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NEWS STREAM

Pakistani Officials On Hunt For Yousafzai Shooter Atta Ullah Khan; Hurricane Sandy Pounds Cuba; Real Madrid, Manchester City Go Down In Group of Death Play; 7-11 Coffee Cup Sales Predict Barack Obama Reelection; Wang Shu Wins Coveted Pitzker Architect Prize

Aired October 25, 2012 - 16:00   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 Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet. And we begin with an incredible anti-terror tale. You won't believe how this man claims he helped eliminate an al Qaeda leader.

And we'll explain why Mitt Romney is getting a boost less than two weeks before the U.S. presidential election.

And a major hurricane sweeps across Cuba. We'll be live in Havana.

And we begin with a story of international espionage that seems too far fetched to be true. Now a former biker, then militant Islamist, and finally secret agent claims that he helped take down one of al Qaeda's highest profile figures - Amir al Awlawki.

And here's where the tale takes a bizarre turn. Now Morten Storm, who comes from Denmark, has told a newspaper that he was paid to play matchmaker for Awlawki. Now the cleric was apparently on the hunt for a European wife just as the U.S. was on the hunt for him.

Nic Robertson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Meet Agent Storm.

MORTEN STORM, AGENT: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) for him today.

ROBERTSON: Morten Storm.

PIERRE COLLIGNON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, JYLLANDS-POSTEN: He's a very likeable person. And he seems to me like a chameleon.

MAGNUS RANSTORP, RESEARCH CHIEF SWEDISH DEFENCE COLLEGE: He's really been a double or triple agent, so to speak.

ROBERTSON: A former biker, he became a militant Islamist, visited Yemen several times and befriended a man who would become one of al Qaeda's most wanted: Cleric Anwar Awlawki.

Then, he changed sides and turned secret agent. Storm says he worked for the CIA and Danish intelligence services.

RANSTORP: He's such an unusual story, because it is so rare that two services completely mishandle, misjudge him.

ROBERTSON: In the movies, James Bond never gives up his secrets, but Storm is telling it all. To the Danish Newspaper Jyllands-Posten

COLLINGNON: He called our main number and got and started to explain his story. We were a bit scared that this could be some kind of weird trap. We did set up the first meeting one night in a dark parking lot.

ROBERTSON: A story that includes his part in a CIA plot to track down Awlawki by finding him a young, blonde, European wife.

Storm says he was paid a quarter of a million dollars to set up Awlawki's wedding. He describes meeting a man he calls a CIA agent at this hotel in a Copenhagen suburb June 9, 2010. He says the agent gave him a briefcase. It was locked. He asked for the combination. The agent told him 007. Storm says he opened the case. Inside, he found $250,000 in cash.

To back up his claims, Storm not only had a photo of the case of cash, but this matchmaking moment.

STORM: This recording is done specifically for Sister Amina at her request. And the brother who is carrying this recording is a trustworthy brother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As-salamu alaykum, brother. It's me, Amina . And I just want to tell you that right now I feel nervous and this is very awkward for me, so I just taped this just to see that you can see how I look.

COLLINGNON: When I watched these tapes of immediate marriage proposals from an al Qaeda leader, and this woman's answers, I thought, well, this story is impossible to deny.

ROBERTSON: Storm says the CIA sent him to Vienna to meet Amina , a Croatian convert to Islam. He gave her a suitcase with a secret tracking device in the handle, and got her to Yemen to meet Awlawki. He has the hotel bills to prove it.

COLLINGNON: They are paid by a company that we know is a Danish secret service company.

ROBERTSON: And there is more. Storm hoarded a trove of documents, including secret coded communications with Awlawki. Even this, a photo he says that shows him with his intelligence handlers in a hot tub in Reykjavik.

His revelations, however, are not to everyone's taste.

RANSTORP: It brings danger to I think Denmark. It also exposes the very secret, the very essence of intelligence services, and that is means and methods. They never discuss means and methods.

ROBERTSON: So far, U.S. officials here in Denmark have offered no explanation about Morten Storm's claims. And certainly no acknowledgment of the CIA agents he claims to have met Michael, Alex, Jed, and George.

Storm says his final mission was to take a USB thumb drive to Yemen for Awlawki. Inside it, a CIA tracking device. He handed it off to an al Qaeda courier. Within weeks, Awlawki was killed in a U.S. drone strike.

