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New Violence Suggest Syria's Civil War Is Spilling Over Its Borders; Some Of China's Newest Projects Stalled; Terrifying Sounds From Inside A Tornado; Police Make Tenth Arrest In London Terror Investigation
Aired May 28, 2013 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello everyone and welcome to NEWS STREAM, where news and technology meet.
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CLANCY (voice-over): As the European Union ends its arms embargo on Syria's rebels, new violence suggests the bloody civil war is spreading beyond Syria's borders.
If you build it, they will come -- or so the saying goes -- but that's not ringing true for some of China's newest projects.
Plus the terrifying sounds from inside a tornado.
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CLANCY: Hello, everyone, great to have you with us.
Well, good but not good enough; that's what the Syrian opposition leaders are saying about the end of a European Union arms embargo. An opposition spokesman calls the decision "one step forward," but has expressed fears that the Damascus government will escalate fighting in response.
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CLANCY (voice-over): Meantime, more violence along Syria's border with Lebanon; gunmen killed three Lebanese soldiers at a checkpoint in Arsal. That town, of course, considered sympathetic to the Syrian Sunni Muslim rebels. It's thought to be a transit point for rebel arms and supplies.
Inside Syria, the fight for the strategic city of Qusayr rages on. Government and opposition fighters are in a fierce battle for control. Civilians are trapped right in the middle. They, of course, have borne the brunt of this 26-month-long conflict.
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CLANCY: E.U. countries could begin arming the rebels in August, they say. Russia is slamming that decision; it says it plans, though, to send missiles to follow through with an agreement to provide the advanced technology to the Syrian government.
Nick Paton Walsh monitoring developments from Beirut, Lebanon, Nick, as you look at this, the E.U. signaling their moves; the Russians saying we're going ahead with arms, everyone pointing fingers at one another saying you risk making the situation worse.
Break it down for us.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Syria obviously really want the British and the French I think had in mind when they finally got all members of the E.U. to agree to a modification of E.U. sanctions late last night, which would permit the supply eventually perhaps in two months' time of weaponry to the rebels.
They're giving it that two months to let this process that may happen in Geneva of talks between the rebels and the regime to actually finally play out.
But it's been met with an immediate response from the Russians, who said that it showed double standards from the side of the West as it might harm the Geneva process and then shortly after that, they made it pretty clear that an issue that had been fudged in the past few weeks -- would Russia deliver a highly sophisticated S-300 air defense system to Syria.
They made it clear that was going to go ahead.
Now that's (inaudible) the U.S. had been concerned about; that's a sophisticated system which could, some say, harm any potential pattern unlikely at this stage future NATO air intervention and the Israelis very clear in their reaction, saying that such a system, in fact, could be offensive in its nature, not just defensive; could even strike Tel Aviv's airport and their defense minister, Moshe Ayalon, saying that if those weapons are delivered -- and let's point out they haven't been yet -- if that does happen, quote, "Israel would know what to do," which is a pretty implicit threat, given the fact the Israelis have twice now, it seems, struck inside Syria, Jim.
CLANCY: Right where you are, the Lebanese government has had to stand by while Hezbollah jumped into the Syrian conflict with both feet. Its fighters said to be the bulk of the force, if not the entirety of the force, now surrounding Qusayr.
But the civilians in Lebanon are paying the price and the soldiers today.
WALSH: Well, certainly. The big fear is that that Hezbollah open decision of the weekend by Hassan Nasrallah, their leader, to say they are going to fight to the end with the Assad regime.
That's really a game-changer for Lebanon, a country which is trying to have a policy of dissociation for the past two years to be detached from the war raging across its border, which in so many ways mirrors the sectarian divide that tore this country apart at in the '80s.
The real concern is the potential in the future for Sunni rebels fighting alongside the Syrians, who offer news Lebanon is a base, a resting place for them in some ways. They may actually strike back at Hezbollah, the Shia group predominantly on their own turf here inside Lebanon.
So real fears that we'll see the rocket strikes that didn't harm more than three people in a Hezbollah stronghold at the weekend here in Beirut and the rocket attacks that have hit another Hezbollah stronghold, Hermel in the northern Bekaa area that we'll see those sort of things escalate perhaps in the weeks ahead and that could cause conflict again here in Lebanon.
The main effect, though, has been panic. People very on edge here; very concerned of a slide back 25 years to sectarian strife this country's seen before.
And put all that aside, we've now got a very intense battle raging for that vital city of Qusayr, a supply line for Syrian rebels into the country and a key route from Damascus, 'round to the coastal enclave of partisan Latakia, which the Assad regime very carefully and very desperately wants to hang onto, Jim.
