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Mount Sinabung Erupting; Novak Djokovic Crashes Out Of Australian Open; Russia Claims Seven Militants Killed In Clashes; Syrian Report States Prisoner Killings Systematic; Leading Women: Renee James
Aired January 21, 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 we follow Syrian refugees on the long walk out of their country while a new report alleges evidence Syrian prisoners were tortured by the Damascus government.
Indonesia's Mount Sinabung is erupting. And we'll speak to the man who shot this video.
And the defending champion Novak Djokovic crashes out of the Australian Open.
A team of war crimes and forensic experts say that they have direct evidence of systematic torture and killing by the Syrian regime. Now they have released a report containing thousands of photographs of what appear to be dead prisoners. They say the detainees were beaten, tortured and starved by President Bashar al-Assad's forces.
Now the photographs came from a man they are calling Caesar who they say defected from the Syrian military and smuggled out the images.
Now CNN's Amanpour program was given the report in a joint exclusive with The Guardian newspaper. And we want to note CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the photographs, documents or testimony referenced in the report.
Now Christiane Amanpour spoke to some of the authors of the report about their evidence. And a warning, her interview contains some very graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRSITIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The panel is made up of some of the world's most distinguished jurists who have taken part in UN mandated tribunals from Sierra Leone to the one of the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Also, internationally renowned and respected forensic scientists who examine the digital images as one of the panel told me, this looks like Belsen, referring of course, to one of the Nazi death camps during World War II.
DR. STUART HAMILTON, U.K. FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: I mean, this is in essence a person who has been starved. They -- you can see quite clearly how prominent the ribs are, the loss of muscle mass. This is not just somebody who's thin or somebody maybe hadn't had enough food because there's a war going on. This is somebody who's been really starved.
AMANPOUR: I asked, of course, since this happened during wartime in Syria, could these have been simply victims of war? The forensic scientist told me that that was highly unlikely. They saw no signs of multiple gunshot wounds or the other kinds of battlefield injuries.
I asked him also whether these pictures could have been doctored. He said to me that that was highly unlikely based on everything he had seen and all the evidence he had collected and examined.
Now what about the consequences of this evidence? Where will responsibility be laid? Right at the very top of the Syrian regime? I asked one of the prosecutors Sir Geoffrey Nice.
SIR GEOFFREY NICE, QC: If you have this number of bodies, probably in the order of 11,000-plus, if the 50,000 images are all consistent as we understand them to be, and as our scientists show them to be. If you have 11,000 bodies, dealt with in a systematic way, brought from one place to another, where they were photographed with identifying marks to enable the authorities to know that the people have been killed, to allow the authorities to give spurious explanations for the deaths of the people and to satisfy the authorities that people have been executed, then you can reasonably infer that this is a pattern of behavior which has to have higher authority.
AMANPOUR: So the past three years, we've reported systematically on the mounting casualty count on the battlefield. But this is the first time we've seen the kind of evidence that suggests systematic torture and killing of prisoners, of detainees, in a controlled environment away from the battlefield.
And the jurist told me that this is the kind of evidence that could stand up in a major court of law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Now let's get the reaction from Syria now. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen joins me live from Damascus. And Fred, I mean, some damning and disturbing photographs there in the Syria torture report. What is the Syrian government saying about it?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie. Well, the Syrian government hasn't reacted to the support yet. One of the reasons for that opinion is that mots of the people who actually speak to western reporters here in this country are actually either in Geneva or on their way to Geneva right now for those Geneva peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition. So so far there hasn't been any direct reaction yet.
However, we've seen - talk to people here on the street, many of them wouldn't be very surprised that a lot of things that they've seen, because people who support Bashar al-Assad, people who are against Bashar al-Assad, both of them will acknowledge that the detention system here in this country is one that is very bad. Many people who go into these jails come out looking very bad. There's people who say they don't get enough food. There's very little say so.
The whole topic of the detention system, of people being randomly detained, people being randomly detained for a very, very long time is one that is a very, very big issue here in this society. And it's certainly one that even government officials will acknowledge that the detention system here in this country is in need of very dire reform, to say the least, Kristie.
LU STOUT: And Fred, the publication of this Syrian torture report, it seems timed to coincide with the upcoming peace talks in Geneva. Do you think that these photos, this alleged evidence, could potentially alter the tone and the outcome of these talks?
