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NEWS STREAM

U.K. Phone-Hacking Probe; Mumbai Bombing Investigation; Battle for Control in Libya

Aired July 14, 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.

It appears Rupert Murdoch will not face British lawmakers to answer questions, but a parliamentary spokeswoman says former "News of the World" editor Rebekah Brooks will.

Terror against strikes in India's commercial capital, as a coordinated series of blasts kills 18 people in Mumbai.

And caught in a firefight. Our Ben Wedeman watches Gadhafi's forces take back a town in Libya.

CNN has just learned that Rupert Murdoch will not appear before British legislators next week in the investigation into phone hacking at his newspapers. A parliamentary official says lawmakers have also been told that Murdoch's son James won't be able to appear before August the 10th.

Now, this is just the latest twist in a controversy that has boiled over for more than a week now.

CNN's Dan Rivers is outside the British parliament. He joins us now live.

And Dan, only Rebekah Brooks has agreed to appear before the committee next Tuesday. So will the hearing go ahead without the Murdochs?

DAN RIVERS, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the committee is still insisting that the Murdochs turn up. And they have dispatched an officer from the House of Commons behind me -- the deputy sergeant at arms, he's called -- to go and sort of serve a sort of summons to the Murdochs, Rupert and James, at their Wapping headquarters, saying you must come along. This is not an option.

Now, the Murdochs may choose to continue to ignore the will of that committee and of parliament. If that happens, we're told by the committee chairman, John Whittingdale -- he said that would trigger a debate within the House of Commons, very serious stuff. It's likely then that all of the MPs would agree that they should attend. They may pass a motion.

And then, if the Murdochs continue to turn up, they could be held in contempt of parliament. It's not a criminal offense, but it is a massive humiliation for Rupert Murdoch, who once held the highest standing here, don't forget, politically and in sort of society. Now he would be held in contempt of parliament, almost like sort of having parliament saying -- you know, damning him in a way.

We're not clear whether, like Rebekah Brooks, he could be forced to turn up, because she's British. Basically, we're going into uncharted territory, I think. No one quite knows whether an American could be forced to turn up, because they've never tried to do it before.

STOUT: And separately, Dan, a new arrest has been made in this phone- hacking investigation. Can you give us some more details?

RIVERS: Yes, this is the deputy editor of the "News of the World" back in 2003, Neil Wallis, who was hired under Andy Coulson. He has been arrested by the police, according to reports here, as part of this ongoing inquiry. Nine people now have been arrested as part of this inquiry and the parallel inquiry looking into bribing police officers, and I think we're going to see more and more of these arrests over the coming days and weeks.

STOUT: And also, London's top police officer is to be grilled later today. What kind of questions will he face?

RIVERS: Yes, he's going to appear before sort of another committee. There's a lot of committees here. This is the Metropolitan Police Authority, which kind of regulates the police.

They're going to be questioning Sir Paul Stephenson closely about why the initial investigation into phone hacking was so limited and didn't go wider than just looking into tapping of the royal family's phones, and why the subsequent review was so inadequate. Basically, why, according to their critics, did they bungle this investigation so badly? Why didn't they look at the reams of evidence, 11,000 pages of evidence that they had which contained numerous phone numbers of people supposedly targeted by these newspapers, yet none of these people were contacted and no further action was taken?

STOUT: And Dan, we also want to get your thoughts on Rupert Murdoch's bid for BSkyB. It's over for now. So is that a sign that business at News International is effectively on hold until this scandal blows away?

RIVERS: Yes. I mean, I think the takeover of BSkyB is probably the last thing on his mind at the moment. He's got much bigger things to worry about. Notably, this summons to appear before this committee.

I mean, he's in a really difficult position here, because if he turns up, he's going to get an almighty grilling from MPs, who are not going to spare him any blushes at all in a ferocious cross-examination. If he doesn't turn up, well, we don't really know what's going to happen. I mean, he could be held in contempt of parliament.

You know, who knows? He could theoretically, possibly, according to some, maybe be kind of forced to come here. It's difficult to say, because he's an American, but they just don't know whether they have the power to do that.

STOUT: All right.

Dan Rivers, joining us live from London.

Thank you very much for that update.

Now, online campaigns are calling for an outright boycott of Murdoch. Groups like this one on Facebook tell people to stop spending cash on News International papers. But going cold turkey on the Murdoch empire is not easy.