CLANCY: Throughout all of this, all of the talk, the strikes, the counterstrikes, one thing, one thing the rebels have repeatedly wanted, and that is a no-fly zone. They've got a friend in U.S. Senator John McCain; he supports them in that call. And he didn't go to Geneva; he didn't go to Europe. He went right into Syria.
What was the reaction?
WALSH: Certainly the Syrians who met him, I think, the NGO who set that trip up were trying to make the simple point that it's possible to go into Syria; it's not that difficult. It's not beholden to extremists; it's not impossibly unsafe. He met the head of the Syrian rebel military groups, General Salam Idris and other leaders from Syria.
But the main point of that visit clearly it is a thumb of the nose to the Obama administration, a very clear statement from McCain, backing up his previous position that the U.S. needs to intervene now; it needs airstrikes against Syrian regime jets and artillery.
It needs a no-fly zone, perhaps not U.S. troops on the ground, but it needs to step in hard and fast, saying actually an article in "Time" magazine recently, that the cost now of inaction outweighs the cost of action, many look, though at the timeline of this conflict and saying, look, it was months past, really, when the U.S. had the ideal opportunity to intervene in a strident fashion and change the balance on the ground.
Now we're looking at a quagmire, dragging in all the neighbors and the U.S. may also get dragged in if it intervenes, Jim.
CLANCY: Nick Paton Walsh, a lot of ground to cover there; the Syrian conflict grinds on. More civilians, more fighters losing their lives today on the battlefield of that bloody civil war. Nick Paton Walsh, as always, thanks for being with us.
The international community still hopes for some kind of diplomatic solution as we've mentioned. E.U. member states could begin arming Syria's rebels. But they say that not until August at the earliest, and that would come after a Geneva peace conference that's planned for June.
Thus far, though, diplomatic efforts coming up far short. Sanctions were introduced against the Syrian regime months after the conflict started. That was all the way back in March of 2011.
The Arab League and the United Nations, both attempting to send observer missions to Syria with limited -- read little -- success. And what monitors have seen has been alarming; the U.N.'s human rights chief says government soldiers are using indiscriminate force; they're targeting schools and hospitals, but Navi Pillay adds very importantly, atrocities are being committed by both sides.
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NAVI PILLAY, U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Wanton human rights violations are also being committed by anti-government groups. Accounts gathered by our monitoring team suggests that armed groups have apparently used civilians as human shields and that abductions are increasing.
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CLANCY: Now the U.N. estimates more than 70,000 people have been killed during Syria's civil war. People inside the country say the number is much higher than that.
Well, let's turn now to the London terror investigation. Police there making a 10th arrest in connection with the murder of British soldier on a south London street nearly a week ago. A 50-year-old man was picked up, arrested in Welling -- that's a town just southeast of London -- on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
Three suspects are still in police custody, including the two men arrested at the scene of the crime.
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CLANCY (voice-over): In this video, made on the day of the killing, one of the suspects claimed Lee Rigby was hacked to death as revenge for the killing of Muslims. And that is stirring ethnic tensions across England right now. Hundreds of supporters of far right group the English Defence League marching through central London on Monday as you see here at an EDL protest over the weekend.
Members called on Muslims to get out of Britain.
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CLANCY: Lee Rigby's murder is being treated as a terror attack. And the investigation into the killing goes far beyond the borders of Britain. Nima Elbagir has been following the trail of the suspect, Michael Adebolajo, who traveled to Kenya back in 2010 on a trip the government there says ended in his arrest.
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NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The winding waterways of the Lamu coastline on the eastern shores of Kenya lying just south of Somalia. For years the Al Qaeda linked military group Al-Shabaab cast a long shadow here, kidnapping tourists, smuggling goods and people.
And it's along these waterways that we traced the route taken in late 2010 by Michael Adebolajo, the man accused of hacking to death British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street.
ELBAGIR: This is Kizingitini Island. We are only about 20 kilometers from the Somali mainland here. And back with the Somali port of Kismayo was in the Al Qaeda linked militant group, Al-Shabaab's hand, Kenyan authorities say that this was a major way point for young men seeking to join up with Al-Shabaab.
And it was right here on this beach that Kenyan police tell us they picked up Michael Adebolajo and three other young men waiting to catch a bus.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): The four men, we're told, had arrived at neighboring Faza Island by boat under cover of dark before walking to the island hotel run by Ahmed Hassan's sister, Nyalali and her husband.
AHMED HASSAN, HOTEL OWNER'S BROTHER: But these people came at night. They wanted lodging. We see -- we saw it; it was just normal, normal lodging. So my sister accommodated them. Late the next day, around 6:00 pm, a police came here and he took the husband and the wife, adding that, they have arrested four people who are said to be Al-Shabaab. They are going to Somalia.
For Nyalali and her husband, it was the beginning of a terrifying ordeal.
