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Remembering Nelson Mandela; Catastrophic Storm Conditions
Aired December 06, 2013 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Other "Top Stories" we're covering for you. The engineer behind the controls of that commuter train that derailed in the Bronx is now suspended without pay. The NTSB says drug and alcohol tests have come back for William Rockefeller. They've all come back negative. Four people died when that train jumped the tracks on Sunday -- funeral for one of those victims scheduled for today.
Frightening scene at the airport in the U.K. yesterday: winds at the Birmingham Airport were so strong this plane was forced to abort its landing moments before touching down. Wind gusts as high as 140 miles per hour nearly turned the plane sideways as it approached the tarmac. That plane ended up landing safely and on time at another airport.
A Los Angeles man has been arrested he's accused of stealing part of the wreckage from the crash that killed Paul Walker. Officials say the man snatched the piece of the charred Porsche of a police tow truck it is was being taken away from the scene. A suspect could face charms of theft and tampering with evidence.
Now let's head back to Washington so we can celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela -- hi, Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Very important that we do so. Carol thank you I'm going to speak with a man who grew up just one step removed from Nelson Mandela. His memories of the civil rights icon right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Good morning, I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. Welcome back to our special edition of CNN NEWSROOM.
South Africans are in mourning today as they grieve the death and honor the life and legacy of their former President Nelson Mandela. Here is the Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu just a few hours ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DESMOND TUTU, ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS: He transcended grace and class in his personal actions through his warmth and through his willingness to listen and to empathize with others; and restored other's faith in Africa and Africans.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: Outside Mandela's home, today South African children marched and sang all in tribute to the country's first black president. In Johannesburg, people chanting and dancing joining in the ceremonial homecoming of the man they called Madiba.
From Johannesburg to Washington and way beyond, people are remembering Nelson Mandela today. My next guest has some very personal connections to the civil rights icon. Cedric Suzman's first cousin was an anti-apartheid activist and every week for almost 30 years Helen went behind the prison walls to visit the man who would become South Africa's first black president.
Joining us now from Atlanta is the South African analyst Cedric Suzman. Cedric, thanks very much for joining us. Share with our viewers some of the memories that you have memories of your cousin, the support she gave him during the decades that he spent behind bars.
CEDRIC SUZMAN, SOUTH AFRICAN ANALYST: Well, thank you, Wolf. I followed Madiba, Nelson Mandela's life from the early 60s when I was a student at the (inaudible) University. And actually, I want to turn first to another relative, my uncle, Harold Hanson (ph) was a prominent trial lawyer in South Africa and part of Mandela's team at the trial of the rebellion trials.
And he actually gave the plea bargain to mitigate sentence. And then Mandela's book, "Long Walk to Freedom", he talks about how Harold Hanson actually got him to change his final statement, which is now so iconic, to tone it down perhaps. And he reminded the judge, Hanson did, that the Afrikaners in fact had their own violent struggle for freedom. So I have a connection on both sides of my family.
BLITZER: You certainly do.
SUZMAN: And Helen, of course, played a prominent role when Mr. Mandela was in prison for all of those years. She helped obtain reading material for them which was critical to keeping them in touch with the world. Comforts like a proper bed and blankets. But also had a very vicious guard that Mandela had complained about removed as their jailer. So she used her position in parliament to great effect and that's a wonderful legacy.
BLITZER: And did you get to know Nelson Mandela well yourself?
SUZMAN: Unfortunately, not. I only had a chance to meet him here in Atlanta on his 71st birthday. But many of -- many of Helen's daughters have met and of course, we've talked about it a great deal. I left South Africa in 1960 to go to London and have only returned periodically almost every year, but I didn't have an opportunity to meet him.
But I remember vividly the early announcements of the trial and his arrest. He was actually known as the black Pimpernel -- before they tried to catch him. And it was really a very dramatic story.
BLITZER: Well we certainly -- we certainly remember Helen and Harold Hanson and your relatives. And Cedric Suzman thank you so much for reflecting on this special day, the ten-day period of mourning in South Africa now underway. Cedric Suzman joining us from Atlanta.
