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NEWS STREAM

Heat In Shanghai; DOG TV Launches; Recycling Water In Deserts Of India; Online Bullying Under Scrutiny; U.S-Russia Relations Continue To Sour

Aired August 08, 2013 - 08:00   ET

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

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Now the suicide of this girl is leading to calls to end online bullying now as the British prime minister calls for a boycott of some social media sites.

Syrian TV shows new pictures of President Bashar al-Assad after rebels say they attacked his motorcade.

And the year's final golf major has just begun. Can Tiger Woods end his major drought?

Now in recent days calls have grown louder for social networks to crack down on cyberbullying and trolling. And now British prime minister David Cameron says sites need to, in his words, step up to the plate and show some responsibility. And he urged people to boycott sites that fail to protect users from online abuse.

Now Cameron's comments, they come after the death of this teenaged girl. Hannah Smith, she hanged herself on Friday after being bullied on Ask.fm. Now the site, it lets users post photos and questions. And responses can come from friends or anonymous users.

Ask.fm has 65 million registered users.

And according to the web analytics company Alexa, the countries with the highest percentage of users are in Brazil and Italy. It is available in 150 countries and adds about 300,000 users each day.

And the site is very popular among teens. About half of Ask.fm users are under the age of 18.

Now Hannah Smith's father has called for criminal charges against the operators of Ask.fm. And he has appealed to the prime minister for more regulation of social networks.

But the Smith family's online ordeal is not over. Dan Rivers has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She has become Britain's most high profile victim of cyberbullying, 14-year-old Hannah Smith, driven to take her own life after a vicious campaign of online hate messages.

HARRY SMITH, FATHER OF HANNAH SMITH: I've read these messages and it made me so (EXPLETIVE DELETED) so angry, but I just felt who could put my little girl through that?

RIVERS: As the family prepares for Hannah's funeral, her sister has been targeted by more abuse on the Internet. Cyberbullying is suddenly the issue of the day in the UK.

A Facebook memorial page set up in Hannah's memory has had to be taken down after being targeted by so-called trolls.

And here is where some of the abuse is being orchestrated, an unregulated forum called 4Chan, set up in New York.

Journalist Mike Smith has helped unmask Twitter trolls, receiving death threats himself, he shows me messages on 4Chan where users are planning to celebrate Hannah Smith's death.

MIKE SMITH, JOURNALIST: 4Chan is a forum where there are no rules, almost no rules. Anyone can post anything they like, and as a result a lot of people use it to organize these kinds of attacks on people that they think where it would be funny, where can I provoke a reaction, for example, on this memorial page.

RIVERS: Hannah committed suicide after repeated insults on the social media site Ask.fm. In a statement, Ask.fm says it actively encourages our users and their parents to report any incidence of bullying. But posts are anonymous, making trolling easy.

Another leading player in social media, Twitter, has also been criticized for failing to tackle cyberbullying.

Several prominent British women, like Helen Lewis, have received tweets like this. And even death threats. She understands how Hannah must of felt.

HELEN LEWIS, DEPUTY EDITOR, NEW STATESMAN: It's because you feel that you're being picked on by an enormous number of people that you feel that everybody around you hates you, everybody knows about it, too, there's a public humiliation aspect of it. And for a vulnerable teenager, that must be incredibly hard to deal with.

RIVERS: CNN managed to ask several questions online to a self- proclaimed troll. Asking why he did it, he or she replied, it's the 21st Century equivalent of rotting vegetables in response to pathetic demagoguery and the craic like (ph)"

CNN responded so fun and a political statement?

He or she replied, "sure."

PETER BRADLEY, DIRECTOR, KIDSCAPE: Trolling is a huge problem. Over the last four years, convictions relating to trolling has increased by 150 percent. This is just the tip of the iceberg, because over a third of incidents do not get reported.

RIVERS: Hannah Smith's last message online was this, a cry for help that is only now getting the attention it so deserved.

Dan Rivers, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now nearly 13,000 people have signed a petition calling on the British government to protect children from potentially abusive websites. Now the Guardian Newspaper reports that some members of parliament, now want to form a commission into cyberbullying.

And this petition directly appeals to Twitter for help in stopping abusive and threatening messages. It has more than 133,000 signatures. But there are things that you can do right now to prevent cyberbullying. Now stop bullying.gov is a U.S. government initiative, and it offers this advice for parents.

Now, first, be aware of what your kids are doing online, that means asking what websites they are visiting and who they are interacting with. Establish rules about technology use that includes letting children know that anything posted online can potentially be seen by anyone.

Now the organization also says that parents should make their children feel safe about reporting cyberbullying.

