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NEWS STREAM

Workers in Many European Countries Stage Walkout; China's Politburo Completes Meetings; Petraeus and Allen Scandal Fallout

Aired November 14, 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, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to NEWS STREAM, where news and technology meet.

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STOUT (voice-over): We begin in Europe. Several countries are taking part in walkouts. It is a massive show of anger for the region's economic crisis.

Also ahead, preparing to unveil its new leadership, all eyes are on China. The Communist Party congress reaches a close.

And international fallout from the scandal involving two U.S. generals. The controversy could have an impact as far away as Afghanistan and now South Korea.

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STOUT: We start in Europe, where workers in several countries are off the job. They are protecting cuts in government spending and tax hikes designed to help rein in soaring public debt.

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STOUT (voice-over): And some of the largest protests are taking place in Spain, where a general strike is underway. Now public transport has been shut down or disrupted, and many schools, shops and factories are closed.

Hundreds of flights have been canceled and it is a similar picture in neighboring Portugal. People there are taking part in what they're calling a coordinated day of action. Portugal's main trade unions say that the protests are meant to show mass discontent and send European leaders a warning.

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STOUT: Let's take another country: Italy. Unemployment there stands at nearly 11 percent and the jobless rate for young people is more than triple that. In southern Italy in particular, many people say that their job prospects are now slim to none.

Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman has that story.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the workers take to the streets of Rome, it's a noisy, colorful affair with banners and music, the chants full of derision for the bosses or, as they call them, "thieves and hustlers."

"We want work," says this unemployed factory worker from outside Naples. "We want the economy to be revived. They should tax capital in the bourgeoisie, not impose cuts on the poor."

But away from the capital in Caserta, outside Naples, resignation has taken the place of protest.

The economic crisis here in not new.

As these former workers explain, it began the 6th of July, 2006, when their high-tech factory suddenly folded. It's a complicated tale of businesses moving offshore, vanishing investors and Byzantine local and national politics, all combining to take this once promising project to ruin.

Most of the thousand people who once worked here remain unemployed. And after six years, their benefits have all but dried up.

"I have three children to feed and send to school," says Tartaglione Michele, "plus a mortgage to pay."

His ex-colleague, Arcangelo Roseto, insists, "We want to move ahead with our families in dignity. We don't want to be helped; we want work, honest work."

On the outskirts of Caserta, another factory among many lies idle. Before going bankrupt, it produced domestic appliances and employed 300 workers, including Clemente Cibbelle. Today, he's all but given up hope for work in this area.

"Here, there are only companies that are closing," he says. "You don't hear anything about new investors or new investments -- zero."

Southern Italians have always been worse off than their compatriots in the more industrialized north, where unemployment rates are about half of those in the south.

"Unfortunately," says 30-year-old Alessandro Borrelli, now unemployed, "to work, you have to move. There's no work. There are no serious investors here, so you have to go north."

With so many factory gates closed or closing, that may be the only direction left to go.

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STOUT: So they have to go elsewhere to find work.

CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is at today's protest. He joins us now live from Rome.

And, Ben, what kind of protest action have you seen there in the Italian capital today?

WEDEMAN: Well, we started the day with a group of pensioners who were taking part in these demonstrations. Now we're with several thousand students who have blocked off the Lungotevere, which is the main road that goes by the Tiber River. The demonstration's larger than was actually expected. In the meantime, there's this strike going on as well.

Many of the trains are not function. All of this, obviously, is aimed at the austerity policies of the government and Prime Minister Mario Monti, many of the people talking to us complaining, for instance, the students saying that the infrastructure of the schools is falling to pieces.

The teachers tell us they're overworked and underpaid, many of the students saying that they shouldn't have to pay the price for these policies of austerity that have become so common across Europe, Kristie.

STOUT: So when you talk to the protesters there, they are clearly angry at their own government. But they -- are they also showing solidarity with all the other European workers across the zone?

WEDEMAN: Well, certainly this is a first for the E.U., where you have these protests and strikes taking place in a coordinated manner in many European countries and people are proud of that.

They see that as a significant step, sort of the creation of a "Eurospace" in which the common -- their common cause between students in Portugal, Spain, Italy and elsewhere. So certainly they do see that as significant.

Obviously when you talk to the people who are participating in the demonstrations, they feel it's an important step in trying to stop these austerity policies from going forward in the months ahead, Kristie.

STOUT: Now we have these protests that are larger than expected. You've been witnessing there in Rome; I've also been seeing reports of violent clashes in Milan. Overall, across Italy, just how disruptive is this general strike?

