Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

European Union Meet To Discuss U.S. Spying; NFL Franchise In London?; Interview with Former U.S. Drone Pilot; Economics In Greece Makes Life Doubly Hard For Roma Community; Formula One In India; Saudi Interior Ministry Warns Women Against Driving

Aired October 25, 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 EU leaders meet amid reports that the United States didn't just tap Angela Merkel's mobile phone, The Guardian says U.S. has monitored the phones of 35 world leaders.

Now Saudi Arabia's government is warning women not to defy a ban on driving cars.

And ending a life with the push of a button. We hear from a drone pilot.

Now first this hour, the U.S. is on the defensive as the spying scandal grows. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the latest revelations have severely shaken relations between America and Europe. Now she is demanding answers over reports that the U.S. National Security Agency eavesdropped on her mobile phone calls. That, as the controversy widens.

The Guardian newspaper reports on a document leaked by the former security contractor Edward Snowden. It says the NSA monitored phone conversations of 35 world leaders.

And while Angela Merkel has slammed what she calls spying among friends, President Obama's homeland security adviser addresses some of the criticism in a piece in USA Today.

Now Lisa Monaco says the NSA is bound by legal limits. And she adds, the U.S. is conducting a review to make sure privacy is protected. Now still, Monaco says it is no secret that the U.S. gathers information on other countries to protect its citizens. And she adds, so does every intelligence service in the world.

Now, at the European Union talks in Brussels earlier today, both France and Germany said that they want to talk to Washington about new rules for intelligence gathering among allies.

Now Jim Boulden joins me now live from CNN London with more. And Jim, tell us more about what EU leaders are saying about the spying allegations and the effect it's going to have on the relationship with the U.S.

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I should say, Kristie, that many of these EU leaders are now holding at this moment their national briefings at the end of the summit to talking to their local media. So you would expect to hear more from Mr. Hollande and Angela Merkel.

But overnight, Angela Merkel as you said, was very strong by saying that trust needs to be rebuilt and that spying among friends is never acceptable. She obviously clearly angry with these allegations that the U.S. potentially was monitoring her mobile phone. We know her to be someone to use a mobile phone a lot and text messaging.

Now what she is calling for, what France is calling for, is a meeting later this year, talks with the U.S. to talk about transparency when it comes to this kind of monitoring, intelligence gathering. And Europe is reminding the U.S. again that in order for there to be a cooperation on intelligence gathering when it comes to potential terrorism the U.S. needs Europe as much as Europe needs the U.S. And that's, I think, very, very clear that Europe continues to be quite angry about this.

I should also say with Angela Merkel that she has been leading the way with this very much, very unhappy with this. She's spoken with President Obama of course. But this summit, of course, Kristie, is not usually about these sort of things, it's usually about the economic ramifications here in Europe.

But they are saying that data protection now probably needs to be high up on the agenda when European leaders meet, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And while our viewers are listening to you, Jim, they're also looking at these live pictures from Brussels. Just then, we were looking at the German chancellor Angela Merkel speaking. We are staying across her comments. Anything that she'll bring up in relation to this allegation about this spying controversy we'll bring it to you -- our viewers right away.

But back to you, Jim. You were talking about the impact on -- the economic impact. I mean, just how far is this row going to escalate? I mean, is this just about anger? Some people are saying this could be political theater. Or could it actually turn into policy change? Could it affect trade?

BOULDEN: Well, Angela Merkel has said she does not want this to stop trade talks between the U.S. and the European Union. We should note those trade talks has just really kicked off after more than a decade of trying. These are very delicate negotiations. The potential is huge if you think of a free trade agreement between U.S. and EU. So she does not want to see those trade talks stop.

Others in Europe have said maybe we should teach the U.S. a lesson by breaking off those talks. She has not gone that far.

But she has said, though, if you put data protection into those talks and make that part of any kind of treaty that would be signed later on, that's the kind of issue where she thinks that could be part of the talks. And that's why she wants to have high level discussions between the U.S., France and Germany to bring data protection and transparency in line with things like sales of autos and banking, for instance.

LU STOUT: Yeah. And advancing those talks that European Leaders are calling for.

I mean, what is the U.S. doing? I mean, just a moment ago before we went to you live, we mentioned that op-ed that was published by an Obama deputy in USA Today, which doesn't have a circulation base in Europe in reaction to those allegations. I mean, what is the U.S. doing to build more trust in the wake of this controversy? And is it enough?

