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Future of Libya; Fear in Syria; Yemen at Crossroads
Aired June 09, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: Welcome to NEWS STREAM, where news and technology meet.
I'm Kristie Lu Stout, in Hong Kong.
As fighting continues in the city of Misrata, an international coalition meets to discuss a future for Libya that does not involve Moammar Gadhafi.
The woman behind the U.S. politician caught in a sexting scandal. We profile Anthony Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin, who is also a top aide to the U.S. secretary of state.
And they are not rich, they're not famous. But in their own small way, these children are making a difference in the fight against human trafficking. Find out how with the CNN Freedom Project.
Now, we begin with the future of Libya. Members of the Libya Contact Group are meeting in Abu Dhabi today. The international coalition is working to build support for the Transitional National Council in preparation for the day when Colonel Gadhafi is no longer in power.
Now, just yesterday, Gadhafi's forces launched a new large-scale attack on the port city of Misrata. The scene is some of the country's bloodiest battles.
The fighting in Libya has been raging for four long months now. Our Nic Robertson, he is following developments in Abu Dhabi, where the Libya Contact Group is meeting.
And Nic, what is the latest coming out of the meeting.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Italians have announced that they're going to contribute between 300 million to 400 million euros in cash for the Libyan rebels. This is money that they say will not be spent for weapons, for day-to-day needs, for salaries, for food, these sorts of things. They're also contributing 200 million euros as well.
Money is one of the top issues on the agenda here, and then accountability, transparent mechanisms for the way that money will be spent in the future. So, the rebels, so far, receiving an infusion of about 600 million euros -- Kristie.
STOUT: So money and accountability among the top issues.
The U.S. and its allies are also there to discuss a post-Gadhafi Libya. But does the opposition have a plan? What will happen if Gadhafi is driven out?
ROBERTSON: Well, I think everyone here hopes the opposition does have a plan. Certainly, when you talk to officials coming here, they talk about the importance of how this will be led by the rebels, that whatever happens in Libya in the future, they're going to be leading it. The international community is only here to support.
You talk to some Libyan opposition members, and they say, look, the reason the rebels have unity at the moment is because they are opposing Gadhafi. They expect divisions to occur once Gadhafi has stepped down. That's a concern for the international community -- how do you get political unity, how do you make sure that the security stays stable? But the hope is that the rebels do have a plan, and certainly that's something that they'll be pressed for in this meeting and other meetings -- Kristie.
STOUT: And Nic, this meeting, it comes as NATO is intensifying its airstrikes in Tripoli. We're now two months into the NATO campaign. Is the international community closing in on Moammar Gadhafi?
ROBERTSON: I think in the optimistic moments (ph), they feel that the pressure is coming to bear on Moammar Gadhafi. They know it's going to take more pressure. And you talk to people here, people who have been involved in -- diplomats who have been involved in Libya for many years, and you say, what's going to happen, is Moammar Gadhafi going to suddenly leave the country, will he be killed in place, when is it going to happen? Everyone you talk to says they just don't know.
But what they do believe is that if the rebels can keep momentum in Misrata and continue to sort of (INAUDIBLE) their area there, get stronger in the western mountains close to Tripoli, perhaps close off some of the supply routes into Tripoli, the historic way of toppling leaders in Libya, then these may contribute. And I think there's the sense as well that NATO's stepped-up air campaign in Tripoli may be having an effect on rattling Gadhafi. But no one is expecting this to be easy, and they do think that it still has an indeterminate amount of (INAUDIBLE) -- Kristie.
STOUT: All right. Nic Robertson, many thanks indeed, joining us live from Abu Dhabi, the site of the Libya Contact Group meeting.
Now, despite a fresh attack by Gadhafi forces, rebel fighters in Misrata are refusing to give up. They are making new weapons out of old ones taken from Gadhafi fighters.
Sara Sidner visits their makeshift factory.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These men are working furiously to piece together the parts of weapons captured from government militia. The rebels are constantly trying to figure out how these killing machines work and modifying them for use on their side of the battlefield where weapons are in short supply.
Not one of these men is a mechanic and not all of the people working here are men. There are children, too. Fifteen-year-old Nasser spends six days a week and 10 hours a day meticulously scrubbing the different parts of massive guns that were removed from tanks.
(on camera): Nasser, a lot of people think children should not be doing the work that you are doing. What do you think about that?
NASSER SUELIMAN, 15-YEAR-OLD VOLUNTEER (through translator): I would tell them to get back to work and try to understand the situation that we are living here these days.
SIDNER (voice-over): The situation after months of shelling is there is no school for children and no end to the fighting on Misrata's borders.
(on camera): What does it do to you as a father to see a young boy to work on a gun?