A week after Awlawki was killed, Storm was angry with the CIA. He felt they had let him down. Danish intelligence agents convinced him to come to a meeting here the Marion List Hotel on the 7th of October, 2011. Storm was recording the meetings. He met with the CIA agent named Michael.

Michael told him President Obama knows about you, that important people are aware of what you are doing, and we are grateful.

STORM: It's against your honor as American, as the superpower of the world...

ROBERTSON: The recordings reveal Storm wanted credit for killing Awlawki, but Michael told him a parallel operation was responsible. The meeting was a watershed.

RANSTORP: They lost control of him and they now have to sort of sweep up the mess that he's left behind.

ROBERTSON: Now Storm is in hiding. CNN has been in contact with him.

COLLINGNON: He realizes, of course, that he's in danger, but he also strongly believes that he's been in danger for years. And his analysis is that going public is not worsening his security situation.

ROBERTSON: But his life as a double agent is surely over.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Copenhagen, Denmark.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: An incredible story there.

Now turning now to Syria's civil war. Damascus is said to be considering a proposed ceasefire to begin on Friday, the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid. Now international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says Damascus has agreed in principle.

Now either way, a formal government announcement is expected shortly. Now earlier today, Syrian state TV aired this footage of men walking out of prison and said it was part of the government's latest amnesty program. Now just last week rebel fighters demanded the release of detainees and other conditions before they would accept any ceasefire.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting is underway near Damascus. And opposition sources say at least five people have been killed in violence today. Now CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is following the developments from neighboring Lebanon. He joins us now live from Beirut. And Mohammed, will both sides lay down their arms for Eid?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, that's the big question today. We've been expecting an announcement from the Syrian government. Yesterday, the Syrian foreign ministry said that today they would decide whether or not they accepted the proposal for this ceasefire, that they would be making an announcement. That announcement has not come yet.

But if you - if you look at what a long and tangled road it's been up to this point, if you look at the history of trying to establish any kind of ceasefires in Syria during the civil war that's raged for so many months now, it certainly doesn't look that good. You had in April Kofi Annan who was the previous joint UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, he had negotiated a six point peace plan as well as a ceasefire. That ceasefire lasted one or two days at best, then completely broke down. The peace plan that he had negotiated never took root.

Lakhdar Brahimi, Annan's successor and the man who is now the joint UN-Arab League envoy, it's taken him weeks to try to get a lot of pressure being put on Syria by regional leaders to try to accept some sort of ceasefire. He said yesterday that the ceasefire had been accepted in principle, but we still haven't heard if it has, in fact, been accepted.

So hopes are high for this to be accepted, especially during Eid al- Adha. But whether or not it will actually happen, we just don't know yet - Kristie.

LU STOUT: That's right. We're still in a wait and see mode.

Mohammed, we've seen the footage. Syrian state run TV has aired video of a prisoner release. Is this a show of goodwill ahead of a possible ceasefire, or is it just window dressing?

JAMJOOM: Well, the Syrian government is certainly pointing to it as a show of goodwill. You had amnesties being granted by Bashar al-Assad to prisoners several times last year and a couple of times this year as well. It's not uncommon for leaders of countries in this part of the world to grant amnesty to prisoners during festive times of the year like Eid holidays.

But that being said, though, rights groups are questioning this, some suggesting that this is, in fact, just window dressing. You have Human Rights Watch putting out a statement earlier in the day calling for Bashar al-Assad to release not just some prisoners, but also journalists and activists, people who had been taken prisoner because of their activity with the revolution and in fighting the government in the civil war that's going on. That's why rights groups are concerned.

And we must also point out this is not a sweeping amnesty. Although there are at least 200 prisoners that have been released, the Syrian government has said that, you know, in the case of death penalties, the sentences aren't being completely commuted, they're just being lessened to life sentences or hard labor - Kristie.

LU STOUT: And Mohammed what about the rebels? I mean, are they willing to lay down their weapons for the violence to truly stop during Eid?

JAMJOOM: Well, it's complicated, Krsitie. You know, the rebels have said certainly they'd like to see a ceasefire happen. But there's so much distrust on the part of the rebels and on the part of opposition activists in Syria when it comes to the intentions of the Syrian government. All day yesterday when we were reaching out to rebel Free Syrian Army members inside Syria, they were saying, look, they'd love for there to be a peace. They don't believe that the Syrian government is actually serious about adhering to any kind of a ceasefire. And they - the rebel Free Syrian Army forces were putting conditions on any kind of a ceasefire.

