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U.S. Intelligence Worries Assad Holding Out On Chemical Weapons; Interview with Google Executive Chairman Part 3; Supertyphoon Hainan Bears Down On Philippines; How Much Screen Time Is Too Much For Children?; Tortillas Outselling Hamburger Buns In U.S. Supermarkets

Aired November 06, 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.

And while inspectors oversee the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. New intelligence suggests that the Assad government might be hiding something.

Catching child predators with a computer generated child.

And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That shift in power is enabling, but it's also frightening to governments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Google's chairman talks to us about the impact of getting the entire planet online.

Now new classified U.S. intelligence suggests that Syria might be trying to hide some of its chemical weapons. This allegation, it comes less than a week after Damascus met the first deadline in dismantling its chemical weapons arsenal. International inspectors say that Syria has destroyed all of its production equipment and more than 150 warheads.

Now the U.S. is still reviewing its intelligence on Syria. Let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

And Barbara, is Syria indeed still hiding chemical weapons?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, this is the big question right now. Several officials are telling us here at CNN that there is fresh intelligence indicating that Assad may have the intention to hold on to some of his material, that he's not going to declare it all and not going to give it up all for destruction. This is the toxic agent material itself, not the production facilities.

Why might he be doing this? Well, intelligence officials aren't really sure. They're looking at it all trying to determine that. They think one reason might be, of course, that he wants to hold on to some of this as a hedge against next door Israel with its nuclear weapons. This allows Assad to portray himself still as strong against Israel.

Now a definitive conclusion by the intelligence community, but fresh information they're looking at trying to figure out exactly what Assad is up to and it's going to be very tough if they catch him at it and to decide what to do next.

LU STOUT: Now U.S. officials are reviewing the intelligence right now. Barbara, can you tell us more about how this intelligence was collected?

STARR: They are not telling us. That, of course, would be one of the most sensitive matters. But think of it this way, it's very well known in the public arena, the U.S. has acknowledged it, that it flies satellites over Syria that, you know, there are no U.S. troops on the ground so what are the options that are left?

There are satellites that fly overhead gathering imagery that look at all of these facilities and look for any indications of things on the move. There is the possibility, always, we don't know for sure, of electronic intercepts, of talking to people on the ground who may be sympathetic to either the opposition or to the west. All of these are options. But this is some of the most sensitive information that officials are not talking about, Kristie.

LU STOUT: and if al-Assad is hiding as this intelligence suggests, is hiding chemical weapons could he also be hiding chemical weapons factories or production centers?

STARR: Always possible, one supposes, unless you look at every square inch of Syria. The feeling right now is that he has probably declared to the international inspection agencies most of the facilities that they do know about. These are the production facilities where the equipment already had either been destroyed or put under seal. The issues is, you know, what else has he got out there that nobody knows about? -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon for us. Thank you.

Now, on Tuesday we told you how Jihadis have been arriving in Hatay, Turkey and making their way across the border to fight Syria. Now it appears that many are joining up with al Qaeda backed militants who now have a foothold in rebel held parts of northern Syria including the town of Raqqah.

Now it used to be one of Syria's most liberal cities, but as our Nick Paton Walsh found out, things have changed drastically for the people of Raqqah. And a warning, there are disturbing images in this exclusive report. And we're also hiding the identities of the people who spoke to CNN because they are fearing for their safety.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is what happens when al Qaeda claims they came to help, but instead decide to rule. This man beaten for spraying graffiti.

"Every 15 minutes someone poured water on me, electrocuted me, kicked me and then walked out," he said.

He was dragged from the city streets of Raqqah into this church that al Qaeda had torched and marked as their base. They tortured many. "When a person is tortured in front of you, you feel responsible, that's the hardest. One guy still inside used to call me dad, as I taught him about democracy."

al Qaeda linked militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria known as ISIS have in the past month put an end to the liberal lifestyles of Raqqah. They put up posters asking women to cover their beauty. Here, they roam at night preaching to a cafe that smoking will be banned.

By day, they burn confiscated cigarettes.

Life looks normal, even though just filming it can get you flogged.

But look closer, women's rights are vanishing. There are new rules: wear Islamic clothing, don't see a male doctor, don't leave home without a male relative.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They're closing hair salons. Women can't go out at certain times. They spat on one girl for disobedience. It's like Afghanistan. Now people call Raqqah Tora Bora.

WALSH: This Islamist school indoctrinates Raqqah's youngest, the first steps an Islamist caliphate unimaginable in Syria just months ago.