Now moving on to U.S.-Russia relations, which are clearly in the big chill after U.S. President Barack Obama canceled talks with the Russian President Vladimir Putin next month.

And speaking on Wednesday, the White House cited a few reasons for the decision. Among them, a lack of progress in bilateral relations and disappointment over the Edward Snowden affair.

Now Moscow granted Snowden temporary asylum last week, but Washington wants the intelligence leaker returned to the U.S. to face espionage charges.

Now Mr. Obama will still attend the G20 summit in St. Petersburg in September, but instead of stopping by Moscow before the summit, he'll be going to Sweden instead.

Now for more, Jill Dougherty joins us now live from the White House. And Jill, how does the cancellation affect the U.S.-Russia relationship?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's bad for it. There's no question, Kristie. Afterall, if you look at that list of the irritants, and that would be the issues that both countries don't see eye-to-eye on, it's the entire relationship. I mean, arms control, missile defense, trade, global security and human rights. So there's division on all of those. And the White House decided that since there was really no progress, it could, number one, send a message to Russia about its anger about Snowden.

Now on the other side, if you look at the Russian view of this, they say, look, he showed up on our doorstep, essentially. We did not want him here. Now we have to deal with him according to our laws. And we're doing what we think we should do.

Now the Americans take the opposite viewpoint. And they say if the Russians really wanted to do it, they could send Snowden back.

So you have that combination of Snowden as the immediate irritant, and this entire litany of issues that the two countries just aren't seeing eye- to-eye on.

LU STOUT: Yeah, the relationship is at a low point for a variety of issues, of course, including the Snowden affair. But there in Washington, Jill, is there -- are you seeing a shift in thinking about how to treat Russia, to treat Russia more as an adversary than as a partner?

DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, I think what you're hearing is really kind of a personal tone, although they never use his name. But what the White House has been saying is President Obama made progress with the previous Russian president and that was Mr. Medvedev, and now that you have President Putin back in office you're seeing a deterioration and that's one of the things that they are -- they're saying here, that there was some progress, certainly on START, the missile -- the nuclear control -- missile control -- and on other issues. And now you're back to lack of progress And it's really pointed criticism of Mr. Putin. So you'd have to say that the relationship right now does have some very serious issues.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and what's at stake here for both parties. I mean, we know that Washington needs Moscow inside with Snowden, on the issue of Syria, Iran, missile defense, et cetera. But does Russia need America's cooperation as much?

DOUGHERTY: You know, the Russians don't really think that they need the United States as much as perhaps they used to. In fact, that's really more the tone that's coming out of the Russian government, our of the Kremlin, which is we will do what we think is right. We don't care pretty much what do you think. And you have to treat us as an equal. You heard that as an immediate reaction yesterday when this news about canceling the meeting came out, immediate criticism from a top Kremlin aid that the United States is not treating Russia on an equal basis.

There is one thing, though, Kristie that we do -- can look forward to tomorrow, which is Friday, there's going to be a meeting over at the State Department with the two top officials, Secretary Kerry from the State Department, Secretary Hagel from the defense department, and their counterparts. Sergei Shoigu, who is the defense minister and also the -- Mr. Lavrov, the foreign minister. They will be meeting together, going over all of these issues that are confronting them, and then also setting up the G20.

So, maybe there will be something, but it looks like it could be a tough meeting.

LU STOUT: With that meeting tomorrow, as you said, one to watch. Jill Dougherty reporting, thank you very much indeed.

And you are watching News Stream. And up next, service is limited, but international flights are running once again at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta airport. And CNN's Nima Elgabir is there.

And we'll tell you about an unusual amnesia case in the United States that has stumped doctors there.

And in Syria, state media airs there images of President Bashar al- Assad after rebels say they attacked his motorcade.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: OK. Welcome back.

And this just in to us, an explosion at a mosque in Pakistan has killed 23 people and injured 50 others. It happened in the city of Quetta at the funeral of a police official. Now police say a suicide bomber blew himself up as people were lining up for the procession. It's believed most of the victims were policemen.

We'll bring you more details as they come in.

Now some international flights are operating once again at Nairobi's Jomi Kenyatta international airport, though they are still limited. And a government official has just told CNN that the airport will be back to full capacity by midnight tonight local time.

Now Wednesday's fire, it caused extensive damage. You can see it right there on your screen. But fortunately, there are no reports of casualties. It is still not clear how this fire started. And authorities say an investigation is under way.

