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NEWS STREAM

Egyptian Vote On New Constitution Today; Google Buys Smart Thermostat Maker Nest; Southwest Pilots Suspended for Landing at Wrong Airport; Nadal, Federer, Azarenka All Through At Australian Open

Aired January 14, 2014 - 8:00   ET

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

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

Now Egyptians got to the polls to decide on a new constitution.

Google picks up some new gadgets when it buys the maker of a smart thermostat for a little more than $3 billion.

And Southwest Airlines suspends two pilots for landing at the wrong airport. And now we look at just how that could have happened.

Two votes in less than two years on their country's constitution. Now Egyptians are deciding today on a new constitution, one that would give the military more power and ban religious parties. But just before polls open on Tuesday, this happened, a bomb exploded outside a courthouse in Cairo. No one was injured, but as you can see, the blast damaged the building's facade as well as other buildings nearby.

Now state run media is also reporting one member of the Muslim Brotherhood has been killed during a clash with security forces in the city of Beni Suef.

Now officially, Egypt's interim military rulers say people can campaign and vote whichever they want, but some of those opposed to the new constitution tell a very different story. Reza Sayah reports from Cairo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Three Egyptian men arrested last week while campaigning for a no vote on Egypt's amended constitution. Police say they disturbed the peace. But the strong Egypt political party claims otherwise. They gave CNN pictures of other party members on the night of the arrests to show the men were simply posting campaign flyers on Cairo streets.

"Our activists were hanging posters calling for no to the constitution," says party spokesman Ahmed Imam (ph). "They were harassed by security at a Cairo hotel and held until police came and took them away."

Rights groups say the arrests signal a campaign by Egypt's military backed interim government to stifle debate, crack down on dissent and secure a yes vote on the referendum. The Carter Center, a leading global election observer, says it's deeply concerned about the polarized environment and the narrowed political space surrounding the upcoming referendum.

AALEM WASSEF, ARTIST/PUBLISHER: There's no debate. It's this is good, vote yes. If you vote yes you're patriotic, if you vote no basically you're a terrorist.

SAYAH: The outcome has been a mass of vote yes ads on Cairo streets and television airwaves paid for, the government says, by anonymous private citizens. Finding ads for a no vote, nearly impossible.

"We've been suffering from a media frenzy that vilifies the opposition, calls them traitors and foreign agents," says Imam. "There's no way to freely express political stances. Activists are arrested."

(on camera): We're going to show you some of the flyers the volunteers were posting and passing out when they were detained. Here they are. This one says "no to military trials." This one says "no to the military getting involved in politics."

Campaign officials here say when other volunteers heard their colleagues had been detained, it inspired them to go out and pass out more flyers.

(voice-over): The government rejects accusations that it's stifling debate and insists Egyptians are free to campaign for yes or no votes. For now, few no voters are speaking out in public. The three detained for campaigning for no votes were released after three days in jail pending an investigation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now Reza Sayah joins us now live from Cairo. And Reza, a resounding yes vote is expected, but how many Egyptians will turn out to vote?

SAYAH: That's going to be the key question in the next couple of days, Kristie. It's widely believed that this referendum is going to pass with a yes vote, but you clearly get the sense that this military backed government wants a strong turnout. And they want to beat the turnout of the previous referendum on the new constitution that took place in December 2012 under then President Mohamed Morsy. The turnout then was about 32 percent. Again, you clearly sense that the military backed government wants to beat that turnout.

So far it's difficult to determine how many people have come out. We saw long lines at 9:00 am local time the polling stations first opened up. But then the lines slowly started to dissipate. People were still coming in, but not the long lines that we saw earlier today.

The day started out ominously, of course, with a bomb blast in front of a Cairo courthouse. There was deep concern that there's groups, individuals perhaps, who want to disrupt this constitutional referendum. And it seems to be the case with this bomb blast. Someone, we don't know who, placed a homemade bomb in front of this courthouse. No one hurt, thankfully, no one killed, but some significant damage to the facade of this courthouse.

Even so, the people who gathered at this scene, that defiantly said they're not scared off from voting and they're going to go and vote yes, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and not scared, despite that sort of violence.

Now, Reza, to what degree is this referendum a personal vote against Mohamed Morsy and in favor of Egypt's most powerful man, General al-Sisi?

SAYAH: Well, for many Egyptians, based on what we've heard from them, that's the case. There's frankly a deep seated hatred these days in Egypt for Mohamed Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood. And it's an indication of the polarization that we're witnessing here almost every day.