At the weekend, one nearby town awoke to signs saying thieves would have their hands cut off.

ISIS has in this graphic video filmed by activists their own form of justice.

In May, ISIS swept in. Their brutality against these alleged regime thugs an antidote to the weak and chaotic rebels. You can hear the crowds fury for blood revenge here, the hole in society al Qaeda slipped into.

But soon, ISIS's heavy hand sparked protests. They began arresting other rebels who didn't agree with them, like this girl's father.

"They've had daddy for a month," she says. "I miss him very much."

Today, locals complain using graffiti. They don't dare protest and only dare film this at night. The revolution sprang to life because the regime tortured boys for graffiti. Now al Qaeda does the same. And many wonder if the revolution itself is dead.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And Nick joins us now live from Gaziantep, Turkey. And Nick, ISIS, it dominates a large part of northern Syria. Will the group grow even further even beyond that region?

WALSH: Well, it seems like their goal is certainly inside Syria at the moment. And some of the jihadis (inaudible)

LU STOUT: OK, our apologies there for the technical issue. That was Nick Paton Walsh reporting earlier.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come this hour right here on CNN, after months of dodging the allegations, the mayor of Toronto Rob Ford he comes clean and he admits the he did smoke crack cocaine.

Also ahead, more from Moscow on the Bolshoi ballet trial. The man almost blinded by an acid attack is on the stand today.

And how a digital girl named Sweetie is helping authorities catch suspected pedophiles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now in northern China authorities are investigating a series of explosions in front of Communist Party offices in Shanxi Province. Now state media says one person was killed and eight were injured. What comes after a deadly attack in Beijing's Tienanmen Square just last week. Here is David McKenzie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A series of small explosions rocked a northern Chinese city early Wednesday. According to police, one person has been killed and eight people injured. The explosions happened right outside the Communist Party headquarters and apparently devices of some kind were placed in the flower pots outside the gate.

State media says that people found ball bearings and circuit boards in the aftermath suggesting that they could have been homemade explosive devices.

This all happens during a period of intense security here in China in the wake of another incident last week on Tienanmen Square where a Jeep plowed through tourists and caught alight. Communist Party is calling that incident a terror attack.

The incident happened during an extremely sensitive period here in China with a major Communist Party meeting in Beijing just days away.

David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now the mayor of Toronto says he has embarrassed his city and will be forever sorry. Now Rob Ford revealed on Tuesday that he did in fact use crack cocaine. He says that he smoked the drug last year in what he calls a drunken stupor.

Now the mayor had repeatedly denied the allegations and the pressure began mounting on him last week when police said that they had recovered video of the incident. And there are calls now for him to stand aside.

Now Paula Newton joins me now live from Toronto -- Paula.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: These allegations are ridiculous --

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After months of boldfaced denials.

FORD: I did not use crack cocaine nor am I an addict of crack cocaine.

NEWTON: Toronto mayor, Rob Ford's confession was as riveting as it was blunt.

FORD: Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When, sir?

FORD: But no -- do I -- am I an addict? No. Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors probably approximately about a year ago.

NEWTON: And there it was. The sorted truth that this mayor could no longer outrun, months of secret police surveillance of Ford was made public last week in connection with the arrest of the mayor's friend and part-time driver. Sandro Lisi faces drug offenses as well as extortion portion charges. But police say, so far, the mayor isn't charged with anything.

Police did confirm that they had the video, the one that allegedly shows Mayor Ford smoking crack cocaine from a pipe, and Mayor Ford says he wants to see it.

FORD: I want everyone in the city to see this tape. I'd like to see this tape. I don't even recall there being a tape or a video. And I know that. So, I want to see the state that I was in.

NEWTON: But now, Mayor Ford says he's put it all out there. He's looking for forgiveness.

FORD: I have nothing left to hide. I embarrassed everyone in the city. And I will be forever sorry.

NEWTON: He had a lot to say, except the words "I'm stepping down."

FORD: I was elected to do a job, and that's exactly what I'm going to continue doing.

NEWTON: He intends to run for mayor again next fall.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was Paula Newton reporting.

Now I want to update you on that deadly shooting at a mall in New Jersey on Monday. Now police say that the suspect fired at least six bullets without striking anyone and then hold up in a back room of the shopping center and then eventually shot himself to death.

Now officials say the 20-year-old he acted alone on Monday night probably intending to commit suicide or to cause police to shoot him.

