Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

Protesters Topple Lenin Statue in Ukraine; Mourning Mandela; Winter Weather Impacts NFL Games

Aired December 9, 2013 - 06:30   ET

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


MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Driving, meanwhile, is disastrous in some states. Slick roads leading to hundreds of wrecks from Missouri to the mid-Atlantic.

Mourners by the hundreds are paying their respects to Nelson Mandela outside his home, not surprisingly, the crowd honoring the late anti- apartheid leader, people of all different races and faiths converging to pay tribute. During a national day of remembrance Sunday, services at churches, synagogues and mosques throughout South Africa honored him.

Divide both chosen and Japan, South Korea is expanding its air defense zone to include airspace over the East China Sea. Beijing and Tokyo have already claimed that space as its own. It comes two weeks after it controlled the airspace over a string of islands that both Japan and China claim as its own territory.

A multi-engine salute for actor Paul Walker. Thousands of fans turned up at the California crash site where the "Fast & Furious" star lost his life last month with his friend Roger Rodas. The site is sort of becoming a makeshift memorial. Fans and friends alike showing up, driving high end performance vehicles in honor of the two men who were both car enthusiasts.

A bit of a K-9 crime spree to tell you about, Kate, caught on surveillance video. Cato (ph) from South Carolina got off his leash and headed straight to the dollar store, snuck inside as customers walked in, not once, twice, soon after items were missing, conveniently pig ears, beef bones, dog treats. Cato took his lifted items and buried them nearby. And he greeted the officers which kisses.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is he going to serve jail time?

PEREIRA: I think he got a little private time to think about his crime.

BOLDUAN: In the dog pound.

All right. Oh, and there's Chris dancing away. How beautiful. Look at that tribute.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, guys. I don't know if you can hear. The situation speaks for itself. You hear the marching band? Just showed up out of nowhere. One of the beautiful examples what's happening here the rainbow nation, a fulfillment of what was a dream of Nelson Mandela.

After the break, we're going to back and tell you how they are getting ready for what promises to be an epic memorial tomorrow -- the likes of what we haven't seen much in recent history. We're going to talk to someone who met Nelson Mandela in prison, what he learned from him as a mentor there an in the years after.

Stay which us.

CUOMO: We're going to get right back to you, Chris.

And we're also going to be talking about ahead, a wild weekend of NFL football capped off by that kick -- a kick for the ages. How Denver's Matt Prater just rewrote the record books.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back. Let's go around the world now, starting in Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of protesters toppled a statue of Lenin.

CNN's Matthew Chance has that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a symbolic act of defiance. Pro-European protesters toppling that statue of the Russian revolutionary Lenin in the center of Kiev, hacking it to pieces with hammers. Pro-government supporters face their own demonstration nearby, amid concerns that Ukraine, a country of nearly 45 million people is increasingly divided.

Hundreds of thousands have gathered in the capital Kiev, calling for the government there to step down, is widespread anger after the Ukrainian president rejected closer ties with the European Union in favor of a trade pact which Moscow.

Back to you, Kate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Matthew, thank you so much. Now to Brazil where riots broke out between rival soccer fans. One man's injuries were so serious, a helicopter landed on the field and had to airlift a man to the hospital.

Here's Shasta Darlington with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPOINDENT: Kate, a bloody rival fight broke out over the weekend. One man was airlifted out. Game between the teams was halted for more than an hour while players and coaches pleaded with the fans to stop the violence and police shot rubber bullets into the crowd. Unfortunately, soccer violence is a chronic problem for the host of the next World Cup.

Back to you, Kate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Shasta, thank you.

And an American singer which no heritage nearly took the top prize in a TV show called "Arabs Got Talent." >

CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is in Beirut with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORESPONDNT: Jennifer Grout went from very long shot to falling short. The 23-year-old all American girl with the Arab voice came very close to winning the most popular talent show in the Middle East, "Arabs Got Talent." She placed in the top three. After the show, Jennifer told me she was very proud to have participated. Next up for her, she goes back to morocco where she will continue performing.

Back to you, Kate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Mohammed, thank you so much.

And, of course, let's turn to the big story here and around the world -- the honoring and funeral services of Nelson Mandela.

Hey, Chris.

CUOMO: Hey, Kate. How are you?

