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NEW DAY

Russia Slams U.N. Report; Canadian Officials Investigate Bus Crash; Woman Survives 16 Days Trapped in Abandoned Well; 40-Year-Old Mystery Solved?; Google Search for the Fountain of Youth; Golf Tour Championship Tees Off; Richardson Traded to Colts;

Aired September 19, 2013 - 06:30   ET

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


KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you point out a very good point, that this could be and it often is, a kind of an initial bargaining position. But you have -- people out there are wondering, what is the upside? Because you see the polling, you know that if the government shut down, majority of Americans are going to blame Republicans in Congress, not the president for all this falling apart. So, what is the upside, then?

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, when you look at these polls, though, remember, and we've talked about this in the past, you're looking at national polls. Most House Republicans, most House Democrats for that matter, but most House Republicans and especially the 40-50 who are driving this push for confrontation in the House they go home to safe districts. They go home to very conservative districts where their threat is not a Democrat beating them next November. It might be a Republican primary challenger if they didn't do this.

And so I would say the cancer in our politics right now is the lack of competitive House races. So you have confrontation where to many members of the House - on any given election year for the House this 435 seats maybe after Labor Day there's 20, in a big year 30 competitive races. That does not allow a competitive democracy, and it does allow a lot of people to think I don't have to listen to the other side.

BOLDUAN: And that's why that's a lot of people, while it's not sexy, they should pay attention more to redistricting when it comes about every census.

KING: You're right that it's not sexy though.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Thank you for pointing that out. Thank you very much, John.

So, Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz, he's been, I would argue, the biggest champion of this move that Boehner is making. Why then are House Republicans now criticizing him? They're being pretty - some of the language has been quite interesting.

KING: Well, it is interesting and Senator Cruz is already moving around the country, was just elected to the Senate, but he's already moving around as viewed as a possible, even a likely 2016 Republican contender. Marco Rubio, who annoyed the Republican base by pushing immigration reform that included a path to citizenship also has planted his flag on this saying let's stand up to the president on this. Among House Republicans they say, wait a minute senator, we can actually pass it in our chamber so don't lecture us, don't tell us to stand up. What don't you work on your side of the Congress to see if you can round up the votes. SO there's a bit, you know this Kate from your days wandering on The Hill, there's a bit of rivalry between the House and the Senate and some House Republicans say, you know, we'll fight our fight senator, we don't need your help.

BOLDUAN: And we could see at least a vote, a beginning vote, the beginning of the process tomorrow. So we'll talk much more about that. John, great to see you, thank you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: In what world do you think somebody's going to vote for you because you shut down the government?

BOLDUAN: They think it works. They think they're representing their district.

CUOMO: How about that.

Coming up on NEW DAY, police in Oklahoma pull two cars from the bottom of a lake and discover three skeletons inside both of them. What's even more shocking, those cars have been there for more than 40 years. Did cops just crack two cold cases by accident?

BOLDUAN: And a stunning survival story. A woman in China trapped for 16 days in an abandoned well. How she survived that unthinkable ordeal. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back, let's go around the world now, starting in Russia. The Russian government slamming the U.N. report on chemical weapons on Syria calling it biased and deeply flawed. Here's Phil Black.

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Biased, one-sided, politicized, that's how Russian officials are describing the United Nations report into that large-scale chemical weapons incident in Damascus. The report doesn't specifically blame the Syrian government, but Russia is angry because investigators only looked at that one incident, not every other allegation of chemical weapons use in Syria. That's because Russia believes there's plenty of evidence out there which backs up its theory they Syrian opposition has been using chemical weapons to frame the government and trigger some sort of international military intervention. Back to you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, Phil. Thank you so much.

Now, investigators in Ottawa, Canada they want to know why a double- decker bus slammed into a moving train leaving six dead and at least 34 injured. CNN's Paula Newton has more. PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is such an unusual crash: a bus slamming into a moving train. Now eyewitnesses and passengers say there was really no obvious reason why this bus driver didn't stop. This investigation isn't ruling out anything including something went medically wrong with the driver, or some kind of brake failure.

BOLDUAN: All right, Paula, thank you so much.

And a remarkable rescue in central China. A woman found alive after spending 16 days trapped in an abandoned well. Pauline Chiou picks up the story.

PAULINE CHIOU, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESOPDENT: Kate, we have an amazing survival story for you from China. Authorities in Henan Province say this woman was found in the bottom of an abandoned well after 15 days. Su Qixiu was looking for plants when she tumbled into that well. She told a local newspaper that she lived on rainwater and raw corn, which fell in with her. A doctor says she lost more than 37 pounds during her ordeal. According to Chinese state media, she's now in stable condition and recovering. Back to you.

