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North Korea Advises Diplomats To Evacuate Embassies; Roger Ebert Dies; Lance Armstrong Blocked From Entering Swimming Event; Facebook Announces Integration With Android; U.S. Adds Disappointing 88,000 Jobs In March

Aired April 05, 2013 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JONATHAN MANN, HOST: Hello, I'm Jonathan Mann at CNN Center. Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

A sixth person dead, thousands of birds slaughtered, markets shut. The cost of a new bird flu outbreak in China climbs.

North Korea's leader as you've never seen him before. It's all the work of hackers targeting the hermit kingdom.

And now that they have one of the world's most famous football stars playing for them, we go behind the scenes at Paris Saint-Germain.

Thanks for joining us. Shanghai, a city of 23 million people has ordered all its live poultry markets to close from Saturday to stop the spread of a new strain of bird flu. 14 human cases have been confirmed. Of those, six people have died. Health officials say there has been no known human to human transmission of the disease.

State run media in China say authorities have culled more than 20,000 birds in a Shanghai poultry market where the H7N9 virus was found in pigeons for sale.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are trying to develop a vaccine for the H7N9 virus. Rob Schmitz is China correspondent for Marketplace, a U.S. radio and online media program, also a frequent guest here on News Stream. He joins us now from Shanghai.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Let me ask you first of all, what are authorities saying?

ROB SCHMITZ, CHINA CORRESPONDENT, MARKETPLACE: Well, today Shanghai officials had a press conference and they announce a lot of things you just mentioned. The fact that tomorrow, starting tomorrow and here in China, all 460 live poultry markets will be shut down temporarily. You mentioned last night, city officials discovered the H7N9 strain of bird flu in samples from pigeons in a poultry market in an outer district of Shanghai and they immediately killed all the market's 20,000 birds.

MANN: Hundreds of markets will be closed by authorities, but we're talking about millions of people. What are they authorities telling them to do?

SCHMITZ: Well, health officials now believe that this particular strand of bird flu has been passed to humans who have had direct contact with infected birds such as pigeons and chickens. So far, health officials have not found evidence that this bird flu strain can be transmitted between humans. So what officials are telling folks here is to obviously limit your interaction with birds. And that's, of course, why they're shutting down all of the poultry markets here.

MANN: And when you're around Shanghai, what's the city look like? What are people doing?

SCHMITZ: Well, you know, it's curious. You know, today at the press conference, you know -- and I only saw one person who was wearing a mask and that was a journalist from Taiwan walking around the street here in Shanghai. I don't really see that much of a panic going on. I think that people, you know, we had the SARS outbreak 10 years ago in China. I think folks are sort of remembering those days. And I think that they're listening to the government and hoping the government isn't covering anything up and telling them the truth about what's going on.

MANN: Well, I want to ask you about that, in fact. You say they're listening to the government, but they're hoping the government isn't covering anything up. In the bird flu epidemic, in the SARs outbreak, the public confidence was really shaken. Do people tend to believe their government at times like this, at what may be either a major crisis or just a small health scare?

SCHMITZ: Well, that's the big question. And I think that after the SARS outbreak, I think that a lot of the confidence in the government was pretty low. It continues to be quite low when you look at how much the people trust the government here in China, especially folks who are online.

You know, the good sign, I think, as far as trusting the government is concerned is that what we've seen so far that social media sites who, like for example, China's version of Twitter, Weibo, we've seen a lot of postings about this that haven't been taken off the site. And as you well know, a lot of things that sometimes end up on Weibo are censored or removed from the site. We haven't really seen that so far.

So, so far I think folks do have a certain level of trust that we didn't see following the SARS outbreak.

MANN: Trust, and I'm sure anxiety. Rob Schmitz of Marketplace, thanks very much.

SCHMITZ: Thanks, John.

MANN: Other countries and territories around East Asia are beginning to take precautions against the H7N9 virus. There are a lot of daily flights between Shanghai and Taiwan, for example. Airports in the region are now screening travelers for symptoms of the illness. Chinese officials are also sending virus samples to Japan, its Institute of Infectious Diseases where researchers are already analyzing the virus to quickly make vaccines in case it does spread from person to person.

Let's move to North Korea now. A spokesman for the Russian embassy there says the embassy has gotten requests from Pyongyang to consider evacuating its staff, because of the tension on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korea Yonhap News Agency reports the North has also moved a second medium range missile to its east coast. Missile like that were displayed at this military parade in Pyongyang last year.

A U.S. defense official told CNN Thursday that the missile is likely to be a Musudan. That type of missile has a range of 2,500 miles roughly, 4,000 kilometers, meaning it could threaten South Korea, Japan, and the U.S. military base in Guam.

Jim Clancy is following the story for us. He joins us now from Seoul, South Korea.

Jim, the news these last few hours is that there may be missiles, warships, and now potentially even diplomats on the move. What can you tell us?

