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New Day

U.N. Official Links Assad to War Crimes; First Case of New Bird Flu in Hong Kong; Shark Attacks on the Rise; Court Won't Stop Internet Takes; Seahawks Soar

Aired December 03, 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: Newly released surveillance video shows the moment "Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker's Porsche slammed into a tree and burst into flames. That video was taken from a building across a parking lot from the crash site. Paul Walker and his friend and business partner Roger Rodas were killed. Rodas was behind the wheel. Their autopsies are set to happen today. Now, this video appears to challenge claims that drag racing was involved. We'll talk a look at that aspect of the invitation much later in our program.

An historic decision today from a federal judge on whether to allow the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history, the city of Detroit facing an estimated $18 billion in debt. If it is allowed to stay in bankruptcy, the decision could affect pensions, city services and health care for residents.

And we want to end on a cute and cuddly note. Jay Darden shared his close encounter with a manatee over Thanksgiving weekend. It hugged his leg as he was tickling the sea cow's belly. A hug, a little snuggle. Darden was in the Crystal River near Tampa, in the only Florida county that actually allows swimmers to touch manatees this was all condoned. He's like, thanks, fellow, I'll hug your leg.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just need a little love. That's all.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Bring a manatee therapy, let's bring it to the nation's capital.

PEREIRA: Don't you think?

CUOMO: What do you think? Get them down there on the water.

PEREIRA: Let's take senators down there. Don't you think?

BOLDUAN: Images playing out in my head.

CUOMO: Start crying all of a sudden.

PEREIRA: You can stand there be and hugged. Maybe they need to be hugged.

CUOMO: Hug them, just start crying, some tears.

PEREIRA: Hug it out, D.C.

CUOMO: Some of the man tears being choked back.

PEREIRA: I'm going to make a t-shirt that says "hug it out, D.C."

BOLDUAN: I don't think --

PEREIRA: You would sign on it, do you?

CUOMO: You should --

BOLDUAN: I feel bad for the manatee.

CUOMO: Oh, is that it?

PEREIRA: You might have something there.

BOLDUAN: OK.

Coming up next on "NEW DAY": a man's fishing trip takes a deadly turn Monday. He was attacked and killed by a shark after the coast of Hawaii. We have the details behind that fatal encounter.

CUOMO: And while the Cyber Monday was the biggest shopping day ever, that's what they tell us, the Supreme Court has declined to hear a case regarding something that affects all online shoppers. How could their decision affect you? We'll tell you, key word, taxes.

BOLDUAN: The tax man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back. Let's go "Around the World" now starting in Damascus.

The top U.N. human rights official is linking Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to war crimes there. CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kate, there's a strong allegations that the human rights chief for the U.N. is making, saying there's evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Syrian regime and that responsibility goes all the way up to the office of President Assad. The Syrian government reacted saying they give no credibility whatsoever to what the U.N. is saying and that the human rights chief has talked, quote, "nonsense in the past."

The U.N. wants to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court and also says that rebels have committed war crimes as well -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Fred, thank you for that.

A public health alert in Hong Kong this morning. The first human case of a new type of bird flu is being reported there after it killed dozens in neighboring China. Pauline Chiou has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAULINE CHIOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Hong Kong, authorities are on high alert after confirming the first human case of H7N9 bird flu in the city. Hong Kong's government says a 36-year-old Indonesian national is now in critical condition at the hospital. The woman works as a domestic helper. She had recently slaughtered and ate a chicken in the nearby mainland Chinese city of Shengxin (ph). Hong Kong health officials have now raised their preparedness for an influenza pandemic to serious. Now, human infections of the H7N9 strain of bird flu first emerged in Shanghai in March of this year.

Back to you, Kate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Pauline, thank you.

And it's a killing that shocked Britain and the world. Two men now on trial for killing a soldier with knives and a machete.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin has the latest from London.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What promises to be another emotional day here at court, two men are on trial for the murder of soldier Lee Rigby, prosecutors say the men targeted him with their car and hacked him to death in broad daylight to the horror of Londoners nearby. Now, yesterday, witness testimony brought his wife to tears. We expect to hear more from those who say they were there when it happened, including a truck driver who says he stopped to protect Rigby's body. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

Back to you, Kate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: All right. Thank you for that.

CUOMO: All right, story to tell you about now. A man is fishing in a kayak off the coast of Hawaii and he winds up being attacked and killed by a shark. This is the latest of recent attacks in the state by sharks.

"EARLY START" anchor Zoraida Sambolin joins us now with this story.

