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New Day Saturday

Sochi Opens Winter Olympics in Style; Man Attempts to Hijack Plane to Sochi; Woody Allen: 'I Did Not Molest Dylan'; Infrared Video Shows Theater Shooting; A-Rod Accepts Season-Long Suspension; Security at Sochi; U.S. Blames Russia for Leaking Embarrassing Audio Recording; Philip Seymour Hoffman's Last Movie Will Be Finished Using Digitized Image of Late Actor

Aired February 08, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Olympic threat. Just as the world was celebrating the opening ceremonies, a hijacker demands his flight be diverted to Sochi. This morning, new video from inside the plane and how quick-thinking pilots tricked that suspect.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Woody Allen is fighting back. In a letter to "The New York Times," the filmmaker defends his innocence against molestation accusations and attacks Mia Farrow for the, quote, "self-serving transparency of her malevolence."

BLACKWELL: Good to be with you this morning. This is NEW DAY SATURDAY.

(AUDIO/VIDEO GAP)

PAUL: ... all week long, haven't you? I'm Christi Paul. We're happy to kind of ring you into Saturday.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Welcome to your day.

You know, I -- I didn't watch the big show last night. I woke up early this morning and watched a rerun of it. The opening ceremony.

PAUL: Did you really?

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: You are impressive. I haven't seen it.

BLACKWELL: I was up at 1:30. Yes.

PAUL: Well, I was, too, but I didn't watch it. My goodness. You've got me -- you've got me beat here.

BLACKWELL: Couple of minutes.

PAUL: It was a spectacular show, though, as I understand in Sochi. I mean, obviously, everybody's eyes are on it to officially open the 2014 Winter Olympics. And, you know, there were a couple of snafus.

BLACKWELL: Yes, there were some. But there was, of course, a tribute to Russian and even some krSoviet history. Tchaikovsky, the Kremlin. It was a majestic ceremony, watched by 3 billion people worldwide.

Team USA, of course, making a grand entrance here.

PAUL: One of the iconic rings, though, at one point failed to light, which is one of the things a lot of people are talking about today. The Olympic flame, though, burned as always. Set on its way -- set the cauldron by two of the host nation's most famous Olympians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yes, it was certainly climatic. You know, you show the picture of the ring bearer. I saw something online. It asked, "Should the USA have sent Beyonce over? She could have put a ring on it." I thought that was actually kind of funny.

PAUL: People are so clever.

BLACKWELL: But you know, elsewhere there was a would-be hijacker stoking fears about security. Turkish authorities helped land this jet safely, though, and to neutralize the suspect, who threatened to set up a bomb if he were not flown to Sochi.

Well, CNN is live in Sochi with Rachel Nichols, the host of CNN's "UNGUARDED," and CNN international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who is keeping an eye on security there.

PAUL: So Rachel, what do you make of the opening ceremony? You were there.

RACHEL NICHOLS, HOST, "UNGUARDED": Yes, it was really special to see all of the pageantry.

Russia's statement about their rights to host these games, and as you noted, a lot of big moments, but the small moments were really the most fun part of opening ceremonies for me. You had Israel and Iran marching into the stadium. Their delegations just a few feet apart from each other, really showing what the Olympic spirit was all about.

You had a U.S. skier, Heidi Kloser, who fell practicing on the slopes the day before, tore up her knee. She's now out of the Olympics, if you could imagine. That's it. Her whole games experience is gone now. But she was able to get on those crutches and crutch into the stadium with her teammates, which is really great for all of them.

So a lot of good things happening around the stadium and a little bit of controversy, as well.

BLACKWELL: Yes, let's talk about that controversy. And there's big controversy since the announcement of Sochi for the winter games. But specifically with the lighting of the Olympic flame, the torch. The person who lit it sparked a little controversy. What's that about?

NICHOLS: Yes, Irina Deriugina, she is a three-time Olympic figure skating champion. In fact, recently, she was voted the most recognizable Olympic person in Russia. So certainly somebody you would expect might light the Olympic flame along with hockey hero Vladislav Tretiak.

However, she's also currently a member of the Russian parliament. And last September, she tweeted out a photo of President Obama and his wife Michelle with a banana superimposed over it. Now, she did delete this tweet after she was condemned far and wide, including by the U.S. ambassador to Russia, but she didn't apologize.