That complicates it even further, because you'll remember yesterday when we heard Brahimi say that there had been a tentative acceptance of this ceasefire, a preliminary acceptance, he didn't give any specific details. So, you know, as in the - in all times during these cases the devil is in the details. And it still looks like it's quite a ways off from the rebels actually saying that they will accept and adhere to a ceasefire - Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right. Mohammed Jamjoom joining us live from Beirut on the story for us. Thank you.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come in the U.S. changes in the map, the electoral map that is with only less than two weeks to go until the U.S. presidential election.

Also, Cuba wakes up to strong winds, power outages and flooding after Hurricane Sandy made landfall overnight. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Now the U.S. presidential election is just 12 days away. And President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney are racing across several key states to sway voters and to secure the 270 electoral votes they need to win the White House. And one key state appears to be moving into the Romney column. Now CNN is changing its classification of North Carolina from toss-up to lean Romney. It is one of the nine swing states coveted by both candidates. Now North Carolina has 15 electoral votes, making it the third biggest swing state out of the nine behind Florida and Ohio.

And according to CNN estimates, Romney is now leading in states that have a total of 206 electoral votes, but that still puts him behind the incumbent president Barack Obama who is leading in states with 237.

Now CNN's Peter Hamby joins us now live with more analysis. And Peter, thanks for joining us. We know that the Democrats, they had their convention there in North Carolina, so how is it that the state is now leaning toward Romney?

PETER HAMBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this was sort of in 2008 emblematic of Obama's sort of surge, his campaign says it was - North Carolina proved their campaign's ability to kind of change the electoral map and bring in new voters and that's why the convention was there again in Charlotte, sort of symbolic. But Obama hasn't campaigned in North Carolina since then, which is one reason that CNN has decided to move the map in this direction. You know, it's not just poll numbers we're looking at. Polls there are tight. Both campaigns are spending money there. Joe Biden and Michelle Obama have both campaigned there.

But both campaigns say that the race is really tight there. Obama only won North Carolina, remember, in 2008 by 14,000 votes while winning independents with an unprecedented surge in Democratic turnout. No one expects those things to happen this time around. So that's sort of the primary reason we've moved the state that way.

It's important to point out, though, Obama doesn't need to win North Carolina again. He only needs about 30, 35 electoral votes to put him over the top. Mitt Romney needs about 60 or 70. So if Romney wins North Carolina, that's OK for Obama. They can live without it, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Right.

But Ohio is a very critical state. We addressed its significance yesterday here on News Stream with your colleague. But there's new polling data out overnight. Who has the edge there now?

HAMBY: Yeah, TIME Magazine has a poll out putting Obama at 5 points ahead of Mitt Romney. This state has been problematic throughout the year for Mitt Romney. Both campaigns need this state. We talk about North Carolina, Obama doesn't need it. Obama needs Ohio. If he - it's very, very, very tough for him to win without Ohio. And the same holds true for Mitt Romney. Romney has been troubled there by his inability to connect with blue collar voters, his opposition to federal money in the auto bailout of General Motors and Chrysler has hurt him there.

So this poll shows also that Obama's leading among early voters. We have early voting in about 30 states here and most of these key battleground states. So Obama has a really strong advantage there organizationally, Kristie, that's helping him. These numbers need to hold in place for Obama to basically win reelection. He needs Ohio.

LU STOUT: Right. And Mitt Romney, Team Romney has announced that their candidate will be giving a big speech this Friday. What should we expect?

HAMBY: Well, yeah, they're billing this as a major economic speech. Campaigns here have a way of billing their speeches that they want attention focused on as major even if there's actually nothing new in it.

I would suspect that Mitt Romney's not going to include any major new details. The reason they're calling it a major speech is because attention is sort of refocused on Mitt Romney in the wake of these debates. And they want to show voters where they stand on the economy. But I don't think there will be much news in there.

One big piece of news, though, Kristie I want to point out talking about speeches coming up. The Obama campaign announced today that the president will be campaigning next week with Bill Clinton in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. So that will also garner a lot of media attention here next week.

LU STOUT: Yeah, both teams, they have their strategies to close the deal so to speak. Peter Hamby joining us live. Thank you for your analysis.

Now what will it take for either candidate to make 270? Well, you can do the math yourself on our website, just click on the states and our electoral map to build your own calculations. You can also find out all you need to know about the election coming up in just 12 days. Just go to CNN.com/election.