Now to many watching around the world it almost seems as if there's been one high-profile shooting after another in the United States. Where does the problem really lie? Now Brian Todd takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Panic and terror inside a New Jersey shopping mall. Bullets fly, but no one except the shooter is hurt.

JOEL CASTENADA, WITNESS: We heard four gunshots and everybody was scared, everybody was panicked.

TODD: Authorities now believe the gunman only intended to kill himself.

Days earlier, a man wielding an assault rifle kills a TSA officer at the Los Angeles International Airport.

Every time we turn on our TVs, it seems there's more breaking news coverage of a high profile shooting.

(on camera): Is this the new normal in America, this trend of people wanting to go out in a blaze of glory?

DR. ALAN LIPMAN, CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF VIOLENCE: It's not the new normal. Since the 1980s, we have seen crimes exactly like this -- angry, psychotic, depressed young men, mentally ill, haven't been treated, with a triggering event that causes them to emerge into rage and want to go out in a blaze of glory.

TODD (voice-over): Criminal psychologist Alan Lipman says often at the peak of that range, those people have easy access to the deadliest weapons. Collectively, it's put America on edge.

In Connecticut, a student's Halloween costume put a college campus on lockdown for hours.

In California, a sheriff's deputy mistakenly shot and killed a teenager who carried a fake assault rifle.

Even an overnight break-in at a Colorado middle school, with the perpetrators brandishing BB guns, prompted police to surround the building. LIPMAN: We're jumpy because the impression has been created by interest groups that any mentally ill person might jump out around a corner and harm someone. That is false.

TODD: Why can't gun violence be solved politically in America?

DARRELL WEST, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Even Democrats don't want to do this. You have Democrats who are representing rural areas where the right to have the gun is sanctimonious and nobody wants to put any limits on that.

And so, you just simply don't have a political situation where you have a ban on weapons.

TODD (on camera): Even lesser measures like tightening gun regulations, closing sale loopholes at gun shows, more stringent background checks on mental health and criminal history are no likely to pass in Congress anytime soon. Analysts say there just isn't the political will to do that.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And coming up the Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director in court testifying about the horrific acid attack that nearly blinded him. We'll take you live to Moscow.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong you are back watching News Stream.

Now police in New Zealand are investigating a group of teenage boys who call themselves Roast Busters. Now they allegedly set up pages on Facebook and other social media sites where they posted videos of themselves bragging about having sex with drunk girls. As Kate Lynch reports, so far none of the alleged victims is willing to press charges.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE LYNCH, ONE NEWS CORRESPONDENT: There may be as many as 10 suspects, dozens of victims. Now police have confirmed they're close to one of those caught up on the Roast Busters sex scandal.

SUPERINTENDENT BILL SEARLE, WAITEMATA POLICE DISTRICT COMMANDER: One of the people we've spoken to is the son of a police officer. The boy in question has been spoken to. He had interactions with the group some time ago.

LYNCH: One News understands the officer is a detective constable here at the Aukland central police station. A police colleague told One News he and his family are devastated.

SEARLE: I'm sure it's difficult for anybody that's involved with an investigation with a family member. You know, we all know that's a very difficult situation for anyone to be involved in.

LYNCH: Police say the officer's son is not one of these boys. They've been tagged as the Roast Busters ring leaders. Mariah Hales (ph) and Joseph Parker (ph) are being questioned by police. Parker's father is the entertainer Anthony Ray Parker. Joseph has since been fired from his job at a west Aukland real estate agent where he worked part-time as a telemarketer.

There's also a call for victims to come forward.

ANNE TOLLEY, POLICE MINISTER: Just saying something on Facebook doesn't actually produce any evidence. And without a victim prepared to give a statement that is extremely difficult.

LYNCH: Police minister Tolley says she's satisfied the police are doing everything in their power as does rape survivor Louise Nicholas.

LOUISE NICHOLAS, RAPE COUNSELOR: ...hands appear to be tied and that's because they actually need survivors to come forward.

LYNCH: The police are beefing up resources, bringing in top detectives, superintendent Andy Lovelock (ph).

SEARLE: The purpose of getting the senior detective involved is just to support the inquiry team going forward and to make sure that we take every possible opportunity we can for an investigation or prosecution if that's appropriate.

NICHOLAS: Let's step back. Let's give the girls and their families breathing space. And let's just see what the police can do.

LYNCH: She's also urging parents to speak to their children in case there are girls too scared to speak out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was Kate Lynch reporting.

