Return to Transcripts main page
NEWS STREAM
Analysts Skeptical Israel-Hamas Can Create Lasting Truce; Apple, Samsung Call A Truce; Spacecraft Rosetta Becomes First Manmade Object To Enter A Comet's Orbit; WHO To Call Ebola International Crisis
Aired August 06, 2014 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.
Now we go right to the heart of the Ebola outbreak in Africa with an exclusive report from a treatment center in Sierra Leone.
Apple and Samsung call a truce, dropping all patent lawsuits outside the U.S.
And history is made as a spacecraft enters orbit around a comet for the first time ever.
And as the deadly Ebola virus continues to spread in West Africa, the World Health Organization is debating whether to declare the epidemic an
international crisis. It is holding a two-day emergency meeting today. It's believed Ebola has already killed nearly 900 people in West African
nations at the center of this epidemic. And today, we learned a Nigerian nurse has died from the disease. And there are now five more confirmed
cases in the country, that's according to the health ministry. And there are fears that Ebola could spread further. And health authorities around
the world are on alert.
Now health workers on the ground in Sierra Leone say that the country is struggling to cope. David McKenzie is the only international journalist on
the front lines of the fight against Ebola there and he filed this exclusive report from a treatment center at the heart of the outbreak.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Taking incredible care to combat an unprecedented outbreak. Ebola can lead to
death with just one drop of infected fluids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, that's why we take every possible precaution to prevent that.
MCKENZIE: Already, dozens of doctors and nurses have died in this outbreak. Still, Dr. Stephon Kruger (ph) says he has to come.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we need is, and this really big lack of resources. And at the moment, (inaudible) they do nothing. I mean, that's a
good enough reason.
MCKENZIE: But at Kailahun, they are losing the battle. Ebola has hit four countries. The number of infections continue to rise. This outbreak is out
of control.
(on camera): In the last two weeks, they doubled the capacity for confirmed Ebola patients and they're doing all they can to help those who are sick
but they're absolutely at capacity here.With the little effort (ph) that is right now, will it stop the disease?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, to up here, no, and it's really difficult because we are running behind (inaudible). We don't know where we're staying and
it's frustrating for us because we don't have a capacity to go everywhere.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): But here they do what they can. In the high risk zone, this woman calls out for help. She has Ebola, so does her son. "Ebola
is so deadly, it's killing our citizens, it's killing our country," says Tenneh Naloh. Her husband and son died of the disease. Seventy percent of
confirmed cases here will die, too.
(on camera): So she's confident.
(voice-over): To talk to Tenneh, we must stand a few feet away, the strict protocols protect us, the cruelty is they isolate her. Still, Tenneh
believes her 12-year-old daughter will make it and so will she. "We are feeling much better," she says, "we are strong and we're going to fight."
(on camera): What happens when you actually beat this disease?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a real highlight of everything that we do here. Everybody comes to watch the patient come out of isolation. It really, I
think motivates the staff to continue doing what they do here.
MCKENZIE: David McKenzie, CNN, Kailahun, Sierra Leone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Frightening to hear the frustration of the voices of the aid workers, the medical workers there in the hot zone.
Now meanwhile, Egyptian officials, they are hoping to broker an extended Palestinian delegates in Cairo. Hamas insists any lasting agreement must
include an end to the eight year blockade of Gaza, while Israel wants guarantees that Hamas will disarm. So far, both sides have upheld the
current 72 hour pause in fighting, and that is allowing desperately needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Now residents there are returning to what's left of their homes. The Palestinian deputy prime minister says rebuilding Gaza will cost at least
$6 billion.
Martin Savidge reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time in weeks, fishermen in Gaza tend to their nets, a sign of optimism this cease-
fire might actually work. But they don't take their boats beyond the break wall in case it doesn't.
When it comes to peace, Palestinians have learned to hedge their bets. At U.N. schools and shelters, some begin leaving. To go where isn't clear.
Others were more pragmatic, thinking it best to wait and see.
"They said there was a truce before and we left," says this man. "But five minutes after we got home, the airstrikes started."At Gaza City's main
market, it's busy and the food and goods surprisingly plentiful, but the end of the violence has not brought an end to the long-term problems here.
(on camera): Most conflict zones, cash is king. Credit cards don't work too well here. And when you need cash, you go to the ATM. And they're lucky.
This one works. Unfortunately, most people haven't been paid in months. So, there's no money for them to withdraw.
(voice-over): There is no shortage of opinions about the war and the talks to end it. This man says: "The cease-fire is the right decision. No one
needs war," while this woman believes: "Hamas will negotiate concessions from Israel. I am expecting a victory from the resistance. We will win this
war," she says. "We are preparing the festivities."