BOULDEN: Yeah, well, obviously first you had Mr. Obama, President Obama speaking with Angela Merkel. You've had various ambassadors called in, in France and in Germany to explain what's been going on exactly. And also, of course as you said, the U.S. is reviewing its intelligence, that's something the White House has said. They're reviewing the way they gather intelligence.

And obviously it's about bridge building, again, with Europe because it's so critical for this, as Angela Merkel says, for trust to be rebuilt. But I think it's very early days into that.

Obviously we continue to get revelations, don't we, out of The Guardian. This one about, as you said, 35 world leaders' phones potentially being monitored. Now that was from a memo from 2006, so a lot of people in Europe are going to want to know privately from Mr. Obama what exactly is going on now.

LU STOUT: That's right. You're right. It seems almost every month, every week almost, new revelations about the size and scope of the NSA spying program.

Jim Boulden joining us live from CNN London, thank you so much for your analysis and insight there.

Now, the Cold War may be over, but a Russian cultural center is reportedly under the FBI's radar over suspicions it may be trying to recruit spies.

Now the story, it first surfaced in the magazine Mother Jones. And here is our chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORREPSONDENT (voice-over): You are looking at a Russian spy on American soil, or you're looking at Yury Zaytsev, a Russian bureaucrat who runs an exchange to bring Americans to Russia. It's one of those two, or maybe both or maybe neither.

YURIY A. ZAYTSEV, RUSSIAN CULTURAL CENTRE: I think it's a stupid situation because it's like a cold war.

TAPPER: The FBI seems to think that he has been using the Russian Center for Culture trips to assess and recruit intelligence assets for Russia. That information first came to light in a report from the progressive magazine "Mother Jones." This morning, Zaytsev vigorously denied it to CNN.

ZAYTSEV: I am not recruiting. Welcome to Russia.

TAPPER: In the past two years, 128 young Americans have taken the all expense paid fact-finding trips that the center sponsors. The FBI has been interviewing people who have taken the trip, such as Richard Portwood.

RICHARD PORTWOOD, CENTER FOR AMERICAN-RUSSIAN ENGAGEMENT OF EMERGING LEADERS: They wanted to know how the trip was organized, who we visited on the trip, what type of activities we did while we were in Russia.

TAPPER: Portwood is a graduate student at Georgetown University who heads a group aimed at overcoming cold war stereotypes.

PORTWOOD: The FBI told me that Mr. Zaytsev is a member of the Foreign Intelligence Agency whose mission is to build relationships with Americans and part of the way that he does this is by organizing these cultural visits to Russia where members, participants, allegedly are spotted and assessed for future intelligence purposes in Russia.

TAPPER: The FBI is not talking, but a law enforcement source confirms to CNN the FBI's investigating the cultural center, specifically digging into the types of activities engaged in during the trips. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement the allegations, quote, "contain nothing in common with the reality."

While the cold war officially ended some years ago, the U.S./Russian rivalry and spy craft, well, that's thriving. In May, American Diplomat Ryan Fogle was detained in Moscow with some terrible wigs, dark glasses and foreign cash. The Russian counterintelligence agency claimed he was trying to recruit spies.

He was deemed persona non-grata and sent packing, sans wig. Who can forget "Operation Ghost Stories," a Russian spy ring broken up by the FBI that introduced the world to Anna Chapman, the sultry red- headed spy who is now a popular talk show host in Russia. Yuriy Zaytsev insists she's not his comrade and he's no spy.

ZAYTSEV: Russian Cultural Center is open. Welcome. We have special exhibitions.

TAPPER: But just in case, he's planning an exit strategy.

ZAYTSEV: I think maybe I go to Russia to vacation after several weeks.

TAPPER: The Washington Post reports that if the spy claims were true, there's no evidence that the program was successful in converting the American travelers into intelligence assets.

Jack Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: This is News Stream. And coming up, this woman in Lebanon is driving her son to school. It's something that could land her in jail back in her native Saudi Arabia. But there are growing calls for change. We'll tell you about that.

Also ahead, a court in China rules on Bo Xilai's appeal of his life sentence. And we'll tell you what they decided.

And Microsoft still looking for a new CEO. The top contenders straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

You're watching News Stream. And you're looking at a visual version of all the stories we've got in the show today.