Now New Zealand police, they say that they've been actively monitoring the so-called Roast Busters group since the alleged offenses were committed in 2011.

Now in Moscow, the Bolshoi Ballet is in the spotlight again today as the trial resumes for a former soloist and two others accused in a vicious acid attack on the company's artistic director Sergei Filin. Now he's pictured here in September.

Now Filin is testifying right now. And he says that he will seek the payment of damages in a civil suit.

Now the former star dancer, Pavel Dmitrichenko is accused of masterminding the attack. And he has pleaded not guilty. Diana Magnay is outside that courtroom in Moscow now. And she joins us live.

And Diana, what is Sergei Filin saying in court today?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie.

Well, some quite interesting details really about his relationship with Dmitrichenko and the various rumors and accusations that have been made against him, such as favoritism, such as sleeping with ballerinas within the company.

And I'll take those points one by one.

He says that he always thought that Dmitrichenko who is the -- one of the three suspects in this attack and was a principle dancer (inaudible) -- he said that he always thought Dmitrichenko was a great dancer, but a man who was difficult to understand to really get a sense of, that he was very emotional and difficult to know, but that there was no sense that he ever favoritized people because of his relationship with them, that, you know, you were promoted if you were good and it was a collaborative effort to promote people.

There were suggests that Dmitrichenko was annoyed that his ex- girlfriend hadn't been given prime roles. And Sergei Filin said that that had not been the case.

As to accusations that he had been sleeping with ballerinas within the company, he said just a few minutes ago that this was an absolute lie. He was a happily married man. And that you did not get anywhere in the Bolshoi through sex or through money, through bribery, that it was simply a question of talent.

So some quite salacious details, which you can expect Russian people really to be stewing over in tomorrow's newspapers. This is, of course, the trial that really is gripping the nation, the Bolshoi being such a cultural bastion here and this sort of infighting and intrigue that this case has exposed are a great interest, of course, in this country, Kristie.

LU STOUT: That right, more salacious details revealed today and the testimony revealing just the tension, the rivalries inside the Bolshoi ballet.

The victim, Sergei Filin, he also said that he'll be seeking damages. How much is he seeking?

MAGNAY: That's right. He's seeking $100,000 in moral damages and then $16,000 in material damages, because of his clothes and the damage that was caused to his belongings as a result of that vicious acid attack back in January. So, a total of $116,000.

You know, he's been going through months and months of surgeries and operations in a German hospital to try and help him recover his sight, but he hasn't recovered it completely, Kristie. He doesn't know when he'll be able to go back to work. He's got something like 80 percent vision in one eye, but the other eye he can only make out large objects.

And my producer is in the courtroom. She says you can make out the scars on his face and his neck very, very clearly. And she has also been telling me that the two, Dmitrichenko and Filin have not really been making eye contact at all. Dmitrichenko not looking at Filin, but he does apparently have two documents, two pieces of paper full of questions that he is hoping to be able to pose to him, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Sorry, we'll get more details and more drama later today from that courtroom. Diana Magnay reporting live from Moscow for us. Thank you.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still ahead, meet Sweetie. Now she is not real, but she is helping to identify suspected pedophiles.

And the chairman of Google calls out China as the worst country for censoring the Internet. We have that and more in the final part with my conversation with Eric Schmidt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now CNN has learned that the U.S. is looking at new classified intelligence that suggests that Syria could still have a secret cache of chemical weapons that does not plan to turn over to international inspectors. Now the Syrian government had agreed to a U.S. and Russian brokered deal to disclose and destroy its chemical arsenal to avoid military action.

Now Chinese authorities say that there has been a deadly bomb attack near a provincial headquarters of the ruling Communist Party. It happened in Taiyuan, the capital of the northern province of Shanxi. Now police say one person is dead and eight are wounded after several explosive devices went off outside party offices.

In Egypt, ousted president Mohamed Morsy's Muslim Brotherhood Party has suffered a big legal defeat. And Egyptian court has dismissed its appeal to toss out a lower court's ban on all Muslim Brotherhood activities. Now the court also dismissed its request to restore its financial assets. Now the Muslim Brotherhood can still file a new appeal.

A man accused of murdering the British student Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007 has taken to the stand to defend himself. Raffaele Sollecito and his former girlfriend Amanda Knox are facing a retrial in Italy after being acquitted in 2011 for lack of evidence. And speaking to an appeals court in Florence, Sollecito said that the charges against him were absurd.