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let's start with the diplomats. We understand now that the North Koreans have just notified various embassies that are there in Pyongyang, perhaps including the British and others, the Russians have confirmed it publicly, that perhaps they would want to think about evacuating their staff.

Now this ups the ante, if you will. It's a warning that something dire could happen that Pyongyang could become a target.

Now South Korea and the U.S. say that's nonsense, they're not going to be targeting Pyongyang. The real risk here is does Pyongyang have anything planned? Well, the reckoning right now is that this second missile that's moved in is just like the first and it's going to be the test firing of that -- and you described it, the Musudan missile. That's a Russian -- originally a Russian submarine missile. And they hired the company that made it to come to North Korea and help them to develop it.

So, the U.S. and South Korea are expecting a test firing. They've got spy ships. They've got radar platforms. They've got missile cruisers around the Korean Peninsula just to watch that, to measure it. It hasn't been tested a lot. Its accuracy, its range, all of those things are still yet to be proved. And I think everyone wants to take a closer look if indeed that's what Pyongyang has planned -- Jonathan.

MANN: It's so strange. Depending on where you look on the peninsula you get a sense of calm or you get a sense of crisis. Two realities playing out through all of this. And I suppose you can see it, you can see it on TV. What did you see there today?

CLANCY: I've got a whole rack of televisions. I've got North Korean television down on the left, I've got Seoul television right here. We've got several channels of it all -- of course CNN. And I was watching -- maybe you can play some out -- TV here in Seoul this afternoon. And of course the first thing that they had on the air, not about North Korea like it is on CNN, but really about the weather. That's right, we've got some unusual weather today and people were curious about that, so they ran the weather.

But I've got to tell you, then suddenly North Korean television came up. And North Korean television was far more interesting. I think it was the North Korean version of The Voice. Maybe we can take a look at that, because we had quite a scene on North Korean television.

As I understand it from the translation I was given that this occurred a couple of months ago. It was a concert for Kim Jong un. Actually, a bit of a play.

So a rather mellow presentation that you know always mixes a little bit of military in as you can tell. So that's what you have here on two sides of the Korean peninsula -- Jonathan.

MANN: Bit of entertainment with the anxiety. Jim Clancy watching it all unfold for us in Seoul, South Korea. Thanks very much.

Britain's prime minister David Cameron says the situation on the peninsula is a clear example of why his country needs its own nuclear deterrent like the trident missile defense system. Mr. Cameron made the comments after visiting one of the submarines that carries the system. Cameron's partners in his governing coalition, the Liberal Democrats, say the system is too expensive. Cameron argues that it would be foolish for Britain to be defenseless against a continuing and growing nuclear threat.

Well, Iran is back at the negotiating table with world powers over its nuclear system. And it says it's laid out its own proposals. Representative from Tehran and six other countries meeting in Kazakhstan. The details of just what Iran is proposing aren't known, although an Iranian official told journalists the plan is aimed at establishing what he calls a new bedrock for cooperation.

World powers suspect Tehran's nuclear program could involve the development of weapons. That has always been denied.

A little later in the program, we'll take you live to Kazakhstan. Stay with us for that here on News Stream.

And still ahead as well on News Stream. Accused of blasphemy for blogging, the story of a family torn apart in Saudi Arabia.

Also ahead, attacked with an ax by her own brother, a CNN exclusive about a 17 year old girl's struggle just to live her own life.

And a nervous wait for investors, the latest U.S. jobs numbers are about to be released. And we'll bring you them live. You're watching News Stream.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back.

A liberal blogger in Saudi Arabia is behind bars for blasphemy, accused of violating Sharia law. The case has caused his family to leave the country, even his attorney is now facing charges.

Mohammed Jamjoom is in Lebanon where the blogger's family has fled and joins us now. Mohammed, in Saudi Arabia even two years later it is still not the Arab Spring.

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jonathan. And over the course of the past year, troubling reports have emerged from Saudi Arabia that more and more activists are being arrested. Now human rights groups are condemning the Saudi government and alleging that the Saudi government is using any way that they can to arbitrarily arrest these people as a way to try to silence and stifle debate and dissent there in Saudi Arabia, which is an absolute monarchy, a very conservative kingdom.

Well, one of those bloggers, one of those activists Raif Badawi, he started a liberal website to try to encourage discussion of religion in 2008. He's being called a prisoner of conscience. We met up with his family a few days ago. Here's what they told us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMJOOM: A message to a missing father.

"Our mother is starting to worry about you," they say.

The little ones are certainly missing him too, constantly wondering where he's gone.

ENSAF HAIDAR, WIFE OF JAILED ACTIVIST (through translator): They're always asking me, mom, when is dad coming home. Tell me, mom, I miss dad so much.

JAMJOOM: Ensaf Haidar struggles to answer her three children. How can she tell them their dad has languished in a Saudi prison for almost a year, that she doesn't know when or if he'll return.

