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Terrorist Leader Vows To Sell 223 Girls Who Were Abducted From School Last Month; New: U.S. Now Sharing Intel With Nigeria; Flight 370 Search Entering "Tougher" Phase; Nine Performers Hurt In Aerial Circus Stunt; Red Bull Picks Up Deal With L.A. Clippers; Supreme Court OK's Some Public Prayer
Aired May 05, 2014 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
We do begin with breaking news this morning: a horrifying development in the case of 200 Nigerian girls who were abducted from their school last month. An Islamic terror group claims responsibility for the raid on their rural school and a man claiming to be the group's leader issued a chilling warning. He will sell these girls. The statement issued just a short time ago says, quote -- you're not going to believe this because it's just -- all right. Let me read it to you. "There's a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women." It's just horrifying and mind-boggling.
CNN's Vlad Duthiers is in Lagos, covering the story. He has some more for you.
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VLAD DUTHIERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nigerians take to the streets in anger. They're demanding the government do more to rescue about 200 girls who were abducted from their school more than two weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a young mother. I can't imagine any mother going through this. It's shocking that our government hasn't made any official statement. Everybody is saying one thing or the other. They're not sure. We need to get the truth.
DUTHIERS (voice-over): It started on April 14th at the all-girl secondary school in the village of Chibok in Borno State. Armed men believed to be members of the Islamist group, Boko Haram, dragged the girls out of bed in the dead of night loading them on trucks and disappearing into a remote area near the border with Cameroon. Dozens of students were able to escape including Amina Shawar.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): We thought they were shoulders. We asked them to board a vehicle. My friends and I jumped from the vehicle and ran back home because we realized they don't look innocent to us.
DUTHIERS: The Borno State education commissioner says the government is doing everything it can and is withholding information for safety reasons. The families want answers. Rallies have been staged around the country. Their banners read "bring back our girls." The hash tag that started the social media campaign leading to the protest.
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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Vlad Duthiers joins us now live from Lagos. Why does this terrorist group hate these girls? Why are they doing this?
DUTHIERS: Carol, what they stand for -- the name means western education is a sin. This is -- now the world is seeing how outrageous this group is. Since then they have killed thousands of innocent people just this year alone, Carol, 1,500 people have been killed in violence according to human rights watch. That's 1,500 people. These 200 girls that went missing in the dead of night taken by Boko Haram who crashed into their rooms after a shoot-out with security guards and dragged them away into waiting vehicles, this is what they do.
It's outrageous that in the world today that this is still happening. One of the things that people have said to me is that if 200 girls were taken anywhere else in the world, a country would come to a standstill. As you know, Carol, in the United States, we have amber alerts. When one child goes missing, it feels as if the entire country is looking for them. We have 200 girls trying to get an education, abducted in the middle of the night and families say they have not heard anything in terms of a search and rescue operation.
COSTELLO: It's just so frightening. Nigeria's president came out days after it happened and said something. Vladimir Duthiers, thank you so much.
Also this new morning, we've learned that the United States is sharing intelligence with Nigeria's government as the need for a rescue appears more urgent than ever. Barbara Starr is following that part of the story from the Pentagon. Barbara, tell us more.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, President Obama now receiving several update briefings on this real humanitarian human trafficking disaster. The U.S. is now looking and moving to share intelligence with the Nigerian government according to a U.S. official I spoke to. This official says look for action on three levels. The intelligence level, diplomatic and military. Don't look for U.S. military boots on the ground, but instead think of it this way.
Very sensitive intelligence to be shared, the type of intelligence we've seen in past crises, satellite intelligence, communications sender they will look for any signs of where these girls have been taken this is close hold because it is so sensitive. It's going to be very difficult. You have 200 girls taken by vehicles. Very remote area. Nobody knows if that's been dispersed or sold off at this point and where they may be.
Are they in different locations? The U.S. will help the Nigerians if they're going to mount a rescue effort and help them plan that and look at how to best do that. That's something the U.S. military can help Nigerians with. There's a lot of behind the scenes cooperation with the Nigerian military on things like training and intelligence operations. Make no mistake, this is sensitive right now and it is going to be a very difficult proposition -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon. You're trying to help and it's fabulous of you. Americans are showing support for these abducted school girls. More rallies are mobilizing from coast to coast. A crowd lined a busy street in Los Angeles. In Washington, supporters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday.