BOLDUAN: That is amazing. Pauline, thank you so much for that.

CUOMO: Thirty-seven pounds in 15 or 16 days? Amazing the trauma. Boy, talk about power of the spirit, though to survive. Amazing.

All right, another really high-interest story for you. A mystery more than four decades in the making. Oklahoma police drag two cars from the bottom of a lake. Inside, the remains of six people. Now, police say the vehicles could be the key to solving two decades old cold cases. Here's CNN's Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Investigators can peel apart the metal of these cars with their bare hands as they look for clues. Two corroded rifles, a muddied wallet and purse, and the remains and bones of six people, three in each car. A fluke discovery found in western Oklahoma that might have solved two long-forgotten mysteries.

In 1970, three teenagers in a 1969 Camaro disappeared. The mystery of what happened to Jimmy Williams, Michael Rios, and Leah Johnson made headlines in the local newspapers. And the year before, in April of 1969, John Alba Porter and two friends were driving around in a 1950's Chevy and never seen again.

More than 40 years later, two cars matching those descriptions were found at the bottom of Foss Lake, sitting right next to each other.

DEBBIE MCMANAMAN, RELATIVE DISAPPEARED: It's been so long. It's been 44 years, you know, there's a lot of things in between there that we can't answer because we don't know. It's like though the years, what happened, what happened? It's a mystery. We don't know.

LAVANDERA: Debbie McManaman was 13-years-old when her grandpa Porter vanished.

MCMANAMAN: He was here one day, the next day he was gone. I mean, no trace, no clue at all. I mean his bank account was there, his house was locked up, utilities were on, you know, he just walked away.

LAVANDERA: Debbie McManaman says she used to bring her young kids out to this late to play. They would stand right there on the water's edge and skip rocks right over where the cars were found. She can't believe that this whole time, her grandfather's body might have been just feet away.

Alby (ph) Porter, as he was called, performed in Wild Wild West shows, riding bulls around Oklahoma. After investigators stopped looking for Porter, his oldest son Ervie (ph) Porter acted as his own detective, for years hunting down every clue he could. He's now 85.

You spent a lot of time looking for him?

ERVIE PORTER, GRANDFATHER DISAPPEARED: You betcha. Still looking for him, but this is going to help me a whole lot.

LAVANDERA: It could take days, maybe even years, to identify all six bodies. Investigators haven't ruled out foul play yet, but they suspect the cars accidentally rolled into the water and the people were trapped inside.

Ed Lavandera, CNN Foss Lake, Oklahoma.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: What a story!

CUOMO: Yeah -

BOLDUAN: 40 years.

CUOMO: Right? And Mick picked up on the fact that hey did the roll in, or was it - I had assumed they had been part of homicides.

PEREIRA: But then you can think of Oklahoma, if it's a terrible winter, icy roads, the cars could have gone off the road in a simple accident. But again, there's so many -

CUOMO: Two separate instances, you know, years apart, and then they wind up in the exact same place. Amazing story.

BOLDUAN: Also amazing that - those cars have been in that lake for so long and no one's come across them.

CUOMO: Lucky it wasn't salt water. Would have made it -

PEREIRA: It was amazing how much the even fell apart further just getting in the air.

CUOMO: Hopefully though, as we saw with the one old man, there's some closure in all this. (CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: What a crazy story. Coming up next on NEW DAY, Google is a powerhouse company no doubt, but can it help you beat death? It's launching something new in search of, possibly, the fountain of youth. We're going to explain next.

PEREIRA: I don't know about you, but you want to fly like an Eagle? I know I do. No problem. Just crank up some Steve Miller and enjoy today's must see moments.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. While the all-purpose healing machine in the movie "Elysium" may still be the stuff of science fiction, eternal youth could actually be close than we think. Why? Google, Google has launched a new company named "Calico," that will try to reverse the aging process and extend life. "Time" magazine is featuring the venture in a cover article posting the question, "can Google solve death?" Here to help us understand what Google is trying to do is CNN global economist - economics analyst and "Time" assistant managing editor, Rana Foroohar.

That is a big question. Can they - pretty audacious effort. Explain to our viewers what exactly is Calico Ventures all about.

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMICS ANALYST: So Larry Page, one of the founders of Google, announced that they are going to go into the health phase (ph) and they're going to focus specifically on anti- aging. We don't know too much about how the company's going to work, but we do know that it's going to use Google's tremendous data storage and data mining capacity.

