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CNN NEWSROOM

Oscar Pistorius Gets Bail; Kansas Buried Under Snow; Storm Cancels Hundreds of Flights; Searching for Most Wanted Kingpin; Iran Installs New Centrifuges in Nuclear Plant; Jimmy Carter on "Argo"

Aired February 22, 2013 - 12:00   ET

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


SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL, I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Happy Friday. I'm Michael Holmes.

MALVEAUX: This hour we're taking you around the world in 60 minutes.

We begin, of course, in South Africa. Oscar Pistorius getting bail. A South African magistrate decided that the Olympic star could stay out of jail while prosecutors work on the murder case against him. Stay right here. We're going to be live from Pretoria in just a minute.

HOLMES: Yes, and a snowstorm putting tens of millions of people in a deep freeze. We're going to take you to one of the hardest hit states and tell you where the storm is headed next.

All right, we've got, first of all, though, a major development in the Oscar Pistorius murder case. The Olympic track star no longer in jail. He's been given bail. In fact, he's left the court already.

MALVEAUX: So there are some conditions, however. The magistrate in Pretoria set bail at a million rand. So that's about $112,000. He can't go back to his house. He has to hand over his passport, as well as guns. And he's prohibited from drinking alcohol while out on bail.

HOLMES: Yes, also got to report to police twice a week. All pretty standard stuff.

Let's go to Pretoria. Nic Robertson standing outside the courtroom, as he has been for hours now. Nic, the magistrate gave a very long and detailed explanation of why he was granting bail. Walk us through it.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the reasons he went on for so long was he wanted to sort of really ground his position in through (ph) legal history going back to the Boer War (ph), citing reasons, for example, why he wouldn't let cameras into the courtroom, (INAUDIBLE) citing historic cases. But really what he did was essentially eviscerate the police investigation so far, the information, the evidence that the state had put through, called it circumstantial at best. He said that he wasn't entirely convinced that this case was, as he had put -- as had originally been described and as he thought it was, premeditated murder. He said, for example, the police have probably contaminated the crime scene, that there were phones found in the bathroom at the crime scene. The police hadn't even bothered following up to check where -- where or what calls might have been made from those phones.

Other issues. He said that the prosecution hadn't done enough to convince him that Oscar Pistorius was at risk of leaving the country or was a risk of being violent when he got out -- let out of jail. So very hard on the prosecution perhaps, as well finding holes in the affidavit that Oscar Pistorius had lodged with the court, saying that he wasn't entirely convinced that Reeva Steenkamp wouldn't have called out. If he had done what he said he did, why wasn't -- why didn't she call out. So, questions, but clearly coming down hard against the state and the prosecution.

I'm joined now by Jaco Van Vuuren, who is a courtroom artist who sat in that courtroom.

You saw the emotion on the faces. You've been through many trials. How does this compare?

JACO VAN VUUREN, SKETCH ARTIST: Well, this one is special. I mean, I think in the history of South Africa and, you know, the level of the person that was accused of murder. So this is one really special -- a special event the last we've -- well, last week was tremendous.

ROBERTSON: And we've had no pictures from inside there. No cameras. No photographs during the proceedings. No video through the proceedings. Your pictures are it. Can you show us some of the pictures?

VAN VUUREN: (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTSON: Yes. And here we have -- talk me through what we have.

VAN VUUREN: This is -- this is Barry Roux, his attorney. I think this was the day that he did really well with Oscar. And --

ROBERTSON: This is Oscar Pistorius here looking down?

VAN VUUREN: This is Oscar Pistorius. Obviously that's Barry Roux. And here today, this was, you know, this is --

ROBERTSON: This is (INAUDIBLE) --

VAN VUUREN: This is the judge and Hedi Nell (ph) for the state. And, you know, that's just full of media. You know, I'm trying to create an emotion, an idea of what's actually happening in court. It was -- yes, it's just chaos inside there.