In the wasteland that was Shaja'ia, no one is planning celebrations. This area was pounded relentlessly by Israeli airstrikes and artillery for days.
In Beit Hanoun, it's the same story. No homes, no schools, no mosques. Nothing is left of what used to be.
"I was shocked," he says. "I was imagining everything, except the sight I saw."Here in the ruins, residents are realizing a cease-fire was the easy
part. The hard part is what comes next.
Martin Savidge, CNN, Gaza.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Now in the minutes before the ceasefire started on Tuesday morning, both sides carried out attacks.
Now the Palestinian news agency WAFA says Israel hit Gaza with several air strikes, and Israel says Hamas fired around 20 rockets.
Now a team from the Indian channel NDTV filmed what appears to be militants in Gaza preparing one of those rockets. Now the reporter here is
Sreenivasan Jain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SREENIVASAN JAIN, NDTV CORREPSONDENT: OK, so we are witnessing something very, very unusual in this plot of land, abandoned plot of land right next
to our hotel. A blue tent has come up. It wasnOt there last night, it came up just this morning and there have been two men moving in and out of
it.
Now by reason doubt, it's fair to guess that this is a potential Hamas rocket-launching site that's been set up. There's always been this
question of how Hamas manages to fire its rockets without being detected by the Israelis, this perhaps is one of the ways of assembling it under a
tent.
It also establishes something which Hamas has always been accused of, that they actually use densely populated civilian areas to fire their rockets.
And if a camera zooms out a little more you see that this is an area very heavily built up, a lot of residential and hotel buildings all around. And
so if Hamas does fire a rocket from here, it will have immediate consequences for everyone around here.
And I also must report at this point that the first night when we came here, we did see, or rather hear a rocket go off exactly in that plot of
land and the hotel -- and the hotels opposite us were evacuated, because the Israelis sent a warning that there might be a strike on them.
That didn't happen. But if Hamas uses this site once again to launch a rocket, we're not sure what's going to happen.
So now as you can see the tent has been removed. Whatever they were doing under the tent is clearly over. We also find that they are not two people,
two individuals, but three, who were behind this particular activity and they've placed a sort of a bush on top of whatever they've buried under the
sand, and also they're using a spade to cover it up with mud and it looks like they're prepared to leave.
But of course during this whole process, they were running some cables out from under the tent to somewhere at the back. And it now remains to be
scene whether this is indeed a Hamas rocket launch site that they're going to use it to detonate it remotely. We can see one of the men leaving.
He's got something on his head. He just looks like he's coming right out onto the road, or he's gone behind the tree there. The other guy is
standing behind the tree.
Again, as I said, this is a very, very unusual site to actually witness in Gaza, the possibility that we're seeing Hamas setting up for a rocket
launch just meters away from a hotel. And again as I point out bang in the middle of what is a residential full of hotels and apartment buildings.
So that's the rocket being fired Tuesday morning, a day after it was assembled at the exact spot the rocket has being fired. That's the smoke.
We just showed a video of it in the immediate aftermath.
OK, so we're heading to the spot where we saw the rocket from being fired. It seems to be in an open plot of land, but we are being asked by people
not to go to the location. So we're just pulling back.
And we're just heading back, because some journalists there, as you can see, have waved to us saying not to go there.
OK, so we're not actually going in there, because it's been rightly pointed out to us that there could be an immediate Israeli retaliation to the
rocket that was fired from here, but as we were reported -- or as we managed to capture on camera earlier, we actually saw that particular
rocket silo being placed, but reporting it while we're here in Gaza also have serious security implications for both those around here and also for
us, which is why this report might actually have to air earlier.
But you can see very clearly this is a very, very dense residential and commercial area and therefore firing the rocket from here. It will
obviously have serious consequences for those who live here should Israel choose to retaliate.
In Gaza, one camera person, Sanjay Mandel (ph), and (inaudible) Sreenivasan Jain for NDTV.
(END VIDETAPE)
STOUT: Extraordinary footage there. That was Sreenivasan Jain, a reporter for the Indian news network NDTV. And the team has now left Gaza for
safety reasons.
Now as the United States prepares to hand over security in Afghanistan, the killing of a decorated U.S. general has raised concern about future
relations. Stay with us for the latest reaction from Washington.
Plus, two world rivals call it quits in the courts, but the truce only goes so far.
And history is in the making in outer space. We have taken technology where it has never been before.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: An insider attack in Afghanistan has raised questions about future relations with the U.S. after a two star American Army general was shot and
killed in Kabul. It also still raises questions about the screening process for Afghan soldiers and the upcoming U.S. hand over of security.
Now here's CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. Army Major General Harold Greene was killed and several others wounded, some
seriously, when the gunman opened fire at Marshal Fahim National Defense University, a training facility in Kabul. The shooter, dressed in an Afghan
military uniform, used a Russian- made machine gun. He was shot and killed by others on site.