After their arrest, she tells us they were transferred to prison in Mombasa, appearing twice in court before charges were eventually dropped. She tells me Adebolajo disappeared on the third day of their joint detention. Kenyan authorities later telling her he'd been deported, sent back home to England.
ELBAGIR: What did you think when you first saw Michael Adebolajo? What were your impressions of him?
"They were all about the same age," she says, "and so young. They looked like schoolboys."
Nyalali is nervous telling us even this, worried the events of that night late in 2010 have come back to haunt her.
Hassan says his sister knows Adebolajo is suspended of some sort of crime, but he's trying to shield her from the horrific details.
HASSAN: By what is happening in London, she doesn't need to know at all.
ELBAGIR: You haven't told her?
HASSAN: I haven't.
ELBAGIR: You don't want to tell her?
HASSAN: I don't want to tell her at all.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): The routing to Somalia Adebolajo is believed to have attempted is not tightly monitored. But security sources say as long as militant groups still exist further along this coastline, other young men will try and find new ways to succeed where Adebolajo failed.
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CLANCY: Nima Elbagir joins us now. She's live from along the coast there in Kenya in the city of Lamu.
Great to have you with us. Let's make it clear here for our audience. Did the Kenyan authorities tell the British police this young man was trying to join up, get training from Islamic militants?
ELBAGIR: Well, the Kenyan authorities, Jim, have been incredibly adamant.
And you can understand why. They have stated very clearly that as soon as they were made aware that this man was here in Kenya on a British passport that they alerted what they're calling the relevant authorities and sources are telling us that we can read into that phrase the relevant authorities that both the consular authorities and British security officials stationed here would have been alerted as soon as the Kenyans were aware that they had a British national.
It does start to get a bit murky. I mean, you saw the lady we spoke to there, saying that the timeline, as far as she knew it, was he was arrested; they were both arrested. They were taken to the prison on the -- in the main town of Mombasa.
They both appeared in front of a justice once. The second time when she appeared on the fourth day, they were told that he had actually been taken away on the third day and deported. That is a timeline that we're still trying to clear up.
The -- those close to Adebolajo have made it sound like he spent quite a bit of time in detention here. They are also alleging mistreatment and that's something that the Kenyan authorities have also been hitting at quite hard.
But given the level and the nature of the security cooperation between Kenya and the United Kingdom, you have to remember, this is where U.K. troops trained before they head to Afghanistan. It would be really unbelievable if Kenya hadn't notified the Brits at the very highest level about who they had and what they believed his intentions were, Jim.
CLANCY: Do any other Kenyans recall this suspect?
ELBAGIR: Well, you know, the island we went to, it was really in disarray. A lot of people remember the incident because is really shook them. They felt that it -- that their very lives were at stake. And the lady we spoke to again, she said that she'd been receiving calls; she'd moved back in with her brother as she -- when we interviewed her.
People are very, very worried. There is, again, some issue about how many times he came to Somalia. We're still trying -- he attempted to go into Somalia -- sorry, I should say. We're still trying to pin that down.
There is some confusion over whether that 2010 attempt was a solitary one. So there are still a lot of loose ends here, to be honest with you, Jim. And this is something that we're all looking into quite closely as I understand the British authorities are.
CLANCY: All right. Nima Elbagir, reporting to us there from along Kenya's coast, not far from Somalia. As always, Nima, great to have you with us. You've got your work cut out for you today. Thank you.
In Iraq, police say a car bomb has killed at least four people in a Shia district in Baghdad. This follows a wave of attacks on Monday that killed at least 51 people and wounded more than 160 others. Several bombs exploded in and around the capital. Most of the bloodshed taking place, as we said, in Shia Muslim neighborhoods.
Now hostility between those Shia Muslims, who really have control of the government, and Sunni Muslims, on the other side that, under Saddam Hussein, ruled the country for years, taking now a more violent turn. There are also reports of attacks going on in other provinces.
Still to come right here on NEWS STREAM, a secret smuggling operation saved, a piece of history in the ancient and fabled city of Timbuktu, why the threat is still not over.
And China's meteoric rise. But at what cost? Our "Age of China" series looks at the social impact of development there.
Plus pictures you don't want to miss, inside a tornado, a new video from the vortex of a massive storm.
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CLANCY: All right. Let's check out some news in Asia.
South Korea shutting down two nuclear reactors, delaying operations at another two. It's all part of investigations into the components with fake security certificates being supplied to nuclear plant operators. Ten of South Korea's 23 nuclear reactors are now offline for various reasons. The government says that poses a major disruption to the country's power supply.
All right, let's turn to Mali now. Historians lamented what seemed to be the loss of priceless manuscripts from the ancient city of Timbuktu earlier this year. Why did they disappear? Well, Islamic extremists raided that city and they raided the libraries there.