ROBERTSON: For you, your strongest image you've got here really showing the emotion on Oscar Pistorius, which picture would that be? I mean here we have him looking --

VAN VUUREN: This is the family I did today. Because that was important, you know. It's his coach at the back, Ampie Louw. This is his father and then the sister and the brother. You know, so that was important with this judgment to get them into a shot and trying to get emotion. But it was -- you know it -- there was no lighting up of emotion today. ROBERTSON: So a lot of time he's looking down. And we heard from a coach here earlier on saying he's very concerned about his mental well-being. Wanted to get him back into training.

Do you -- there were moments when he was breaking down in tears in the courtroom. Were you able to capture those?

VAN VUUREN: Yes. And in the previous ones that we obviously not shown right now is, I tried capturing it, but it was -- it's so hard because it's so emotional for me as well.

ROBERTSON: Have you ever -- have you ever seen that in a courtroom, that kind of emotion and how tense it was?

VAN VUUREN: No, no, definitely not. And I've sat now in the most horrendous court cases inside Africa. But that was the first time. There's a lot of emotion. Intense, everybody. You know, it's -- was just energized to a (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTSON: And Oscar Pistorius, such a star in the country, normally full of life. Here, looking down. Have you ever seen him like this before?

VAN VUUREN: No. I know him personally, because I train on the same athletic track as he does. And I'm a coach there. And it's the first time I've seen him in this. Because he's always happy (ph). He's always good behaved. Never have a bad thing to say to any that I -- anybody that I know of. And this was just sad. It was -- it was draining (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTSON: So in the last few hours, he's left here. He's gone to be with his family. You know him. How do you think he's going to come back mentally, emotionally from this week, let's not say forever, but this week?

VAN VUUREN; Look, he's -- obviously he's a fighter. So we know that. He's got a very, very strong team backing him. We saw that the whole week with his attorneys. His forensic team is good. So he will come back fighting and I think, you know, hopefully it will turn out good for South Africa and turn out good for him. So far it did (ph).

ROBERTSON: Courtroom artist Jaco Van Vuuren, thank you very much indeed.

VAN VUUREN: Thank you.

ROBERTS: Michael, he'll come -- Suzanne, he'll come back fighting, that's what we can expect.

HOLMES: That's great insight, Nic. Terrific interview there. Nic Robertson there in Pretoria.

MALVEAUX: I mean it's rare that you actually see the court artist really emotional about this. And also, you know, somebody who knows the person that he's actually drawing and sketching.

HOLMES: Yes, who knew the accused.

MALVEAUX: Unbelievable.

HOLMES: Yes, (INAUDIBLE).

MALVEAUX: And, of course, keep in mind, Pistorius, a major a-list celebrity in South Africa, throughout the world. The cases has completely consumed the country since the shooting on Valentine's Day.

Just a few minutes ago, our Robyn Curnow spoke to a man who has been showing up at the courthouse every day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing how my family members would feel completely different to how I am (INAUDIBLE).

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why, do they think he should go to jail?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some of them. Some of them think he should rot in jail and he's a danger to society. And, I mean, it's funny how yesterday we called him a hero and the following day people just say, no, he should just be put to the sword.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Interesting stuff. People who were inside the courtroom during the bail announcement say Oscar Pistorius mostly stared at the floor and then cried into his hands when the magistrate mentioned the name of his now dead girlfriend.

MALVEAUX: South African's chief magistrate Desmond Nair announced his decision to free Pistorius, but not before speaking almost two hour, reading every detail of that case out loud. Here is his voice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DESMOND NAIR, SOUTH AFRICAN CHIEF MAGISTRATE (voice-over): In this instance, the accused has reached out to try to meet the state case. Of course against the background of those improbabilities that I have seen and mentioned. That reaching out in the affidavit, in the way that he did, placing it before the court, together with the fact that none of the factors that need to be established have been established, I come to the conclusion that the accused has made a case to be released on bail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And don't go away. In a few minutes we're going to be talking to a South African law professor. In many ways the South African justice system is similar to the U.S., but there are plenty of big differences. And you'll hear about those coming up.