Still to come, Nelson Mandela's influence stretched far beyond the political world. Some of the biggest names in entertainment are also paying their respects today. We'll have a live report from New York right after this break.
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JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The story of a man whose ability to see resided not just in his eyes, but in his conscience. He was a stranger to hate. He rejected recrimination in favor of reconciliation and he knew the future demands required that we move beyond the place that he had been.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: After leaving power he still cared so deeply about the issues like AIDS and HIV that were affecting his country. And he never gave up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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BLITZER: That was the singer, Peter Gabriel whose 1980 song "Biko" about anti-apartheid activist Steven Biko led to the longtime friendship, a partnership with Nelson Mandela. Peter Gabriel shared his thoughts on Mandela's passing with CNN. Our entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner is joining us now from New York with more on that. And a lot of other celebrities who are reacting, Nischelle, to the death of this South African giant -- tell our viewers what's going on.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely Wolf, you know Peter Gabriel called Nelson Mandela's life a master lesson in non-violent struggle. And he you know he talked about the fact that they were friends. And most of us equate Peter Gabriel first with Nelson Mandela when he performed back in 1998 and Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday party at Wembley Stadium. He performed the song "Biko" about the anti-apartheid song about the activist Steve Biko. And he talked to us last night when we caught up with him about his friend Nelson Mandela's life and his death.
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PETER GABRIEL, SINGER, MUSICIAN: So it's really a sad day for us. And you know, we're going to miss him enormously. But he's left of hell of a legacy, you know, that you can come out of murder, injustice, racism enshrined in a Constitution and then turn to those very people responsible and invite them to build a rainbow nation with you. You know, you don't see that now. They don't make them like -- like that anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TURNER: "They don't make them like that anymore," he says. You know, he also said that he wants people to remember Nelson Mandela's legacy. When they're faced with things like oppression or injustice, he wants them to stop and think and think about Nelson Mandela and how Nelson Mandela forgave and also how he preached reconciliation. And he says he hopes that shows everyone all over the world that they can do and they can be better people.
BLITZER: An amazing inspiration to so many millions and millions of people. Nischelle thanks very much. Nischelle Turner reporting for us.
Let's go back to Carol. She's monitoring some other important news -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes, like the weather. Thank you, Wolf.
Still to come in the "NEWSROOM", a huge winter storm turns roads into ice rinks from Texas to Tennessee. Now there are concerns that some areas could be without power for weeks.
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COSTELLO: Welcome back to the "NEWSROOM". I'm Carol Costello.
These are pictures out of Oklahoma City this morning. As you can see, it's very treacherous there, slow-going on the roads and for good reason. A mixture of sleet and rain has fallen. A high temperature right now is -- what -- 19 degrees? They're expecting a low tonight of 4 degrees. So it's only going to get worse from here. Please, please, be careful.
Other top stories we're following this morning.
Hiring surged in the month of October (SIC). 203,000 jobs were added to payrolls pushing the unemployment rate to 7 percent -- that's the lowest level since November of 2008. Some of the strongest growth was seen in construction and manufacturing.
Secretary of State John Kerry has left Israel following a series of meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This is the first time Kerry and the Israeli leader have met since the United States and five other nations reached an interim deal with Iran over its nuclear program. Netanyahu is adamantly opposed to any uranium enrichment on Iranian. White House leaders insist the U.S. and Israel remain close friends despite disagreeing on tactics.
How big is the ice storm hitting the middle of United States right now? Try this -- 120,000 square miles are covered by ice. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area alone, there are more than a quarter million power outages and air travelers nationwide are feeling the pain. Flightaware.com reports more than 1,200 flights have been canceled.
CNN's Indra Petersons is following the storm from Memphis. And Chad just told us you're right in the bull's eye now.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. And he knows exactly what's going on right now. We're right at that threshold. It's switching over from rain to freezing rain. The temperature here in Memphis has just dropped to that freezing point. The system is so close and we know we're on the verge of that from really impacting this big city.