Now she looks and sounds like a 10-year-old girl from the Philippines, but Sweetie is really the creation of a Dutch activist group. Now Becky Anderson explains how the virtual child helped nab hundreds of online predators.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: My name is Sweetie. I'm ten years old. I live in the Philippines. Every day, I have to sit in front of the webcam and talk to men.

ANDERSON (voice-over): When she logs online to internet chat rooms, Sweetie is bombarded by requests.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: The men ask me to take off my clothes. They undress.

ANDERSON: Men from all over the world, three, four, five times her age, ask her to perform sexual acts in front of her webcam.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: As soon as I go online, they come to me. Tens, hundreds, every hour. So many. So many.

ANDERSON: But Sweetie also has a secret.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: But what they don't know -- I'm not real. I'm a computer model, made piece by piece to track down these men who do this.

ANDERSON: She's the creation of Dutch NGO Terre des Hommes. They use her avatar to pose on internet chat rooms, baiting men who go online to prey on young children.

In ten weeks, the charity says some 20,000 men contacted Sweetie, with 1,000 offering her money for explicit acts, a number the charity's director says illustrates the demand.

HANS GUIJT, TERRE DES HOMMES: With the extension of the internet, with the decreasing prices of the internet, it will get more and more accessible, not just for the Western part of this globe, but also for the developing world. Which means that there will be more victims, there will be more children exposed to this phenomenon.

ANDERSON: The charity has launched a campaign to end so-called webcam tourism, where men go online to pay children from developing countries to perform sex acts.

GUIJT: We have shifted our attention to the demand side. If nothing is being done about the source of the problem, this phenomenon will only increase even further.

ANDERSON: The charity has given the identities of the 1,000 men who offered Sweetie money to authorities. While Sweetie's true identity is now known, it's hoped she'll act as a deterrent, the project serving as a warning to predators that they can also become prey.

Becky Anderson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now Europol is now looking at the names provided by that activist group, but the head of Europol's European cybercrime center says that once one group is shut down another springs up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TROELS OERTING, HEAD OF EUROPEAN CYBERCRIME CENTER: Child sexual abuse is actually one of our few success stories in fighting cybercrime. I think we are much better to find these perpetrators than we are to find other kinds of cyber criminals. But still it's not enough. And we see cases and cases and cases where we have repeated that same perpetrators, the same networks again will initiate their work just after we have hit them.

And we are not able to identify all of them, because there are so many ways to hide on the Internet. And they use the facilities of the dragnet, which actually effectively hamper our ability to identify them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now Europol reports is live streaming of abuse for money is a new and disturbing trend. And organized criminal networks are involved.

Now, Apple has disclosed just how many requests it gets from governments for customer information. It's something that companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook are already doing, but this is the first time Apple is releasing this information.

Now here are the top five countries by the number of requests that they have submitted for customer information in the first half of 2013. And the United States, it just dwarfs all the others.

Now Apple says that the U.S. made between 1,000 and 2,000 requests. And Apple says the U.S. does not allow the company to disclose more precise numbers.

Now the U.S. requests are far above the 127 made by the UK. So what kind of information are governments asking for? Apple says it's usually for account names or addresses, but in very rare cases they're asked for photos or email. Those numbers also do not include information about lost or stolen devices. And Apple says that those are tracked separately.

Now, the amount of personal data online is only being fueled by the number of people coming online. But we're still far away from everyone being on the Internet. Now the International Telecommunications Union says only 40 percent of the planet has Internet access.

Now on Sunday, I spoke with Google's chairman Eric Schmidt. And in this part of our conversation, Schmidt talked about the impact of getting everyone online.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC SCHMIDT, CHAIRMAN, GOOGLE: In the next five years we're going to get another three, four, five billion people online. Today, only a couple billion of the 7 billion or so are online. What's going to happen when all of those people join us?

The rate at which prices are falling for cellphones and the rate at which the web is expanding, these people, this improvement in their lives is breathtaking. All of a sudden, these phones are entertainment, medicine, education right there in their hand. They never had it before.

LU STOUT: Yeah, the social impact here will be huge. But it wasn't that long ago when you were in North Korea. I mean, do you imagine people there will be digitally connected one day?

SCHMIDT: Well, I'm worried about the last billion, right, the people who are so poor or have such bad governments that they won't be connected. North Korea is the last really isolated country. There's no Internet connectivity at all. You can't make phone calls. 23 million people there in very difficult situations. They'd be much better off, and the government as well, if they were more connected.

LU STOUT: And as we near this world of almost ubiquitous connectivity, what does it mean for governments and the policies that they have to craft?