MALVEAUX: And, of course, another big story we're following here in the United States, a ferocious snowstorm paralyzing a huge section of the country. Dumping snow from Kansas to Michigan. All across the region, schools are closing, flights grounded and it's going to be a real mess out there. Cars slipping and sliding dangerously across some icy roads.

HOLMES: Yes. And this scene in Chicago pretty typical. There have been hundreds of accidents. In Oklahoma, one of them was deadly. A teenager reportedly killed when his truck crashed.

MALVEAUX: Conditions in Kansas also pretty treacherous. More than 14 inches of snow fell in Wichita. Only one other storm in the city's history was worse. That was more than 50 years ago.

HOLMES: Wow. Our Erin McPike is in Wichita right now.

Erin, how are people dealing with all that snow? They're not used to this much.

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, most schools and universities in Kansas and Missouri are closed today. Businesses throughout the region were closed all yesterday. They opened a lot later today. And the Kansas government also shut -- or, excuse me, started a little bit later today, around 10:00. Usually they're in earlier.

But here's the warning that the Kansas officials sent out to residents today. This is pretty good. Please clear off hoods and roofs of your vehicles before driving. Of course you don't want big chunks of snow obstructing your vision as you're driving around. But all the roads are open and they're pretty clear today.

MALVEAUX: We know that Kansas and Missouri declared states of emergency. Do you have a lot of folks who are stranded out there on the roads?

MCPIKE: There were some. The National Guard patrolled about 800 miles of roads throughout Kansas. They helped about 70 stranded cars. The good news, though, is that there were zero deaths throughout this state. There were 106 accidents, though, and 15 injuries. But on the whole, people have been pretty responsible in this storm, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Wow, that's amazing, 106 accidents and nobody's injured. That's amazing.

HOLMES: That is extraordinary and good news.

The weather looks pretty sunny there now. Is it cold? Erin looks a bit cold. How is it?

MCPIKE: It was really cold this morning. It was about 14 degrees. But, right now, we're staying pretty warm. It's getting better.

HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE).

MCPIKE: And very sunny. Yesterday it wasn't sunny at all, but we're doing better.

MALVEAUX: You know what it is, it's that CNN jacket. HOLMES: It -- yes.

MALVEAUX: I've worn that many years. Many, many layers in that CNN jacket. Stay warm, if you can.

HOLMES: I have too, yes. It always works.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Erin.

Hundreds of flights, of course, canceled. Take a look at just how bad the conditions were at the airport in Wichita yesterday.

HOLMES: Wow. Yes, Karen Maginnis is going to join us now from the CNN Weather Center. How bad are the disruptions now, Karen?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It looks like a little more than 100 flights canceled out of the Chicago O'Hare Airport with ground delays, they've really increased over the last hour or so. The last time I looked, it was about a half hour. Now it's an hour and a half.

Minneapolis and New York also getting in on the action with increasing delays expected there. And I dare say we'll also expect some delays at some of those other Midwestern airports. Maybe Detroit might get added in as the weather deteriorates there.

But we've got some live pictures coming out of Chicago. Now, you'll say, now this is just not a whole lot of snow. It's not the snow, it's the visibility. And the temperatures is 28 degrees right now. This is a live view as we take a look at Chicago. And, Chicago, you may see maybe another inch or so, but that's about it as our storm system just sweeps across the Great Lakes. It's really winding down. But leftover snowfall still going to make those roads slick.

And speaking of slick, across the southeast, here comes the rain. And in some cases, we could see six or eight inches of rain over the next five days. Another big story, the New England area this weekend, Mike and Suzanne, it looks like we could see another round of snow there.