Now, we're going to bring you a sports story. It's no secret that doping was widespread in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin wall, but now a new report alleges that West Germany may also have sponsored doping programs. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Doping secrets laid out in this newly published report detailing a widespread scheme allegedly sanctioned by some West German officials that went on for decades during the Cold War. Some former athletes, like discus gold medalist Robert Harting say back then doping was an open secret.

"It's always been known that in West Germany the same happened, but there was never any evidence for it," he says. "Now, we have that. And I hope everything will be clarified also with names."

The investigation was conducted by Berlin's Humboldt University at the request of the government's Institute for Sports Research. And it details how doping started out in the 1950s and then became widespread and organized in the 1970s with anabolic steroids even handed out to minors with little regard for the well-being of the athletes.

One example of the dangers of steroids abuse was Birgit Dressel, a heptathlete who died in 1987 at the age of 26 after receiving performance enhancing drugs for years, according to the public prosecutor.

Doping controls were put in place in the 1980s, but the head of Germany's athletics assocation says more needs to be done, including tighter testing standards and more severe punishment.

"It is also about the credibility of sport," he says. "We realize that the control system of sports does not guarantee this credibility."

During the Cold War, Communist East Germany and the west were engulfed in a battle for sports supremacy. After the fall of the Communist government, it became clear that the East German government ran a massive doping program with awful consequences.

In 2008, I visited Andreas Krieger, a former East German Olympian who said he had to have a sex change after years of excessive steroids abuse.

"I felt much more attracted to women and just felt like a man, but I knew I was not lesbian," he says.

Now it's alleged that doping was not just widespread in East Germany. That puts this man under pressure, the head of Germany's Olympic confederation and a frontrunner to become the next president of the IOC. He says an independent panel has been set up to evaluate the doping report, but he maintains it's almost impossible to stop athletes from using banned substances.

"It's like in society," he says, "for thousands of years there's been theft, but we still have not managed to stop theft from happening altogether."

Germany's parliament is also set to launch an investigation into former West Germany's alleged doping schemes in September.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, I want to bring you an update on the story out of Pakistan I told you just a few minutes ago. An explosion at a mosque in Pakistan has killed 38 people and injured 50 others. It all happened in the city of Quetta. And the target was the funeral of a police official. We'll bring you more on this story in the minutes ahead right here on CNN.

Now, an update on a bizarre medical mystery in the United States. Now a few months ago, this man who woke up in a hospital with no memory of his past. Now his ID card said that he was Michael Boatwright from Florida, but the 61-year-old had forgotten how to speak English. Instead, he spoke only Swedish.

And now the man, he is out of hospital, and he spoke to CNN in an exclusive interview.

Now chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now live from CNN New York. And Sanjay, it's just such an incredible story. What did you learn?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a bit of a medical mystery as you point out, Kristie, still. But, you know, he taught English, at one point in his life, in China. Then over the last several months he says he essentially has lost all of his memories, long-term memories, including his native language of English. And as you mentioned, just speaks Swedish. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Michael Boatwright's bizarre story began five months ago when Motel Staff found him unconscious in Palm Springs, California. The only clues were IDs in his wallet and evidence that he had flown from China to Palm Springs a few days prior. Boatwright was then taken to Desert Regional Hospital and he was diagnosed with dissociative amnesia, it's a rare psychiatric condition that's typically associated with a traumatic event.

Boatwright awoke in the hospital insisting he had lost his memory and forgot how to speak English. Eventually, it was a hospital social worker who uncovered his years living abroad in China, Japan, and yes, Sweden.

This week, Boatwright was released from the hospital and he now lives at this homeless shelter.

In our exclusive interview, speaking only in Swedish, Boatwright says he has recurring nightmares that are too disturbing to describe.

He told our producer, "I'm scared, because I don't know what's going to happen to me next."

One bright spot, Eva, an ex-girlfriend who says she dated Michael in the 1980s. Talking to her on the phone here, he suddenly seems at ease even though, he says, he can't remember her.

"Eva wants me to go back to Sweden. That's what I want too," he says. "I feel like a stranger here. Sweden feels like home."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Yeah, this is such a mind boggling story. And Sanjay, it is so bizarre that he can't remember anything. I mean, how do we know that this is not a hoax?

GUPTA: You know, it could be, but it's unlikely when you talk to the doctors and the people around him. I mean, if it's a hoax, he certainly kept it up pretty well. This has been going on for some time. And no one has caught him off guard.

I will say, you know, you think about these things sort of broadly, malingering or a hoax is one thing, but a traumatic brain injury is something else doctors would be wondering about or some sort of stroke or seizure, and that doesn't appear to be the cause either and that typically, it causes a more short-term memory loss and not a specific thing like language.

