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One-On-One with Prince William; Blade Runner Charged with Murder; Forever 21 Cutting Worker's Hours; A-Rod Plunked, Homers against Red Sox
Aired August 19, 2013 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Fathers around the planet will be cursing you for doing it so easily.
PRINCE WILLIAM: Believe me, it wasn't my first time. And I know there's been speculation about it. I had to practice. I really did. I was terrified that I was going to do some - you know, it was going to fall off or, you know, it wasn't going to close properly.
FOSTER: Yes.
PRINCE WILLIAM: So I had actually practiced with that seat (INAUDIBLE) before.
FOSTER: And your decision to drive off. I remember that moment as well. That was the most nerve-racking thing for me, having my family in the car. But that was something that you were clearly determined to do?
PRINCE WILLIAM: Well, I can be. I'm as independent as I want to be, and same as Catherine and Harry. We've all grown up, you know, differently to other generations. And I very much feel, if I can do it myself, I want to do it myself. And there are times when you can't do it yourself and the system takes over or it's appropriate to do things differently. But I think driving your son and your wife away from hospital (INAUDIBLE), it was really important to me and I - I don't like fuss, so it's much easier to do it yourself.
FOSTER: And you didn't stall.
PRINCE WILLIAM: I didn't stall. Well, it was an automatic, so it's all right.
FOSTER: The interpretation of the imagery we saw there, which went around the world, was that this was a modern monarchy and a new wave monarchy. But was it that? Are we reading too much into it? Is it just you doing it your way, you and your wife doing it your own way?
PRINCE WILLIAM: I think so. And I'm just doing it the way I know and, you know, if it's the right way, then brilliant. If it's the wrong way, then, well, I'll try and do it better. But, no, I just - I'm quite - I'm reasonably head strong about what I believe in and what I go for and I've got fantastic people around me who give me great support and advice.
FOSTER (voice-over): The prince says baby George is already quite a character.
PRINCE WILLIAM: Well, yes, he's a little bit of a rascal, we'll put it that way. So he either reminds me of my brother or me when I was younger. I'm not sure. But he's doing very well at the moment. He does like to keep having his nappy changed. And --
FOSTER (on camera): You did the first nappy, of course?
PRINCE WILLIAM: I did the first nappy, yes, exactly.
FOSTER: The badge of honor.
PRINCE WILLIAM: It was a badge of honor, actually. I wasn't allowed to get away with that. I had every midwife staring at me going, you do it, you do it. He's a little - he's growing quite quickly, actually, but he's a little fighter. He kind of wiggles around quite a lot and he doesn't want to get to sleep (ph) that much, which is a little bit of a problem, but he's --
FOSTER: So you're up a lot at night. You're pretty tired.
PRINCE WILLIAM: A little bit, yes. Not as much as Catherine, but, you know, she's - she's doing a fantastic job.
FOSTER: How is she, OK?
PRINCE WILLIAM: Yes, she's very well. For me, Catherine and our little George are my priorities, and Lupo. And so -
FOSTER: I was going to ask you about Lupo.
PRINCE WILLIAM: Yes.
FOSTER: How's Lupo coping?
PRINCE WILLIAM: He's coping all right, actually. I mean as a lot of people know who've got dogs and bringing a newborn back, they take a little bit of time to adapt. There's some - no, he's been all right so far. He's been slobbering sort of around the house a bit. So he's a - he's perfectly happy.
FOSTER: And how are you about going back to work?
PRINCE WILLIAM: Well, as a few fathers might know, I'm actually quite looking forward to going back to work.
FOSTER: Get some sleep.
PRINCE WILLIAM: Get some sleep, exactly, yes. So I'm just hoping the first few shifts I go back I don't have any night jobs.
FOSTER (voice-over): One of Prince William's great passions is savoring endangering species in Africa. He wants his son to experience the same Africa that he saw as a boy and as a young man, to spark in his son a passion for preserving the rarest wild animals, much as his father did with him. FOSTER (on camera): You talked about your father possibly whispering quietly (ph) in your ear -
PRINCE WILLIAM: Yes, sweet nothings.
FOSTER: As a young boy. Are you going to do the same to Prince George? Because it's such - it's a cause that you care so deeply about. Would you like him to pick up on it?