And when organizers last night were asked after the ceremonies whether she was chosen in spite of the fact she had this tweet, maybe because of the fact she had this tweet -- of course, we know the state of U.S. and Russia relations right now -- the organizer just sort of shrugged and said, "Hey, we thought she was a good choice for the torch, so we chose her. Doesn't matter what she did in the past."

I'm not sure that answer is going to satisfy everyone in Washington, but that's what they're saying here.

PAULA: Yes, no doubt. Let's talk about a photo that was snapped by Olympic bobsledder Johnny Quinn. It is -- it's going viral. Can you talk to us about what happened here?

NICHOLS: Well, you've heard about the all of the problems in Sochi with the hotels. Some people not having supplies. Maybe some of the water being a little bit yellow.

Well, one of the other issues is the locks on the doors. Several people have had trouble getting locked into their rooms, into their bathrooms in this case.

Johnny Quinn, a U.S. bobsledder, said he went to go take a shower, closed his door, and unfortunately, when he went to open it, he couldn't. The lack had broken, and he was locked in. He didn't have a telephone for him. And there wasn't anybody else nearby. So shouting for help wasn't going to work.

So instead, he said he used his bobsled push technique to push his way through the door. Makes for a good picture. You can see there's a little cardboard there inside the door. So I guess it's pushable, guys. I mean, you know, now, it's a good tip for everyone else here: if they get locked inside, just push.

BLACKWELL: Well, fortunately, it is made of cardboard. I mean, had that been a steel door or a wooden door, he probably would had some troubles.

All right. Rachel Nichols, thank you so much. We'll check back.

PAUL: Thanks, Rachel.

You know, the head of the games is vowing that Sochi's going to be, quote, "the safest place on earth during the Olympics." So we want to bring in CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who is there in Sochi. And I know you were at the Olympic ceremony, as well. From a security standpoint, Nick, was there ever a moment that you that felt any concern or unsafe? I mean, talk to us about that.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, this has been fine, really, in many ways. They've put a dragnet in for a number of days. That was pretty secure. And I think there will be a lot of people in the Kremlin extraordinarily relieved, that actually across Russia, as far as we know, because Russia keeps a very strong hold on its media. As far as we know, this passed without incident.

Now, there is that issue of the plane that flew from Eastern Ukraine, that neighbors Russia very closely, to Istanbul. Let me tell you a little bit about that.

That situation now resolved, but it happened right in the middle of the opening ceremony, guys. So of course, everybody, suddenly red lights flashing.

Now this is a plane that was midair, flying from Ukraine to Istanbul in Turkey. A man on board, a Ukrainian national -- we're not quite sure what mood he was in at that time. But he said to the pilot or the crew, "There's a bomb on board. Divert the plane to Sochi."

Now, they didn't do that. They clearly continued and landed in Istanbul, where the plane was quickly whisked into a safe area. Security forces came in, checked the plane for devices. The passengers got off. He was subsequently arrested by Turkish special forces, apparently lightly injured in the arrest. Perhaps he put up some sort of resistance, or perhaps they wanted to incapacitate him quickly.

No device found on board at all. The man has no apparent links to Islamist extremism here or any other potential suspects you might think would be involved.

Some suggestion, though, he wasn't drunk. A Turkish officials suggested perhaps there might have been a substance involved. So this does look, perhaps, like the erratic behavior of one individual.

But it did come slap in the middle of the opening ceremony; caused a lot of anxiety. And I should point out after that toothpaste tube bomb threat we've been hearing for the past two to three days, people are particularly alarmed, because also Istanbul is one of the two places you can fly directly to Sochi from. And U.S. Officials were warning that threat was specific from flights to Europe from Russia.

PAUL: Nick Paton Walsh, we appreciate the input. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: You know this fight between Woody Allen and his children and his ex-wife, this is really getting nasty now. Allen himself, he's firing back against allegations of molestation in an op-ed released by "The New York Times." This was last night.

PAUL: Yes, and in it, Allen takes aim at his ex, actress Mia Fallow, saying she fabricated claims of abuse after the couple's break-up. Now, the piece comes one week, as you know, after the pair's adopted, Dylan, wrote her own open letter, accusing the filmmaker of sexually assaulting her as a child.

BLACKWELL: Well, in the new article, Allen denies any wrongdoing. And he says -- this is a quote -- "Of course I did not molest Dylan. I loved her and hope one day how she will grasp how she has been cheated out of having a loving father and exploited by a mother more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter's well-being."