WEDEMAN: It's fairly disruptive. Now there have been clashes in Milan, where we know that the five policemen have been injured in Turin, where an industrial center in the north of the country, where one policeman has been injured. They've been fairly disruptive.

But the way the strike was designed, it was not designed to sort of shut down the country, the organizers that they just want the government to understand, A, the opposition to the austerity and, B, the power of these demonstrators and strikers in their action.

But it was interesting; we were in jesser (ph) Valencia, which is a very popular area with tourists. There were still lots of tourists there. They didn't seem to be scared away by the demonstrations. In fact, they seemed rather interested in them.

So a certain amount of disruption has been caused. But, as I said, the organizers stress they don't want to damage the economy. They just want the government to understand their opposition to austerity, Kristie.

STOUT: Yes, visitors to Italy and the world is watching this very clear message that these anti-austerity protesters are giving to the Italian government. What is the government saying, if they are saying anything? I mean, how can it rationalize austerity? How can it when it faces such an angry response?

WEDEMAN: Well, it has to really do a very delicate balance between sort of its international debt obligation and the anger on the street. And you just have to look next door at Greece, where the government is always in a precarious position on the one hand. It's got to contend with very angry, sometimes violent street demonstrations.

And on the other, they have to live up to their obligation to the European Central Bank and the troika. So it's a very delicate balancing act. And when elections come around early next year in Italy, you'll see how successful this government was -- or not successful -- at achieving that balance, Kristie.

STOUT: All right. Ben Wedeman joining us live on the line from Rome.

Now the U.S. is facing its own potential new financial crisis. Automatic tax increases and spending cuts are slated to go into effect in the New Year if the White House and lawmakers can't reach a deal on deficit reduction.

The so-called fiscal cliff is expected to be high on the agenda later today. U.S. President Barack Obama holds his first news conference since he won reelection last week. He will also meet with business leaders. And on Friday, he will hold talks with congressional leaders to try to find common ground on reducing the deficit.

And we'll have much more on President Obama's meeting with business leaders and the fiscal cliff crisis in the next hour on "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY". That's right here on CNN.

Right now you're watching NEWS STREAM and coming up next, after months of speculation, secrecy and back-room bargaining, China will soon unveil its new leaders for the next 10 years. But is China's Communist Party really united?

And a shakeup at Microsoft: the man that many thought would be the company's next CEO suddenly quits. A look at what this means.

And the top general and the former CIA director embroiled in a major scandal. I'll tell you what the U.S. Defense secretary is saying about the story.

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STOUT: For nearly one week, shrouded in secrecy, China's Communist Party gathering has ended.

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HU JINTAO, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): The 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party has come to a victorious conclusion.

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STOUT (voice-over): Chinese president outgoing party chief Hu Jintao brought the congress to a close. Delegates have selected a new central committee that will approve the party's top leadership on Thursday as President Xi Jinping is widely expected to become general secretary.

Let's bring in our Beijing bureau chief Jaime Florcruz.

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STOUT: And, Jaime, you've been inside this cavernous building, this Stalinesque Great Hall of the People there in Beijing all week to report on the congress. Take us inside. What was it like inside there?

JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Kristie, I've covered China for the past 30 years and I've -- this is the sixth party congress I've covered since 1987. That was the first year, when the party congress was open to foreign journalists.

Inside the Great Hall of the People, there is a sense of continuity and kind of deja vu. Not much has changed. The red flags, the hammer and sickle on stage, the delegates clapping in unison, even the Chinese military band playing "The Internationale," which is the Communist anthem.

It seems like not much has changed, but in fact, of course, many have changed. We have a new set of leaders coming into place and they face a new set of problems, from a slowing-down economy, rising gap between the rich and the poor, rampant corruption and serious pollution -- all these are causing public discontent and serious tension.

So these new leaders need new ideas to rule over this 1.3 billion nation, Kristie.

STOUT: Yes, they do need those new ideas. But I'm just wondering how they'll be able to take that forward.

And we saw that symbolic show of unity at the very end of the congress, all the delegates in the hall, standing, all wearing the same dark suits, the same jet black hair, all singing the Socialist anthem. It was an incredible sight, but how much reality is in this symbolism? Just how united is the Communist Party?

FLORCRUZ: The party leaders here would be happy if imposing unity would be just as easy as saying it. In fact, the Communist Party is not a monolith, just as China is not a monolith. The party is divided along informal alliances and factional -- and factions formed from the leaders, their families, their proteges and the interest, the vested interests that they represent.

