and you just kind of try to go on. >> reporter: case on carol, cnn, minneapolis. that's it for me, i am back at 5:00 eastern on the "the situation room." newsroom with brooke baldwin started now. good afternoon, i am brooke baldwin. thank you for joining me. you're watching cnn. the white house has no plans to raise the threat level here in the united states because of the islamic terror group isis. we can tell you that the united kingdom has officially raised its terror level to severe. that's the second highest level there. you see the different rankings on the screen. translation, they believe with the severe level that attack is highly likely. but let's also be clear there is no information that one will happen soon. what jolted britain into action was the brutal murder of

american, james foley, who was beheaded by ien isis fighter with a british accent. you remember the video. the root cause of the terror threat according to david cameron is islamic extremism which cameron calls a quote, unquote poisonous political ideology supported by a minority. >> it believes in using the most brutal forms of terrorism to force people to accept a warped world view and to live in an almost medieval state. a state in which its own citizens would suffer unimaginable brutality, including barbaric beheadings of those that refuse to convert to their warped version of islam, enslavement, raping of women, and widespread slaughter of muslims by fellow muslims and of course exporting of terrorism abroad. >> the u.k. is so concerned about the isis threat they're talking about creating new laws to take away passports.

carl pin hall is live in london and attended that conference. also, security national analyst julian kie a.m. carl, to you first, david cameron said there is no specific threat to the united kingdom. how did he come to this conclusion and explain to members of the media the raising of the terror level today? >> reporter: brooke, a lot of tough talk by prime minister david cameron, this in effect raising the threat level to the highest level in three years now, but as you say, driving this is what he sees as the threat from british jihadis returning from syria or iraq. british intelligence estimates there are around 500 britains fighting in syria or iraq with isis or other groups. some parliamentarians say it is

higher, saying we haven't got a clue how many there are out there. but that threat is nothing new, not only in iraq and syria, we have known for a long time britains may be there. even before that in afghanistan. so really not clear there's anything right now at the heart of this. although of course, the prime minister has been under pressure to show that he is doing something, especially in the light of that brutal execution of american journalist james foley, and next week, of course, prime minister cameron said that's when he is going to talk to parliament about specific measures that could include withdrawing passports from those suspected of returning from jihadi combat zones and could include putting travel bans on those seeking to travel to those areas. but really, for many people they look at this more of the same. even cameron said this is likely to be a generational battle. it could take years or decades to fight the threat of radical islam both abroad and here in

britain on the home front, brooke. >> interesting you say that, calling it a generational battle. julian, let me bring you in. we focus so much with the terror threat level being raised in the united kingdom, the u.s. listening to that briefing, the white house briefing, very clear the u.s. is not raising the terror threat level here at home. we know the u.s. is talking to britain. how does the united states assess when to raise the level? what would be factors the u.s. is looking at? >> reporter: there are a number of factors, what britain did would be relevant in an assessment. a couple years ago, the united states essentiallily abandoned that famous if not infamous color code system and now has a very different process called the national threat alert or advisory system and is essentially interagency approach to figure out whether the threat is increased, two, whether it is

imminent, and it is a rigorous process, taken out of the political process, given accusations that the color code was used politically. the difference between the threat to britain versus no known specific threat in the united states that we would not elevate at this stage and work with britain to assure their safety and security, and then have a sort of combination of sharing intelligence and diplomatic efforts. >> what about, that's the point about the threat level. what about david cameron's point about the number of british citizens that have gone to the middle east to fight with isis or other terror organizations. to carl's point, no one can conclusively put a number on that. but we know perhaps several hundred going over, being radicalized, some coming back, presumably with british passports, that the pentagon we

know said several dozen americans joined terrorist groups overseas. how concerned is the u.s. about americans coming back home? >> reporter: with u.s. passports, very concerned. that's why there has been incredible focus on the travel of individuals to areas and whether they are there for a long period of time. so remember the guy mccain who two days ago was killed in syria, not by us but by isis. i thought one of the good news stories about it was that he had been traced by u.s. intelligence and counterterrorism officials for some time before that because of his travel. >> that's right, he was flagged. >> reporter: right, he was flagged and they essentially lost him in turkey. look, it is a porous world with open borders, and finding out where everyone is is just impossible for perfect security, but certainly a particular behavior is going to trigger visa controls, recognizing that

we also have international commerce and global activity that have to survive any threat. in other words, we have to make travel relatively easy in this world as well. >> juliet kayyem, thank you. and carl, thank you very much. let's talk with the president here. the last we heard from president obama was yesterday afternoon. a lot of people were thinking okay, maybe this is the moment, this is when the u.s. says it is go time, but that didn't happen. and this particular statement seems to have shocked some people. >> i don't want to put the cart before the horse. we don't have a strategy yet. i think what i have seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we're at than we currently are. >> so a lot of folks today are saying are you kidding?

