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CNN NEWSROOM
Apple to Release Report Card Today; A Prince is Born; Tearful Testimony from Michael Jackson's Mother; Well-Wishers Excited about Royal Birth; Brewers' Fans React to Braun's Suspension
Aired July 23, 2013 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yesterday, the S&P 500 made history again, though the Dow didn't. Company earnings could drive the market higher today. Solid numbers coming from DuPont and UPS actually sent up a red flag warning last week, warning investors earnings aren't going to look so hot, yet they managed to beat Wall Street estimates, which were lowered estimates.
So, Carol, this is the old quarterly earnings illusion, the oldest trick in the book on Wall Street. You're going to see the focus turn to Apple, which is handing out its report card after the closing bell today, and with the wait comes speculation, will Apple do better this time around than the last earnings season when it showed its profits fell for the first time in a decade? Wall street is going to look for reasons to get excited about Apple again that's lost almost half its value since hitting $700 just ten months ago. We are seeing, Carol, the stock price for apple stabilizing around $430, right now it's at $426. Carol?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We'll see, Alison Kosik, many thanks.
Coming up in the NEWSROOM, a new heir to the British throne. We'll take you live to duchess Catherine's hometown where they are celebrating the birth of a new prince.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I always laugh when I hear that music, I'm sorry. The royal baby's finally here. Now well-wishers hop to catch a glimpse of mom, dad, and kid. Brits said those in the commonwealth nations, including Canada, are beaming with excitement. The Canadian side of Niagara Falls was lit up in blue light to mark the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child, which as you know by now, was a boy, unless you've been living in a cave. He's now third in line to the British throne.
In Toronto, one more sign that the world has a new prince, the CN tower was lit up in blue last night to mark the royal birth. The tower is one of the world's tallest free standing structures.
Of course it's still a guessing game where William and Catherine will spend the first few weeks with the new baby, one possibility is her home village of Bucklebury. That's where we'll find CNN's senior international correspondent Dan Rivers. Good morning, Dan. DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Welcome to Bucklebury. I'm standing in front of one of the few pubs that are in the village. This is the Cottage Inn behind me. You can see it's all decked out in flags and bunting. They are going to have a big party tonight to celebrate the birth of this royal baby. Hundreds of people expected here. They are going to have fireworks and food and children's entertainment.
This is a pub like some of the others in the area that Will and Kate have come to in the past, so they do live relatively normal lives here, believe it or not. They go to the corner store, they go to the local book stores, they hang out in pubs like this, they are seen in the supermarkets, so it's going to be interesting to see if they are going to be able to do that with a baby in tow and all the media interest and so on. We're hoping that they will get some privacy. There's certainly a lot of police presence nearer to the family home, the Middleton family home. But at the moment we haven't been told when they are going to come back with the baby. We don't know if they are going first to Kensington Palace in London and maybe come here in a couple weeks.
COSTELLO: That's exciting. You can actually see Kate going to get pampers at the local store or whatever your brand of diapers is there in Bucklebury, I don't know. Thank you very much, Dan Rivers.
RIVERS: That's right.
COSTELLO: Go ahead.
RIVERS: Okay.
COSTELLO: Oh, now I've confused Dan. Dan, thank you so much. We appreciate it, Dan Rivers live from Bucklebury.
More tearful testimony from Michael Jackson's mother. She took the stand in her multibillion dollar lawsuit against a concert promoter and endured tough questions about her son's health and his death. We'll take you live to the courthouse next in the NEWSROOM.
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COSTELLO: Tearful testimony from Michael Jackson's mother Katherine. She went back on the stand in her multibillion dollar lawsuit against concert promoter AEG Live. She's suing the company for her son's death. CNN's Casey Wian live in the courtroom. Good morning.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. For weeks we've been told this trial is about who hired Dr. Conrad Murray, who of course is in jail for manslaughter for giving Michael Jackson the lethal dose of propofol, but at least for the last couple of days, all eyes have been on Katherine Jackson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: Michael Jackson's mother endured a second day of confrontational questioning from the attorneys of AEG Live, the company she and Jackson's children are suing for billions of dollars over the singer's death. Defense attorney Marvin Putnam displayed a letter signed by Katherine Jackson and some of Jackson's siblings calling a 2007 magazine report about Michael Jackson's prescription drug abuse a lie.
Putnam asked Mrs. Jackson, was it a lie at the time to say your son had a problem with prescription drugs? She responded, yes, because I didn't know he had a problem. But earlier, Katherine Jackson admitted attending an attempted family intervention at Michael Jackson's Neverland estate five years earlier.
MARVIN PUTNAM, ATTORNEY, AEG LIVE ENTERTAINMENT: She's now looking to blame someone else for the very things she and her family knew, and that's why those questions were asked.
WIAN: The Jackson family matriarch has appeared confused, tired, and irritated on the stand.