HOLMES: Ouch. Wow. A bit wet down here at the moment, isn't it. All right. Thanks, Karen, good to see you.

Now here's more of what we're working on for NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL this hour.

The most wanted man from Mexico to Chicago. The search still on for Joaquin Guzman, aka El Chapo.

MALVEAUX: And, we've put a man on the moon, but a private group is now working on putting a person on Mars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: He is one of the most wanted criminals in the world, Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, also known as El Chapo.

HOLMES: Yes, this guy's been on the loose since escaping from a maximum security prison back in 2001, reportedly by hiding in a laundry cart. And now there are reports saying that Guzman may have been killed in a gunfight in a remote section of Guatemala.

MALVEAUX: So Rafael Romo joins us.

So, Rafael, what do we know about this supposed gunfight? Is he -- do we know if he's even alive or dead?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Well, Guatemalan authorities first said last night that they had information that El Chapo was actually dead in their territory, that they just needed to confirm that information through DNA testing. And then they completely backtracked and today there's no information about the whereabouts of the man whose considered to be the world's most powerful drug lord.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO (voice-over): He's the most wanted man in Mexico, and the U.S. government has a $5 million bounty on his head. His name is Joaquin Guzman, known around the world as "El Chapo," or "Shorty."

As the reputed leader of the Sinaloa cartel, the largest Mexican criminal gang, "El Chapo's" believed responsible for shipping as much as eight tons of cocaine to the U.S. a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Chapo" is the face. He is the guy who is currently at war against the government of Mexico, against law enforcement and military forces.

ROMO: Guzman was also recently named Chicago's public enemy number one, a title once held by Al Capone. He's accused of trafficking between 1,500 and 2,000 kilos of cocaine through Chicago per month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can say that he virtually has his fingerprint on the guns that are killing the children of this city.

ROMO: The 58-year-old grew up poor in the mountains of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. He learned the secrets of the drug trade with (INAUDIBLE), also known as "The Godfather," a powerful drug lord in the late '80s.

He was arrested in 1993 on murder and drug charges, but allegedly kept on running the business from prison until his escape in 2001 in a laundry cart.

"Forbes Magazine" has called Guzman the world's most powerful drug trafficker, estimating his fortune at $1 billion and naming him the 63rd most powerful person in the world in 2012.

According to DEA documents in the United States, Guzman has set up distribution cells in Arizona, California, Texas, Chicago and New York. Federal officials say his criminal organization, the Sinaloa cartel, has also been involved in the trans-shipment, storage and distribution of marijuana and heroin.

This Mexican attorney who met "El Chapo" in prison described the drug lord as invincible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "El Chapo" Guzman is like God in Mexico, Ortega said. Nobody sees him, but he's everywhere. He's a myth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: And Guzman has been on the run for the last 12 years. He reportedly married his third or maybe fourth wife by the name of Emma in 2007 on the day of her 18th birthday. He, of course, is 58-years- old.

MALVEAUX: So, Rafael, the last time you and I talked about this guy, you were saying that he was wanted in Chicago. What is his connection to Chicago?

ROMO: Chicago, for his criminal organization, the Sinaloa cartel, is like a hub. He uses the city of Chicago to distribute drugs, mainly cocaine, but also marijuana and heroin throughout the Midwest. And he also has hubs in California, Arizona, New York, and, basically, he distributes cocaine throughout the country. But I would say that without "El Chapo," there would probably be not a lot of cocaine in Chicago.

MALVEAUX: Wow. Unbelievable.

ROMO: A very powerful drug lord.

MALVEAUX: You've been up all night, so we're going to let you go. Have a good weekend.

HOLMES: You're already in hour 36 of covering this story. Good to see you, Rafael. Thanks.

ROMO: You, too. Thank you.

HOLMES: All right, here's more of what we're working on this hour for NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL.

Only a week before new talks, U.S. officials warn Iran is one step closer to a nuclear weapon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL, where we take you around the world in 60 minutes.