Now still to come here on News Stream, the chief suspect identified. Pakistani police hunt for this man over the shooting of a teenage girl who spoke out against the Taliban. That's next on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now we started the show by telling you the strange story of how a Danish man says he helped eliminate an al Qaeda leader. In a few minutes we'll go to Cuba which is being hit hard by a hurricane, but now I want to go to Pakistan and the investigation into the shooting of teenage activists Malala Yousafzai.

Now police have named their main suspect as 23 year old chemistry student Atta Ullah Khan who is still at large. Now three members of Khan's family have been detained for questioning. And six other people have been arrested in the case.

Now the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the 15 year old who was targeted because of her campaign for girl's education rights. Now she's currently recovering at a hospital in Birmingham, England. And we have learned today that her father and other family members are headed there to see her.

Now with the latest on developments in Pakistan, here's Saima Mohsin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAIMA MOHSIN, JOURNALIST: Terror returned to the streets of Swat when the Taliban targeted the 15 year old Malala Yousafzai and her friends. As a teenager makes slow and steady progress in hospital, I traveled to Swat to find out what's happening to track down the men who tried to kill her.

This is the school van that Malala Yousafzai and her friends Shazia and Kinat were traveling in when they were attacked. Authorities have told CNN that one of the gunmen came to the front. He asked the driver to stop the vehicle. The other one, there were two, came to the back and jumped on board when Malala, Shazia and Kinat were sitting right there. He asked for Malala by name and then he shot her.

Now I've been speaking to a senior police official involved in the investigation. He didn't want to appear on camera. But he has told me that they have six people in custody, all believed to be facilitators in some way to have carried out this attack, all of them local men from Swat.

And police want to question this man, Atta Ullah Khan.

Now the police official tells me that the main suspect is a young man named Atta Ullah. He's just 23 years old and studied for a bachelor of science in physics at this college Jahaveb College in Swat. He then went on to study for a masters of science in chemistry too.

Now his family, they're from down the road, Mangalore Village here, they have been arrested too. His mother, his brother, and his fiancee are all being questioned.

Police tell me the family aren't involved in the attack in any way. And it's not clear whether Atta Ullah Khan is alleged to be the plotter of the attack or the gunman who shot Malala Yousafzai.

Saima Mohsin, for CNN, in Swat, Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now Hurricane Sandy made landfall in Cuba overnight, bringing heavy rain and winds. And just ahead, we'll get a sense of the scale of the damage so far.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now the Syrian government is expected to announce shortly whether it will agree to a proposed ceasefire. The truce, to begin this Friday and last through the four day Muslim holiday of Eid. Now international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says Damascus has agreed in principle. Some rebel groups say that they are skeptical. Now activists say five people have been killed so far today.

Now in the U.S. presidential race the key swing state of North Carolina now appears to be leaning toward Mitt Romney. Now CNN now estimates that Romney is on track to win 206 electoral votes so far, still behind President Barack Obama who is leading in states with 237 votes. Now in the U.S. state by state system, a candidate needs 270 votes in the electoral college to win on November 6.

Now Pakistani police say this is the key suspect in the shooting of teenage activist Malala Yousafzai. He is still at large, but six people have been arrested in connection with the case and three others are being questioned. Now Malala has become a global symbol of courage after being shot in the head by the Taliban for demanding education for girls. She's being treated in a hospital in Birmingham, England. Malala's family is expected to arrive in Birmingham later on Thursday to visit her.

Now it has been a half century since the world came the closest its ever been to a nuclear confrontation, and the most dramatic moment in United Nations history took place 50 years ago today as the U.S. and Soviet ambassadors to the UN confronted each other while the Cuban missile crisis was unfolding.

Now Richard Roth takes us back to that dramatic day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, hello. This is all where it all went down 50 years ago.

October 25, 1962, the most dramatic day in United Nations history. And it all occurred here in the security council chamber, right here where the table once stood.

ADDLEY STEVENSON, U.S. AMBASSADOR: You, the Soviet Union, has sent these weapons to Cuba.

ROTH: The Cuban missile crisis. I'm wearing a helmet because of all the renovation being conducted here in this historic security council chamber. If diplomacy didn't succeed on that day, this helmet wouldn't protect me from all the rubble that would have ensued from a nuclear holocaust.

The Soviets had denied placing missiles in Cuba aimed at American cities. President Kennedy was ready to publicly confront the Soviets at the UN as seen in the movie 13 Days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You call Addley. You tell him to stick it to the (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

ROTH: On that day U.S. ambassador Addley Stevenson sat there.