david gergen with me from cambridge, massachusetts, served a succession of presidents, both parties from the ford administration to bill clinton. he is the cnn senior political analyst. david gergen, welcome to you. >> hello, brooke. >> beginning with three words, gulf war two. united states goes in, invades iraq. overthrew the ruler, dictator, saddam hussein, then stood back, watched the gates of hell open in ways that the u.s. had never imagined. so given the state of play now in this part of the world, what is the line, david, between waffling and not going in and creating maybe an even bigger mess, one that perhaps the u.s. couldn't get out of? >> good question, well stated. brooke, you know, in years before you were born, we suffered from something called the vietnam syndrome. and that was after we went into vietnam and it became such a

mess there, for years thereafter, american policy makers were extremely reluctant to commit force or think about taking on another adversary. there was just a resistance at home. people didn't want to do it. now what we are seeing is an iraq syndrome. after the mess we created in iraq, there's real reluctance, understandable reluctance, president obama as the leader of caution, prudence as he would call it, using force to come up with a plan, comprehensive plan. yesterday, you have to give him points for honesty, he said we don't have a strategy. at the same time, that's highly unorthodox for the president to confess. don't have a strategy, don't know where we're going from here, like whoa, that caused a lot of people to say well, that's what we have been worried about all along, you're using force and you don't know what you're doing with it. >> okay. that's interesting that that's

your reaction. we will talk with jim acosta, he pushed in the white house briefing, he said strategy, specifically about asking for congressional permission and this and that, but i listen to people like you, david gergen. if you were whoaed by that, i consider myself whoaed as well. you talk about the president's prudence. it sounds like the military is giving the president options, options are on the table. so far, the president is saying sorry, this is not going to get it. we are going back to the drawing board. do we have any idea what the president might be asking for that perhaps he is just not getting from his national security team? >> well, the first thing, brooke, one has to do in an administration like this is figure out what is your goal. what is your long term objective. >> what is the goal? >> i must tell you, i think there's confusion and disagreement within the ranks of the administration about what the goal should be. we've seen now the president say well, we'd like to basically

contain. that was the first argument for using force. we don't want the isis to threaten the kurds or threaten those on the mountain top. we are going to prevent them moving forward. after the beheading of james foley, a horrific moment, john kerry said we have to destroy isis. and secretary of defense came out and said this is a huge threat. well, yesterday, the president was not talking about destroying isis, he is talking about rolling it back or containing. until they resolve what it is they're trying to do. it has been reported that the mohawkish group wants to really destroy, that's in the administration, led by the state department, but the more cautious group and president obama seems to be in that group is more interested in trying to prevent isis from taking over iraq. syria may be a hell hole, but try to preserve iraq and try to contain isis from doing that. >> to your point, this point was made in the white house briefing today, there seems to be

certainly, this is i am sure healthy in any good debate, a spectrum of opinions as far as u.s. involvement in syria. and josh earnest was clear in saying well, the cabinet is on the same page with the commander in chief. given your point, it makes one wonder if they really are. >> well, certainly beneath the surface one sense is very different sets of views. and that's been true in the administration, been true of many administrations, different points of view, but the president has fairly consistently come down on the side of caution, more cautious advisers, and in this case he has people like john kerry, he has someone like samantha power, people that believe we ought to be aggressive in humanitarian situations where so many people are slaughtered as in syria, that we ought to be much tougher than we are. i think the president is genuinely divided, and what he is trying to do now, he is going to europe next week to talk to

european allies, he is trying to round up enough nations in europe and arab world that would be willing to apply the force, then he would be more willing to use force. this is a classic case now of looking like he is leading from behind. >> coalition of the willing. >> coalition of the willing. >> see who jumps in that soon enough, i suppose, david gergen. thank you so, so much. >> thanks, brooke. ahead here on cnn, is pope francis caught in the isis cross hairs? there are reports the terrorist group wants to kill the pontiff. how is the vatican responding about protecting the leader of the catholic church. we will discuss that. and what drives someone to become a terrorist, what draws late teens, 20s american men and women to turn on their country and fight for the enemy. we will discuss that. first, an invasion or incursion? whatever you want to call it, the u.s. and nato say russian