Sure, you can kiss your "Wall Street Journal" subscription goodbye, but you could also forget about watching the latest Brad Pitt movie "The Tree of Life." It's distributed by a News Corp unit, Fox Searchlight Pictures. And you should also get over "American Idol" and "Glee" as well. They're both Fox shows.

And anything you plan to watch on Hulu, the TV streaming service, that is out. So no more on demand "Simpsons" reruns. Now, Murdoch also has a stake in Hulu as well.

And don't bother going to Madison Square Garden for a concert to fill your now entertainment star of life. Murdoch owns a piece of the famous New York arena.

And Aussies can shed a tear as well, as they swear off the National Rugby League.

So, no sports, no concerts, no TV. No problem? Well, except that Rupert Murdoch also HarperCollins. So say goodbye to "The Chronicles of Narnia."

Murdoch's hand is virtually everywhere.

Now, we will return to the growing fallout from the phone-hacking scandal a little bit later in the show, but now we go to India, where investigators are trying to figure out who was behind Wednesday's coordinated bomb blasts in Mumbai.

Now, officials say that they had no warning and have no suspects in custody. The evening rush hour attacks killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 130 others. And so far, no group has claimed responsibility. Mumbai residents have largely returned to work, but many are asking how this could happen again in their city.

Our partner network, CNN-IBN, says this was the 13th terror attack on Mumbai in 20 years. The siege of 2008 immediately comes to mind.

Now, the gunmen mostly targeted tourist destinations, what you see here in blue. They killed 164 people over three days.

Now, let's look at Wednesday's bomb sites. They are shown in red. The opera house, it sits near a popular diamond market. And this bazaar is a well-known jewelry market. It's also close to a Hindu temple, where some people were injured. And the Dadar area is near a train station used by millions of commuters.

So, these most recent sites are all places frequented by locals. Some suspicions have followed on the homegrown terror group the Indian Mujahideen, but officials say that no one has been ruled out.

Mallika Kapur is following the investigation for us. She joins us now live from Mumbai.

And Mallika, a day after the blasts, are we closer to knowing who is behind it?

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: To be honest, not really, Kristie. That question has been coming up right from the first few minutes after the blast. People are wondering who's behind it, but nobody has claimed responsibility. No group has come out and said that they are behind the attacks.

This question is still coming up. The public is asking the question, journalists are asking the question. They're posing the question to politicians, to local police officials.

And the answer is that they don't want to speculate, it's too early to tell. They don't want to start throwing names about, saying that the priority is really for Mumbai to remain safe and to remain calm and to remain secure. So the government and the home minister, they are being very careful right now, and really not throwing any names about. No group has claimed responsibility yet.

Now, we were out and about at the various bomb sites today talking to people in those neighborhoods, and of course another thing they keep talking about is, how could this happen again? This is the third major terrorist attack on Mumbai in five years.

People are very shocked. People are shaken up. And they do have some tough questions for the government.

The most important one and the top most in their minds is, what happened to all the intelligence, the stepping up of intelligence gathering that the government has been promising since the last set of terror attacks in 2008? And the government had this comeback --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALANIAPPAN CHIDAMBARAM, INDIAN HOME MINISTER: There is no intelligence on the particular incident. That doesn't mean (INAUDIBLE). Intelligence is collected every day, every hour. But there was no intelligence regarding the attack in Mumbai.

That is not a failure of intelligence agencies, but simply (INAUDIBLE). Whoever perpetrated this attack has worked in a very, very clandestine manner. And it may be a small group. Maybe they communicate with each other.

So those are possibilities. It's not a failure in intelligence, because intelligence has predicted, as I said, every day and every hour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAPUR: The government couldn't prevent the attacks, but they did do whatever they could in a rather efficient manner to control the situation once the attacks took place. Police personnel, fire brigades, emergency teams did reach the site of the attacks very quickly. Remember, that was one serious criticism of the government during the November, 2008 attacks.

This time, however, they did reach the site very quickly. They were very efficient in managing the wounded and taking them to hospital and getting them treated over there. And that is something the public has recognized and praised the government for this time -- Kristie.

STOUT: Mallika, there was no warning. There was no new intelligence and no confirmation that Pakistani militant groups are behind these attacks. Nevertheless, this event must be having an impact on the relationship between India and Pakistan.

What's your read on that?