But there are these dissociative amnesias, these almost fugue like states, Kristie, usually in response to some sort of traumatic event, which he eluded to. He said there was traumatic memories that he didn't even want to talk about. And people will build up a wall, go back to an earlier time in their lives. He used to live in Sweden. It could be that.

But again there's no blood test or brain scan that can give an absolute answer here.

LU STOUT: Is there any chance he'll get his memory back?

GUPTA: Yeah, I think so. You konw, if you look at these types of patients over the years, it's pretty rare, but it has happened before. They often do get their memories back. Sometimes it can happen quite suddenly, sometimes it's in response to counseling or even anti-anxiety medications or it could be a profound amount of anxiety sort of that's causing this. You don't see it as much on the outside, but it could be causing this dissociative amnesia.

He seemed at ease when he was talking to Eva in Swedish, even though he said he could not remember who she was. So there may be some clues in there.

But again, as you point out, rare and very bizarre.

LU STOUT: Well, here's hoping that he will be able to get his memory back. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much for joining us and giving us an update on this medical mystery. Fascinating story.

You're watching News Stream, we'll be back right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

And day after that huge fire burned Jomo Kenyatta, East Africa's busiest airport, flights have started to operate once again. And in fact airport officials have told CNN that it will operate at full capacity later today.

Now for the latest, let's go now to CNN's Nima Elbagir, she joins us from the airport there in Nairobi. And Nima Elbagir. We saw the video earlier behind you, the international arrivals area still smoldering, and yet we've learned that the airport will be back to full capacity by midnight local time. Is the airport ready for that?

NIMA ELGABIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's absolutely the question everybody is asking here, especially the -- the -- sorry, the fresh goods exporters here whose entire -- I'm sorry, the line is crackling a little bit, if you can hear me, Kristie, I was saying this is the question that everybody here is asking, especially those in the fresh produce industry. Kenya is a major agricultural exporter. And this is an industry in which any kind of a delay brings with it huge penalties from the European and America's supermarkets that rely on Kenyan goods to take to market. So they're very, very worried, as you can appreciate.

They've already had a huge delay. They're worried about meeting their obligations. And now they're being told to trust that at midnight tonight, the airport, which as you said -- I'm standing in front of it -- is still smoldering. So they have to put their trust in the fact that this will allow them to meet their deadlines and not be penalized by their customers.

But I have to say, there is movement. We spoke to the Minister of Interior -- Minister (inaudible) earlier today. We asked him about the response. And he said that they are -- in addition to the investigation into the causes of the fire, they will also be investigating the response by the fire services and how that was lacking in a lot of ways.

I want you to take a listen to a sound bite that we took earlier after speaking to an eyewitness who was in the terminal building, Krisite, when the fire started. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After the smoke came in, because we didn't see any fire, so we waited like 15 minutes. And we could see the smoke from where we were seated, but it was -- I think it was gate four. And we were seated -- I don't remember where we were, but we were a distance, and you could see -- because it was dark, so you at some point you couldn't see anything.

It cleared. And then again it came up. So where we were seated, the smoke starts coming in. So that's when everyone tells us, oh, you have to go, you have to go. Run as quickly as you can, because then it was a really dark cloud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELBAGIR: What's even more extraordinary, Kristie, is that she said that even after they ran out of the terminal building, that it was another hour before she said she saw and fire truck start to put out the blaze, at least from the outside -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, the lagging emergency response very worrying there. And as you mentioned earlier, there is a lot of pressure on the airport to open up at full capacity, pressure for cargo flights, domestic flights, international flights. But you also said it's still smoldering. We know that the fire rekindled overnight. Is the fire completely contained?

ELGABIR: Well, the Kenyan airport authorities say that it is. And the Kenyan transport minister seems pretty confident. And the reality is that they are staking their reputation on this. This is a very, very bad time -- I mean, there's obviously a never good time for your airport to burst into flames -- but right at the beginning of the height, the peak of tourism season, it's a really bad time for this to happen. It's absolutely miraculous that none of the some 16,000 passengers that go through Jomo Kenyatta International Airport every day, Kristie, that none of them were - - none of them were injured and there were no fatalities.

So it's very, very important that the Kenyan authorities be seen to be handling this appropriately, because the major airline operators, they're taking a huge hit, they're taking a huge financial hit. And they're going to be watching very, very closely. And a lot of them obviously going to be having conversations with the government about their future using Kenya as a hub and what kind of guarantees the Kenyan government can give them, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Nima Elgabir reporting live form Kenyatta International. Thank you very much indeed for that update.