ALI MOHAMED, VOLUNTEER: For me?
SIDNER: Yes.
MOHAMED: When I saw young people, my feeling is great.
SIDNER: Why is it great?
MOHAMED: Why, yes, why. Because our children, they will be the future of our country and they should know what the situation we are in and how we defend about or --
SIDNER: How you defend your city?
MOHAMED: Yes, defending our city.
SIDNER: Defending the city means using all kinds of makeshift weaponry on Misrata's three battlefront. The heaviest and most powerful guns are usually fashioned to pickup trucks. There are no tanks in sight.
(on camera): This could be considered a tank graveyard of sorts. There are about 22 tanks here located in the main military base that Gadhafi forces used to use for Misrata, now taken over by the opposition. And since the opposition is using anything it can to try to fight off the regime, the question is, why aren't they using the few operational tanks that they have on the frontlines?
MOHAMED WABASH, VOLUNTEER (through translator): Most of the tanks have been destroyed and for those that are operational, NATO ordered us not to use them. They told us not yet.
SIDNER (voice-over): Around Misrata, they have been battling it out for the same positions for three weeks. The rebels tell us they are frustrated because they have been told to hold their positions, not to advance and not to use tanks against an enemy that can do both.
But on this day, opposition fighters are cautiously celebrating. An attack by Gadhafi forces ended in the rebels pushing them back and advancing three kilometers further towards Tripoli.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Misrata, Libya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Now, in Syria, we are hearing that protesters have tried to stop government tanks from rolling toward Jisr-Al-Shugur. At least 120 security forces were killed near the northern border town within the past week, and residents there, they are fearful of a revenge attack.
Now, more than 1,000 Syrians have reportedly crossed into Turkey over the last 24 hours, and many are now living in this tent camp. The Red Crescent is now planning to set up another one as the flood of refugees grows even bigger.
Ivan Watson is near the Turkish/Syrian border, and he joins us now live.
And Ivan, Syrian refugees, they continue to cross into Turkey. What have you seen?
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are basically a steady stream of these kind of minivans that are coming from Jondon (ph) posts at several points, unofficial crossing points, along the frontier. And they are ferrying vanloads of refugees to a camp that's been erected in the grounds of an abandoned tobacco factory in the Turkish border town of Yayladagi.
Now, we've just gotten the latest numbers from a semi-official Anatolian agency putting the number of refugees now to above 1,700. More than 1,000 have crossed today.
And just moments ago, I saw another ambulance moving down the Turkish military road along the frontier. There have been a lot of wounded people that have been evacuated by the Turks who have been brought to the border by Syrian activists. I spoke to a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman, and he says they've currently been treating at least 35 wounded Syrians, mostly injured from hostile gunfire.
STOUT: OK. So you're now hearing from official sources, 1,700 Syrian refugees have crossed into Turkey. And Ivan, that number could rise.
Is Turkey prepared to deal with a mass influx of Syrian refugees?
WATSON: Well, that's one of the big fears that Turkey has, because this country would have destabilized by a huge influx of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurdish refugees in 1991 from Iraq. And they're leery of that being repeated here. You even have Turkish government officials saying, we're ready to help these refugees. The Turkish prime minister announced yesterday that the border would remain open, but they're very worried about seeing a repeat of that kind of refugee exodus.
For instance, they're denying us permission to talk to the refugees who have been describing to us over the phone atrocities that they have witnessed at the hands of the Syrian security forces. That's why they've been forced to flee their country in the first place.
The Turkish Red Crescent is on the ground, as well as the Disaster Management Department of the Turkish government. And they have been erecting tents in front of our eyes, putting out mattresses into that abandoned tobacco factory to house the growing influx of people coming in. Again, as I mentioned more vans carrying refugees every hour.
STOUT: And Ivan, how is Turkey viewing the Syrian crackdown and this refugee crisis? Will it have a negative impact on relations between the two countries?
WATSON: Well, it's good you mentioned that, because relations have been very tight within the last decade. The government of the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is running for reelection in Sunday's elections, by the way, had worked very hard on becoming close friends with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. And they removed visa restrictions between the two countries just last year.
And they probably did not anticipate allegations that Bashar al-Assad is effectively a mass murderer, that more than 1,000 people have demonstrated, protesting against his government, have been killed over the past two-and- a-half months. So this has embarrassed the Erdogan government, which was hoping that it could promote reform within Syria. They have continued to call reform with the Turks, and they're very worried that this violence could continue to spiral out of control, that it could trigger some kind of ethnic strife that could also spill over this border, here into Turkey.
STOUT: Ivan Watson, joining us from the Turkish/Syrian border.
Many thanks indeed for that update.