KAPUR: Well, at the moment, we have heard from the external affairs minister, Mr. Krishna, today, who has said that the talks, the peace talks between India and Pakistan which are scheduled for later this month, will go ahead as planned. So there does seem to be a concerted effort from the Indian government not to start pointing the finger at Pakistan, not to let anything come in the way of those peace talks.

Those peace talks really only got revived earlier this year. Indeed, Pakistan has had a very fracturous (ph) history, as you know, and relations plunged after the 2008 attack.

They are taking -- both countries are taking tiny steps at rebuilding those relations. And at the moment, we are seeing the government being very careful not to point fingers at Pakistan at all. They keep saying, "We do not know who is behind these attacks." And on the other hand, we have the external affairs minister saying that the peace talks will go on.

STOUT: All right.

Mallika Kapur, joining us live from Mumbai.

Thank you very much for that.

As Mallika mentioned, people in Mumbai are showing resilience in the face of this new attack, and they've been helping each other through Web sites like Twitter. Now, this hash tag "Here2Help," it started trending after the bombs went off. And people offered to do things like pick up strangers stranded at the attack sites.

And then this Twitter user got the idea to compile everything in a Google spreadsheet. He says it started with five names and numbers, and then it swelled up to more than 200.

Now, take a look. People are offering to donate blood, to provide places to stay, or to pass on messages to family members. At least one user has even volunteered to give away plane tickets.

Now, still ahead here on NEWS STREAM, heavy fire in Libya. Ben Wedeman was there, and we'll tell you why he says this time was different.

In the U.S., there is still no deal on the debt ceiling, and analysts say it is time to stop rocking the boat.

And in golf, the British Open is under way. Can golf's newest golden boy hold on to his crown?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, a U.S.-based rights group is accusing Libyan rebels of abusing civilians and burning and looting homes. Human Rights Watch says the abuse has happened as rebels captured four towns in the Nafusa mountains over the past month. Accusations came on the day that Libyan rebels lost and then regained control of the village of Qawalish.

Hospital sources say that in nearby Zintan, eight rebels died in five hours of fighting on Wednesday. And Qawalish, it lies along a major highway that rebels say Gadhafi uses to bring in weapons.

It would appear that the battle for Qawalish may not be over. Now, hours ago, our Ben Wedeman reported being near some heavy fighting. We have reached Ben Wedeman in the town of Zintan, where he joins me now, live with the latest.

And Ben, what is your understanding of the situation in Qawalish today?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've spoken with rebel commanders who say they are in full control of not only Qawalish, but several kilometers to the east of there. Of course, their goal is to cut this main highway from southern Libya to Tripoli. That's a highway along which a lot of supplies, a lot of military equipment is going.

Now, they've dug in because they realize that yesterday they had left the defenses up to local villagers who simply didn't have the numbers, the weaponry, the training, the discipline, the communications to hold the town. So they're reinforcing their troops there. "Troops" is a somewhat glorified description of what they are. They're actually just civilians with weapons.

And they are talking about moving forward to cut that highway. But at this point, really, it's a matter of consolidating their position and making sure that this town does not get retaken yet again -- Kristie.

STOUT: And Ben, yesterday, you found yourself in the middle of a scary situation, a firefight to retake Qawalish. Take us back to that moment.

WEDEMAN: Well, we had gone to Qawalish to investigate the claims in the Human Rights Watch report about vandalism, about breaking into homes and whatnot, and mistreatment of civilians by the rebels. We were at the last checkpoint before the town when we ran into two young men who were manning that checkpoint.

They said Gadhafi's forces were approaching. So our drivers went to the top of an adjacent hill, and what they saw, they said, was just about 200 meters from them was two carloads full of Libyan soldiers.

They came running down the hill, and that's when that battle got a little too close for comfort.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): This is how our day started, ambushed by Gadhafi loyalists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait! Wait! Wait!

Get down! Get down!

WEDEMAN (on camera): They're leaving this area because there's gunfire all around us, and we believe Gadhafi's forces are doing a roundabout movement. We are rushing out of this area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all right, guys?

Alex?

WEDEMAN: Everybody's fine.

We're going as fast as we can. We can't tell who the -- OK.

Is the other car behind us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's behind us. Yes.

WEDEMAN: That's a lot of gunfire. It's continuing to come through.

