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WHO, CDC Work To Contain Ebola Outbreak In Uganda; Indians Embarrassed By Power Grid Collapse; Recap of Olympic Action; Juventus Manager Fined $250,000; Snoop Dogg Is Now Snoop Lion

Aired August 01, 2012 - 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: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hond Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet. And we begin in India. Now the lights are back on after two power outages in two days, but for how long?

Team GB with its first gold medal at the 2012 Olympic games it is hosting. Meanwhile, this man, Michael Phelps, is described as the greatest Olympian of all time. While one London official doesn't necessarily agree.

And reading the rumors. We look at the hype and speculation surrounding the anticipated release of the next Apple iPhone and Microsoft's new tablet.

The lights are back on, the trains are running again, and stores, offices and restaurants have reopened for business, but for how long?

Now many are worried that India could suffer a repeat of this week's massive blackouts. Half a billion people lost electricity when power grids serving India's northern, eastern, and northeastern regions collapsed on Tuesday. Half the country was affected. It was the second major blackout in two days. An investigation is underway. The blackouts are prompting calls for India to speed up improvements to its aging infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing population.

So what happens when the power to half of the world's second most populous nation vanishes? Well, take a look. With no traffic lights working, cars crawled to a standstill at a busy intersection in the capital New Delhi. And hundreds of trains also ground to a halt at one of the busiest rail networks in the world. Now passengers can only sit and wait in the sweltering heat. One traveler says her normal journey of 40 minutes took three hours. But perhaps the most worrisome situation was at India's hospitals. But backup generators managed to keep them running.

Now the blackout also stranded dozens of miners underground for hours until mine elevators started working again.

Now let's go to Mallika Kapur in New Delhi for the latest on the situation there in India now. And Mallika, power has been restored across the country, so is there a sense of relief or apprehension that this could happen again?

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kristie, a bit of both. Definitely a sense of relief this morning to the fact that people were able to take their trains and get to work, people could move about. The traffic signals are working, so we aren't experiencing those crazy traffic jams that we have yesterday. So surely and steadily as life came back to normal today, as you mentioned earlier a collective sigh of relief across the country. But interestingly this morning there was also a huge sense of anger, anger at the government for having let the public down.

You know, people said that they were almost embarrassed, embarrassed that their country, which is trying to become an economic superpower can't even provide its citizens with basic power. So there was a lot of anger and embarrassment also being felt there amongst the people in India today. But the power minister, the new power minister -- we have a new man on the job this morning -- he has reassured the public, saying that he will never allow such an outage to happen ever again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VEERAPPA MOILY, INDIAN POWER MINISTER: ...stabilized. And you know the authorities now, you know, that such things will not come back again. And for that, you know, (inaudible) and I'm going to have a brainstorming with that committee, maybe (inaudible). And, you know, my first priority is to ensure that the grid should never collapse. And, you know, it has to be sustained both on the short-term and also the long-term basis.

So that's the need of the hour, and the need of the country which we are going to ensure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAPUR: And frankly, Kristie, India can't really afford to have another power outage. You know, India's public relations image has taken such a beating. Infrastructure, crumbling infrastructure has always been India's weak point. And according to the planning commission of India, all the problems we've had in the power sector, well that shaves off 1.2 percent of annual growth when it comes to India's economy.

And as we've talked about many times in India's economy has already slowed down. It's growing at its slowest pace in almost 10 years. India seriously cannot afford to have another embarrassment of this scale again.

LU STOUT: That's right, a big economic hit. And just to clarify, the fact that there is a new power minister in India has nothing to do with the power outages. His term was due to start today.

I wanted to ask you the question before you go, Mallika, about the cause. What was the immediate cause of the outage? I know an investigation is underway, but what have you learned so far?

KAPUR: Well, it seems that the immediate cause of the outage was some states in India basically taking on too much power from the national grid. Each state is allocated a certain amount of power from the national grid, but because we are the height of the summer season, because the monsoon rains have been delayed, that perhaps some states took on more power from the national grid than they were allowed to, causing it to collapse.

It is very hot over here. Many farmers are using electric pumps to take water out from the wells and to irrigate their fields. You know, as India's middle class is growing, people are buying more air conditioners, using more and more air conditioners and fans.

So all these things combine probably led to some states borrowing too much power from the grid causing it to collapse.

LU STOUT: All right. Mallika Kapur reporting for us live from New Delhi, thank you.