Now, the United Nations says that more than 1,100 Syrians have been killed since protests started in March. The U.N. Security Council has yet to condemn this crackdown, but the high commissioner for human rights has strong words for Damascus.
Now, he says this: "It is utterly deplorable for any government to attempt to bludgeon its population into submission, using tanks, artillery and snipers. I urge the government to halt this assault on its own people's most fundamental human rights."
Turning now to the escalating conflict in Yemen. Now, the pressure is on this man, Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Not only was he the victim of an attack on Friday, but the U.S. has upped its airstrikes in the country. That's according to "The New York Times."
Now, the paper says the Obama administration has used drones and fighter jets to launch a number of attacks. One such attack reportedly took place recently in the remote mountainous region of Shabwa. "The New York Times" claims that the U.S. is hoping to exploit a power vacuum.
Now, that, after Saleh fled to neighboring Saudi Arabia for emergency treatment. According to reports, he left intensive care there just a few hours ago.
And with more on that and the situation in Yemen, let's go now to Abu Dhabi. That's where Mohammed Jamjoom has been following developments for us. He joins us now.
Mohammed, will there be a political solution to the crisis while President Saleh is away?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, it doesn't look that way as of today.
I spoke to a Yemeni government official yesterday, and the official confirmed to me that there was communication that was going on currently between the opposition and the ruling party in Yemen, that there's talks that are happening, which is a promising sign that there is this dialogue when there's been a standoff for so long that maybe this crisis could be solved in President Saleh's absence. But the official then went on to insist to me that no deal would be finalized or signed no matter what was negotiated upon until President Saleh returns to Yemen.
And that seems to be counterintuitive to what's going on there, because within Yemen, there's a growing senses, there's a growing feeling that President Saleh should not return. More and more government officials are either outright saying it or suggesting it from both sides of the fence, from the opposition and the ruling party.
And the problem is, if Saleh does return now, there's going to be a lot of anger from the people in the streets that were celebrating his departure. There's going to be a lot of anger from the opposition. They've been vowing not to let President Saleh back in.
And there's just going to be more confusion as to who exactly is ruling that country. Is it the vice president at this point, or would it be Saleh?
Kristie.
STOUT: Mohammed, according to reports, the Obama administration is now involved. It's intensified a covert war inside Yemen, striking militant targets.
Is the U.S. taking matters into its own hands?
JAMJOOM: Kristie, the U.S., for a while now, has been conducting airstrikes and drone strikes. They're usually not talking about it.
The Yemeni officials are loath to talk about it. Occasionally, they will acknowledge that it has happened.
We know that in early May, the same week that Osama bin Laden was killed, that there were drone strikes conducted by the U.S. to try to kill Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical U.S. American cleric who's considered to be terror target number one in Yemen. That happened in Shabwa province, where they believe that Anwar al-Awlaki is hiding.
He eluded that attack. He was able to survive it.
But the problem here is that the Obama administration, or the officials of the Obama administration, might be acknowledging this, but will the Yemenis start acknowledging it? And will this cause some kind of backlash in Yemen against the U.S.?
It's been a very contentious issue in Yemen about these airstrikes, these drone strikes. More and more of the population are very angry. They don't believe that the U.S. should be conducting these kinds of strikes or covert operations in their country. And many people in Yemen, many officials, say that if this continues, not only will it embolden al Qaeda, but at the same time, it will fuel more anger from the population of Yemen towards the U.S.
So it's a real double-edged sword that they're dealing with here -- Kristie.
STOUT: Well said.
Mohammed Jamjoom, keeping a close eye on the situation in Yemen.
Thank you.
Now, still ahead here on NEWS STREAM, al Qaeda's long-time number two eulogizes the group's fallen leader. But who is Ayman al-Zawahiri really talking to?
And the new weapon of choice in Mexico's drug war. These bulletproof tanks can hold 20 armed fighters. The problem is they're not being used by the government.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: Welcome back.
Now, in Pakistan, another brazen attack. Intelligence officials say that more than 100 insurgents attacked a security checkpoint in a tribal region near the border with Afghanistan. Now, eight soldiers were killed and another 12 wounded in Marobi (ph), in South Waziristan. Up to a dozen militants were also said to have been killed.
Now, this attack, it comes just one day after claims that missiles fired from U.S. drones hit a suspected militant training camp.
Now, it was about a month ago that U.S. forces raided Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan and killed the al Qaeda leader. And now his former second in command is speaking out about the killing for the first time in a new video message.
Now, it showed up on several radical Islamist Web sites on Wednesday. Our Jeanne Meserve looks at the significance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The video is in large part a tribute to Osama Bin Laden.
AYMAN AL-ZAWAHIRI, AL QAEDA'S NUMBER TWO LEADER (through translation): He went to his God martyr because he said no to America.