Just for this man alone, forget about the trend, just a terrible ending to what should have been a great day.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR, "EARLY START": Absolutely. And so many of these stories. Over the last 20 years, Hawaii has averaged about four unprovoked shark incidents per year. This deadly encounter is one of 13 incidents in Hawaii this year alone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very sad. We were all shocked. SAMBOLIN (voice-over): Terror on a Maui beach Monday morning after a fisherman is killed by a shark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all realized that there was something wrong.

SAMBOLIN: The victim, 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 Briney who was fishing in the kayak some 500 yards away paddled over and tried to save him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He applied a tourniquet on the leg that was wounded.

SAMBOLIN: Frantic witnesses 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 stretch from Makena Landing all the way down to reserve. We're just closing the beach, monitoring, making sure everybody stays out of the water, keep it safe for the community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think, you know, as divers, you realize if anything, there are dangers, you know. There's a reason to be careful out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAMBOLIN: The victim here, Patrick Briny, was from Washington, a retired Boeing engineer. He was on vacation in Maui. And his family says he loved the outdoors, fishing and wind surfing and that he died doing what he loved to do.

PEREIRA: I am all about --

SAMBOLIN: The worry about this, that's an area where a lot of people do snorkeling and diving. So, they tell everybody to stay out of water until they figure this out. It's a two-year investigation to try to figure out what's going on with the sharks in that area.

BOLDUAN: And as that man said, you know, when you're out there and you take part in water sports in the ocean, you know there is some amount of risk but you never think it's going to end like that.

CUOMO: It would nice if they come put wit something that abets the risk. But it does seem the more you mix with wildlife, the more you encounter each other. Sad for his family. Thanks for telling us this story. BOLDUAN: All right. Let's go back to weather and get a check with Indra on the forecast.

How things looking, Indra?

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, pretty mild over the next several days, but all of this will start to change as a big system in the Pacific Northwest will finally make its way east. You can tell maybe light showers, a piece of energy making its way through the southeast today.

But overall, they are loving the weather. They are not complaining. Look at the temperatures. There's a reason for this.

We are talking about 70s in Atlanta by tomorrow. Look how above normal that is. It should be in just those upper 50s. Same thing with New York City, just a hint above normal. By Thursday, a good 10 degrees above normal, getting close to the 60s.

Now, enjoy all of this because look at the weather out West. I mean, talk about some snow here from Wisconsin all the way back even in through California. We're talking about winter weather advisories. Thanks to the system that is dumping, yes, snow and a ton of it. One to two feet of snow around Denver today as the system sags farther to the south, even through Minnesota. We'll still talking about the system spreading in.

Another look at it, you can actually see the map itself. There goes the low making its way south, and then, yes to the east. As this guy makes its way east, we're not going to be talking about snow moving east but also the chill.

I mean, these temperatures, this is what we call arctic blast for a reason. It feels like you're in the arctic when temperatures are 40 degrees below normal as the system makes its way through. The other thing you want to look at especially as it makes its way through Thursday and Friday, icing conditions from Illinois, even back in through Texas, that's going to be a big story, especially travel concerns for the end of the week.

Otherwise, they still look pretty good. New Orleans looking 77 degrees, in New York, 50, Atlanta, 62. A lot of happy campers for two days. Looks good.

BOLDUAN: Fine. Fine with us.

PETERSONS: We can two days, right?

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Indra.

CUOMO: All right. Coming up on "NEW DAY", we all knew this was going to happen. Shopping online got too good. The next thing is going to be taxes. There it is on the bottom of your screen. Should it happen?

The Supreme Court did us a favor, stayed out of it, so far. But we're going to take on the question for you.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely.

CUOMO: Big retailers, you know what I mean, whether or not they should take taxes from us. We'll talk about it.

PEREIRA: All right. We will. Also, we're going to talk about this, at least I'll show it to you -- a camera set up to record crocodiles is swiped but not by somebody who had a lot of teeth. Somebody with wings. We'll show you or unexpected thief in our must see moment, coming up.

CUOMO: Remember the go pro on the eagle?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to "NEW DAY".

You're probably sitting back surveying all the damage you did on Cyber Monday. Keep this in mind, next year, it could be a little harder on the credit card. The Supreme Court has turned down a challenge to a New York law that requires online retailers like Amazon to collect sales tax from customers in the state.

So how will this decision affect online sales in other states? We put the question to our chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, to explain. All right. Let's break it down. Who wins, who loses? How does this all fall out?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, I think consumers are the big loser here, quite frankly, because remember, the thing that really got us addicted to online shopping, there were no state taxes. And over the years, states have started putting taxes on these purchases you make more and more states.