Gadhafi's forces apparently have entered Qawalish, a town we were in just the other day that the rebels took on the 6th of July. And there's been talk that they might be building up forces to make a counterattack. And it looks like the counterattack is going on right now.

(voice-over): But Qawalish on this day was lightly defended, at best, at its defenders didn't put up much of a fight.

(on camera): We came back to this checkpoint, which is about halfway between Qawalish, the town that's apparently fallen, and Zintan. And we've been told we need to go back even further because Gadhafi's forces are on the move. And as you can see, the traffic is only going back in one direction. Nothing that way.

(voice-over): "They're running away with their weapons!" this man shouts.

Nizbah (ph) is fleeing with his wife and six children. "This is the result of people not being ready," he says. "They abandoned their positions. They should be there all the time."

We retreated to a house near Zintan, where we found a group of fighters preparing their weapons for a counterattack. All of their weapons were captured from the enemy.

Mohammed, one of the fighters, didn't want to appear on camera because he has relatives in Tripoli, but told me local fighters from nearby villages were careless. "What happened today," he says, "was that nobody was watching the front. If they had, they would have seen the Libyan army was moving forward."

Cars and pickups full of fighters gathered by the roadside. "The plan," says commander Muqtada al-Ahdad (ph), "is to stop Gadhafi's forces and push them back." Part of that plan was to pound the loyalists with rockets and then move forward toward Qawalish, which they were able to take.

But rockets kept on coming in, as well as the occasional incoming bullet. Nearly 30 rebel fighters were wounded in the battle. At least eight were killed. All to regain control of a town they had captured the week before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: So our latest is the town is quiet for the time being, but no guarantee that quiet will last -- Kristie.

STOUT: And Ben, I don't know how you do it. You stayed remarkably calm as you were caught in the crossfire just then.

Now, where you are in western Libya, it seems that the rebels are challenging Gadhafi's forces. They are taking more territory.

Is the stalemate over in this conflict?

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly they have taken more territory. It's hard to say whether there's a stalemate at all. But as they get closer to Tripoli, the problem is they're getting closer to areas where there are larger numbers of Gadhafi supporters. There's bound to be more resistance.

And certainly, as Gadhafi feels himself pushed into the corner, he may lash back. In fact, he told a Russian television station that if the rebels take Tripoli, he'll pound it with surface-to-surface missiles. So, even if Tripoli falls, it doesn't necessarily mean that this conflict is over -- Kristie.

STOUT: Ben Wedeman, joining us live from Zintan.

Thank you.

Coming up next on NEWS STREAM, find out what caused this -- crop damage in Austria. And here's a hint: it came from the sky.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you are back watching NEWS STREAM.

Now, heavy rain and large hail are threatening parts of Europe this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

STOUT: Now, in the U.S., talks to raise the country's borrowing limit ended abruptly on Wednesday, while in Europe, Italy makes a costly move to calm economic fears.

And the hacking controversy that is dominating Britain's politics and press crosses the Atlantic, as U.S. lawmakers question whether reporters phone- hacked as well the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching NEWS STREAM. And these are your world headlines.

Now CNN has learned that Rupert Murdoch will not appear before British legislators next week in the investigation into phone hacking at his newspapers. A Parliamentary official says lawmakers have also been told that Murdoch's son, James, won't be able to appear before August 10th. Now News International's Rebecca Brooks will appear.

Now India is on high alert after Wednesday's terrorist attacks in Mumbai. Authorities are scrambling to find out who was behind three explosions that rip through the country's biggest city during evening rush hour. 18 people were killed and more than 130 injured. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

A bomb has gone off in a mosque in Afghanistan as officials attended a memorial service for President Hamid Karzai's half-brother. Local officials say the attack at the Therayama (ph) Mosque in Kandahar was a suicide bombing. Now six people were killed and 15 injured. Ahmed Wali Karzai was shot dead on Tuesday.

In Libya, rebels and forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi are fighting for control of Gawalish, a strategic village in western Libya. Now hospital sources say eight rebel fighters were killed in a five hour battle on Wednesday. Gawalish lies along a major highway that rebels say Gadhafi uses to bring in weapons.

Now Italy had a costly day in the markets. Now the nation was forced to pay the highest interest rates in three years to sell off 15 year bonds. Italy is selling off billions of euros worth of debt and it's seen as a critical step in stabilizing the nation's economy as fear of contagion spread.