MESERVE: Ayman al-Zawahiri does not proclaim himself Bin Laden's successor, but with the tape, he appears to be positioning himself.
PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: He wants to show to the al Qaeda membership around the world, supporters, that he is the power mount leader of al Qaeda, that he is the one that's delivering the eulogy for Osama Bin Laden.
MESERVE: In the video, Zawahiri cheers on the uprisings in Libya, Syria, and Yemen.
AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translation): They need to continue their struggle, their rage, and their sacrifices.
PHILIP MUDD, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: Al Qaeda doesn't like these movements, but they recognize they have no option but to say, if we want to be relevant, we better stick with the population, and the population has spoken. So, let's pretend like we're with him.
MESERVE: In the tape, Zawahiri pledges support to Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, urges some Muslim masses to rise up against what he calls a treacherous Pakistani regime, and he makes repeated but unspecific threats against the U.S.
AL-ZAWAHIRI (through translation): I called for jihad, my beloved people, to fight those who fight Islam.
MESERVE: Since the raid that killed Bin Laden, U.S. counterterrorism officials have assumed Zawahiri was in deep hiding, afraid for his safety. Analysts believe he must have been very anxious to be seen and heard because releasing this video involved risks. For instance, using a courier like the one that led the U.S. to Bin Laden.
(on camera): Intelligence analysts have pored over previous al Qaeda videos, trying to determine where they were taped. This video does not provide any obvious clues. The background is nondescript.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: India's father of modern art has passed away in London. M.F. Husain had been living in self-imposed exile for several years, and he was known as the "Picasso of India."
Husain was often seen barefoot like this and carrying a long paintbrush. And this nude painting is one of the works that prompted him to leave India. Hindu nationalists threatened Husain and often vandalized his exhibitions.
One art critic says he hopes the Indian government will now show Husain the respect he deserves. He was 95.
Now, just ahead on NEWS STREAM, the CNN Freedom Project continues. And find out how this 19th century civil rights activist is inspiring teenagers in this century to tackle human trafficking.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: Ordinary young people doing an extraordinary thing, taking a stand against modern-day slavery. They're making a difference with the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation. Now, the charity's mission is abolition through education. It teaches young people like these about human trafficking.
In the last four years, the foundation has reached out to around 50,000 students across the U.S. And the hope is that these students will spread the word to their peers and their communities.
Now, like the CNN Freedom Project, the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation's mission is to secure freedom and rights for those people denied them, and it is well placed to put modern-day slavery in its historical context. Now, its founders aren't famous, but they are direct descendents of two leaders of the U.S. abolitionist movement, Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. Now, both were black-slaves-turned- public-speakers, authors and activists.
Now, Douglass, he won global acclaim when his autobiography was published in 1845. He served as an adviser to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and fought for amendments to the Constitution that guaranteed voting rights and civil liberties for black people.
Now, Washington, he was a leading educator who founded the Tuskegee Institute to teach black students in the U.S. state of Alabama. Influential in both the black and white communities, he also visited President Theodore Roosevelt's White House. But Washington was not without his critics. Many claimed his conservative approach in some ways undermined the fight for racial equality.
Now, earlier, I spoke to Kenneth B. Morris, the founder and president of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, and he began by telling me how he first became aware slavery was still a problem in this century.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KENNETH B. MORRIS, JR., FREDERICK DOUGLASS FAMILY FOUNDATION: Well, right around the time that we were thinking about what we could do for the better good, a friend of mine handed me a "National Geographic" magazine, and the cover story was "21st Century Slaves." And when I saw that, I reacted as most people do the first time they hear about the existence of modern-day slavery and human trafficking, and I said that it ended with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the work of Frederick Douglass and the abolitionists here in the United States.
But as I started to do my research, and I found that there were girls as young as my daughters, and even younger -- and my girls at the time were 10 and 7 years old -- that were forced to be sex slaves in the brothels of Southeast Asia, and that slavery exists in every civilized and uncivilized country around the world, Frederick Douglass' goal was to end slavery. Slavery still exists, and I knew that we needed to be an abolitionist organization and continue to fight for freedom.
STOUT: Now, you work with middle and high school students. Do you personally go out and visit these schools?
MORRIS: Yes. When we first started the organization, I went out and I had the honor and privilege of being able to speak to more than 50,000 students over a four-year period. And we go into the schools and talk about the history of slavery in the United States in the 19th century; Frederick Douglass; the abolitionists, how they went about abolishing slavery; the communication tools that they used at their time, that they had at their disposal. They published newspapers. Frederick Douglass published "The North Star" newspaper, which was the leading abolitionist paper.