troops are in ukraine. the russians say images of the troops must be from a videogame. yep. that's what they're saying. live from moscow next. (vo) if you have type 2 diabetes, you may know what it's like to deal with high... and low blood sugar. januvia (sitagliptin) is a once-daily pill that, along with diet and exercise, helps lower blood sugar. januvia works when your blood sugar is high and works less when your blood sugar is low, because it works by enhancing your body's own ability to lower blood sugar. plus januvia, by itself, is not likely to cause weight gain or low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). januvia should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. tell your doctor if you have a history of pancreatitis. serious side effects can happen, including pancreatitis which may be severe and lead to death. stop taking januvia and call your doctor right away if

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kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern. i am brooke baldwin. we have to talk about a buildup of russian troops inside ukraine on ukrainian soil. look at the map, nato called it a quote, unquote, serious escalation of russian

aggression. ukraine described it as a full scale invasion. what does the u.s. call it? president obama is steering away from the term "invasion" but his press secretary said what russia is doing in ukraine with as many as a thousand troops coming together there puts russia at risk for even more sanctions. >> the president is traveling to europe next week. he'll have the opportunity to meet with a number of our nato allies, and the situation in ukraine is a prominent item on the agenda. and i am confident there will be serious discussions about imposing additional economic costs on russia. >> so you heard from nato, from ukraine, now the u.s. what is russia saying? this is what russia is saying. a foreign minister says these satellite images showing russian artillery inside ukraine are, wait for it, from computer games. >> translator: from the very

beginning of the crisis, we have been blamed for everything. there have been reports that there are photographs from space showing movements of russian troops, but as it turned out, it was computer games and they were taken from there. the latest allegations are the same kind. >> in another twist, vladimir putin offered a reprieve from the violence. let me take you straight to moscow to matthew chance. matthew, we know that putin ordered a quote, unquote humanitarian corridor. tell me what that is. >> reporter: well, he called on pro-russian rebels that surrounded government forces after making significant military gains in the past couple days to open a humanitarian corridor to allow ukrainian government soldiers out of the battle zone. in his words to allow them to keep their lives and rejoin their families. that call was in itself

condemned by the government of ukraine in kiev and they say, officials there saying it indicates how much control vladimir putin has over the rebels that he would even make this request, adding to the growing body of evidence that it is vladimir putin that's pulling the strings of the insurgency in the east of that country, brooke. >> speaking of pulling the strings and having control here, we know, matthew, the u.s. state department reported that families in russia do not know where their sons are being since, but then seeing their bodies returned for burial. what is vladimir putin telling his own people about what's happening in ukraine? >> reporter: there are human rights groups in russia, never mind state departments, the soldiers mother committee, a prominent human rights group that held the government and military to accounting in russia

since 1991. they have been investigating this, getting a lot of phone calls, a lot of messages, a lot of contacts with the wives and mothers and family members of people serving in russian armed forces, trying to find out their whereabouts, trying to find out in many instances how their loved ones were killed. it seems that the accounts coming from the families are that these soldiers were in fact deployed to ukraine, something that's been denied categorically by the russian authorities. they're saying there are no russian groups on the ground as far as they're concerned, despite that growing body of evidence, arrests of ten russian paratroopers parading on television, secret grave sites that appeared in various parts of russia where there are military bases and from which it is speculated that military forces were deployed. despite all of that, the russian government is persisting with this notion that it is not

deploying any troops on the ground. now, why it is perpetuating that veil, that thin veil of disguise over its deployments is an all together different question. >> i agree with you, matthew chance, thank you so much, in moscow for us. we will stay on this here. one question when it comes to russia, ukraine, is u.s. military action an option? if so, what would it look like, we will talk with a retired army general about the strategy. first, does isis want to kill the pope? according to one report, yes. what additional steps are being taken to protect the pontiff, we will talk about that up next with john allen. ♪ ooooohh!!! ♪ what it is, what you want? yeah. ♪ live your life right ♪ make the beat the bump ♪ the undeniable! ♪ come into the party in a b-boy stance ♪ i rock on the mic ♪ and make the world wanna dance ♪ fly like a dove ♪ that come from up above ♪ i'm rocking on the mic ♪ and you can call me mos love