PRINCE WILLIAM: Probably. At this point I'll probably whisper sweet nothings in his ear. I'll have toy elephants and rhinos around the room. We'll cover it in sort of, you know, lots of bushes and things like that and make him grow up as if he's in the bush.
FOSTER (voice-over): He says the possibility of his son carrying on the royal family's legacy in Africa isn't his immediate concern.
PRINCE WILLIAM: At the moment, the only legacy I want to pass on to him is to sleep more and maybe not change his nappy quite so many times.
FOSTER: Like any new mother or father, parenthood has surprised and amazed Prince William.
PRINCE WILLIAM: I think the last few weeks for me have been just a very different, emotional experience. Something I never thought I would feel myself. And I find, again, it's only been a short period, but a lot of things affect me differently now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Max Foster with that exclusive interview. The prince is so charming. He -- you just have to like him, right? He changed the first diaper. Of course that interview is part of a documentary, "Prince William's Passion: New Father, New Hope," which will premiere on CNN on September 15th.
I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: An emotional day for Oscar Pistorius and for the family of his victim, his alleged victim. The double amputee sprinter has been charged with planned and premeditated murder in the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. If found guilty, Pistorius would spend a minimum of 25 years in prison. Today's indictment comes on what would have been Steenkamp's 30th birthday. Pistorius maintains he mistook her for a home invader when he shot her on Valentine's Day. CNN's Robyn Curnow as in the courtroom for today's indictment. She has more from Pretoria, South Africa.
Good morning, Robyn.
ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, good morning.
Well, it was quite an emotional day in court. It wasn't a long court appearance from Oscar Pistorius, but he did have to wait quite a while before the judge sat down. So he was really faced with a barrage of cameras and turned his back to them and that's when we saw him crying, also praying, holding hands with his two siblings who were standing behind him in the dock (ph).
Now, in terms of the indictment that was physically handed to him in the court, well it says, you know, he's going to be facing premeditated murder charges. Now this, of course, is the most severest charge that can be brought against him. And it has particular implications for sentencing because at the minimum sentence can only be 25 years, which is life in South African law.
But what is interesting about this indictment, I've been pouring over it with some lawyers, and they say, on one hand the state is going for this premeditated planned murder charge, but on like page two they also have this sort of fall back where they say, well, even if they can't prove he has -- it was premeditated and planned, he still intended to kill somebody, even if it was an intruder. So, what you're seeing is a case, the state's case, literally I've got (ph) various levels of the way they're going to try and deal with this. And they sort of got basically three or four fallbacks. So it's going to be a very interesting case in terms of just how far the state pushes this and crucially whether there's really any evidence with the forensics back up this premeditated murder charge.
COSTELLO: Well, I'm just stunned by the number of witnesses they plan to call. One hundred witnesses plus.
CURNOW: Absolutely. And, I mean, this is in addition -- so the lawyers are telling me, listen, it's a bit tenuous pushing for a premeditated murder charge. But then you have a look at the witness list. More than 100 witnesses to be called. And a number of lawyers have said, this is just extraordinary. They -- two of them have said to me, this is like -- it looks like they're clutching at straws. So the question is, are they trying to bring all these witnesses to prove some sort of circumstantial evidence, trying to paint Pistorius as trigger happy, rather than relying on the facts or the forensics, which perhaps by the indication of the number of witnesses being brought, aren't as strong as the state initially made out to be in that bail hearing. So, you know, the lawyers I've been speaking to say, you know, on one hand, this looks like there's a strong case against him. On the other hand, are they just pushing their luck?
COSTELLO: I guess we'll see. Robyn Curnow reporting live from South Africa this morning.
CURNOW: (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: Yes.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, fashion retailer Forever 21 under fire for slashing hours and making hundreds of full-time employees part- time workers. Could it be because of Obamacare?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 45 minutes past the hour.
Jury selection begins today in a Georgia baby killing case. Two teenagers accused of demanding money from a mother before shooting her 13-month-old son in his stroller. One of the teenagers goes on trial today. Three members of that suspect's family face charges of hindering the investigation.