PLEITGEN: Not so the out - alter the outcome of these talks, because many people don't believe that there's going to be an outcome of the talks anyway. But this thing that's going to happen is are these two sides actually going to be able to speak to each other for an extended period of time without walking away from the whole equation
I mean, one of the things you can see is that both sides seem to be going into these talks with very, very different views of what these talks are even about. The opposition says they should be able establishing some sort of transitional body for Bashar al-Assad to finally step down at some point whereas the regime says they believe these talks need to be about both fighting terrorism, which to them is about fighting Jihadists who are in this country coming from other places.
So, the whole premise of this talk is one that's in dispute.
Certainly this is something that will weigh on these talks, I would believe. It's something that will probably give a little bit of boost to the opposition maybe in these talks? But keep in mind, one of the things that also supports the (inaudible) talks that are happening is a possible prisoner exchange between the opposition and government forces. So maybe that issue will be one that will be more prominent on the table.
Certainly it is something that many Syrians would want to see, because again one of the things that - for the people on both sides of the equation can agree on is that the folks who are in detention here in this country are in a very, very bad circumstance, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Fred Pleitgen, joining us live on the line in Damascus. Thank you.
And as the war rages on in Syria, refugees continue to flock into neighboring countries every day.
Now in this exclusive report Atika Shubert travels with the UN team helping Syrians who have taken the long walk from their homeland into Jordan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The open desert stretches across Jordan and into Syria. There are no landmarks in this flat and barren land.
We're driving with Andy Harper from the UN high commission for refugees, guided by the Jordanian border police.
ANDY HARPER, UN HIGH COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES: There's no roads here, so we generally check out some. If there's any problems with what we've been hearing is it's been more refugees building up, because of the situation in Syria.
SHUBERT: But nothing prepares you for this - one jagged line into the horizon, refugees from Syria walking to safety towards Jordan.
This is just such an incredible scene, hundreds of people coming across the desert here, walking for 20 kilometers more just to get to this border post. You can see they are just utterly exhausted by the effort.
The (inaudible) thing is how many of these people coming across are kids and how many of them are mothers on their own? This woman with four children coming across, walking for miles and miles. I don't even know how she does it.
You can see carrying kids in their arms, Jordanian soldiers helping carry cans of water to help them get across, many of them empty now. And of course the injured.
The weakest are the last to arrive - the injured and the elderly.
In this desert landscape, it can be hard to tell which direction you're facing in. So if you look that way, that's Syria. And they get dropped off in these trucks by smugglers and then they walk miles and miles to get here. And what they're aiming for is Jordan right over there. And you can see the trucks by the Jordanian military there waiting to bring them across.
Often, they say, they come by night. And they have no way of knowing which direction they're heading in. All they can see sometimes is one beacon on the border post in the distance.
These refugees have come from the outskirts of Damascus, skirting the fighting in the big cities to this remote border post far to the east.
One old man offers us a biscuit. His son, Abu Mohammed (ph) says their home was first destroyed in the fighting three years ago. They have been moving ever since.
He wears a scarf to hide his face for fear of being identified.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): One of the reasons why I decided to flee the country because the concept of displacement. I used to move from one village to another escaping the conflict.
SHUBERT: Once all refugees have crossed, they are loaded up into Jordanian border police trucks. But rains have created dangerous pools of mud in the desert. Soon they are bogged down. It takes an armored personnel carrier to haul them out.
They finally made it to the border base. They've been traveling for days, but tonight a place to rest, get clean, and best of all a playground for the kids.
But it's still another 24 hours of registering as refugees and driving 400 kilometers to the main refugee camp.
This incredible journey across the desert continues to happen here every single day.
Atika Shubert, CNN, on the Jordan-Syria border.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: An incredible account of a refugee's journey there.
Now it was mentioned earlier a new round of Syrian peace talks will get underway this week in Switzerland with one notable absence - Iran. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon disinvited Iran saying it had not embraced the framework for the conference.
Now the main Syrian opposition group had threatened to pull out of the conference over Iran's participation. Now Tehran is an ally of the Syrian government. And this is the second round of international talks designed to set up a transitional government to end the violence.
Now a suicide car bomb in Beirut has killed four people and injured 27. This explosion went off earlier today in the south of the Lebanese capital in a neighborhood that's known as a Hezbollah stronghold. Earlier this month a car bomb in the same area killed four people and injured 77. The al Qaeda affiliated militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility for that earlier attack.
Now coming up right here on News Stream, Russian police on the lookout for this woman. They are calling her a terror suspect and say she may already be in the Olympic city of Sochi.
And more from the Australian Open. A tough day for defending champion Novak Djokovic. His reign as champion of the tournament has come to an end.
Plus, we meet one side show attraction in Las Vegas, giving shotgun wedding a whole new meaning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching News Stream. And you're looking at a visual version of all the stories we've got in the show today. And we began with the situation in Syria as we followed refugees as they flee their homes.