Now in a few minutes, we'll bring you an interview with the man who operates drones. And he'll talk to us about the emotional toll of killing people with a push of a button.

But now to Saudi Arabia where the government is warning women not to defy a de facto ban on driving.

Now in Saturday, activists are urging Saudi women to get behind the wheel for a one day driving protest. Now supporters say that they have received threatening phone calls from the interior ministry. But the government says that the calls were part of a public relations campaign to make sure everyone knows that Saudi laws will be enforced.

Now traffic laws in the kingdom don't actually bar women from driving, but religious edicts are interpreted to mean that they can't operate a vehicle.

Now so far an online petition has more than 16,000 signatures.

And CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom, he was born in Saudi Arabia. He spent much of his childhood there. He is covering this story for us from CNN in Beirut. He joins us now live -- Mohammed.

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, women in Saudi Arabia are among the most repressed in the world. There's a guardianship system there, that means that women can't go to school, they can't get a bank account, they can't travel without the permission of their male guardian.

First and foremost, they are not allowed to drive. There is a de facto driving ban in Saudi Arabia. Women are prohibited from driving there.

But there's a new campaign, the October 26 women's driving campaign, that has really been gaining momentum in recent weeks. It calls upon women to defy the driving ban on October 26. But many of the Saudi women that I've been speaking with say they didn't even want to wait that long. They've already started.

Here's our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUTHAINA AL-NASR, SAUDI JOURNALIST: It's not about the driving, it's about control. To remind women that we are controlled (ph).

JAMJOOM: Women like Buthaina al-Nasr aren't just emboldened lately, they're more driven than ever to change their society even though they still aren't allowed to drive in their country.

AL-NASR: There's nothing wrong with women driving.

JAMJOOM: A simple statement the world over, but a rallying cry in Saudi Arabia, the last country on Earth where females are prohibited from getting behind the wheel, which is why Buthaina, a prominent journalist, moved to Lebanon.

This morning, she takes us along while dropping her 8-year-old son Hisham (ph) off to school. She could be arrested for running such an errand in Riyadh.

A new movement, the October 26 women's driving campaign, aims to change all that by urging women to defy the driving ban. It's supported by a growing number of female and male voices.

ABDULLAH AL-ALAMI, AUTHOR: There is a group of ultraconservatives here who will try to do anything and everything to prevent women from exercising their rights, be it driving, going to school, working, many men that I know we feel that it is crucial for us to support women who do this.

JAMJOOM: Despite the growing pressure, the government has not indicated that it's going to review its position. So numerous women have already taken to the streets and posted videos of themselves driving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Supporters.

JAMJOOM: Some even receiving signs of support from men in their cars.

In 2011, Manal al-Sharif was jailed for more than a week for doing the same. She's a determined now as she was then.

MANAL AL-SHARIF, SUADI WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACTIVIST: For me, I wouldn't stop until the first driver's license is issued to a Saudi woman.

JAMJOOM: Manal lives in the United Arab Emirates now, but insists things back home are getting better.

AL-SHARIF: When I shipped my car from Saudi Arabia to Dubai I didn't change the plates, because I'm planning for soon (inaudible) to take this car, driving myself, back home to Saudi Arabia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JAMJOOM: You know, Kristie, you were talking a minute ago about the fact that this website, the women's driving campaign website, the online petition had received over 16,000 signatures since it was put online in late September, that's despite the fact that that website is reportedly blocked in Saudi Arabia.

Well, I just found out a few minutes ago from Imana Najan (ph) who is one of the supporters of the campaign that that website has been hacked today. And I asked if she's concerned about that. She said, no, we've proven out point. The women are still going out driving. We've really reached a point where people don't -- they're not concerned about all these attempts to sort of derail the movement -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: You know, the women who are part of this driving campaign, they are so brave and they are up against so much. October 26, the day of this movement now just one day away -- Mohammed, are Saudi women truly prepared and ready to go out there and defy the driving ban?

JAMJOOM: The Saudi women that I've been speaking with who are really committed to this campaign are extremely ready. They're more than ever ready to go and do this. In fact, many of them have already been driving in the last few weeks. Not just driving, posting pictures of themselves online, posting videos of themselves using their real names. They're not afraid to show their faces.

They say the time has come to go ahead and make sure that women can finally get the right to drive in Saudi Arabia.

