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NEWS STREAM
Twitter's Trading Debut; Philippines Braces for Super Typhoon; NFL Bullying Investigation; Fukushima Fuel Operation; Barely Surviving in Syria; China Hits Back at Google; China's Labor Camps; Twitter to Start Trading;
Aired November 07, 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, CNN ANCHOR: Now in just a few hours, Twitter will take a huge step when the social network's shares make their trading debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
And after months of storms the year's most powerful cyclone is heading for the Philippines.
And CNN gets rare access inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
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STOUT: It is the biggest tech IPO since Facebook, Twitter is going public. The social media company's stock is set to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange, which opens in about 90 minutes from now. Twitter is raising $1.8 billion through its initial public offering.
Twitter announced its IPO pricing with -- what else? A tweet. The company says 500 million tweets are sent every day. But if you're not a Twitter user and you're not sure what all the fuss is about, let me explain.
You can write any message you want as long as it's 140 characters or less. And those notes are shared with people who follow you. And you see tweets from any account that you choose to follow.
Those updates can be used to break news or to share the more mundane details of daily life -- and, yes, that's my tweet right there -- some people use Twitter to connect with pop stars, actors and athletes, many of whom use the site to boost their social media presence. But also look at what's trending around the world, and by the way, the hashtag was first proposed by a Twitter user and debuted back in 2007.
Twitter says it now has more than 230 million active monthly users but it has yet to turn a profit. Let's bring in our regular contributor, Nicholas Thompson. He is the editor for thenewyorker.com.
And Nick, I just mentioned it, and it is yet to post a profit. So why is there so much excitement about the Twitter IPO?
NICHOLAS THOMPSON, NEWYORKER.COM: Well, there's excitement because it's been a great year for IPOs. It's been a great year for social media companies. So there's a lot of expectation that Twitter will do quite well. It's a company that everybody uses; people who play the markets, people who are on TV use it. It's a company that people care about a lot. So everybody's excited for it to go public.
And we have no idea what this is going to be worth, right? If a stock is worth the net present value of its future earnings, we really have no idea what Twitter is going to earn in the future.
Right now, it's not profitable; it's got a lot of indicators that are quite bad. On the other hand, it's got a lot of things going for it and there's a possibility that it could make tons and tons and tons of money. So there are huge question marks around this. And it's exciting and confusing.
STOUT: When it starts selling its shares, Twitter will be valued at more than $14 billion.
Do you think that valuation is justified?
THOMPSON: That's a hard question to answer. On a strict level, of course not, right? That's, you know, Twitter's not making money right now, so that's one thing. But even if you look at their expected 2015 earnings and you multiply a revenue -to-earnings ratio in 2015, it still has an extraordinary value. It still has a crazy multiple or at least an excessive multiple, even when compared to Facebook.
So even looking into the future, even comparing it to stocks that have large multiples, it still is slightly overvalued.
On the other hand, it does have a very good growth rate. It has -- it's releasing relatively few shares to the market. So there is going to be a lot of churn and a lot of people trying to get them. And also there are no costs to creating content on Twitter. I mean, this is the genius of Twitter. It's a content company that doesn't have to pay people to create the content.
So you and I will tweet and that will add value to Twitter and everybody will tweet and will add value Twitter. And they don't have to pay us. So it's a great business to be in. So LinkedIn clearly exceeded the early expectations for what it would be worth; Facebook is now catching up to those expectations and exceeding them. People do think that Twitter will do well.
STOUT: You're absolutely right, a content company that doesn't have to pay for content. That is genius.
Now let's talk about the story Twitter's founders and their fuse. It has been a pretty ugly one, stories of backstabbing, all that hostility. I mean, just how ugly has it been behind the scenes for Twitter?
THOMPSON: About as ugly as you can imagine for a successful technology company. The thing that interests me about this so much is that there's a view in Silicon Valley and people who cover tech that really the myth of the visionary founder, the person who creates the company and then struggles and works in the basement or garage. And then when the company's about to fail, sells his shoes and helps it recover. And then is there to get rich from it.
With Twitter, there are four founders, all of whom have different involvement, some of them create the products. Some of them fund it. And they all kind of hate each other. They turn on each other in the press. They give anonymous quotes about each other. There's a lot of back-and- forth, a lot of feeding. And none of them really works for the company anymore.
One of them, Noah Glass, has sort of been cut out, has no money. He's sort of resentful sitting across town.
Evan Williams has another company out there, which is friends with Twitter, but he's not a Twitter.