So certainly some people are going out with a no vote against Mohamed Morsy. And then you have General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the army chief. He is certainly the most popular man in Egypt today. His posters, his pictures are everywhere the past couple of weeks. He's giving more and more signals that he's going to run for the presidency.

If he does, it's widely believed that he's easily going to win. However, rights groups say a General al-Sisi presidency, it's a step away from democracy here in Egypt and a step towards a police state, a repressive police state, the kind we saw under the Mubarak regime dominated by the military.

LU STOUT: All right, Reza Sayah, live in Cairo for us, thank you.

Now in just over two hours time, the French President Francois Hollande will face the news media for the first time since allegations surfaced that he was having an affair with an actress.

Now his news conference, it was supposed to focus on the economy, but he'll likely have to fend off a lot of questions about his personal life.

Mr. Hollande's partner, the first lady of France, has been hospitalized ever since the story broke, said to be in need of rest.

Now let's go live to Paris now and CNN's Jim Bittermann. Jim, what should we expect to hear at this upcoming New Year's press conference?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I guess they expect to hear the unexpected, Kristie. In fact, we have been -- there's been talk in the media all day long today about what it is that Mr. Hollande will do and can say about what has transpired here.

But basically at New Year's he wanted to shift directions for his government towards a much more pro-business stance and he proposed this pact of responsibility with business. And this news conference which is the annual best wishes of the president to the press, this news conference was supposed to be on that message. However, it all got hijacked on Friday when a magazine here revealed that in fact -- or reveal allegations that the president had been slipping out of the Elysee Palace to have this affair with an actress. And since then, the First Lady of France Valerie Trierweiler has been hospitalized.

Now we're told she's still in the hospital, that she's going to watch this news conference from the hospital. Exactly what is wrong with her is really not clear, except for the fact that some of the people around her say that she had a coup de bleus, that she says has sort of really depressive sort of feeling and needed some rest.

She was supposed to leave the hospital yesterday. She didn't. That's led to all sorts of suspicions here about exactly what will be announced.

One of the things that's happened in all of this is that people are beginning to call into question the whole statute of the first lady in general. In fact, we've never had in France a bachelor president. And as a consequence, we've never had anyone install what is essentially a girlfriend in the Elysee Palace in the presidential palace as the first lady. And now the question arises what happens if she falls out of favor or there's a breakup of the couple.

So, the whole question of whether there should be a first lady has been called into question on both sides of the political aisle, in both the Socialist Party of Francois Hollande and the conservatives are saying well should we even have a first lady in France?

So it's really raised some questions here. The first lady, of course, is entitled to a staff, has a public relations person, has security and has transport provided her, that sort of thing. So there is sort of a taxpayers expense here that's involved. And it's a legitimate question. It's going to be raised, in fact, in parliament in about 45 minutes as one of the members of the national assembly says that he's going to raise questions about Francois Hollande's private life in that parliamentary session, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, well all of France will be looking out for this press conference, including as you said, the first lady herself tuning in from hospital.

Jim Bittermann reporting live from Paris, thank you.

Now you're watching News Stream. And coming up, her job was to bring babies safely into the world and instead she sold them to traffickers. Now a Chinese maternity doctor is sentenced in a case that has gripped the nation.

Anti-gay violence in Russia: what one man says happened to him just because he's gay.

And their numbers may be down today, but protesters in Bangkok remain determined to oust their prime minister.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Now a doctor in China has been given a suspended death sentence for selling babies to a child trafficking ring. Now in some cases, the doctor tricked the parents into giving up their child.

Now David McKenzie has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a scandal that rocked China, a doctor who tricked parents in giving up their newborns and then sold them to traffickers throughout the country. And now that doctor has been sentenced.

She told mothers that their newborns had congenital defects. But when one mother got suspicious, it exposed the scam, and the country was gripped by extraordinary scenes of reunion.

When we visited the center of the scandal in Fuping, parents told us they believed the doctor because she was from their community.

"We trusted her so much," this father told us. "How could she be so cruel and sell our babies."

Just days later, they were reunited with their twins.

The court heard that Zhang Shuxia sold seven babies for around $3,000 each to traffickers across the country. They then sold them to desperate Chinese couples.

Zhang received a suspended death sentence. In China, it could mean life in prison. She probably avoided execution by confessing her crimes.

State media has hailed it a victory against trafficking.