STEVENSON: Let me ask you one simple question, do you, Ambassador Zoren deny that the USSR has placed and is placing medium and intermediate ranged missiles and sights in Cuba. Yes or no? Don't wait for the translation, yes or no.

ROTH: Soviet ambassador Zoren sat there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through trnasator): Mr. Stevenson, would you continue your statement please. You will receive the answer in the due course. Do not worry.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: So do you agree with those analysts who said that Khruschev overreached and don't wait for the translator, I want your answer now.

(LAUGHTER)

ROTH: At the time, Stevenson faced critics who feared he was not tough enough at the UN. Instead, Stevenson made undiplomatic history.

STEVENSON: I'm prepared to wait for my answer until hell freeze's over if that's your decision.

TED SORENSEN, FORMER JFK AIDE: He did a terrific job that day. And certainly, President Kennedy never had any thought of removing him.

ROTH: Has any ambassador during your term here ever use the phrase I'm prepared to wait until hell freezes over?

VITALY CHURKIN, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UN: No. No. This is a one-time, I think, phrase which should not be repeated under lighter circumstances. And I hope the circumstances of 1962 are not going to be repeated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over.

STEVENSON: And I'm also prepared to present the evidence in this room.

ROTH: Stevenson showed photos of the missiles.

CHURKIN: Oh, it was a part of the propaganda build-up.

ROTH: But eventually, diplomacy between Washington and Moscow prevented things from hitting the fan.

Are there any Russian missiles in Cuba now that we should know about?

CHURKIN: No.

ROTH: Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

LU STOUT: Now, today a deadly hurricane is now pummeling eastern Cuba with strong winds and heavy rain. Hurricane Sandy is now a category two storm has already killed at least one person in Haiti and another in Jamaica.

Now Patrick Oppmann joins us now live from Havana with the latest. And Patrick, the hurricane is there. It's over Cuba. What are you seeing, what damage has been done?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, from what we're hearing this morning, over 3,000 homes in the eastern part of the island, namely Cuba's second largest city Santiago de Cuba, were damaged last night and early this morning as this devastating hurricane past over the eastern end of the island. Talked to one woman this morning whose name is (inaudible). She's a doctor in Santiago de Cuba. And she said she's in her 50s and she said she's never experienced anything like this, Kristie, and Cubans have much, much experience with hurricanes over the years. She said that Hurricane Sandy, though, hit with a strength that people in Santiago were not accustomed to, hadn't felt anything like this. She lost part of her roof and a room in her upstairs part of her house.

She unaware of any injuries or deaths, but - and the sun is just coming up on this part of Cuba. And people are leaving their homes now to try to get a better sense of how devastating this hurricane was, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Patrick Oppmann joining us live from Havana. Thank you.

Patrick just then telling us Cubans there experiencing a storm that they haven't in years.

Sandy is indeed packing a punch as a category two hurricane. 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, I'm not surprised we're having a little bit of a technical problems there at times listening to Patrick. The winds even in Havana have been picking up in the last couple of hours because of the proximity, of course, to Hurricane Sandy. And it has been raining in Havana. The winds have been pretty strong.

We actually have some pictures from Havana to show you of what it looks like just a few hours ago before the sun came up late on Wednesday night. And you can see the heavy rain that was pounding that region.

It doesn't take a lot of rainfall. There's a lot of very old buildings in Havana proper. And actually all across Cuba that really cannot take this much rainfall. And this problems, it could be some crumbling of buildings, of course disruptions to transportation, just a whole slew of problems that are happening there.

I want to bring you back to the weather map over here just for a second. This is what - kind of shows us where the strongest winds are right now, just off coast here of the province of (inaudible) just to the north.

Now they reported around 5:00 am this morning a wind - sustained winds of 155 kilometers per hour. That's pretty significant. Winds gusting to more than 180 kilometers per hour. This is just as the storm was reemerging back over the water.

Now usually when the storms come back over the water we usually see some strengthening. And this time around the National Hurricane Center is saying, you know what, we're probably not going to see the storm strengthen too much more. However, it will still be a hurricane by the time it crosses the Bahamas later today. And then it continues to move parallel to the U.S. coastline over the next two to three days.

So this is very significant. You can see all of the watches and warnings that are posted.