You are watching News Stream. And still ahead, rebels claim an attack on the motorcade of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But state media say that he is just fine. We'll get the latest from the region.

And in India, it is a precious commodity that is used in religious offerings. But now temples are joining the battle to conserve water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now an explosion at a Mosque in Pakistan has killed 38 people and injured over 50 others. They say a suicide bomber blew himself up as people were lining up for a funeral procession. It happened in the city of Quetta. It's believed most of the victims were policemen.

Yemeni officials say four alleged al Qaeda militants and two civilians have been killed in a drone strike in the southeastern province of Ma'rib. It would be the sixth suspected U.S. drone attack in Yemen in the past two weeks. Now western nations have closed their embassies throughout the region over fear of an imminent terrorist attack.

Egypt's interim president sees that foreign diplomacy has failed to end the country's political deadlock. Thousands of supporters of the deposed President Mohamed Morsy are camping out in public places to call for him to be reinstated. Now the U.S. is calling on all parties to talk to each other.

The death of a British teenager is leading to calls for social media sites to crack down on online bullying. Hannah Smith killed herself after her family says that she was bullied on the site Ask.fm. The British prime minister is even calling for a boycott of sites that don't do enough to fight online bullying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: First of all, the people that operate these websites have got to step up to the plate and show some responsibility in the way that they run these websites. Second point is, look, just because someone does something online, it doesn't mean they're above the law. If you insight someone to do harm, if you insight violence, that is breaking the law whether that's online or offline. And I want to make sure we take as much action as we can.

But also there's something all of us can do as well as parents and as users of the Internet, and that is not use some of these vile sites. Boycott them. Don't go there. Don't join them. We need to do that as well.

So, I'm very keen we look at all the actions we can take and try and help stop future tragedies like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: In Syria, the opposition says that rebels fired on President Bashar al-Assad's motorcade on Thursday, but just afterwards, state media reported otherwise. In fact, they showed these images of Mr. al-Assad unharmed at a mosque in Damascus. They said he was taking part in Eid prayers at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Now Mohammed Jamjoom is following the story from neighboring Lebanon. He joins us now live from a Bureau in Beirut. And Mohammed, what do we know about this reported attack on Assad's convoy?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, lots of contradictory message coming out of Syria earlier today. First, we heard from opposition websites. These were -- a lot of these messages posted on Facebook pages that are frequented by Syrian opposition figures. And there were reports that President al-Assad's convoy was fired on as it was going towards a mosque where the president would hold the Eid al-Fitr prayers.

But then we got messages from Syrian state television -- first there were pictures that were broadcast purporting to show Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he was praying these Eid al-Fitr prayers this morning alongside other religious figures in Syria from different Islamic confessions throughout Syria.

Then there was an interview that was conducted on the phone with Syria's information minister Omran al-Zohbi, which he called in to Syria state television saying that these reports that the Syrian president's convoy had been targeted were outright lies.

And after that, we saw images released by the Syrian president office showing President Bashar al-Assad as he was getting into his car leaving Eid al-Fitr prayers earlier in the day heading back to the presidential palace.

Again, the Syrian president's office maintaining nothing happened, saying that the Syrian president drove himself to the mosque today, conducted these prayers, then went back to his palace.

But there have still been these reports that have come out throughout the day on websites frequented by Syrian opposition figures claiming that Syrian rebel brigades said that they did fire upon the convoy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as he was heading to these prayers earlier today, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, conflicting reports about what happened to his motorcade earlier today. But what do we know about the general level of fighting in Damascus? And how vulnerable is Bashar al-Assad?

JAMJOOM: Well, right now there's still fighting going on outside -- you know, in the suburbs of Damascus and some pockets inside Damascus as well. There are areas that the rebels continue to try to overtake.

But in the last couple of months, what's really happened inside Syria is that President Bashar al-Assad's forces seem to have gotten the upper hand. They seem to have the momentum right now. A lot of that is due to the fact that thousands of fighters that belong to militant Shiite group Hezbollah have crossed over from Lebanon, have gone into Syria. They've really been betressing (ph) the Syrian forces and retaking some key parts of the country. Because of that, President al-Assad seems to be sitting a little bit more comfortable these days. And a lot of Syrian analysts do believe that he does seem to have the upper hand, that the balance has really tipped in favor of the Syrian regime.

Now fighting is still going on is a brutal a fashion as ever throughout the country. But in Damascus, it seems to be a bit more secure these last few weeks. And the seat of power there seems to be more comfortable than it was just a few months ago -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: And as the fighting goes on, we've learned that the U.S. president has announced more humanitarian aid for those affected by the conflict. How much help will it provide?