So much of what's going on in medicine right now has to do with genetics and there's a lot of computer crunching power that goes into looking at all that data and figuring out how to target all kinds of diseases, but you know Google wants to go farther. They really want to extend our life spans by a significant amount, so it's a big goal.

BOLDUAN: Is it approaching medicine from kind of a different viewpoint? Instead of pharmaceutical companies, they approach medicine from just putting out medication prescriptions to try to help solve - you know help make you better, but maybe Google's trying to approach it by trying to crunch the numbers --

FOROOHAR: It's a really interesting question. I think, you know, pharmaceutical companies crunch numbers too, but they are a little bit more short-term oriented in some ways because they have those quarterly profits to hit. That is their core business. Google's core business is search, and it's got over $50 billion on the balance sheet, so this is actually - as big a deal as this sounds, this is kind of small potatoes for them in a financial sense. So, they can afford to take those risks. CUOMO: A little perspective. One, healthcare is about the most robust business space they could enter, right? So, this is not altruistic, right?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Right. All goodness is self-motivated, so (INAUDIBLE). And also, you know, not a bad use of all the e-mails they read of ours, right? Maybe they're getting information and things that are going to help. Maybe there'll be a positive benefit to the snooping.

FOROOHAR: Absolutely. I mean, it's a great space. If they can really make some progress here, I mean just looking at the demographics of our country, of other countries, people are aging. This is going to be a big topic.

PEREIRA: But it begs the question: just because we can, should we? We're facing, you know, we have millions of people in the world that are not getting enough nutrition daily. Our population is swelling to an all-time high. Do we really need to live longer and further stress out Mother Earth? A lot of people will ask that.

FOROOHAR: Absolutely. It's interesting because a lot of guys in Silicon Valley, a lot of these big entrepreneurs have obsessions with long life spans, with creating -- we're going to live for 200 years. I for one don't have enough retirement income for that.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: What kind of timetable are they looking at, that Calico will actually show some results?

FOROOHAR: They haven't said. Google is known for real blue sky projects. They famously allow their engineers to take a percentage of their time to just do wild projects, and they don't know when they're going to pay off but when they do, it could be big.

PEREIRA: A great read in "Time" magazine. Rana Foroohar, thank you so much for this. Great topic of conversation around the dinner table, too.

CUOMO: Solving death.

FOROOHAR: Solving death, yes.

BOLDUAN: One Google search at a time. Thanks so much.

PEREIRA: Stick around for our must-see moment. It's really kind of cool. Have you ever wondered what it would truly be like to get a bird's-eye view of things? You do not have to wonder any longer. Cue the Steve Miller. We're not sure who or how someone strapped a camera on the back of an eagle but the result is nothing short of amazing. The footage captures breathtaking views as this majestic bird soars high above mountain peaks in the French Alps. You see a glacier, lush green hills, craggy snow-capped mountain peaks. I'm telling you, this is stuff dreams are made of. I've always wanted to fly, and this is as close as I think any of us are going to get, besides in an airplane.

CUOMO: I like that the Eagle's head was bopping to the music for a second.

PEREIRA: It is spectacular. I lose my mind watching this. I might watch it all day.

BOLDUAN: Very, very cool to see.

PEREIRA: A must-see moment. I think you'd like that.

FOROOHAR: Love it. I want to fly.

PEREIRA: Ditto.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, guys. Coming up next on new day, a record high in the stock market on news from the Fed, so how will this increase affect most Americans? Are you making money off this (INUADIBLE) we'll break it down.

CUOMO: And we are learning about mysterious phrases carved into the Washington Navy Yard shooter's gun. What do they mean? We'll give you the latest at the top of the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: North Korea said that it's ready to resume nuclear talks with the U.S. for the first time in five years. President Obama said it's going to be pretty awkward. Not talking to North Korea but having to thank Dennis Rodman.

CONAN O'BRIAN, COMEDIAN: The CEO of Starbucks is asking customers to stop bringing guns into the coffee chain stores. Yes. He said it's our job to rob you guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That $4 latte. Nice job, Conan.

CUOMO: I like that. Coco wins.

Did you know that pro golf crowns a solo champion each season.

PEREIRA: No.

CUOMO: I didn't. Well, they do. And the winner's prize, a cool $10 million. Let's bring in Andy Scholes for this morning's Bleacher Report. I didn't know about this but I like it.

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Big bucks on the line this weekend, guys, for the 30 golfers competing in this year's tour championship. five players can win the $10 million by winning this weekend in Atlanta. This five golfers are Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott, Jack Johnson, and Matt Kuchar. The tournament kicks off this morning at 11:40 eastern. Tiger's going to be the last one to tee off. He gets started at 2 eastern, this afternoon.