Jack Dorsey has a putative role in Twitter but he's really off building Square. It's kind of amazing that out of this chaos came such a great company.
And so you have to give a lot of credit to the -- to the non-founder CEO, Dick Costolo, who now runs it.
STOUT: Yes, it is truly amazing that they made it this far. And P.G. Aaron Sorkin (ph) as well, I mean (INAUDIBLE), it's incredible. He needs to make another movie.
Nick Thompson, newyorker.com, thank you so much for joining us. Take care.
Now Twitter executives, they will ring the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange. You can watch it live on "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY," which starts in the next hour.
Twitter says 77 percent of its user accounts are outside the United States. But the site is blocked in the world's most populous nation. And China has its own Twitter-like site.
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STOUT (voice-over): China is home to over half a billion Internet users and Sina Weibo rules the roost. It is the country's dominate social media platform with sleek functionality comparable to both Facebook and Twitter. Excited by the Twitter IPO, many investors have priced in their hopes that China's own social giant can retweet more returns.
But are investors getting ahead of themselves here?
AARON BACK, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Sina shares are up about 70 percent this year. And that's mostly because people are excited about the Twitter IPO.
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STOUT: That's a key question. Are investors getting ahead of themselves here? Twitter says it has 230 million monthly active users. And Sina Weibo, Credit Suisse says it has about 81 million monthly active users.
Twitter racked up $254 million in sales during the first half of the year. Sina Weibo posted roughly $38 million in the second quarter. Both have yet to post a profit. While Twitter is a global platform that is blocked in China, Weibo is largely limited to the Chinese market.
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STOUT (voice-over): In 2011, I talked to Sina CEO Charles Chao, ahead of a half-hearted attempt for Weibo to go global.
STOUT: Now, you plan to launch Sina Weibo in English.
CHARLES CHAO, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SINA: Yes.
STOUT: Why? Do you want to go after Twitter? Do you want global domination? Why?
CHAO: No. I think part of it -- it's the way (INAUDIBLE) think about international market too much because we are too busy working on Chinese market, especially in China.
STOUT (voice-over): Too busy growing his user base in a hyper- competitive market and too busy meeting the expectations of a Web audience used to speaking their minds while not offending Beijing. And all that means mastering the delicate art of self-censorship.
MICHAEL ANTI, CHINESE BLOGGER, INTERNET JOURNALIST: If you have more censorship, that means more people will create this platform. So we really try very hard to keep the balance between the two (INAUDIBLE) and also to satisfy the people.
STOUT (voice-over): He goes on to say that Weibo's content controls have driven users away to rivals like WeChat, which offers a more closed community. But Tencent, the company behind WeChat, also monitors its messages in China. (INAUDIBLE) censorship is a fact of life in this market, and that poses a huge risk for investors.
BACK: Now it could be ultimately that Weibo is an even bigger moneymaker than Twitter. It has potential, maybe, to do that. But it's not there yet. So investors would be taking a gamble a bit at this early stage.
And there's also issues around Weibo, around politics. There's a lot of dissenting voices on Weibo. It's a constant battleground between censors and netizens. So there are huge risks to investors from that. So I think valuing Weibo per user at the same level as Twitter is a bit generous.
STOUT (voice-over): Sina Weibo may have home court advantage in the world's biggest Internet market, but with its global reach outside the fickle firewall of China, the growth story lies with Twitter.
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STOUT: In its IPO filing, Twitter mentioned that it expects to face challenges from other local sites, like Sina Weibo, including Lion in Japan and Kakao in South Korea.
Coming up, we'll be going live to the Philippines. Residents there are preparing for a monster storm to hit. We have the latest on supertyphoon Haiyan.
And just before a crucial cleanup operation begins, CNN gets rare access to the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
And sent from thousands of kilometers away, how a letter from a prison camp in China found its way to America hidden in Halloween decorations.
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STOUT: Welcome back, you're watching NEWS STREAM and you're looking at a visual version of all the stories you've got in the show today. Now a little bit later we'll go live to Japan, where our team has just finished a rare tour of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. But now to the Philippines, which is bracing for the arrival of the most powerful storm on the planet this year.
Super typhoon Haiyan is set to make landfall on Friday. And thousands of people have already been evacuated. But as the storm blazes across the Philippines, it is expected to affect millions. Haiyan couldn't come at a worse time. Parts of the Philippines are still recovering from last month's devastating earthquake.