And in the United States, the White House lawmakers are in a race against time to raise the debt ceiling, but so far the talks have produced a lot of heat, but little action.

Now Melissa Rainey breaks down the hot tempered back and forth.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA RAINEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Four straight days of negotiations have leaders in Washington at their boiling point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a guy we all thought was no drama Obama, sounds like a pretty dramatic meeting.

RAINEY: Here in Wednesday's meetings House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says he and President Obama squared off over the Republican's call for a short-term extension on the federal debt ceiling. He says the president responded with don't call my bluff.

JESSICA YELLIN, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president sort of told the entire group that this is exactly what Americans think of as Washington at its worst, Washington catering to the base, catering to politics, putting their own political future ahead of doing important things and taking on the big issues.

RAINEY: Democrats and Republicans have locked horns over proposed tax increases and budget cuts in the measure.

NICOLLE WALLACE, FRM. MCCAIN CAMPAIGN ADVISER: What's at issue at the moment is getting a deal done. And I think as unfortunately so often happens in Washington something small, something temporary and something that both sides are unhappy about it probably what will ensue.

RAINEY: The president shows no sign of backing down.

YELLIN: I do have it confirmed that this president really did say, you know, with my presidency at stake I will not yield on this issue.

RAINEY: An agreement must be reached by the August 2nd deadline, if not Washington will lack the money to pay its bills which analysts say could cause interest rates to skyrocket and the value of the dollar to decline.

I'm Melissa Rainey reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: Now online music service Spotify has finally reached the U.S. Now the service opened to a select few users about half an hour ago. Now Spotify has over 10 million users in Europe but has been struggling to break into the U.S. for a couple of years.

But what actually is Spotify, now let's look at what the service can do compared to its main competitor Apple's iTunes Store. And that's the key word, store. iTunes sells music. In fact it is the world's biggest music store whereas you can listen to Spotify for free.

Now let's look at the free plan, that allows you to access any of Spotify's 15 million tracks for a total of 20 hours a month with a few restrictions. Now you need to be online to access Spotify. You can only listen to a song five times, and there are ads.

Now Spotify also has premium plans. For $5 a month some of the restrictions are limited and the ads go away. And for $10 a month you get to access Spotify's mobile apps. And then you also get a chance to buy individual songs just like iTunes.

Now overall, though, that's one of the only similarities it has with iTunes. Now Spotify is a streaming service you can subscribe to, while iTunes is a store you have to buy and download music from. Even Apple's new iCloud system, it doesn't allow you to stream songs, only to download them to your devices.

And as if one new competitor for Apple wasn't enough, now there's a report that Amazon could introduce a tablet to compete with the iPad. The Wall Street Journal says the tablet will run Google's android software and have a 9 inch screen, but it won't have a camera.

Now this year's third golf major has begun in England. Don Riddell is watching the action for us. He joins us now from CNN London -- Don.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi Kristie, thanks very much.

The British Open Championship is underway at Royal St. Georges. And it is a typically blustery links course kind of day. All eyes are on the game's young star, but it's a tour veteran that's making all the running.

Our Shane O'Donoghue is live there for us. Shane, what's the latest?

SHANE O'DONOGHUE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a great mix. And it's a wonderful leader board at the moment here in the early stages of round one.

As you say, all eyes are on Rory McIlroy. He was looking very comfortable as he made his way to the first tee this morning, Don. But he opened up with a couple of early boogies. So 2 over after just three holes.

Now he did maintain a good run of pars just after that and managed to get a birdie on the 8th. But he did drop another shot I'm afraid on the 13th. So currently he is 2 over par for the championship.

Sergio Garcia also going very well. Now there's a man with a bit of scar tissue. Of course he was beaten in a playoff in 2007 by Padraig Harrington. And he is content in (inaudible). Can he do it again here? Well, he's got the game, but does he have the putting stroke? At the moment, though, he's 2 under through 15 holes. The Spaniard going very nicely.

But what about his compatriot? The veteran, Miguel Angel Jimenez. What a flawless round from him. 66, that's 4 under, just four birdies, all the rest pars. But birdies on 4, 9, 12 and 17. Sparkling form from this very, very colorful character who enjoys a cigar, enjoys a great glass of (inaudible).

And I think he'll be celebrating tonight. And he'll be also looking forward to a later tee time as well.

