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Malaysian P.M. Defends Handling of MH-370 Investigation; Proper Protocol When a Ship Lists; "Time" Releases List of Top-100 Influential People in the World.

Aired April 24, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. Breaking news into CNN. The Malaysian government has been accused of secretary, conspiracy, and has been called murderers by those families on flight 370, but today, this breaking information, coming to us from the Malaysian prime minister with our own Richard Quest, defending the handling of the investigation. He told Richard that he doesn't feel comfortable saying this flight is lost. Exactly one month after telling the world that this flight, in his words, "ended in the Southern Indian Ocean." As for the twists and the turns, he says even he was surprised when he learned the plane had flown for hours after it vanished.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAJIB RAZAK, MALAYSIA PRIME MINISTER: To be honest, I found it hard to believe to begin with. How could a plane that was supposed to be heading towards Beijing, they could decide that the plane ended halfway towards Antarctica. It's a bizarre scenario, which none of us would have contemplated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is just a sliver of the interview. We'll play much more and bring up Richard Quest, live, from Kuala Lumpur at the top of the hour. Stay tuned for that.

The most intense search may not only take on a source of reaction, but take on new ways, new methods of searching. Australia's defense minister said the next phase of the search may include more powerful side-scan sonar. So, what are these high-tech options that could be available for these searchers? Let's me bring in CNN's Jennifer Gray.

Jennifer, start with the Orion. Tell me about that.

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. The good thing about the Orion is you get real-time images. There's not that lag time like we have the Bluefin. But, it doesn't go quite as deep. Your resolution will not be quite as good as the Bluefin because it has to be towed behind the ship so it is not allowed to go quite as deep as the Bluefin. BALDWIN: So the Orion is next. Remus 600 was used to find Air France. How does the Remus 600 work? How does this work differently?

GRAY: The Remus 6000 is one that is closest to the Bluefin and that one can go much deeper. You get very crisp images. But the problem is, just like with the Bluefin, is that it's not real-time images, it has to go in, scan the area and you have to download those images just like on the Bluefin.

BALDWIN: And the Ramora (ph)?

GRAY: The Ramora (ph) is the one they used in recovering the black boxes of Air France and exploring the "Titanic." It's very cool. It's like a remote-controlled car. You have a pilot on the ship with the controls and it goes down there. But it's better used once they have actually found something because you control it from the ship, so it's not going to be able to cover a large area in a short amount of time.

BALDWIN: Can they not use -- we keep talking about the possibility of additional resources. Can all of these underwater vessels not be used at the same time?

GRAY: They actually can. The reason they didn't is because we thought we had the spot. We were going to send the Bluefin down there and that was going to be the bull's eye. If this search comes up empty, I would think they would have to put in many more resources and you could use them all at once.

BALDWIN: Jennifer Gray, thank you so much for showing us what that could entail.

Now to this. When a boat faces rough seas, split-second decisions can affect survival and disaster. And as divers continue to go in and recover those bodies from that South Korean ferry, we will take you inside a simulator and show you how high waves could wreak havoc on a situation like this.

Also ahead, two very different leaders, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, but have one thing in common. Both of these men made it into "Time" magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World. Who else made the list? That's ahead.

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BALDWIN: We are learning new details about this man, believed to be behind the company that owns the ferry in the disaster off of South Korea. He is a mysterious millionaire who is rarely seen in public. He is actually known as the millionaire with no face. His past include time as a religious cult leader, spent four years in jail for tax evasion. South Korean media is reporting that he is believed to control the ferry company through a complicated maze of family and corporate subsidies. Tax officials have told CNN the business was having some money problems and, this year, this is what it looked like yesterday's inside the company's headquarters when investigators went in and raided it. Meantime, questions are being raised about some ferry renovations that happened last year. This South Korean lawmaker says the top floor of the ship was expanded for extra cabins and investigators want to know if the additions made the ferry more prone to capsize.

In the meantime, these rescue divers have now pulled 171 bodies from this wreckage. And the number of crew members charged in this disaster is now up to 14. Three more arrests made today. There were 29 crew members on that ferry.

And when a ship lists, right, when it begins to tip over, as was the case in this ferry in the frigid Yellow Sea, what happens? Especially when the weather is bad? Obviously, there are high waves.

CNN's Rosa Flores takes us inside this ferry simulator to show us what should be proper protocol -- Rosa?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm at Resolve Maritime Academy and this is actually the bridge wing part of the simulator. But I want to show you the bridge because it really gives you the perspective of what you're able to do in this facility.

Dave Boldt is here to take us through this particular exercise.

Dave, what ship are we on, first of all.

DAVE BOLDT, RESOLVE MARITIME ACADEMY: We're on a model of a large cruise ship.

FLORES: And what port are we in?

BOLDT: Port Everglades and headed towards Miami.

FLORES: Once you are leaving the port what are the main factors that come into play? What are you looking for on the monitor?