PAUL: The 78-year-old filmmaker also challenges whether Dylan herself even wrote that letter. He accuses Mia Farrow of coaching her. And this is another quote here: "Does the letter really benefit Dylan or does it simply advance her mother's shabby agenda? That is to hurt me with a smear. There's even a lame attempt to do professional damage by trying to involve movie stars, which smells a lot more like Mia than Dylan."

BLACKWELL: And Dylan has already responded to Allen's op-ed. This is what she told "The Hollywood Reporter." "Once again, Woody Allen is attacking me and my family in an effort to discredit and silence me. But nothing he says or writes can change the truth."

PAUL: And this controversy dates back to 1993, originally triggered by a police investigation. We want to point out charges were never filed against Allen. But there are some interesting things surrounding why those charges weren't brought up and some testimony from a babysitter and how she may have corroborated some of what Dylan said. So we're going to talk more about this in the next hour. So stay with us for that.

BLACKWELL: There's a lot of misconceptions about there being no evidence or evidence or were charges dropped because of some story, some apocryphal story that's come up.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: But we're going to break down exactly what is true.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Still to come on NEW DAY, very welcome news in the story of a 6-day-old baby who vanished in Wisconsin. We're going to have the very latest on this.

PAUL: And A-Rod is giving up getting back against the doping suspension. So, what, is this it for him?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Fourteen minutes past the hour. And more troubling news about an American who's been held in North Korea for more than a year at this point.

The State Department says Kenneth Bae has been moved from a hospital to a labor camp now. And a spokeswoman says Washington is, quote, "gravely concerned: about Bae's health and urging North Korea to release him immediately.

Now today at 5 p.m. Eastern we'll let you know about a CNN exclusive on a new campaign to free Kenneth Bae. This involves lawmakers and other people with the power to influence. And that includes U2. So Bae's sister, Terri Chung, is going to speak live with Don Lemon. That's today at 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, the retired police officer who is charged with killing a man who was texting in a movie theater. First of all, we have new video to show you. This is really pretty disturbing. But secondly, that retired officer is not getting out of jail.

BLACKWELL: Yes. A Florida judge denied Curtis Reeves bond after seeing this video of last month's shooting. Now, the infrared video capped two days of testimony. Again, this is just the bond hearing, not the trial.

So detailed and troubling was the information here, the video, that it brought both Reeves and the victim's widow to tears. CNN's Martin Savidge talks us through what this video shows.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The video is grainy, but it captures a powerful scene. It comes from the camera mounted on the wall of the theater, and it starts with the lights on, people taking their seats for a matinee of the movie "Lone Survivor." Keep your eye on the far right side.

The man in the white-looking shirt is allegedly 71-year-old retired police officer Curtis Reeves. His wife is next to him. After the lights dim, the cameras continue to see in infrared.

Watch as Reeves appears to lean toward the front row. Prosecutors say he's complaining to 43-year-old Chad Oulson about using his cell phone. Oulson is just out of view.

Reeves leans back then leans forward again when prosecutors said Oulson said something back. Moments later, Reeves gets up and leaves. Eyewitnesses say he claimed he was reporting Oulson to management.

When he returns, witnesses say the men argued again, more loudly.

Now watch this. You see an arm, said to be Oulson's, reaches into view and plucks Reeves' popcorn out of his hand and throws it back at him. At nearly the same time, you can see Reeves thrust his right hand forward. Prosecutors say that's the moment Reeves fired a gun, pulled from his pocket.

Let's look at that again, slowed down. Oulson allegedly yanking the popcorn and throwing at Reeves and Reeves responding by firing his weapon. You can see the gunshot shock wave dislodged dust around the camera, appearing like snow.

The defense played its own enhanced version of the same video. In it someone seems to throw a glowing object that appears to hit Reeves and fall to the floor. The defense says that was Chad Oulson throwing his cell phone. Reeves told police he thought Oulson had struck him.

Reeves did an audiotape interview with detectives just an hour and a half after the shooting. In it, the former SWAT officer says the younger, aggressive Oulson frightened him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So what made you shoot him?

CURTIS REEVES, ACCUSED OF SHOOTING FELLOW THEATER PATRON: Well, I guess he scared the hell out of me. I thought the guy was fixing to beat the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of me.

SAVIDGE: Also caught on the video: an off-duty deputy can be seen moments after the shot, taking control of Reeves' gun and remaining with him until police arrived.

At the hearing, he testified to a conversation he overheard between Reeves and his wife.

ALAN HAMILTON SR., SHOOTING EYEWITNESS: She postured, and she said, "That was no cause to shoot anyone."