Haidar tells me her husband, Raif Badawi, just wanted to encourage discussion about religion in his homeland, but starting a liberal internet forum in conservative Saudi Arabia can be a dangerous pursuit.

HAIDAR (through translator): The Saudis have granted pardons to fundamentalists, to terrorists, to people who have done things who deserve to be punished. Raif didn't do anything wrong.

JAMJOOM: Still, the activist was accused of, among other things, breaking Sharia law. Charged with started a website that infringed on religious values. He was summoned to numerous court hearings, but on principle Badawi refused to show up.

WALEED ABUALKHAIR, LAWYER AND ACTIVIST: Actually no one wants to take his case, because they believe that anyone who take this kind of cases that will destroy his reputation.

JAMJOOM: Lawyer Waleed Abualkhair did take on Badawi's case. He's his brother-in-law and also a fellow human rights activist on trial in Saudi Arabia. Abualkhair faces his own charges of speaking to the foreign media with the, quote, "intention of harming the country's reputation."

He says any activist calling for reform in Saudi Arabia is in danger of being arrested.

Rights groups agree. Just last month, two of the country's most prominent reform advocates were sentenced to 10 years in prison apiece. Amnesty International called that trial just one of a troubling string of court cases aimed at silencing the kingdom's human rights activists.

Despite repeated attempts, CNN was unable to reach Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry for comment.

Abualkhair says his client is being prosecuted and persecuted.

ABUALKHAIR: They didn't punish just him, they punish his family. Actually, the punish their future.

JAMJOOM: Which is why Haidar moved her children to Lebanon. Back home, the stigma was too strong.

HAIDAR (through translator): It often feels like the world is against me. And when I see how the children are deprived of their father, this is what bothers me the most.

JAMJOOM: Estranged and alone, Haidar can only wait. Her children's questions become more pressing as she grows more desperate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JAMJOOM: Jonathan, Ensaf Haidar explained to me in great detail how her family has effectively been ostracized. She told me that she's received death threats on many an occasion, but she stressed throughout the time the we spent with her that as bad as it might be for her and her children, it's far worse for her husband. She said that at one point, it looked like Raif Badawi might actually be tried on a charge of apostasy, that would have carried with it the death penalty if he'd been convicted.

She said that charge was not pursued, thankfully. But she worries about him every day. And she's desperate for his release -- Jonathan.

MANN: Mohammed Jamjoom, live from Beirut, thanks very much.

A shocking example, now, from Afghanistan of what's known as honor based violence. Typically, it's when a girl is attacked by her relatives, her own family, for supposedly bringing shame upon the family. Anna Coren has an exclusive report about a teenage girl who is trying to recover after an attempt on her life. But we warn you first, it's a heartbreaking story. Her report contains some very graphic images and descriptions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could she please take off her headscarf?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Slouched over in a chair, her sullen eyes staring at the ground, Gulmina (ph) is a teenager filled with shame. Pulling back her pretty headscarf, she reveals deep scars across her face. Her 17 years, a life of pain and suffering.

"My family married me off when I was 12 years old," she tells me. "My husband was 60. Every day he would beat me. I would cry and ask him to stop, but he just kept on beating me."

This small, fragile girl pleaded with her parents to help, but they refused.

"My family would hit me when I complained. They told me, you belong in your husband's house, that is your life."

After five years of abuse, Gulmina (ph) finally gathered the courage to leave her husband in Pakistan, running away with a young Afghan man to Jalalabad across the border five months ago. But according to strict Islamic customs, this is the ultimate crime.

"I knew my husband and family would be looking for me. I knew we were in danger."

Days later, her brother tracked them down. Armed with an ax, he hacked to death Gulmina's (ph) friend and then struck his own sister 15 times, cutting open her face, head, and parts of her body.

Left for dead, Gulmina (ph) was brought to the emergency department of this hospital by a stranger. With part of her brain hanging out of her skull, neurosurgeon Dr. Khalid held out little hope.

"We took her to the operating theater and she'd already lost a lot of blood. Her injuries were horrific and her brain had been affected. We didn't think she would survive."

Due to the life saving treatment by the doctors and staff at this hospital, Gulmina (ph) miraculously survived. But the problem was who would care for her, considering her family had disowned her.

Now the government and authorities knew full well that she was here, but due to the stigma and circumstances, they wanted nothing to do with her.

For two months, she stayed in this hospital, doctors donating money to pay for her medicine. Finally, a women's organization took her in, giving her the love and care she so desperately needed.

Gulina (ph) is one thousands of women living in shelters across Afghanistan, many of them victims of attempted honor killings. And while they try to start a new life, for this uneducated, frightened girl, it's going to be an enormous struggle.

MANIZHA NADERI, WOMEN FOR AFGHAN WOMEN: And if we send her to her family, she's going to be killed. I mean, as far as the family is concerned, she's dead.

COREN: And at times, Gulmina (ph) wishes she was, having attempted suicide several times since arriving at the shelter.