The question is going to be how many women will drive? We know up until now it seems about dozens of women have driven, but what exactly will happen tomorrow when so many women have driven already? We just don't know. But we'll be monitoring the story very closely tomorrow as well, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And how is the government of Saudi Arabia likely to respond when women en masse, perhaps in the dozens, maybe in the hundreds and more, decide to defy the driving ban tomorrow?

JAMJOOM: That is a very, very important question, because up until two days ago we heard nothing from the Saudi government. There had been statements in the past when people brought up the women's driving issue. Officials in Saudi Arabia, including the king in Saudi Arabia, have said in the past that women's driving is a societal issue and it's something that society in Saudi Arabia would decide.

Well, the women who have been participating in this campaign, and previous campaigns, they said that's not good enough. We want to know if it's society's issue why we can't go ahead and get driver's licenses?

Well, yesterday I spoke with the spokesman for the interior ministry, Major General Manur al-Turki, he said in no uncertain terms that he was issuing a warning to women who were caught driving in Saudi Arabia either before, during or after the 26th. He said that laws would be applied.

I asked him what exactly that meant. How would these women be punished. He would elaborate.

But when I asked women who are participating in this campaign what they thought about that, they said you know what, we're not concerned. We view this as a good thing, because we need clarity. We went from being in the dark to now being in the light. And many of them said to me, you know what, this is very strange, because Saudi Arabians have said in the past this was a societal issue, but clearly if the Interior Ministry is involved now, that makes it a political issue and that means that's an issue that we can fight in the courts in Saudi Arabia -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right. We're watching and waiting for the turnout and, of course, to see the government's response to it. Mohammed Jamjoom, thank you so much for your reporting on this. Thank you. Take care.

Now, to eastern China now where an appeals court has upheld the guilty verdict against the former Chinese politician Bo Xilai. Now Bo was sentenced last month to life in prison after being found guilty of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. As David McKenzie reports, the ruling ends a once rising career and a very messy political scandal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDNET: The Bo Xilai affair has been a long running sordid scandal here in China that rocked the Communist Party to its core. But in the end, the judgment was swift. In under an hour, a court in eastern China denying the appeal of the former Communist Party kingpin saying that the bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power charges still stand. And now Bo Xilai faces life in prison in a jail outside of Beijing.

It's a stark contrast to his days as party boss in Chongqing where he ruled with an iron fist and grew many followers and many enemies because of his populist policies and his fight on crime.

The Bo scandal has been a major headache for Xi Jinping, China's president. He'll want to move past this as quickly as possible particularly with an important party meeting coming up next month.

Xi Jingping has made corruption a major part of his policy, but many believe that the trial and conviction of Bo Xilai was more about politics than it was about justice.

David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now coming up, it is one of the most high profile positions in the tech world. With Steve Ballmer stepping down, we look at who could be next in line to take the reigns at Microsoft.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: It's Friday night here in Hong Kong. And you're back watching News Stream.

Now Instagram has finally shown off what ads will look like on the social network. And well it kind of looked like regular Instagrams.

Now this is a mockup that they posted of a sample ad. It looks exactly like a regular post on Instagram, except for this, it has a sponsor tag right there in the upper righthand corner.

Now Instagram says that they will only start ads with a few brands at first and that users can hit a button under each ad to hide it from their streams. But even though these are official ads, they're not the first ads on Instagram.

Now the photo agency Tinkerstreet has a mobile division that connects some of Instagram's most popular users with advertisers. Now Tinkerstreet proudly notes that its clients include Levis, Nike and Toyota.

Now, CEO Steve Ballmer says good-bye to Microsoft next year. And the tech giant is searching for his replacement. And many names have been swirling through the rumor mill. And Richard Quest looks at who is in the running.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Ballmer!

(CROWD CHEERS)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL (voice-over): When it comes to Microsoft, Steve Ballmer is passionate.

STEVE BALLMER, CEO, MICROSOFT (shouting): Come on! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

QUEST: Some might say too passionate.

BALLMER: You work for the greatest company in the world!

(CROWD CHEERS)

BALLMER: Soak it in!

QUEST: Microsoft is indeed a world-class company, and thanks to Windows and Office, a money-making machine. The critics, however, say Ballmer has failed to respond fast enough to competitive threats, especially from mobile technology. And they believe new blood is needed.