They dressed in red, which is a show of solidarity. Crowds were thick but orderly as they masked behind police barricades at New York's Union Station. The rally and cry the same as he others. Bring back our girls.
We at CNN are not giving up on those girls. We want to hear your outrage to pass it along. Send us an ireport. Simple but effect. I have a girl child. She means the world to me. Follow us on twitter hash tag #bringbackourgirls. The more pressure, the more reason for Nigeria and other countries to rescue these girls.
Onto the search to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. A new stage may seem more hopeless. Search leaders from Australia, China and Malaysia will finalize plans for expanding the search, but they know this much. The new search area will mushroom in size and require detail mapping of the ocean floor. The task is even more daunting because the area is uncharted and no one knows even basic facts like how deep it is. Will Ripley joins us now from Malaysia's capital.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONENT: Let me put this in perspective. The bluefin-21 completing 18 missions so far covering fewer than 200 square miles under water. This newly expanded search area, 23,000 square miles. Clearly the Bluefin is going to need a lot of help, a lot of backup as this newly expanded search continues in the months ahead. What needs to happen first and we'll begin later this week in Australia is meetings where all of the leaders in three main countries involved in this, China, Malaysia and Australia, they'll sit around a table and decide how are they going to allocate resources available and what technology do they need to bring in to effectively search this area as quickly possible.
We know it will take a long time up to 12 months. It will be expensive. Up to $60 million. Here's another piece of new information that came out at a press conference earlier today. Basically the experts that met right here in the days and weeks after the plane disappeared are now going back down to Australia and crunch numbers again to make sure that they still believe all of these resources are searching the right place.
They'll look at the satellite data and mathematics and physics and calculate them because here we are as you mentioned more than eight weeks in now, 4.6 million square kilometers searched. More than 300 flights. More than 3,000 flight hours, 29 planes, 14 ships, Carol. Still not one sign of debris. They'll just make sure. Check the data. Make sure this educated guess is still their best bet.
COSTELLO: Will Ripley reporting live from Kuala Lumpur this morning.
It was supposed to be a day of clowns and high wire acts at the circus until a mid-air stunt went terribly wrong. We want to warn you the video you're about to see is quite disturbing. Out of nowhere eight people are hanging and some thought it was part of the act and then they realized it was a horrific accident. Another performer on the ground and two others people were hurt. CNN Alexandra Field has the latest.
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, really a terrifying accident. Left two people in critical condition at this point. Just imagine being there. The curtain opens. You see this site. Eight women hanging from this human chandelier held up by their hair. All of a sudden that curtain opens and audience watches them fall 25 to 35 feet crashing into the stage.
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FIELD (voice-over): A circus act goes horribly wrong. Eight acrobats suspended by their hair more than two stories about ground suddenly plunge when the apparatus holding them fails. Eleven people injured, one critically.
STEVEN PARE, PROVIDENCE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSIONER: At this point it doesn't appear to be life threatening. They are serious injuries from that high end fall.
FIELD: The fall, a frightening sight for the thousands of spectators including many children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At first people thought it was part of the show.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It came on top of everybody. It was scary.
FIELD: Promotional video shows what the stunt is supposed to be like. A spokesperson tells CNN the apparatus has been used several times since the show launched in January and safety has always been their priority.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via telephone): All of the equipment used by this group of performers as well as all other performers is carefully inspected. We take the health and safety of our performers and guests very seriously. Our company has safety departments that sends countless hours making sure all equipment is safe for continued use.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FIELD: A spokesperson for the circus says they don't know what caused that rig to fail and for all of those women to fall. They have canceled today's shows certainly while they try to figure this out.
COSTELLO: And there is an investigation going on. OSHA is involved now and other federal agencies.