And then he leaned back around, stuck his finger out, you know, as to, you know, scold her and said, "You shut your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) mouth and don't say another word."

SAVIDGE: Nicole Oulson, Chad's widow, was also wounded by the shot that killed her husband. And as the judge announced his decision that Reeves was to remain behind bars until trial, she seemed barely able to keep her emotions in check.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SAVIDGE: It may have looked like it, but just a reminder, this two- day hearing was not a trial. It sounded a lot like one. In fact, when the judge rendered his decision about not granting bond, he said, "This may sound like a verdict, but it's not."

And the defense chimed up in a way that sounded also like a trial, because they say they're going to appeal -- Christi, Victor.

PAUL: Martin Savidge, thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Justin Bieber's legal troubles, they are, let's say, reaching new heights. Because the FAA is now looking into the pop star's flight last week from Canada to New Jersey.

Sources say that Bieber and his father verbally abused the flight attendant, who was reportedly trying to get them to stop smoking pot. Now, it's against FAA rules to, quote, "assault, threaten or intimidate" a crew member at work on a flight.

Still to come on NEW DAY, have we seen the last of Alex Rodriguez?

PAUL: The Yankee slugger dropping his fight against Major League Baseball. So what are the chances he's going to play the game again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: The ongoing battle between Yankee star Alex Rodriguez and Major League Baseball has taken another unexpected turn.

PAUL: Uh-huh. The suspended slugger appears to have accepted his fate at this point. Joe Carter is here with more. Does that surprise anybody?

JOE CARTER, CNN SPORTS: I think it's a huge surprise. It basically looks like -- that A-Rod and his legal team have pretty much given up a total surrender here.

PAUL: Wow.

CARTER: Because they've dropped their lawsuit against Major League Baseball, against the commissioner, Bud Selig, and against the players union, because he was coming at them hard, saying he was going to sue all of them in order to basically redeem that 162-game suspension that he was facing this upcoming season.

But A-Rod and his legal team, of course, were trying to fight and overturn that longest suspension in baseball history for his connection and to his use of PEDs which, of course, he has denied throughout this entire thing.

Here's the strange part, though, because his camp for months had declared over and over that he would not accept a single inning of punishment. And now as I said, they're totally surrendering, which comes as a very big surprise.

And you know, all parties involved were asked to comment. Nobody had a comment as to the reason exactly why. Some are believing it's because, 1, A-Rod wants to save some cash. And the lawsuit, some speculate it could cost up to $10 million this upcoming year. Plus if he were to lose the lawsuit, he loses $25 million in salary next season, so that's a big chunk of change.

And some have said that he wants to reconcile with Major League Baseball eventually. He wants to maybe pursue a career in broadcasting or even take on partial-team ownership after he retires from the game.

But you have to believe the commissioners' office, the Yankees and the players association are pretty much relieved to have this long, drawn- out situation behind them.

Now as for Alex Rodriguez's current situation, he's not eligible to play baseball at all this upcoming season. So that means no spring training. No regular season. No postseason. And this is his chance to basically sink out of the spotlight, come back in 2015, healthy and ready to play his final two years with the Yankees. Because as we said in the commercial break, he still has baseball life left. He has two more years after his suspension with the Yankees, which they have to pay him that money. So they're going to have to put him back on the roster.

Now, if another team wants to acquire those two years they can. But the likelihood of that happening, I don't know how great it's going to be. But I think the Yankees are going to have to take him back for 2015 at least. And again, if he's productive on the field, if he's hitting home runs and making good stops at third base, they'll most likely keep him. And the fans will probably somewhat welcome him back.

BLACKWELL: Yes. They'll get over it, for those hits.

All right. Joe Carter, thank you.

CARTER: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: You know rapper DMX says that he is considering a deal to jump into the ring and fight George Zimmerman, who as you know was acquitted of murder in Trayvon Martin's death.

PAUL: OK. You can imagine, I mean, this is creating an awful lot of buzz and controversy. Some people are calling it a shameless exploitation at the expense of Trayvon's family.

BLACKWELL: so next hour, the man behind this event, boxing promoter David Feldman, is going to join us live to take on questions about the fight. Tweet us: what do you want to know? What are your questions?

Stay with us here on NEW DAY SATURDAY.

Also coming up, how Clint Eastwood made one man's day in a pretty big way. Saved his life during a volunteer thing.