China says it's tackling human trafficking head on, but the country was actually downgraded by the U.S. State Department last year in its annual trafficking report, giving it the worst possible rating.

David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: American journalist David Satter says he has been booted out of Russia and he's still not sure why. Now he recently penned an article describing the area around the Olympic city of Sochi as a war zone. His articles have long been critical of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. And still Satter told CNN's John Vause it is not clear exactly what triggered his expulsion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SATTER, JOURNALIST: I really don't have any theories. I've -- I've been writing about Russia for many years. I've always been critical of the Putin regime. This is nothing new. It may well be that for reasons of their own they finally found that criticism to be more than they wanted to put up with. But there's actually quite a lot to criticize. So if you're going to report honestly from Russia you almost have to be critical.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So how did this all play out? How were you told? How did you find out?

SATTER: Well, I was in Kiev, actually. I had to go there to exchange one visa for another. And I was told to call a diplomat in the Ukrainian - - well, in the Russian embassy in Kiev, in Ukraine.

I called that diplomat. And he said he had a statement to read to me. And the statement was that the competent organs, which is an expression that's used to describe the FSB, the security service, have decided that my presence on the territory of the Russian Federation is undesirable and I'm refused entry into the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now Russia's foreign minister released a statement today in response to Satter claims. They say the journalist failed to get his visa in the required time and is guilty of an administrative violation at a hearing in November.

Now the statement says that he'll be banned from entering Russia for five years for breaching the migration law.

Now in the runup to next month's Winter Olympics, there is increasing international attention on Russia's so-called anti-gay propaganda law. And Phil Black spoke to the victim of a brutal attack about his fears the new laws promoting a culture of violence against Russia's gay community.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When we meet Dmitry Chizhevsky, he still has a pellet from a pneumatic gun lodged in his left eye. He has received terrible news.

DMITRY CHIZHEVSKY, ASSAULT VICTIM: The doctor said I will not see by this eye.

BLACK: Chizhevsky is gay. He has no doubt that's why he was shot and beaten by two masked men during a meeting with friends.

CHIZHEVSKY: I don't remember such attacks to meetings in Russia before.

BLACK: This is where it happened, the office of Le Sky (ph), an organization that helps HIV positive gay men.

Anya (ph) tells me there are about 20 people here for a regular social event when the attackers pushed past her through the entrance, swinging a bat and firing a pneumatic gun. A pellet like this left Dmitry Chizhevsky blind in one eye.

Does this make you think about leaving Russia?

CHIZHEVSKY: Yes. My mom ask me very hard ask me to leave Russia.

BLACK: Chizhevsky and many other gay people in Russia say hatred and violence towards them has escalated since the introduction this summer of the gay propaganda law, which makes it illegal to speak positively about gay relationships to children.

Chizhevsky says there will be more attacks, because of the message politicians are sending.

CHIZHEVSKY: They're telling people that we are not human and it's awful.

BLACK: Gay people in St. Petersburg, more so than in other Russian cities, believe they have a true sense of community here. They're organized. They have social and support groups and they say that's why they're shocked by this attack. They do not believe it was random or opportunistic, but rather deliberately designed to intimidate the whole community.

This is where members of that community come to learn tango. And even here, people tell us the attack has made them feel nervous and vulnerable. These are not gay rights activists, they're just having fun on a Thursday night, but they say groups like this are also an important support network during an increasingly dark time for gay men and lesbians in Russia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would describe out community as a kind of family. And we've become really close, too, in this period.

BLACK: These dancers still hope to one day compete with straight couples in local competitions. Dmitry Chizhevsky is also trying to be optimistic.

CHIZHEVSKY: I'm trying to believe that Russia will be a country with peace and where we can live together.

BLACK: In a country of surging intolerance, such hopes are becoming more distant.

Phil Black, CNN, St. Petersburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Up next right here on News Stream, it is heating up at the Australian Open at Melbourne, but soaring temperatures have some players raising the alarm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now at the Australian Open in Melbourne, the world's best tennis players are not only battling each other, they're battling some pretty intense heat. The temperatures were so high that one Canadian qualifier and a ball boy both fainted in the middle of matches. And some players like Andy Murray feared that playing in these sweltering conditions could lead to further problems for his fellow competitors.

Now Mari Ramos is at the world weather center for more on this situation in Melbourne -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: This is dangerous heat, Kristie. You know, you saw that one player faint. We don't know if that was related to heat stroke, but it's very possible.