JAMJOOM: You know, Kristie, the rebels and the opposition in Syria say that they need a lot more. They've always been thankful of the humanitarian aid that they're getting from the U.S. and other countries, but they say what they really need in order to, you know, give them the momentum once more, in order to raise the morale of the rebel fighters as well, they say they need weapons. They have said this from day one. They say humanitarian aid is great. They say a humanitarian disaster has continued to unfold in Syria, that whatever food and other goods and -- you know, that they can get is fantastic, but they say they need weapons.

And this is one of the dilemmas. When you hear the U.S. and other countries talking about providing weaponry or debating providing weaponry to the Syrian rebels, to the opposition forces, even if they were to get those weapons today, it would still take months, we hear, from analysts before they would have any kind of practical impact on the battlefield there. So that continues to be the refrain we're hearing from the rebels from opposition forces inside Syria -- Kristie.

LUSTOUT: All right, Mohammed Jamjoom reporting, thank you.

Now new satellite imagery of some of Syria's ancient cities, it shows stunning levels of destruction in a very short time. Hala Gorani shows us the damage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We often show you the atrocities from Syria's civil war from the perspective of the people living it. But today, we paint a bigger picture, what the devastation looks like from the sky. Amnesty International has just released a series of satellite images. This one shows the Aleppo neighborhood of Jeb al-Badro (ph) last year. This is what it looks like now: whole areas decimated by government strikes in February.

A similar fate in the Ardelhamra (ph) neighborhood. Now showing the destruction of war even from space.

And the neighborhood of Taraq al-Bab (ph), here before, and here after. These strikes alone killed more than 160 people.

Over 4 million people have been displaced, many now living in makeshift camps. Here, from high above, a camp near the city of Atma (ph), close to Turkey seen last year. And now, tents filling the space entirely with new people hoping to find refuge.

Also, satellite images of looting. Here, the ancient city of Appamaya (ph). And now, you clearly see all the pockmarks from looting at the site.

A rare view from space of the tragedy, while on the ground, the human suffering goes on in Syria.

Hala Gorani, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And here is one more perspective of the violence in Aleppo. Just take a look at this map of the city and all the red dots here indicate damage or destruction. Now very few appear in the pink shaded areas, which are under regime control. Instead, they are clustered in the blue opposition controlled areas and in the yellow disputed zones. So rebel districts are being devastated, while those loyal to the Syrian government are largely untouched.

And according to the analysis done for Amnesty International, a substantial amount of the damage is an Aleppo's ancient city. Now this is how the UNESCO World Heritage site looked back in 2008. The historic Amayid (ph) mosque, it used to attract many tourists. And according to legend, the city was once home to the prophet Abraham. But as you see in the image on the right, fighting has destroyed the iconic minaret.

Now violence has also damaged large parts of the Suk al-Madina (ph). And this bizarre, it traces its roots back to the 14th Century. This is how it used to look, but the city on the Silk Road is now a crumbling shell of itself.

Now over the last few months, we've been covering the continuing political crisis in Egypt. And recently, there's been another setback, an attempt to negotiate has stalled. Now thousands of pro-Morsy protesters defy the government by remaining in Cairo's squares. And at the heart of this political crisis in Egypt is religion.

Arwa Damon reports on Egypt's struggle for its identity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Call it a coup or a reset of the 2011 revolution, either way the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsy has plummeted the country into crisis.

At its roots are Morsy's authoritarian and increasingly Islamist rule, economic grievances and a plethora of other failures.

But the nation is also fundamentally entrenched in an ideological clash.

ALY SHALAKANY, LAWYER: Egyptians are religious. I mean, we've been religious for 7,000 years. So that's not in question here, what's in question is how much of a role religion should play when it comes to the state, OK, that is the fundamental identity question here.

DAMON: Aly Shalakany is a lawyer and found member of an NGO that focuses on constitutional reforms.

SHALAKANY: What happened in 2012 is that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists were pushing for more robust, let's say a wider interpretation of what principles of Shariah meant.

DAMON: The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis did get what they wanted, mainly in the form of two articles that gave Islam and Islamic institutions more prominence when it comes to governance. They were able to do that because the secularists and many others withdrew from the constitutional assembly, accusing Morsy and the Islamists of manipulating and hijacking the process.

When put to a national referendum, it passed. But just over 30 percent of the country actually turned out to vote. Amending that constitution is among the first steps of the interim government's roadmap.

Shalakany and others want to strike out those articles, but that's a nonstarter for the hardline Salafist Nour party, uncomfortable bedfellows backing the coalition. The Nour Party stood against Morsy, but only after guarantees those articles would not be touched.