But keep in mind, many places have already seen the system. You can actually see anywhere from southern Indiana all the way back through Texas, we've seen the impact of the ice storm already on its way.
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PETERSONS: A potentially catastrophic ice storm blanketed the nation's midsection over night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the sixth time that I've had to stop and get the ice off of there.
PETERSONS: Treacherous roadways and large scale power outages forced Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Tennessee officials to declare a state of emergency. Northeast Arkansas now frozen by up to an inch of ice and wet snow, leaving many without power -- an outage, officials say, that could last for up to a week. Temperatures are expected to stay below freezing for many days.
This icy mixture of snow, sleet, and freezing rain caused multiple rollovers in Arkansas, including this seven-car pile up in Washington County. And in Oklahoma, the driver of this truck lost control on a icy bridge and plummeted into a lake.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's real slick roads. You sort of stop and slide and just (inaudible) tried to get up the hill and couldn't make it up the hill. Best thing to do is stay home today.
PETERSONS: In Illinois, vehicles slide right off the highways as accumulation of sleet and ice reach as high as quarter inch in southern counties. It could be the worst ice storm to hit the region since 1994 which caused over $3 billion in damage.
And it's not just the ice. The National Weather Services says this massive arctic air mass is dropping temps 10 to 30 degrees below normal, leaving millions of people to battle a dangerously bitter cold into the weekend.
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PETERSONS: We've talked about this freezing rain stretching really anywhere from Indiana back through Texas, but the real bull's eye here seems to still be around Arkansas, Tennessee, back through Oklahoma and right near Dallas. That's where we have the threat still as the main bands of precipitation are still moving in the area of being over a half an inch to even three-quarters of an inch. That's the concern that could see these power lines come down and leave many of these places without power for several days if not weeks.
The biggest concern of all, this is only round one. This is going to be a two-punch wave here. A second system moving right behind it on its heels as we go through the second half of the weekend. And remember, if these people lose power, temperatures -- this is an arctic plunge, we're talking about temperatures that in some places are good, 20, 30 degrees below normal. Here we'll be below freezing. So we're just crossing our fingers that we can hold on to these power lines as these two systems make their way through -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know, we'll cross our toes, too. Indra Petersons thanks so much.
Still to come in the "NEWSROOM", remembering Nelson Mandela through a series of songs, dances and tributes as the world says good-bye to a leader.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining us for this special edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Carol Costello at the CNN Center.
BLITZER: And I'm Wolf Blitzer here in Washington. Please join me later this afternoon when I sit down with former President Bill Clinton. The president and his family referred to Nelson Mandela as a friend.
I'll talk with him more about the impact that Nelson Mandela had on his own life and on his presidency. The interview will air 5:00 p.m. Eastern in THE SITUATION ROOM. We leave you now with some powerful sights and sounds as the world remembers Nelson Mandela.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Long live the spirit of Comrade (ph) Nelson Mandela. Long live.
CROWD: Long live.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Long live the spirit of South African people. Long live.
CROWD: Long live.
TUTU: The most precious diamond honed deep beneath the surface of the earth, the Madiba who emerged from prison in January, 1990, was virtually flawless.
AUNG SAN SUU KYI, BURMESE POLITICIAN: He made us all understand that nobody should be penalized for the color of his skin, for the circumstances under which he is born. He also made us understand that we can change the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Major money news this morning. Unemployment has hit its lowest point in five years -- five long years. We're going to break down those numbers for you.
Plus the life and death of Nelson Mandela -- the revolutionary, the activist, the world leader, the family man, the movie star, the funny man, and yes, even the ladies' man. We're live from South Africa where a nation and in fact the entire world is mourning the loss of that leader.
Hello everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It is Friday December 6. And welcome to "LEGAL VIEW". It's nice to have you with us today.
It is official. The United States job market is now the healthiest that it has been in five years. A short time ago the labor department reported this -- that the economy added 203,000 new jobs last month. That was better than they expected.