BRIAN PANIS, JACKSON FAMILY ATTORNEY: I think for being as old as she is, 83 years old, I think she did a great job trying to answer the questions. She didn't remember everything, but I think it was clear what happened.
WIAN: AEG Live, which promoted what was to be Jackson's big comeback concert series is trying to show there was no way it could have prevented Michael Jackson's drug overdose death, when even his own family couldn't. The trial has been filled with dramatic moments, including intimate home videos of Jackson and his children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm daddy's baby, and I love my daddy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: And testimony from Paris Jackson, who's recovering from a suicide attempt. You have to wonder if this aggressive questioning of Katherine Jackson by AEG Live attorneys could backfire. While they have exposed some inconsistencies in her testimony, there also could be some sympathy from jurors who have seen Mrs. Jackson needing help getting on and off that witness stand. Carol?
COSTELLO: Casey Wian reporting live from Los Angeles this morning.
What's in a name? Well, everything if you happen to be the child that could one day sit on the British throne. Coming up in the NEWSROOM, a look at some of the names gamblers are betting their money on.
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COSTELLO: Forty-five minutes past the hour, time to check our "Top Stories".
A federal judge has temporarily blocked North Dakota's abortion law, calling part of -- calling part of it, quote, "invalid and unconstitutional". The judge says the law would ban abortions as early as six weeks into pregnancy and would prevent 90 percent of the procedures at the only clinic in North Dakota. The state's attorney general says his office will fight the judge's decision.
The United States could be one step closer to arming Syrian rebels now the concerns about the Obama administration's strategy have been resolved. Some in Congress were initially worried about how the plan would unfold and which groups would be helped, but House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers says "Consensus has been reached to move forward with a plan."
The Post Office continues its search to save money and that could mean an end to home delivery. Taking its place, mailbox clusters. Well residents would pick up their own mail from a centralized location. Home delivery is the Post Office's biggest fixed cost, totaling $30 billion. The move could save $4.5 billion every year.
And talk about getting a little too close for comfort. These scuba divers off the coast of central California got a huge surprise when two humpback whales surfaced right next to them. The whales, which could weigh up to 80,000 pounds each, were coming to the surface to grab some fish for dinner. Luckily those divers did not wind up being dessert.
The Prince of Cambridge, he's the newest heir to the British throne and well-wishers are gathered again outside of Buckingham Palace where there's so much excitement about the royal birth.
Zain Verjee is there, too. Good morning -- Zain.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Carol. You know, here we have seen the changing of the guard, but quite frankly, I'd really much rather talk about the changing of the diapers, because I've been out and about and looking for some cool stuff that being sold around the royal baby. And here's one of them. It's kind of like probably going to start the new fashion for babies after the royal baby's been born with some little military medals here, too, because you know what, baby Cambridge is probably going to be part of the military.
And I found the solar-powered queen, which basically means if it's sunny, she waves, but I actually broke it. So sorry, but she's wearing pink. I'll go out and look for a blue one. And then there's this really sweet book. It's called "Shhh, Don't Wake the Royal Baby." And it's just good fun and there's a picture of the Queen parachuting down with the baby in a pouch.
And then I bought this for $75, just you know just a little small change for me just because I wanted some cookies, but these were especially for the royal wedding and you can see like there's a stroller, otherwise known as a pram here, a little baby rattle, some champagne. I bit the head off that champagne, though.
There will be a boost of $300 million to the economy, a little bump, if you will, because of all these souvenirs.
COSTELLO: That is crazy. You know, a lot of people here in the United States are betting on what the baby's name will be. Most people think it's, like, going to be George or something like that. VERJEE: George, Smorge. Well actually it probably will be George or James or Phillip or Louis or some good old jolly good traditional name like that, but actually if you look at the betters, this is what they also have, they have names like Kai, Mo, Sapesan, Arsene, Titus. So the odds you can imagine are pretty high on that. You know like King Titus, I don't know. You know what the highest odds are, Carol?
COSTELLO: No.
VERJEE: It's actually 500:1 on Elvis. What do you think?
COSTELLO: That would be great. I thought the -- I thought the Prince's name should be Prince.
VERJEE: King Elvis of Cambridge.
COSTELLO: King Elvis, I thought the Prince's name should be Prince and then they could call him Prince-Prince.
VERJEE: Oh yes.
COSTELLO: And then King Prince.
VERJEE: Oh good, excellent idea.
COSTELLO: Yes I love that.
VERJEE: Excellent you're a gambling woman. You can be found on the casino on Peach Tree. Just go and gamble.
COSTELLO: I'm there every afternoon drinking a beer, are you kidding?
I can't let you go without talking about how one magazine there is describing the much talked about birth because it really made us laugh.