A little bit later, we'll talk to storm chaser James Reynolds from near an erupting volcano in Indonesia.
But first security in the Winter Olympics host city Sochi is once again a cause for concern.
Now police in Russia want people to look out for this woman. Now they say she could be plotting a strike on the games which are set to start in just two-and-a-half weeks. Phil Black has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Russia police are racing against the clock to find this woman who they say may be working with a known terrorist organization planning an attack on the Olympics. And she may already be inside Sochi ready to strike.
JEFF BEATTY, SECURITY CONSULTANT: Obviously, the Russian security forces are concerned that perhaps people have already penetrated their outer perimeter and are in Sochi.
BLACK: 22-year-old Ruzana Ibragimova is described as a black widow, a notorious type of suicide terrorist that's emerged in Russia's clashes with Chechen separatists.
Police distributed flyers to hotels in Sochi and are asking staff to be on the lookout for her.
Experts say there could be other so-called black widows planning a strike.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We shouldn't assume that she's the only one they're concerned about. She's likely part of a larger network that they're looking at.
BLACK: Ibragimova is believed to be from Dagestan, a Russian republic on the Caucuses region.
In the U.S., law enforcement agents have been conducting knock and talk interviews with people from that region for weeks asking community members if there are any issues where they should be focusing.
This morning, the Russian anti-terrorist committee posted a statement saying they killed seven rebels in Makhachkala, Dagestan early last week. One of those killed is a Black Widow by the name of Zaira Alieva.
All this after a new terror threat this past weekend from two young men in this video. Claiming responsibility for twin suicide bombings in Volgograd last month. And they say as for the Olympics, we've prepared a present for you.
Terror analysts say Sochi is uniquely at risk, because Islamic militant hotbeds are within the country, leaving the Olympics closer than ever to danger.
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: This group does not have to fly in from the Middle East or North Africa or Asia or some other remote location, they are already in the neighborhood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: And CNN's Phil Black joins me live with more on the security situation. He's in the city of Volgograd, the site of last month's back to back suicide bomb attacks. And Phil joins me now.
And just how is the Kremlin trying to reassure the world that the games will be safe?
BLACK: Kristie, their consistent line is everything is in place. They have done all they can. They understand the responsibility. And they are determined to live up to it. They believe that their security plan for Sochi is of an Olympic standard, one that would apply to any city hosting a games regardless of where it is, regardless of what the domestic terror threat is in that country.
So, they believe they've got all the pieces in place. And they do have a strong track record for this. Russia has been dealing with a terror threat, a domestic terror threat for a long time now. It is a constant threat here. So large events, public spaces, transport infrastructure, all of these things are constantly in a very high state of readiness.
But what has become very clear is that there remains a very determined group of terror groups and so forth in this country that seem to be really trying to go out of their way to disrupt these games, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Phil Black reporting for us. Thank you.
Now the CEO's of two banks and a credit card company have offered a joint public apology in South Korea after their customer's personal data was stolen. About 20 million south Koreans, that's some 40 percent of the country's entire population, has been affected.
Now the stolen information includes identification numbers addresses and credit card data. It was allegedly swiped by an employee at the Korea Credit Bureau, which offers risk management and fraud detection services.
Now South Korea's government has launched an investigation. And the affected companies tell CNN about half a million customers have applied already for new credit cards.
Now still to come right here on News Stream, shock at the Australian Open. Defending champ Novak Djokovic knocked out. We've got details ahead with World Sport's Lara Baldesarra.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.
Now let's turn to sport now. And a classic match just wrapped up at the Australian Open. Could defending champ Novak Djokovic really - could he rally back to reach the semifinals?
World Sport's Lara Baldesarra joins me now with more at CNN Center. She's got the answer just in case you don't know it already - Lara.
LARA BALDESARRA, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kristie, the simple answer for you is no. But, wow, this was really an absolutely great match. We all had such high hopes for another epic rematch between Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka at the Australian Open after last year's epic five hour match.
You know what, we all got exactly what we were hoping for.
Now this match got started with both players absolutely struggling with a few error. Djokovic winning the first set 6-2 and then Wawrinka really made one of - really made a match of this, rather, winning the second set 6-4. He went up another set, the third. Then the fourth set it went to Djokovic 6-3. So we were set for a fifth set that came right down to it. It was absolutely thrilling with Wawrinka emerging the winner 9-7.
So what a match this was. And to talk more about it, I'm joined now by Sports Illustrated's John Werthheim who is in Melbourne. Now John, Wawrinka snapped a 14 match losing streak to Djokovic. Was this simply a sense of self-belief that guided him to the win this time?