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there are lots of questions about the safety of pope francis. an italian newspaper reports the pope is the target of isis militants. they identify unidentified israeli sources saying the pope is in the cross hairs. senior vatican analyst john allen is with me, and john allen, how serious is this? >> well, look, at one level, given what's going on in the world, you can never completely dismiss the prospect of an isis threat of anyone, up to and including the pope. >> this isn't just anyone. >> however, that said, the vatican publicly is playing it down, saying they don't believe this is serious, there's no climate of alarm, and that's in part because of the nature of the report itself, as you said, a report in an italian newspaper

citing unnamed sources in israeli intelligence talking about a hypothetical potential threat against the pope. there's no suggestion of any hard intelligence that would tell you that a plot is imminent. now, on the other hand, i can also guarantee you that the vatican security people right now are having conversations with opposite members in italy and elsewhere about whether or not there might be suggestion of something, and what common sense precautions they may want to take. >> we were talking in commercial break about how fun it is to cover this pope, how accessible this pope is. how he often walks amongst people. even though the vatican may be saying we need to ratchet up security because of this threat, do you think that would actually happen? >> i said after francis was elected, the whole world may be charmed by him. one constituency that is not,

his security. he has gotten better. the argument that was made to him that worked is not that you're putting yourself at risk, frankly, that doesn't cut a lot of ice with him. the argument that worked was you're making life more difficult for the people that are charged with keeping you safe, and that moved him. so we've seen in public the kind of evolution of francis. he is much more willing to allow his security detail to get in place before he hops off the jeep or plunges into a crowd. >> he is, that's what we don't see, what we are not aware of. >> more willing when people hand him things, one of the security guys does a cursory examination before he takes it and stuff like that. now, that said, look, keeping any world leader now safe is a hard job. keeping this world leader safe, this kind of spontaneous, let it all hang out kind of people's pope, it is an especially challenging task. >> heart pills to the vatican.

thank you so much. nice to see you in person. coming up next, americans turning on their home land, fighting for the enemy. we will stay on this story and the brutality that is isis. but what drives these young men to join the fight. and tony stewart is racing this weekend, speaking out for the first time about the accident on a track a couple of weeks ago which killed another driver. we will play for you what he said just this afternoon. years of swedish experience in in perfecting the rich,150 never bitter taste of gevalia. we do it all for this very experience. that's good. i know right? gevalia.

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just past the bottom of the hour, you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. the death of another american killed fighting for isis is raising concern about how many more americans could be out there and what is driving them to join the fight to become terrorists? that's what the family of one minnesota man is trying to figure out. the family says he was killed over the weekend in syria fighting alongside isis. so just this week i talked to chris dickey, foreign editor of the daily beast. he talked about the would be terrorists or terrorists in general. he said essentially they're a bunch of young men, full of testosterone and they want fame. he explained the traits they

share in common. here he was. >> tnt, testosterone, almost all young guys. some of these guys may be older. narrative. that's very important. they may not be oppressed or grown up oppressed but passionately identify with some oppressed people, maybe their own, maybe somebody else's. finally, theater. they want to project themselves on the world stage. >> they want the fame. >> they want this fame, want to carry out spectacular acts, whether 9/11 or the beheading of an american journalist. >> let's take this a little bit more, the psychology of these potential terrorists with tony lemieux, investigator for study of terrorism and responses to terrorism. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> do you agree with he said, the testosterone narrative and theater? >> on some level there's some accuracy. it is important to recognize plenty of women get involved as

well. i think that misses part of the story, and of course there's a lot more to it as well. there's a desire to fit in, to belong, to do something important and have meaning. so there are issues of identity and perceived grievance. those are all factors he alluded to that are in play here. >> i understand young men or young women growing up, maybe lose a parent, maybe something horrendous happens in their lives that they want this acceptance, you know, but to up and go overseas and join this terrorist organization, connect the dots for me. i mean, how do you get there? >> that's the million dollar question, and it really is a difficult one because there are lots of different potential pathways for people. part of it is identifying with a group that's particularly grieved or perplexed. what should i do, can i sit on the sidelines and watch this