Haiti still has a tropical storm warning. The winds there haven't been as strong, but the rain has been tremendous. And we're waiting for an update to see how much rain they've actually had, but just from looking at the satellite, you can see that flow of moisture that has been quite constant over these areas across both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The potential for flooding and mudslides is still - remains over that area. It should be raining through the rest of the day today.

The storm doesn't look as intense as it did before, but it's still packing quite a punch with winds sustained close to 167 kilometers per hour, gusting to more than 200.

Where the storm actually made landfall on this southern side of Cuba, there were reports of some 7 meters of water on the road - or above sea level there on the roadways covering in about 20 meters of water just offshore there in Santiago - in Sibone , I should say, Cuba.

The rain, there you see it, maybe over 400 millimeters of rain across that southern coast of Hispaniola. It should be clearing out in Jamaica. And in Cuba, we'll start to see the rain ease up just a little bit, but still not out of the question to see another 200 millimeters of rain across portions of eastern Cuba, then look out over the Bahamas, 25 centimeters of additional rainfall. And some of that rain will also be clipping the southeastern coast of Florida here. Not as heavy, but definitely not a good day to be outside.

The storm tracking to the north. And the question still remains what affect it's going to have across the east coast of the U.S. right now. We've just got to watch it and see what it's going to do over the weekend and how it's going to interact with other weather systems that are coming across this same general area.

Right now, all of the computer models are indicating that the storm will pretty much head in that general track, except for one that brings it out to sea. But there's not a lot of confidence in that one.

So we'll keep you posted what happens on that.

I want to move you to another part of the world. We have a tropical storm in the Arabian Sea. These are actually very rare. I told you about this one yesterday. We normally get one, maybe two per year. This one making landfall as we speak right now here in Somalia. Very heavy rain expected there. Remember that this is generally a very dry area. So the amount of rain that's expected here could cause some significant flooding. The storm will continue moving inland and pretty much dissipate. We're not expecting that rain to trail too much farther inland. But you can see that how some of these rainfall totals could be pretty significant, especially along the coast. But even three to five centimeters farther inland could really cause some problems across this region. And that will be a huge concern over the next couple of days from now even as we head into Friday and Saturday.

And finally, I did not forget about you guys in the Philippines. Look at these rainfall totals that we have across these areas. Over 200 millimeters of rain in Romblon, Calapan, Tocloban over 196. This is 24 hour rainfall as this storm - tropical storm - has been moving across the Philippines very, very slowly. It has been tracking generally to the west- northwest. And now is when it's finally starting to pick up some forward speed moving at about 30 kilometers per hour. It should be out of our hair here in the next, probably the next 24 hours or so.

The potential for rainfall is still there. So any amount of rain that could fall here could really cause some flooding, the bulk of it moving out into the South China Sea. And then, here we go, probably a typhoon here in the next couple of days approaching Vietnam, maybe southern portions of China. We'll keep you posted.

We're taking a break right here on News Stream. The news continues on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Now this year Wang Shu became the first Chinese citizen to win the prestigious Pritzker Architectural prize. Now Wang's signature style is combining modern designs with traditional materials and techniques. And as this week's CNN human to hero he explains the inspiration behind his work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WANG SHU, ARCHITECT: This campus, no people here, only you stand here. Maybe you can hear it? The buildings, they talk to each other. The buildings talk to the hills. They have some sounds.

Before I do this drawing, I imagine the buildings, the surroundings, the outside and inside. I see everything very clearly. But when you write the first line, something changes. Finally you will find you're drawing something different. It's different from what you imagined. It is the most exciting time every time like this. This means something has been born.

I want my architecture to become more near nature so that is why I like the Chinese traditional architecture. The people, they can live with nature together. In Hangzhou we have a traditional pagoda. When I see this pagoda and I go in and go up suddenly I understand some things. For example, this pagoda is very huge but if you see it from a distant place this pagoda becomes totally mixed in the mountains, you can't see it.

Why? Firstly, the materials. It absorbs the light. So all of the pagoda the material is not shiny. That's why I designed many, many buildings that gradually became more dark.

If you see the Chinese traditional buildings you will find many outside spaces inside the buildings. The people, they want to live with fresh air, with the trees, flowers, water together. They don't use very solid materials. The use wood, they use bamboo. It's not permanent. This means it will decay, it will be reborn. It's very similar to the nature process. I know my way is very unique. I know. But I didn't know I could win the Pritzker Prize.

I was a very strange child because every child played everywhere but I just stayed at home to write calligraphy. For example, I copied a traditional masterpiece everyday for ten years. Finally I knew what the real feeling is of this master who lived two thousand years ago.