And now, because the Supreme Court is not going to get involved, you could, next year, see a lot more people paying online tax, taxes online for their purchases. So, the consensus among the people who've been involved in this battle is, you know, higher taxes are coming for a lot of people right now.

BOLDUAN: How much money we're talking about here?

ROMANS: We're talking about billions. I mean, there's something like $23 billion of uncollected state taxes on these purchases. If you live in New York State, like Cuomo does, like you do, you are already seeing this. If you buy something on Amazon.com, you're already seeing the state tax, because a lower court ruled that yes, I mean, you had to pay these state taxes.

Supreme Court refused to get involved. So, those taxes hold. Now, will the rest of the states start to decide, you know, we're emboldened. We're going to try to go after more of these taxes.

CUOMO: The law has been slow on this.

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: It started with sport books, betting online, and they had to find ways. They went back to the 1960s Communication Acts to find, like wiretapping and stuff, ways to get their hand on it, but this has been happening for a while whereas the internet is actually creating commerce, government wants a slice.

ROMANS: Right. And it's a big slice. It is a really big slice. And now, you know, brick and mortar and online retailers are kind of merging. I mean, you look at something like Amazon. They got 34 fulfillment centers across the country. Thousands of people who work in some of them. So in some places, the state to say (ph), you have a physical presence in my state. You are going to pay sales tax.

But I think what it could mean for New York and it already has been, some of these big online retailers are going to make sure they're not creating any jobs in New York, because they want to continue to argue that, you know, we don't have a physical presence in New York.

PEREIRA: But it's so messy because -- I live here. If I'm buying fishing equipment in Tennessee and then shipping it to someone else, it's all of these cross state laws.

ROMANS: And that's what everyone says that it's so messy. Maybe Congress should fix this. Oh, wait, Congress.

PEREIRA: ha, ha, ha.

ROMANS: Ha, ha.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: -- not been able to figure out a way. There've been efforts but it hasn't really --

BOLDUAN: What's the argument against the tax? What is the compelling argument against it? Because you see why states, they want more money and brick and mortar stores say they're at a disadvantage if an online retailers offering the same product.

ROMANS: Consumers don't want to pay it. Poll after poll shows people don't want to pay it. The reason --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Right. But they're sitting down. They're not going to the store. They're not -- they're sitting down and they're buying something that could be coming from anywhere. Who's going to be the tax collector for where it was purchased and where it came from --

BOLDUAN: That's what Amazon says, right?

ROMANS: Right. You know, they don't want to be New York State's tax collector or anybody else's tax collector. You know, there are some rules on the books that, you know, technically we should be paying some sales tax depending on what you're buying. At the end of the year, don't tell the IRS, I'm not sitting down and figuring out what I bought where.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Your accountant will tell you differently. My accountant has sat down and waived the finger --

ROMANS: Really?

PEREIRA: Oh yes, absolutely.

CUOMO: The admissions of felonies aside --

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Not an admission, but the fact she wants me to get -- if we're shopping online, she says we have to pay those taxes.

CUOMO: She's waiving her finger at you and then you responded by saying, no, I've already accounted for all of this. It's right here on --

ROMANS: It's messy. It's very messy. And what --

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

ROMANS: They were really hoping that the Supreme Court would clear it up. The Supreme Court did not clear it up.

CUOMO: I'm happy they stayed out of it.

ROMANS: You are? Why?

CUOMO: I am. I think that you got to let the states figure this out, let Congress state -- let them deal with the taxation. Don't bring the Supreme Court into something like this, because in all likelihood, the types of decisions they bring down on this just will introduce the possibility of it.

And now, you have this whole second step again of figuring out how to do what the court says you can do when you already know that you can do it. So, figure out how to do the best way. It's the least onerous for the consumer. Don't delay.

BOLDUAN: Bottom line, more taxes are coming.

ROMANS: Yes.

CUOMO: Romans doesn't like it. You see Romans --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: How do you put that, Cuomo, as amount (ph) of bumper sticker? (CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: She was giving me the side eye.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: Let's go to the "Must-See moment," shall we?

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Christine.

PEREIRA: A camera mysteriously disappearing after park rangers set it up. They were trying to watch crocodiles in Southwestern Australia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA (on-camera): Now, they know who took it. Six months later, they found out a sea eagle snatched it up, flew it some 70 miles away. What's kind of intriguing, though, is when the bird yanked it up from its perch, flies across the gorge in the Margaret River, you can see -- hear at the end, oh, what is this?

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: And he kind of stamps on it with his paw. In the future, the researchers say that they're going to bolt these cameras down so this doesn't happen again. It grew wings.

CUOMO (voice-over): He says he didn't take it, he found it.