ADAM HANFT, BRAND STRATEGIST, HANFT PROJECTS: They need fresh thinking, an outsider, somebody to really shake things up, stir the pot dramatically and really reinvent the company.

QUEST: To find the perfect replacement for Steve Ballmer, you might want the genius of Steve Jobs, the software expertise of Bill Gates, the vigor of Marissa Mayer, and the vision of Elon Musk.

(on camera): As the Microsoft board pores over potential candidates, ironically, the best person may not come from tech at all. This man's CV seems to rise to the top: Alan Mulally.

(voice-over): The epitome of the loyal company man, Alan Mulally has worked for just two firms in his 43-year career: Boeing until 2006; until now, Ford. Alan Mulally is an experienced corporate executive, and speaking to CNN this week, he kept his future plans quiet.

ALAN MULALLY, CEO, FORD: I'm very, very happy serving at Ford. We have no plans that are different than that.

QUEST: He's coy. Those who've followed Mulally believe he's enjoying every minute of this attention.

MICHELINE MAYNARD, AUTO INDUSTRY WRITER: To be at his point in his career, age-wise and seniority-wise, and have a tech company coming after you, that's pretty flattering for a modern-day CEO.

QUEST: Alan Mulally is far from the only name that's surfaced. Others mentioned include eBay's John Donahoe, Oracle's Mark Hurd, and the former Nokia chief exec Stephen Elop. The common view is if Mulally wants the job, it will be tough to turn him down. From aircraft to cars to computers, this boardroom legend might have one more corporate challenge left in him yet.

Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, a U.S. man trained to operate drones says its clear to him now it is not a video game it's real life. Now ahead, he describes the trauma he says he experienced.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now the latest allegations over the U.S. spy program are in the spotlight at the summit of European Leaders in Brussels. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel warns that Washington will have to fix relations with Berlin and its other European allies.

And this follows reports that the U.S. national security agency eavesdropped on her mobile phone calls.

Now Merkel said she discussed the issue with other world leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): We said that France and Germany not as Germany plus France, but each country individually will get in contact with the United States and the security community there and try to work out such a framework for future cooperation. Obviously we will also have an exchange of views on how this is to play out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, disgraced former Chinese politician Bo Xilai faces a life behind bars after a court rejected his appeal. Now Bo was found guilty of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power last month and it was sentenced to life in prison.

Now increased patrols in the waters off Italy's coast may have saved the lives of hundreds of migrants. Now Italian coastguard vessels have rescued nearly 700 people in separate operations overnight. They say that they responded to distress calls from five boats.

Hundreds of migrants drowned in several shipwrecks earlier this month in the same area.

And hundreds of people in Japan have been forced to leave their homes to seek shelter from two powerful storms. Now typhoon Francisco has been moving toward the islands off the country's southwest coast with wind speeds of up to 160 kilometers an hour. It is on course to meet another, much stronger typhoon called Lekima in the northern Pacific.

Now on Thursday, we told you about the Pakistani prime minister's meeting with Barack Obama where he told the U.S. president that drone strikes in Pakistan must end. But the Washington Post is reporting that Pakistani officials have secretly endorsed the strikes for years. Now the U.S. newspaper says some of the officials went so far as to actually select targets.

In the coming hours, the UN will hear from its chief investigator looking into civilian deaths from U.S. drone strikes. Now Brandon Bryant was part of a team that flew drones for the U.S. And he says he took part in missions that killed more than 1,600 people. And the experience has left him traumatized.

And he spoke to our Hala Gorani.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON BRYANT:, FORMER DRONE OPERATOR We were consistently told, when I was going through training, that our job was to kill people and break things. And that's like one of those mantras that people say to get themselves to be ready to do stuff like that. And I don't think that I could have ever been ready. I wasn't prepared. And it's largely my fault. But it's also the fault of the people that initiated the training.

We were told to shut up and color, and we couldn't talk to a psychologist and we couldn't do this. And if we talked to anyone, we'd lose our clearance. And so some -- it affected a lot of people. And it, like, it would have been a lot better for us if we would have been able to sit down and talk with someone, to rationalize our -- what has happened.

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So why are you speaking up now?

BRYANT: Because I feel like all the drone operators, they get a bad rap. And they need someone to talk how it's no a video game, how it is real life. And these people need just as much help -- like there's a huge mental health issue here that no one wants to seem to address. And it needs to be addressed. And these people need help and guidance and they need to be shown that they're actual legitimate people so they're not just an unmanned drone flying in the sky above them, there's actual people operating behind it and there are human beings, like they're affected by this just as much as people on the ground.