SCHMIDT: Well, every government that's going to be joining this Internet conversation is almost always an autocracy. They're a dictatorship or -- they're not really elected. So they're going to have to have this -- the benefits of the Internet, but they're not going to want to have the criticisms. We're worried that they're going to try to filter out speech they don't like, suppress other voices, suppress political speech. It's bad.

We feel very strongly that a free and open Internet is part of the right of citizens worldwide. And it's really where the world is going.

LU STOUT: It's already happening today when you look at what's happening in China, for instance. It's creating its own Internet regime, its own set of Internet rules. Is this going to continue on and on until the becomes a set of Internets? We'll see the Balkanization of the Internet?

SCHMIDT: There are 40 or so countries that restrict content on the Internet. China is only the worst. And China is doing it deliberately. They're actively censoring content on the Internet and they have gateways called firewalls that prevent that. We think that's bad. We think ultimately that hurts the citizens of the country.

If the China model succeeds, the Internet could be broken. And this incredible facility of interchange whether it's business and ideas and culture might get stopped right at the border, like it is today in other areas.

LU STOUT: Let's talk about privacy, because we have seen in very clear focus governments around the world from Beijing to Washington are very willing to track our data. So how much privacy will be left in our digital future?

SCHMIDT: A lot will depend on how we reign in our governments. In the democratic side, we have a voice. We can tell them that we don't think it's appropriate for them to be spying on our citizens. Google is outraged at some of the recent activities of monitoring Google services according to the Snowden documents with presumably more disclosures to come.

But the fact of the matter is that citizens have a right to privacy in democracies. Governments should not be snooping on them.

In other countries, we worry that they'll use these tools to invade the privacy in ways they haven't before, for example tracking their citizens, right, knowing exactly what they're up to doing. It really has a chilling effect on culture.

LU STOUT: And the big picture question about our digital future, are you optimistic that technology will continue to be a force for good and a force for activism? Or do you fear the rise of the surveillance state and the rise of cyber terrorism, cyber warfare?

SCHMIDT: You know, we've never had a tool as powerful as the personal computer, cellphone connected to a supercomputer given to every citizen in the world. That shift in power is enabling, but it's also frightening to governments. That's the balance.

I think the citizens win. I think the governments will figure out that they can't push the citizens around the way they have in other regimes and other media.

I think this is a very optimistic view.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was the final part of my conversation with Google's chairman. But you could see the rest of it on our website. Eric Schmidt speaks out against claims that the NSA is tapping Google's data links and on whether Google will produce a smartwatch. You can find it at CNN.com/Newsstream.

Now, for parents this one is a tough one to navigate. Just how much time should children spend staring at a screen? And how young is too young to use a tablet or another device. Now Dan Simon takes a look at where parents should draw the line.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As people go to check out Apple's new iPad newly released data points to a surge in technology use among children that some worry is changing the very nature of childhood.

JIM STEYER, FOUNDER AND CEO, COMMON SENSE MEDIA: Well, the bottom line is clear, this is the true first generation of digital children.

SIMON: 72 percent of children eight and under have used a mobile device, according to Common Sense Media, a group that studies family and technology trends, that's compared to just 38 percent two years ago.

A huge spike also in toddlers: 40 percent today compared to 10 percent in 2011 for children two and under.

It poses a balancing act for parents who need to figure out how much is too much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kids love tablets...

SIMON: The options to regulate can be big and small. This ad for the Amazon Kindle Fire shows a feature to help parents limit screen time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And let's them know when they're time is up.

SIMON: Something that may be needed more than ever on all devices.

Unless your children attends a Waldorf school where no technology is allowed and it's discouraged at home as well. This Waldorf school is where you'd least expect it, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the way over.

SIMON: Third graders using balls to help coordinate both sides of the brain. It's all about hands on tasks.

What may surprise you is most of these children come from homes whose parents work in technology.

MATTHEW MENERINK, EBAY EXECUTIVE: I go back to my education as a computer scientist. We didn't have computers in the classroom. We had algorithms and we had logic and we had textbooks and we were working through that and really trying to understand the science behind the computer.

SIMON: Now experts are trying to understand the implications of so much technology and whether the industry itself should play a role.

Putting aside, this was my question to Apple's CEO Tim Cook at a recent conference.

I'm wondering if you'd be willing to weigh in on the concern that sociologists and others have about the overuse of technology, especially when it comes to children. And when do you feel is the appropriate age for a parent to buy a child an iPhone.