PAUL: Plus, a hijacking plot to terrorize the Olympics is thwarted. Our own Mike Brooks, analyst, he has worked in a couple of Olympics, and he has his own concerns about Sochi. He's going to share those with us on the other side of the break. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It is 6:29 right now. In case you haven't looked at the clock. I know you're listening to us and you're running around, because we do that, too. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell.

Five things you need to know for your NEW DAY this half. No. 1, more than 3,500 athletes shared the spotlight in Sochi for -- let's call it a majestic. It was really beautiful. Look at these pictures.

PAUL: Gorgeous.

BLACKWELL: Opening ceremony, 2014 Winter Olympics there. Organizers say more than 3 billion people around the world watched this. Team USA, 230 members, has the largest delegation. And the crowd is behind the Jamaican bobsled team who made it. Hoping to make history with another cool running. PAUL: Number two, five people have been charged in connection with the disappearance and death of 45-year-old police captain Kevin Quick. And Quick vanished a week ago after leaving his mother's house. He was apparently supposed to go to a friend's birthday party, but never showed up. His body was later found along a roadside. Authorities are trying to determine a motive for the killing and whether the suspects knew him.

BLACKWELL: A six-day-old infant who vanished Thursday from her home in Wisconsin has been found. And the woman accused of taking her is now in jail. Kayden Powell was discovered outside a gas station in Iowa. She was swaddled in blankets inside a tote bag. And despite the cold, because it as cold, she's doing well. The suspected abductor Kristen R. Smith now faces federal kidnapping charges.

PAUL: Number four, President Obama signs a sweeping farm bill that overhauls subsidies to farmers. So basically, it's going to prevent a spike in milk prices, it will direct new labeling on meat so you know what you're getting. And it cuts food stamps by $8 billion. The president signed that bill, you see here, at Michigan State. And none of the Republican lawmakers invited ended up attending.

BLACKWELL: Number five, you might soon be paying a lot more for vegetables. California's dry weather. We've covered the drought. It's expected to cost the state farming and trucking companies an estimated $5 billion this year. And the result, of course, shoppers around the country, that the prices rise at least ten percent for broccoli, cauliflower, celery, maybe other vegetables.

PAUL: Meanwhile, maybe it will be a good weekend for them. You know, the next couple of days. We know parts of California could get up to ten inches of rain before, you know, Sunday is all over. So CNN's meteorologist Karen Maginnis has been studying this. What's it look like, Karen?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It looks like some parts of California will see some wet weather. But as far as southern California is concerned it is still a drought emergency. You've probably heard over the last several days about this Pineapple Express. That's that long fetch of moisture that's aimed across the West Coast. But there's still that ridge of high pressure across southern California. So they are going to feel the pinch even worse. Only about 12 percent of the Sierra Nevada have seen the amount of snowfall. And the snow pack that they typically would for this time of year. However, a big change is taking place in Oregon. Over the last three months about 25 percent of the state was in drought. Now 76 percent of the state is. Across California, they have been hit very hard. But in Portland, let's show you some pictures out of there. They saw a rare snow event for the month of February. Essentially, about 40 folks gathered together in downtown Portland. And they were skiing there because they saw about four inches of snowfall. They need this precipitation in southern California. It's just not going to happen, all the way to President's Day. After that, it looks like it's very slim chances over the next several days. We'll keep you updated on that. Back in the next hour.

BLACKWELL: All right. It's hopefully to get something. Karen Maginnis, thank you very much.

PAUL: So, we've been talking about this plot to hijack a plane, divert it to Sochi and blow it up. This - I mean it was failed fortunately, but I think it really shows how determined people who have an agenda can be.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, let's tell you what happened. Officials say that the suspect is Ukrainian. And you see the video here. They arrested him after the plane landed in Istanbul yesterday. Now, this incident is the latest threat. And there have been many against the Winter Olympics. Security is tight in the wake of other terrorist attacks in Russia.

PAUL: And take a look at this, won't you? We Americans are pretty pessimistic people sometimes. In a recent CNN/ORC poll 57 percent say a terrorist attack at the Olympics is likely. So, let's talk about this with Mike Brooks. Because Mike, I know, you worked at the Atlanta Olympics. Now, you worked at the Salt Lake City Olympics, what about Sochi concerns you first and foremost?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, let's go back to 2002, Salt Lake City. Well, consider between October 15 and December 30th, 2013, there were three suicide bombings within 600 miles of Sochi. So, if that happened here in the United States and there were three suicide bombings within 600 miles of Salt Lake City, what would the people here in the United States be saying? Because everybody is - wow, you know, we've talked too much about security. You know, we're focusing too much on that and not on the athletes. But I tell you, when you have that many incidents and you have a terrorist group who has the capability of possibly carrying something out. You know, it's something that people are going to be talking about.