DAVE SWANKIN, GENERAL'S NEIGHBOR: It's bad enough to be shot, even in the battlefield, but the way that happened, somebody pulled a gun that was
supposed to be on his side. Just terrible.
STARR: The general was the highest ranking U.S. officer killed at thehands of an enemy in a war zone since Vietnam. He was the deputy for all U.S.
training programs in Afghanistan.
CHANG: He really believed in what he was doing over there, and was really proud to serve.
STARR: Pentagon officials say they believe the shooter was an Afghan soldier who had been with his unit for some time and had been rigorously
reviewed to make sure he was not a Taliban sympathizer. By all accounts, he passed the seven-step review process.
The Pentagon, well aware the so-called insider threat, death at the hands of Afghan troops, is almost impossible to stop.
REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The insider threat is probably -- it's a pernicious threat and it's difficult to always
ascertain, to come to grips with the scope of it, anywhere you are, particularly in a place like Afghanistan.
STARR: After peaking in 2012, coalition deaths from such attacks dipped last year in part due to new security measures and reviews, but the risks
remains.
(On camera): The attack unfolded when General Greene and several others were standing outside. The shooter was firing from inside a nearby
building.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Now, the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden has been the source of many intelligence leaks over the last year, but now U.S. officials tell
CNN that they suspect there's someone new exposing U.S. national security documents.
Now proof of this came form this website, The Intercept, it's a news portal by Glenn Greenwald who published information from Snowden. And Greenwald's
latest article cites documents prepared by the National Counter Terrorism Center dated August 2013. Now that is after Snowden left the U.S. to avoid
criminal charges.
Now Samsung and Apple, they have called a truce in their long running patent war, but only outside the U.S.
Now the two companies have been engaged in legal fights for years in courtrooms around the world, both accuse the other of violating patents and
both say they will pursue action in U.S. courts. That's where Apple won about $1 billion in the biggest case to date. Samsung has appealed.
But while Samsung's fight with Apple is winding down, it's now facing a new legal challenge from Microsoft. Earlier this week, Microsoft filed a suit
saying Samsung refuses to honor an agreement to pay royalties. For an idea of just how valuable they can be, an Namura analyst says last year
royalties from Android handsets alone earned Microsoft some $2 billion.
You're watching News Stream. Coming up on the program, the trip took 10 years and now Rosetta has become the first spacecraft to enter the orbit of
a comet, but the real work is just beginning. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.
Quote, "hello comet." Now that is how the European Space Agency announced that Rosetta had finally reached its destination. It is now the first
spacecraft to enter the orbit of a comet. Now this trip, it took 10 years, five months and four days clocking up 6.4 billion kilometers.
But Rosetta's mission is only just beginning. It will soon begin mapping the surface of comet 67P. And the spacecraft is still 100 kilometers from
the comet surface. Eventually it will try to orbit the comet at 30 kilometers or even closer.
Now the probe will follow the comet for more than a year as it travels around the sun. And in November, the ESA will try to land a robotic probe
on the comet, now that's something that has never been done before.
Now Dave Brody of Space.com explains what the mission could teach us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVE BRODY, SCIENCE.COM WRITER: The comet is an object that scientists think is left over from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years
ago. So this is the primal stuff, and it gives us a window into the past.
So it's fitting that the mission is called Rosetta. As you know, the Rosetta Stone helped us decode what was going on in ancient Egypt, while
the Rosetta mission will help scientists decode what was going on in acient solar system.
The critical thing is that comet likely has a whole lot of water in it. So the lander will sniff the gas, it will check the dust, it will check
magnetism, but importantly it will try and melt some of the ice and even corkscrew down and get a core of what the scientist call primal water.
Now, it will create some chemical analysis of that water and if it turns out that the chemical signature of the comet water is the same or very
similar to that of Earth's oceans, 70 percent -- 75 percent of Earth's surface is covered by oceans, it may turn out that we are all made out of
comet stuff, and how fascinating would that be?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: Very fascinating. You could learn more about Rosetta and its mission. Our interactive website also has detailed information about
comets in general. And you can find it all here, CNN.com. But I just can't get over that delicate maneuver that succeeded to happen earlier
today and the reaction from mission control when rendezvous took place.
We'll bring up Mari for this, because I know she was watching it and she knows what happened. Because the look on the faces of the scientists in
mission control -- first of all, they were punching the air, they were happy, but the look of relief -- because this was 10 years in the making.
MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, isnOt it? We have comet, which is amazing. And it was 10 years in the making, millions of miles as
you mentioned -- billions of miles away. And you know with the very unassuming little probe called Rosetta, right, which we just heard how
important that meaning is.