GORANI: You know, one of the things -- I spoke to a former CIA counterterorrism official who essentially was saying Americans want a sterile, they want an antiseptic war, they don't want blood. They don't want their soldiers killed. And in the end, this is a video. I mean, this is black-and-white grainy video. How do you explain that it still affected you, you know, as much as somebody who is out in the battlefield actually, you know, in a ground combat situation?

BRYANT: So, I don't know if you've ever heard of the knife to artillery kind of thought process, but there's a level of intimacy that goes with every action in war. And while we're not as close as someone who is knifing someone on the ground or shooting their rifle or the weapon at someone, we still have this level of intimacy where we see what we do and we see the actions that happen. We see the immediate affect.

And the effect isn't physical at all. It's completely psychological. You hear the hum of a computer, you don't feel the missile coming off the rail. You watch it. And that disconnect right there, I think, affects a lot of people, because there's no physiological affect on people.

GORANI: And what was the worst -- I mean, when you look -- when you look back at your years doing this, operating drones from afar, what was some of the most shocking video that you saw that really to this day stays with you?

BRYANT: The most shocking I think was when we were following someone and the guy stopped and pulled out two kids and executed them in the middle of the street and he knew that he wasn't -- he had no consequences. And the crew that got him later, it was like vengeance almost.

And these were really -- these are bad people. Like, you have to understand that there are bad people over there. And we do our best to get them. And -- but, like you said earlier, America wants an anti-septic war. We want a clean were. And the reality is, is that nothing is clean. Like it can't ever be clean. Like, there's a reason why war is hell and it's dirty and gross and no one wants to participate in it, because if it was clean, then everyone would want to be a part of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Wow, revealing and powerful interview.

Now we should tell you that we have not had confirmation that Bryant and his team in fact killed a child.

And that was only a short part of the interview. You can hear much more from Brandon Bryant on our website, including his claim that he received what he called a score card for his performance. You can find that at CNN.com/Amanpour.

Now, you're watching News Stream. And up next, the search for the identity of this little girl known as Maria, it takes another turn. A new woman has come forward claiming to be her biological mother. We have the latest on the case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching News Stream.

And let's go back to our visual rundown now. In a few minutes, we'll talk about sports as we examine whether the NFL can really support a new team in London.

But first, we have new developments in the case of a little girl removed from a Roma couple in Greece. Now a Bulgarian woman has come forward claiming to be the mother of the girl known as Maria. She says she gave the child away, because she could not provide for her.

Now these are said to be her other children in Bulgaria.

Now DNA tests will be carried out to see if the woman is, in fact, Maria's mother. And medical tests in Greece have already shown that Maria is not related to the Roma couple she was found living with there. And the couple faces child abduction charges, but they insist they are innocent.

Now many in the Roma community feel unfairly targeted, saying that they are the victims of lingering discrimination. And as Karl Penhaul reports, Greece's economist woes aren't making things any easier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As hard as she tries, she cannot dance away her troubles. Roma families are virtual outcasts in Greece, mired in poverty, often targeted for discrimination.

"There is racism among white people. They insult us for being gypsies. We're illiterate and poor and we're just trying to make some money for our families," he says.

(inaudible) says he makes around 100 euros a week selling scrap metal.

Inside the prefabricated hut, you can see his family like others in this community, is struggling to get by.

"It depends how the day goes, but there are some days we just don't have any food on the table," he says.

This was the community police raided last week and found a mystery blond child known only as Maria. The couple caring for her have been charged with kidnapping, an accusation they deny.

Many mothers say they knew Maria and when they see our camera their children chant the name of their former playmate.

This camp was built with European Union assistance a decade ago. The huts were only intended as a short-term solution.

Have they said that they're going to give you proper houses, or are they still going to leave you in these temporary buildings?

"They said they would build houses, but that was nine years ago. Nothing has happened. I really don't like this life," he says.

Few homes have indoor plumbing, so the women scrub clothes in the street.

Water trickles down open drains.

And if the nights turn colder, men like Panadiodes Calaias (ph) spend their days chopping farm wood. It's the only heating he has.

Greece's economy is in shambles, unemployment is the highest anywhere in the European Union.

"The recession affects everybody, but it affects us more," she says.