BLACKWELL: I mean if there is a plane that comes into that space and it's hijacked or it's someone is flying their own planes what is the defense that's available there?

BROOKS: Well, you know, yesterday, when that failed attempted hijacking, it was a certain guy with an altered mental status basically. Two F-16s were scrambled. Now, during 2002 Winter Olympics, I was working for Delta Airlines, and we actually did a hijacking exercise with U.S. authorities, with Canadian authorities with a hijacking - simulated hijacking took place between Salt Lake City and Anchorage, Alaska, just to test our capability, the FBI was involved. You know, here, I don't think you are going to get any - any aircraft within miles of the Sochi site at all.

PAUL: OK, so, how likely is it, though, that maybe somebody would attack near Sochi, but not inside?

BROOKS: Right. That's what everybody thinks. That's what analysts think. If something happens it probably will not take place within Sochi. Within that Ring of Steel where you have over 40,000 security personnel. Military, police officers, you know, at the site. But it could happen somewhere else. You know, and the biggest concern I have is public transportation. And, you know, the State Department put out a travel alert for the Russian federation, and one of the things specifically they talked about was if you're using public transportation, you know, be aware of your surroundings. And don't wear, you know, anything that says USA on it. In fact, they told the - basically told the athletes, once you leave the village, don't wear anything that says USA on it.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. And there were those two bombings at Volgograd at the train station.

BROOKS: Yeah, exactly

BLACKWELL: So. Of highly concern. I want to talk more about this book - continue the conversation now later the morning. Mike Brooks, thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, Mike.

So did you hear about that U.S. diplomat who dropped the F-bomb.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Blasting some of America's strongest allies?

BLACKWELL: Well, now, the woman accused of, let's call it, salty language.

PAUL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: She's not denying it. Instead, she's making backhanded comments about Russia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Good morning to you and good morning, Niagara Falls there in New York. Can't see much. But this is a live look. Powerful falls. I think if you see maybe a little of the - that steam, it can't be too steamy, because the higher temperature today, it's mist. It's called mist. 17 degrees there in New York. Let's take a look at some of the other news making headlines around the world. Let's go to Christi.

PAUL: All right, thanks, Victor. We're going to go to Spain now, first of all, where the Spanish royal family is bracing for scandal as Princess Cristina is in court testifying in a corruption case today. CNN's Al Goodwin is there. Good morning, Al.

AL GOODMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, it is an unprecedented court date, Princess Cristina, the youngest daughter of Spain's King Juan Carlos is the first direct member of the royal family here to testify in court while facing preliminary charges for a crime. She's appearing before a judge who suspects her of alleged tax fraud and money laundering in deals linked to her husband's business. Through her lawyers the princess denies any wrongdoing. But the case has riveted the attention of Spaniards. Back to you, Christi.

PAUL: All right. Thank you so much, Al. I appreciate it. We want to go to the tropical paradise of Bali now. And another scandal in case. This time we're talking about Australian beauty Schapelle Corby, convicted of drug smuggling nine years ago. Now Indonesia is granting her parole. CNN's Saima Mohsin is there with this one. Good morning, Saima.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, this has been a decision that Schapelle Corby and her family have been waiting for since 2005 when she was convicted of trafficking drugs in Indonesia. She's always maintained her innocence saying that they were planted in her bag. But she was convicted and found guilty of carrying more than four kilograms of marijuana. She didn't receive the death penalty, but was sentenced to 20 years in prison. And since then, she's appealed and fought that decision. And finally she will be released. And eventually come through those doors and be able to be with her family. Back to you, Christi.

PAUL: All right. Saima, thank you.

And let's go to Egypt now. The comedian known as Egypt's Jon Stewart, yes, there is one, is back on the air just months after mocking the Egyptian military. And he doesn't seem to be backing down from the dancing. CNN's Reza Sayah reports from Cairo. Good morning, Reza.

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, a big test for freedom of speech here in Egypt and freedom to be funny. Last night was the television comeback for Bassem Youssef. Egypt's most popular satirist. Many call him Egypt's Jon Stewart. You recall he shot the fame back during the 2011 revolution, when he put his homemade comedy show on YouTube. Soon, he had his own TV show with millions of viewers, but last year, his network pulled the plug when he made fun of Egypt's army chief. Last night, he didn't directly mock the army chief, but plenty of backhanded jokes through lots of laughs. Obviously, the army is still a red line here. And freedom of speech doesn't seem to be absolute. How long authorities will tolerate Youssef's show depends on how far he decides to push the envelope. Christi.