Andrew Stevens is in Tacloban City. He has more for us now. He joins us live. And Andrew, this, again, it's the most powerful typhoon of the year so far. Is the Philippines fully prepared for this storm?
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the president of the Philippines has just been on national television, Kristie, which is a highly unusual event, to talk about the preparations that have been made and about the fact that the government stands ready to help the people in this area when the storm hits.
And of course in the aftermath. It's very difficult to gauge whether enough has been done. The civil defense is saying they've moved about 4,000 people from the low-lying areas and from the areas which are susceptible to landslides.
But this area I'm in in Leyte has about 1.5 million people. And this, I can't overstate the severity of this storm. CNN's storm watcher, James Reynolds, he's with us here at the moment. And he said looking at the satellite pictures, he has not seen anything like this system in terms of intensity and in terms of power.
Now what we've been hearing is that winds could gust up to 300-325 kilometers. Now that's 200 mph, Kristie, coming ashore around about where I'm standing at the moment ,in about eight hours from now. And accommodating that, of course, will be a massive storm surge. We don't know how big that will be and heavy rain. And that's the rain which is going to loosen the hillsides which leads to potential landslides. And that was the catalyst for so many deaths in a storm here as you mentioned just a few weeks ago and also a similar size storm here last year.
STOUT: And very soon, you and the team have to move, definitely away from the coastline where you are now.
Andrew, can you also tell us about the vulnerability of the survivors of that earthquake that was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake that took place there last month, because now -- and many of them are homeless in tents; they'd have to face down this storm, this super typhoon.
STEVENS: That's right, tens of thousands of people are being reported to still be living in tents. And this was an earthquake which struck this region only a few weeks ago. Those people, as you point out, are very, very vulnerable, particularly to the torrential rains and also the incredibly strong winds that (INAUDIBLE) hit here. The government says that it's done what it can; it says that the preparations are really -- well, they're calling -- they're not saying it's adequate; but they're not saying more is needed to be done, either.
These people, along with the people on this low-lying coastal area, just flying in tonight, Kristie, all along this area, there's light sprinkling along the foreshore; people are still living there. They haven't moved there, again, James Reynolds, he has done directly around this area and he said there are so many people here now just sitting, waiting for the storm to hit. They are so close to the water's front. And with a massive storm surge, plus these incredibly strong winds, you have to wonder just how they are going to survive this.
STOUT: Yes, and also just how bad is it going to get? Because there was that devastating typhoon, Bopha, that took place in 2012. I don't know if you could remind us what happened then, but also just tell us, what's at stake here if people don't follow evacuation orders and don't move inland or to safer ground once this storm makes landfall?
STEVENS: Well, what's at stake here is the survival of many, many people. Again, I can't overestimate the danger they're facing, according to all the projections, according to all the satellite pictures, according to the estimates, predictions on just how powerful this storm is going to be.
They are very, very vulnerable. A lot of these people, of course, don't have access to modern communications, so they'll be aware that there is something going on, but they may not be aware yet and authorities may not have got to all of them to tell them just how severe this is. The typhoon Bopha, you mentioned, last year around about the same time, which is very unusual, these late season storm, that hit Mindanao, an island to south of where I am now, about 1,000 people died. They haven't got the full number even a year on because many people, many villages were buried in the mudslides that horribly followed because of the torrential rain, which gives you an idea; it's not just the storm surge. It's not just the high winds. It's the landslips. It's those sort of things which will continue, because this is a 600-kilometer-wide storm system. It's moving fairly quickly, but it's still going to dump a lot of rain over an extended period in an area which is already sodden, many parts. And also (INAUDIBLE) because the earthquake just a few weeks ago have caused what's been caused tension cracks in the ground, which could -- which makes them weaker and could mean that they give way if a lot more water is dumped on it.
STOUT: Very alarming stuff, Andrew Stevens, there, thank you so much for your reporting. And I do hope word gets out to the local population that they do take cover in advance of this superstorm that's arriving there in the Philippines. Andrew Stevens there, reporting live for us.
Now let's go straight to Mari Ramos. She joins us from the World Weather Center with more on this super typhoon -- Mari.
MARI RAMOS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, amazing. Can't keep thinking of the area right there where Andrew and our CNN crew and James Reynolds and everyone is reporting from right now in Tacloban City here in Leyte.