JOHN WERTHEIM, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Yeah, you mentioned the great match they had here last year that went five sets. And then they had another five setter at the U.S. Open. And it was just that little bit of self-belief and some really clutch play. And again, this was as you said, this was just great sport, great theater. 9-7 in the fifth set. And this was a huge - I mean, this is really the match of his career. I mean, Wawrinka has been out here for a good decade. He's a top 10 player, but this was really a signature win of his career that we just saw tonight.
BALDESARRA: So now after defeating the overwhelming favorite, has Wawrinka become the man to beat?
WERTHEIM: Well, it's been almost five years since anyone outside the big four - Djokovic, Federer, Murray, Nadal has won a major and three of those guys are still left. So they are probably - they're probably still the favorites.
But, no, I mean he's two matches away, Wawrinka is, and if can sustain the level of play tonight and also sort of the mental level he had he's got a real shot. I mean, this was really an impressive performance tonight.
BALDESARRA: Well, John, now that Djokovic is out, though, do you think that that at all affects the confidence or maybe the mentality of the other players who are still alive?
WERTHEIM: You know, it's funny because Roger Federer is obviously diminished a bit, but he looked terrific in his last match. Andy Murray was the finalist last year. He has not looked his best. And I think funny to think that even if you were following on social media it seemed as though all the other top players were following this match. They obviously know what Wawrinka is capable of.
And it's really - I mean, it's funny you have these three stars that are still left in the draw and yet you have the feeling that this event on the men's side - certainly on the women's side too - but on the men's side you feel like it's pretty wide open right now.
BALDESARRA: Yeah, you certainly do. We can't wait to see how this one unfolds.
John, thank you very much. And Wawrinka he will next face Thomas Berdych in the semis after the Czech seven seed, he upset David Ferrer on four sets.
Now this is Berdych's first appearance in the Aussie Open semis. It means that he's now made the semis in all four grand slam events, Berdych becoming the first Czech player to reach the last four in Melbourne since Jiri Novak in 2002.
Now, over on the women's side, in the match of the two 31-year-old veterans. It's Li Na who was victorious as she remains on track for a third straight Australian Open final as she absolutely demolished Italy's Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-2. And after dismissing Serena Williams in the fourth round, Ana Ivanovic looked destined to be in control of her match against the Canadian youngster Eugenie Bouchard, but the 19-year-old she showed great composure to come from a set down and beat the 14th ranked Serb 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.
Now Bouchard is the first Canadian to reach a grand slam semifinals in 30 years. And she hopes it will be just the start of great things to come for her in the future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EUGENIE BOUCHARD, CANADIAN TENNIS PLAYER: I'm proud, you know, to make some kind of history a little bit. I think the first one to make the semis of a slam in Australia. So that's really, you know, cool. And, you know, if it improves the popularity of the sport back home and, you know, little kids or girls want to play tennis because of me that's just - that's an honor to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDESARRA: Now, Bouchard was actually asked in a post-match interview, who in the world she would most like to share a date with? And like many Canadian girls, me not included, she blurted out Justin Bieber. How about that, Kristie?
LU STOUT: Oh, dear. Well, it could have been worse, right? Like the other Canadian maybe the mayor of Toronto, but she didn't go there. But still Justin Bieber, she could, you know, really aim a little bit higher there.
Lara Baldesarra, thank you so much. Welcome to CNN, by the way.
BALDESARRA: Thank you very much.
LU STOUT: Take care.
Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come nearly 2,000 flights canceled in the U.S. ahead of another winter wallop. We've got your full weather forecast still ahead right here on News Stream.
And awake and angry, Mount Sinabung in Indonesia is erupting and it's forcing thousands of people from their homes. We get a live report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream and these are your world headlines.
Now a deadly suicide car bomb exploded in the Lebanese capital today. Four people were killed and 27 are injured. It happened in a southern Beirut neighborhood that is a stronghold of the militant group Hezbollah.
Thailand's government has declared a state of emergency in the capital Bangkok that will begin on Wednesday and last for 60 days. Now thousands of anti-government protesters remained on the streets demanding Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra step down.
Russian special forces say that they killed seven people described as rebels in Dagestan southern Russia on Saturday. They say one of those killed was the rebel group leader in Makhachala.
Now another was Zaira Alieva, so-called black widow. Now officials say that she was trained by terrorists as a suicide bomber.
Now he French striker Nicolas Anelka has been charged by the English Football Association after celebrating a coal with a controversial gesture. It is known as the quenelle. Many see it as an anti-Semetic symbol. Anelka denies that he meant it that way and maintains that it is only an anti-establishment symbol. Anelka faces a possible five match ban.