The comet -- the Rosetta itself, I should say, is only about 30 meters across. The little communications satellite, the one that's sending us all
of this great information is only about two-and-a-half meters across. So very -- it almost seems kind of easy kind of technology here as doing this
amazing feat.
Now on board, there's going to be 20 different science instruments, including 10 on the landing instrument itself that we heard is going to
kind of analyze everything that's on the comet itself.
Now the comet itself is also quite unassuming. I'm not going to try to pronounce it, but people are calling it 67P for short. And it has a 6.45
year orbit, that's about 29,000 -- 2,900 days, I should say. And it -- they think that the core of the comet is solid and dark. And this is an
indication, they say, that it may have -- or contain quite a bit of carbon, which is very exciting for scientists also to be able to analyze, because
like we just heard we made -- we may be, be made of comet stuff.
You think that's rare? Let's get back to Earth, because there's some pretty rare stuff happening here. Two tropical cyclones in a row in the
Pacific not that unusual, right? What's unusual is that both of these storms are threatening the Hawaiian Islands. We have Hurricane Isel and
Hurricane Julio.
So these are both very interesting, because the last time a hurricane hit Hawaii, Stephen Speilberg, this is Ravi, our producer was telling me, was
filming Jurassic Park, that's how long ago that was. That was back in 1992 as you can see there.
Well, since 1959 we've had 11 named storms passing within 100 kilometers, only two storms have made landfall, and both have been hurricanes.
So, I don't know, 1992 I've got to check that one. But there you see it.
So it's very rare to have two tropical cyclones hit this area at any time and to have two in a row is quite unusual and the forecast here with the
double trouble. Here we have Julio toward the back, but by Thursday we could be looking at a potential hurricane affecting the Hawaiian Islands
here, which is very serious stuff. And they are preparing for it.
And close on its tracks when that one moves away, maybe weakening to a weaker Category 1 or maybe even a tropical storm, we could have the other
one just close on its heels. The latest forecast track, though, has Julio moving just slightly farther to the north. So hopefully it will miss the
islands completely, so definitely something to monitor over the next few days.
So again, there's Isel, there's Julio, there is tropical storm Genevieve. And way back over here as we head over into the western portions of the
Pacific we have Typhoon Halong. And this one has been causing huge problems across this area. You can see the storm continuing to track
northward.
The weather will begin to improve for you guys in the Philippines. This storm is a big threat for Japan, because they've already had so much rain
over these areas. And here we have yet another landfalling tropical cyclone.
The timeline for this is for the next two to three days to have the storm affecting this western portion of Japan and definitely something to
continue monitoring.
And if you're in this part of the world, you do need to be prepared for Typhoon Halong.
And then something else, this one taking us to the United States. So the desert southwest just outside of Las Vegas. Listen to this scary
situation.
(BEGIN VIDE OCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god, the (inaudible) is driving.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out! Get out! Hurry!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAMOS: So scary, Kristie.
This is a flash flood. And you know flash flooding can happen in an instant, especially in these very dry areas. This time of year they call
it the monsoon season. We do get rain storms even in the desert southwest portion of the U.S. No one was seriously injured, but even the fire police
and the air force was called in to try to rescue people.
And it happens very quickly, it doesnOt have to be raining where you are to have flash flooding. And you can see how dangerous the situation turned
very, very quickly.
Oh my gosh, that's so scary. Look at the cars.
STOUT: Yeah, very scary. And thank you for the reminder of the danger of flash floods as well as tracking all those storms out there, and new
developments in the galaxy and working in that Jurassic Park reference. (inaudible) too, a very momentum year. There we go, Mari Ramos. Thank
you.
Now Australian authorities, they have selected a Dutch company to lead the underwater search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370.
Now the Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8 on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
Months of searching have yet to turn up any sign of the plane. Andrew Stevens has more on the next phase of the search.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It'll be five months this week since Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared off the face of the
planet. Apart from faint radar images and a series of so-called digital handshakes, virtually nothing is known about what happened or even where it
is. It's all basically still educated guesswork.
Now the latest phase of the search was announced in Canberra today. A private Dutch company has been awarded the contract for a detailed search
of the new target area.
Now two vessels from Fugro survey will comb a 60,000 square kilometer, that's 20,000 square mile patch of the inhospitable southern Indian Ocean
looking for clues. They'll tow sophisticated sonar equipment, which will scan the sea floor to the extent that any sizable wreckage from 370 should
be scene. But that painstaking process could still take a full year unless there is an early breakthrough.
Two ships are already in the zone. They're constructing a less detailed map, which will provide the new search team with key information about the
topography of the sea floor.