TIM COOK, CEO, APPLE: As with any tool that a kid has that's that age, parenting is key.

I like kids very young learning and having a very curated experience by their parent.

SIMON: For the record, he didn't answer the best age to buy a phone. But mobile devices likely to be at the top of kids' wishlists as we approach the holiday season.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And as many parents focus on using mobile phones and tablets as teaching tools, Common Sense Media has composited a list of education iPad apps for kids and rates them based on age and educational value.

Now you are watching News Stream. And up next, the humble hamburger, it is surely the most iconic of American fast foods, but its popularity in the U.S. is now being dwarfed by Hispanic snacks. We'll tell you why burritos are outselling burgers coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

You're watching News Stream.

Now another sypertyphoon is heading toward the Philippines. Mari Ramos joins us for more. She joins us from the world weather center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: It seems like the same old story across this area, Kristie. It's been so active for this part of the world. So let's go ahead and get right to it, because this is a very dangerous weather system that is approaching a very vulnerable area. It's Supertyphoon Hainan is the name. And right now it's affecting areas from Palau to Yap with very strong winds, close to 250 kilometers per hour. So we're really talking about a major storm here. And get this, it could actually intensify even more as it continues on that west, maybe west- northwesterly track over toward the Philippine Islands.

So the -- when we talk about this storm, we really don't think it's going to deviate too much from this track. There's high pressure in place that is expected to remain there. And what happens is the storm kind of his to ride around this big area of high pressure.

So the time line looks like this. By tomorrow evening, the center of the storm, the eye of the storm will be right here. And you move this to this, well guess what, you'll end up with already the outer bands of this storm affecting this area.

I think we'll start to see that already tomorrow. Very high waves will start to affect this region as well. And then by Friday the center of the storm will begin approaching land. By then, most of that moisture will -- the other half of this storm, I should say, will still be back over here across the Philippines bringing some very heavy rain.

So if you're preparing for this storm you basically have overnight tonight and possibly the early hours of tomorrow to finish getting ready. That's very important.

So the winds could be in excess of 200 kilometers per hour, especially near that center of circulation. The farther away you are from that center, the lesser the wind impacts. But the storm surge should be very large, especially on the north and front side of the storm. So wherever the eye makes landfall, north of that, that's where you'll have the highest storm surge.

The rain will be quite heavy all along those areas. And the threat for flooding and mudslides will remain across the entire region.

I want to talk to you about the rain very quickly. Here's the Philippines all the way over there. This is that center of the storm moving in that general direction. There you see it.

And then once we head into the landmasses, look at this, a lot of places that will be in the 15 to 25 centimeter rainfall. And I think that will start happening about probably this time tomorrow you'll definitely already start seeing some of that rainfall that will be quite significant across those regions.

So, something to monitor very, very specifically. After that, this storm we think is going to move into the South China Sea still as a typhoon. And one last thing, notice the winds, 270 kilometers per hour by this time tomorrow, but then it begins to weaken just a little bit, we think, before it actually makes landfall. But still, 230 kilometer per hour winds, Kristie, is very active.

We've already had five storms that have hit the Philippines so far this year since January. If this one stays on track, which we think it will, it will be number six. Back to you.

LU STOUT: Wow.

Now in addition to that super typhoon, you're also looking at this new report out today about a record level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. What can you tell us?

RAMOS: Yeah, this is very interesting report from the World Meteorological Organization. They're talking about this annual report that they put every year on how much greenhouse gases are concentrated in the atmosphere. So it's not about how much is put out into the atmosphere, it's how much actually remains, because about half of what is put out into the atmosphere tends to remain in the air. And it actually stays there for quite a long time.

So they're saying that things like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are the three main gases that we have to be concerned about when it comes to greenhouse gas concentrations, carbon dioxide being the number one culprit here and the one that we have to watch the most and that is the one that had the highest level.

The CO2 in the atmosphere grew faster between 2011 and 2012 than any other time in history. And that's about 41 percent higher than preindustrial levels. And that's extremely high, because even if we stop putting all carbon dioxide into the atmosphere right now, it will take hundreds and hundreds of years for that to actually begin to make a change. And of course these greenhouse gases are the ones that are being blamed for much of the climate change that's occurring here on Earth, including those warming trends that we're starting to see and that we have seen over the last few years across so many different parts of the world.

Climate change is real. And this is just another call to action, call for action to curb carbon emissions I think, Kristie. And I'll be tweeting the report that came out in just a little while. Back to you.