This area, Kristie, is expected to have a storm surge. This is the prediction of 4.5 meters -- 4.5 meters; that's over 12 feet -- that's how high the storm surge is expected to be in this area. And once you go into the bays here, and even up the rivers, it could be just as high or even higher because the water can't drain out. So there's a lot of things that are in play here.
Let's go ahead and start from the beginning. This is what it looks like on the satellite. Already the outer bands of the storm are affecting that area, even where Andrew was reporting from. They've already had some very heavy rain at times. And tropical storm force winds, not out of the question, already well ahead of the storm. There's one good thing about this storm, is how fast it's moving, at about 33 kph. That means it will not linger, we hope, over this area. And that's definitely some good news.
Terrible news, 280 kph winds, gusting to more than 330. So those are the basics. Current winds right now, the area that you see in yellow, those are the tropical storm force winds. Areas that you see in orange, you can see the scale right there, 120 kph. That's where we begin to see the hurricane force winds or the typhoon strength winds. And then anything after that, especially in the pinks, that's when you really get into the most intense winds and the area, of course, that would provide the most damage.
The forecast is this, for the storm to continue tracking toward the west-northwest, could have winds close to 250 kph even at landfall. So this is a huge, huge concern. Bopha had winds of 250 kph last year. So yes, we are talking about the strongest storm on the planet so far. It is a massive storm, more than 600 kilometers wide and more than 230 kilometers on either side will experience those tropical storm force winds.
But let's talk about those very intense category 5 winds. If this is a hurricane in the Atlantic, it would be called a category 5. This is a lot of stuff for you to read in a short period of time, but let me just point out this part, most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months. That is critical, because this is considered to have catastrophic damage in those areas that experience this kind of wind.
So we have the wind. We have the storm surge. And this is very important as well. So pretend this is the storm right over here, it's turning in this direction and it makes landfall on one of those islands right there across the Philippines.
What happens is on this north side of the storm, you have to -- you add the wind speed plus the movement of the storm plus those 30 kph forward speed that I was just telling you about, that will equal to stronger winds.
On the downside of the storm, you subtract that amount. So you end up with relatively weaker winds than on that northern side. On top of that, those stronger winds will also bring you the larger storm surge. And that is why that area where Andrew is close to where the eye will make landfall, they should be right on the north side of where the eye makes landfall, they could see a storm surge upwards of 5 meters in those areas.
So that is extremely critical. This is what a storm surge does. You have your mean sea level. Add on that top of that your normal high tide, so it depends when the high tide is. And then on top of that, your storm side, your storm surge is something we don't even dry into here, Kristie. The waves that could be 13-14 feet high. So that is what is critical for people to get away from the coastline -- back to you.
STOUT: Yes, a storm surge of 5 meters, that is incredible. Mari, thank you so much for underscoring the severity and the catastrophic nature of this severe typhoon, Mari Ramos there, thank you.
Now you're watching NEWS STREAM. And up next we'll have the latest on the NFL investigation into allegations of bullying at the Miami Dolphins.
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STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching NEWS STREAM.
Now new details are emerging in the NFL investigation of reported bullying within the Miami Dolphins. Now here you see the alleged victim, player Jonathan Martin, pictured in 2012. And now the head coach of the team and some players are speaking out. Brian Todd reports.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Richie Incognito unplugged:
RICHIE INCOGNITO, MIAMI DOLPHINS GUARD: Who let the (INAUDIBLE)?
TODD (voice-over): This TMZ video shows the Dolphins guard jumping around, shirtless in a bar, dropping F-bombs liberally. No comment from Incognito or the Dolphins on the video. Incognito was more measured when approached by CNN affiliate WSVN about allegations that he bullied teammate Jonathan Martin. INCOGNITO: No, no comment right now. We're just going to kind of weather the storm and that's it.
TODD (voice-over): He may not weather the storm. Team sources told "The Miami Herald" the Dolphins will release Incognito and there may be other casualties. The Ft. Lauderdale "Sun Sentinel" reports Dolphins' coaches asked Incognito to toughen up Martin after Martin missed a voluntary workout last spring.
Dolphins coach Joe Philbin wouldn't comment on that, saying only that he'll fix any problems uncovered in an NFL investigation.
JOE PHILBIN, MIAMI DOLPHINS HEAD COACH: The type of culture that I've championed since the day that I walked through these doors has been one of honesty, respect and accountability to one another.
TODD (voice-over): Incognito has seemingly been involved in hazing rookies, as shown in this clip from the HBO program "Hard Knocks."