So these leaders have been trying to cobble together a sense of consensus and unity. And it has been very difficult because they do represent different vested interests, Kristie.

STOUT: The 18th Party Congress there at the congress, the party approved an amendment, saying it would take a hard line against corruption. But can the party do that? I mean, can the party keep an eye on itself and crack down on corruption?

FLORCRUZ: Well, President Hu Jintao said that they have to curb corruption because if they don't, the party and the state is in danger of collapse. And, yet, corruption remains endemic here. And experts say that's partly because corruption is systemic and it's embedded in the culture as well.

So they do need a huge political will to combat corruption. Apparently, Wang Qishan, now a vice premier and a Politburo member, is poised to be the next anti-corruption czar here. Wang Qishan is known here as the firefighter, the shock (ph) trooper.

He was the Beijing mayor when they dealt with the SARS epidemic. So his mettle will be tested as to how he will deal with corruption. But on the whole, it's not just about one person. China needs the political will to really combat corruption, Kristie.

STOUT: (Inaudible) is ruling by committee there in China.

And Jaime Florcruz, we'll be talking to you again tomorrow when the Communist Party of China formally unveils its new leadership lineup.

Jaime Florcruz, our Beijing bureau chief, thank you.

Now the man set to become China's next leader is still largely a mystery, and the world wants to know more about Xi Jinping. And as part of the program, "On China", I asked former Chinese foreign ministry official Victor Gao about the current vice president.

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VICTOR GAO, FORMER TRANSLATOR FOR DENG XIAOPING: He had a very unique career path.

When he was in the civilian positions, Mr. Xi Jinping actually has kept his association with the Chinese military through various ways, you know, serving in the reserve forces, taking up leadership of the provincial garrison, for example. So that sets him apart from almost all the current civilian leaders in China.

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STOUT: Now Victor Gao will join us on NEWS STREAM for his views on Thursday.

The impact of China's leadership change will be felt well beyond the nation's borders. And it will be felt in North and South Korea. But not everyone is hopeful about any change, as Paula Hancocks found out when she spoke with a group of North Korean defectors in Seoul.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is a new leadership, obviously, in China. Will this make any difference to the relationship between China and North Korea?

KIM SEUNG-CHUL, PRESIDENT, NORTH KOREA REFORM RADIO (through translator): I think the new Chinese leadership will be even more aggressive in supporting North Korea and using it as a strong (inaudible) South Korea and Japan. If we ignore this, (inaudible) northeast Asia will not get better.

DO MYUNG-HAK, NORTH KOREAN DEFECTOR (through translator): In the past, North Korea has been making life difficult for China when it comes to human rights, (inaudible) factors and military complications in South Korea. China is fed up with taking sides. It does so because North Korea's existence is of strategic interest to China and can create a buffer zone with the United States.

A new leadership may dare to give up taking North Korea's side unconditionally, because it just causes conflict with the U.S.

HANCOCKS: Now, China considers North Korean defectors to be economic refugees, not refugees. So if you're caught when you try to escape, you're instantly imprisoned and then often sent back for very harsh punishment in North Korea.

Will this change under the new leadership structure, do you think?

KANG CHOLESTEROL HWAN, FORMER NORTH KOREAN LABOR CAMP PRISONER: China is a member of the United Nations Refugee Convention, but does not allow the U.N. to help refugees. The U.N. is giving into pressure from China, and the U.S. is not interested. Both need to put pressure on China. Only then will something change.

The relationship between China and North Korea may appear good on the outside; but on the inside, it's completely rotten. Pyongyang nuclear rocket tests are against China's national interests. The new Chinese leadership needs to put more pressure on North Korea to change.

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STOUT: Interesting views there.

Now CNN.com has an exclusive story about human rights in China. Five people say that they were held against their will at a Western hotel chain to keep them from petitioning government officials about what they say is injustice. But the hotel denies the claim. You can read the whole story; find it at CNN.com/China.

Now you're watching NEWS STREAM. And coming up after the break, some of Spain's top footballers are back in action. We'll bring you a full sports update.

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STOUT: The LA Lakers' new coach is set to be unveiled to the media later on Wednesday. And judging from the team's most recent game, it's got plenty of work to do. Let's get more now from Alex Thomas.

Alex?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Kristie, we still don't know if Mike D'Antoni will be in charge of the Los Angeles Lakers for their next game on Friday. He's still recovering from knee surgery. But both D'Antoni and the Lakers will hope for a speedy recovery after the team slumped to its fifth loss of the season.