The music continues here, singing a quasi-religious hymn, asking that Nelson Mandela will rest in peace. I know that, Khehla Shubane a man just told me that. He met Nelson Mandela in prison. They became long time friends. He was a mentor. And now, he's explaining what's happening.

Khehla, thank you very much, I'm sorry for your loss. Thank you for joining us.

Let me set a little context. Right after the riots in 1976, you were put in prison. So you were a part of the new guard fighting apartheid, that's when you met Nelson Mandela, certainly the face of the old guard. What was his message to you when you first met him?

KHEHLA SHUBANE, FORMER CEO, NELSON MANDELA FOUNDATION: (INAUDIBLE) People coming in, obviously, it was people socialized into prison life, fighting (INAUDIBLE) That's virtually all the time. And the folks who were there were trying to say to us, pace yourself, you will be here for a long tie and for to you say here and be comfortable, you need to pace yourself properly.

CUOMO: One of the things that separates Nelson Mandela is not that he didn't feel hate, he didn't feel anger, he didn't know the pain of oppression, but what he decided to do with that? How did he get an angry young man like yourself which angry and hatred that surely you deserve to feel?

SHUBANE: I think the advantage he had is that he managed all of his personas very carefully -- the persona of the leader, the persona of the Mandela like every one of us who could sit down, argue which us, disagree which us, debate which us. I'm sure he would have identified with these people. One of his other personas was that he was part of the folks we are seeing in front of his house today. So all of those personas he managed very carefully and with style.

CUOMO: It's interesting. They're singing a religious hymn. But fair to say, Nelson Mandela's religion was the people, not the cause, not necessarily a church man, you know? A Christian per se. But this was his religion. This was his most profound belief was.

SHUBANE: You are absolutely right. Even though he went through prison, whenever people from different denominations came in, they obviously wanted to see him, so he would go and sit and listen very attentively. That was yet another of Mandela's personas.

CUOMO: As a politician, let's end with this. One of the most remarkable things was when there was a changeover in power, ordinarily, you wipe out who was there, especially under conditions like apartheid. He didn't do that.

How did Nelson Mandela sell the idea of keeping Africanos in government, keeping members of the former apartheid regime in the government? How did he make that OK with the African people?

SHUBANE: I think personally at a fundamental level, he recognized that Africanos were South Africans just like everyone of us. And that's a lessen he learned in prison and emphasized in prison.

He had a cordial relationship with the wardens, and we learned from him. The most important message who to trust, was that, please don't be consumed by hatred, because that takes a huge amount of energy and it focuses on the wrong things. That's a message he carried outside of prison. And amazing, he was able to carry huge numbers of people along with him.

CUOMO: Easy to say, so difficult to do. The success is what makes him the man so revered here and around the world.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be an epic memorial. I know you're going to be there. It is something I look forward to you being there. Thank you so much for sharing these memories. Appreciate it.

SHUBANE: Thank you so much.

CUOMO: Michaela, back to you in New York. PEREIRA: All right. Thanks so much, Chris. What an extraordinary conversation to have with an extraordinary man who knew Mandela so well.

BOLDUAN: It's really only a beginning and hasn't even -- the celebration of his life hasn't stopped since.

PEREIRA: I know. So, we'll have more from Chris in South Africa.

Let's talk about the weather, though, because we know from many of you who are traveling, you know, Monday's a big travel day in the winter close to the holidays, Dallas in particular. They have been having it rough at DFW.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I mean, they're talking now about freezing fog. First, you had freezing rain, now we are left with clearing out. But now, we're still up with cold air. Moisture, look at these temperatures right at the freezing mark if not below. And now, anything that's out there, freezing on the surface, which means, yes, flight delays, already about 800 fights delayed already today from the Dallas area.

That is the concern. They are not the only ones in the northeast. We are dealing with freezing rain today. Anywhere from New York to Virginia, even Roanoke looking still a quarter of an inch out of the system. Also to the north, a little snow we saw yesterday, still continuing to exit off to the northeast.

So, lots going on -- another system, right at the tail overnight especially in through tomorrow morning and later in the day, still talking about more snow and more than we saw yesterday. It's about 1 to 3 inches possible with rain farther down to the South. Not a lot of rain, either way, it is out there.

Yet, that is still not the only story. We are talking dangerous temperatures. Look at this -- look at this spread here. Temperatures below negative 30 degrees. Very dangerous out there.