Well, it turns out the documents were actually already secreted away to safety. But Atika Shubert reports, they now face a new danger.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dating back to the 13th century, thousands upon thousands of manuscripts in Timbuktu, once a hub of trade and Islamist scholarship in West Africa.
But when the Northern Mali conflict entered the city earlier this year, Islamic fundamentalists targeted Timbuktu's rich heritage, built on a Muslim ideology that they consider blasphemous. The manuscripts were thought to be lost.
LAZARE ELOUNDOU, UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE CENTRE: At this stage, we know that many manuscripts have been deliberately destroyed and burned completely.
SHUBERT (voice-over): But as it turns out, the vast majority of the precious documents were actually saved, smuggled out of the city by local families who had anticipated the threat six months ahead of the raid by extremists. They enlisted the help of American book preservation expert, Stephanie Diakite.
STEPHANIE DIAKITE, TIMBUKTU LIBRARIES IN EXILE: To get the manuscripts out, we packed them very tightly in footlockers, which are metal boxes much like what you see in the army. But then as people began to understand what they were carrying, they said, we want to help.
What can we do for you? Do you need some food? Do you need some time off? Can we create a diversion so you can get through the checkpoints?
They would notify our people that combat was occurring in that area; don't go there. Stay away from there. They would offer all kinds of help just because they felt very strongly that this was their heritage as well.
SHUBERT (voice-over): Couriers were held hostage; manuscripts nearly sunk in river crossings. Despite the dangers, the manuscripts survived. But they now face a new threat: water. Housed in a secret location in Southern Mali where the climate is more humid.
DIAKITE: You're starting to see manifestation in the corpus of damage by humidity, be it mold, be it mildew, be it otherwise. So we're very, very frightened. And it would kind be the ultimate irony if all of these manuscripts survived the evacuation to be destroyed because we don't have the resources necessary to archivally box them and to insert humidity traps for the period that they're in exile.
SHUBERT (voice-over): It is a threat compounded by the rainy season next month, prompting Diakite and her team to launch an urgent fundraising campaign known as Timbuktu Libraries in Exile. She says removing the manuscripts from the country is one of the question.
DIAKITE: Patrimony (ph) that leaves the country seems to have a very, very hard time getting back. And that's something we would not want to see happen at all. Our ultimate goal is to return them to their home in Timbuktu.
SHUBERT (voice-over): But until the Mali conflict is resolved, the manuscripts will remain in hiding -- Atika Shubert, CNN, London.
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CLANCY: History: read all about it.
A "WORLD SPORT" update is just ahead, as the San Antonio Spurs book their place in the NBA finals; Alex Thomas is going to have all of the highlights straight ahead.
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CLANCY: All right, a beautiful shot there of Hong Kong's harbor. You're watching NEWS STREAM and you're looking at a visual version of all the stories that we have in our report for you today.
We started with diplomatic efforts in Syria; later we'll show you the inside of a tornado. But now it's time for sports and the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs storming into the NBA finals. "WORLD SPORT"'s Alex Thomas here with all the latest playoff action.
Alex?
ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Jim.
A year ago, the San Antonio Spurs threw away a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference final, but they made no mistake this season, sweeping their series against the Memphis Grizzlies to reach the NBA finals for the first time since 2007.
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THOMAS (voice-over): Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were part of the Spurs team that won the chairmanship that year and both played major parts in their winning game 4 on Monday night. San Antonio 12 points ahead at one stage, although Zach Randolph there cut the lead to 3. However, Parker enjoyed six assists, setting up Tim Duncan there.
And later in the 4th, he drives and pulls up for the jumper as part of his game high 37 points. Spurs held the Grizzlies to under 40 percent shooting for the Spurs straight games. Parker averaged 24.5 points per game for the series and a 93-86 win still the series 4-0.
TONY PARKER, SAN ANTONIO SPURS: I was 21 when I won my first one. And you think it's easy and you're going to go back every year. And 2007, we win our third one in five years and you think it's going to keep coming.
And I'm 25 and six years goes by. And every year, it gets tougher and tougher. Every team wants to beat you. And that why it makes it even more special to go back after all those years, then playing at a high level with the same coach, with the same Big 3.
THOMAS (voice-over): There's new embarrassment for organizers of the Confederations Cup in Brazil. And next year's FIFA World Cup after part of a stadium's roof collapsed under heavy rain. The downpour ripped a large hole in one of the panels of plastic above seating at a ground in the northeastern city of Salvador.
Officials say the roof will be repaired before the Confederations Cup, essentially a practice tournament for the World Cup kicks off in just over two weeks' time.
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THOMAS: The top men's tennis pro in the world begins his French Open campaign today. Novak Djokovic's first round match is against Belgian youngster David Goffin. World number three, Victoria Azarenka, is the highest seeded woman in action. She faces Russia's Elena Vesnina.