PEREIRA: Right.

CUOMO: And two, turns out he didn't pay tax on the camera and he's working for the state.

(LAUGHTER)

PEREIRA: Are you representing the sea eagle?

CUOMO: He's working for the state, the IRS.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Yes, that's right.

CUOMO: The long talon of the law.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (on-camera): How do you top that one?

CUOMO (on-camera): Talon (ph). I have a talent for that.

(LAUGHTER) CUOMO: Coming up on "NEW DAY", we're seeing new video of the moment the Porsche carrying Paul Walker crashed. This is part of the investigation to find out why exactly this happened. And there's new information about what led up to that impact. We'll tell you about it.

BOLDUAN: And seismic in Seattle. Football fans going so wild over a touchdown their cheering registered as an earthquake. Scary or awesome?

CUOMO: I was in the stadium.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: So, Seattle Seahawks football fans are known as the loudest in the NFL. They actually set a decibel record in September of this year. So, touchdown was so loud, they stomped so hard at the game last night it registered as an earthquake. No joke. Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Is what I just said true?

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: it is true, Chris. You know, the University of Washington is just down the road from where the Seahawks play. They have a size mummer (ph) there, and after the Seahawks first touchdown, the fans, they went so crazy it registered as an earthquake. Now, it happened after this play in the first quarter. Seattle is going to knock the ball out of the Saints' quarterback, Drew Brees' hands.

It goes right into the arms of Michael Bennett. He takes it 22 yards in for the touchdown. And as you can see, the fans go absolutely nuts. They had plenty to cheer about in this game. Seattle dominated the Saints, 34-7.

The Miami Dolphins have announced that offensive lineman, Richie Incognito, will continue to be suspended with pay. Yesterday was the Dolphins deadline to release him or keep him on the roster. The NFL is still investigating allegations that Incognito harassed teammate, Jonathan Martin, with racist and vulgar language. The team suspended Incognito nearly a month ago after Martin left the team.

The golfer, Jason Dufner, he's a die-hard Auburn fan. He went to school there. So, you know, he really wants to watch Saturday's SEC championship game against Missouri. Only problem is he's playing in Tiger Woods golf tournament this week. So Dufner took to Twitter to @Tiger to shoring (ph) the tournament.

He tweeted, "Dear Mr. Tiger Woods, I petition the event this week to play 36 holes Thursday and Friday, so I can watch my beloved Auburn play for the SEC championship. Thanks."

Guys, Tiger Woods is very sympathetic. His response, "petition denied." So, it looks like Dufner is going to need two caddies on Saturday, one to carry his clubs, one to carry a giant TV so he can watch the game.

BOLDUAN: I love him for his passion for the sport, not golf, but football.

(LAUGHTER)

SCHOLES: I love the dear Mr. Tiger Woods part of that tweet.

BOLDUAN: Hey, you know, sucking up works, you know?

SCHOLES: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Exactly. Thanks, Andy. Dear Mr. Chris Cuomo. That's how I --

CUOMO: Petition denied.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: Good for tiger.

BOLDUAN: We're now at the top of the hour which means it's time for the top news.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I heard about the speed, I gulped. It sort of takes your breath away.

CUOMO: Out of control. The train that derailed in New York was traveling close to three times the speed limit. We'll look at what new evidence could mean.

BOLDUAN: New this hour, final moments, video of the crash that killed Paul Walker and new details in the investigation as his co-star, Vin Diesel, speaks to morning fans.

PEREIRA: Rise of the drone. Growing questions this morning, can Amazon really deliver packages with a fleet of drones? What are the dangers? The experts weighing in this morning.

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: What you need to know --

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We, the United States, are deeply concerned by the attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea.

ANNOUNCER: What you just have to see --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This house measures 201.8 cubic feet and a new Guinness world record.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to "NEW DAY". It's Tuesday, December 3rd, seven o'clock in the east.

And we're going to have new information for you about the train crash in just a minute. But first, a look at what happened overnight. Vice President Biden meeting with officials in Japan today as the standoff over those islands in the East China Sea heats up. China declared control of the disputed islands and their air space.

Biden urged both Japan and China to take measures to lower tensions. Officials say if that doesn't happen, the U.S. is bound by treaty to defend Japan.

BOLDUAN: And updating you on breaking news we've been following. Local media now reporting firefighters have that massive eight-alarm fire in Boston under control. Just look at that video. In a matter of minutes, it engulfed a five-story brick building in South Boston. Windows on the first three floors were reportedly blown out.

But a local station reports fire crews were able to get the upper hand in about an hour. The building was under renovation and everyone, thankfully, inside escaped safely.