And it's getting cold again in the U.S. Let's get more on this situation with Mari Ramos. She joins us from the World Weather Center - Mari.
MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kristie, yeah, you know it's winter it's supposed to be cold, right? But we're talking about not the polar vortex this time around, just good old fashioned arctic air blast that's coming along. Problem is it's causing huge delays at the airports, because we're also going to get a lot of snow and wind associated with this weather system.
So once you go down the line of all of the major airports, particularly across the east coast of the U.S. it's not going to be pretty. Already preemptively over 2,000 flights have been canceled by the U.S. airlines. And this is affecting flights not only within the U.S., but also flights coming from elsewhere.
So all of the big cities seeing big travel delays even if those flights are going in and out. Best thing is of course as always call your airport.
And you know what, a lot of these places that are reporting the big travel delays that I just showed you right now haven't even had the significant snowfall yet, that's still starting to come along here. You can see it on our radar map. It's starting to move in now into upstate New York and is starting to approach Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. So those are going to be the areas that are going to see the bulk of the snowfall.
So it's very, very cold, though, minus 17 in Chicago, minus 24 in Minneapolis. When you factor in the wind it feels much colder than that. And that polar plunge, so to speak, as that arctic air begins to move in is going to give us temperatures that are 10 to 15 degrees below the average for this time of year.
Notice across the western U.S. where, you know, they could use a little bit of a cool down, temperatures remain quite warm. And the fire risk, unfortunately, remains high across that region.
But turning back to the northeast as that area of low pressure picks up the moisture here from the Atlantic and it mashes up with that cold air coming along, the significant snowfall will be along that region. And again, that's going to be the big thing to watch over the next 24 hours or so.
And New York City, 20 centimeters of snow, that's a lot, 23 in Philadelphia and maybe 14, 15 -- these are your advisories and watches -- and there's even a blizzard warning across portions of Massachusetts right there along the Cape.
So definitely something to watch.
Now we've been talking quite a bit about the situation in the Philippines, Kristie, of course since Typhoon Haiyan, Supertyphoon Haiyan made landfall back in November. This is a picture from Guuan in the Philippines and you saw that tent completely destroyed there. Guuan had its rainiest day since Typhoon Haiyan hit this area.
They were the first place to actually get the fury of the storm.
Winds have been gusting to about 60 kilometers per hour pretty much all day, all of it having to do with that area of low pressure that is sitting just off the coast.
Now farther south, the rainfall has been also devastating. Take a look. It's disaster upon disaster across this area. In some cases, they've had over a meter of rainfall since January. It's rained practically every single day since the year began. And it's taking a toll on people.
About two dozen people have been killed, several are missing. Over 60 have been injured and more than 200,000 people have been affected and had to be displaced. And this is new people being displaced by this series of very heavy rain, people losing pretty much everything that they own. And those rescues are ongoing as you can see there.
I want to take you away from those pictures with my last few seconds to give you a forecast. That area of low pressure begins to weaken, but this is the rainy season so that winter weather pattern is expected to remain. So that risk of heavy rain continues, not as persistent as before, but it's definitely not going to be dry, drier than it was, but the risk of rain remains. And area so flooded like that, you know that any amount of rain that falls is a huge, huge concern.
Back to you.
LU STOUT: Yeah, Mari, you called it -- you nailed it by saying it is disaster upon disaster. We know that Oxfam has issued another appeal because they need more funding for another 400,000 temporary shelters as a result of the flooding rain from this week.
Thank you very much for highlighting the situation there. Mari Ramos.
Now police, meanwhile, they are widening the scope of their investigation into the torture of an Indonesian maid in Hong Kong. Now they are shown here gathering evidence from the suspect's apartment.
Now the suspect was arrested at Hong Kong's international airport. And police are questioning other maids who may have been tortured by the same employer.
Now the accusation sparked large demonstrations on the streets of Hong Kong and the formation of a campaign calling for justice.
Now molten rock and ash are still spewing into the sky from an Indonesian volcano that refuses to quiet down. And more than 22,000 people have been displaced while enormous ash clouds float up from the mountain and settle over villages. After a three year slumber, the volcano rumbled back to life in September. It has erupted hundreds of times since then. And it is one of nearly 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. It's part of what's known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Now storm chaser James Reynolds is there in the thick of things. He joins me now from Indonesia.
And James, what have you been observing today there at the volcano?