We're looking at temperatures that are already soaring so high that even at night -- it's just after midnight right now in Melbourne and the temperature is 32 degrees, that's about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

So even this late, the temperature extremely hot.

I want to show you some of the record -- the record high temperatures that were reported. This right here, 47 degrees in south Australia in Keith, that's about 117 degrees Fahrenheit. So we're talking about extremes.

45 in Adelaide . Melbourne had a high of 43 degrees. The average high is 26. So we are talking about temperatures extremely high.

There's also a high fire danger like what we've seen across parts of western Australia. Now in Victoria a total fire ban. The problem is that not only are we dealing with very high temperatures, low levels of humidity and wind. Wind is a huge concern.

As far as the heat, now we're talking about temperatures that are so hot, Kristie, that just being outside, let's say even staying in the shade is not enough anymore. People need to go inside where there is air conditioning, because even having a fan on, if you just even have that hot air blowing on you, that's still not going to be enough to bring the body temperature down.

People need to be able to go indoors, be away from the sun, and stay in places that have air conditioning. That is extremely important to be able to bring the temperature down.

Staying hydrated is also essential because you have to make sure that you are still sweating to be able to release the heat that is building up inside the body.

Take cool showers or baths, if possible, especially if -- for children and elderly. And then of course if you must be outside loose or light colored clothing. I would say a hat. I know people enjoy going to the beach, and that's good, because the temperatures are cooler there. But I'm concerned about the amount of sun that people might be getting, because that can contribute to heat stroke or heat illnesses.

We're talking about an extended period of heat here across southeastern Australia. And this front that's coming through, I think it's hurting more than helping at least for now. It might be a little bit of cloud cover for you tomorrow that could help bring the temperature down a degree or two, but unfortunately nothing too significant.

It may bring thunder and lightning that could start new fires. And the wind could pick up to as high as 40 kilometers per hour.

For the game time itself, or throughout the day, I should say, at the park we could see temperatures close to 40 degrees. So again, extremely hot. The humidity slightly higher. And then on Thursday, again close to 41 degrees for the day-time high. Friday will also be very hot, close to 41 degrees.

But a new cold front is coming. And I think by Saturday, Kristie, critical, critical conditions, because then we'll see the temperature drop about 20 degrees. It'll make a huge, huge difference. So these next couple of days I think are going to be the worst.

LU STOUT: OK. And with temps like that, they have got to stay hydrated and to stay cool. Mari Ramos there, thank you.

And despite the soaring heat, many top seeds did open their tournament on a high note. Amanda Davies is in London. She's got all the details for us -- Amanda.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie.

Yeah, the talk is that the better players actually benefit from these high temperatures because they are naturally fitter, they've put in the extra hours of training that give them that extra edge in these conditions. And whilst many did toil. The world number one Rafael Nadal had a much easier day than expected. His opponent Bernard Tomic retired hurt after the first set of their encounter on the Rod Lever Arena.

Despite playing under the Australian flag, Tomic has a pretty interesting relationship with the home crowd in Melbourne. And he really didn't get much sympathy when he started struggling with a thigh injury early on. He took an injury time out, but ultimately called it a day after going down 6-4.

So that sees Nadal into the second round where he'll play another Australian, a wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray said he felt he played well as he booked his place in the second round. The fourth seed, and of course the three time Melbourne runner up didn't show any signs of rustiness following his back surgery in the later part of last year. He dispatched Japan's Go Soeda in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.

With a new coach, Stefan Edberg, watching on, the sixth seed Roger Federer made light work of his opening match. He beat Australia's James Duckworth in straight sets.

The tournament, though, already over for the men's 13th seed John Isner. He retired after two sets of his match against Slovakia's Martin Klizan.

And whilst others were heading for the ice baths, the women's defending champion Victoria Azarenka can't get enough of the hot temperatures, it seems. The world number two headed straight to the practice courts after her first round win over Joanna Larsson. She said she wanted to hit a few more balls, because they're bouncing so high with the hot temperatures.

Azarenka is bidding to become the first woman to win three successive titles in Melbourne since Martina Hingis did it in 1997 to 1999. And that, Kristie, is how you become a champion when everybody else is back inside go and hit a few extra balls.

We've got much more though in World Sport later on.

LU STOUT: That's how you do it, that's the recipe. Amanda Davies there, thank you.

Now up next, the so-called Bangkok shutdown continues. Next on News Stream, we'll go live to the Thai capital where protesters keep up the pressure on the prime minister to resign.