"I want to kill myself, but they won't let me. When I look at the mirror, I put one hand to the side of my face. People tell me not to do that, but I'm so ashamed."

Anna Coren, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: Welcome back.

Lance Armstrong's hopes of competing in a swimming event have been sunk even before he's hit the water. Amanda Davies joins us now from London with details.

Amanda, you're a serious person, I'm a serious person, this is, I don't know what, silly, soggy? It just doesn't end?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: No. I just goes on and on and on, doesn't it? There was some surprise when we'd heard that Lance Armstrong was going to be competing this weekend. But yes as you said, John, he's now been forced to withdrawal from a Master's event in his hometown after swimming's world governing body protested. The self- confessed drugs cheat is banned, of course, from competition for life after violating the World Anti-Doping Agency code.

Armstrong had entered three events at a meeting in Austin in Texas this weekend thinking that they weren't under the same regulations, but FINA, which is world sport's gover -- world swimming's governing body issued a reminder that the championship is still under the WADA code.

And the organizer, Rob Butcher, has said that Armstrong's camp told him we don't want to cause harm to your organization. We're not trying to create a sideshow circus for you guys. Armstrong is just going to withdrawal or not show up for the event.

Now it was a mixed night for the English clubs that are dominating the quarterfinals of the Europa League. Newcastle are in trouble against Benfica after losing 3-1 in Portugal. Chelsea, on the other hand, in a strong position to reach the semifinals after winning the first leg against Russian side Rubin Kazan at Stamford Bridge. Fernando Torres with a brace while Victor Moses added a third in The blues 3-1 win.

Tottenham, meanwhile, drew 2-all with Switzerland's Basel at White Hart Lane. But Spurs fans are waiting nervously for news about their star player Gareth Bale. He was stretchered off injured with an ankle injury.

And the owners of Paris Saint-Germain have spent millions of dollars trying to turn the French team into a European power. What they'd give for Gareth Bale.

Pedro Pinto has been behind the scenes during a match against the holders of the French league title to speak to the man who writes the checks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEDRO PINTO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Nasser, how are you?

NASSER AL-KHELAIFI, OWNER, PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN: I'm good. How are you?

PINTO: I'm doing well. Good to see you again.

AL-KHELAIFI: Good to see you.

PINTO: We're about an hour before kickoff. And how do you normally feel before the game. A little nervous?

AL-KHELAIFI: It's the most difficult time for me before the match, an hour, hour-and-a-half, because you're in just a single room, just walking around.

PINTO: Do you talk to the players before the game at all?

AL-KHELAIFI: Just motivate them sometimes. I don't like to talk to much, to be honest.

PINTO: Your ritual before a game. Do you have any superstitions maybe?

AL-KHELAIFI: Yeah, I don't go out. I stay home just watching TV. Just try to relax. No meeting. I don't like to talk to people, just relax.

PINTO: You don't wear special socks or special bracelet or something like that for good luck?

AL-KHELAIFI: If I lose any match I don't wear the same suit.

PINTO: Really.

AL-KHELAIFI: All the same, even shoes.

PINTO: OK, well that's good you don't lose many matches. You don't have to get too many suits.

Nasser, kickoff is right around the corner. I'll let you go. Go luck for the match.

AL-KHELAIFI: Thank you. Thank you, guys.

PINTO: Nasser's priority at PSG has always been winning the French league title. They're top of the table right now, but that doesn't stop the chairman attending every home game. The tension around the ground is palpable, especially when you're playing reigning champions Montpelier.

No goals in the first half. And as the players headed back to the dressing room, a nervous Nasser retired to his private quarters just next to the VIP lounge which is where some of the high profile guests in attendance talked to me about the owner.

The mayor of Paris tells me how passionate Nasser is about the club and the city, while the general manager was equally complimentary.

JEAN-CLAUDE BLANC, GENERAL MANAGER, PSG: I think it's a mix of passion and professionalism. I think he's very -- he's very good at mixing the two. It's very hard to be very effective in his job as chairman of a major football club if you don't have the passion.

PINTO: Back to the action and Nasser had to wait until the 80th minute before he could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting up substitute Kevin Gameiro who scored what would be the game winning goal. Three valuable points for PSG who are on course to win their first league title since 1994.

After the full time whistle, Nasser gave me his thoughts on the game.

The good news is you don't have to change suits and shoes, because you didn't lose tonight. But it was pretty tough, wasn't it?

AL-KHELAIFI: It was really tough. You know, Montpelier is a good team. They're improving in the last six to seven matches. You know, they've been recovered from the beginning of the season. They didn't start the season very well. You know, we missed a lot, to be honest in first half, as you watched. So I'm very happy that, you know, finally we scored and we have all the three points.

PINTO: So what do you do after a game normally? How do you relax?

AL-KHELAIFI: I go back, you know, to my place and just relax.

PINTO: Nasser, great to spend some time with you here behind the scenes of PSG. And good luck for Barcelona.