For years, her husband Argediese (ph) has provided for his family with his clarinet. Now he says few have the money to hire him for weddings and christenings.

"I've been a musician for 37 years. Now there's no jobs. What can you do? It's a general problem, but I only hope we can get by, he says."

Police forces across Europe frequently accuse the Roma of criminal activities, including theft, drug pedaling and more recently people trafficking. They're an easy target for suspicion living on the outskirts and often moving from town to town.

Nakiti (ph) admits poverty may be fueling crime among the Roma, but says that's true in the rest of Greece too.

"People just don't have enough to eat. What can they do? 10 or 15 years ago, this wasn't the case. Now they don't have enough food and they go crazy," he says.

Economic woes may have made matters worse, but as generations of Roma know it's never been easy living on the margins.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Greece.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And now an update on the smoggy outlook in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin. Now earlier this week, a cloud of thick pollution covered the entire city. Now Chinese authorities have since announced new measures to enforce air pollution rules.

The environment ministry says that inspection teams will be sent to cities seriously affected by the smog.

It seems, indeed, the airpocolypse has returned to China. Let's get more now with Samantha Moore. She joins us from the World Weather Center - - Sam.

SAMANTHA MOORE, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: And they also had the odd and even day driving rule, Kristie. So if your license plate ends in an even number you have even days, or an odd number you get to drive on odd days. So having the amount of cars on the road at any given time.

Now, currently, the situation has much improved, but earlier in the week as you were saying the air quality was off the charts. Particulates were up above 500, probably more like in the 800, 900, 1,000 particulates per cubic meter range. So heavy smog combined with some fog, limited visibility down so poorly that you could barely see the hand in front of your face. So that caused the incredibly poor quality of air.

It also impacted schools, classes were shut down, it -- we have travel disruptions. Roads were closed as well as airports. And there were many flight cancellations.

So it's impacted millions of people across the region here. And of course the reason that it gets exacerbated this time of year is you have those coal burning plants that are up because heating has begun, the government mandated heating program. So some 5 million people live across this region, north of Huai River. So it's a densely populated area.

And the air pollution has been found in this study that was done by the National Academy of Sciences that it cuts your life dramatically, breathing dirty air can cut your life by as much as five-and-a-half years. And pollution levels are some 55 percent higher north of the river here. And China burns almost as much coal as the rest of the earth combined.

So, a lot of particulate matter heading into the atmosphere. And this time of year you get into situations where you have high pressure built in a lot. And that high pressure acts like a lid. It causes the air to sink. And especially when you have some mountains around, it just traps the air in these valleys. And the pollutants accumulate. And you get incredible high levels of pollution where we breathe here at the surface.

So what we need to see is some atmospheric mixing to remedy the situation. We did get some of that this week, frontal system moved on through. IT broke up that area of high pressure, it mixed the atmosphere up and we had a shift in the winds and that cleared us out here. And now you can see all that rain now coming down across Japan. And we'll touch on that in a moment.

But in the meantime, look how things have improved. Visibility is much improved here across the region now that that front has moved through.

And it is moving towards Japan right now. And it's intercepting a couple of tropical systems here. We have Lekima, a very strong tropical cyclone, a typhoon. And then we have Francisco, which is now a tropical storm, has weakened incredibly. Now 85 max sustained kilometer per hour winds.

And moving to the northeast-northeast at an incredible clip, 31 kilometers per hour. As it moves in, it's going to drop some heavy rain. It's already dropped heavy rain here across much of Japan. There's an amount some 100 to 200 millimeters of rain. So we could see more problems here.

And Oshima, remember this is where that landslide was. They're evacuating people here. The government is doing that, because they are still digging out across the region after that wall of mud came sliding off of the mountain here.

So rain in the forecast as we head through Saturday in Oshima. And then things should dry out. And hopefully we won't see the mudslides that we saw before.

They're definitely taking precautions to avoid that, Kristie.

LU STOUT: That's right, hopefully indeed. Samantha Moore there with our global weather forecast. Thank you. And take care.

Now, practice is already underway for this weekend's Formula One race in India. The Indian Grand Prix, it's only in its third year, but there are doubts whether the race will continue. Sumnima Udas explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: India is gearing up for its third grand prix, but after hosting two Formula Ones, it's all but agreed that next year this event will not happen.