INCOGNITO: Hey, have you checked your Facebook lately? Maybe you shouldn't use invest number for your iPad password, bud. 84-84? I was going to put something up there rude. But then I saw the picture of your girlfriend, I felt bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's my fiancee.
INCOGNITO: Oh, fiancee, yes.
TODD: Now at least one current player has publicly criticized Jonathan Martin, leading to serious questions about the culture in NFL locker rooms.
TODD (voice-over): New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle spoke to WFAM Radio.
ANTREL ROLLE, NY GIANTS SAFETY: I think the other guys are just more to blame as Richie because he's allowed it to happen. And, you know, at this -- at this level, you're a man. You know, you're not a little boy.
TODD (voice-over): Former Redskins running back Brian Mitchell says the Incognito case is extreme.
TODD: Is that part of the NFL locker room culture? Got to stand up for yourself?
BRIAN MITCHELL, FORMER REDSKINS RUNNING BACK: It is that part of culture. But not everybody is that way. You know, there are people that are that type of person. I'm that type of person. But you don't knock a guy who does it.
TODD (voice-over): Mitchell said he doesn't believe what happened to Jonathan Martin is widespread in the NFL. He says on most teams players and coaches would protect a player like Martin -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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STOUT: Coming up next right here on NEWS STREAM, CNN gets a rare glimpse inside Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant. And we'll have more on the dangerous and delicate operation to remove fuel rods from one of the reactor buildings. Stay with us.
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STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching NEWS STREAM and these are your world headlines.
Millions of people in the central Philippines are bracing for super typhoon Haiyan. This massive storm is barreling across the western Pacific and it is expected to make landfall on Friday morning. It is as strong as a category 5 hurricane with wind gusts reaching 335 kph.
Twitter is making its debut on the New York Stock Exchange later today with its initial public offering. Seventy million shares are up for grabs with the starting price of $26. That gives the company a value of $14.2 billion.
Riot police in Greece have stormed the headquarters of the public broadcaster ERT. Former employees have been occupying the building since its sudden closure in June. Police removed the former staff in the early hours on Thursday and since its closure, staff had been broadcasting online from the offices in Athens.
And just under an hour ago, the Olympic torch arrived at the International Space Station. The torch will remain unlit during its time in space. It will be taken on a space walk before being brought back down to Earth.
Now Japanese Fukushima nuclear plant a painstaking cleanup operation is beginning to remove 1,500 fuel rods from the crippled #4 reactor at the site. This procedure is highly dangerous but is considered a major step toward finally decommissioning the power plant. It has been almost three years since the massive earthquake and tsunami triggered the nuclear disaster.
CNN's Kyung Lah was on the ground at the time. And as she reports, the disaster continues to take a toll on the families still living in Fukushima.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): March 2011, Japan's 9.0 earthquake unleashing a tsunami with waves 13 stories high, swallowing entire towns whole, 15,000 dead, a second disaster was just brewing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Powerful earthquake that has hit Japan -- want to go to Kyung Lah now --
LAH (voice-over): I was in Tokyo when the earthquake struck.
LAH: We see people walking around.
LAH (voice-over): My team and I drove north towards the tsunami zone and passed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. We would witness the hydrogen explosions and later learn it was the visible sign of a triple meltdown. The disaster rained invisible and dangerous radiation across Fukushima's neighborhoods, towns turned into empty shells, 160,000 people fled. Children and pregnant women urged to leave first, considered most vulnerable to radiation exposure.
LAH: The tsunami blew her.
LAH (voice-over): I was pregnant and moved miles north, where I continued to report in an area believed to be safe. What no one knew, what no one could truly predict, is how the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl would affect us all.
It's been nearly three years since the disaster. In Fukushima prefecture, Rui Sasaki has brought her children back home, where her husband is the town monk. They live 30 miles away from the crippled plant that even today still struggles with ongoing leaks of contaminated water.
Sasaki makes daily sweeps with her handheld radiation detector at her home daycare and limits how long her children play outside. The government has decontaminated the home several times and now monitors it with this giant device. The machine indicates radiation levels today are safe.
When it comes to what they eat and drink, always the fear of the "what if." Sasaki tries to test their food when she can, but testing takes too long to keep up with the needs of her five children.
"We worry about every breath," she says. "My day is filled with anxiety. I can't enjoy raising my children. So many things have changed because of the accident."
Everything in Fukushima has changed. Crews are digging, bagging and hauling away contaminated earth, 142,000 people remain evacuees across the region. Children in the early days wore decimeters to measure radiation intake. And masks to limit radiation exposure from the air.