And Google buys a company that marks a big step into the Internet of things. We'll tell you about its multibillion purchase of a company called nest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now state media in Egypt say a member of the Muslim Brotherhood was shot dead following a clash with security forces at the controversial referendum got underway. Now voters are deciding whether to back a new constitution that would ban religious parties from politics.

Now shortly before the polls opened, a bomb exploded outside a courthouse. No one was injured.

Russia's foreign ministry says it banned an American journalist from Russia because he violated visa regulations. Moscow says David Satter was expelled for failing to immediately report to authorities upon entering Russia last November, which resulted in his breaching migration law.

Now Satter, a long-time critic of President Putin says he is not sure what triggered his expulsion.

Francois Hollande gives his traditional New Year's news conference in just a couple of hours, but this time around it may be anything but traditional. The French president likely will face a barrage of questions about media reports he's been having an affair with an actress. His long- time partner, France's first lady, remains hospitalized suffering from stress and fatigue.

Christiano Ronaldo has been crowned the world footballer of the year for 2013, winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or. It has been an amazing year for the Real Madrid and Portugal star. He scored a memorable hat trick to take his country into the World Cup.

Now anti-government protesters are making their voices heard in the Thai capital Bangkok for a second straight day, though their numbers appear to be much smaller, at least early on Tuesday.

Now when it's estimated some 20,000 demonstrators took to the streets.

Now at their peak on Monday, they numbered as many as 170,000.

But exactly who are these protesters? Well, journalist and author Andrew Marshall who focuses on Thai politics, he broke it down for CNN.com. He says they're mostly upper and middle class residents of Bangkok. And they are joined by Thais from the relatively wealthy south who have traveled to the capital to join the demonstrations.

Now they are demanding Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down and to postpone elections scheduled for February 2. And the protesters say wide-ranging reform to rid out corruption in Thai politics must take place before a vote can be held.

Now they are specifically referring to the influence of Yingluck's older brother, the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He's been living in exile since 2008.

But even though their numbers have swelled, those demonstrators are still the minority. Thaksin remains extremely popular among Thailand's urban and rural poor. And parties controlled by him have won every general election since 2001.

Andrew Marshall writes a similar result can be expected if the election goes ahead on February 2.

Now let's get the latest from Bangkok with our Saima Mohsin. She joins us now live. And Saima, what's been the scene like there in Bangkok today?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie as you described fewer in numbers were the protesters today. And in fact as you join us here in Bangkok this is supposed to be the peak hour for protesters to gather in the city center. The last count authorities gave us just over an hour ago was around 40,000 protesters. So, this morning they started at 20. It is now building up to 40. And they're saying in the next couple of hours it could hit a peak. And then people start heading home again.

Because as you explain there, a lot of these protesters are upper middle class. So many of them might be living in the capital, so they go to work as normal, then they come out to protest and then they head home again.

And as far as the scene is concerned, still very peaceful. Just as we turned up, just a couple of -- about half an hour ago, we went to one of the train stations and major intersection that's been gridlocked and blockaded by the protesters, Sutep Taxiban (ph), one of the protest leaders had taken to the stage. He was addressing the crowd, keeping the crowd going, encouraging them to stay. And again, that mantra that we will not go until the government steps down -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Well, Saima, the opposition, they have made their demands clear. They want Yingluck Shinawatra, they want her family out of politics. But who do they want in as a replacement?

MOHSIN: Well, this is a bit of a controversy, this deadlock, Kristie, because they're saying that they want Yingluck Shinawatra out, but after all she was democratically elected. She has in appeasement offered another election. They're saying they won't accept that, they believe that election will be farcical, because the Shinawatras do have that huge majority powerbase, a lot in the north as well, amongst the poor, amongst the rural communities of Thailand.

So, what they're saying they want to replace her with, they're saying she should step down, and her government -- the opposition actually resigned a few months ago themselves -- they want to replace her with a nonelected council, a committee that Sutep Taxiban (ph), the leader of the People's Democratic Reform Committee would head. And when, you know, you ask around who will these people be, well, nobody really knows. Will he be electing them?

So what are they swapping it for, because they're not swapping it for a democracy. And this is the controversy.

And they've come head to head, because Yingluck Shinawatra has asked them to come to the table for talks, but he's saying there is no way, once again we're staying until you go -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: And as we've been looking at these scenes of day two of the ongoing Bangkok shutdown, we know that the U.S. embassy has warned Americans there to stockpile food and to stockpile cash. Dozens of countries have warned visitors against visiting Bangkok. So, I mean, just how disruptive will this protest action be?