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THOMAS (voice-over): They were playing the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night. And in the dying seconds, the Lakers were up by a point until Danny Green nailed this 3-pointer, with Kobe Bryant being closely guarded.

It was left to Pau Gasol to attempt the game-winning shot. He misses and there's no rebound. So the Spurs win it by 84 points to 82. They are 7-1 for the season, but the Lakers lose again.

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THOMAS: So plenty for Mike D'Antoni to do when he takes charge, although even he admits he expected former Lakers coach Phil Jackson to be picked to replace Mike Brown, who was fired last week.

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MIKE D'ANTONI, LAKERS' COACH: Surprising -- I can't -- it has to be surprising. It's surprising for everybody. And I'm extremely fortunate that it worked out my way. I understand that the people are, you know, sad that Phil's not running the show. He's run -- he is the best coach, probably, and that forever if not, you know, one of the two or three.

And things work out the way they work out. And I'm just really thrilled to have this opportunity, want to do everything I can to make it work out. I appreciate the confidence that the Laker (sic) organization, Mitch and the Buss family's given me. And I will do everything in my power to make this work.

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THOMAS: D'Antoni's last job was with the Knicks and his old team's enjoying its best start to a season for almost two decades against the Atlanta Magic on Tuesday night.

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THOMAS (voice-over): The Knicks were up by 6 at this point in the 4th quarter, Carmelo Anthony scoring three of his 25 points on the night. And the Knicks' other star performer was J.R. Smith, who came off the bench to rack up 21 points and help New York secure a 99-89 win to go 5-0 for the first time since 1993.

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THOMAS: The world's top footballers are back in action for their countries this week, although most of the Internationals on Wednesday are friendly matches, not competitive ones.

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THOMAS (voice-over): The World and double European champion, Spain, had flown all the way to Panama City. Ranked the best team on the planet, Spain will be strong favorites to beat Panama, whose coach joked that he needed to field 22 players instead of the usual 11 to beat their opponents.

Here we have the local fixtures to look out for later, Colombia and the 2014 World Cup host, Brazil, playing New Jersey; Argentina have made the trip to Saudi Arabia. Russia hosts the United States in their two big Western-European clashes; Italy face France and Holland play Germany.

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THOMAS: I'll be back with "WORLD SPORT" in just over 31/2 hours' time.

Back to you, Kristie.

STOUT: All right. Alex, thank you.

Coming up right here on NEWS STREAM, an abrupt exit at Microsoft. The man many thought would be its next CEO is out the door. But just what cost him his job?

And the new face in the scandal that everyone is talking about: we'll take a closer look at the woman who triggered the FBI probe into David Petraeus.

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

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STOUT (voice-over): Workers across much of the European Union are (inaudible) a day of protests against rising unemployment and austerity measures. General strikes are underway in Spain and Portugal and there have been significant walkouts in Italy and Greece. Smaller scale demonstrations are also planned in countries like France, Belgium and Germany.

China's Communist Party has concluded its week-long national congress, but the big event is still to come. On Thursday, it will reveal members of the Politburo Standing Committee and we expect Vice President Xi Jinping will be named the new party chief.

The Japanese car giant Toyota is recalling nearly 2.7 million vehicles worldwide to fix mechanical problems. The recall includes second- generation Prius hybrids and some Corolla models. Toyota says the recall involves potential steering and water pump problems.

Syrian warplanes are bombing a town near the border with Turkey for a third straight day. Anti-government rebels took over Ras al-Ain last week. Since Monday, it has come under repeated attacks from the air.

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STOUT: His name is familiar to most computer users because of the antivirus software company he founded. But now John McAfee is at the center of a manhunt, wanted for questioning in connection with the fatal shooting in Belize.

Three people have been detained for questioning so far in the death of McAfee's neighbor, Gregory Faull. And though McAfee's whereabouts are unknown, he did tell Joshua Davis from "Wired" magazine that he did not kill Faull.

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JOSHUA DAVIS, "WIRED" MAGAZINE: As to your speculations of what might have happened to him?

JOHN MCAFEE, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER: I do not have a clue. The only information I have about him is what you have told me. I had no idea that he was -- he was shot execution style. I heard some things were missing. You were the one who told me it was a 9 mm shell.

DAVIS: Yes.

MCAFEE: That's all I know. I have no speculation other than the first thing I thought about was, oh, my God. He's a white man; I'm a white man. Someone's, you know, the government's finally decided to off me; they got the wrong white man, since we're so -- you know, we live almost next door. And that actually went through my mind and actually scared me for quite a while.