Now what we know so far is that the search zone, which starts in the north here at about a depth of 1,800 meters then slopes down to the southern end
to a depth of around 4,800 meters.
Now what they've found so far in the part that they've looked at includes a giant ridge that plunges hundreds of meters to the sea floor, plus
underwater volcanoes. And there's still another 40 percent of the zone that the ships havenOt got to yet.
For all that, though, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said today that he's still cautiously optimistic, even though authorities will
alsotell you there's no certainty they're even looking in the right place.
Five months on and MH370 has given up nothing of its whereabouts. And that optimism that we hear is still based largely on hope.
Andrew Stevens, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Your'e watching News Stream. And still to come, as the fragile ceasefire holds in Gaza, Israeli and Palestinian delegations are preparing
for indirect talks in neighboring Egypt.
And Ukrainian forces push east toward Donetsk, while it seems Russian troops are building up along the Ukraine border. The latest on growing
tensions there when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream and these are your world headlines.
Now the World Health Organization is holding a two day emergency meeting to determine any global health risk posed by the Ebola epidemic in West
Africa. Now the organization says the virus has killed almost 900 people this year in the four African countries at the center of the outbreak.
Israeli and Palestinian officials are in Cairo to take part in talks to end, or rather extend, a 72 hour ceasefire in Gaza. And to achieve that,
Israel says Hamas must disarm, while Hamas wants an end to the Gaza blockade and the construction of settlements.
Now the current truce is allowing much needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Russia is ramping up its presence along the Ukrainian border. NATO says Moscow now has around 20,000 troops armed with heavy artillery stationed
along Eastern Ukraine. Now meanwhile, forces loyal to Kiev are moving on the rebel-held city of Donetsk.
Apple and Samsung have called truce to their long running legal fight, but only outside the U.S.
Now for years, the two companies have accused the other of patent infringement in courtrooms around the world. And they will continue to
fight out in the U.S. Now Apple won over a billion dollars in damages. Samsung is appealing.
Now let's get more now on indirect negotiations expected between Israeli and Palestinian delegates in Cairo. Reza Sayah is live for us in Cairo.
And Reza, we know that an Israeli delegation is there, is now in Cairo, but these indirect talks, when will they kick off?
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's not clear yet. As you mentioned, Kristie, we do know that both delegations, both negotiation
teams, are here in Cairo, but the talks, the fullscale talks have not gotten underway at this hour.
We spoke to a Palestinian delegation as part of the negotiation team, that's been here over the weekend and he tells us they're waiting to hear
back from Egyptian government officials and he hopes that happens in the coming hours.
And we should point out in talking to the Palestinian delegate, yet again you start to hear the mistrust that's really fueled this conflict between
the Palestinians and the Israelis, this Palestinian delegate telling CNN that he's not certain that the Israeli delegations that's in Cairo at this
hour is authorized to talk about a lasting truce, a permanent peace.
We should point out that we haven't been able to verify exactly what this Israeli team is authorized to do, but that's the Palestinian concern at
this point.
If and when these negotiations happen, according to a senior government official here in Egypt, they're not going to be direct conversations, it's
not going to be a situation where you have Israelis sitting across from Palestinians, the arrangement is going to be where on one location in Cairo
you're going to have Israelis talking to the Egyptians, in a separate location you're going to have the Palestinians talking to the Egyptians.
And Egypt is going to be the go between.
So some anxious and important hours ahead today. 8:00 a.m. Friday is the end of this planned ceasefire. So technically the Palestinians and the
Israelis and the Egyptians have another day-and-a-half to make something happen. But increasingly, the option that's being discussed and reported
is perhaps and extension of this ceasefire -- Kristie.
STOUT: Reza, there's just so much distrust between the two delegations there in Cairo.
Let's talk more about the intermediary -- Egypt. Egypt is the mediator here, but has Egypt gained the trust of both parties, in particular Hamas.
SAYAH: I think Egypt started to gain Hamas's trust by speaking to them directly. You'll recall in the first go around, when they've proposed a
ceasefire plan back in July 14, the Hamas accused them of not talking to them. Hamas complained about Egypt not including Hamas's demand in the
ceasefire proposal.
But this time around, clearly Egypt is talking to Hamas. That certainly helps. But when you take a step back this is a big moment for Egypt, a big
moment for the new president Abdel Fatah el-Sisi. It's an opportunity for him in Egypt to bolster their foreign policy credentials in this region.
Obviously Washington and western powers have long valued Egypt as a peacemaker in this region, as a stabilizer, especially when it comes to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It hasn't always worked.
But again, they're being looked to, to play that roll. Obviously with the relations deteriorating between Cairo and Hamas after the ouster of the
Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsy. That's complicated matters.