PAUL: All right, Reza, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

So, Victor, comedy can get you in trouble in some places.

BLACKWELL: It certainly can, but he's back on the air.

Some other trouble for someone who was, I guess, not trying to make a joke, but some people found it amusing. Others were offended. The U.S. is now blaming Russia for leaking that embarrassing recording that seems to catch a top American diplomat dropping the F bomb on the European Union. Well, the diplomat is now apologizing, but Washington says this is a new low for Moscow. Let's get more from CNN foreign affairs reporter Elise Labott in Washington for us. Elise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the eve of the Sochi games U.S. - Russia relations hit a major snag. Russians now accused of leaking this private audio recording between U.S. diplomats discussing what to do about the current political turmoil in Ukraine. VICTORIA NULAND, U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: So, that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and have the U.N. help glue it. And, you know (EXPLETIVE DELETED) the E.U.

GEOFFREY PYATT, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Exactly. And I think we've got to do something to make it stick together because you can be pretty sure that if it does start to gain altitude, the Russians will be working behind the scenes to try to torpedo it.

LABOTT: That sounds like Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland telling the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine that they were going to bring in a U.N. envoy to close the deal.

NULAND: (EXPLETEVE DELETED) the E.U.

LABOTT: That audio, first posted on YouTube with Russian subtitles and tweeted by a Kremlin official is highly embarrassing for the U.S. Nuland wouldn't confirm the authenticity of the tape, but she didn't deny it either. Instead, this veiled swipe at Russia suggesting Moscow recorded the call.

NULAND: I'm obviously not going to comment on private diplomatic conversations. Other than to say it was pretty impressive tradecraft. The audio was extremely clear.

LABOTT: Even after NSA revelations of U.S. wiretapping of foreign leaders, the State Department called the publicizing of the call a new low for Russia. The months' long protests in Ukraine to oust that country's president have divided the U.S. and Russia with both accusing the other of meddling in a volatile situation. Attention now fully on display, thanks to a Russian tweet of a YouTube link.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LABOTT: Now, Nuland has apologized for the incident. Still, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the comments unacceptable. The State Department doesn't seem overly concerned about what happened, at least publicly. And it's embarrassing to be sure, but it doesn't seem to be indicative of a major disagreement. The U.S. and the Europeans are pretty much on the same side here. They both prefer Ukraine integrated with Europe over one closer to Russia. Christi, Victor.

PAUL: Elise Labott, thank you, Elise, so much.

You know, the death of Seymour - Philip Seymour Hoffman, it's really shaking up a lot of people.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, a lot of people emotionally, but also professionally, because he was in the middle of filming a new movie. The question is, what will they do? Well, filmmakers will be able to complete that role that he left unfinished. Producers will create a performance that never happened. We'll tell you how.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: That's ten minutes to 7:00 right now. And film legend Clint Eastwood made one man's day in a big way. I mean the actor and director saved the guy from choking. Eastwood's rep says this man apparently had a piece of cheese stuck in his throat during the volunteer dinner. This was in Monterey California on Wednesday, actually.

BLACKWELL: And Eastwood gave him the Heimlich maneuver. And the man Eastwood saved is Steve John, the director of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Golf Tournament.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE JOHN: And I was eating appetizers and actually drinking water. And I had, I guess, a piece of cheese that was not going to work down the same pipe as the water. And it -- I just choked. Was choking. And Clint could see that I was choking. And he just grabbed my arm, turned me around and performed the Heimlich on me and saved my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That sharp cheddar will do it to you every time. It will. His rep tells us, the 83-year-old actor has no comment on his life saving rescue.

PAUL: That would be a little freaky, though, to look back and go ...

BLACKWELL: It's Clint Eastwood. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Well, you know, speaking of stars there's this memorial that's planned a little bit later this month for Philip Seymour Hoffman who, of course, died last week from an apparent heroin overdose. So, a string of celebrities attended a private funeral with his family and other supporters yesterday.

BLACKWELL: Yeah, however, the role that Hoffman last portrayed will live on, although he didn't finish shooting the film. CNN's Casey Wian explains how.