They gave speeches. They wrote books. They passed out leaflets and pamphlets. And then we transitioned into a modern-day human rights issue and the need for modern-day abolitionists to do exactly what Frederick Douglass did, and that is to communicate the inhumanity of today's slavery to their communities, to the country, and to the world.
STOUT: Now, we can learn about it, but can we end modern-day slavery? And I ask because it seems virtually impossible. Human trafficking has trapped millions around the world. Can we end the practice?
MORRIS: I believe that we can end the practice of modern-day slavery. Now, it really, obviously, is a huge issue, and just like everything, the way that we educate the public is where education should start. And that's with young people.
And as I mentioned, we're in middle schools and high schools. And if we raise awareness, that really is the key, because the more people that know that this exists, then they're going to know what to look for in their own communities. And then they can respond and react to that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Now, the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation currently only operates in the United States, but Ken Morris told me that could be about to change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORRIS: Frederick Douglass is a hero in Ireland, and he visited Ireland in 1847. He wrote a best-selling autobiography and at the time was a fugitive slave. And the notoriety that that book gave him forced him to flee to Europe. So we are looking -- the goal is to make these international programs as well, and to work with schools all around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: And you can learn more about the foundation on their Web site, FDFF.org.
You can find out more about the CNN Freedom Project and how you can take a stand to end modern-day slavery on our blog. Just click on to CNN.com/freedom, and there's a list of organizations there that you can get involved with. Remember, you don't have to be famous to make a difference. Even a small gesture will do.
Now, still to come here on NEWS STREAM, we will show you the lengths that some Mexican drug runners are going to, to make sure they get their stash into the United States.
And Weinergate continues to tick along, but thousands of kilometers from her husband, Weiner's wife is staying out of the spotlight. We'll take a look at Huma Abedin and her own high-profile career.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.
Now as fighting continues in Libya, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court say they have evidence Colonel Gadhafi ordered the rape of women as part of his campaign of repression. Now the chief prosecutor of the ICC says he is looking into reports that pro-Gadhafi soldiers were given drugs to boost their sex drive.
Now more than 1,000 Syrian refugees have crossed the border into Turkey and more are waiting to enter. They're leaving the country because of fears they may be the target of another government crackdown. Now reports out of Syria suggest that more than 1,100 people have been killed since the uprising started in March.
Now The Guardian and other British media reporting that the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, is among the public figures that were possibly targeted by a phone hacker. That hacker was reportedly a private investigator working for News of the World. He also allegedly targeted former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Now Ciudad Juarez is at the epicenter of Mexico's brutal drug war, but the city's new police chief says he can turn the situation around within six months after doing the same thing for Tijuana. Some people in Mexico think the government has it all wrong when it comes to fighting the drug war. Now a convoy of peace activists and victims' loved ones is headed for the U.S. border through some of Mexico's most dangerous cities. Now they are against the military crackdown on drug cartels, which they say has failed.
But the government and the cartels, they keep raising the stakes. As Raphael Romo reports, that means using some pretty outlandish equipment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAPHAEL ROMO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're known as Munsters. And they rumble in northeastern Mexico. As such, Mexican officials say these custom made armored trucks are used by drug traffickers to transport drugs headed for the United States. And weapons back to Mexico.
The bullet proof tanks are also used as weapons of war in clashes between rival drug cartels.
Take a look at how they're designed. They're fitted with swiveling turrets to shoot at the enemy in any direction. Two of them were seized by the Mexican army in Tamaulipas, a state just south of Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They caught by surprise several armed civilians who were running into a clandestine workshop where they were indeed making the kind of vehicle used by the cartels to transport drugs headed for northern Mexico.
ROMO: This is the workshop in the town of Camargo where Mexican authorities say the criminals were hiding the tanks. In addition to the armored trucks, authorities also found 23 other cargo trucks in the process of being fitted as narco-tanks (ph).
A look inside these trucks is very revealing. They have hatches and peep holes for snipers. Its spacious interior can fit as many as 20 armed men. And it's coated with polyurethane to reduce noise. It also has air conditioner ducts.
They're built with one inch thick steel plating, which can withstand gunshots up to .50 caliber weapons and grenade explosions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): To destroy this kind of vehicle, you would have to use anti-tank weapons.
ROMO: So far, Mexican security forces have seized 20 narco-tanks (ph) in different locations in northeastern Mexico, all with very similar features. They suspect there maybe numerous other clandestine workshops where these armored trucks are still being made.
Raphael Romo, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Now a new storm is brewing in the South China Sea. Let's get the very latest now with Mari Ramos. She joins us from the world weather center -- Mari.
MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kristie, thank you very much. You know what, this is a storm that has been kind of hanging around over the last few days. And it's the same one that has brought you all of the heavy rain, pretty much all of this week I guess, across the Philippines.