New Jersey today becomes the second state to ban gay conversion therapy for minors. CNN has learned Governor Chris Christie will sign a bill into law in the next hour. Voters of the highly controversial practice believe a person's sexual orientation can be changed through therapy, but professional organizations, like the AMA, oppose it calling it harmful.
A beach on the big island of Hawaii closed after a shark bit a 16- year-old boy while he was surfing. It is the fourth shark attack there in the last month. The teenager, who was bit on both legs by the eight-foot-long shark, was taken to the hospital. His condition is not known right now.
A volcanic eruption in southwestern Japan has left a nearby city covered in ash. The volcano erupted Sunday afternoon with a plume of smoke three miles height sending out hot lava for more than a mile. People who live in a city about six miles away wore masks and rain coats to protect themselves from falling ash. Some residents compared negotiating their way through the thick ash to driving through snow.
Take a look what happened during the warm up before the Colts/Giants game. It was a preseason game. Oh poor Pam Oliver. Have you ever been hit by a football? It really, really hurts especially when thrown by a professional player it hits you in the face. Oliver though is a trooper she took it in stride. She -- look at her she's smiling. You rock, Pam. The Colts Chandler Harnish did apologize for that errant throw. Now we know why he doesn't start for Indianapolis.
Forever 21 taking some heat today. The fashion apparel retailer announced it is slashing the hours of 30,000 full-time employees and reclassifying them as part-time -- meaning, of course, fewer benefits like no health benefits. Now angry employees and consumers are speculating the company made the move to avoid costs that will come with Obamacare.
CNN's business anchor Christine Romans live in New York. So why do you think Forever 21 is changing its tune on full-time versus part- time?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS ANCHOR: Well you know we're asking -- we're asking Forever 21 and they haven't returned our calls and e- mails for comment this morning, Carol. But certainly everyone online is saying, "Hey, why are you cutting these -- these hours to just below the threshold for the Affordable Care Act for the level that you would have to give some of these benefits?"
And people online are pretty angry about it. Here's exactly what the company leaked memo -- a leaked memo said that it was -- had audited its staffing levels and staffing needs and payroll and it was reviewing its overall budget, spending budget. That's the leaked memo there. "As a result we are reducing a number of full-time management positions." Facebook on its page or on its page -- Facebook page Forever 21 says that's it's going to be less than one percent of all its employees who will be affected.
But Carol, we know that many of the big retailers and many of the big chains, for restaurant chains and franchises, a lot of them are looking at their books saying, what do we need to do? Could we lower the number of workers we have full-time and save some money? So this is a trend you've heard a lot of different companies talking about.
People, customers were very, very angry saying, hey, you don't want to take care of our workers, were not going to spend our money there. But when you look at how much money people have spent, Carol it's a lot, $3.4 billion in revenue last year. This is a company that is growing fast. It you know focuses on cheap but chic fashions, founded in '84 in L.A. 30,000 employees.
And again, the company is saying officially on its Facebook page saying "Look, this will be less than one percent of our employees, but, clearly, clearly, a lot of folks online don't like it -- Carol.
COSTELLO: That's 30,000 employees. So, let me get this straight. Forever 21, it sells really cheap clothes right. So that means they get their clothes made overseas really, really cheaply. And now -- and for the workers who are going to have their hours cut to part- time, do they get any health insurance at all through their employer?
ROMANS: Well, here's the thing, Carol. When your law -- talk about the explosion of jobs in America, right? It's these kinds of jobs that are growing quickly. Part-time jobs with no benefits, the kinds of jobs that are meant to be temporary stepping stone jobs but a lot of people are working them as a career or they are working two different jobs as a career, right? A part-time job at one retailer and a part-time job at another retailer and that's full time but neither place has to give them any benefits.
It's -- look -- a lot of CEOs, big and small, have said publicly and privately that they're -- you know they're adding this part-time work because they -- you know they are trying to keep costs down. Chasing cheap is what we call it, Carol. We have cheap goods, right? Cheap production, cheap wages and cheap prices at the end for consumers.