AL-KHELAIFI: Thank you very much.

PINTO: I think you're going to need it.

AL-KHELAIFI: Oh, we will. Thank you very much.

PINTO: Thanks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAVIES: Yeah, John, a great insight there behind the scenes of PSG. And they will need that good luck heading to Barcelona to take a 2-2 draw into the second leg of that champion's league quarterfinal next week.

MANN: Great stuff. Amanda Davies in London, thanks very much.

Hackers caused havoc on some official North Korean internet and social media sites. Next on News Stream, we'll show you what they managed to post.

Plus, Facebook makes its big announcement, but it wasn't the phone that some fans were hoping for. We'll tell you what it is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Hello, I'm Jonathan Mann at CNN Center. You're watching News Stream. And these are your headlines this hour.

Chinese authorities have called more than 20,000 birds at a poultry market in Shanghai to try to stamp out a new strain of bird flu. At least 14 human cases have been reported so far. And six people have died from the virus, all of them in eastern China. Officials in Shanghai say they will close all live poultry markets in the city, and there are hundreds of them, starting on Saturday.

The Russian embassy in Pyongyang says it's been asked by the North Korean government to consider evacuating its staff. This as South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports the North has sent two medium range missiles to its east coast, that's led to speculation a missile test launch could happen soon.

Police in India say at least 35 people have been killed and 69 are injured after a building collapse. Rescuers are still looking for more bodies. The building northeast of Mumbai was still under construction. A local official said it was being illegally occupied on the first four floors.

The latest U.S. jobs report for March has just been released. It's a key indicator of the strength of the recovery in the United States. The reports says 88,000 jobs were added. That's a lot lower than expected. Economists surveyed by CNN Money expected the report to show that the economy added 190,000 jobs in March with unemployment steady at 7.7 percent. Some estimates were even higher. And so a very low jobs number. We'll get more reaction to the figure in just a few moments here on CNN. Stay with us for that.

Returning now to the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the war of words just keeps intensifying as Kyung Lah reports, the tensions have spilled over onto the web as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It sounds like North Korean state TV, but what it says, "you're no better than a dog, Kim Jong un." That's what greeted viewers of the North Korean government website Uriminzokkiri, along with pictures of Kim Jong un in drag. Somber songs showing Kim Jong-il drinking wine while North Korean children starve. On Uriminzokkiri's Twitter account, links to this image: a wanted poster showing Kim Jong un dressed as an obese pig with exposed chest hair and a Mickey Mouse tattoo on his gut, calling him a threat to world peace. The North Korean Twitter account blared the word: hacked. And it showed an image of a mask that's a favorite symbol of the hacking group Anonymous.

(on camera): It sounds totally like the North Korean announcer.

(voice-over): You can't help but laugh, says information security expert Sun Ju Kim (ph). But this is just the latest shot in an ongoing and very serious cyber war between the two Koreas that goes far beyond just the humiliation of a leader.

(on camera): Which is the bigger threat, a conventional war, a nuclear war, or this cyber war.

"The purpose of a cyber war is to disable the enemies ability to fight," says Professor Kim. "If the cyber war continues, there's a high possibility it could lead to a conventional war."

(voice-over): In a country that claims to be the most wired in the world, South Korea has been under increasing attack. Just last month, a major cyber assault knocked South Korean television networks offline and froze business at banks. That's why Seoul is building a cyber army.

These are the soldiers, learning to break code and understand what they call North Korean cyber terrorism. We can't show you their faces, because many of them will eventually work with the South Korean military on the cyber front lines where they'll face off with cyber soldiers from the North.

(on camera): As amusing as this is, there is growing concern among security experts in Seoul that because this was so successful and so funny, that North Korea may become enraged and launch a massive counter cyber attack against South Korea.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: And while the North Korean government's official website has been restored, its Twitter account still hasn't posted anything new since it was hacked by Anonymous. As for the Flickr account where many of the less than flattering images of Kim Jong un were posted, that is no longer active either.

The monthly unemployment figures from the U.S. have just been released. Alison Kosik has the numbers for us from the New York Stock Exchange. Alison, looked kind of low.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very low. In fact, this report, it happens to be a big miss, a big disappointment for Wall Street, finding out that the number of jobs created here in the United States only 88,000. It was expected that 190,000 would have been created in the month of March. So this winds up being the smallest gain for jobs in 10 months.

The good news, or not really the good news, is the unemployment rate, it dipped down from 7.7 percent to 7.6 percent. And the reason I say it's not really good news is that when you see the headline it sounds good that it dipped down, but for the wrong reasons.

The reason is because the participation rate, the number of people actually out there looking for work trying to find a job dropped to its lowest level since May of 1979. In fact, if you look at the entire workforce here in the U.S. it declined by a half a million. So that's not good news because people are essentially getting discouraged. They're saying I'm not going to look for work anymore. And, you know, part of it is because they don't feel like they can get a job, so then the other half of it is are the jobs really out there? Since only 88,000 jobs were added in the month of March.