FIELD: A partnership here local and the national investigation into what happened here and of course, the circus has to participate. They're the ones who are responsible for keeping this equipment safe. Local officials in Rhode Island tell us the circus did have permits it needed to operate but they'll have to look into what happened to this equipment and who was looking at it and what safety checks were in place.
COSTELLO: Alexandra Field, thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, The L.A. Clippers win on the court and off the court. A big sponsor returns. We'll tell you about it next.
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COSTELLO: Checking other top stories at 13 minutes past the hour. House Republicans plan to form a new committee to investigate how the White House handled the attacks on a U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in 2012. The latest announcement comes after newly released e-mails reignited the controversy on how the response was crafted to the attack. Democrats say the latest panel is a waste of time.
Oscar Pistorius trial resumed today. They say that Pistorius worked tirelessly to save his girlfriend's life. The defense will take two more weeks. Prosecutors wrapped up their part of the case trying to paint the blade runner as gun happy and temperamental.
Hundreds of people got caught up in a stampeded after the Floyd Mayweather fight on Saturday night. Dozens of fans were injured after a temporary wall fell over the MGM Grand Mayweather fight after a temporary wall fell over at the MGM Grand. A sound some mistook for gunfire caused fans to start pushing and shoving each other to get out of the way.
Winning solves all problems. In the case of the L.A. Clippers perhaps it's winning the game and banning the owner. Shelly Sterling, Donald Sterling's wife, seems to be setting herself up as the team's sole owner. We'll talk about that in just a minute. Let's talk about the positive right now.
The Clippers beat Golden State Saturday night to take their first round playoff series and advance to play the Oklahoma City Thunder. Game one is tonight in Oklahoma. The Clippers are also having some success off the court because guess what? Red Bull is back.
Red Bull and the Clippers are resuming a partnership with star forward, Blake Griffin. The team says it will donate half of the Red Bull payments to charitable initiatives and funnel profits into basketball operations and not Donald Sterling's pockets.
Red Bull is the third of the sponsors to rejoin the team since the NBA banned Sterling last week for racist comments. Let's talk about the Clippers with Zain Asher and "Bleacher Report's Andy Scholes. Welcome to both of you. What will it take for other sponsors to come back to the clippers?
ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I think at this point the sponsors are waiting for the dust to settle. There were so many unanswered questions right now. For example, who is the new leader going to be? Who is the new owner of the Clippers? Nobody wants to make the same mistake twice so I think their reputation will be under a lot of scrutiny. Unanswered questions sponsors are waiting for is will there be a long drawn out legal battle between Donald Sterling and the NBA?
Will Shelly Sterling be the new owner? What will that mean for the brand? Someone like Oprah, for example, brings positive publicity that sponsors will jump on that bandwagon. It's Corona, Kia, Sprint, State Farm, Amtrak playing it safe at this point saying they'll decide before the next NBA season what they're going to do with this brand -- Carol.
COSTELLO: It's interesting because Red Bull, Red Bull jumped right back in but with caveats. They are making sure none of the money will go into Donald Sterling's pockets. How can that be?
ASHER: At this point they want to protect their brand. They say to the Clippers, you know, we'll sort of return our sponsorship, but 50 percent has to go to charity. And you'll likely see other sponsors probably doing the same thing at this point. The fan base for the clippers is getting stronger after the scandal broke.
Even though the scandal may have alienated the fans and public from Donald Sterling, the fan base itself has gotten stronger. You see TV ratings for the clippers games since the scandal broke increasing between 30 percent to 50 percent so sponsors want to come back even though with possible stipulations.
COSTELLO: Andy, it's your turn. It must be tough for the team to have an ownership fight overshadow their playoff run, but frankly this team is used to craziness at the top, right?
ANDY SCHOLES, "BLEACHER REPORT": Donald Sterling's basketball decisions, they've always been rather questionable. We saw it this past off-season. He hired Doc Rivers as his head coach. That move was applauded around the league as a great move as coach and president of basketball operations. Doc Rivers' first move was to get J.J. Reddick. One of the best shooters in the league.
At the very last second Donald Sterling says, no, I won't approve this deal. Everyone wondered why. Everyone agreed to the deal. Rivers wanted Reddick on the team. People thought back then that Sterling was stereotyping Reddick and he didn't want to pay Reddick $27 million because he was a bench player.