MOHSIN: Yeah, that's a concern a lot of people have been airing, not least businesses in the area and of course the lucrative tourist industry of Thailand. And as you say advisories going out, the United States stockpile your food and your water.

But actually Bangkok hasn't come to a complete standstill. It is a very big city. Yes, it has been gridlocked to a certain extent and temporary paralyzed at least seven intersections, but not the entire city.

Schools are shut, a lot of people though switching to alternative means of transport and working from home, et cetera. But today, they're back out on the street.

How does this make Thailand look? Well, that's the huge concern, because it has a massive tourist industry. It's not just about what's going on inside the country and their domestic politics, it's about how the world views Thailand, a major popular holiday destination.

So, also, Kristie, the businesses that have been impacted by this, department stores and trading associations on Monday one of the intersections they're in is the commercial business district, they have actually made an appeal to protesters saying, yes, come out, have your say, but please don't stay too long because in the long run this is going to damage us and this is going to damage Thailand -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Saima Mohsin reporting live from Bangkok on the cost and causes of Thailand's political crisis. Thank you, Saima.

Now, Google says it will buy Nest for $3.2 billion. It's a lot of money. But what is Nest? Well, they're a maker of smart devices like this circular thermostat. It's supposed to learn from how you use it to automatically adjust the temperature in an ecofriendly way.

Now there's also this, a smoke detector, which could send alerts to your phone. And that's it, you're looking at the only two products that Nest makes.

Now for more, let's bring in Laurie Segall. She's live in New York for us. and Laurie, I mean why pay over $3 billion for this company.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: It's a lot, right. But you know when it comes down to it, this is what Google wants to invest in. We're seeing this really for the first time, the idea of the Internet of things.

So right now we see in our homes you can have different connected devices. Technology isn't just limited to your smartphone. So what Nest has done, essentially people come in and it learns about you, it learns when you come in, it learns when you leave. And you can save money in an energy efficient way.

Now is that worth $3 billion? Maybe, maybe not. But, you know, there are a lot of folks behind this company that have a very big name in Silicon Valley. And you can see that right now Google isn't just a company limited online. You know, we've heard of them investing in robots now, now it's this whole connected device trend. And we're just going to see more of it.

And we needed a big mainstream company like this to come in and say, hey we want to put these in more homes that we want to put the resources into this -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: It's a lot of symbolic value with this acquisition. But Google is not just getting Nest products, they're also getting Nest talent as well.

SEGALL: Yeah. You know, the interesting thing are the team behind Nest. One of the guys, his name is Tony Fadel, he's the CEO, he was actually one of the co-founders of essentially the iPod. He worked closely with Steve Jobs in those pivotal years at Apple when there was a lot of innovation, when you know, Apple was kind of struggling to really put a product out there that people would just say, wow. And he was one of the guys behind the iPod.

I actually spoke with him recently about his experience working with Steve Jobs and what it was like. Listen to what he said to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE FADEL, FOUNDER, CEO, NEST: It was a very, very different place to be at Apple back in the day. And so we were able to do all of these things with tiny teams and change the world. And it was wonderful. And Steve really taught us about customer experience and that's not just about using a product, but it's about the packaging, about the installation and the unboxing, about the marketing, about the customer support, about the retail experience, all of those things tie together to bring to life the product and the brand and the overall experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: And you know, Kristie, when I interviewed him I said how could you go from being the creator of the iPod, a co-creator of the iPod to being the co-creator of the smart thermostat. And he was laughing. And his wife at first was thinking what are you doing? But really he was looking, when he had a family, to go and build a green home. And he really wanted to know more about how much energy he was saving and that kind thing. And so this is -- you know, he couldn't find a good product and he said, you know what I'll just do it myself. And he used what he learned at Apple, the ability to make a beautiful product, to package it well. And as you see, it very -- it quite literally paid off.

LU STOUT: Yeah, I mean, after this bid from Google the Nest CEO he is the one laughing now. Laurie Segall, thank you so much for your reporting and for sharing that interview with us. Laurie Segall live in New York.

Now Google is of course famous as a software company, but the purchase of Nest will just add to Google's growing hardware portfolio.