So what do you do when you've got no electricity, no computers and no charged smartphones? Well, India blackout spawned a popular hashtag on Twitter, the hashtag #benefitsofpowercuts.

How about this benefit? Quote, "family get together time," that's what N gill tweeted.

And for Vaibhav Shah, another big benefit of no power, it's a very good "reason for not doing homework.

And Aadhar Mittal did something that you might not have done in a long time. He "used a pen on 2 consecutive days."

Now turning now to the civil war in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad has warned that the conflict will determine the fate of the nation. Now according to state run media, he told the army, quote, "the enemy is among us and is using inside agents to destabilize the country."

Now fighting is raging across Syria. And there are reports that rebels have clashed in recent hours with government troops in two Christian districts of Damascus, traditional al-Assad strongholds.

And opposition groups claim at least 40 police officers were killed when rebels took control of some police stations in the center of Aleppo.

And as the rebels take more territory, they are also taking prisoners. In the north, captured pro-government forces are being held at a school converted into a detention center. Now Ivan Watson has this exclusive report on the prison. And a warning, it has some graphic and disturbing content.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're in a rebel controlled makeshift prison in a school where they're keeping 112 prisoners. They're going to show us the prisoners' conditions right now.

Instead of school children, this crowded classroom holds at least 40 prisoners. We won't show their faces, because most of them clearly don't want to be filmed, perhaps fearing retribution against their families. The prison warden accuses these men of being members of the Shabiha, Syria's much feared pro-government militia.

He orders one prisoner to stand up for the camera and take off his shirt. He lives, unable to stand flat on his feet.

This prisoner has the face of the Syrian regime tattooed on his chest. Portraits of the family that's ruled Syria for more than 40 years. Former President Hafez al-Assad, his long dead son Basel, and the current president Bashar al-Assad. On his back, a greeting in Arabic to Hezbollah, the Shiite movement in Lebanon.

But someone has cut deep gashes into tattoos showing Bashar al-Assad's face.

Allahhu akbar, god is great, is all the prisoner says.

This prisoner is a Shabiha member who used to beat protesters at demonstrations, says the warden. A former employee in the agricultural ministry who asks only to be called Abuhatem (ph).

It looked to me like someone had deliberately cut him on those tattoos of the Assad family.

This man confessed to committing crimes, Abuhatem (ph) tells me, so he cut himself because he wanted to donate blood to the rebels.

It seems an unlikely account.

The warden shows us the food his men feed the prisoners. Jailers bring us another suspected Shabiha member. The man trembles, glancing terrified at his captors every time he speaks.

He says he worked as a bureaucrat in the state finance office in Aleppo until rebels blew it up. Desperate for money to pay for his pregnant wife's cesarean section, the man took a job as a guard at a checkpoint for about $190 a month. He says he'd only been on the job for five days when rebels captured him.

The top enforcer at this facility is a hulking man nicknamed Jumbo. He says he endured days of torture in government prisons.

In another room, he seems to treat captured soldiers and army officers with more respect. Just days ago, these were men in uniform, fighting for the Syrian government. Now they are captives of an increasingly confident rebel movement that's determined to destroy the Syrian regime.

Ivan Watson, CNN, reporting from northern Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: A gripping look inside a Syrian rebel prison there.

You're watching News Stream. And coming up, the U.S. Defense Secretary meets with Israel's leaders.

And the Red Cross assesses the damages in flood stricken North Korea. We'll have an update.

And did they play to lose? Eight badminton players face charges over their poor performance in Olympic matches. We have that story and all the latest from London after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

It is day five of the London Olympics. And the host nation has just won its first gold medal. And it came in the women's 2000 meter pairs rowing. Britain's Helen Glover and Heather Standing were at the oars, but so far this Olympics, the UK's medal count is only slightly higher than that of a single all-American heroes haul in London.

Zain Verjee is at London's Olympic park. She's got all the details -- Zain.

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie.

You know, most Olympic stories are really about athletes giving it all just to win. But you know in the badminton competition eight women were charged with deliberately trying to lose.

Now we're just learning that they have now all been disqualified from the Olympics, because the quarterfinals were actually a little bit later today, so a decision had to happen pretty quickly. So four pairs of players, two from South Korea, one from China, one from Indonesia, were booed by spectators because they just missed easy shots and their serves allegedly on purpose. All four of them had already been guaranteed -- that's the rub -- to go forward to the next stage of the competition. But by losing, authorities suspect that they were trying to dictate which opponent that they would play next.