COSTELLO: Wow. Christine Romans thanks so much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next hour of NEWSROOM. A 16- year-old football star dies on the field.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ball was dislodged. His body just immediately -- immediately went limp.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: He's the fourth high school player to lose his life just this month. Are we pushing these kids too hard?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These players are playing four or five full-speed, full-contact games a week. And nobody can survive that over the long term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Also --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEOPLE: Bob must go. Bob must go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: From the streets to the skies San Diegans fight for a new mayor. It's Filner watch, day 29.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Best munchy food, man.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Delicious. It's really was so good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Operation Orange Fingers gets rave reviews, but are Seattle cops really getting their message across? That's all new in the next hour of NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The hits keep on coming for A-Rod. Off the field he's battling Major League Baseball and the Yankees' front office. Now on the field, he's dodging baseballs at the plate.
Andy Scholes is here with "Bleacher Report." Good morning Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hi good morning Carol. Multiple players are on record saying they don't feel A-Rod should be allowed to play considering the allegations against him. And apparently the Red Sox' Ryan Dempster feels the say way.
Top of the second inning last night the very first pitch from Dempster is going to go behind A-Rod. Check it out right here. Then three pitches later, Dempster is going to nail him. Both benches were warned. Joe Girardi is furious. He gets thrown out of the game. A- Rod comes up to bat again in the sixth inning and he gets a little payback, crushes this Dempster fastball to centerfield -- second home run of the season for A-Rod. Yankees come back and get the win 9-6. And after the game, Girardi said Dempster's actions were completely uncalled for.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE GIRARDI, YANKEES MANAGER: Whether I agree with everything that's going on, you do not throw at people. And you don't take, you know, the law into your own hands. You don't do that. We're going to skip the judicial system? It's "My cousin Vinnie."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Well former Marine Steven Rhodes was set on playing football for Middle Tennessee State this year. But the NCAA says he's ineligible because he played recreational football during his five years in the military. The 24-year-old Rhodes says the Marine Football League was basically just like college intramurals and it was very unorganized. But since they had uniforms and kept score, the NCAA said that counts as a league. And Rhodes has to sit out the season.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN RHODES, FORMER MARINE: I didn't think it would come to that extent, I thought be a clean-cut ordeal where I just come in and play. But they've got all these laws that are set. So I'm just trying to fight it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: The NCAA did respond last night after Twitter blew up on the story saying they've done an initial review, and no final decision has been made.
Well in the lineup section of bleacherreport.com today, you'll see the "Catch of the Weekend" from the NFL preseason games. Colts' Quarterback Andrew Luck with this long pass. It looks like it's going to be intercepted, but it tipped up. And Reggie Wayne goes and gets it. Talk about concentration. Reggie Wayne-- looks like he's in mid- season form right there.
All right check this last video out. Little League World Series after a home run, look at this grown man going after the ball like he's at a big league game. Now Carol, I'd understand this if this was you going after a Miguel Cabrera home run. But this is a little league game.
COSTELLO: Maybe it was his son who hit the ball.
SCHOLES: Yes that is the only excuse I would give this guy. If it was your son hitting a home run at a little league game that's a good reason to dive into the bushes. Look -- he comes out of it with a bloody nose. I hope it was all worth it.
COSTELLO: Unbelievable. I can't believe -- he's a competitive man.
Andy Scholes thank you so much.
The next hour of NEWSROOM after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM inferno in the West. A blaze the size of Denver tearing through Idaho, a resort town dangerous close to the flames.
Also, all eyes on San Diego -- rallies, petition drives, and Mayor Bob Filner due back at work tomorrow.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE WILLIAM, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE: He's a little bit of a rascal, let's put it that way. So he kind of reminds me of my brother or me when I was younger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: You heard right. Little Prince George is a rascal. His dad talks fatherhood, car seats, and nappy changes with CNN.
And Seattle police is trying out a new law enforcement tool -- 1,000 bags of Doritos. Wow, man. NEWSROOM starts now.
Good morning. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello reporting from Washington, D.C. this morning.
For weeks now, embattled San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has escaped the public spotlight, but that could change tomorrow. On Tuesday Filner is expected to return to work at city hall. It will be his first day back since completing intense behavior therapy as more women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEOPLE: Bob must go. Bob must go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Filner may not be on the job long. On Sunday, organizers began the task of collecting more than 101,000 signatures.