Defending men's champion, Rafael Nadal, is already through to the second round, although he was given a torrid time by a little known German player, Daniel Brands, the world number 59 standard was unbelievable, according to Nadal, who lost the first set on Monday and needed a tie break to win the second before going on to claim victory.
However, there was a big casualty in the men's tour on Monday. This seed, Thomas Berdych, beaten by Gael Monfils, the French player delighting the home fans in Paris by knocking the talented Czech in five sets. Monfils is on his way back from an ankle injury and he needed a wild card to just to get into the tournament.
There were no complaints from Berdych, but Sergiy Stakhovsky wasn't happy after his straight sets that beat Richard Gasquet. The Ukrainian was so incensed by a line call that he grabbed his phone and took a photo of the mark left by the ball on the clay. He tweeted the pic, claiming it vindicated his protests.
Here it is. I can't make head nor tail of that. I certainly don't think it's going to persuade organizers to arrange a rematch. Good effort, though.
Those are the top stories. More in our full "WORLD SPORT" show in just over 3.5 hours' time. Back to you, Jim.
CLANCY: All right, Alex. Thanks much for that.
Well, all this week we have special reports in our series, "The Age of China," and coming up, a look at some of the pitfalls of China's rapid urbanization, a unique joint venture which could open the way for Chinese medicine to gain a much wider following in the Western world.
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CLANCY: I'm Jim Clancy at CNN Center and you are with NEWS STREAM. These are your headlines right now.
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CLANCY (voice-over): Violence flaring along Syria's border with Lebanon, gunmen killed three Lebanese soldiers at a checkpoint in Arsal. That is a town that's considered to be very sympathetic to Syria's Sunni Muslim rebels.
Lebanon state news agency NNA also reporting two rockets fired from inside Syria landed in the Lebanese city of Hermel. That's a Hezbollah stronghold. Hezbollah, of course, dispatching hundreds if not thousands of fighters into Syria to help support the Bashar al-Assad government.
Meanwhile, the Syrian opposition says the European Union decision to allow weapon shipments to the rebels is welcome, but it's not enough. Russia criticized the lifting of the E.U.'s embargo, saying it could undermine next month's planned Syria peace talks in Geneva. The E.U. decision would allow member states to arm the rebels if they so chose, beginning in August.
At least four people killed by a car bomb that exploded in a Shia Muslim district of Iraq's capital, at least 25 others have been wounded in that attack in a busy intersection in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.
That follows a deadly day on Monday, a day when some nine car motorcycle bombs killed at least 51 people and wounded 160 more in a wave of political and sectarian violence and most of it inside the capital, Baghdad.
A cruise to the Bahamas cut short after a fire broke out on this ship. More than 3,000 passengers and crew were aboard Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas. The ship made it safely to Freeport in the Bahamas. No one seriously hurt. The cause of the fire not yet known.
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CLANCY: All this week we are taking a very special look at China, exploring the ways that the country's rapid rise is helping it assert itself as a dominant player on the global stage. But China's growth is also causing conflicts with others, including accusations the country is engaging in computer hacking attacks.
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CLANCY (voice-over): China denies an Australian media report that hackers in Beijing stole top secret government documents from Canberra. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation program alleged that hackers breached the prime minister's office and cabinet as well as the departments of foreign affairs and defense.
It also claimed that a cyber-attack from a server inside China stole blueprints to the new headquarters of Australia's top intelligence organization. Australian Prime Minister Julie Dillard describes the report as -- and I'm quoting here -- "inaccurate." A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said the allegations are, in his words, "a baseless accusation."
HONG LEI, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): Because the source of the hacking is untraceable, it is difficult to identify the source of the cyber-attack and is also difficult to identify the hacker. So I don't know where the evidence comes from that the relevant (ph) report say is so reliable.
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CLANCY: China faces a number of challenges. It's trying to cement its position as a superpower in the world. The country's stratospheric growth is also seen the creation of entirely new cities. Sometimes the developments haven't gone entirely as planned. Ivan Watson is there.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Chinese dream, a young couple, posing for wedding photos. The Zhangs have traveled more than 100 miles for this photo shoot in a park in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou. It's an oasis in an urban landscape of recently constructed towers of glass and steel.
But the newlyweds say they can't afford living this Chinese dream. And the same goes for a 25-year-old Li Cai Juan and her friends. They tell us they'd like to live here, but they simply can't afford it.
As China's economy has surged, Zhengzhou has experienced a construction boom in an area nearly twice the size of San Francisco. Entire new districts of towers have sprung up where 10 years ago locals say there were only empty fields. Experts call this a uniquely Chinese model of urban development.