The sport's highest body charged those players for not using one's best efforts to win. The players, then, a short while ago faced this disciplinary hearing. The Chinese delegation is also launching its own investigation, but that coming in just a few moments ago that those eight players have now been disqualified and they're just kicked out of the games because of the tactic they used.

Michael Phelps may now be the most decorated Olympian, but you know what that doesn't necessarily mean he is the greatest ever, at least not according to the chairman of the London Olympics organizing committee Sebastian Coe. He made the comment just a day after Phelps took his place in Olympic history. Coe listed several other athletes he said should be considered for that title.

Phelps lead the men's team to gold in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay, plus he took silver in the 200 meter butterfly. He's now won 19 medals, that's the most ever. They include 15 golds. And Phelps still has three competitions to go.

China's phenomenon Ye Shiwen struck gold once again, this time in the 200 meter individual medley. It was another amazing race, recordbreaking performance for the 16 year old. She first turned heads on Saturday with her stunning gold medal win in the 400 meter individual medley.

Now her dad has told Britain's Telegraph newspaper that claims that the swimmers involved in doping is just an example of prejudice and just jealousy. There's been so much widespread anger in China about the way the teenager has been publicly treated here. Jaime Florcruz has more from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen has done it again, winning another Olympic gold in record time. People here in China celebrating her success.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): She had an outburst of passion and talent at the final stage of the competition and reached her full potential. I think that's what happened. And I'm so proud of her.

FLORCRUZ: But her stunning performance has prompted doubts: is she cheating with performance enhancing drugs? Such insinuations have provoked outrage in China in microblogging sites, in the mainstream media, and out in the streets. China, the complain, is being singled out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The foreign media should not be making a fuss over suspicion of doping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The anti-doping body has examined her and concluded that she's clean. I don't know how else we can better prove her innocence.

FLORCRUZ: Ye Shiwen's father in a microblog posting also came to her defense. "I saw a lot of western media expressing doubts about her," he said. "But western media have always been very arrogant. They always doubt the Chinese people. The best answer is data, tests."

So far, Ye is said to have come out clean in London, but doubts remain in part because of the Chinese swimming team's notorious record.

In 99 heats, Chinese swimmers came out of the blue, breaking world records and winning gold medals. But later, in surprise drug tests a few of them tested positive. Ye has never failed a drug test and insists she is clean. Chinese sports officials say there is now zero tolerance against drug cheats.

Last March, a Chinese swimmer Li (inaudible) tested positive and was dropped from the national team. Fair or not, Chinese Olympians like Ye Shiwen have had to carry the baggage of the past.

Jaime Florcruz, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: Let's take a look at the medal table right now, Kristie. And it actually looks like it did at the start of day four. You've got China and the U.S. in front with more than 20 medals each. China has got 13 golds, though. The USA has nine golds. France is in third place with 11 medals, four of them are gold.

Now I just want to keep you on top of some of the key events just to keep on your radar today. In the pool, you've got the men's 100 meter freestyle happening a bit later, that's where the faster swimmer on the planet, Australia's James Magnussen goes for gold. In cycling, the women's and men's individual time trials could be a great opportunity for Britain to do well with the likes of Tour de France champ Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in the line-up as well.

Kristie, you like watching the Olympic, you're going to stay on top of all that aren't you?

LU STOUT: I know. The sad thing is I keep on top of it mainly online, but yeah all the action here, especially when you are covering it as well. Thanks for -- yeah, I mean, come on I'm wired up anyway, just like you. But thanks for the update on the badminton players. I mean, amazing piece of news there. Eight badminton players have been disqualified after what some say looks like they were deliberately losing.

Zain Verjee on the story for us. As always, thank you Zain.

Now Guy Adams who is a journalist whose account was suspended after he criticized NBC over its Olympics coverage, he is back online and tweeting again. Now shortly before appearing on CNN on Tuesday, he received the news that Twitter had, quote, unsuspended his account. But Adams says the microblogging site still has not explained how the tweet that led to his suspension is supposed to have broken its privacy policy.

Now he had used Twitter to encourage others to email an NBC executive's email address about the network's decision to delay airing the games' opening ceremony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUY ADAMS, THE INDEPENDENT: I suspect, I have no way of proving, although there are various -- quite good reason to suspect that the reason took me -- Twitter took the complaint against me seriously is because they're in a -- they have a commercial relationship with NBC and they wanted to give NBC, if you like, special treatment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now Adams maintains that he tweeted the NBC executives corporate email address not a private one. Now the latter is forbidden on Twitter. And NBC Sports said they never meant to get Adams tossed from the site.