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STOUT: (Inaudible) from McAfee himself. Now he founded the Internet security company which still bears his name, but he left it in 1994.

Now on Tuesday, Microsoft announced that the man pegged to one day become the next CEO has left the company and the move has shocked the tech world.

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STOUT (voice-over): And it is not known just how this management shuffle will affect Microsoft. Now here's a look at some of the company's key players.

Of course, there was Steven Sinofsky, the former president of Windows and Windows Live. And he started Microsoft more than 20 years ago. And in that time he helped turn around the Windows OS, including Windows Vista, Windows 7 and most recently Windows 8.

His successor, Julie Larson-Green. She is a 19-year Microsoft veteran herself. She is best known for her work with Microsoft Office. And before her promotion, she worked with Sinofsky as the V.P. of program management for Windows.

And her boss, the CEO, Steve Ballmer, has pushed the company to different areas of growth, like the development of Windows Surface, which some would say is a pretty far stretch from the original vision of Microsoft's cofounder, Bill Gates.

Now Bill Gates, a tech legend, he started the company with his childhood friend, Paul Allen, believing that a computer would be central to every office and to every home, and he still serves as the chairman of the board.

Now all things D (ph) reports at high-level sources of the company say that Gates had backed Ballmer in the decision to part ways with Sinofsky.

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STOUT (voice-over): So what does it take to thrive and survive as a top tech manager? Our regular contributor Nick Thompson, he's the editor of newyorker.com. He joins us once again live from our New York studio.

Nick, it's a great question. Let's talk first, though, about Sinofsky. I mean, he was the heir apparent at Microsoft. But he was also -- and it's on the record -- he was not liked by other execs.

So what happened? You know, was he canned for not being a team player?

NICHOLAS THOMPSON, NEWYORKER.COM: He was canned for not being liked by all accounts. I mean, he was a very difficult, prickly person, who was aggressive, who was territorial, who forced a lot of the other great people out of Microsoft; Ray Ozzie is one example.

Ray Ozzie was the, you know, a legendary coder brought into Microsoft; many people thought he was going to stay there, help turn the company around. He fought with Sinofsky; Sinofsky won.

So Sinofsky has forced out lots of other great people at Microsoft. And eventually all of the ill will he had brought upon himself came back and came to a head, and he was canned right after this product launch.

I assume that what happened is that the tensions have been building and then they didn't want to can him right before their great big product launches of the last couple of weeks, since he was leaving all of those. And so it happened; the reviews came out. They waited a little while and then he got tossed to the curb.

STOUT: You know, it's a pretty stunning change at the top, given that Microsoft is betting so much on Windows 8. Let's talk more about the nature of these prickly executives in tech companies. Sinofsky, who's given the door; he didn't play well with others. Scott Forstall comes to mind; at Apple, he was also given the door. You know, his personality didn't really help.

But then you have the prickly ones that -- who did do pretty well, I mean, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs. I mean, they have really survived inside at the top.

So do you really have to be a team player to lead?

THOMPSON: It's funny; you know, when Steve Jobs died and (inaudible) book came out and everybody realized just how prickly he was and just sort of what a jerk he could be, I sort of thought that the culture of Silicon Valley was going to change and that it was going to be better for the jerks, that people would try to model themselves after Steve Jobs and they would sort of -- you know, they would explain their bad behavior by saying it's just kind of like Jobs or they would at least implicitly explain it that way.

And it's funny that the culture is turning and that the brilliant, prickly people are now on the way out. So what does it take to succeed in Silicon Valley? I mean, you know, it's going to be -- it's different in every company.

The Google guys are sort of you know, friendly go-getters who walk around in their lizard shoes. Mark Zuckerberg is kind of, you know, difficult to communicate with. You know, these -- Sinofsky and Forstall were both brilliant guys who weren't very well liked. It's a real -- it's a real mix of things.

The one great thing about Silicon Valley is that it is very Darwinian. It's very easy to start a company. It's very easy to come up with a new idea. And so really what makes people succeed is success. And if the company does well, then they'll thrive.

And so Zuckerberg, because Facebook was able to get so many users, has been able to stay in power, despite ,you know, calls to move him aside, because he's not good with communicating with other people.

STOUT: Yes, you know, and earlier you gave me another example, Mark Pincus at Zynga, another example of -- yes, prickly --

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THOMPSON: Well, there's another example of somebody who's prickly -- well, he's -- right. He's a -- he's an example of a prickly guy who people tolerated for a while. And now the company is falling apart. And everybody is leaving.