But he's well up there, just one behind the first round leader who is now, can you believe it, Thomas Bjorn, the man who pretty much threw it away eight years ago when the Open was last played at Royal St. Georges, but the great Dane himself came back in scintillating form with a wonderful 65 today, that's 5 under par. He hit seven birdies in total, just two dropped shots on the 9th and on the 18th. But wonderful gulf in between and a very positive focus from Thomas Bjorn throughout this first round of the 2011 Open Championships.

So he leads on 5 under after 65 from Jimenez by one shot who is 4 under. Tied up 2 under, as we mentioned, Sergio Garcia still out there, Simon Dyson in with a 69. And a wonderful hole in one from Dustin Johnson who at this prominent time is walking down the 18th. Hopefully he can par and get himself in on 1 under par, but a hole in one on the par 3 16.

We're getting all sorts of wonderful scores here. At the moment, though, McIlroy still 2 over. And world number 1 Luke Donald 1 over par. So lots of great golf still to be played. And lots of interesting challenges ahead for all of the competitors here at Royal St. Georges.

RIDDELL: Absolutely Shane. A great effort from Thomas Bjorn this morning. Shane, thanks very much.

Now the quarterfinals are all set for the Copa America. And finally the goals are flying in. Up until the conclusion of the group stage on Wednesday, we barely been getting a goal and a half per game, but there was an avalanche of them as Group B was wrapped up.

Brazil under pressure to step it up after a couple of draws, and their young stars were right in the thick of it. In the 28th minute, Andre Santros picked out the 21 year old Alexadre Pato for the opening goal. That was pretty easy to him.

Ecuador made a game of it. And they were level at half-time, thanks to a well take strike from Felipe Caicedo. Julio Cesar should have done better in the Brazilian goal, though.

Early in the second half, Brazil were back in front. Carlo Enrique, playing in the 19 year old Neymar. And the Santos striker smashed it into the back of the net.

Again, though, Ecuador came back at them just before the hour mark. It was Caicedo again. He's already scored with his left, this was with his right. Cesar, no chance.

Brazil had it all their own way after that, though. In fact, just 2 minutes later they were back in front when Pato followed up on Neymar's shot to make it 3-2 with his second goal of the game. And then in the 72nd minute, Maicon galloped down the right wing to set up Neymar for his second goal of the night.

Brazil topped the group, Ecuador are out. Venezuela and Paraguay both progressed after their 3-all draw.

That's all the sport we've got time for, Kristie. Back to you.

STOUT: Don, thank you.

Up next, the UK's phone hacking scandal, it is spreading to the United States. Lawmakers there are calling for an investigation into Rupert Murdoch's media companies. And coming up next, I'll be talking to live Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: Welcome back.

Now the phone hacking allegations rocking Rupert Murdoch's media empire have crossed that Atlantic into the United States. A growing number of American lawmakers are calling for an investigation to determine whether Murdoch's News Corp. violated any U.S. laws.

Brian Todd has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As he faces the investigative music in Britain, critical mass builds to look into the action of Rupert Murdoch's companies in the U.S. Several lawmakers are now calling for investigations into whether Murdoch's tabloids hacked the phones of Americans.

Powerful Senator Jay Rockefeller is leading that charge. He's especially concerned over reports that 9/11 victims phones were hacked. And he told CNN his bet is they'll find, quote, criminal stuff.

I caught up with Rockefeller.

SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER, (D) WEST VIRGINIA: You know that the Department of Justice and all kinds of other federal agencies are going to be going after this very hard. And we will too. I mean, this is an it's really repugnant, you know, that one man can control so many.

TODD: Do you have specific information that Americans, that 9/11 victims, had their phones hacked?

ROCKEFELLER: We will find out.

TODD: At least two relatives of 9/11 victims are joining in this call. Contacted by CNN, the Justice Department wouldn't comment on whether an investigation has been launched.

Rockefeller called for the probe after victims of 9/11 were reported to have been among the targets of British papers.

The Daily Mirror, arrival of Murdoch's papers, asserted that a New York private investigator said he was asked by News of the World journalists to hack victim's phones, but that he turned down the job. It's not clear if the tabloid journalists were after the phone records of American or British 9/11 victims or both.

Murdoch's company, The News Corporation, owner of some of the London papers that have been the focus of the outrage, is based in the United States. Its outlets include the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and Fox News Channel.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post says it's too early to tell if those operations will suffer legally from an investigation. But..