Now coming up next here on News Stream, a broadcasting first in Egypt. Now we go inside the TV channel staffed entirely by veiled women. That and more coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Live from Hong Kong you are back watching News Stream.

And right here you're looking at a visual rundown of all the stories in the show. And so far we've told you how India has reacted to two power blackouts in as many days. And ahead, we'll hear form the Red Cross in Pyongyang. Now North Korea has been suffering from the aftermath of deadly floods there.

But now let's turn to Israel where the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has been meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now the U.S. Defense Secretary has also been getting an up close look at Israel's so-called Iron Dome.

Now the anti-missile system has been built in part with money from U.S. taxpayers. And Panetta is on a week long trip to the Middle East and North Africa. He meets with Israeli President Shimon Peres later today. And topping the agenda, Iran's controversial nuclear program. Tehran insists the program is for peaceful purposes, but Israel and western nations fear that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Now it may be a sign of changing times in Egypt after the Arab Spring, an anti-Christian satellite channel has launched Maria TV whose conservative Islamic message is delivered by an all-female veiled staff. Ian Lee has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: Talk naturally says Islam Abdallah as if you're talking to your sister: advice to a new presenter, because on Maria TV it's all about her voice. The audience will never see her face.

All the women, from the presenters to producers, are veiled from head to toe, a first for Egyptian television. Camera woman Edra Sarraq Abdeen (ph) says she couldn't get a TV job after graduation just because she was veiled.

"I was told that a niqab's existence in television is rejected. I felt despair because I couldn't work in my field," she says. "The door of my employment was closed until I came across the ad for this channel."

Maria TV gives Sarraq Abdeen (ph) and others like her a voice for four hours a day on the anti-Christian el-Ummah satellite channel. Its mission, to give the women's conservative Islamic message a greater presence in post-Mubarak Egypt.

"We are trying to create a better society after the earthquake of freedom that was January 25," says the station manager Allah Abdallah (ph). Egypt should be better. It should be more constructive, freer.

While Abdallah (ph) fights for greater freedoms for voices like hers, she warns of giving too much freedom to others.

"We have liberal and secular channels that destroy Islam," she says. "They want to influence society to create one with ideas not its own and create new customs and traditions."

The man behind Maria TV is her father, Abu Islam Abdallah (ph) who blames Christianity for what he calls societies loose morals. He says he created Maria TV to help put women back on what he sees as the right path.

"Maria TV is my rejection of the discrimination that is inherent in the heretical system of democrazy," he says. "Democracy lets women dress immodestly, work as dancers and even be members of parliament. For Muslims and me, this is shear madness."

The unique channel has already developed a devoted following. Until advertising revenue starts coming in, viewers' donations are keeping the lights on and the cameras running, bringing in around $33,000 a month. Women are working for free, hoping that some day Maria TV will be able to spread its conservative message 24 hours a day.

Ian Lee, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Still to come on News Stream, surveying the damage: international aid agencies are in North Korea after heavy rains caused widespread flooding there. We'll speak to a Red Cross official about the situation.

And health officials are trying to contain the spread of Ebola in Uganda. We will have a live report from David McKenzie who is on the ground at the site of the outbreak. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world news headlines.

Now in Syria there are reports that rebels have clashed with government troops in two Christian districts of Damascus that are traditional regime strongholds. Now Syria's official news agency has just published a new speech from President Bashar al-Assad. He says the conflict will determine the fate of the nation.

Now normal life is returning to India as officials conduct an investigation into the country's worst power blackout in years. Half the country lost electricity on Tuesday affecting half a billion people. The second straight day of power outages forced businesses to close, left passengers stranded on trains and caused huge traffic jams.

Now eight Olympic badminton players have now been disqualified from the London games accused of deliberately trying to lose. Spectators booed the four women's pairs who appeared to miss shots on purpose to try to ensure they would avoid a difficult match in the competition's next stage.

Now North Korea is still trying to recover from severe flood damage caused by a recent downpour. And the Red Cross has sent a team to survey the damage. Now earlier, I spoke with Manish Tewani who is leading that team. And he joined me on the phone from Pyongyang. And I asked him about the extent of crop damage caused by the flooding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANISH TEWANI, HEAD OF RED CROSS DELEGATION IN NORTH KOREA: In the next one or two months it would be more clear how many -- how much crops have been lost. Some of the food security experts are -- believe that at least 20 to 30 percent crops could have been lost due to these floods.

