear -- seems to be, and that is as far as we are concerned, part of the good news that we got out of it.</s>HOLMES: The hostages, two Canadians vacationers and Norwegian resort employee and a Filipino woman were abducted at gunpoint from the ocean view resort on Samal Island on September 21. Authorities don't know for sure who the kidnappers are. But in the video, the hostages are surrounded by mask, armed militants, and what appears to be the well known black and white flag of jihadists. The hostages are saying their kidnappers are demanding the Canadian and Filipino government stop military operations that affect the province of Mindanao, or they will be killed.</s>PADILLA: There is no negotiation that can be made with any of those who are perpetrating this crime.</s>HOLMES: Canada, Norway and the Philippines have acknowledged the situation, but officials have said little else so not to further jeopardize the lives of the hostages.</s>PADILLA: We cannot, as of the matter discuss operational details, but we can assure you that the safety of the hostages is always foremost in our minds.</s>HOLMES: The southern Philippines have been plagued by stand-offs with Islamic militants in recent years, including the taking of foreign hostages. Authorities are hoping to locate the ocean view hostages alive. Michael Holmes, CNN.</s>BARNETT: We have some Breaking News just coming into us here at CNN. Germany is forcing Volkswagen to recall 2.4 million vehicles in that country. Reuters says it's confirmed a report in build magazine that the motor transport authority is ordering the recall.</s>CHURCH: Of course, you would remember that Volkswagen admitted last month that its clean diesel vehicles have software installed to cheat emissions testing. Europe's biggest automaker has said up to 11 million vehicles worldwide were affected. And coming up next here on CNN Newsroom, Lamar Odom, once battled on the basketball court, now he's fighting for his life in a Las Vegas hospital. More on the star's condition when CNN Newsroom returns.