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Christi, Philip Seymour Hoffman died before he could finish this final movie, but the film can still be completed using a virtual image of the actor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: Philip Seymour Hoffman appears to be fighting himself in "Mission Impossible III." It was Hollywood magic blending in two of the actor's performances into one scene. Technology could save the final installment of "The Hunger Games" series. Filming was almost complete when Hoffman died. Now producers must create a performance that never happened.

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN: Right way. It's the right time.

WIAN: With enough time and money it can be done digitally. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To complete the movie using Philip Seymour Hoffman is not an impossible task. It's kind of easy to do. Compared to 20 years ago, we have advanced the art so much that we can absolutely put a photo realistic breathing human in there that you will be not able to distinguish between the original.

WIAN: 20 years ago, when lead actor Brandon Lee died in an onset accident, "The Crow" was finished using a facial image of Lee superimposed on a body double. Two decades earlier, Lee's father Bruce died before "The Game of Death" was finished, a look-alike film these remaining scenes, the best option at that time. Not anymore.

ERIC BARBA, DIGITAL DOMAIN: The holy grail of visual effects has always been to be able to pull up a digital human.

WIAN: Eric Barba and his team, a digital domain, won an Oscar for the "Curious Case of Benjamin Button." For 52 minutes, the film shows an incredibly life-like digital image of an artificially-aged Brad Pitt.

BARBA: Here's actually Brad where we are capturing the details of how his face moves.

WIAN (on camera): So the head is superimposed upon another actor's body?

BARBA: Yes, the facial expression, the characteristics that Brad was able to portray and the performance was then put on the other actor.

WIAN (voice over): Digital Domain also created a full-size digital image of the late rapper Tupac Shakur who appeared to be resurrected at the 2012 Coachella music festival for a performance with Snoop Dogg. Look at this French-produced Dior ad featuring Charlize Theron backstage with long-dead stars such as Grace Kelly. While characters can be brought back to life digitally, visual effects artists say the powerful emotions of a real life actor remain difficult to duplicate, especially for one as talented as Philip Seymour Hoffman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: Digital images can benefit producers in another way. One of the visual effects artists we spoke with told us the story of a particularly petulant, uncooperative actor who was finally convinced to complete his scene with the threat of a digital replacement.

PAUL: Wow. Isn't that something?

BLACKWELL: Did he say actor or anchor?

PAUL: He said actor. He said actor.

BLACKWELL: Actor. Okay.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: I still got my job. PAUL: For a little while. I was listening to Burt Wise and his team on the show yesterday talking about this thing. I think it's going to be distracting.

BLACKWELL: Because people are going to be looking for that scene, is this it, is that it?

PAUL: But if they do it like that commercial, it could work.

BLACKWELL: The Dior commercial was great.

Okay, so some New Yorkers, they think they have seen everything. Right?

PAUL: This is awesome.

BLACKWELL: But what about dozens of zombies hidden underground attacking unsuspecting pedestrians?

PAUL: Oh, stick around, people. We've got an elaborate prank for you. Wait till you see how it freaks people out.

BLACKWELL: It is so good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, TALK SHOW HOST: So they're using the barter system at the Sochi Olympics? Have you heard about this?

Like a bronze medal will get you clean water.

[laughter ]

JIMMY FALLON, TALK SHOW HOST: We've done over 10,000 monologue jokes over the last five years, 10,000, that's crazy. In case you missed any of them. The best way I can summarize those jokes is that Joe Biden needed Obamacare after Anthony Weiner texted Justin Bieber a picture of Chris Christie, dating a Kardashian on the Jersey Shore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Very nice.

BLACKWELL: Hole in one.

PAUL: So I'm wondering what you'd do if this happened to you. Check out this prank in New York that really freaked some people out. They were completely unsuspecting in Union Square.

BLACKWELL: So good.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yeah, I don't like sidewalk grates, anyway. PAUL: Right. Who does?

BLACKWELL: Few people do. Well, the AMC channel hid dozens of quote/unquote, zombies underground. These bloodthirsty actors, of course, growled and reached for pedestrians.

PAUL: At least people kind of laugh as soon as they realize it. This is a promotion by the way for the hit series "The Walking Dead," which starts back up this weekend. Love the clever people. You know, I don't know what they'll come up with next.

BLACKWELL: Not everybody was laughing. Not funny. Not funny.

PAUL: Not funny, people. We're so glad that you're starting your morning with us.

BLACKWELL: We've got a lot more coming up on your next hour of your "New Day" that starts right now.