LU STOUT: So the food supply inside North Korea will take a major hit.

TEWANI: Food security is a concern. Right now it's still not food scarcity or food insecurity is not there because the government has started the food distribution from its emergency stock, but in the coming days it could become a concern.

LU STOUT: OK. How has the Red Cross offered to help North Korea during this flooding disaster?

TEWANI: Red Cross has distributed basic relief items including plastic sheets for shelters, (inaudible) for water, bedding, water purification tablets to around 30,000 people. And then we -- before the floods occurred, the (inaudible) had organized emergency preparedness workshops on water and sanitation, on health and emergencies. So these preparedness workshops told the people to evacuate in time in the places where they were suffering from flood.

LU STOUT: These workshops are for the North Koreans themselves. What do you think about the ability of North Korea to be able to help itself out during this disaster?

TEWANI: From our perspective, as of now we can see the authorities are very active and very concerned with the situation. For example, they have already started food distribution. And they are working in close cooperation with other international (inaudible).

DPR (ph) Red Cross society has been supporting the local government very closely and responding to the flood situation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Manish Tewani of the Red Cross there.

Now time for a look at the global weather picture. And two typhoons are battering parts of Asia. We have Jenny Harrison at the world weather center. She joins us now. And Jenny, I understand that Taiwan in particular is on alert.

JENNY HARRISON, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, Kristie. The amount of rain in particular that is going to come down across Taiwan in the next 48 hours is absolutely incredible. I'll obviously get to that. These are both the storm -- both typhoons. We have Saola and of course to the north just brushing western Japan now we have Typhoon Damrey, a much smaller storm system that one.

But this is Saola. And I've got winds at about 170 kilometers an hour. And it is still forecast actually to strengthen in the next 24 hours. You can see the forecast track pushing eventually into eastern China. Certainly at that point, if not still as a typhoon, then a very strong tropical storm.

But it's the proximity to Taiwan which is of the most concern. We have this low lying area, all these coastal areas, very populated as well. And then literally once you get past the edge of the towns and the cities you have this hugely mountainous terrain. We're looking at tremendous amounts of rain. We're looking at widespread flooding, but also those mudslides and the landslides.

Now the center of this typhoon just becomes very, very close to the northeastern tip of Taipei. You can see that as that as it goes through the next few hours it really is so very close. But even so, the winds are going to be ferocious all the way across Taiwan, in particular of course this northeastern portion and all the way along, really the eastern coast.

Now already torrential amounts of rain have been falling even in the last 24 hours still, in the Philippines over 270 millimeters there, 72 in Taiwan in the last 24 hours. But in the Philippines at least 12 people have died. All this according to local press. And as many as 154,000 people have been displaced because of the floods.

Look at the rain in the next 48 hours. The southwest quadrant of this storm is where we're seeing the really persistent, heavy, continuous rain. And when you look at the totals we are looking for some areas to see as much as a meter and a half of rain, 1,500 millimeters of rain on top of what we have got on the ground already. That really is going to be a life threatening situation for so many people.

Then to the north of hear we've got Damrey. We've got 120 kilometer an hour winds right now. That again heading towards the coast. It's kind of clearing the western portion of Japan right now, but this is where we will see the greatest impact, this eastern portion of China, but in particular across into Taiwan.

Now just quickly in India. Right now, 30 Celsius in New Delhi, 29 in Mumbai. You factor in the heat and put it to the heat index, factor in the humidity, it feels like 37 degrees Celsius. The rains are still of course so very slow to come. The last few days not as bad as the last several weeks, but even so, the forecast, as you can see, not a huge amount of rain in the forecast. And if it continues like this, already we're 22 percent below average so this is not a good year so far for the monsoon rains -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, definitely not.

Jenny Harrison there, thank you very much indeed.

Now in western Uganda, at least 14 people have now died in a dangerous new Ebola outbreak. Now the World Health Organization says that three dozen suspected cases of the highly infectious disease have been reported. David McKenzie joins us now from the site of the outbreak in western Uganda. He is the first western reporter to reach a hospital that has been treating Ebola patients.

And David, can you describe the conditions there at the hospital?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the conditions at the hospital are very tenuous in that we can't actually go inside into the most extreme section of isolation where those patients are. This is the Kagadi (ph) hospital behind me. There's some 18 patients of -- in there. Some of them in a severe conditions. Health officials tell me, Kristie, that at least a couple of them are showing strong signs of hemorrhagic fever, the kind of symptom of Ebola which would be sort of blistering sores, extremely contagious, and almost always in certain strains of Ebola, fatal.