Now it's been categorized as a tropical depression, which is basically I guess you can say one of the first steps in tropical cyclone formation. After this, you have a tropical storm. And then after that if it keeps intensifying we could have a typhoon on our hands. Right now, this is a tropical depression. And it is bringing, like you said, some very heavy rain across portions of the Philippines.
Some of those rainfall totals over the last few days pretty impressive, even in Manila, 174 millimeters of rainfall. And that's very significant -- flooding, even in metro Manila, the streets really -- the sewer system can't take that much water. And you do tend to see significant flooding.
There's also the threat for flooding and mudslides in some of the hillier terrain farther to the north. But the good news for you in the Philippines is that the storm is moving away. Bad news for everybody else is that it looks like it's going to intensify.
So whenever we see a storm in the South China Sea we know it was going to be a threat to someone. This area surrounded by densely populated areas, of course. And in this case it appears that while we see the storm strengthening, it should continue moving to the north. Still some heavy rain for you in the Philippines, just an improvement.
Right now, winds close to 50 kilometers per hour. But look at that, tropical storm we think as we head into the next 24 hours. And then headed into these areas of China that really need the rain, we just don't want to get it all at once, because that's when we run into some problems in this region. So, we'll monitor and see what happens with that storm.
Let's go ahead and head to the other side of the world over here. We have India right over here. And in the Arabian Sea there's a tropical cyclone that appears to want to form. Officially they're just saying it's an area of low pressure. So we'll watch it and see what happens.
It looks at first as it was going to start moving toward Pakistan, but now all of the models are indicating that it probably will stay fairly close to the Indian coastline over the next few days. So Maharashtra here, where Mumbai is and also as we head back over here into Gujarat.
You guys are the ones that really need to monitor and see what's going to happen with this weather system over the next few days.
Let's go ahead and check out your forecast now.
Well you know here in Atlanta we've been really hot. Every single day in June we've gone over 90 degrees as far as our high temperatures. Here we're used to it, but you know what, it's been a pretty hot, also as we head here across parts of the northeast. Record high temperatures in D.C. and Newark and New York City and even into Philadelphia.
Kristie, this is a big deal, a lot of places here don't have air conditioning, including many schools. So they have to cut school early. And the kids have to leave.
But they are going to see a little bit of relief. Not today, those heat warnings remain in place today. It's already 28 degrees in New York City at this hour. That must not feel pretty good. And those excessive heat warnings remain as well as the heat advisories over these areas. But a frontal system moving through there tonight and into tomorrow will help bring relief for your areas.
And this is something you're not going to see very often, a heat wave in Helsinki -- Finland. Yes, this is in Europe. Temperatures here in some cases up to 10 degrees above the average for this time of year. The heat does continue across many parts of northern and eastern Europe in particular. Look at some of these high temperatures from Wednesday -- 30 degrees, 23 in Oslo.
We're going to see this remain even through the day today. A little bit of an improvement as we head into the weekend. Kristie, back to you.
STOUT: Well, some high temps all over the world, even in Helsinki. Who'd have thought. Mari Ramos there. Thank you.
Now calls for U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner's resignation are growing louder. Now alleged nude photo of the Democrat is now circulating on the internet days after he admitted to sexual conversations with several women online.
Now Weiner is married to this woman, Huma Abedin. And the New York Times reports that she is pregnant with the couple's first child.
Mary Snow has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As Congressman Anthony Weiner fights for his political life in New York, his wife Huma Abedin continues working thousands of miles away, seen here in Abu Dhabi with her boss Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The 35-year-old Abedin, one of Clinton's top aides was noticeably absent from her husband's side when he admitted having sexually explicit communications with several women and lying about it.
But Washington Post national political reporter Nia Malika Henderson quotes friends of Abedin as saying don't read too much into her absence.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, WASHINGTON POST: Well, her friends say that this is obviously a bump in the road for her marriage. She's very much committed to her husband. She loves her husband. And she wants to work it out.
SNOW: Abedin is a Muslim who grew up in Saudi Arabia. Weiner is Jewish and raised in Brooklyn. He has a reputation for being brash and relishes the spotlight. Abedin shies from it and is described as very private. A rare exception was in 2007 when Vogue magazine profiled her. She's most often the person in the background, constantly at the side of Hillary Clinton and the person who has her ear.
Abedin started as a White House intern in 1996 and has worked in several capacities since then. She was on the campaign trail with Mrs. Clinton in the 2008 presidential election and now serves as deputy chief of staff to Secretary Clinton.