What kind of public backlash could there be against Rupert Murdoch and his entities in the U.S. do you think? Even if this doesn't come to full fruition, these investigations?

PAUL FARHI, WASHINGTON POST: We know him through Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and all the TV stations he owns in this country. So he has plenty of enemies in this country. And this could be, and I stress the could be, the moment when they get a lot more ammunition to use against him.

TODD: We contacted News Corporation to ask if they would respond to the calls for investigations, if they could shed any light on the alleged attempt to hack Americans, and if they've launched their own investigation. A spokesman there wouldn't comment.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: And we have reached off of the U.S. lawmakers pushing for a probe into those allegations. Now Bruce Braley is a Democratic congressman from the U.S. state of Iowa. He joins me now live from Capitol Hill in Washington.

And congressman, welcome to CNN International.

What is your message to Rupert Murdoch?

REP. BRUCE BRALEY, (D) IOWA: My message is have you no decency? Do you -- is this the type of behavior we can expect from your businesses, a U.S. business, involved in foreign practices that could be in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act?

Everything we're hearing about this growing problem is that it involves reprehensible conduct by people who were trained to follow a journalistic code of ethics that I learned in journalism school right after Watergate -- accuracy, objectivity, fairness, and integrity. And we've seen this blurring line with many of the News Corp. flagship papers and other things where you blur the line between fact, news, opinion, and political propaganda, but no one thought they were engaging in any type of spying into the private lives of U.S. or British citizens.

STOUT: Have you seen any evidence of bribing by News International? Do you know of any American victims of phone hacking by News International?

BRALEY: All we have at this point is strong evidence that efforts were made to try to obtain confidential voicemails of 9/11 victims. And at this point it's unclear who those victims were and what countries they came from. But the allegations are disturbing enough that there's been a bipartisan growing chorus here in congress, including Peter King, a Republican who is chairman of the homeland security committee and represents 150 victims who died on 9/11.

STOUT: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is the parent company of Fox News, a strong champion of the Republican Party, the political right. Now you congressman, and fellow lawmakers calling for investigation into the company are Democrats. So I have to ask you, is politics at play here?

BRALEY: No, because of the reason I just mentioned, a very prominent Republican from New York, Peter King, who has appeared on Fox News many times, has demanded an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into whether people he represented and other 9/11 victims had their privacy and civil rights violated by unlawful attempts to access their voicemails.

I think that's clear evidence that this is a bipartisan concern and not some political witch hunt.

STOUT: And does this phone hacking scandal go beyond Rupert Murdoch and News International? Are other newspapers, other media organizations at fault as well?

BRALEY: Well, that's what we need to get the answers to. And that's why the oversight committee that I serve on is a perfect vehicle to begin this process from an institution here in congress.

Now there are other calls going out for federal law enforcement officials to begin an investigation into these very serious allegations. And I will be supporting those efforts as well.

STOUT: Now News International is already being investigated in the UK. So why are you calling for another investigation in the United States?

BRALEY: Well, because I have a constitutional responsibility to the people I represent in Iowa and to the citizens of the United States that one of the fundamental roles we have in Congress is to conduct oversight to whether or not laws that apply to U.S. businesses and U.S. citizens are being violated.

We do this every day. And because of the disturbing nature of the growing allegations coming out of Great Britain and the fact that they relate directly to 9/11 victims, and those have not been specifically identified by their country, it's important for us to get to the bottom of this quickly. And if there are ongoing issues that need to be addressed, to address them forcefully and uphold the rule of law here in the United States.

STOUT: Congressman Bruce Braley, thank you very much for joining us live here on CNN International.

BRALEY: Thank you, Kristie.

STOUT: Now I want to tell you about a CNN special event, it's happening this weekend. It's Going Green. And the special begins with Extreme Science. It's hosted by environmentalist and CNN special correspondent Phillipe Cousteau. And he takes us to the Arctic Circle, one of the coldest places on the planet. Now adventurist scientists, they travel there to study climate change. And here's a look at some of the tools they use.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPE COUSTEAU, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: A lighthearted beginning to a frigid day's work.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Working day has started, over.

COUSTEAU: Spirits are high as the team prepares to collect another piece of the oceanic story below them, which quite oddly enough includes some exercise.