TOM MILLER, AUTHOR: China is different because it has this very authorization power structure. And the power rests in the hands of very few people. And that means that local government officials can take big decisions. So looking ahead to 10-15 years, and they can therefore build ahead and create something for a society that hasn't really arrived yet.
WATSON (voice-over): Developers are working hard to populate the city's new districts, advertising a buy-two-floors-for-the-price-of-one deal in a new apartment building. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
WATSON: This is how one of the real estate companies in town is advertising this new city. And they're basically pitching it to customers as an entire city under construction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible), A, B, C.
WATSON (voice-over): In the showroom, I get a look at plans for a massive new office park.
WATSON: Do you think there are going to be enough customers for all of this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Altogether, probably not, because some people are buying property only for investments.
WATSON (voice-over): Investment: experts say some of China's booming real estate market is being driven by wealthy Chinese investors, like this man, who's signing a deal for the purchase of two new unfinished offices. He and his friends say they make much more money buying up property than they would parking their money in banks, where interest rates are low.
This speculation in the real estate market has led to some strange results. In Zhengzhou, we find brand-new buildings standing empty.
Take this shopping mall, for example.
WATSON: Looks can be deceiving. Outside the signs advertise the shopping experience in this mall, which opened up months ago. But look indoors. There's not a single store in this massive empty space.
WATSON (voice-over): Ghost developments like this have led some observers to question China's development strategy; if you build it, they will come.
MILLER: China has ways of making them come as well. So it's build it and they will come and build it and force them to come to a certain extent. But of course, there will be big waste from investments (inaudible) along the way.
WATSON (voice-over): So China keeps building, betting that eventually its rapidly growing urban population will need these houses even if, for now, many ordinary Chinese people simply can't afford them -- Ivan Watson, CNN, Zhengzhou, China.
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CLANCY: Well, Zhengzhou, you know, isn't alone. It's not unique. China has several so-called ghost cities or ghost developments.
Shanghai Pudong is considered a classic example of China's urbanization strategy. You're looking at a time lapse of the city's growth. Shanghai, of course, China's financial center, but until the 1990s, Pudong was mostly just farmland, and that's when the government started to build it up and up. And it went from empty to full of millions of people.
China expert Stephen Roach says, "China cannot afford to wait to build its new cities. Instead, investment and construction must be aligned with the future influx of urban dwellers."
Traditional medicine, very popular in China. You've been there, you know that. You see the stalls all around the countryside and on urban streets. Well, now there's a move to take it mainstream in the West. Andrew Stevens reports one treatment could be on the verge of breaking through.
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ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Berry Choi is on her fifth day of treatment using traditional Chinese medicine or TCM.
BERRY CHOI, CHINESE MEDICINE USER (through translator): I got influenza and I'm coughing. Sometimes I will feel dizzy and, in general, much worse after taking Western medicine. I think Chinese medicine is better.
STEVENS (voice-over): Ms. Choi is not alone in thinking that. TCM is a $35 billion industry in China, says Shanghai-based China Market Research. And, it says, the market will likely grow at an astonishing 25 percent a year for at least the next three years.
For all its popularity though, Chinese medicine is on sale in hundreds of small outlets like this one across Hong Kong, it's never been used in mainstream prescription medicine. But that could be about to change.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2000, Hutchison China MediTech was established.
STEVENS (voice-over): Nutrition Science Partners, a collaboration between Hong Kong-based Chi-Med and the food giant Nestle, is doing final stage testing to get U.S. and European approval for a TCM to treat bowel problems like colitis and Crohn's disease. It's a two-year, multimillion dollar trial that Chi-Med's CEO, Christian Hogg, is confident that HMPL-004, as it's now known, will be a game-changer.
CHRISTIAN HOGG, CEO, CHI-MED: The more similar it is to conventional drugs, the better from the FDA's standpoint.
STEVENS (voice-over): One of the biggest barriers to entry into Western mainstream medicine has been the sheer complexity of Chinese medicine, a regular prescription drug has maybe one or a few active ingredients. Chinese remedies have many.
STEVENS: These treatments can literally use hundreds of active ingredients, all of which, if they were tested by the FDA, would have to be individually approved, but not HMPL-004. This is a single extract -- thank you very much -- from a plant known as Andrographis. It grows across Southeast Asia and East Asia and it's been used for centuries to treat things like stomach ailments and flu.
HOGG: I think as time goes by and these products are proven to be safe and effective, the scope will be broadened and more Chinese herbal medicines will be able to get to the global market.
STEVENS (voice-over): And it may not be long before the more complex treatments go mainstream as well, says Yibin Feng, a professor of Chinese medicine at Hong Kong University.
DR. YIBIN FENG, HONG KONG UNIVERSITY (through translator): New technology and advanced skills now allow us to find the essential or active ingredients in complex medicines and how they work together to help create more holistic treatments.