And she's become more than a trusted aid, says a longtime friend of Abedin's and the Clintons, who describes her as a second daughter to the Clintons and a sister to Chelsea. The former president even officiated at the ceremony when Weiner married Abedin last July. And while Abedin hasn't sought the spotlight, she has made a name for herself in Washington.
HENDERSON: She comes across as very alluring and glamorous. You know, in a town you know like Washington that is very conservative, she brings these almost Hollywood glamorous good looks and a Rolodex that is filled with celebrities and political titans across the globe.
SNOW: A friend of Abedin's who asked not to be identified to respect her privacy said her friends will do everything they can to protect her. And earlier this week Democratic strategist James Carville said she's very popular in Democratic circles and Democrats were livid at Weiner for putting his wife through this.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
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STOUT: Now coming up next on News Stream, in ice hockey the Stanley Cup is about as big as it gets. And we'll bring you highlights from Game 4 and there was some, shall we say, below the belt tactics.
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STOUT: Your back watching News Stream.
Now the NBA finals are evenly poised at two games each. So could the Boston Bruins tie up ice hockey's championship series? Don Riddell is here with the highlights from game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals -- Don.
DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kristie. Yes, is the answer to your question. The Bruins have managed to turn around their Stanley Cup final series against Vancouver winning game 4 at home on Wednesday.
Now they were two games down when they left Vancouver. They'll head back to Canada on Friday with the series level.
This has been a physical series. And game 4 was no exception. This is a great example of how antagonistic it has become. Boston's Brad Marchand even hitting Henrik Sedin where it hurts.
What happened in the second period will have hurt in a different way. Michael Ryder walked it up and beat Roberto Luongo for a 2-nil Boston lead.
And later in the second period, Vancouver gave the puck away allowing Marchand to backhand it home for a 3-nil lead.
Having edged two very tight games at the start of the series, Vancouver have been totally out-gunned in Boston. They shipped 8 goals in game 3, 4 more last night. Rich Peverley with the icing on the cake for Boston which skated to a 4-nil win.
The Bruins goalie, Tim Thomas, once again proved himself to be invaluable for Boston. He is regarded as the backbone of the team. And these stats showed why. He made at least 30 saves in every game of this series. And he's only been beaten five times. A shutout in game 4 last night was the fourth of his Stanley Cup career. He's 37 years old and could well land with the postseasons most valuable player award.
The West Indies cricket team were hosting the world champions India for the second match of their one day series. And the home team batting first made a strong start. Ramnaresh Sarwan made a half century in his second wicket partnership with Lendi Simmons who smashed this six off Yusuf Pathan was the biggest of the W. Indies innings.
Simmons made 53 before he was out. And Sarwan was dismissed for 56.
Caught in the deep, the home teams innings fizzled out after that. The last six wickets falling for just 48 runs. Carlton Baugh was seventh wicket to fall, followed by Amit Mishra who finished with four wickets to his name.
India had a target of 241 runs to win. And Parthiv Patel smashed this six off Darren Sammy as the tourists recovered from the loss of an early wicket. A rain delay meant the victory total was revised to just 183 runs using the Duckworth Lewis method. And India got their (inaudible) thanks to Virat Kohli's innings of 81. He had six fours and a six. Winning runs were scored by captain Suresh Raina. Seven wicket victory that puts India 2-nothing up in the five match series.
The next game is in Antigua on Saturday.
Back to you, Kristie.
STOUT: Don, thank you very much indeed. Take care.
And ahead here on News Stream, the iCloud is out. Now Apple has a new venture. We'll tell you how this illustration prompted CEO Steve Jobs to make anther rare appearance.
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STOUT: Welcome back.
Now we're all used to seeing Steve Jobs in this setting: introducing a new Apple product with a flashy presentation and lots of superlatives. But this week, the Apple CEO took his presentation skills to an unlikely venue: his local city council.
Now Jobs was there to unveil a plan for a new campus for Apple that will hold a whopping 12,000 people. And we notice some similarities between his city council presentation and some of his more famous Apple product keynotes. Take a look.
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STEVE JOBS, CEO OF APPLE COMPUTER: We've got almost 12,000 people in the area. So we're renting buildings, not very good buildings either. And an ever greater radius from our campus and we're putting people in those. And it's clear that we need to build a new campus. So we're just out of space. And so we've got a plan that lets us stay in Cupertino. And we went out and we bought some land. And this land is kind of special to me.
So if I acquire a song, I buy it right on my iPhone. I want to get that to my other devices, right. I pick up my iPad and it doesn't have that song on it. So I have to sink my iPhone to my Mac. Then I have to synch my other devices to the Mac to get that song. But then they've deposited some photos on the Mac so I have to synch to iPhone again with the Mac to get those photos. And keeping these devices in synch is driving us crazy.