NADER BAKKAR, AL-NOUR PARTY SPOKESMAN: So again, the whole of the members who joined the roadmap, or the gentlemen who were there at the meeting, agreed on this philosophy of this principle.

DAMON: It's a vital nonnegotiable point when it comes to convincing their grassroots supporters that Morsy's ouster was a political battle, not one against Islam.

BAKKAR: If they wanted to have some amendments regarding the Islamic identity, I think by that time we can think again, or reconsider again, our joining to the roadmap as a whole.

DAMON: And so even as Egypt struggles to move forward, another fault line has already threatened to emerge.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now the PGA championship has just teed off in New York. And Tiger Woods is looking to claw his way back up with a major win. We'll preview the action coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now the PGA Championship starts today. And Tiger Woods has just teed off. Now Woods is aiming to win his first major in five years. Shane O'Donoghue tells us more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHANE O'DONOGHUE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Since Tiger Woods win at the U.S. Open in 2008, over five years ago, there have been 14 first-time major winners. And it's all because of one man and the playing field now is certainly leveled. However, that man is desperately in search of his 15th major here at Oak Hill.

TIGER WOODS, GOLFER: It's been probably the longest spell that I've had since I've hadn't won a major championship. You know, I came out here very early and won my first one back in '97.

RORY MCILROY, WON 2012 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Anyone out of this field could win this tournament and that's not the case in some other sports. You know, I think that's something that's quite appealing about golf.

JUSTIN ROSE, 2013 U.S. OPEN CHAMPION: I definitely think golf is getting stronger and stronger and deeper absolutely. And, you know, guys tend to be a little more fearless. They don't tend to subscribe into the fact that you need to pay your dues possibly, they just get out here and get it done.

PHIL MICKELSON, 2013 BRITISH OPEN CHAMPION: I feel like the set-up that we have this week really identifies the best player, because it's not overly penalizing for a slight mishit, it's really penalizing for a big miss. And it gives you a chance to make birdies if you hit great shots. I just think it's a wonderful setup.

O'DONOGHUE: Well, Phil Mickelson is in the form of his life after that sensational victory at the Open Championship at Muirfield last month. He is in form for this one. As are others, notably Tiger Woods and many of the world's top 10. But who has truly brought their A-game to Oak Hill? All will be revealed. The PGA Championship begins here on Thursday.

Shane O'Donoghue, CNN, Rochester New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now time for the global weather forecast. There's been some recordbreaking temperatures in China. We definitely felt the heat in Hong Kong earlier today. Let's get more now with Mari Ramos. She joins us live from the world weather center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: The heat goes on and on. It seems like we can't get get a break here from these stifling hot temperatures. And now, Hong Kong, like you mentioned, getting in on the action as well for the next few days.

I want to show you some of these high temperatures that we've have across the region. Again, Shanghai topping 40 degrees.

Notice as we go down the list we're looking at temperatures that are well above the average for this time of year.

I want to talk a little bit about Shanghai in particular here, Kristie, because we had that all-time record high that was set on Wednesday. Again, today, with those 40 degree temperatures that has been three days in a row.

Remember how I was telling you yesterday they've been keeping records since 1872? Well, in all of that time, only eight days have exceeded 40 degrees. The thing is, that all of those happened within that 140 year margin. But now we have three in a row where we have it over 40 degrees. So that's very significant and it just kind of gives you an indication of how intense this heatwave actually is.

And I think tomorrow we'll probably hit 40 degrees again, unfortunately, in Shanghai and other areas along the region. So we're talking about a huge, huge chunk of real estate here that is suffering from the intense heat.

And this really does take a toll.

But everybody is asking the question, why is this happening? What is going on?

Well, we have a big area of high pressure here that has been parked here for quite awhile already. High pressure means sinking air. Try to imagine a mountain. So this is a mountain of air that is right over this region here. So when the weather systems come in here from the west, they can't go through here, so they have kind of ride along to the north. And that's why you've had that rain even in Beijing a little bit more persistent this year than in year's past. And you have all of that flooding here in areas to the south.

And then when you have the weather systems coming out of the Pacific, these can't make it through there either, so they kind of have to go around to the south again, like we've seen so many of the tropical cyclones so far. Usually, the tropical cyclones, yeah they can cause some damage, but they bring us rain. You have that constant flow of moisture off the ocean, that, unfortunately is not happening this time around.

So we keep the area of high pressure in place. That hot, humid air remains there as well. Little or no chance for any kind of clouds to form and bring us any kind of relief. And the rain keeps riding along to the north. And that's the weather pattern we're in.