But as of right now, they're the most practical, perhaps the only practical and viable mediator in this conflict.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: All right, Reza Sayah monitoring the talks joining us live from Cairo. Thank you, Reza.
After the ceasefire began on Tuesday, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross paid a visit to Gaza to witness the devastation
firsthand. Now Peter Maurer spoke to our Fred Pleitgen about what he saw.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER MAURER, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: I was shocked indeed by the impact of the shelling over the past couple of weeks,
on the neighborhood, but also a couple of hours later, to see the children, women and men, who have been exposed to that shelling in the hospitals, to
see how wounded they were and how difficult it was to cope with the numbers and the seriousness of the wounds that -- of all those civilians who were
in the hospitals I visited.
PLEITGEN: Yes, the civilian -- the civilian suffering in all this has been absolutely shocking. The people that you spoke to, how traumatized did they
seem? And are these hospitals at this point even equipped to deal with some of the severe cases that no doubt they still have?
MAURER: Well, first, the people are traumatized and understandably they are. And I passed my day in a lot of indirections and a lot of accounts
what had happened to the patients I visited in the hospitals, to families I visited who have lost their loved ones, of children and youth I have
spoken, who have lost their parents.
So traumatization (sic) is everywhere and of course there is a deep need to tell to a representative of the international community visiting what they
have experience over the past couple of weeks.
On -- in terms of response, I was on the one side positively surprised by the quality and the -- of work by the engagement. Of course, these medical
and first infrastructure of these hospitals are overwhelmed by the numbers. And they do a great effort to distribute as good as they in the Gaza Strip
and beyond, the really heavy cases, but much more is needed.
And even if we are the first day of the seemingly holding cease-fire my clear opinion is that we much will have to be done over the days and weeks
who come to scale about our operations in terms of health response, water and sanitation, sewage, economic livelihoods, a lot has been disrupted over
the past couple of weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: And if you want to help the people suffering because of this drawn out conflict, log on to CNN.com/impact. We have links to organizations
that are working on the ground to provide relief. You can learn more about what they do and you can lend a hand.
Now, as fighters of the radical Islamic group ISIS advance into northern Iraq, they have one name in mind: to build a religious state.
Now Iraqi Christians who have practiced their faith in Mosul for centuries are told to either convert of be killed.
Michael Holmes has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: An ancient mosque said to be the burial site of the prophet Jonah gone in a cloud of dust. One of
Iraq's holiest sites, revered by multiple faiths, including Christians, destroyed by ISIS militants.
Since taking over Iraq's northern city of Mosul in June, the Sunni extremist group has targeted a number of Shia mosques, religious shrines
and cracked down on minorities, including Christians. This flyer orders them to convert to Islam, pay a religious tax or faith death by the sword.
The threat prompted thousands of Christians to flee Mosul in June. Some left with little more than the clothes on their backs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These families were expelled from their homes on very short notice. They were told to get into their cars and leave. On their
way, they were stopped. They were stripped of their possessions. Many had their IDs taken. And they were told to simply walk away with the clothes
they were wearing.
HOLMES: Thousands of displaced Christians have sought refuge in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, many receiving aid from UN sites like this
church in Urbil.
Iraq's Chrisitans once numbered more than a million, but since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, most have fled the country.
And ISIS's arrival in Mosul has effectively ended a presence there, one dating back to the earliest days of Christianity. The head of Iraq's
largest church calls the prospects for Christians frightening.
LOUIS RAPHAEL SAKO, CHALDEAN CATHOLIC PATRIARCH (through translator): The future of Christians is uncertain. If practical solutions are not
realized, then the number of Christians will go down.
HOLMES: Hundreds of Iraqi Christians carrying banners and chanting slogans recently marched to the UN office in Urbil demanding a stop to what they
call the genocide targeting their faith.
SAMAH ESSA, PROTESTER (through translator): This is a crime against Iraq. Christians and Muslims, we lived together as brothers for a long time. We
just want the peace and love.
HOLMES: From Baghdad to Washington, ISIS's persecution of Christians has been internationally condemned.
BRETT MCGURK, U.S. DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR IRAQ AND IRAN: This humanitarian situation is extremely serious and it is heartbreaking,
particularly when it comes to the Christian minorities and other vulnerable groups.
HOLMES: But little is being done. And Iraqi Christians who have said mass in Mosul for more than 1,800 years are now gone, forced to observe their
faith elsewhere now.
Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Now NATO says thousands of Russian troops, armed with heavy artillery, are stationed across the entire border with eastern Ukraine.
And to the south, Russian forces are carrying out military drills on the ground and in the air.
Now the all around increased military presence is stoking fears that Moscow could be planning an invasion of Ukraine, possibly under the banner of a
peacekeeping mission.
Now meanwhile, Ukrainian troops are bearing down on Donetsk. Kiev has warned of a major assault on Russian separatists in the city.
Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Almost doubled in a week, Russian troops, seen here in airborne exercises, flexing Moscow's
muscles last week near the Ukrainian border now at 20,000 said one NATO official up by 8,000.
Special forces, anti-aircraft artillery, armor, logistics, a lot that could seriously interfere in Eastern Ukraine.
But it's definitely quite here in central Donetsk, but on the skyline, visible, there's been smoke, local residents and local officials saying
there's been fighting out in one of the southwestern edges of the city, street level gunfire, fears that the Ukrainian military's advance to the
city center has begun.
No coincidence, perhaps, that now the Ukrainian army is moving fast into Donetsk.
But inside the city on Monday, great disquiet reigned. Shelling has pushed some underground, into cellars, half-built basements in this government
building where dozens of women and children eek out a life sleeping on mattresses they carry down here.
Twins who find the nightly explosions scary, loud.
In this dim labyrinth they believe the separatists when they tell them the Ukrainian army are American backed fascists, set on attacking the ethnic
Russians here.
"They crush us, but damn Americans," she says. "What are they doing? Where there is war in the world, they have a part. Look, these little ones
here."
They say they can't afford to leave, have nowhere to go.
"All the women of the world," she says, "raise your voice against these murderers."
Streets torn up, Ukraine's army have used a lot of artillery in their fast advance. And as Rima returns to her home for the first time, it's unclear
who fired the shells here that shattered her windows.
"If I had been asleep here, I would have died," she said.
She was staying at her daughters when the shells hit.
Here, where shells landed, two people were killed, quiet, intimate lives flattened into blank faces of loss.
They bury their loved ones.
The sense of the violence entering a final phase lies no comfort when tragedy has already come and is permanent.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Donetsk.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And still to come, criminals in Russia, they have executed the biggest heist of its kind in history and
they're not stealing money, at least not directly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: Welcome back.
Now an online security company says Russian criminals have stolen an unbelievable 1.2 billion Internet username and password combinations. That
can make it the biggest theft of its kind.
Now the firm that exposed the theft says that hackers made money by sending spam to addresses for bogus products like weight loss pills.
Now earlier this week, Google removed this game from the Google Play store after a huge outcry online. It's called Bomb Gaza. And it is as
inflammatory as you might expect.
Now the game, it lasted less than a week on Google's app store before it was removed, but even that seemed too long for some who asked why it was up
on the store to even begin with.
Now Google would only say it removes apps that violate its policies.
Now Bomb Gaza, it might seem like an obvious red flag here, but plenty of other apps push boundaries in more subtle ways.
Now Apple and Google have found themselves caught between keeping their stores free of scandal and taking censorship a bit too far.
Now let's get more on this from our regular contributor Nick Thompson. He is the editor of The New Yorker.com. And Nick, first, in regards to this
so-called Bomb Gaza app, yes there was that huge public backlash, that great public outcry, but what was the detailed reason that Google gave to
remove that app?
NICK THOMPSON, NEW YORKER.COM: Well, Google has a set -- so the way Google reviews apps is they let basically anybody publish and app into the Google
Play Store and then if users flag it, people at Google will check and see if it violates Google's policies. And all app developers have to agree to
the policies when they submit a game.
And the policies, naturally, are incredibly broad. You can ban almost any game. They ban, you know, anything that has gratuitous violence for
example can be banned, which could apply to most video games.
So clearly the Bomb Gaza game crossed several of the thresholds in the Google terms of service, so it was very easy to ban on that.
But the general -- the general philosophy of Google is let everyone publish anything and then if users flag it as offensive we'll take it down.
STOUT: So Google Sounds pretty laissez faire with its app store. How does its rules compare to those of Apple and its iTunes store?
THOMPSON: Well, this -- you know, this is a very clear dichotomy here. And it's one of the classic dichotomies in technology companies, many of
which have created platforms onto which content is published. And when you do that you have to come with a set of standards for how you'll judge that
content, either you'll let anything go or you'll try to be a gatekeeper as it goes up.
So Apple's policy for its app store is that people will review it, they'll look at it, and if it passes muster, if it passes technological muster, if
it fits their specific specs, if it -- you know, passes all these rules then they'll let it through.
So Apple has a bunch of gatekeepers to review all the apps.
The advantage of that is you're less likely to have something like Bomb Gaza get through, the disadvantage is it takes forever. And lots of people
believe that their apps are denied for arbitrary reasons. And there's a lot of frustration about Apple's policies too.
So there are strong arguments you can make on either side. And to Google's credit, that game did disappear in a week. It only had I believe it was
around 1,000 downloads.
So Google's argument would be, hey, when problems are flagged and when there are things that are up there that shouldn't be up there, we get rid
of them pretty quickly.