Now let's take a look at some of its many physical products that Google makes. Now there is the much hyped Google Glass, or the Chromecast, it's a streaming device. Now Google owns Motorola, but there's also a line of Android phones and tablets from a variety of companies all sold under the Nexus brand. And a high-end laptop running the Chrome OS, it's called the Cromebook Pixel.

But there are also a couple of products you might not recognize.

Now this odd spherical object is the Nexus Q streaming device. Now Google announced it. It showed it off to the press, but it was discontinued before it made it to store shelves.

And finally, there's this: the Google search appliance for corporations to add to their networks to help organize their data.

Now coming up right here on News Stream, two U.S. pilots are put on paid leave after landing at the wrong airport. I mean, how did this mixup happen? We have all the details.

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LU STOUT: Now she is a lawyer, philanthropist and a mother who spent a decade a Downing Street Cherie Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has built a sterling reputation in her own right. But now, she opens up about finding her own voice while in public life.

Now here is Becky Anderson with this week's Leading Woman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON: As a known global figure and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Cherie Blair is used to the spotlight. I met her at the old courtroom building at Grayson (ph) in London where she trained as a barrister. It's a place that has great significance for her.

How did you meet, Tony?

CHERIE BLAIR, FOUNDER, CHERIE BLAIR FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN: I met him first of all here in this room when we were both candidates for a scholarship from the (inaudible). And because he's Blair and I'm Booth we sat next to each other.

ANDERSON: They married in 1980 and spent 24 years in government, including a decade at 10 Downing Street.

So if I asked you how you kept your own voice and your priorities in the foreground during the period of time that Tony was the British prime minister. It was the access to everything else that you hadn't had access to before, perhaps.

BLAIR: That's helped.

And also, I continue with my career. And, you know, that was something that I think people hadn't expected me to do. But in the law courts, in my field, of course I still could speak for my clients, because he advocate never speaks for themselves they speak for their clients. And that gave me an anchor, if you like and an identity of my own, which was very important to me.

But at the same time I was developing this wider perspective and opportunities that, you know, I could only have dreamed of in another life.

ANDERSON: Cherie Blair grew up north of Liverpool in England and went on to study law at the London School of Economic. She became and barrister in 1976. At the time, she was one of the few women in a male dominated industry.

Can you describe what sort of level of discrimination you faced in those years.

BLAIR: Well, in a sense it was just the way it was. And, you know, you just accepted that you were unusual and rather stubborn to be a woman to think you could do that. And so I was just determined to show that I could do it.

ANDERSON: And she has, so to speak, done it. Recognized as a humanitarian and received numerous rewards for her work.

For the mother of four, the accolades and the doubts from naysayers are all part of what comes with being a woman.

Does the question of how did you get here as a woman annoying you? Or do you see some validity in it?

BLAIR: Oh, I absolutely -- it doesn't annoy me at all. I often ask that question myself. And that's why I say I feel that I was just so lucky, because I could so easily have been born at a different time or a different place and not gone anywhere, because I wasn't able to use my potential. And it's that trying to set free the potential of women that's so important to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Next week on Leading Women, we will profile Rene James, the president of the tech giant Intel.

Now for more Leading Women, just log on to CNN.com/leadingwomen.

Now just ahead right here on News Stream, a slipup in the sky and some unhappy customers. Everyone is wondering how this plane managed to land at the wrong airport. We'll take a look at some of the possibilities.

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LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now yesterday, we told you about the passengers on board this commercial flight in the U.S. who learned that they had landed at the wrong airport. Now they have a lot of questions for the airline. And the big one, how could that even happen?

Now to find out, Brian Todd went into a flight simulator and recreated the plane's approach.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a pilot's eye view of runway 14 at Branson, Missouri where the pilots of Southwest Flight 4013 were supposed to land. This is Runway 12 at Clark Airport, also called Tainey County Airport seven miles away where they actually landed.

STASI POULOS, PRESIDENT, MINSTAR AVIATION: One runway at 140 and one runway at 120 is 20 degrees difference in the direction that those runways are pointing.

TODD: Pretty close.

POULOS: Very close.

TODD: That's one possible explanation for why that 737 landed at the wrong airport, according to Stasi Poulos. He's a long-time pilot and president of a company which builds software for flight simulators.

At the Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia, inside a simulator called Red Bird, Poulos entered in the exact GPS readings and visual scenery of the approach to both those airports in Missouri. The GPS instrument is straightforward.

POULOS: We're supposed to follow this magenta line and it will eventually become this white line and eventually it will hit the blue circle, which is the Branson airport.

