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Rodman Arrives in North Korea; Delta Says No Cell Calls on Flights; Delta Says No Cell Calls on Flights; Putin Defends Olympics, Stance on Homosexuality; College Basketball Rant of the Year

Aired December 19, 2013 - 09:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Opening bell on Wall Street just rang. As you know, stocks surged yesterday after the Fed announced modest cuts to the stimulus program. Today's market, you can see, only down 10 points, still above 16,000. Of course we'll keep you posted.

In other news this morning, former NBA bad boy Dennis Rodman is in North Korea this morning, but he's shrugging off any suggestion of basketball diplomacy with that country's repressive dictator. Rodman is there to train a North Korean basketball team for an exhibition game next month and he says that will be his focus if he meets with the leader Kim Jong-un, who Rodman has called his friend for life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA PLAYERS: That has nothing to do with me. That's nothing do with me. I mean whatever Jong (ph) has done and whatever (INAUDIBLE) done the (ph) thing, you know, in North Korea, I mean I have nothing -- have no control over that. I mean these things have been going on for years and years and years and, you know, whoever's going to be a political insider over there from America or somewhere in the world going to come over and try to -- try to - try to get a hold of it, great. But I'm just going over to do a basketball game and have some fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But the sister of Korean American Kenneth Bae is appealing directly to Rodman for help. She thinks his friendship with Kim Jong- un could help free her brother who has been held in North Korea for more than a year. This is what she told me yesterday in the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRI CHUNG, KENNETH BAE'S SISTER: Mr. Rodman, if you're watching, please do think about this American citizen, a father, a husband, a son and a brother. Think about him and his family, waiting for him to come home for Christmas, and do everything you can to bring him home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Anna Coren is in Seoul, South Korea, with the latest. So, I heard what Dennis Rodman say - he -- it doesn't sound like he's going to say anything to Kim Jong-un about Mr. Bae.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, it's interesting, isn't it, Carol, here he wants to be the diplomat to bridge the gap, if you like, between North Korea and the United States, but just not interested in raising any political issues whatsoever. As you say, he's landed in Pyongyang. He was met by an official delegation at the airport. He didn't make any comment upon his arrival. However, he did speak to reporters before he left in Beijing, saying he's not going to raise the issue of human rights, nor is he going to raise the imprisonment of American missionary Kenneth Bae, who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for allegedly overthrowing the regime. Let's take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NFL PLAYER: If he wants to talk about it, great. If it doesn't happen, I (INAUDIBLE) bring it up, because I don't want him to think that, you know, I'm over here trying to, you know, be a, you know, ambassador and trying to use him as - (INAUDIBLE) as been his friend and all of a sudden I'm starting talking about politics. That's not going to be that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Now, he's just there to play basketball and have fun, which is what we heard a little bit earlier from him. He's there, as you say, to train the national basketball team that's preparing for an exhibition match, which will celebrate the birthday of Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader. We have to remember, there's a lot of political upheaval at the moment in the country following last week's execution of Kim Jong-un's uncle after he was convicted of treason. Rodman says he's not concerned about his personal safety at all. He'll be in Pyongyang for four days training the team. He will then, Carol, be returning in two weeks' time with 12 American basketball players. Those players have yet to be named for that exhibition match to celebrate the supreme commander's birthday.

Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. So I'm curious, and you probably can't answer this question, but why won't rodman bring up Kenneth Bae? Is it dangerous for him to do so? Will he lose his friend for life? Will he himself be thrown into prison? Why?

COREN: Yes, we just don't know. You know, it's a bit like reading the tea leaves any time we want to make a comment about North Korea. I mean he has established a very chummy relationship with Kim Jong-un. It's quite unusual. I mean this is his third trip into the hermit kingdom. He is the highest profile American to have met Kim Jong-un since he became leader following his father's death two years ago. So I'm sure that Dennis Rodman doesn't want to do anything that would jeopardize that relationship.

And, you know, let's face it, Rodman loves the attention, he loves the headlines. The world, at the moment, is watching his every move. I have no doubt that, you know, KCNA, the North Korean state broadcaster, will be, you know, putting out pictures of Rodman, you know, doing everything and anything, you know, during his trip. So I'm sure that Rodman doesn't want to necessarily jeopardize the close relationship that he has formed so far.