So right now, health officials are scrambling to secure this hospital behind me. They're putting tents up, various stages of disinfectants so you can go in. You can see I'm even wearing some protective gear here outside the hospital.

The CDC, the Center for Disease Control, is mobilizing a large team to come here in the coming days to try and stamp out this outbreak. Because it took several weeks for them to figure out that this was Ebola in the western Uganda, the worry is that it could have spread out to villages around this area and even beyond that -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: You know, David, you see quite clearly you have your face mask, you have your gloves on. This is a very infectious disease. So what are the global implications of this outbreak?

MCKENZIE: Well, certainly that's one of the reasons, Kristie, there's such a fast mobilization of health workers when they find out that Ebola or similar hemorrhagic viruses are around. There's no cure for it. And you cannot help the patients in any way other than give care to keep them comfortable and hope they fight for themselves.

Now the issue is, of course, is that because this is a highly contagious disease is whether it can spread further, not just beyond where I'm standing right now at the ground zero of this outbreak, but also further than that.

Of course, the risk is relatively minimal if they come in quickly. But here's what one expert had to say to me about why they come in here so fast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR SHOEMAKER, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, CDC: It's important to stop these outbreaks very quickly, because you know we want to, one, limit the spread of the contact of the disease spread in the community, that's our first and foremost priority, but we also want to limit the spread or the potential spread of this getting into a larger city like Kampala, or even you know international air travel, someone getting on a plane.

So, the potential for these viruses to spread globally is there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Well, Kristie, the issue is there that obviously the world is so connected that any outbreak of any kind needs to be dealt with very quickly and very severely.

There is a sense that they have this under control, at least to a certain extent at this point. I don't want to alarm people, but there is a sense that they have to get out into this region, find anyone who is suffering.

Another issue is obviously the fear factor. People don't want to come into a hospital sometimes if they know there are people suffering from the disease. Some of the early symptoms are quite like a common cold. So they're trying to set up this in a way to make it safe.

Several stages of isolation for suspected patients, confirmed patients of Ebola so they can stamp this out quickly. The next few days, couple of weeks are really critical -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: You know, it is very concerning seeing the reemergence of Ebola. David McKenzie there reporting. Take care, David. David McKenzie reporting live from Uganda.

Now tributes are being paid to Gore Vidal who has died at age 86. In a career spanning more than six decades, he distinguished himself as a writer, commentator, actor, even a would-be politician. Now after initially serving in the army, Vidal, he published his first novel at just 19. But it was the City and the Pillar, written two years later, that established him as a powerful new voice. It's one of the first American novel to feature an openly gay main character.

And Vidal was groundbreaking in other areas as well. In 1960, he ran for office, calling for the recognition of Communist China. He later launched a failed senate bid in 1982.

But he is perhaps best known for his non-fiction, like this memoir. His essays also went on to win one of America's most prestigious literary prizes The National Book Award.

And Vidal became somewhat of a pop culture icon like fellow writers Normal Mailer and Truman Capote. Well, here he is with the Hollywood superstar Susan Sarandon.

But what could be more iconic than this? Being immortalized in an episode of the Simpsons. Vidal is here on the right and he's next to fellow authors Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen, and Tom Wolfe.

Now coming up next here on News Stream, there is a lot of buzz about Apple's forthcoming new iPhone. It's being kept under wraps until it's released. But a website says it has got a sneak peak. We have the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now the gloves are officially off at the Apple-Samsung patents trial. Lawyers of the two companies have delivered their opening statements. And Apple is arguing that Samsung has copied the iPhone's look in its own smartphones. As Apple's lawyer bluntly put it, "as we all know, it is easier to copy than innovate."

Now Samsung refutes that. It says its case is based on underlying technologies. And it says that the iPhone would not exist without Samsung's input.

Now speaking of the iPhone, there are new rumors about the launch of the device's next model. Now the website iMore says the iPhone 5 will be released this September. And you can see the pictures of what the phone reportedly will look like here on the Chinese site iLab showing what is said to be a four inch screen.

Now let's get more on this now with Nicholas Thompson. He's the editor of the NewYorker.com. He joins us live from New York.

And Nick, what do you make of the rumors about the iPhone 5?