Now it is worth to note that the number of jobs created in January and February, they were revised higher, for a total gain of 61,000 jobs. But once again, the gain of 88,000 as opposed to what was expected, 190,000, it's the smallest gain in 10 months.

MANN: Where do things go from here? I suppose we're going to see the market respond, because I think even the most pessimistic investors weren't expecting this. This isn't going to help the rally we've seen over the last few weeks.

KOSIK: No, it's not. In fact, as soon as these numbers came out, we saw the Dow dip all the way down to 100 -- 130 points lower. It was down about 80 points. So there was a clear reaction from Wall Street. In fact, when the number 88,000 came out, I heard the traders down on the floor here say, oh my goodness. You know, it is a real shocker, especially when the estimate is that much. And you see that there has been some momentum in the job gains, the triple digit figures of these job gains have been going on for several months now. But all of a sudden, you come to this sort of standstill, that's a huge worry.

On the other hand, it does give confidence to Wall Street when it sort of sits back and thinks about it, because there has been some discussion as to whether or not the Fed is going to pull back on its stimulus because the market has been moving forward, because jobs -- the job market has been making some progress. Well, that now seems all but likely that the Fed will most likely say it's not going to stop its stimulus any time soon.

MANN: Fewer jobs, more cheap money, Alison Kosik at the stock exchange. Thanks very much.

Well, the world's stock markets have had plenty to react to. European markets have been moving lower for a third straight day. And investors today, they have been waiting for those U.S. jobless numbers. This isn't going to help. Look at the numbers, all red everywhere you look. Asia's market, well, mixed Japanese stocks closing 1.6 percent higher responding to the Bank of Japan's stimulus program announced Thursday. The Nikkei closing at its highest level since August of 2008.

Hong Kong, though, you might be able to guess, it fell on concerns about bird flu in China.

We'll have much more analysis of those latest U.S. job numbers coming up next hour. Join Ali Velshi and Charles Hodson with Felicia Taylor and Christine Romans for that. Turn in to World Business Today in around 20 minutes time.

Representatives from six world powers are sitting down with Iran for talks on the country's controversial nuclear program. They're meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Ivan Watson is there with the latest. And Ivan, Almaty, Kazakhstan is one of the most -- well, one of the more remote and exotic diplomatic capitals we mention here on any given day. The talks seem to be going very, very slowly, but Kazakhstan seems to be like a good place to look for answers, a bit of a model, maybe, for other world powers, nuclear powers among them.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, in the past, some of these talks have been held in Turkey, for example, in Istanbul, but the Turkish-Iranian relations have soured somewhat over the civil war in Syria. Perhaps one of the reasons Kazakhstan has been chosen for these second round of talks in three months is because it generally has pretty good ties with all of the parties involved, economically and politically, but also because of its nuclear foreign policy. It's perhaps one of the only countries in the world to have given up its own nuclear arsenal in the 1990s, John. It inherited more than 1,000 nuclear warheads and missiles upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. And with the help of Russia and the U.S. dismantled them.

Kazakhstan has also suffered as a result of more than 100 Soviet nuclear tests here with a very tragic legacy of damage as far as leukemia and cancer rates among some of the inhabitants around a city called Semi or Semipalatinsk. And also it has pushed for nonproliferation and is negotiating with the International Atomic Energy Agency to establish a United Nations nuclear fuel bank. And perhaps all of these are reasons that it could be a good model for Iran to find a peaceful way forward with its own very controversial nuclear program -- John.

MANN: Ivan Watson at the talk in Almaty, thanks very much.

Facebook has ended years of speculation confirming that it is not launching its own phone afterall. Instead, the company is introducing Facebook Home. Next on News Stream, we'll take you home. Don't go away.

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MANN: Film critic Roger Ebert didn't make films, he reviewed them. And movie fans are mourning his loss today. Ebert has died after a long battle against cancer. He was known for his quick wit and his thumbs up, thumbs down movie reviews. Ebert wrote reviews for the Chicago Sun Times for more than 40 years. His last words to his readers were I'll see you at the movies. Those comments were published on his blog just this past Tuesday.

Ebert had suffered from cancer for more than a decade. In 2006, the disease cost him his lower jaw and the ability to speak. So after years after critiquing movies on television, he wrote all of his reviews for print and the internet. Along the way, he helped young filmmakers with their careers. Here's director Michael Moore.

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MICHAEL MOORE, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: He's the first film critic ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for film criticism. He's a very smart man. And he championed filmmakers that otherwise maybe wouldn't have had the backing -- Spike Lee, all of his films, his early films. Errol Morris, the documentary filmmaker, Ang Lee. I can go down a whole list myself included where he got behind our films and was an enthusiastic critic.

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MANN: Roger Ebert was 70 years old.