A huge trade went down in the NFL yesterday. The Cleveland Browns sent runningback Trent Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts for a first round pick in next year's draft. Browns fans aren't happy about this one. They drafted Richardson third overall just last year, now they're starting over once again. The Colts meanwhile, have an amazing one-two punch in Richardson and Andrew Luck.

In the lineup section of Bleacherreport.com, today check out beard night at Fenway Park. Fans with a beard, real or fake, were given $1 tickets to last night's game against the Orioles. More than 4,000 fans took advantage of the deal. They held this promotion because the majority of the Red Sox players are rocking beards right now. They got that started pretty early in the season. You see a lot of teams do the playoff beard thing, but the Red Sox have been doing it for a while. It's working. They have the best record in baseball.

BOLDUAN: Beard night. I like that. Andy Scholes, I'm trying to imagine you with a beard. I don't even know.

SCHOLES: I would love to grow one, but unfortunately they make me shave every morning.

CUOMO: Can't distract from that face, Andy. Too good looking for a beard.

BOLDUAN: Andy is going to stop coming on. He's like all you do is pick on me.

CUOMO: By calling him handsome. Poor Andy.

BOLDUAN: Thanks Andy. He's like I don't even. Ok. Yeah. Exactly.

All right, you're hearing the music. You know that that means. It's time for the rock block, everyone. A quick roundup of the stories you'll be talking about today. First up, Michaela.

PEREIRA: Let's take a look in the "New York Daily News" the hottest jobs for graduating class of 2018 are expected to be in healthcare research and development as well as sales and marketing.

From "USA Today," Bill and Hillary Clinton backing publicate (ph) advocate - public advocate De Blasio to become New York's next mayor. It's the first time the Clintons have weighed in, and now that Anthony Weiner is out.

"The New York Post," a homeless man from Boston, he found a bag filled with $40,000 in travelers checks and turned it in to police. He's being rewarded for his honesty. Glenn James (ph) as so far received $73,000 in donations. Warms your heart, doesn't it?

Time now for business news and Christine Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: The iPhone hits stores on Friday morning but maybe you can't wake up at dawn to wait in line. A service called Task Rabbit is advertising line sitters to go in line to wait for you. So you just have to pay someone else to wait in that long line. It will cost $14 an hour.

Grand Theft Auto 5, you know the ultra violent video game, it's been flying off the shelves. It's sold a record $800 million in one day. The release is a good sign that this fall's big game franchise follow- ups will do well also.

He started a craze, Beanie Babies. Remember Beanie Babies? The government says he stashed a bunch of cash in a Swiss bank account and didn't pay tax on it. Ty Warner set to plead guilty to tax evasion and pay a $53 million penalty.

All right, let's get to Indra Petersons for the weather, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: High pressure is hanging on a little bit longer. This is our last week of summer, and we are actually going to be warming up for a few more days. So we are enjoying this. Temperatures should go just a hint above normal, New York, 74, 75. Nothing drastic here.

Notice what's going on in Pittsburgh. By Saturday we go from 80s to 60s. Whoa, what is going on? It looks like we're setting up for an amazing weekend. No. Cold front starts to slide through. By Saturday night in through Sunday, yes, we are going to be talking about rain here in the northeast. For your last day of summer? Tell me what is wrong for this equation.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Indra.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: We're now at the top of the hour which means it's time for the top news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was another really loud bang. That's when I realized there was somebody in the building shooting people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Final words, the Navy Yard shooter's last message etched into his gun. Why was one elite tactical force called back during the massacre?

BOLDUAN: Sudden surge. The stock market hits record highs. Your 401(k) just keeps on growing but the economy is not in the clear yet. What you need to know, this morning.

PEREIRA: The golden ticket, one lucky winner takes the whole prize, all $400 million in last night's Powerball drawing. Who is this instant millionaire?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: What you need to know --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where there are failures we will correct them. We owe the victims, the families and all our people nothing less.

ANNOUNCER: What you just have to see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't get up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: yes, we need --

ANNOUNCER: This is new day with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. it's Thursday, September 19th, 7:00 in the east. Coming up this hour, a horrible kidnapping has an improbable happy ending. The teenager who was abducted at gun point, a terrifying home invasion back with her family this morning. Two suspects in custody. But the armed men who kidnapped the teen still on the run. There are questions about the mother's connection to one of those suspects. We'll try to unravel it this morning.

BOLDUAN: She is back home. Plus, ahead -- here's a question for you. How much food do you think you throw out every week just because it's past the expiration date? Well, it turns out those sell by and best by labels could be misleading. There's a new study about how long your food really lasts. It's an interesting conversation. We'll have that.