BOLDT: Right when you're leaving the port, you're close to the grounding line, generally, there will be more traffic. So it's an elevated condition and generally you've got full manning on the bridge. You may have a pilot, helmsmen, lookout, several bridge officers. It's fairly intense at this point.

FLORES: A lot of activity?

BOLDT: Yes.

FLORES: Once we go out to see, and if we put on some waves, higher winds, at that point, what are you monitoring?

BOLDT: In some cases, you have a lot of current. Very shortly after you leave the harbor, you're going to have a lot of current headed north with the gulf stream. So that's going to change your plan a little bit. FLORES: Let's try to make a turn with the ship. If we try to turn and we've got currents, wind, what would you be monitoring? What would you be looking at?

BOLDT: One of the main things with a ship at sea is you have got your course on the ground and your heading. In this particular case, if you're headed across the Bahamas, the heading of the ship is not going to be in that direction. You have to counteract all that water moving north.

FLORES: You're thrusting one way, the ship is going the other?

BOLDT: Basically, yeah.

FLORES: Now let's start listing.

BOLDT: Sure.

FLORES: If you can start listing here, and you see the perspective from the bridge as to what it would look like. But I also want to give you the perspective from the passenger's eyes. Let's say that the passenger is on a balcony. You can see how close the water is to the lifeboats, to the water is to the balcony. So at this point, I have got to ask, what are crew members trained to do to correct this?

BOLDT: Depending on the exact situation, if you are listing, something has shifted inside the ship. It could be water, it could be cargo. Depending on what it is you may need to correct it or you may not. You may need to get to port to correct it.

FLORES: What complications if it is a cargo ship and there are metals in those compartments?

BOLDT: There are some metals that can liquefy under certain conditions and become very dangerous and slosh back and forth which is a problem called free surface, it's an uncontrolled moment. Any type of cargo has its own specific issues. Railroad vessels, if cargo breaks free and goes to one side. Obviously, that is not something you can do from the sea.

FLORES: So you would need help? You would not be able to correct it from the bridge?

BOLDT: Absolutely not.

FLORES: Brooke, a lot of different complications. But the good thing about simulators like this is it allows cruise liners to come here and practice those drills and make sure, if they are faced with a scenario out at sea, they are prepared to respond -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Rosa Flores, thank you so much for that.

Question, who do you think are the Most Influential People in the World? The president? The guy who began Twitter? New late night host? Miley Cyrus? They all made "Time" magazine's list. We're about to talk to someone from "Time" magazine. We will talk about the process and why and how.

Also ahead, say it ain't so. This New York Yankee pitcher put some pine tar, an illegal substance, in a place that it definitely did not belong, and now Red Sox fans, John Berman, coming up here, are screaming he's a cheater. Stay here.

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BALDWIN: Beyonce, she's a cover-girl staple. How many magazines have featured her face? There's one cover the superstar is especially in love with. "Time" magazine has just released its list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. She not only graces the cover but tops a section entitled "Titans." "Time" took this video of her photo shoot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEYONCE, SINGER: I feel like my mother and my daughter have been probably the most influential. And being a mother, becoming a mother, looking at my daughter in her eyes made me into a woman and made me very, very strong.

Shooting for "Time" magazine was definitely one of the goals in my life. It's something important for me as an artist. It's not about fashion or beauty or music, it's about the influence I have had on culture. And to be among the other influential people is a huge honor for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: There are a lot of people on this top-100 list that you might not have heard of, but according to "Time" magazine, you should and you will, like Katherine Sullivan (ph), director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for one.

To tell us more about the list and how "Time" came up with it, senior editor, Dan Macsai, joins me now.

Dan, nice to see you.

DAN MACSAI, SENIOR EDITOR, TIME MAGAZINE: Nice to see you, too, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Here we have the lovely, beautiful, and uber talented Beyonce. And of all of these people, she lands the cover photo? I know you want to sell magazines --

MACSAI: Yeah.

BALDWIN: -- but why the cover?

MACSAI: I think Cheryl Sandberg said it best in her write-up about Beyonce, that Beyonce doesn't just take a seat at the table, she builds a better table. She released an entirely visual album out of nowhere. It was a surprise and she represents a really strong woman.

BALDWIN: Take me behind the scenes. How do you come up with this 100 list?

MACSAI: So it's a very involved process. We solicit nominations from many, many people and former people on the list. We whittle it down, have lots of conversations, and it's a pretty cool process.

BALDWIN: This is one of my favorite magazines of the year. Not only are you sitting there wanting to see who is on the list, but you get to see famous people. Cheryl Sandberg wrote about Beyonce. I love Dolly Parton. Let me quote Ms. Dolly here. She says about Miley Cyrus. She says about Miley, "If I didn't know how smart and talented Miley is, I might worry about her but I have watched her grow up so I don't. She knows what she's doing. She doesn't have to be so drastic but I will respect her choices. I did it my way so why can't she do it her way"?

I don't want to talk about Miley with you, but how do you come up and how do solicit all of these various people to write your pieces?