You can see the shape of the roof. This comes from a traditional building, but mine is a little bit different from the traditional. It came from the feeling of calligraphy. The curve, this line, this curve it directly comes from the feeling in the hand. It's not from here, it's from here.

If you really want to understand traditional Chinese architecture you should really now how the craftsmen work because in China we don't have architects, we only have craftsmen. Throughout all the 1990s I just worked with the craftsmen together for ten years. They use small materials.

I find in the countryside, the people still do it this way. They not use just the traditional materials, they also use the modern materials. They mix things together. This means these skills are still alive.

Concrete in China is n ow the most cheap system, but if you have to use concrete, how can the traditional way coexist with the concrete system together. That's my way.

That's my pagoda. The shape comes from the stone from the scholar's garden. It has a special meaning. It means independent spirit.

If you're an artist, you can keep your passion for maybe three days, one month, enough. But for the architect, you should keep the passion from the first day past the five years, to the end.

I like real things. I like truths. The modern architecture system is too abstract. It's like some production. It's like some abstract concept floating in the air and not rooted in the ground. I do something that directly roots in the ground. I think that's more important.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: A beautiful profile there.

Now you're watching News Stream. And up next, if you're trying to get an idea of where the U.S. presidential election is headed, you could take a look at the polls, but you could also consult a squirrel. We'll tell you why when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream.

Now in a few minutes, we'll bring you a look at alternative ways people have been trying to predict the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, but now it's time for sport. And the latest from the Champion's League.

Now we are halfway through the group stages. And a number of high profile clubs find themselves in some trouble. Here's Amanda Davies with more - Amanda.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie, yeah, we could have done with some of those ways to help predict the football scores from Wednesday night. They were certainly scores were the difference. And the Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini admitted that his side now need a miracle in the Champion's League after they were soundly beaten by Ajax on Wednesday. The Italian blamed himself for their 3-1 defeat which leaves his side bottom of group D.

City went into the game knowing that they needed a win having got just one point from their opening two games. And they got off to a decent start thanks to Samir Nasri, but Siem De Jong pulled the Dutch side level by halftime.

And they went on from there. Goals from Niklas Moisander and Christian Eriksen. In short, all three points for Ajax.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTO MANCINI, MANCHESTER CITY MANAGER: I say that it's my fault for this defeat. But in the pitch you are always 11 players. And we play with three only for five minutes because we wanted to have one player in the hole . And for this reason, I don't think that it's important to play with three, four, five, six, seven. We play always eleven.

If you have a spirit or you have a quality (inaudible) play. If not, you can't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: Well, Jose Mourinho remains optimistic despite Real Madrid's defeat to Borussia Dortmund. The Spanish champions were beaten 2-1 on their trip to Germany. They are struggling with injuries at the minute and had only won one in 23 visits to Germany, so it was never going to be easy. Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring for the home side. Christiano Ronaldo's astonishing run of goals continued. He pulled it level. But Marcel Schmelzer grabbed the winner for Dortmund to put them top of the table after three games.

And it's pretty tight, though.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSE MOURINHO, REAL MADRID MANAGER: It's a very tight group. And in this moment with this result there is still a gap between us and the other two. So when you go seven and six and there is a gap for three and one in this moment we and Borussia, we are in the better situation to go.

But, why can't City make 10 points, nine plus one? They can make 10 points.

So I think us and Borussia we have to think about do 11.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: Well, Jose Mourinho has got his math sorted out, but to help us mere mortals this is what he's talking about in Group D. Dortmund leading the way currently on seven points, that's one more than Real Madrid at the halfway stage. Ajax have moved off the bottom with that victory over Manchester City, but City just 1 point to show for their efforts, so in danger of going out at the group stage for the second year in a row.

Now, it's advantage San Francisco after game one of the World Series. They beat the Detroit Tigers 8-3 on Wednesday night. And it was certainly a night to remember for Venezuela's Pablo Sandoval, but who would have thought he was going to be the game winner?

Sandoval has scored only six homers in the regular season, but well and truly caught fire in game one. In the bottom of the first, he clubbed Detroit's much vaunted pitcher Justin Verlander into the stands for a 1-0 lead.

And the man they call Country Panda was just getting started. Bottom of the third he was at it again. Verlander crushed for a two run homer. And a 4-0 Giants lead.