STEVENS (voice-over): And that won't surprise the millions who use traditional Chinese medicine across the globe every day.
CHOI (through translator): I think Chinese medicines are absolutely valuable. Therefore I think Chinese medicine should be introduced to friends of my China.
STEVENS (voice-over): A taste, perhaps, of things to come -- Andrew Stevens, CNN, Hong Kong.
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CLANCY: All right. "The Age of China," we got a lot coming your way. You can get complete coverage of "The Age of China" on our website from business news to lifestyle features. More like this photo gallery of elaborate wedding photos that are a status symbol for Chinese couples. There's a lot in there. You'll like that. Find it all at CNN.com/China.
The United States suffering a spate of destructive tornadoes in recent weeks. The damage left behind in Oklahoma and Texas, testament to the very power of these twisters. But now we want to bring you a different perspective.
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CLANCY (voice-over): Storm chasers shot this in the central state of Kansas on Monday. They were literally inside a tornado intercept vehicle. The howling wind you heard there blew one of the doors off. But the vehicle stayed on the ground -- thank goodness.
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CLANCY: So how did they manage to survive that tornado? Mari Ramos has all the answers for us, and she joins us now from the World Weather Center.
Mari, I don't know if I'd want to be in one of those storm chasers with the doors flying off.
MARI RAMOS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Let me tell you something, when they go storm chasing, you have a lot of amateurs and then you have the pros.
And even the pros will stay usually about at least a kilometer, maybe two kilometers away from the twister itself because when they're approaching, you want to be able to tell which way the storm is actually moving and be able to have a safe way to get away from that.
You don't want to get caught inside your vehicle during a tornado or anywhere outdoors, really. It's extremely dangerous and no one would ever recommend that.
But these guys are pros and they have a vehicle that looks a little bit like this.
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RAMOS (voice-over): There's a video that you were showing of the tornado approaching. They actually wanted to be in the path of this tornado. I wanted to show you the other video first of all, that one right there.
That is what this tornado intercept vehicle looks like. They paid us a visit here at CNN Center not too long ago. I remember going out there and kind of reminded me of an armadillo or maybe a turtle, just because it's so close in like that.
If you look closely, that right there, those stabilized the car lowers down to the ground so that no wind can get under it and lift it up. And then they have these tubes, these metal tubes on the sides, those right there. But those actually kind of burrow down into the ground to help the vehicle become even more stable.
Obviously it's not going to happen in the pavement, but in those dirt roads out there in Oklahoma, they were able to do that. And that's our CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers, kind of climbing in there to the vehicle there in the background.
And you see that bubble kind of toward the top, that's where they put the IMAX camera. And the -- Sean Casey (ph), the IMAX photographer this time around, was able to get up there and actually shoot video in IMAX while that tornado.
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RAMOS: Let's go ahead and roll the pictures of the tornado now, because I really want you to be able to see this. We've got the IMAX footage, of course.
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RAMOS (voice-over): This is the regular footage of the tornado. And then here you see the tornado approaching. While they were inside the vehicle, of course, they did want to get in the path so that they can shoot this amazing footage that they were looking for.
Now he did put in his -- Sean Casey (ph), the IMAX photographer, put in his Facebook page TIV, the vehicle, the tornado intercept vehicle, just hit by a very strong tornado. We are OK and filmed IMAX. Hit with lots of debris. Door opened; piece of wood entered the vehicle, extremely dangerous. The vehicle itself is made to withstand winds that are close to 160 kph, which is already pretty intense.
This time around they were caught in a tornado that is estimated to be between 220-280 kph. And when you look at that footage, notice that the wind appears to be coming from the back side of the vehicle or at least from behind us, from this perspective. One of the things to remember about tornadoes and why this is so important, this is not just for fun that they're doing this.
A lot of research will come into play when they look at this; see which way the winds are turning around, how the debris patterns actually work. And it's amazing, amazing to be able to see this kind of information, really, and this kind of images coming out of this and, of course, for no one to be hurt in the process.
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RAMOS: So they really were able to do it the right way. There is the possibility of severe weather again across portions of the U.S. and we'll be tracking it, I'm sure, that Brandon (ph) and Sean (ph) will be doing that as well.
CLANCY: Yes, Brandon (ph), you know, this really risky because you, like you noted, the door flies open, the winds are going 220 kph or more. What does that do when a piece of a picket fence, even a straw -- it has been documented -- is actually going through people? So you know, don't try this at home, I guess?
RAMOS: Yes. One of the things that they say about like they were able to study with stuff like this is how other structures are actually able to withstand such strong winds. So like I said, a lot of information can come from images such as that.
CLANCY: All right. And they were fascinating images. Thanks for sharing, Mari. I remember that truck visited us.
RAMOS: That's right.