I mean, look, having good will and having people like you is valuable in every profession. Being brilliant and having great ideas is valuable in every profession. It's rare that you can get someone who has both of those skills. I mean, maybe Cheryl Sandburg (ph) at Facebook is a great Facebook who has both of those skills and is able to sort of temper some of Zuckerberg's problems.

And so I think what happens is when you come upon hard times, if you're either not brilliant or you're disagreeable, you're going to get -- you're going to get in trouble.

Now, maybe Steve Ballmer is a counter example. I mean, he's not hugely loved and nobody thinks of him as, you know, a hugely brilliant, visionary guy. He's -- what he's got going for him is he's close to Bill Gates and he can't be forced out.

And that's one of the weird things about Sinofsky's departure, is that there's a growing sentiment that there needs to be change at the top of Microsoft, that Ballmer needs to go.

You know, the company has been flat since he -- since he took over. And now the man most likely to replace him has been removed. So maybe it's a good thing for Microsoft to get rid of this guy and to get rid of Sinofsky and maybe it's a bad thing that entrenches Ballmer.

STOUT: You know, we'll see. I mean, it seems that some (inaudible) don't really like to move so much, Microsoft watchers wondering, you know, a new era for Microsoft? This kind of big change at the top, maybe they really didn't need to rock the boat so much.

But, Nick Thompson, thank you so much for joining us. Interesting topic indeed.

THOMPSON: Thanks, Kristie.

STOUT: Nick Thompson, newyorker.com, joining us to talk about the art of management in tech companies.

Let's talk about the art of meteorology. Mari Ramos, she joins us now from the World Weather Center.

Mari?

MARI RAMOS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Kristie, great interview there.

Well, you know what, we're going to go ahead and get started over here and take a look at some fun stuff. How about that? Let's talk about the total solar eclipse. If you missed it, my goodness, it was incredible. You know, let's go ahead and let me show you, first of all, this one picture.

This is from our iReporters. I was -- I'll tweet a link in just a little while of some of the pictures that were sent in, because they were pretty amazing, this one from Samantha in Auckland, got a look at the partial solar eclipse. But there were some lucky one.

Ooh, the weather cooperated just right to be able to get some really amazing pictures of the total solar eclipse.

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RAMOS (voice-over): Take a look. This is from Australia. This is a time-lapse, so we're looking at that -- it's sped up so that you can see it. And you can see there the moon just completely covering up the sun and then you have the corona show up. It's going to take a couple of seconds, because like I said, it is sped up.

The total eclipse took actually an entire minute and they were able -- people were able to see this -- they're so lucky -- and there you see, again, that little sliver of light coming out there so the other end as the moon continues to pass in front of the sun from our perspective here on Earth, absolutely beautiful.

There were thousands of people gathered on the beaches and just to try to get a glimpse of this in their backyards, you know, if you were one of the lucky ones, great. Send us your pictures to CNNireport.com. I love that. It's so cool. (Inaudible) go over to the weather (inaudible).

Anyway, so now, dry here as we head over into northern Australia; just a little bit of cloud cover. We do have our next weather system coming along, moving across the southern portion of the continent. And that's going to bring you some windy conditions, some rain, but not like what we had last week, you know, so earlier this week, I should say. So looking a lot better.

As we get north, we're still looking at a fairly dry condition, as you continue with your Diwali celebrations here across (inaudible) actually all over the world that's happening, right? I want to talk a little bit about what's happening in the subcontinent, though, because this is the time of year where we tend to see the problems with not just the cooler temperatures, but the skies are generally clear.

But we have a lot of problems with smoke and visibility issues and fog that forms. It's still very humid across these areas. So at night when the temperature drops and early in the morning, this -- because of the pollution in the air, the water droplets (inaudible) you get some very thick fog.

We haven't had a serious, serious problem with it yet, but I just want to give you a heads-up. We did have a problem earlier this week, (inaudible) last week of November the 5th, this picture take earlier. You can see all of the smoke there. Delhi right in here on the ground, this just really causes all kinds of problems.

This one from November 9th, it just gives you another example of what's going on. Right now, the visibility in Delhi at about 1.6 kilometers. So you can see how it has been reduced. Other areas doing a little bit better, but sometimes you get to almost zero visibility. And that's always a concern.

So that's something for you to keep in mind as you make your travel plans into this part of the world during this time of the year. The winter months tend to be the worst ones when we see the problem. So it's smoke from agriculture fires, combined with the meteorological conditions that really cause the problems here.