NICK THOMPSON, EDITOR, NEWYORKER.COM: There's always a frenzy of rumors a couple of months before the iPhone is released. I think we can be pretty confident it will come in September, that date has been what people have been talking about for awhile. I think we can be pretty confident it will have a slightly larger screen. And then once we get to sort of the second level rumors -- where exactly the headphone jack will be and how small the port will be, then there's a little more mystery involved.

LU STOUT: Yeah.

Now let's talk more about Apple rumors. Apple CEO Tim Cook, he blamed rumors for its recent disappointing earnings report. So is Apple really getting hurt by the rumors, or do they actually help the company by keeping the hype up ahead of the actual release date?

THOMPSON: Well, what Cook said was total malarkey. I mean, so there -- what Cook was saying is that the reason they underperformed analyst expectations is because all these people are waiting to buy the iPhone 5. Well, analysts built that into their models. Apple knows that there's a lot of hype proceeding phone releases and that some people are going to delay buying their new phone, so that was built into the models.

The reason they underperformed on earnings have to do with, you know, the slowdown in Europe, weak sales in China, and then there was such a frenzy over Steve Jobs -- Steve Jobs' death nine months ago that a lot of people bought phone then and haven't upgraded.

So what Cook was saying just -- it just wasn't right. And overall, the company is helped massively by all the speculation about their phones. I mean, when does the world start carrying about where a headphone jack is placed on a phone, my god?

LU STOUT: Yeah, calling out for perspective, right. And I liked your use of malarkey just then.

Now let's talk about Microsoft. Now Microsoft has been called out for sly product announcements. According to this website, it's called super site for Windows, Microsoft let slip that it's surface tablet will come out, along with Windows 8, on October 26 via an SEC filing. Now I want to get your thoughts on this, did Microsoft let slip a release date on purpose here?

THOMPSON: No, the word is not sly, the word is sloppy. I mean, clearly there's been a miscommunication between the lawyers and the PR people. What Microsoft is saying, oh, everybody knew it was coming out then. We said we'd release the tablet when we released the new operating system, that's coming out in October, so of course the tablet will come then. But it's also true that this is not at all how they wanted to come out. Every company wants to be like Apple, they want to have a big surprise, they want to have a lot of hype build up before the announcement and they want to have a big day where some CEO stands in front of a big screen and a PowerPoint slide and says here's our new tablet, it's awesome and it's not expensive.

Microsoft doesn't get to do that, or doesn't get to do that as much, because they kind of messed up in these SEC filings.

LU STOUT: Now, one more question for you. I'm a big fan and reader of the New Yorker, but I also read The Atlantic, and there's a great article in the Atlantic this week, it's called quietly loud, and loudly quiet. Microsoft and Apple's hype strategies.

Now if we're going to talk about hype wars, between the two who is winning?

THOMPSON: Between Apple and Microsoft? I mean, this is -- it's not even close. I mean, Apple has redefined hype. One of Steve Jobs' great innovation is the product launch, the ability to get people into a frenzy about a product which may or may not be good. Often, they were fantastic, sometimes they weren't. There was always a lot of excitement. Apple is better at hype than probably any other country in the world.

When I think about Apple versus Microsoft on hype I kind of think about the -- you know, the U.S. basketball team playing the Tunisian basketball team yesterday. It's just -- it's a lopsided game. It's no contest.

Microsoft makes some great products, but they can't match Apple in hype at all. And we see that again based on what happened with the information about the release of the surface tablet.

LU STOUT: Yeah, it was a bit of a loaded question there. And, yeah, hands down Apple is the winner in the hype wars here.

Nick Thompson of the NewYorker.com, thank you so much. And we'll talk to you again next week. Thank you, take care.

Now it was the brand which helped take web mail mainstream, but after 16 years Microsoft is officially putting Hotmail into the trashcan, at least as we knew and loved it. Now this is what you will find if you go to the website hotmail.com. And this is a very different look to the site which launched as I remember back in 1996. And it bears a striking resemblance to this page, Outlook.com. And that's because this is how the Hotmail brand is being relaunched.

Now the new Outlook has been designed to compete with Google's Gmail. And it will be more integrated with Facebook and Twitter. And this is just a preview, meaning that even more changes are still ahead.

Now the man you probably know as Snoop Dogg is changing his tune, but that's now all. We've got the details in a story you don't want to miss up next after the break right here on News Stream.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back to News Stream.

And, yes, there is other sports news outside of the Olympics. Pedro Pinto is in London for an update on what's going on in other parts of the world -- Pedro.