Well, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the rain has stopped but people are still wet and they are angry. Mari Ramos is at the world weather center. Mari, do I have that right, the rain itself is over.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the rain is over. And they're looking at generally clear skies. You know what happens when you get a cold front that comes through, the skies clear up and actually the weather turns out to be pretty nice. Unfortuantely on the street it's still looking pretty bad because of that massive flooding.

Let's go ahead and roll the pictures, because you've got to remember that they had two months worth of rain in a matter of just 24 hours. That's very significant. La Plata, one of the -- it's about 40 kilometers form the capital Buenos Aires. That sign said "please don't take this, I'm just drying it out. And it looks like it was a mattress or something.

Look at the cars. Everything just so destroyed. When it gets -- comes in contact with that very dirty water, of course many of these things are not going to be salvageable at all.

The government has said that they are going to help people, that they're trying to help people, but this is something that always happens when you have a big disaster like this. People become desperate. They've lost their things. And in this case, they're saying, you know what, we're not getting the help that we need. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They show up now. Mr. Governor shows up now after the evacuated all of us, after we almost drowned, they can all go to hell. We lost everything. We lost everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): No, we didn't receive any assistance. The only thing there is, is a San Martin club where the Red Cross is and where we put our names down to see at the very least they can give us a mattress.

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RAMOS: Yeah, and you saw it with him there in that video. The water line was like right up to his head. I don't know if you notice that, that's pretty incredible to think how much -- how much water was actually inside these homes. So a lot of these homes may not even be livable now.

As far as the weather right now, we have cooler temperatures moving in. And even though it's not going to be freezing cold, it is going to feel pretty uncomfortable, I think, in the overnight hours, early morning hours, for those people that are still sleeping with their doors open, with their windows open.

Buenos Aires, you'd be thinking, oh that's actually pretty nice weather, but it is cooler than it has been. Saturday morning and into Sunday morning also and even into Monday morning I think in Buenos Aires and even in La Plata temperatures will be cooling down, in some of those outskirts may be lower than eight or nine degrees, maybe closer to five. So keep that in mind.

Quickly moving you to Asia. You had a dark, stormy morning again in Hong Kong. But you know what, it looks like finally the rain is moving out. You'll be getting a little bit of a chance to dry out and clean up here as well. You had another 59 millimeters of rain with winds that were in some cases gusting to more than 70 kilometers per hour.

The bulk of the moisture has moved to the north. We're going to see a little bit of scattered rainshowers move over Beijing and through the Korean Peninsula. And then the heavy rain will be moving out of Shanghai and into Japan as we head into the weekend. And those cooler temperatures that you see here will be reaching all the way down even into Taiwan and Hong Kong. So generally drier air will be in the forecast for you.

And, yes, look at this, it's still cold across Europe. Temperatures will remain extremely cold across this entire northern portion and even in the south.

Next week, Jonathan, I think we'll start to see a little bit, a little bit of a warmup across Europe. So...

MANN: They are...

RAMOS: Maybe spring will finally be here.

MANN: They're waiting. And you're overdue, Mari Ramos.

RAMOS: Oh, my goodness.

MANN: Thanks very much.

RAMOS: Sure.

MANN: Some news just coming into us at CNN. A seven year old girl in Hong Kong is now being tested for the H7N9 virus, that's the newest strain of avian flu. And now Hong Kong is where we're looking. The girl was admitted to hospital Wednesday with a fever and flu-like symptoms. A hospital official tells CNN the girl had visited Shanghai with her family. That's been the epicenter of the outbreak to the extent that we know about it so far. Doctors have put the girl into quarantine and are testing her because the symptom she's experiencing matched those of patients who have tested positive for the H7N9 virus.

Stay with us. News Stream continues after the break.

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MARK ZUCKERBERG, FOUNDER, FACEBOOK: Today, we're finally going to talk about that Facebook phone, or more accurately we're going to talk about how you can turn your Android phone into a great, simple, social device.

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MANN: So, as it turns out it's not quite the long rumored Facebook phone, but Facebook has unveiled new software for Google's Android Operating System. It's called Facebook Home. And it integrates the social network's services into the home screen of cell phones that are running it. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says that makes the service more personal.

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ZUCKERBERG: With home, you see your world through people, not apps. So let's say you're waiting in line at the grocery store and you look down and you see these beautiful, immersive updates of your friend finishing a bike race or your family cooking a meal together, or news from your favorite sports team. You might have missed these otherwise if you had to go into an app to see them, but with Home they're brought right in front of you.

Since Home is the lock screen in addition to the home screen, you don't need to do any swipes or gestures in order to be able to see this content.

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MANN: OK. Well, let's get more on this new content and this software. CNN Money's Adrian Covert joins us now live from New York.

Thanks so much for being with us.

No one has really gotten to touch this or use it or go home, but what's your sense. Is this a winner?