COSTELLO: Anna Coren, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, usually when airlines tell passengers "no," people get really upset. But Delta says its latest move is exactly what flyers want. Chris Lawrence is live.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.

Yes, the government is considering lifting that ban on using your phone, making calls in the air, but you may be surprised what some of the airlines think about it, and just how disruptive would it really be? Some surprising answers when we come back next on NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In Boston, it was a grueling journey to nowhere. Passengers boarded their Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, only to sit on the tarmac for five hours and then return to the gate. They say they spent several more hours waiting on their luggage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're told we can't put our seat back, or that we can't use our cell phones. That we can't - we can go to the bathroom for emergencies, but we can't loiter in the aisles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They offered us a little plastic cup of water and one little bag of Goldfish crackers in the shape of airplanes. We'll never be flying with them again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The airline blames a snowstorm and a broken snowplow for the misery.

Delta has a message for its passengers, no midair cell phone chats. As federal officials debate whether or not to allow inflight cell phone calls, Delta is joining a growing list of airlines that say their answer is clear, no cell or internet-based calls while the plane is in the air. Chris Lawrence is at Reagan National Airport in Washington with more on this.

Hi, Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.

Yes, this basically comes down to new technology that basically would make it safe for you to make a call on the flight. It wouldn't interfere with ground communication. And so some members of the FCC are saying, it's time to get the government out of this regulation. Lift the ban, let the airlines work it out with their customers. Others on the FCC say they could see a scenario where the airlines start to create a so-called quiet zone and then charge customers more to sit there and they don't want to see that.

So basically what you've got is Delta, JetBlue and Southwest all saying, nope, our customers don't want it. We're not going to put it in. American and United are taking a little bit more of a wait and see approach. But you could already make calls on certain international flights, like Emirates. And some in the telecommunications industry say this would not be as disruptive as people think. They say on those flights, like Emirates flights, the average call lasts less than two minutes. That there's never more than a few people on the phone at any one time. And a lot of people just use it to check their voice mail, not necessarily talking while they're on the plane.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, but, Chris, there's always that one abuser. And you know that person. And they talk forever and they talk really loudly.

LAWRENCE: I know.

COSTELLO: And how do you prevent that? Plus, the planes you're talking about are really large planes, right, it's not like a smaller plane on Southwest.

LAWRENCE: Yes. No, you -- it would be the luck of the draw. I mean it would just be your luck, Carol, that you would be sitting next to the person that thinks that their call and their client and their business deal is the most important conversation in the world at that moment and everybody on the plane is going to know it.

COSTELLO: I know, and everyone's giving them the evil sigh now, they're like ugh. And they don't even notice the evil looks.

LAWRENCE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Chris Lawrence, many thanks so you.

LAWRENCE: I know.

COSTELLO: You know well.

New in the next hour of NEWSROOM, it's becoming more and more common, insurance companies cutting doctors from their networks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The patient costs a lot and United is going to those patients' doctors and dropping them and therefore getting rid of the patient.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And that is leaving thousands of patients in a tough spot. Shop for new insurance or shop for a new doctor? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're walking away from people that we've known and trusted and counted on for over ten years. And that's hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So why are insurance companies dumping doctors? Hear what they have to say about that. That's all new at 10:00 Eastern on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Fifty days from today Russia welcomes the world for the Winter Olympics in Sochi. When the U.S. delegation arrives it will be without President Obama, a member of the family, or the Vice President, or any active cabinet member, but the U.S. delegation will include gay athletes a clear shot at Russia's strict antigay laws and lately Russia has been hitting back against Western values.

CNN's Jill Dougherty pushed Russian President Vladimir Putin on why. She joins us now from Moscow. What did he say, Jill?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol. Well just a preface here. You know this is a very big news conference with 300 journalists. And this issue of values, moral values, sounds light in the way that it's very serious here in Russia, picking up steam, the president has talked about it a lot and a lot of the time in the context of gay rights.

I did not ask about that part of it but I did ask him why he is criticizing Western values. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): We do need to find the most traditional values. Without these values a society becomes degraded and quite clearly, we need to return to these values to understand the reason for this. The evaluations, appraisals of these values, and to move forward.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: So basically what President Putin is saying is Russia now is the bastion of human and Christian values around the world. It's a very strong part now of their foreign policy. Carol?