The children of Fukushima are also being carefully watched. Before the triple meltdown, health authorities estimated 1 or 2 in a million children would be diagnosed with thyroid cancer. The government has screened 216,000 Fukushima children. So far 44 have been diagnosed or suspected of having thyroid cancer.
But the government has kept the details secret. It normally takes more than five years for thyroid cancer symptoms to show after exposure. It's only been three since the disaster. Still, some experts say the unexpected high rate may simply be that doctors are looking. But many parents of Fukushima blame the nuclear accident. The Sasakis have tested their children; they're fine so far -- emphasis on "so far."
"My anger has never disappeared since the Fukushima nuclear accident," says Michinori Sasaki. "It's impossible that we really on nuclear energy because one false step and we face catastrophe."
The definition of catastrophe may depend on how you view post- Fukushima data. Japan's government says it's safe to live in areas where some residents believe it's still too dangerous.
LAH: This is what some of the tsunami victims.
LAH (voice-over): As far as what happened to me. I gave birth several months after the disaster to a perfectly healthy son, Grant. I reported throughout the exclusion zone and even went into the Fukushima nuclear plant for an up-close visit.
Tests later showed that all my limited reporting in high radiation zones had no visible impact on my thyroid. I left Japan last year.
The Sasakis and tens of thousands of families remain in Fukushima. We have two choices, they say, leave or choose to live the only way we know how -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
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STOUT: A powerful report there.
CNN's Paula Hancocks has been given rare access to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant today before the spent fuel rods are removed. And Paula joins me now on the line from the nearby city of Iwaki.
And Paula, tell us what you witnessed today and give us an idea of what's going to happen next, this delicate and dangerous operation to remove these fuel rods.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, the trip was really quite a remarkable one, the TEPCO officials took us right to the heart of the plant itself, and took us into the damaged reactor forebuilding to show us exactly where the spent fuel rods were.
So we were standing just a couple of meters above the cooling pool, where you could see 1,500 fuel rods. And they explained exactly how they would be removing this nuclear fuel and transporting it to about 100 meters to a more stable location.
Now as you say, it is a potentially dangerous operation, the TEPCO officials insisted that they have done it many times before, that they have moved about 1,200 of these rods in the past. But of course that's under normal circumstances. And these certainly aren't normal circumstances.
So there are some concerns that there could be difficulties in trying to remove this fuel. Of course, there was debris after that explosion that fell into the pool itself, TEPCO says they have removed that. They had an underwater vacuum cleaner to try and get all the smaller bits of debris. But they say that it is a potential danger that there could be tiny particles within the casks themselves. And that could actually damage their efforts at removing this fuel safely -- Kristie.
STOUT: So what countermeasures have been prepared in case something goes wrong?
HANCOCKS: Well, they basically created a new building around this damaged reactor building to try and make it safer. They have a crane where they will be lowering down into the water itself and pulling out rod by rod. And they say that if they see any damage in these fuel rods, they'll cease the operation immediately and try and figure out a way of trying to rectify it.
They say that they have been monitoring the situation closely. And as far as they're concerned, they don't think there is any damage to the fuel rods. But of course until you move them, you can't know for sure. So certainly they know that there are risks. But they don't believe that it is a dangerous operation, as some critics have been calling it.
STOUT: A very risky operation; the world is watching. Paula Hancocks reporting live for us, thank you.
I want to turn to Syria, a country still gripped by civil war. In the north, access to rebel-held parts of Syria is increasingly rare for foreign journalists. But Brazilian photographer Gabriel Chaim, he recently spent weeks there conducting interviews and gathering stories. Nick Paton Walsh reports on what he found.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The world may not always be watching, but that doesn't slow the slaughter in Syria. The regime is still firing Scud missiles, weeks earlier creating this moonscape in Aleppo.
Seventy dead, women, children, witnesses say, bodies left under rubble.
"This is how Bashar al-Assad claims he's fighting terrorism," this man says.
Humanity slowly extinguished here. Out of the death and dust, though, sometimes life emerges.
This is Mais (ph). A barrel bomb, the regime's crudest way of killing by jet, hit her home. Her family is gone, that is all her new parents, who never had children themselves, know about her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): They found her crying so hard, it's a miracle, the whole building gone and only her left. Her whole body was blue with dust. She has no one.
WALSH (voice-over): This is being a lucky orphan in Syria; six families share this one house.