ADRIAN COVERT, CNN MONEY: You know, I think it's a really interesting idea that Facebook is playing with here. You know, moving to apps to, you know, building it in to the OS is something similar to what Microsoft has been doing with Windows Phone. And I think it's -- you know, I think it's a really interesting concept and I think it's smart by Facebook to sort of, you know, avoid putting it on a single device or a single family of devices and, you know, offering it as a standalone app with a plan to put it on as many existing devices as possible.

MANN: Now in that clip -- and I guess in what's been written ever since the launch, messaging seems to be the most appealing feature. Is Facebook messaging something people want on their phones?

COVERT: You know, yeah, immediately you know everyone is going to see cover flow and the ability to, you know, like status updates and photos from the home screen, and that's cool, but over time I really think messaging is going to reveal itself to be the biggest feature of this new app that's going to come out.

Just the fact that you can sort of talk to people, you know, on the fly without having to exit whatever you're doing on your phone is something that people will really appreciate even if they don't know it yet.

MANN: Well, you call it an app, he called it a family of apps. Facebook has an app already. So now it's going to have a better app. Is this for ordinary consumers or for the larger industry, the global industry, a gamechanger, because Facebook now has a bigger app?

COVERT: Yeah, I mean, it's almost more of a framework, you know, it's taking Facebook's service and putting it directly in Android. You know, it's almost an invisible app in some ways. You know, you don't see it, you don't go into it. It's just there. And so I really think it is for ordinary people. And, you know, if it does catch on it can, you know, change the way, you know, sort of, you know, companies integrate services into phones.

MANN: But there won't be a Facebook phone, which is what many people were expecting. Do you think ordinary people are going to be disappointed? Do you think the people who actually manufacture and sell phones are going to be delighted Facebook really isn't going into that business?

COVERT: I think, you know, it's better for everyone. I don't think, you know, the consumer -- there was a survey that recently came out where it showed very low -- you know, very low consumer interest in an actual Facebook phone. And I just think that, you know, nobody, you know, is going to buy into the idea of buying a phone simply for Facebook. So, you know, the idea -- oh, they can, you know, download -- you know, Facebook Home in the Android store and put it on their phone and try it out. And if they don't like it, then, you know, so be it. That's a, you know, a low risk high reword sort of proposition for everybody. So I think it's fine. Like, you know, handset makers win, Facebook wins, consumers win.

MANN: Adrian Covert of CNN Money. Thanks very much.

COVERT: Thank you.

MANN: Well, while we're on the subject, the idea of a digital heritage -- digital heritage, it may seem like a contradiction in terms, but lawmakers in Britain say the information we share online will one day be a vital part of history. And now, new regulations are allowing six of the top libraries in the UK and Ireland to capture Britain's digital universe from blogs to Facebook posts, ebooks to tweets. The project will start by archiving the .UK domain. In coming years, the project will expand to British content on other domains.

But the head of the strategy at the British library says a lot has already been lost. For example, online information surrounding the 7/7 bombings in London can't be retrieved anymore, actually, nor can social media comments, for example, about the Queen's Diamon Jubilee celebrations. Most of that material has already been taken down or lost.

Britain's Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are getting ready to become first-time parents -- no secret there. The due date is in July, so they still have a few months to get used to young children. William found out Thursday just how unpredictable they can be. Tim York reports.

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PRINCE WILLIAM: You look very pretty. Do you want a kiss, do you?

Oh, no. You see. There you go.

TIM HEWITT, ITV NEWS CORRESPONDENT: A kiss may have been refused, but it was a day for talking to children and talking about babies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You look very pretty. Nice to meet you.

HEWITT: The Duchess of Cambridge now nearly six months pregnant, confirmed in conversations here, that her baby is due in mid-July, that she and William have a list of names for boys and girls, and are bombarded with texts from friends with their suggestions.

And she was asked about a nursery.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you got your (inaudible).

KATE MIDDLETON, DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE: No, not yet. I've got a lot to do.

HEWITT: Even Clyde, the mascot for next year's Commonwealth Games had the royal baby on his mind.

There may be a lull in royal duties for William and Kate when their baby is born, but after that events like this are going to happen more and more frequently.

Kate said she'll carry on with public appearances until June. And once the baby is born, full royal duties will be resumes.

Tim Hewitt, ITV News, Glasgow.

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MANN: Returning you now to one of our top stories, in Pyongyang diplomats are being told that, well, there may be trouble ahead. And we have a statement now from the British embassy in Pyongyang that says it received a communication from the North Korean government this morning saying that North Korea would be unable to guarantee the safety of embassies and international organizations in the country in the event of a conflict. And they're dating that from April 10 on.

This, I take it, is a statement from the British authorities that says the DPRK, that's the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea to most of us, the DPRK has responsibilities under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomatic missions. And we believe they have taken this step, the British are saying, as part of the continuing rhetoric that the U.S. poses a threat to them. We are considering next steps, including a change to our travel advice.

We're watching North Korea. We're watching the diplomats there. But that is this edition of News Stream. The news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.

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