In Iran, the government is moving forward with its nuclear program by installing new centrifuges at a uranium enrichment plant.

HOLMES: Experts say that will allow Iran to enrich uranium at a rate three to five times greater than before. Now, this move could jeopardize talks with the U.S. and other countries trying to curb Iran's nuclear program.

MALVEAUX: Want to bring in Elise Labott on this. And, Elise, obviously covering the State Department, these talks, so, what does this mean in terms of the equation here? What do we think Iran is capable of when you look at these centrifuges and its nuclear potential? Is it something the U.S. should be worried about?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, ultimately down the road, Suzanne. I mean, right now, no one knows whether these centrifuges are even going to work because Iran has had a lot of trouble in the past using this type of technology.

But once they do start spinning, it means Iran could produce nuclear material at a much higher rate, and the concern that officials say is they could sneak out and have enough material for a nuclear bomb, and they're already trying to work on the other components such as the delivery system.

So, it moves them one step closer.

HOLMES: Elise, the U.S. and five other countries, of course, they're going to offer this list of incentives to Iran to get it to do some things in return for others. Walk us through the intent of -- and tell us how it's different than what was offered last year, which was pretty similar stuff.

LABOTT: Well, last year they offered Iran some small easing of sanctions in exchange, aviation, spare parts, for instance, and some cooperation on some peaceful nuclear activities in exchange for them shipping out some of their nuclear stockpile and suspending enrichment uranium.

Now, we're talking about this facility, this underground facility which is called Fordo, and this is where they're producing the most alarming uranium at 20 percent. So, they want them to, in exchange for the easing of sanctions now on gold and precious metals, which is a little bit better for Iran because it can use this for bartering, there's intense sanctions on them right now, in exchange for that they want them to close this Fordo facility and also ship out its stockpile of 20 percent.

This isn't even what we're talking about today. This other plant at Natanza's only 3 percent. So, the talks really -- no one is talking about canceling these talks because this 20 percent at this Fordo facility is really what the most important is.

And what's difference, Michael? Not much. The Iranian elections are coming up in June and no one thinks they're ready to deal yet, but they hope that after that, starting to feel the bite of those sanctions, their currency has dropped 80 percent in the last year, hoping ultimately that there will be a chance for some negotiations town the road.

HOLMES: All right, Elise, thanks so much. Elise Labott, it is a familiar script in many ways, isn't it? Yeah.

MALVEAUX: I've got to tell you, covering Bush for eight years, I mean, carrots and sticks, carrots and sticks. There was nothing. There was very little that moved forward on this, so we'll see what happens here. HOLMES: Well, the sanctions are biting. That's something we do know, but we'll see.

MALVEAUX: Iran, a hot topic at the Oscars, as well, this year. As you know, "Argo," it's a story about the daring rescue during the Iranian hostage crisis back in 1979. It is nominated now for Best Picture, of course.

President Jimmy Carter weighing in on all of this.

HOLMES: Yeah, we've both seen the movie. It's great, actually. He was in the White House at the time. I did, too. It's a great film.

He told Piers Morgan what he thought about the film's accuracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Let me say, first of all, it's a great drama and I hope it gets the Academy Award for Best Film because I think it deserves it.

The other thing I would say was that 90 percent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian and the movie gives almost full credit to the American CIA. And with that exception, the movie is very good.

But Ben Affleck's character in the film was only -- he was only in Tehran a day and a half, and the main hero in my opinion was Ken Taylor who was the Canadian ambassador who orchestrated the entire process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Great movie, but it kind of shifts the credit a little bit over.

HOLMES: It's Hollywood, yeah.

MALVEAUX: I'm all right with that.

HOLMES: All right, when we come back, Oscar Pistorius, free on bail.

MALVEAUX: All right, so, what's going to happen next? We're going to have a South African law expert weigh in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)