Look at these wind chills. Great Falls negative 16, Bismarck, negative 30, even Denver feels like negative 7 degrees currently.

This is well below normal. We know that. Look at the architect air and how far it has spread. Dallas looking for temperatures only in the 30 today as your high, it's about 20 degrees below normal, even spreading to the Northeast.

We are continuing with this trend. We will show you tomorrow. We cool off even more in the Northeast as that second system makes its way.

So, lots to be concerned with. It's not delays, these chilly temperatures and everything left on the ground as people trying to commute. Even no system in place. You still got ice on the roads.

PEREIRA: Thirties and 40s doesn't look so bad when you look at Bismarck. (CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: It is all relative. The temperatures are dangerous enough.

PETERSONS: Yes, exactly.

BOLDUAN: All right, Indra, thanks.

Coming up next on "NEW DAY", a crazy day on the gridiron. In one game, there were five touchdowns in less than two minutes.

And then one for the record books. Folks, you saw the longest field goal ever.

BOLDUAN: It was exciting on your sofa yesterday. You were having a good time.

And then, we're going to show you the military flash mob with a holiday twist you will not want to miss, our must see moment today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: It changes your whole demeanor. We should just play that always for you.

BOLDUAN: You can play that anytime I enter the studio.

PEREIRA: What?

BOLDUAN: I love that.

PEREIRA: I like that. What a Sunday in the NFL. Tons of snow was seen, record setting scoring, and a whole fun bunch of sensational finishes.

BOLDUAN: Andy Scholes joining us to talk about one of the craziest, wildest, coolest NFL days ever.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hey, good morning, guys. You know, yesterday, a perfect example by the NFL as the most popular sport in the country. You know, that snowstorm, it made its way across the northeast. You know, it definitely made for some fun atmosphere. Check it out. Snow covered the fields in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

Check out the snow blowers, like excuse me, coming through. We saw conditions like this all around the league. Look at the Dolphins. Talk about fish out of water. You got -- palm trees and sunny sky there playing in the snowy Pittsburgh. Look at Calvin Johnson after this catch, it's a face full of snow in his helmet.

That is awesome. That looks like a lot of fun. Now, ground crews, of course, did their best to try to keep the fields playable, but it was tough. There was lots of fumbling. The Lions, they fumbled seven times in their game. The Eagles-Lions --

PEREIRA: Oh my goodness!

SCHOLES: Look at this, they wouldn't even dare attempt a field goal.

BOLDUAN: No way.

SCHOLES: Because there's no chance they would be able to hold that ball and kick it. It definitely looks like a lot of fun for us to watch. But guys, I don't know about playing in it.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Exactly. I mean, I honestly think those guys -- out there going honestly, this is a joke.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: They can't even see each other. It's hilarious. And, to make matters worse, Andy, this is what we could be looking at for the Super Bowl.

SCHOLES: Yes. You know, that's right. The Super Bowl is going to be February 3rd in New York. This is the first time they schedule an outdoor Super Bowl in a cold weather climate. And you know the good old farmer's almanac is calling for a big winter storm just like we saw yesterday for the week of the Super Bowl.

Now, the almanac claims to be right about 80 percent of the time. They called for a barely cold winter this year. I don't know, guys. I say they've been right so far.

PEREIRA: You know. We'll check with Indra to see what's up with that, because I got to tell you, that will make for an exciting thing to watch at home. Now, despite these conditions, it was kind of a record day, there was just a boat load of touchdowns.

SCHOLES: Yes. There were record 90, 90 touchdowns scored yesterday. Definitely a good day to have that NFL red zone channel. And check this out, in a span of 20 minutes, three games ended in wild fashion. It's just a great finish. Switch the channel, great finish. Switch the channel, great finish. Check it out.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOLES: The Vikings-Ravens. Yes. We, of course, sped this up a little bit.

BOLDUAN: No, you did not.

PEREIRA: Oh. OK.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHOLES: These two teams, they combined to score five touchdowns in the final two minutes of the game. They scored 36 points in the final two minutes. The Ravens ended up winning. Then, just a couple of minutes later in Pittsburgh, this wild play happened. Antonio Brown looks like he's run for a touchdown with no time on the clock, but --

(CROSSTALK)

SCHOLES: It's just out of bounds. The Steelers, they lost in a crutching (ph) fashion. Guys, this is a few minute later in Foxboro, the Patriots, they scored the touchdown, got the onside kick, then they scored another touchdown all in the span of 30 seconds. They went on to beat the Browns by a point.

