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CNN NEWSROOM

Two Americans Being Held in North Korea; New Video of Walker Crash; Hawaii Man Killed in Shark Attack; Divers Rescue Man Trapped Underwater; Millionaire to California: Boost Minimum Wage

Aired December 3, 2013 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the past, North Korea has released Americans after visits by prominent dignitaries -- a propaganda victory in the eyes of the regime.

LAURA LING, JOURNALIST ONCE DETAINED IN NORTH KOREA: Thirty hours ago you know Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea.

STARR: Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry. Former President Bill Clinton secured their release in 2009.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now U.S. officials and family members are being very careful right now not to say anything that could jeopardize the hopeful and potential release of these two Americans in the near future -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: new surveillance video of crash that killed Paul Walker. We'll take a closer look at what happened when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now to the sudden death of "Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker. Police have ruled out drag racing as the possible cause of that fatal crash. But this morning we have new surveillance video to show you. This is the moment when Walker's Porsche Carrera GT slammed into a light pole and burst into flames.

CNN entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner is in New York with more on the story. Good morning.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning Carol. A video that is hard to watch. Now while the L.A. County's Sheriff's Department does continue its investigation into what happened in this crash, friends, family and fans of Paul Walker's continue to mourn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Fast cars and high octane driving, the keys of the "Fast & Furious" franchise and possibly the cause of death for one of the film's stars. Investigators say they believe the fiery crash that killed Paul Walker and a friend on Saturday involved a single speeding car. His "Fast & Furious" costar Vin Diesel visited the crash site Monday night. He addressed a crowd gathered at the memorial.

VIN DIESEL, ACTOR: Thank you for coming down here and showing that angel up in heaven how much you appreciate him.

TURNER: OMG Insider obtained this surveillance video showing the moment that 2005 Porsche Carrera GT driven by Walker's racing team partner Roger Rodas slammed into a light pole.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have confirmed two DOA.

TURNER: The L.A. County's Sheriff Department investigated and ruled out a tip that the crash may have been the result of a street race. An eyewitness backs up that conclusion.

JIM TORP, PAUL WALKER'S FRIEND/CRASH WITNESS: When they passed us, there were no other cars around them at all. And there was only one car, and we were listening for it. And when they, you know, when they hit it a little bit and you can hear their exhaust, there was only one car.

TURNER: The pavement where the crash occurred is scorched with skid marks though it's unclear if those were left by the car Walker was riding in. And law enforcement sources say the oval-like street has a reputation for being popular with fast drivers. Walker himself spoke about the kind of dangerous driving depicted in the "Fast & Furious" back in 2001.

PAUL WALKER, ACTOR: There's nothing -- there's nothing to be worse than 120 mile an hour blowout on a surface street you know with pedestrians lining up and down. You it's just -- it's just common sense. It's just not worth the risk factor.

TURNER: Walker's new movie "Hours" will open as planned on December 13th. He had been working on the seventh installment of the "Fast & Furious" series at the time of his death -- the future of that film now in question. But this ominous scene has been leaked online showing Walker at a funeral.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No more funerals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just one more.

TURNER: Walker leaves behind a devoted fan base, friends and close- knit family. His dad says they are overcome with grief.

PAUL WALKER SR., ACTOR'S FATHER: As a father, that's a fear that you always have that one of your children will go before you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: It's so very sad. Now there's a couple of things at work here today Carol. First of all, the autopsies for Roger Rodas and Paul Walker will be done later on today. I spoke with Paul Walker's representative who tells me plans for a memorial for him are still being finalized.

And also, you know, we showed you a clip of his movie that's going to be released December 13th called "Hours." And I'm being told this is a true departure from what we're usually used to seeing Paul Walker the character seen him play on the screen, kind of like the "Fast & Furious" characters.

This is about a father who is trying to save his child's life who was born with complications in the hours after Hurricane Katrina. They are saying it's a very serious role and that he's getting a lot of critical applause for this role.

COSTELLO: It's so sad. Nischelle Turner many thanks to you.

TURNER: Sure.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a deadly shark attack in Hawaii. We'll tell you about that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Tragedy off the coast of Hawaii after a man dies from a shark attack. It happened while he was fishing from a kayak Monday morning. The deadly encounter is the 13th shark incident in Hawaii this year alone. That's well above the state's average. CNN's Zoraida Sambolin has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM DUNAWAY, WITNESS: I was very sad. We were all shocked.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Terror on a Maui beach Monday morning after a fisherman is killed by a shark.