VICKY CHANGHOK, PRESDIENT, FEDERATION OF MOTOR SPORTS CLUBS OF INDIA: I was at the FIA (inaudible) meeting in Croatia last week. And India is not on the calendar for 2014.

UDAS: Organizers blame scheduling changes and a depreciating rupee, which has made one of the world's most expensive sporting events unsustainable here. Some fear the event will never return. But Formula One says it will be back on the calendar in 2015.

CHANDHOK: If we try and go beyond 2015 to bring it back, it will make things very difficult to bring Formula One back here.

UDAS: These stands over here were full in the grand prix back in 2011. 100,000 tickets were sold back then. This year, though, organizers say they'd be lucky if they get half that, even though they've slashed prices to fill seats.

The lure of Formula One was never just about fast cars, more a mix of marketing glitz, technological wizardry and glamor to draw in big business which promoters citing India's vast and young market potential.

CHANDHOK: You've got 6 billion viewers, OK, that watch Formula One annually. So it's a big moment. I mean, India is looked at through the eyes of the cameras and through the vision of Formula One. It's plenty of eyeballs, lots of PR time that we've got for the country.

UDAS: The crowds may have diminished, but the hopes for keeping Formula One in India have not.

Sumnima Udas, CNN, Noyda (ph), India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: All right, you've got tennis at Wimbledon, cricket at Lordes, these are the sporting events we associate with England. So, what about American Football at Wembley Stadium? Coming up next on News Stream, we look at the possibility of a London based NFL team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now there have been rumors for years that the National Football League in the U.S. is looking to spread its reach. And now, could the NFL be preparing to take a leap across the pond? Now, CNN's Alex Thomas takes a look at what a London NFL team might look like.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that it would work out well here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be pretty cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is possible.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: We've heard favorable noises from players, coaches and even team owners as the success of the NFL's international series of games in London points to a full-time overseas franchise.

JOHN YORK, NFL INTERNATIONAL SERIES COMMITTEE: I think that it is possible in the future.

But I don't believe that I can predict that future today. What I can say is that we are doing two games this year and it's completely sold out.

THOMAS: Which is why Wembley could be crucial to the NFL's expansion plans. Amid fears that revenues in America are reaching their peak, London has seen as a gateway to an exciting new European market.

GUR SAMUEL, NFL JOURNALIST: They don't see it as 60 million Brits, but rather 400 million Europeans that they could be turning into NFL fans. When you think of it in terms of sort of numbers, it's absolutely easy to understand why they want a presence here.

THOMAS: One key question is, can an NFL franchise in London sell out Wembley every game? In theory, people from all over Europe would come here, but crucially a team would need to build a loyal fanbase locally.

YORK: If you go back to that first game, the fans came from a very large area away from London. Each game that has gotten tighter and tighter, so that almost 80 to 90 percent of the fans are from the greater London area, which supports the idea that you could do something in the London area.

THOMAS: Even if there were enough fans, players may not want to move abroad. And the distance to London will be an issue. Even for east coast franchises like the Patriots, Jets, Giants and Dolphins, it's a long roadtrip, with flights taking up to eight-and-a-quarter hours.

However, teams in the super rugby competition have successfully handled far longer distances. Cape Town to Aukland is a flight of more than 17-and-a-half hours.

COBUS VISAGIE, FORMER SUPER RUGBY PLAYER: It basically is about drinking a lot of fluids on the flights, making sure that you sleep at the right time. And I'm sure that all sports science teams that are now consulting into the top sports teams would basically get a team very well prepared for that.

BLAIR WALSH, MINNESOTA VIKINGS KICKER: I think the travel thing might have to be something that might be figured out. And maybe if they make a base in the northeast of the United States or something.

But I think it could work.

THOMAS: Most agree, that an authentic NFL team in London would do better than the second-rate NFL Europe competition which folded in 2007. A coach from that doomed league says an overseas franchise with a multinational roster could help grow the sport.

TONY ALLEN, FORMER ENGLAND MONARCHS COACH: One of the challenges of NFL Europe was when it first started off it was American players. The fans didn't affiliate the players. There were no role models out there for the younger kids who wanted to be an American football player.

THOMAS: There's a strong financial incentive for an overseas franchise. The NFL wants to almost triple its annual revenues to more than $25 billion by 2027. But the American market is reaching saturation point. So, for the world's richest sport, it could become a case of move or bust.

Alex Thomas, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

END