happen. there are certain spaces and vulnerabilities we need to be concerned with. my own area of interest in this is what kind of materials are available. what kind of -- >> propaganda. >> that's a really important piece of it because it interacts with those windows of vulnerability. >> let's compare isis propaganda to al qaeda and the arabian peninsula. why would it be more alluring to join isis now? >> i think the propaganda is one piece of it, but also the content of that. what isis is doing is saying we have a place, we have this physical territory that we have succeeded in battle, in combat. it is not an idea only, it has a much more tangible real sort of quality to it in some ways, so there's an appeal there. what i think is interesting in my own studies of propaganda of al qaeda and arabian peninsula put out in the forms of

magazines, there was more of a do it yourself that was characteristic of some of their work. one of the things we're seeing, some of the stuff we are seeing with isis propaganda is it is more motivational, not necessarily concerned with giving you the skills to do something wherever you are. it is more about here is where the action is and here is what needs to be done, come be a part of it. look at how we're winning. that's a big piece of this throughout. >> winning. if you consider killing people, beheading american journalists as playing on the winning team, that's part of the malleab ee ability of the young minds. thanks for helping us try to understand it. let's turn the situation back to the ukraine, u.s., and nato. great britain saying more russian troops crossed into ukraine. more sanctions could be on the table. what about military action? we will talk to retired army

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got a new development, this just into cnn. a british government source telling us that russia has moved between 4 and 5,000 troops in formed units into eastern ukraine. so that's new. 4 to 5,000. also, britain believes russia has 20,000 troops on the russian side of the border, and more may be on the way. nato says these images right here show russian tanks and artillery units that were already there, moving around eastern ukraine. just a couple hours ago, the white house slammed russia's continuous denials of

interference. >> as the russian military has fired on ukrainian military positions, as the russian military has put boots on the ground in ukraine, we have regularly marshalled evidence to show what's happened. despite protest tagss by the russian government that for some reason would have us believe otherwise, those denials are completely without credibility and we have been pretty candid about that i think. >> listening to the president speaking yesterday afternoon, he stopped short of calling what russia is doing an invasion. instead, president obama labeled those moves as an incursion. the president basically ruling out any u.s. military action. so let's talk military with our cnn military analyst, lieutenant general mark hurtling. general, let's begin with the news just in from britain saying 4 to 5,000. that's up a couple thousand

troops inside, russian troops inside ukraine, and knowing 20,000 or so amassed on the border of russia, reading into that militarily, how does that strike you? >> that tells me there's a couple of divisions on the border, that's critical, when you talk about 4 to 5,000, the size of that element is probably a reinforced regimen or tank regimen with artillery. that's pretty significant. you can call it incursion or invasion, what it is is basically going into sovereign territory of ukraine and trying to create chaos. >> can i just on semantics, incursion, invasion, what's the difference? >> the invasion piece is a russian attempt to bring their political will against another country. an incursion is where they used their force to basically influence another country. and it is semantics, brooke. i call it an invasion. it meets the pure definition of invasion. >> i want to you listen to

something. i had a guest on the show yesterday, wrote a book on vladimir putin. he was talking to me, he said that putin has struck fear in the hearts and minds of russians and that ukraine, he taught them through propaganda and what not is evil. but now my guest said putin is stuck. take a listen. >> why can't he just stop, ben, why can't he stop. heaven forbid vladimir putin would say i am wrong and stop what he began in ukraine. but what's wrong with that? >> because nazi ukraine as putin framed it for the russian people was starting to win, and it looked like putin's rebels were going to lose donesque and luhansk. they can't lose those two cities to nazi party, can he? that's why, he is trapped by his propaganda. >> the general went on to say that putin finds himself stuck. even at the cost of full collapse of relations with the

west, even with a full scale war. do you agree? >> here is what i would say, brooke. this is something mr. putin cannot afford. he cannot afford to lose. he was being beat in the two provinces where he was attempting to cause chaos against the ukrainian military. now he is trying to create another front against the ukrainian military and maybe create a bridge. he cannot go back to his people and say i lost against an inferior force. >> lose what? do we even really know what he is trying to win? we can guess. >> he is trying to influence the europeans. and it won't stop with ukraine. this will continue on into other areas. the baltic nations, georgia, mull dove a, where russia

already acted in several ways. he can't afford to lose in ukraine. >> the president is talking about possible additional sanctions. general, can you hear me? oh. we lost him. darn it. i hate when that happens. general hurtling, thanks for that. we will talk to him next hour about something else. up next, she's known by many as lady al qaeda, sits in a prison. isis wants her freed and her sister and family speak out exclusively to us on cnn. and tony stewart racing this weekend and talking for the first time about the accident on a track just a couple of weeks ago that killed another driver. hear what tony stewart had to say just this afternoon chlts. rs . . people here know that our operations have an impact locally.