JAMES REYNOLDS, STORM CHASER: Hi, Kristie. Well, today I left what I call a serious uptick in eruptive activity. The volcano was very, very angry, multiple pyroclastic (ph) surges which hot gas and rock flows were sweeping down the flanks of the volcano and creating very large ash clouds as well, which is drifting an affecting the communities after the volcano. So it was a really -- a really high state of unrest today, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yeah, we're looking at the dramatic video that you captured of those huge plumes of ash clouds in the air.
I mean, air quality around the volcano, it must be a major concern. How is it affecting local residents?
REYNOLDS: Yes, it's -- the ash emissions are really, really are a concern. We got caught in an ash cloud today and it's a very, very unpleasant experience. And the local communities here, you know, they're really having to wear masks whenever they go outside, because the ash is made up of very, very damaging small, tiny particles that if you breathe in can do real damage to your lungs.
The ash is also playing havoc with the local agriculture as well. They keep a very agricultural region and a lot of the clubs in the field here have been hit by heavy ash flow and have caused real problems in the atmosphere as well, Kristie.
LU STOUT: So it's having an impact on both health and agriculture there in the region.
And James, when did this volcano start to become active again? And when did you make the call to fly there, to go there and to film it?
REYNOLDS: Well, I arrived on the 18th of January. I'd seen reports online. There's even a web came, which is focused on a volcano. And the images coming through were very striking and powerful. So I decided to come here and I've been here for four or five days now. And it was really today and yesterday that the activity really started cranking up again afterward there has been a couple of days low. So I'll be here for a couple of more days to go, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yeah, as you said the activity has been really cranking up, in particular today the eruption from Mount Sinabung lasting for a couple of months now.
What does the government make of the situation. Is it starting to consider that this could be a national disaster? What is the government response here?
REYNOLDS: Well, the Indonesian government are very used to dealing with volcanic crises. You know, we had the eruption of Mount Merapi in Java in 2010, which killed over 300 people.
But they are very used to these volcanic hazards and these risks to the local population. And I'm getting the impression here on the ground that the local people are starting to deal with the volcano. They understand the risks themselves and everyone who needs to be out of harm's way at the pyroclastic (ph) flows and explosive eruptions is out of the way.
So thankfully so far there doesn't seem to be really much of a death toll, so to speak, but it's really going to be an ongoing disruption due to these continuous ash clouds and ash plumes around the (inaudible) -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: And as we look at this video. And this video in particular we're looking at, this is film by videographers by Reuters, also video from you, James, available online to your social media accounts and on YouTube. I mean, we can see clearly Sinabung has been quite active in recent hours, in recent days. But do you think it has the potential to deliver a major violent and deadly eruption like what has happened in the past. You cited Mount Merapi, for example, what happened there a few years ago.
REYNOLDS: It's hard to say with certainty, but you know a volcano which is erupting needs to be treated with great respect, especially if what -- it's called a lava dome forms at the top, which is basically a plug of very unstable lava. And these are prone to collapses. We've been seeing that today, which is causing pyroclastic (ph) flows.
If you get a major collapse of a lava dome, that is what can cause very, very large and dangerous pyroclastic (ph) flows, which may well spread beyond where the previous flows had been.
Whether that's going to happen, I'm not an expert in that. So, it's hard to say, Kristie.
LU STOUT: All right, James Reynolds, take care. Thank you so much for sharing your findings with us. James Reynolds videographer, storm chase, volcano watcher on the line from Indonesia.
Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come, something to shout about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will not yield to the gentleman. And the gentleman will observe regular order.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: And you thought you were having a bad day? Well, Jeanne Moos brings us her top 10 rants. And they are not pretty.
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LU STOUT: Welcome back.
Now she is the president of the tech giant Intel and advises the U.S. government on telecom security. But there's one more thing Renee James would like to achieve in her career. Poppy Harlow speaks to her in this week's episode of Leading Women.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Renee James, president of tech giant Intel. She's the highest ranking female executive at the company, ever.
RENEE JAMES, PRESIDENT, INTEL: We build transistors atom by atom.
HARLOW: I sat down with her at the Fortune most powerful women summit.
JAMES: This is a conference of role models, of women that I aspire to be.
HARLOW: Do you ever wish that gender was not a part of the discussion? Do you ever wish it was one of the most powerful people in business?
JAMES: I think when I was younger I wished it didn't, because it used to bother me so much like who cares what my gender is. Am I good or not? And I actually wouldn't speak at women's events because I didn't want that to be, you know, calling card that I'm a woman, you know. But I realize now that I'm a role model. And so I feel more of a responsibility to give back to other women.
HARLOW: James became president of Intel after more than 25 years at the company with more than 100,000 employees worldwide. She's number two in the executive ranks.