Helen pedals outside a sampling tent on a custom made stationary bike. A wall of igloo blocks protects her from the wind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, go ahead down.

COUSTEAU: The bicycle lowers and raises scientific equipment in and out of the hole used to collect samples and data from the water column. The team inside enjoys a comfortable environment just above the freezing mark.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop. Stop.

COUSTEAU: To conduct research, these scientists must understand a whole list of variables. Victoria is studying sea ice loss. And this instrument helps here map out the data, a sort of scientific snapshot of the water.

Each of the scientists rotates through to take samples for their particular line of research.

Next up is Helen who is deploying an empty cylinder called a niscan (ph) into the water column.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's basically just a bottle which we have a sprung end on either side so it allows us to capture a particular parcel of water at a particular depth. So it has a spring which releases the trigger and closes when you get to a certain depth that you want to be at.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: And Phillipe Cousteau with a preview of our Going Green special. Again, it is called Extreme Science. It's right here on Saturday night, 9:00 pm in Hong Kong, 5:00 in Abu Dhabi.

Now he can act, he can sing, and we know he can dance. And judging by this YouTube video, if he knows what's good for him he will take her to the dance. Now ahead, Jeanne Moos introduces us to Justin Timberlake's feisty fan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STOUT: OK. Call it karma, or just fair play, after Justin Timberlake laid on the pressure for his co-star to go to the Marine Corps ball, he got his own online invitation. And Jeanne Moos looks at the latest gal to swoon for JT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This female Marine is asking Justin Timberlake out on a date.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I'm going to call you out.

MOOS: Hoping he'll take his own advice.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, ACTOR: Do if for your country.

MOOS: That's what Timberlake told his co-star, Mila Kunis, after a male Marine stationed in Afghanistan tilted his shades and asked Mila out via YouTube.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Mila. Sergeant Moore (ph).

MILA KUNIS, ACTOR: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to take a moment out of my day to invite you to the Marine Corps Ball on November 18th, Greenville, North Carolina with yours truly. So, take a second, think about it, get back to me.

MOOS: Now chances are the last time Mila Kunis was asked out on a semi- blind date was when CNN's own Wolf Blitzer invited her to the White House Correspondents dinner.

KUNIS: This is my date, look!

MOOS: And though Wolf is more famous than Sergeant Scott Moore (ph). The sergeant had Justin Timberlake on his side during a Fox News interview.

TIMBERLAKE: This needs to go down. This needs to happen. Do it for your country.

KUNIS: I'll do it for you.

MOOS: Yeah, well you do it for your country Justin Timberlake. Because now this Marine wants you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, Justin, you want to call out my girl Mila? Well, I'm going to call you out and ask you to come to the Marine Corps. ball with me on November 12th in Washington, D.C.

MOOS: Corporal Kelsey DeSantos (ph) is the only female Marine at the Martial Arts Center for Excellence at Quantico. She's an instructor with a black belt and sometimes does cage fights. Kelsey (ph) is a fan of Timberlake's. She got the idea to invite him to the Marine Corps. Ball after seeing him so enthusiastically tell Mila Kunis to go.

Her friends set up a Facebook page called let's get Justin Timberlake to the Marine Corps Ball with Kelsey, complete with an array of photos so impressive, well, how could Timberlake tell her to go jump in a lake or even a river?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And if you can't go, all I have to say is, cry me a river.

MOOS: Hey, the Corporal has got a tap tune too. And that's just the one we can see.

When we asked the friend who helped set up the Facebook page, whether Kelsey could kick Justin Timberlake's butt if he turned her down. She said, oh yeah, for sure. This Marine isn't looking for a few good men, just one.

TIMBERLAKE: Do it for your country.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hit me up.

MOOS: CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STOUT: All right, JT, what's it going to be?

OK, it's time to go over an out there and perhaps in your dirty laundry. Now one researcher may have found a new tool to fight malaria, this, smelly socks. A pair of these could lure mosquitoes into poison traps, apparently. Now the insects are the leading carrier of malaria which kills almost 500,000 people, or rather 800,000 people a year. Now as it turns out mosquitoes are highly attracted to the odor of human feet. And reports say that the scientist behind this study in Tanzania has just won more than $700,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada to do more testing.

So if it does indeed work it's not something to turn your nose at.

Now that is NEWS STREAM, but the news continues at CNN. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is next.

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