MACSAI: We have tons and tons of conversations but it's a lot of back and forth. Does the person know the person? Do they have something interesting to say about the person? We want these entries to add some value to the readers.

BALDWIN: It's not just these positive role models. I read the blurb on Kim Jung-Un, who is in the top 100. We talked about suffering and human rights issue. Why include people like him on the list?

MACSAI: Influence has many forms and we do include polarizing figures. We would like to start a debate about what is influence and what does influence mean? We expect readers to disagree with some of our choices and they are more than welcome to let us know.

BALDWIN: So not always -- influence can take many shades and colors. I hear you.

MACSAI: Yeah.

BALDWIN: When I was clicking on -- it's beautiful online to go through the faces and articles. A lot of faces -- I feel like I'm pretty well read, and a lot of faces I didn't recognize. Let me ask you, of your entire 100 list, who was your favorite person on the list that maybe our viewers haven't heard of?

MACSAI: I would go with a guy named Tony Fidel. He's the CEO of a company called Nest. You should watch Nest. He is trying to reinvent the smart home. I would watch him in the future.

BALDWIN: OK. Dan Macsai, from "Time" magazine, thank you so much for coming on.

The "Time" 100 issue hits newsstands Friday.

Thank you, Dan.

MACSAI: Thank you. BALDWIN: When a pitcher is accused of cheating, a lot of people say let's give him the benefit of the doubt. What happens a second time, just days later, and he's caught pine-tar handed? Baseball fans a little less forgiving. We'll talk about that with John Berman.

Also ahead, the Bluefin 21's mission began with so much hope but could soon end in disappointment. But the search for this missing plane is far from over. Much more on the next steps ahead.

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BALDWIN: The plan for this new statue of the last Penn State football coach and legend, Joe Paterno, is in the works. But the school has nothing to do with it. You remember a statue of Paterno was taken down after the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal broke. Well, now, a group of alums is raising money for a new one through Kickstarter. They want to put it in Downtown State College, not on campus.

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THOMAS ALTIERE, SHERIFF, TRUMBULL COUNTY, OHIO: For us that have been around for any length of time, it really means a great deal for us, to us to make sure that we honor Joe in the right way. And this certainly is a way to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The Kickstarter campaign is set to begin in July.

And now to this. When we talk about cheating, you have all seen someone get busted. Maybe you have been in class and seen someone write with answers written on their hand. Well, a little something, not so little actually, happened last night. If you're watching Major League Baseball, New York Yankees pitcher, Michael Pineda, getting in some trouble because the answer is, in a sense, found smeared on his neck. Take a look at the pictures yourself. You will see on the right hand side of his neck? That is a no-no. That's an illegal substance. The ump taking a look at it. And then he goes, ejected from the game. You can't do this. He now faces a suspension. He did admit that it was pine tar. He said he used it because he didn't want to hit anyone. Pineda said it was a cold night and he couldn't feel the ball. The Yankees G.M. is a bit embarrassed.

So let's bring in my colleague, John Berman, who was on a bit of a soapbox earlier today. We thought the soap box could continue.

John, it is very hard as a Red Sox fan to watch this Yankees pitcher get ejected. Can you explain to me what really happened?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't just hard as a Red Sox fan. It was hard as a human being because no one should be this bad of a cheater. It should be impossible to cheat this badly.

What happened was this guy, Michael Pineda, walks out in the second inning with the pine tar smeared on his neck. There are 35,000 fans in the stands. It was a nationally televised game so, you know, hundreds of thousands of people are watching on TV. Every single one of them saw the pine tar on his neck. So the Red Sox manager, he looked guilty walking out to the man. He was like, I can't believe I have to do this. I can't believe anyone would be so silly as to try this. He told the ump and the ump tossed him. It's illegal. You can't do that in baseball.

BALDWIN: It is stuff that he would put on his hand to what? Have a better handle on the ball? Is that what this is?

BERMAN: I think the technical description would be a sticky goo.

BALDWIN: Sticky goo.

BERMAN: Yeah. It's distilled from a pine tree. It's the stuff you're your grandfather uses in shampoo. But it gives you a better grip on a baseball. And that's why pitchers use it. You're allowed to use it on a baseball bat. But on a baseball, if you use too much, it makes the ball do funky things. So they don't like it.

BALDWIN: He did this days ago?

BERMAN: That's what makes this truly astounding. About 10 days ago, against the Red Sox, no less, he had pine tar all over his hands. The Red Sox didn't object then because at least then he was trying to hide it. Last night, there was no attempt at all at hiding it. It was just smeared on his neck. The guy is 6'7". He has plenty of places to hide the pine tar, but he wears it on his neck. The Yankees admitted he did it. They apologized. Everyone was just in disbelief that it could happen quite like this.

BALDWIN: You want to say a little go Sox?

BERMAN: Go Sox. They won. They needed it. The Red Sox needed that win.

BALDWIN: Berman, thank you so much. We will be watching you tonight, 8:00 eastern, filling in for Anderson on "A.C. 360."

BERMAN: Yeah.