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due to your first accident. switch to liberty mutual insurance and you could save up to $423 dollars. call liberty mutual for a free quote today at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. before isis killed james foley, they demanded the release of a pakistani scientist, aafia siddiqui. some call her lady al qaeda. a woman on the fbi's most wanted list. cnn had a chance to speak with siddiqui's sister and tells us that her sister is not a terrorist and doesn't want her name associated with any terrorist group.

>> i condemn any kind of violence, i don't care who does it, i condemn it. >> reporter: her sister fowzia made the decision to speak to cnn from her home in karachi, pakistan, because the family doesn't want terrorists carrying out attacks in aafia's name. after the brutal beheading of james foley, a letter sent to his family reveals how isis claimed to have requested aafia siddiqui's release. it said we offered prisoner exchanges to free the muslims currently in your detention, like our sister, aafia siddiqui. >> any kind of kidnappers, isis, whoever wants to claim aafia, i am aafia's sister. we are aafia's family. and we speak on her behalf as well. we want no violence in aafia's name. our whole struggle has been one

that is dignified, that is peaceful, and that is legal. >> reporter: a pakistani neuro scientist in the u.s. went missing. then she was listed as a sought after al qaeda member. in 2008, she reappeared, stopped by afghan national police, for acting suspiciously outside a government building. she was accused of shooting at two fbi agents and several military personnel, while being held at an afghan facility and sentenced by a u.s. federal judge to 86 years in prison for attempted murder and other charges. >> she is an icon. she is the poster girl for jihad, and in that way she serves as a sort of rallying point. >> she's the premier symbol of the muslim woman in distress. >> aafia should be released, but

not for ransom, not in exchange, not for other people that are kidnapped by extremists, no. and if i were to make an appeal to the kidnappers of hostages, i would say the same thing to them. you don't get anything, achieve anything by kidnapping innocent people. unjust incarceration is wrong. >> reporter: the only solution, says the family, is to remove the extremist celeb and release aafia siddiqui. >> thank you so much. coming up on cnn, there's a new report that says a laptop belonging to isis was discovered and in it information on the bubonic plague, on chemical weapons. the question we're asking, is the terror group capable of carrying out these types of attacks? we will discuss that coming up. ♪

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in today's bleacher report, after sitting out three raises, tony stewart is returning to the track this weekend. it is significant, this will be his first event since the accident that killed ken ward junior. earlier his car hit him during a

dirt track event in up state new york. stewart as we now know will complete at the atlanta motor speedway in the nascar sprint cup series this weekend. today he spoke publicly for the first time since that deadly accident. >> this has been one of the toughest tragedies i've ever had to deal with, both professionally and personally, and this is something that will definitely effect my life forever. this is a sadness and a pain that i hope no one ever has to experience in their life. that being said, i know that the pain that kevin ward's friends and family are experiencing is something i can't possibly imagine. i want kevin's father, kevin senior and his mother pam and his sisters christy, kayla, kaitlin to know every day i am

thinking about them and praying for them. >> he was cleared to return to all racing activities after ward's death. nascar began requiring drivers not exit cars stopped on the track unless they face fire in the cockpit or other imminent danger. comedian joan rivers is in serious condition at a new york hospital. her daughter tells e! news my mother would be so touched by the tributes and prayers that we have received from around the world. her condition remains serious, but she is receiving the best treatment and care possible. she goes on we ask that you continue to keep her in your thoughts as we pray for her recovery. now, a law enforcement tells cnn that rivers stopped breathing during throat surgery yesterday at a new york medical clinic. rivers apparently suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest and was taken then to the hospital. let me show you something. i want to show you a photo of the 81-year-old joan rivers. this was joan rivers performing

a day before this happened, and here is joan rivers at new york's beachman river thursday night showing no signs of health problems on stage, even joking about her own mortality. we continue at the top of the hour, i am brooke baldwin. big news out of the united kingdom, they raised the terror alert to severe. the second highest level. it is the first time they have done it in three years because of isis. this is according to david cameron who spoke publicly this morning. said it was the murder of james foley by an isis fighter with a british accent that proves the militant groups tear through iraq and syria is, quote, not some foreign conflict thousands of miles from home. as for the white house, they say it has no plans to increase the terror alert here in the united