So we've got a great solution for this problem. And we think this solution is our next big insight.
The campus we'd like to build there is one building that holds 12,000 people. And it's pretty amazing building. Let me show it to you. It's a little like a spaceship landed. There it is. And it's got this gorgeous courtyard in the middle, but a lot more.
What this device does is extraordinary. You can browse the web with it. It is the best browsing experience you've ever had. It's phenomenal to see a whole webpage right in front of you that you can manipulate with your fingers. It's unbelievably great.
What this device does is extraordinary. You can browse with it.
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STOUT: Now one of the products you saw Jobs unveiling there was the iCloud. And all this week, CNN has been focusing on cloud computing. Think of it like digital outsourcing. Now instead of storing your data on your computer, everything lives on the cloud, on remote servers on the internet. Now that way you can access your e-mail, documents, even songs off any device at any time. All you need is a fast and reliable connection to the internet.
But what happens when your internet connection is limited? Now more internet service providers are now putting a limit on how much data you can download. Now just take a look at this. In the U.S. AT&T, they have a plan that limits people to 150 gigabytes a month. But that is generous compared to many other countries.
In the UK, British Telecoms cheapest plan has a 10 gigabyte limit. And in Australia and Canada, you can be limited to just 2 gigabytes per month.
Now what can you do with 2 gigabytes? Well, according to Bell Canada, you can send 200,000 e-mails or visit 50,000 webpages. But you can download just two movies. Now compared to this, AT&T's 150 gigabyte allowance, it seems huge. But it's smaller than you think.
Now according to GigaOM, streaming a high definition movie from Netflix uses about 3.5 gigabytes. The average American watch their daily intake of TV online in high definition. They'd hit AT&T's limit in just 18 days.
And with online video becoming more and more popular, experts say the limit will only feel more restrictive.
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XENI JARDIN, BOING BOING: I think the idea of a broadband cap of say 150 gigs a month, a few years ago that would have sounded like something that only extreme outliers would ever butt up against, people who were just downloaded dozens and dozens of gigs of probably illicit music or illicit movie downloads per week.
But now when you think of the way people are moving away from cable television, moving away from satellite television, moving towards buying movies, television, other services by iTunes or by Netflix and the like, the norms change. And they change quickly.
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STOUT: So what happens when you reach the limit? Well, some service providers will charge you extra, others will slow down your broadband speed. Now either way, it's designed to discourage you from accessing more data, providing a possible barrier to living your digital life in the cloud.
Now they are two things that might not sound like they go together: video games and fine art. But one exhibition in Los Angeles is combining the two. Let's take a look.
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MARTIN RAE, PRESIDENT, ACADEMY OF INTERACTIVE ARTS AND SCIENCES: Today we're unveiling another program of ours, and it's called into the pixel. And what it is, is a recognition and honoring of fine art in the video game business. And you may look at me and say fine art in the video game business, what is that? I mean, guns and shoot 'em up and whatever. But there is incredible art in this industry. They just use different tools.
And in fact, just recently the Smithsonian decided to curate, basically, a huge exhibit on video games and video game art. And you're also seeing an expansion of the demographics in video games. I mean, there's older women playing, young girls playing. There's senior citizens playing games. They are game players who are spending money on it. And as those even get more sophisticated, they will even see these are beautiful interactive art pieces.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this image is from God of War III. And this is the Cronos battle where Kratos right here is running around on this huge titan as he's trying to basically slaughter this mountain of a creature.
Well I think video games, they're not necessarily a new medium anymore, but it did take awhile for the general public to kind of come around to the idea of this kind of fresh very different sort of medium and really respect it as art.
I would love if there were more video game galleries out there, you know. I don't see any reason why not. There's so many gorgeous games out there right now. I mean, even some of the -- you know, like the classic games like you can even go back to Mario or something like that. And then -- it's art, you know, and it hasn't -- I don't know if it's really been represented in that kind of format.
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STOUT: Now it's time to go over and out there to Spain. Now police in Barcelona have been scratching their heads over this one for awhile. Now valuables have gone missing from luggage on a bus somewhere between the airport and the city despite being tucked away safely in the luggage compartments.
So, News Stream sleuths, do you have any idea? Well, here's a clue, a contortionist. And yes, that is the front of her thighs right there.
And here is another clue, a suitcase.
So we've got a contortionist and a suitcase. Have you figured it out yet?
Well, police, they reckon a flexible bandit would curl up inside the suitcase and then slip into the hold and then have 90 minute to rummage through everyone's luggage before being collected by his accomplice and the wheel off home.
Now the amazing thing here is that the thief is about my height and yet managed to fit into a suitcase pretty much the same size as this one. And I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do that.
That is news Stream. But the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.
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