It's going to remain 4 to 6 degrees above the average, with day after day of temperatures over 40 degrees in this area that you see here highlighted in red. And still very hot even as we head all the way back even into Chongqing, in to the areas farther to the west. It's also very dry across many of these areas. Drought continues to be a concern, especially in areas farther to the south. So that's going to be something else to monitor.

And, yes, Kristie, again we're looking at some very intense heat this late in the day, 36 still in Shanghai, 30 in Hong Kong. And that's a concern when the temperatures don't even cool off at night, nobody gets a chance to cool off and get a break from the hot temperatures.

Back to you.

LU STOUT: Yeah, intense heat across China and here in Hong Kong. Mari Ramos, thank you for the warning.

Now one of the most arid regions of India, Hindu worshipers are making every last drop of milk and water count. And temples, they've come up with a way to both worship and honor the Earth. Sumnima Udas has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Devoted, and uninterpretable: reciting verses from ancient texts, performing elaborate rituals, this is a daily routine for millions of practicing Hindus.

From dawn to dusk, devotees of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, manifested here in this stone structure, offer milk and water to the deity. Some come to celebrate, others to pray for better days. The offerings turning into holy water or jugs.

(on camera): We've been here for quite a few hours now and we've seen thousands and thousands of liters of water being poured here nonstop.

(voice-over): In this temple alone, more than 25,000 liters of water is offered to Shiva every day. The offerings used to go to waste.

PURSHOTAM GAUR, ASTROLOGER (through translator): I used to see all this holy water stagnant outside the temple area, creating unhygienic pools, which became a breeding ground for mosquitoes and disease. It made me so upset.

UDAS: Over a decade ago, Purshotam Gaur, a part-time priest, part- time astrologer, came up with a simple but innovative idea.

GAUR (through translator): I thought why not conserve all this water that's being wasted in temples and recharge the depleting ground water levels. There are 3,000 temples in Geppo (ph) and every day some 45 million liters of water is offered.

UDAS: In some 300 temples across this homestate of Ragistan Gaur started channeling water through several filter chambers into deep pits underground or into water tanks ready to be reused.

GAUR (through translator): Ragistan is called the land of deserts, where every single drop of water is precious. Some people have to travel many kilometers to fetch water. I'm not saying don't offer water to gods, because that's faith, that's worship, but I'm saying let's recycle it, so that there's water for generations to come.

UDAS: Since this water harvesting technique, Gaur says temples in Ragistan conserve more than a million liters of water per day. Even Lord Shiva must be pleased about that.

Sumnima Udas, CNN, Geppo, Ragistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now you probably heard it said before, TV is going to the dogs. Well, up next, we've got a channel to show you. And if you have a dog, let him watch.

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LU STOUT: Welcome back.

And a new TV channel has just launched in the U.S. and the target audience might just bark back if the programming isn't good. Now Jeanne Moos turns up the volume on dog TV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Who would sit and watch 3 minutes of a dog running through a cornfield? It looks just like you. Look. Just like you. No wonder it is just like her, it's DOGTV. The first television network for dogs has just gone national on DirectTV. What's the target demo?

RON LEVI, FOUNDER AND CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, DOGTV: Wherever there is a dog home alone we feel this is the perfect baby sitter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Been there, done that. Don't let your dog get lonely. DOGTV.

MOOS: The creators said they did three years of research on dog behavior watching video from surveillance cameras set up in 38 apartments to see what dogs do when they are alone and how they react to TV.

LEVI: We learned a lot of dogs were not happy with the barking noises.

MOOS: Romeo, for instance gets so excited his owners can't watch shows on Animal Planet so DOGTV features almost no barking and just the occasional squeaky toy. They have enhanced certain colors to make them more visible to dogs. There are three types of doggy programming, stimulation, relaxation and exposure to get dogs used to things like car rides and babies and thunderstorms. DOGTV costs $5 a month and at least your dog won't have to sit through erectile dysfunction ads. (on camera): Are there commercials?

LEVI: It's commercial free. It's ad free. It's 24/7.

MOOS (voice-over): Forget channel surfing. Some trainers think DOGTV is silly that it makes dogs hyper trying to make sense of stuff coming out of the box. The humane society recommends leaving a TV on. DOGTV is being tested in veterinarian clinics and shelters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Immediately the dog sat down and watched it.

MOOS: Some dogs are mesmerized while others can't be both bothered. Try to stay awake for this. Want the remote?

LEVI: We don't expect dogs to sit all day and become canine couch potatoes.

MOOS: Ginger became a couch potato without showing the interest in DOGTV unless she is dreaming about leaping through the cornfield. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

END