PEDRO PINTO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kristie, yes the Olympics are hogging the headlines, but I do have some football stories for you. And Italy Juventus manager Antonio Conte was suspended for three months and fined over $250,000 for his role in a match fixing scandal. The disciplinary committee of Italy's football federation ruled that Conte failed to report attempts to fix two Serie B matches while he was at Siena in the 2010-2011 season. Conte's punishment was announced after the coach's lawyers met with a federal prosecutor. The 42 year old won't be able to sit on Juve's bench until November as a result of this sentence.

Football authorities in Italy have interrogated hundreds of players, coaches and officials over the last few months in connection with an ongoing investigation into corruption in domestic football, which is called cultura cinese (ph).

More controversy in France where new Marseilles manager Elie Baup was charged with fraud over jobless benefits. The 57 year old who took over the Ligue A as coach -- coaching job last month is accused of having received undeclared benefits while he was working for a French television channel. Baup said he didn't mean to break the law and added he would happily return all of the money earned.

On the pitch, Tottenham faced the Red Bulls in a high profile friendly in New York. Australian international Tim Cahill was making his debut for the MLS side and he was brought down in the box allowing Kenny Cooper to give the home team a 1-nil league in the eighth minute.

Spurs improved in the second half and got an equalizer from star winger Gareth Bale. He headed in a corner from Gylfi Sigurdsson in the 59th minute.

Sigurdsson a celebrate a goal of his own a little later. A bit of genius from the Icelandic international in the area before firing into the net. The English Premier side finished their U.S. tour with a win 2-1, the final score in New York.

And that is all the non-Olympic news I have for you at the moment. Kristie, back to you in Hong Kong.

LU STOUT: A bit of genius from Pedro Pinto. Thank you so much indeed. Take care.

Now, the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg, he's gone from a canine name to a feline one. And he's also found a new musical calling. Our Jeanne Moos wonders whether his fans will roar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After all these years of Dogg...

DAVID LETTERMAN, LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN: Please welcome Snoop Dogg.

JIMMY KIMMEL, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: Snoop Dogg...

REGIS PHILBIN, WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE: Here's Snoop Dogg.

MOOS: Suddenly we're faced with Lion?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Snoop Lion. Give it up for Snoop Lion.

SNOOP LION, MUSICIAN: I could never become Snoop Lion if I was never Snoop Dogg.

MOOS: Did you guys hear the news? Snoop Dogg has changed his name to Snoop Lion.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Snoop Lion?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, I like the old Snoop Dogg.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I think it's a dumb idea.

MOOS: But Snoop has been reincarnated, which also happens to be the name of a film about his spiritual journey. He went to Jamaica. At a Rastafarian temple, a high priest suggested he's a lion, not a dog. And now...

LION: I want to bury Snoop Dogg and become Snoop Lion.

MOOS: And instead of rap, he's doing reggae.

But is the switch to Snoop Lion permanent as the website Holy Molly put it, he better not be lying to us.

LION: Snoop Lion is the elevation of Snoop Dogg.

MOOS: We haven't had to adjust to such a jarring name change since Puff Daddy switched to P. Diddy, then diddled with the P.

P. DIDDY, MUSICIAN: Enough is enough with the P getting in the way. You know, just call me Diddy.

MOOS: Online posters called Snoop the artist formerly known as Dogg. The nickname reportedly came from his mom, because he reminded her of Snoopy with his long, Snoopy shaped face.

True, the name got a bad wrap from former Senator Alan Simpson.

SEN. ALAN SIMPSON, (R) WYOMING: Snoopy, Snoopy poop Dogg.

MOOS: Somehow that insult wouldn't work as well with Lion, though Snoop still applies.

WILL FERRELL, ACTOR: Come on, Snoop. Snoop a loop.

MOOS: And there is this downside to the name change, pity the poor fans stuck with merchandise like the Snoop Dogg floor mat, or walking around in pajamas wearing Snoop Dogg slippers.

Some may pretend to shrug off this earth shaking change.

He's changed his name to Snoop Lion, I kid you not.

LETTERMAN: Top 10 things that sound cool when said by Snoop Dogg. Here we go, number 10.

LION: Yo.

MOOS: But will, yo, still sound cool if said by Snoop Lion?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Anything with lion. I'm a Leo.

MOOS: In the Lion Kingdom, the news probably merits something between a yawn and a roar.

Jeanne Moos, CNN...

What's your message to Snoop Lion?

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Got to agree. Sorry Snoop, you're a dog not a lion.

And that is News Stream, but the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.

END