Reddick is on record saying now he's hearing that Sterling did not want him on the team and didn't want to pay him that much money because he's white. Doc Rivers did eventually win out in that situation and said his credibility was basically on the line. You let me have J.J. Reddick or no one will want to play for us again and Reddick ended up being on the team. As we saw even last off-season, Sterling's decision making was very questionable and out there.
COSTELLO: So he didn't want to pay that much money because he was white because what? White men can't jump? What? SCHOLES: Basically. He thought that African-American players were more athletic and he had bad contracts with white players in the past so he didn't want to go down that road again. Even back then he was stereotyping. We just didn't know to what extent until the voice recordings were revealed to the world.
COSTELLO: And now we know. Zain Asher, Andy Scholes, many thanks to both of you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it started as a controlled burn, but it quickly burned out of control. More on the deadly fire threatening to burn down dozens of homes in Oklahoma.
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COSTELLO: The U.S. Supreme Court made a very interesting ruling. This just into CNN. Two women in New York objected when board meetings, government board meetings, opened with a public prayer. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Those two women were arguing it violated separation of church and state to hold public prayers in a town hall style meeting.
I'm just going to read you what Justice Anthony Kennedy said. He said the town of Greece does not violate the first amendment by opening its meeting with prayer that comports with our tradition. He says that public prayers are allowed at town board meetings. Let's parse this out. Let's go to Bill Mears. He cover the Supreme Court for us. Tell us about this ruling, Bill.
BILL MEARS, SUPREME COURT PRODUCER (via telephone): It gives limited approval to public prayers. It was 5-4 divided along conservative/liberal lines and dealt with how local communities, how far they have to go to accommodate the other faith. The two women you mentioned who brought the lawsuit claim that the prayers here at the town of Greece in New York outside of Rochester were overwhelmingly Christian in nature. And the local town council didn't do enough to bring in other voices to offer these kind of civic prayers.
COSTELLO: So supposedly the Supreme Court gave limited approval to public prayers. What does that mean?
MEARS: Well, they were divided along even in the vote they were divided, didn't all agree on exactly how far states, local communities, have to go to accommodate other faiths. The three- justice majority kind of focused on specifics of the town of Greece and their policies in formulating their conclusions that country's history of religious acknowledgment was long established by this country.
Didn't give too much guidance about how their communities can do it. Basic conclusion is so long as they do not coerce cooperation by nonadherence, these civic prayers will be allowed but when the line a town would cross into an unconstitutional violation, that's where the court did not go.
COSTELLO: All right, Bill Mears, thank you so much. COSTELLO: Right now, firefighters are trying to control a wildfire in Oklahoma. One person was killed after refusing to evacuate his home. The fire started as a controlled burn but got quickly out of control. At least 20 homes have been destroyed and many more could be at risk. CNN's meteorologist Indra Petersons joins us now.
INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. We are definitely talking about tough situations out there. Yesterday, they had record breaking heat in the area. About 97 degrees was the temperature, that's a good 20 degrees above where they are typically this time of year. Very dry. No wonder that we're talking about an elevated fire risk in the area and around Vegas and flagstaff, a critical elevation of fire danger. That's what they're dealing with today.
Temperatures expected to be even warmer. Let's talk about a couple things they have to deal with. How dry is the fuel. We look at the drought monitor. You can see in 180 days, last six months or so, it's the second driest on record. That fuel out there is extremely dry. We talked about the heat. Let's talk about winds. Winds 20, 30, up near 40-mile-per-hour gusts can be seen in the region.
That's not going to help the firefighters talking about temperatures today expected to soar again to record breaking numbers. They are expected to be even warmer than what they saw yesterday. A lot of concern is out there. You say when will they get relief? As you go forward in time, temperatures are expected to climb over the next several days.
COSTELLO: Indra Petersons, many thanks. Appreciate it.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Clippers co-owner posing as health inspector. A housing rights group claims Shelly Sterling harassed tenants of color at her husband's buildings. We'll talk about that next.
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