Amazing, amazing finishes yesterday. And if that wasn't enough, in Denver, kicker, Matt Prater, he set an NFL record with a 64-yard field goal. Check it out. Barely gets over the crossbar, but it's in. He had that thin air in Denver working for him there. But, man, what an impressive kick.

BOLDUAN: I mean, when you take all of these highlights together, there is no way Monday night football is going to do anything for anybody tonight.

SCHOLES: Yes. How do they --

PEREIRA: I know.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: You can have a fall hangover on Monday after a Sunday like that.

BOLDUAN: I'll take that hangover any day. that's my kind of hang over.

PEREIRA: Andy Scholes, that was the best. I will never forget that.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Andy.

PEREIRA: A face plant full of snow.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: All right. Let's move to our "Must-See Moment," a pales in comparison maybe, but no, this one is phenomenal. It went down at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum last week, a single cello player kicking off one epic flash mob. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PEREIRA (voice-over): I get goose bumps just watching it. The United States Air Force band pulling out all the stops for the start of their holiday performance season. In all, about 120 musicians and singers took part in creating this wonderful moment. Evidence on the faces of the museum guests a truly, truly memorable experience. Many of them showing up in jackets and coats, so you didn't know they had their uniforms underneath, handing their jackets, and switching out an instrument with somebody waiting in the wings, and boom, how about that?

BOLDUAN (voice-over): The air and space museum is neat enough. I mean, if you go to Washington, D.C., you have to go there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN (on-camera): You have to take your kids there. It's so special. Then to have that --

PEREIRA (on-camera): That happened.

BOLDUAN: Talk about a memorable museum experience. That was neat.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, let's talk more about the weather, the massive it has turned deadly winter storm barreling through the east coast right now, snow, rain, ice, you name it, they've got it. Your commute may be a nasty one today.

And at the airport, hundreds of flights are being canceled probably not surprisingly. We're going to be live with what you need to know before you head out the door.

PEREIRA: Yes, another rough travel day.

Also, Google, Microsoft and other tech giants, they're joining forces to protect your privacy. We'll tell you what they're planning to do.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Nasty commute. For millions up and down the east coast today, ice, rain and snow, but flyers may get the worst of it. Hundreds stranded, some for days. We're live with the latest.

CUOMO: Live from South Africa. A massive historic memorial for a true giant. Leaders from across the globe, including four U.S. presidents arriving here to help remember Nelson Mandela.

PEREIRA: Why was he shot? Anger and sadness at a Texas college this morning. Why did a campus police officer open fire and kill this student? Was it an overreaction or is there more to the story?

CUOMO: Your "NEW DAY" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: What you need to know --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The story just doesn't really make sense to any of us. I think we're mostly just angry and want answers.

ANNOUNCER: What you just have to see --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These two juveniles knew that she was intoxicated, knew she shouldn't have been driving and allowed her to drive.

ANNOUNCER: This is "NEW DAY" with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Good morning and welcome to "NEW DAY". It is Monday, December 9th, seven o'clock in the east. Thanks for joining us. I'm Kate Bolduan here in New York.

CUOMO: And I'm Chris Cuomo coming to you live from Johannesburg, South Africa where we're witnessing waves of emotion coming past us in front of the home of Nelson Mandela. The memorial tomorrow shaping up to be simply epic. Four U.S. presidents will be here. Over 95,000 seats will be filled in this massive soccer's stadium with no problem with tons of spillover.

We're going to tell you who's coming and what it's all about. But first, let's go back to New York with Kate for this morning's top story -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Chris. We'll go back to you real soon. Let's talk now, though, about the big story here in the U.S. A massive deadly storm that's slamming the east coast. Right now, we're talking about snow, rain, ice, it's wreaked havoc across nearly half of the country. The deep freeze canceling thousands of flights at this point and the deadly pileups on icy roads has made driving very dangerous.

We're covering every angle of the story for you. Let's begin our storm coverage with Indra Petersons, of course, tracking the weather -- Indra.

PETERSONS: Yes, like it's not bad enough this morning. We're still talking about delays, even freezing rain expected in the northeast is continuing to fall. And in Dallas this morning, after tons of delays over the weekend, they're dealing with freezing fog after a weekend filled with freezing rain, snow, and ice.