CLANCY: It's nice to see it back in action. Thank you.
Now you're watching NEWS STREAM. And would you want this man to deliver your dinner? Just ahead, a pepperoni pizza that proved too much for him to resist.
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CLANCY: International charity Save the Children worked with -- get this -- 45 million children all around the world last year. Now at the helm of that organization is CEO Jasmine Whitbread. In this week's "Leading Women," she tells Becky Anderson why she's motivated to mentor others.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Jasmine Whitbread is on a field visit, an impoverished community in Freetown, Sierra Leone. All part of her job as CEO of Save the Children, a well established international aid organization founded in 1919. She's been in the top job since 2010. Her interest, though, in international development, began long before that.
JASMINE WHITBREAD, CEO, SAVE THE CHILDREN: I volunteered in Uganda in my 20s and I just thought, lookit, I really want to do this. And I know it will be a great experience.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Over the years, she's also held positions in the corporate sector and, she says, successfully.
WHITBREAD: I have been very fortunate. I have to say I don't feel that I have encountered a glass ceiling. I've been able to pursue whatever job and whatever promotion that I was going for.
I am sympathetic to other women saying there's a glass ceiling but also people from less advantaged backgrounds saying that they need some help. My background was pretty ordinary and I didn't come into business with a great big network or my parents' network. And I -- but I did ask people for help or people offered help along the way.
ANDERSON: How important do you think a mentor is or the role of mentoring?
WHITBREAD: I take great pleasure in saying yes when people ask me for help.
Sometimes it's just a 15-minute meeting and putting people in touch with somebody else or giving a little bit of positive affirmation. That's helped me a lot along the way and I think that's easy to give away.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Save the Children says it reached 45 million children in 2012 through its various services. Whitbread's big international platform has taken her far from Twickenham, where she grew up outside of London. She was the first member of her family to go to university. She's married, has two children and is an avid rower.
WHITBREAD: So relaxing to have something else to focus on outside of work that is, at the same time, (inaudible). There's a bit of teamwork there.
I enjoy the discipline of it. But also it's just beautiful to be out on the water.
ANDERSON: You've been around the world. You've seen kids (inaudible). How important is it for a young girl to get an education?
WHITBREAD: It's perhaps the most important thing for a girl, to get an education. Not only will it impact what her life is all about, but it will also help (inaudible) impact for her community, for her children. And I do believe that in the next decade, we should be able to reach the point where all children -- and that includes all girls -- are getting a basic education.
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CLANCY: All right. Interesting segment there.
Well, coming up, I want you to take a close look at this.
See if you recognize this man. And if you do, I never want you to order another pizza from his outfit again.
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CLANCY: The scrutiny you give to your pizza pies as they arrive from takeout to your home, well, they're going to get much tougher. You're going to be looking over your pizzas quite a bit after you take a look at what Jeanne Moos found, the guy with his finger in the pie.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's bad enough when you pick off the toppings from your own pizza, but when the delivery guy helps himself to your toppings using his fingers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ugh! Gross!
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MOOS: This special delivery was captured by an elevator security camera in St. Petersburg, Russia. The delivery guy took a total of eight bites, then closed up the box, straightened his outfit and presumably made his delivery.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ugh! He's licking it, too.
MOOS: Viewers recognize the box as being from a chain called 2 Coast. And the chain 'fessed up saying, "Friends, we realize that our pizza is so tasty that even couriers cannot resist. But all the same, we decided that it was necessary to protect our clients from gluttonous staff. They showed a mockup of a locked-up pizza that said, from now on, the boxes will come sealed.
And we're trying to figure out a better way to permanently seal their boxes. The pizza chain says it's resorting to Scotch tape.
Some jokingly suggested a more innocent version of events.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they order no pepperoni and he was trying to quality control?
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MOOS: The chain's idea of quality control was to fire the delivery guy.
And if it isn't pizza, it's snow cones. Video of a snow cone vendor in a men's room stall at the stadium where the Houston Astros play is all over the Web. The vendor was seated in a stall when a fan captured this image of his snow cones resting on the floor next to his feet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No! That's disgusting.
MOOS: Jay Leno called it health code violation of the day.
Like the pizza guy, the snow cone vendor was fired.
If you had to eat one or the other?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I'll have the pizza.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I would have the pizza for sure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I'd eat the snow cone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ugh!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because he had his hands in the pizza.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, but the snow cones in the bathroom.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But it's in the Styrofoam.
MOOS: And what was the pizza guy eating? Olives? Sausage? It gives a whole new meaning to hold the pepperoni. Who knew it would be a delivery guy holding it? Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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CLANCY: Oh, I hate stories like that, really do. But that's where I have to leave it. I have no choice. That has to be NEWS STREAM. But the news continues right here on CNN. Don't go anywhere. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is straight ahead.
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