Some survivors left stranded. Brothers was injured in the same blast from the moderate Badr Brigade.
Abu Masha is blind until complex surgery fixes his left eye.
"I don't have the money to pay for the operation now," he says, "in liberated areas we don't have the capability."
Neither can use the gun they keep nearby for protection, waited on by their mother.
The few remaining doctors are near breaking point. This doctor's British.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has shrapnel; it's in the heart.
WALSH (voice-over): And they have to test for a heartbeat by inserting their fingers into the chest.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cannot hear the sounds of the heart; in this case, 99 percent he is dead.
WALSH (voice-over): Daily, he watches patients die who he could saves with proper equipment in a hospital.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very difficult. You just work day and night and people just die for no reason at all. We don't have anything. You know you can do something, but they just die.
WALSH (voice-over): Suffering still finding ways to worsen in Syria - - Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Gaziantep (ph), Turkey.
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STOUT: You're watching NEWS STREAM. And up next, a Halloween decoration that hid a letter recounting horror and abuse. And this, it was no trick. It was a desperate plea from a Chinese labor camp. We have an exclusive report, this one months in the making.
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STOUT: Welcome back. Now Beijing is hitting back at criticism from Eric Schmidt. As you heard right here on NEWS STREAM, the Google chairman called China "the worst country" in terms of Internet censorship. And at the state-run Xinhua news agency is calling Google, quote, "extremely hypocritical." It accuses Google of being a legitimate accomplice to U.S. government spying and says the Chinese market will be just fine without the return of such a, quote, "two-faced Google."
(INAUDIBLE) moved out its operations out of the mainland back in 2010.
Now I want to share an incredible story with you. It started in China, where an inmate at a notorious labor camp made a plea for help. It was heard by a woman in the U.S. state of Oregon. But the two have never met. David McKenzie has this exclusive report.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Damascus, Oregon, just outside Portland, Halloween decorations mostly put away now. But at Julie Keith's house, Halloween brings powerful memories.
Opening a pack of "Totally Ghoul" tombstones last year, a letter fell out. In broken English and Chinese, the letter began with a cry for help.
"Sir, if you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right (sic) Organization."
The letter writer said he was an inmate, making the decorations in a prison camp called Masanjia in China.
At first, she thought it was a hoax. But then Julie Keith found the prison on the Web.
JULIE KEITH, LETTER BEARER: I knew about labor camps in China, but it was really -- it slammed me in the face.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): The letter, secretly tucked away in a $29 Halloween toy, had made it nearly 6,000 miles to Oregon. From one of the most feared labor camps in China.
Masanjia, it's a sprawling and secretive complex of prisons and factories. The ruling Communist Party has long used reeducation camps like this to jail petty criminals, political dissidents and religious offenders. For months, we searched for the prisoner who wrote the letter. We found him in Beijing. He had been out of jail a year.
We hid his identity because he is afraid of being sent back. We'll call him "Zhang."
MCKENZIE: And in the labor camp itself, what was it like for you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) For people who have never been to Masanjia, it's impossible to really imagine. The first thing they do is to take your human dignity away and humiliate you.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): "Zhang" says he was arrested before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 for following the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement. He was sent to Masanjia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They follow a process where they enslave you. They were innocent but detained and we all suffered through inhumane torture.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Political and religious prisoners got the worst of it, he says. So for "Zhang", when he was given the chance to work, it was a relief.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I believe we could protect ourselves and avoid verbal and physical assaults. As long as we were doing the work and did them well.
MCKENZIE: Behind this barbed wire fence and over this wall, there's a warehouse where "Zhang" says he worked up to 12 hours a day, making these Halloween products. He saw that the writing was in English, so he believed he could get a message out to the West, but it would be delicate and highly dangerous work.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): He stole pages from exercise books and made friends with a minor criminal from his province, who got him a pen from a guard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I hid it in a hollow space in the bedstand, a very secret place, as I couldn't keep it with me. I only got the time to write late at night when everyone had fallen asleep. I put the paper on my pillow and wrote with a pen lying on my side. It took me three days to finish one single letter.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): "Zhang" says he slipped 20 letters into the Halloween packaging, not expecting any to get out. But somehow one did. And from the prison production line in China, the decorations ended up at Kmart, where Julie Keith bought them on sale.
I did think of his safety and what risks he took to do this.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): When she put the letter on Facebook, it became global news, spreading all the way back to "Zhang" in Beijing, now released. "Zhang" told us he wanted to survive Masanjia to tell the truth.