DUNAWAY: I think we all realized that there was something wrong.

SAMBOLIN: The victim, a 57-year-old Patrick Briney was dangling his foot off the side of a kayak at Makena Landing. The shark virtually ripped it off. A friend of Briney who was fishing in a kayak some 500 yards away, paddled over and tried to save him.

DUNAWAY: We applied a tourniquet on the leg that was wounded.

SAMBOLIN: Frantic witnessed flagged down a tour boat to rush Briney back to shore. Officials say Briney died on the way to the hospital. What's truly frightening, this is the 13th shark attack reported in Hawaii just this year alone. Eight of those attacks happened in Maui. To put that into perspective, Hawaii has traditionally averaged only four shark attacks per year. There was only one recorded in 2008 and none in 1998. Researchers at the University of Hawaii have launched a two-year study to get to the bottom of why these attacks are surging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got signs maybe about one mile each beyond stretch Makena Landing all the way down to Ayi (ph) reserve -- we're just closing the beach. Monitoring and making sure everybody stays out of the water and keep it safe for the community.

DUNAWAY: I think you know as divers you realize, if anything, that there are dangers. You know, there's a reason to be careful out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Zoraida Sambolin reporting. While the waters where that attack took place are closed some beaches in the surrounding area remain open. Officials are warning swimmers to stay out of the water, though.

Checking other "Top Stories" this morning at 45 minutes past. You may know Bob Dylan best for his music. Yes peace loving music, right? But now the ten-time Grammy award winner is being investigated in France for allegedly inciting hatred after he compared Croatian people to Nazis.

The remarks in question were quoted in the French "Rolling Stone". Here they are quote, "If you've got a slave master or Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood." No comment yet by Dylan's representative about the investigation in France.

Official say a fourth student has now come down with meningitis at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The school says all four students became ill last month. One of them remains hospitalized after having both of his feet amputated two weeks ago.

More than 300 students who had contact with those who have been ill have been given antibiotics.

COSTELLO: An activist group is fighting for captive chimpanzees to have some of the same rights as human beings. The Non-Human Rights Project has filed a landmark lawsuit in New York's Supreme Court on behalf of four chimpanzees. It argues that scientific evidence proves that chimps are self-aware and autonomous and therefore should be recognized as legal people.

An apparent battle in the war on Christmas just won in Rhode Island. The State House Tree will now officially be called a Christmas Tree this year. For the past two the state made the controversial decision to call the tree a holiday tree.

Here's Governor Lincoln Chafee on his decision this year

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. LINCOLN CHAFEE (D), RHODE ISLAND: I want to concentrate on the real issues. And if this what people care about rather than lowering the taxes and providing the services, then so be it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

The 17-foot tall Christmas Tree will be lit on Thursday. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a man spent nearly three days trapped underwater after a tugboat sinks. Now we're hearing from the rescuers who discovered him. You will be amazed at how this man managed to survive. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's a story that some people thought was too good to be true. A man survives nearly three days underwater in an air pocket after his tugboat sank. We now have video of the rescue. And CNN's Jeanne Moos talks to one of the rescuers about how it all came together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When this tugboat capsized in the ocean off the coast of Africa, it was thought a dozen men drowned. So imagine when a rescue diver searching the tug felt a hand.

(on camera): What was shocking was he thought that was a hand belonging to a corpse.

JED CHAMBERLAIN, DIVER SUPPORT TEAM, DCN GLOBAL: Exactly. Exactly.

MOOS: And then the hand grabbed him. Watch the reaction of the diver and the supervisor on the surface.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that? OK. All right. You found one, yes? He's alive. He's alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Keep him there. Keep him there.

MOOS (voice-over): For the diver.

CHAMBERLAIN: He said it was one of the most terrifying moments under water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just reassure him. Pat him on the shoulder.

MOOS: Diver met survivor, as the rescuer surfaced in an air pocket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

MOOS (on camera): Twenty-nine-year-old Harrison Okene had been under water for two and a half days. The survivor was in the toilet when the tug capsized. It went down really fast leaving him trapped in a four-square-foot air pocket.

(voice-over): The tug came to a rest upside down 100 feet below the surface. It was pitch black. His skin was starting to peel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is that passage to bring him out? Is it OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

MOOS (on camera): If you're wondering why the diver's voices sound high-pitched like the Chipmunks.

CHAMBERLAIN: That's because they're breathing a helium-oxygen mix.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You mustn't panic, hey? You must listen to me, all right?