COSTELLO: Russia is the bastion of Christian values? That's what he said?

DOUGHERTY: Well, that is what he has been saying and that really is the message that's coming from the Russian government. You sound surprised. But if you were here --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well help us understand because you've lived in Russia. You've lived in Russia. Like is Christianity practiced by lots of people in Russia? What is the state of Christianity in that country?

DOUGHERTY: Well, yes. I mean there are people. Obviously you know the church now can flourish and there are Russians who are believers. But this really is more a message about what Vladimir Putin believes is going on in Europe and to a certain extent in the United States but more in Europe.

He would say Europe is lost morally. It has no moral principles. It is a post-Christian civilization. And the fact that they give gay rights and all of that is just a symbol of how depraved they have become.

And so when you get into this issue of gay rights, Sochi, et cetera, that's where you can see this message coming out very strongly. But I would say, Carol, watch this space because it is an important thread right now that you're going to hear from, you know, Russia, from President Putin and other officials.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Jill Dougherty, many thanks. We appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM it's the rant of the year in college basketball.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARRY HINSON: My wife, my wife can score more than two buckets on 11 shots because I know my wife will at least shot-fake one time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Following the coach, Andy Scholes?

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Carol, you know, this is one for the archives. We're going to have much more from Barry Hinson's epic rant next in your "Bleacher Report".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The Heat beat the Pacers last night. But not before LeBron got into the face of one of his teammates. Andy Scholes is here. Oh this is nasty.

SCHOLES: Yes well Carol you know the Heat, they only got one road block getting back to their fourth straight NBA finals. That's the Indiana Pacers. So these games with the Pacers, they only got four, they are the most important for them the whole season, they've already played two this year. This is the second time they played last night. Indiana won the first matchup so you know the Heat really wanted to get the game, get the win last night I should say.

Now check out this exchange between LeBron and Mario Chalmers on the bench. They almost come to blows. They get separated and eventually later in the game they would kiss and make up.

Now this one would come down to the wire. LeBron, look at him, basically holding on to Paul George as he takes a three. Now this would have tied the game. He misses it. No foul called. Heat win by the final, 97-94.

All right the NFL Vice President of events Frank Supovitz says he hopes it snows for the Super Bowl because it will make it, get this, Carol, "more romantic". Right?

Now this year's big game is going to be the first time the Super Bowl is played outside in a cold weather climate. The average low temperature in February in the New York area -- 22 degrees. If needed the NFL has a giant machine on stand by called the Aero. It can melt 600 tons of snow an hour.

COSTELLO: Wow.

SCHOLES: And the league has said that's a contingency plan.

COSTELLO: They need that in Philadelphia right, with the Lions.

SCHOLES: For the Lions-Eagles game. Yes, they could use it there.

All right the NFL has a contingency plan if there is an epic snowstorm they can move the game up to Saturday or back to Monday. They say they always have these kinds of plans in place but it would take an epic snowstorm to actually move the Super Bowl.

All right. Trending on BleacherReport.com today: the sport's rant of the year. Tuesday night Southern Illinois lost to Murray State and head coach Barry Hinson, well, he was not very happy with his players afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HINSON: I got a bunch of mama's boys right now. Our three starting guards have one assist and seven turnovers. They must think it's a tax credit. It's unbelievable. Analysts talk about our big guys. Two for 11. How can you go two for 11?

My wife -- my wife can score more than two buckets on 11 shots, because I know my wife will at least shot-fake one time. A lot like house training a puppy dog. You know what? When the dog does something wrong -- bad dog.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Carol, would you believe there is about five minutes of this? It's an epic rant. One of the best ever in sports history. He did say he regretted -- one part he regrets -- he did call out a player by name. He said he regretted that part but for the rest of it he stands by what he said. The team needs to get tougher and if they don't get tougher, he's going to say bad.

His wife actually did say he gave her way too much credit. She would not make more than two baskets in a basketball game.

COSTELLO: That was fun. Thank you Andy. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. Black Friday and the holiday shopping season could end in identity theft for millions of Americans. As many as 40 million credit and debit card accounts are now at risk. If you have shopped at Target between the day before Thanksgiving and last Sunday, hackers may now have your financial information -- that's November 27th until that Sunday.