At Masanjia now we saw unmanned guard towers and some buildings seemed empty. It appears to be closing, but officials would not respond to our queries.
"For the reason known to all, I cannot openly express my gratitude."
MCKENZIE (voice-over): "Zhang" was able to thank Julie Keith in a new letter, but he daren't talk to her on the phone.
". under the Communist Party's rule. China is a big labor camp."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): China is like a big labor camp. It is monitored everywhere in this country. I am really grateful to her. I wish her the best. She has a sense of justice.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.
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STOUT: Now we asked Sears, Kmart's parent company, how products made in a prison camp in China ended up on their store shelves and Sears told CNN, quote, that "we found no evidence that production was subcontracted to a labor camp during our investigation."
We tried the local and the provincial authorities in China multiple times, and they refused to comment on the story and the allegations. So no one really knows how many labor camp products have made it into the United States. But one expert group told Congress in 2008 that there could be hundreds of camps producing goods for export.
Earlier this year there were hopes that President Xi Jinping's government would do away with the labor camp system. But reforms have largely failed to materialize. Reuters quotes sources close to Mr. Xi, who say that the president has been blocked by conservative party members.
A report to the United Nations says 190,000 people are held in China's prison camps and others put the figure much higher.
After the break right here on NEWS STREAM, the mayor of Toronto has admitted to smoking crack; as you might imagine, comedians are finding the lighter side of the scandal. And we will be looking into that.
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STOUT: Welcome back.
It's the story that has just about everyone talking. This week, Toronto's mayor, Rob Ford, admitted that he had smoked crack cocaine. And naturally it is perfect fodder for comedians. Jeanne Moos takes a look.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the mayor of a major city rampages around his yard.
MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: Get off my property, please. No, get off my property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm leaving.
MOOS (voice-over): -- and confesses to this.
FORD: Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine.
MOOS (voice-over): -- well, that mayor's story is as addictive as crack to comedians who are themselves lighting up.
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Have I ever smoked crack?
Yes, but that was in the past.
MOOS (voice-over): And dressing up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of driveway, partner.
MOOS (voice-over): At his apologetic press conference, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford got only one laugh at the very end.
FORD: God bless the people of Toronto.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless you, too.
MOOS (voice-over): But comedians don't even need to make an actual joke.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": The mayor of Toronto.
MOOS: We are hearing things you'd never expect to come out of the mouth of a mayor.
FORD: I shouldn't have gotten hammered.
Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors.
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE": His excuse for smoking crack is he was drunk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How to tell if your mayor is smoking crack: blurred vision, loss of balance, denies smoking crack.
FORD: I did not use crack cocaine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Admits to smoking crack.
FORD: Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine.
MOOS (voice-over): Even a dead comedian is getting into the act, as folks wonder what semi-lookalike Chris Farley would have done with Rob Ford.
WILLIE GEIST, CO-HOST, MSNBC'S "MORNING JOE": Can you imagine the "SNL" sketch?
MOOS (on camera): Mayor Ford is clearly addicted to repetitive word use.
FORD: I sincerely, sincerely, sincerely apologize. Never, ever, ever --
MOOS (voice-over): Mayor Ford is being afforded no mercy, his fall from grace punctuated with falls.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He slipped off the scales.
MOOS (voice-over): But not quite falling down drunk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a big guy, man.
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "CONAN": The mayor was charged with being way too exciting for Canada.
MOOS (voice-over): People are making fun of the vintage NFL logo tie he wore on the worst day of his career.
The tie now has its own Twitter account where it says it's stretched pretty thin.
FORD: What don't you understand? Get off the property, partner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move it, partner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mayor Ford, you're smoking crack right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are you getting this?
MOOS (voice-over): Comedians are getting a contact high imitating life.
FORD: I said I can --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you on crack right now?
MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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STOUT: Now the speculation, it was swirling, when a mysterious structure was spotted atop a floating barge in San Francisco Bay recently. Now was it a Google Glass showroom? Or perhaps a floating data center? Well, Google's chairman Eric Schmidt, he kept tight-lipped about the purpose of the four-story behemoth when I asked him about it earlier this week.
But now Google has come out with something of an answer. Now this structure will likely be used as an interactive space where people can learn about new technology. That's according to the tech giant in a statement on Wednesday. But some were cynically see it as an effort by Google to upstage the stylized retail stores of its rival, Apple.
That is NEWS STREAM. But the news continues at CNN. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is next.
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