TODD: Poulos says in these situations the coordinates the of the airport entered are actually the identifiers like LGA for LaGuardia or LAX.

Stasi Poulos says it's unlikely they would have entered the wrong identifiers in the GPS coordinates here, because the identifiers for these two airports are fairly different. Branson is KVVG in GPS and Tainey County is KPLK.

What could have gone wrong? Poulos says at the point you're looking at that GPS and steering to that line both the Branson and Tainey County airports can come into physical view, parallel to each other, through the same windshield panel. They're that close.

At that point, it's possible the pilots were only looking out the window.

It's clear from looking at it in the simulator that visual will have to be investigated for sure, because that's one of the definite factors in this kind of situation.

Experts say on approach, pilots employ a procedure called the sterile cockpit, speaking only about air speed, altitudes, settings, only those things that have to do with the landing.

PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB INVESTIGATOR: They each have responsibilities on approach. And utilizing what they call cockpit resource management, each crew member is responsible for getting that plane safety on the ground and at the right airport.

TODD: Former NTSB investigator Peter Goelz says among non-commercial pilots, landing at the wrong airport happens on occasion. But on commercial flights, he says, it simply doesn't happen.

The Southwest pilots in this case have been removed from flying duty pending an investigation.

Brian Todd, CNN, Leesburg, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now let's just give you another look at the two airports from the rough angle that the pilot would have approached from. Now we've highlighted both runways in red. You can see how they are nearly parallel with each other, but there's still some distance apart.

And in case you're wondering, the right airport is on the right of the screen. The wrong one is there on the left.

Now it was an emotional moment for the football star Christiano Ronaldo when he was crowned 2013 footballer of the year. He shed a few tears as he collected FIFA's prestigious Ballon d'Or. It is likely to find a place in the museum he recently opened which pays tribute to himself.

Alex Thomas looks at the colorful figure's rise to the top.

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ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: He's fast, strong, full of tricks, a football showman who wins matches single-handedly. And Christiano Ronaldo would own a lot more FIFA Ballon d'Or awards if it wasn't for the rival he's compared with, Barcelona's Argentina star Lionel Messi.

CHRISTIANO RONALDO, REAL MADRID: They compare each other all the time, which is -- you cannot compare Ferrari with the Porsche or -- you know, it's a different engine. You cannot compare.

THOMAS: Born on the Portuguese island of Madira, Ronaldo's footballing talent earned him a contract with Sporting Lisbon before he was even a teenager.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the early beginning, we realized and the people who are involved, more involved in him, that there was a special boy who was very, very focused on what should be done to have success.

THOMAS: When a teenaged Ronaldo impressed Manchester United's players in a game, they convinced their manager to sign him. And under the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson Ronaldo thrived.

In seven seasons at Old Trafford, Ronaldo's trophy haul included three Premier League titles, two League Cups, the FA Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Champion's League in 2008. That year, he also lifted the Ballon d'Or and was named FIFA world player of the year when the awards were still separate.

At the end of the season, Real Madrid paid a world record fee of $130 million to sign him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He loves the game. He loves to train. I had in my career so many players in love with the game, and I cannot say nobody more than Christiano.

THOMAS: With Ronaldo's help, Real Madrid became Spanish champions once more. And his game rose to another level. He left United after 118 goals in 292 games, after 219 games with Real Ronaldo had scored 239 times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said, I want to be the best player in the world. And probably a lot of people say that, a lot of players say that, but he's the one who really worked on it.

THOMAS: From his working class upbringing, Ronaldo's life has changed radically to a world of fast cars, fancy fashions, glamorous girlfriends and even his own museum.

It was laughable once, but when another glittering Ballon d'Or is displayed here, it'll be just rewards for a player whose ultimate challenge is now to try to lead Portugal to World Cup glory in Brazil.

Alex Thomas, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: After the vote, Lio Messi said that Ronaldo deserved to win the award. But while Messi might have said that, you can question whether he really meant it. Now as captain of Argentina's national team Messi can vote for his top three players at the Ballon d'Or. And here is his ballet. You got Andres Iniesta, Xavi, and Neymar, all three votes went to his Barcelona teammates, leaving no place for the man he called a deserving winner, Christiano Ronaldo.

And in case you're wondering, here is Ronaldo's ballet. As you can see, he didn't vote for Messi. His votes went to Radamel Falcao, Gareth Bale and Mezut Ozil.

And that is News Stream, but the news continues at CNN. world Business Today is next.

END