Last but not least, I do want to update you on a developing weather system here, moving into southern parts of Vietnam and Cambodia, tropical cyclone in the making, probably won't develop into anything too significant. But it is bringing some heavy rain across the areas here in the south. So that's still going to be a concern as we head through the next 24 hours. So watch out.

We were watching NEWS STREAM. I'm Mari Ramos. Don't go away, Kristie will be back with more news in just a moment.

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STOUT: Welcome back. And now new developments in the scandal that is rippling from Washington to Afghanistan.

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STOUT (voice-over): The U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says he has continued confidence in the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. Gen. John Allen is under investigation for email communications with a Florida woman. And his nomination to become NATO supreme allied commander is on hold pending the investigation.

But Panetta says no one should leap to any conclusions. The woman, Jill Kelley, triggered the FBI probe that uncovered former CIA director Dave Petraeus' extramarital affair. And Kelley had complained about harassing emails, which allegedly were from Paula Broadwell, said to be Petraeus' mistress at the time.

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STOUT: The Petraeus scandal apparently began with email from one private citizen to another, and then it snowballed into Dave Petraeus' resignation as CIA director. And some are asking was there enough evidence to warrant the resignation of the CIA chief if no laws were broken?

Brian Todd takes a look.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The affair was between two consenting adults. So far no criminal wrongdoing has been found, no breach of national security. Paula Broadwell's emails to Jill Kelley were angry, jealous in tone, according to sources, but did not threaten violence.

But now, a CIA director has been brought down and a top general is being investigated and many are asking, did something amounting to maybe nothing spark an FBI investigation?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: A lot of people don't understand and are shocked to believe that if they send something on the Internet to somebody that the other person doesn't like, that they may get their e-mails investigated.

TODD (voice-over): Questions are now being raised about the motives of an FBI agent involved. The agent, the first person Jill Kelley approached about Broadwell's e-mails, had previously sent photos of himself shirtless to Kelley. That's according to a U.S. official, who said that agent was never part of the case.

Still, "The New York Times" reports the agent did, quote, "nose around the case" until his superiors told him to stay away.

TOM FUENTES, FORMER ASSISTANT FBI DIRECTOR: Obviously, the fact that he keeps asking about it indicates to the other agents that he shouldn't be asking this; it's none of his business really to know what another squad is doing.

TODD: How unusual is that kind of behavior inside the bureau and then how -- ?

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FUENTES: It would depend how --

TODD: How frowned upon is it?

FUENTES: Well, normally, most agents would understand that it's inappropriate.

TODD (voice-over): CNN contributor Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director, says that agent's conduct likely would not have affected the probe.

So, what would have pushed the investigation this far? Experts say possibly other content of Paula Broadwell's e-mails to Kelley.

A source with knowledge of the e-mails tells CNN they detail the comings and goings of Kelley and some generals.

Among those believe to be referenced in the e-mails was David Petraeus. Parts of Petraeus' schedule were not public. Former Justice Department cyber crime prosecutor, Marc Zwillinger, says that would raise two concerns for the FBI.

MARC ZWILLINGER, FORMER JUSTICE DEPT. CYBERCRIME PROSECUTOR: One would be the concern that the person has access to more than that, to classified information, information that person shouldn't be seeing or be looking at. The second would be a security concern.

TODD: That security concern, Zwillinger says, would have been the possible targeting of Petraeus or the top generals who could have been mentioned in those e-mails from Broadwell.

Zwillinger says that concern would have clearly been grounds for the FBI to pursue the case further -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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STOUT: And as new details emerge about this scandal that ended Dave Petraeus' CIA career, Paula Broadwell has remained out of public sight. And now the media circus is surrounding Jill Kelley.

I want to bring in our world affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty.

And, Jill, we're learning more about Jill Kelley from South Korea, of all places.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, it's a little complicated, Kristie, but essentially Jill Kelley was a volunteer. She was living in Tampa, Florida, and she was a member of an international -- of a national organization that welcomes international visitors. Everything was voluntary. There was no pay. There was no official position.

But she also apparently helped out in some fashion to promote the free trade agreement between the United States and South Korea. And that is why the South Korean government, we are told, gave her what's called an honorary consul award.

Now this has no official capacity. There's no legal meaning to this whatsoever. But it's thanks for her promoting whatever she did to promote that. That could have been as simple as holding a dinner party to discuss it and say it was a good idea.