When you were promoted to president there were some headlines. Is she the right fit for this job? What did you think of that? Does it bother you?
JAMES: And you know what, no. I expected it. There haven't been a lot of women at the top of (inaudible) companies.
HARLOW: So what did you do? When you read that criticism...
JAMES: I tried not to read it. Mostly, it makes me want to be successful more. So I find it very motivating when I do read it.
HARLOW: James is a mother of two. Her mother was a sheriff in their native California and a powerful example. Her business mentor along the way has been Andy Grove, former Intel chairman and CEO.
JAMES: I met him in a presentation that I had to give about the technology I was working on. And we got into a little of an argument, because he started to me how it worked. And I said, no, no, no. And apparently you don't argue with Andy Grove, but I was too young, too stupid to know better. And so he said to me, who are you? Where did you come from?
So I thought, I'm going to get fired. But it turned out that many years later, several years later he called and I had made the shortlist to become a (inaudible).
With that, I want to thank you all...
HARLOW: Today, her role includes overseeing software services, human resources and security.
Do you want to be CEO of Intel one day?
JAMES: Oh, yes. Absolutely.
HARLOW: You're already at the top. What is it about being CEO that's important to you?
JAMES: I've been there for a long time. And I'm very goal oriented. So it's like the one last thing that I wanted to do.
HARLOW: Is it also about something bigger than you and this goal? Is it about having, frankly, a woman at the top?
JAMES: No. I think it's about the legacy of the company and its role in the history of Silicon Valley. And it's role in technology and bringing that forward.
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LU STOUT: Renee James of Intel there.
Now next week she talks about what inspired her to enter high tech.
Now for more Leading Women, log on to CNN.com/leadingwomen.
Now in the grownup playground that is Las Vegas, it seems that you can do just about anything. And among the casinos and entertainment spots is one place offering a new and controversial way for thrill seekers to spend their money.
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LU STOUT: Welcome back.
Now when you think of Las Vegas, casinos and concerts come to mind, but one store in Sin City has become a gun lover's paradise.
Now CNN Money spoke to Bob Irwin, the owner of The Gun Store where people can shoot their weapon of choice.
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BOB IRWIN, OWNER, THE GUN STORE: We got guns in that people wanted to shoot, commonly Thompsons and Uzis and AR-15s, M-16s, the things that they see on television or in war movies. They're being used on the news in Syria and so forth we have available for customers to try.
Each one of them contains shooting (inaudible). You can see we are full of customers.
Well, I started it in 1984. I had a gun shop. We built a range into it. One of the customers, who I knew a little bit, asked one day could he shoot one of the MAC-10s that we had on the wall.
So I said, sure. And as he walked out, another customer said, hey, could I shoot that too?
And the light bulb went off.
We have packages starting from $100 all the way up to $1,000 if you want to shoot everything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my first time at The Gun Store.
I went with the Coalition pack, which includes an M9 an M4 and the Saw.
IRWIN: Everybody gets an instructor, that's part of the package. So we don't turn people loose that don't know how to handle guns.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not allowed, an 18-year-old to gamble and I'm not allowed to drink, but I can go shoot machine guns and visit strip clubs, which is exactly why I'm here.
Not awful.
IRWIN: In some states you cannot own a machine gun, it's illegal. In Nevada, that is not addressed in the law. There is federal registration that's caused by federal law, so each of these guns is registered to the company or registered to myself and are owned by the company. The executives here, the people that have access to the guns have to be fingerprinted and background checked and so forth.
This is a 1928 Thompson submachine gun.
That's one of our newer things is what we call the shotgun weddings department. We actually converted one of the ranged into a wedding chapel and do wedding several times a week now.
We could use people that speak 100 different languages working here.
Everybody comes to Las Vegas. And that is the mix that we get. Watching people walk out the door when they're down, they're all grinning from ear to ear. It's a fun thing to do.
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LU STOUT: Incredible business idea there.
Now, China and its urbanization drive, it started decades ago when 80 percent of the population lived in the countryside. Now today, some 500 million Chinese live in cities, that's almost half the total population.
But in those urban areas, there are major problems. China's city dwellers, they're forced to live in a concrete landscape of polluted skies and chronic gridlock. And for its migrant workers, some basic needs have been cast aside.
So, why must China urbanize? And how is Beijing leading the charge? Well, that was the first topic up for discussion for this month's On China.
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PEGGY LIU, JOINT U.S.-CHINA COLLABORATION ON CLEAN ENERGY: Well, the (inaudible) says that for every 1 percent of urbanization we have 7 trillion RMB increase in GDP annually. So of course it's monetary, right. There's a financial reason to do this.