Apple's argument is, look, we do our best to make sure nothing gets up there in the first place.
STOUT: Yeah, but then they have to -- the onus is on them to review and to test and look at what thousands of apps every day that are loaded online.
It's a very arduous process here.
In the end, Nick, I mean what doe you think is the best practice, the best way forward is it you play it a bit safe, be a little bit restrictive, or
have a looser policy and let the community weigh in?
THOMPSON: Well, we'll have to see. I mean, this is -- you know, YouTube is the classic example of a place where Google has taken a fairly loose
policy, letting people put things up, but also tried to work algorithmically to find things that violate copyright, to make sure that
you can ban all pornography. And the YouTube system has worked pretty well.
The Google Play system has woked pretty well with some exceptions like this.
And then Apple's actually also -- I think Apple would say it's gotten a lot better at moving things through quickly. So the truth is that both systems
are working fairly well right now so I wouldn't want to make a strict judgment.
It kind of -- it shows the personality of the company, right. Apple, they're control freaks. They're control freaks about everything. Google,
it's totally laissez faire, it's just let the Internet do what it does and if something goes wrong, you know, the algorithms will catch it.
So it's at the core philosophical difference between these two companies.
STOUT: You know, I'm kind of surprised by your response there. Now I thought that you would be more on the side of pass the responsibility on to
the user. You know, I kind of sized you up as being a bit of a high tech libertarian. But you're diplomatic, you know, both models_
THOMPSON: Always surprising you on the show, Kristie.
STOUT: Always surprising. Thank you very much. Nick Thompson there. Thank you, take care.
Now he has been criticized and ridiculed for literally sinking his teeth into fellow footballers and now there's this rumor that Luis Suarez has
this no biting clause written into his contract. Is it just a rumor? We'll be hearing from the president of FC Barcelona right after the break,
stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STOUT: Welcome back.
Now FIFA has confirmed the four month ban handed out to Barcelona's latest star Luis Suarez.
You might recall Suarez was banned after biting a player at the World Cup. Incredibly, it is the third time Suarez has bitten an opponent and that has
sparked rumors that Suarez has a no biting clause in his Barcelona contract.
Now Amanda Davies spoke exclusively to Barcelona's president to see if that is true.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: How confident are you about the season ahead for Barcelona.
JOSEP MARIA BARTOMEU, PRESIDENT, F.C. BARCELONA: This year of course as every year we want to win. We want to play well and win. So now we are
involved during this summer and these changing. We are doing really a big change in our football team.
DAVIES: When you allow for a period of rebalancing -- transition.
BARTEMEU: No, no, no. Transition in our team -- you know, in our club doesn't exist, never. It doesn't exist.
DAVIES: And now you've brought in Luis Suarez as well. How much of signing Suarez was so Real Madrid didn't get him?
BARTEMEU: I don't know.
DAVIES: Go on.
BARTEMEU: The only thing I know is that when we approached Suarez, it was before the World Cup. We told him that he had the right age right now. He
had experience and we know that he had better offers than our offer, but he came to Barcelona.
DAVIES: Did the biting incident in any way make you rethink that decision?
BARTEMEU: No. No, we didn't rethink about this decision. And we told him -- right after the bite we told him and for us it was very good because he
did something with it. He accepted that he did wrong. He knows he did the things. He apologized. And that's very important for us.
DAVIES: Is it true that there's a biting clause in his contract?
BARTEMEU: No. There is no -- there is no clause of this. And if this clause did exist, we wouldn't say it. But, no, it doesn't exist.
DAVIES: How will you help him? Are you offering him psychological help?
BARTEMEU: Well, this is something that we cannot talk, but we are -- we have a very good relationship with the Liverpool club and we know what
Liverpool did. We talk with our technical people and from these conversations (inaudible) good relationship we have with Liverpool, we of
course are going to act.
DAVIES: So how confident are you that Luis Suarez will not bite another player on a football pitch again?
BARTEMEU: This is a question for him. This is a question for him.
We are very confident he has to (inaudible) that a club is giving (inaudible) to him. And that's very important for us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: Wow, interesting response there.
Now in the final part of Amanda Davies' interview, she'll speak to Barcelona's president about Lio Messi and whether there is any truth to
reports linking him to a move away from the club. That's coming up on World Sport in just under four hours from now
Now, before we go an update on our top story this hour, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Now a man from Saudi Arabia who showed symptoms typical of
the virus has died.
Now the 40 year old was said to have recently traveled to Sierra Leone. It's one to the countries hardest hit by the outbreak. And the Saudi
health ministry said the man was admitted to intensive care on Monday. And the cause of his death, though, is still being investigated.
And that is News Stream, but the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.
END