But Detroit just didn't learn their lesson. They fed the Panda again in the fifth. And Sandoval did it again, his third homer of the night. The Giants six up and coasting towards an 8-3 win.

Only three other players have homered three times in a World Series game before and Giant Panda had more to the Tigers and given the headline writers a field day.

Well, before Wednesday, only four men had ever hit three home runs in a World Series game. The great Babe Ruth actually did it twice, first in 1926 and then again in 1928.

And it was almost 50 years before it happened again, another Yankee, Reggie Jackson, clubbing three homers as New York beat the L.A. Dodgers in 1977. Each of those came on the first pitch as well. That is pretty rare, but we've been getting spoiled in recent times. It was just last year that Albert Pujols hammered three homers for the Cardinals in a memorable game three against the Rangers. St. Louis won by 16-7 and went on to clinch the series.

And then we only had to wait 12 months to see it again on Sandoval's first three at bats. He smashed the ball into the stands. So the Kung Fu Panda immediately writing his name into the record books and baseball folklore.

Got to be pleased for the man with possibly one of the best nicknames in the sporting world, Kristie. Game two in San Francisco on Thursday.

LU STOUT: Yeah, without a doubt, the Panda powers the Giants. All good stuff. Amanada Davies there. Thank you.

And sticking with a sporting theme, you may remember the late, great Paul the Octopus. Now the eight-legged Einstein correctly predicted the winner of all of Germany's matches at the 2010 football World Cup. And now pollsters in the U.S. are looking to equally unusual sources to predict the outcome of the presidential race.

As Jonathan Mann explain, it may be nuts, but it's also child's play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, 270, that's the electoral college.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORREPSONDENT: Just how can you can calculate the outcome?

KING: Here's how we scored it coming in. You need 270 to win.

MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have freed other nations...

MANN: Is it who dominates the discussion?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me respond.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Debate watchers will tell us which candidate spent more time on the attack and how this face-off influenced their all important votes.

MANN: Or maybe public opinion polls can tell us?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Battleground Florida, the latest CNN polling there shows it's an absolute toss-up. It's one of nine states that could decide the entire election.

MANN: But what is predicting the outcome of the U.S. election is not so scientific, maybe a bit nutty.

UNIDNETIFIED FEMALE: Uh oh, another for Mitt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another for Mitt?

MANN: This little guy is called the psychic squirrel by his owners.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nyoki has 10 walnuts in each cup below each candidate. Whichever cup he takes the most nuts from in 30 minutes is determined the next president of the United States.

MANN: Nyoki was accurate four years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a touchdown throw is made to Santana Moss.

MANN: The Washington Redskins football team has a longer track record. Its known as the Redskin rule. If the Redskins win their last game at home in the nation's capital before the election, he incumbent party stays in power. The rule has held 17 out of 18 times. So no doubt President Obama will be rooting for Washington over Carolina on November 4.

And then there's Halloween, spirit Halloween, the largest seasonal Halloween retailer in the U.S. says the president will win the election because the Obama Halloween mask is outselling the Mitt Romney mask 60 to 40 percent.

PIERS MORGAN, HOST, PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT: Now, who cares you might think? Well, this particular stat doesn't lie. The last four elections, political mask sales have all pointed to the winner in November.

MANN: There's also a survey by U.S. convenience store operator 7-11 where customers can purchase their coffee in Obama or Romney cups. Again, the president is ahead 59 to 41 percent.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNAITONAL CORREPSONDENT: OK. You've spend a while compiling all of these. You've had several programs. Who won? Who is the next president of the United States?

MANN: Linda Ellerbee hosts a news program on the children's channel Nickelodeon. For more than 20 years, she's asked her young viewers to weigh in. And the children have been accurate in five of the past six presidential election. Ellerbee announced the results of her latest informal poll on CNN.

LINDA ELLERBEE, HOST, NICK NEWS: Drum roll here. According to the children of America, President Barack Obama will be around for another four years.

MANN: But if these unscientific polls skew towards Obama, analysts will tell you it's because he's been a pop culture figure since his first campaign and that challenger Mitt Romney is a less transformational figure.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: So I'm not stunned that these sort of pop culture measures - Halloween masks, coffee cups at 7-11 might edge towards Obama, but again it doesn't really mean anything except that. But it's a fun measure.

MANN: And as fatigue sets in here in the final days of a very long campaign, maybe a little fun is exactly what American voters need.

Jonathan Mann, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: All in good fun.

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

END