MOOS (voice-over): They gave him a helmet, though he had no experience diving.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harrison. Harrison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Harrison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, and I'm going to bring you home, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

MOOS: It was even a moment of dark humor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your rank?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm the cook. The cook.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're the cook?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They always survive. Harrison?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. You're going to follow -- you're going to follow Nico (ph), OK?

CHAMBERLAIN: He was exceptionally calm. Exceptionally calm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going now. Put your head under water and breathe comfortably, OK?

MOOS: It took a little less than half an hour to get from the tugboat to the surface.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're doing very good.

MOOS: If the story sounds familiar, it's because the accident happened back in May, but only now has the video surfaced accompanied by what at first seems like incongruous music until you recognize it as the theme from "The Great Escape". Harrison spent the next two days in a decompression chamber. He returned to Nigeria in good shape. And you can bet neither man will ever forget the handshake that left both shaken.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's alive, he's alive.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That's amazing. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the fight for a higher minimum wage in California is getting a high-profile push from a millionaire entrepreneur. He joins me next to explain how his push will save you money.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: My next guest is breaking with some of his fellow conservatives and leading a charge to boost California's minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2016. It's a move he says will save you -- the taxpayer -- money. So why do so many other conservatives say it will cost jobs?

Ron Unz is a millionaire entrepreneur, libertarian and former Republican candidate for governor of California. He joins me now from Mountain View, California. Good morning, sir.

RON UNZ, MILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR: Hey, great to be here.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here.

You're funding a move in California with your own money to increase the minimum wage because you say it will save taxpayers money in the long-run. Many Republicans would not agree with you. They say raising the minimum wage hurts small business people and costs the country jobs. Are you saying they're wrong?

UNZ: I think they are. And actually many of them now have looked at the issue in a new light once they've realized that because of the low wages of all of these workers, they received billions or even tens of billions of dollars every year in government benefits paid for by the taxpayer. If they received higher wages by their employer, the taxpayer wouldn't have to make up the difference.

COSTELLO: But from a small business owner's perspective, that might not -- I mean for a small business person, they would be hurt, wouldn't they, if they had to pay their employees more?

UNZ: Not necessarily because all they would have to do would be to raise prices by a very small amount to make up the difference. For example, Wal-Mart workers normally are not paid much money at all. I think they average about $8 or $9 an hour. If they're wages were raised to a minimum of $12 an hour, Wal-Mart would only have to spend one percent more money. They would only have to raise their prices by one percent one time, which would cost the average Wal-Mart shopper $12 per year. Meanwhile, taxpayers would save billions of dollars in social welfare benefits.

COSTELLO: Like people having to go on food stamps because they don't make enough money to support their family --

UNZ: Exactly.

COSTELLO: -- with their wages, right?

You're actively trying to talk with retailers like Wal-Mart to convince them to raise their wages. I asked a Wal-Mart executive about the minimum wage in this country last week. Here is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DNCAN MACNAUGHTON, EVP, WAL-MART, USA: Carol, I think this is a very important discussion that we need to have as a country. It's about rebuilding middle class jobs. And in an open economy like we have, it's really about supply and demand. And we're very interested in participating in those conversations to say what is the right price for workers across the country?

And because we are a large retailer, we're excited to be able to offer that. Actually our average hourly number is $12.81.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So you say you're going to reach out to Wal-Mart to talk about this issue. Have you?

UNZ: Well, I've just started my campaign. But I certainly do hope Wal-Mart looks at this issue seriously. One important point is that a 12-dollar minimum wage nationwide would shift $160 billion each year into the pocketbooks of the low wage workers who spend every dollar they earn. It would provide a huge boost to the economy and a huge boost to Wal-Mart because they're the people who shop at Wal-Mart.

COSTELLO: I wish I could talk to you longer, but I'm out of time. Thank you so much, Ron, for joining me this morning.

UNZ: Thank you.

COSTELLO: And thank you for joining -- you're welcome. Thank you for joining me. I'm Carol Costello.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: We now know that Bronx commuter train was going 82-miles per hour as it headed towards a curve. May be soon we'll know why. Could criminal charges be coming?

Also this hour, a real life soap opera unfolding inside a comic book empire -- executives accusing the boss of bullying and filthy discrimination but a female CEO says white men can't sue. Can't wait for our legal team to take on this one. And also a lawsuit headed to New York's Supreme Court, claiming that prisoners are being held under inhuman conditions and deserve to go free.