LU STOUT: Yeah, please do share it to a wider audience. I mean, this is incredible and the amount of greenhouse gas that's out there, and it is indeed on the rise, a very significant update. Thank you very much indeed Mari Ramos.

Now, growing up in Cameroon, Georges Bwelle, he witnessed firsthand the need for affordable health care. And he watched helplessly as his own father suffered for years with a serious illness. So Bwelle, he trained to become a doctor and now provides medical care and surgery for free. And take a look at the remarkable work of this CNN Hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGES BWELLE, DOCTOR: For a country like mine, people like to dream, to dance, to enjoy their life, but with poverty they cannot enjoy their life. To go to the village is a pleasure. If I can help two or three people, that could be great.

I saw my father ill for 23 years. Before he passed away he asked me, do you see how people suffer to see a doctor? Please, if you graduate to be a doctor help people.

My name is Georges Bwelle. I bring free surgery and health services to people of (inaudible).

They're beating the drums to say thanks to come. They can live 60 kilometers around and they are coming (inaudible).

(through translator): So are you also her for the operation?

We are starting by doing consultation.

(through translator): We will do the exams to see the possibilities for this mass.

And in the afternoon, we have a list of patients that we are going to operate.

We need our generator, because in the village there is no light.

We start doing operations until Sunday morning.

We are doing around 40 surgical operations for free.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I have no money, that's why they brought me here. This will change my future in my family.

BWELLE: We leave our address to all the patients that if there's any problem they can come back to us.

I help people and they are happy. I am doing that to give them opportunity to restart (ph).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Great story.

Now Georges Bwelle is just one of the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013. And you can help decide who will be the CNN Hero of the year. Go online and vote at CNNHeroes.com for the person who inspires you the most.

Now you're watching News Stream and still to come a Mexican staple is becoming pretty mainstream in the United States. We'll examine the growing American appetite for tortillas.

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LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now when you think of typical American food, hotdogs and hamburgers may come to mind, but it seems that buns are being flattened by tortilla sales in U.S. grocery stores. Rafael Romo examines the country's changing tastes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A Mexican restaurant near you and definitely at a supermarket in your neighborhood you're bound to run into this round flatbread.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We always have tortillas in our pantry.

ROMO: In fact, tortillas are now outselling hamburger and hotdog buns at supermarkets and retail food stores in the United States. Americans pay roughly $2.9 billion a year for tortillas compared to $2.1 billion for buns according to consumer research company Package Facts, although tortillas have yet to beat buns at restaurants.

Condiment sales tell a similar story. Salsa is outselling ketchup in the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's shocking, yes.

ROMO: It's part of the rising popularity of Hispanic foods in the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think America is such a melting pot that I think as all of the cultures and the influences from all over the world have come to America I think that it becomes part of our culture.

ROMO: Industry analysts project these numbers will continue to increase steadily.

They expect Hispanic food sales to rise to $10.7 billion within four years -- gracias -- 10.7. That's more than 20 percent.

And we're not only talking about tacos and tortillas.

RALPH HERRERA, HISPANIC MARKETING SPECIALIST: As more and more interest in the Latin foods grows, you're going to see more products on the shelves and more restaurants. You can find a Mexican restaurant in almost any city in this country, even the small towns.

So, a Mexican cuisine is basically becoming all American.

ROMO: Mexican restaurants have long been a tradition in Texas and California, but business is now sizzling in other states like Georgia.

And that has helped create a boom in the tortilla business.

CARLOS ZAMBRANO, POLLOS MI TIERRA RESTAURANT: Even here in Georgia, there's a couple of manufacturers. So we don't have to make it no more, we just have to make a phone call and they bring it to you.

ROMO: Carlos Zambrano says a decade ago finding tortillas was a challenge in Atlanta. But thanks to the popularity of tortillas and Mexican food in general he has now been able to open his second restaurant where as you might imagine the tortilla is queen.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, Mount Fuji is known as one of the most beautiful natural landmarks in the world. And one man got a very unique view of it.

Now take a look. And, yes, that is a man with a jet pack flying past the iconic Japanese volcano. Ives Rossi (ph) has flown past other landmarks before like this, including the Grand Canyon and the English Channel. He can reach speeds of up to 300 kilometers an hour when in a dive. That's fast.

But if you wanted to go fast, he should have taken one of Japan's famous bullet trains. They can reach a top speed of 320 kilometers an hour.

And that is News Stream. But the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.

END