And so if you think about urbanization, you need to build roads, you need to build shops, you need to build buildings and all of that creates jobs, it creates employment.
TANG MIN, ECONOMIC ADVISER, CHINA STATE COUNCIL: In fact, (inaudible) new organizations many addressing to those already in the city, but is not fully integrated to the cities, not fully entitlement of an urban social- elfares.
LU STOUT: So under this urbanization drive, it's not about creating new cities in China, it's about making existing urban areas more accommodating to more rural residents.
MIN: Number one task is doing that.
LU STOUT: Jim, I want to get your thoughts on this. I mean, why is there this new urbanization drive? How is China going to do it?
JAMES MCGREGOR, GREATER CHINA CHAIRMAN, APCO WORLDWIDE: Will China do this? Yes. Because they have to. The current economic model of state planning, state banks, state industry and all these megaprojects is running out of gas. They've got to keep growth going, it's going to be consumers. And so this is all about creating consumers. Farmers are not consumers. People that move to cities are consumers. So that's all they've got to do, they've got to turn these people into consumers.
And the leadership of China knows their numbers. And this government stays in power by making people's lives better. If they don't, there's going to be trouble.
Beijing has 20 million people and about 12 million of them are registered citizens, the other 8 million are migrants who do not have their kids don't -- can't go to school, they can't get health care. And this has to now become a consumer economy.
So the great social justice story of China is in order to grow you have to turn these migrants into full citizens and consumers.
You know, the report the World Bank did with the state council here says that if you can take 13 million migrants and give them legal residency and make them consumers every year, you can drive 6 percent growth in China for 20 years.
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LU STOUT: And that was author and consultant James McGregor there calling urbanization social welfare reform the great social justice story of China.
Now you can catch the program in full tomorrow when it debuts. Do tune in to CNN's On China Wednesday, 6:40 pm Beijing time.
And finally, on Sunday this NFL player was hailed as a hero for leading his team to the Superbowl, but his post-match potshots at an opponent leading to Richard Sherman being widely criticized.
Now Jeanne Moos has his outburst and compares it to some of the best rants in history.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First, he tipped the ball and then he ran his mouth.
RICHARD SHERMAN, NFL PLAYER: When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you're going to get. Don't you ever talk about me.
MOOS: Now, we can't stop talking about him. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has joined the ranks of the ranters.
Number nine, Bobby Knight, famous for shooting a chair across the court and shooting off his mouth at his own team.
BOBBY KNIGHT: Now, I'll (EXPLETIVE DELETED) run your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) into the ground. You think last night was a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) picnic. You better get your head out of your (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: Number eight, Oklahoma State coach who defended one of his young football players.
MIKE GUNDY, OKLAHOMA STATE COACH: Because it's garbage. Come after me, I'm a man. That's all I got to say. It makes me want to puke.
MOOS: Or instead of throwing up, throw things. That's what the press made then Kansas City Royals manager Hal McRae do.
HAL MCRAE, KANSAS CITY ROYALS: You think I'm a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: One sportswriter hit by a tape recorder left with an inch and a half gash.
MCRAE: Put that in our (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
MOOS: What was Charlie Sheen smoking during his rants?
CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: Can you smell your rotting dog (EXPLETIVE DELETED), your fermented puke that is your viscera?
MOOS: Viscera, fancy word.
Alec Baldwin used a three-letter word in a phone rant to his then teenage daughter.
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: What a rude little pig you really are.
MOOS: All grown up, she said it was made out to be a much bigger deal than it actually was.
BALDWIN: You are a rude, thoughtless little pig, ok?
MOOS: Mike Tyson threatened to eat his rival's kids.
MIKE TYSON, FORMER BOXING CHAMP: My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable. And I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah.
ANTHONY WEINER (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: It is a shame.
MOOS: Before he was shamed by his own sexting scandal, Congressman Anthony Weiner was a ranter par excellence.
WEINER: I will not yield to the gentleman. And the gentleman will observe regular order.
MOOS: Regular order went flying when an Illinois state representative lost it.
STATE REP. MIKE BOST (R), ILLINOIS: These damn (INAUDIBLE) all damn the time.
MOOS: And then there was the guy who was asking Ohio Republicans to nominate him for county treasurer. Treasure this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have been Republican in times good, and I have been a Republican in times bad.
MOOS: He didn't get the nomination, but he did get in a Volkswagen ad.
SHEEN: Everybody wins.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will hit the ground running, come out swinging and end up winning...
MOOS: New York.
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LU STOUT: And that is News Stream. But the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.
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