VERJEE: I know. It did. It's a satirical magazine. It's a very popular one it's called "Private Eye". And Carol it's really kind of well let's just say puts things in perspective. Look at the cover it says "Woman has Baby". Wow. oh my gosh. What an amazing feat and then -- and then at the bottom, right, it says "Inside" -- in small print and some other stuff, too.
COSTELLO: Zain, we couldn't help but notice that during a commercial break you were -- you had sunglasses on and you were looking at your cell phone. I wonder what that picture up because it reminded us of another picture, a famous picture of Hillary Clinton, you know tech from Hillary.com? We loved that, which the reason we actually did that is because Hillary Clinton tweeted this morning about the royal baby.
She said "Congratulations from across the pond to the Duke and Duchess. Wishing you the best of luck and a bit of advice: It takes a Royal Village." So thanks for the laugh.
Zain we appreciate it. VERJEE: So you're saying -- so you're saying I look like Hill?
COSTELLO: Isn't that cool, I love that.
VERJEE: Thank you.
COSTELLO: You're just as powerful. I know that.
VERJEE: Some champagne is on its way to you.
COSTELLO: Excellent. Thank you Zain.
There is a very good reason why baseball hall of famer George Brett and some of his friends from Kansas City had a strange look on their faces. It all had to do with a certain baby that was born.
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COSTELLO: Ryan Braun the first big name in baseball punished for his connection to a Miami clinic accused of distributing performance- enhancing drugs. Now we're hearing from some Brewers fans, giving their take on the former MVP's suspension. Joe Carter is here with "Bleacher Report". Good morning, Joe.
JOE CARTER, "BLEACHER REPORT": Hi good morning Carol. You know Ryan Braun is really the face of the Brewers' franchise. And he's the fanfare, I mean if you attended the Brewers game in the last three years you literally see a sea of Ryan Braun jerseys.
Now Brewers fans have mostly had his back since he's running with Major League Baseball last year when he failed the drug test but then got off on a technicality. Kind of like Giants fans were to Barry Bonds a few years back. They've really been the last group as a whole to see the writing on the wall. And now that Braun has admitted to wrongdoing, fans of Milwaukee are beginning to voice their displeasure with their hometown all-star.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did it have to be a Brewer? It could have been a Cub.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that he wouldn't tell the truth, that he wasn't forthcoming. That he deceive people -- that's bad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or a Cardinals or a Pirates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) play on the team and well, I don't really know how I feel about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Or a Red. No, it was a Brewer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER: She's got character.
COSTELLO: She does.
CARTER: Check out this game-winning catch by the Braves Jason Heyward. The Mets needed this one to get by him in order to tie or possibly win but Heyward comes up with the game-winning catch. Atlanta extends their lead to seven games in the national league over the Phillies. Jason Heyward not typically a center fielder, normally plays right field, but what a catch. You could see from Craig Kimbrel his reaction is like, "Oh my goodness. Thank God you were there."
COSTELLO: He's healthy now. No more injury for him.
CARTER: Exactly.
Hey check out this video. It happened during a college summer league game in Missouri. A skydiver misses his mark and smashes into the back of a baseball player. Obviously the baseball player totally unknowing of what's going on -- his name is Mattingly Romanin and he later tweeted -- this is kind of funny -- "Feel like I got kicked in the face. Oh, wait." Now both guys are fine, both parachuter and baseball player but I can't say I've ever seen something like that before.
COSTELLO: No.
CARTER: Now on the heels of yesterday's big royal baby announcement, baseball's Kansas City Royals want to be the prince's food tester. So current players, and even hall of famer George Brett put this audition video together. I love the slow-mo. They tried little jars of chicken and gravy, sweet peas and carrot-flavored baby food -- all of in the hopes of landing a job as a food tester for the prince.
COSTELLO: I love that.
CARTER: Can you imagine that -- millionaires testing food for a baby.
COSTELLO: The only thing that would make that better is if George Brett threw the fit he did when they accused of (inaudible)
CARTER: I would like to see George Brett in a bib eating baby food in slow motion. Oh, wait, we kind did, actually.
COSTELLO: We did, exactly. Joe Carter thanks for the fun. We appreciate it.
CARTER: Yes, thank you.
COSTELLO: the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a quick break.
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COSTELLO: happening now in the NEWSROOM, the buzz over baby. Breaking new details this morning direct from the hospital: William and Kate and the birth of a prince as the world watches and waits for a name.
Moment of impact: amazing new pictures this morning as the plane's landing gear collapses. The fiery crash and the terrifying moments, and the question -- what went wrong?
And security fiasco: the Pope visits a Brazil marred by a bomb plot, a wrong turn and barricaded by gridlock traffic. New concerns this morning in a country notorious for crime -- is the pope safe? NEWSROOM starts now.
Good morning. I'm Carol Costello, thank you so much for being with me this morning. So much for that legendary British reserve -- from London to Liverpool, Brits celebrate the birth of a future king.