In any case, she got this honorary consul award, and now CNN has contacted the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and their spokesperson says that nothing is decided. In other words, should it be taken away from her or should she keep it?

"We are currently observing the situation closely," the spokesperson says. So there is some sensitivity here, because after all, Jill Kelley also had apparently some license plates that said "honorary consul," and in a 9-1-1, an emergency phone call to the police, at one point, where people were trespassing on her property, she said, "I am an honorary consul general," and tried to make the case -- which is not correct -- that she was protected in some fashion because of this.

So it's a little bit complicated but it would appear that she was trying to exploit or maybe exaggerate what she actually had, which was a totally, you know, honorary award for being a volunteer.

STOUT: And, of course, it was these harassment allegations from her, Jill Kelley, that led to this investigation into Gen. Petraeus on Thursday.

We're going to be seeing the (inaudible) House Intelligence leaders questioning, you know, top intelligence officials about the Petraeus scandal and the key question, one of many, Jill, is there any link between the affair and the -- what happened in Benghazi?

DOUGHERTY: Well, at this point, the only connection is that Gen. Petraeus, of course, is -- was the head of the CIA and the CIA was involved in what happened in that attack on the mission in Benghazi that -- Libya -- which was, of course, very deadly; Americans died, including the U.S. ambassador.

But there, at this point, is no direct link saying that there was some type of effect on what happened with Benghazi. That said, what they want to do is have Gen. Petraeus testify and that's what they're working on. Now that he's stepped down, there's a question about that. But they're hoping.

STOUT: Yes, and so many other questions. Who knew what when, and also if there was a security breach, questions about in this scandal. And hopefully we'll get answers soon.

Jill Dougherty reporting for us, thank you.

Now you're watching NEWS STREAM. And still ahead, a 450-year-old double take. Why this man got a big shock when he walked into the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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STOUT: Imagine one man's surprise when he walked into a museum and saw a portrait of a man who looked just like him hanging on the wall. Jeanne Moos has the story.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A college student and his girlfriend were strolling around the Philadelphia Museum of Art's medieval armor department when she spotted him hanging there.

NIKKIE CURTIS, GIRLFRIEND: I'm giggling like crazy, and it's dead silent in this museum.

MOOS (voice-over): But how do you stop giggling when you see this?

CURTIS: I go, "Do you see this guy?"

MAX GALUPPO, FOUND DOPPLEGANGER IN PAINTING: I'll be honest. At first I didn't think it looked like me.

MOOS (voice-over): Not until Max Galuppo got a look at the photo Nikkie Curtis took.

GALUPPO: In which case, there is no denying the resemblance there.

MOOS (voice-over): Imagine finding your twin in a portrait of a nobleman painted by an unknown artist 450 years ago in 1562.

GALUPPO: I feel good for four centuries, I've got to admit.

MOOS (voice-over): The photo went viral. Cue the time travel and reincarnation jokes. But it's believed the painting originated not far from Florence, Italy, where Max's grandfather's family is from.

GALUPPO: We're thinking it might not be totally farfetched for that to be an ancestor of my family's.

CURTIS: But less face it, the whole time traveling thing is more fun.

MOOS (voice-over): It's been fun comparing a celeb like Keanu Reeves to a portrait of a French actor from the late 1800s and comparing Nicolas Cage to a Civil War era photograph on Letterman.

And then there was the time a group called Improv Everywhere brought a lookalike for the long-departed King Phillip IV of Spain into New York's Metropolitan Museum and placed him in front of Velasquez's painting of the king from 1624.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're having an autograph signing with King Phillip IV of Spain.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he really a king?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But he's too young for...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, he's 400 years old.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He doesn't look 400. Ask him, what does he eat?

MOOS (voice-over): Security asked them to leave.

Max would like to come back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in costume for a photo op.

MOOS: There is some sort of weird symmetry between those red tights and that purple tie-dyed T-shirt.

CURTIS: They would be great together.

MOOS (voice-over): Actually, some joker has already Photoshopped them together, Pink Floyd T-shirt and tights.

Being Venus might be safer.

MOOS: At least if your art twin is naked, no one can make fun of your fashion.

MOOS (voice-over): Nikkie and Max are asking if anyone has a nobleman's costume to lend for a noble cause -- Jeanne Moos, CNN --

MOOS: And wouldn't it be more fun to wear a codpiece?

GALUPPO: Absolutely.

MOOS (voice-over): -- New York.

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STOUT: Life does imitate art.

And that is NEWS STREAM. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is next.

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