Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

Ukraine Detains 10 Russian Soldiers; Liberia Struggles To Contain Ebola; Amazing To Buy Twitch; U.S. To Fly Reconnaissance Flights Over Syria; Leading Women: Shenan Chuang

Aired August 26, 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 the U.S. prepares for the possibility of airstrikes against ISIS in Syria.

Living in quarantine in Liberia as the country struggles to contain Ebola.

And we'll look at why Amazon is buying the video game streaming site Twitch.

The U.S. is said to be making preparations for the possibility of airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. An official says U.S. President Barack

Obama has a approved reconnaissance flights over Syria, which could begin at any time.

Now they would be designed to gather information on the location of militants and their resources. Let's go live to the White House now.

Athena Jones is there for us.

And Athena, these reconnaissance flights, they have been approved, what does that mean for potential U.S. military action against ISIS in

Syria?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi, Kristie Lu. It means that the U.S. administration wants to gather as much intelligence as they can in

case the president goes ahead and orders these airstrikes in Syria. That decision has not yet been made, but it's of course important to have the

proper intelligence on targets, on training camps, on ISIS command and control centers, on the location of ISIS leadership.

This is the kind of intelligence information that the U.S. has already been gathering with the help of satellites and that sort of thing. But

they'll be able to use these reconnaissance flights, which were being conducted either by drones, U2 spy planes, or F-18s to gather up some of

that additional intelligence that they would need should they decide to go forward with these airstrikes -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: To identify the targets, that's very key for the administration.

And as it plans to move against ISIS and Syria, does the United States plan to coordinate with or to get the authorization of Syrian authorities?

JONES: Well, that's a really big question here. And the answer is no, the U.S. is not planning to coordinate with the Syrian regime. They

see the regime of President Bashar al-Assad as part of the problem here. They say that he's a big reason that ISIS has been able to gain such a

strong foothold in Syria and so they have no plans to coordinate with that regime.

But that's important to state, because Syrians have warned the U.S. against any unilateral action without their permission. So that could

potentially be a big issue here, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Now military action at this point is unclear. But what is the threat? What threat does ISIS pose to the U.S. homeland?

JONES: Well, that's a big part of the discussion here. It's interesting you bring that up. Is ISIS more of a regional threat or is it

a direct imminent threat to the U.S. We heard from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week saying that ISIS is not like anything we've seen before.

And they are a threat to every interest we have.

We've heard from a lot of Republicans in congress who say that they are intent on striking the homeland and so the U.S. needs to act now.

But it's important to know what we heard also from the spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey. He said in a

statement yesterday that the chairman believes that ISIS is a regional threat that will soon become a threat to the United States and Europe.

Now that still doesn't answer the question of how imminent a threat, but it shows you some of the discussions that are going on about ISIS --

Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Athena Jones joining us live from the White House, thank you very much indeed for that.

Now investigators are still trying to uncover the identity of the ISIS militant who appeared in that execution video of the American journalist

James Foley.

Now experts have been pouring over the footage since it was posted online last week, but inconsistencies are raising questions about who

actually carried out the killing. Nick Paton Walsh explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As investigators carefully examine the video, looking for who committed this atrocity, there

are some disturbing clues and on closer examination of both the long speech in English and the gruesome execution, some fresh puzzles.

First, there is a clear edit in the video which fades to black between the English accented talker and the man who appears to carry out the

beheading. And the man on the left who has the English accent appears of a different stature to the man on the right, who apparently carries out the

killing. There is another problem with continuity, the knife wielded by the English speaker is different visibly from the knife left by the body of

the deceased.

ROSS PATEL, AFENTIS FORENSICS: There's definitely a change of actor, the change in the physique of the individual standing next to the deceased.

There are noticeable, there are subtle but there are also noticeable changes in that build, that physical appearance. The dimensions of the

knife, the style of the knife that is used.

WALSH: But when trying to determine whether the British accented man is also the executioner, it helps to examine where his pistol is holstered.

That is for use by his right hand but the executioner from the video appears left-handed. It's unclear why this happened.

PATEL: The person who was essentially the mouthpiece may not have been willing to carry through the deed or may not have been able to.

WALSH: This could present a problem for investigators as the speaker's voice and few doubt the voice heard is that of the man on the

video was one of their biggest clues.

MARTIN BARRY, FORENSIC VOICE ANALYST: The speaker is using a variety of English known as multicultural London English, and that's a kind of

melting pot accent that's emerged in recent years, particularly in deprived multiethnic areas of inner London.

WALSH: The video contains a wealth of other data, we are told, like the measurements of a face even beneath the balaclava that could help

investigators sift through databases of passport photos. But it is possible that the man whose voice and Britishness chilled many Westerners was not

the one to carry out the killing.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: In Ukraine, officials say 10 armed Russian soldiers have been captured near the rebel stronghold of Donetsk. Moscow has repeatedly

denied claims that it has sent troops and weapons over the border. And this latest cross-border tension comes just as the presidents of Ukraine

and Russia are preparing for a possible meeting on neutral ground in Belarus.

Now both leaders are in Minsk for trade talks. The EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is also there. Her attendance is seen as part of a

larger push from the west to find a political solution to the escalating crisis in Ukraine.

And for more on what might we expect out of these talks and new developments in the conflict zone, let's go straight to Ukraine now. Diana

Magnay joins us live from Luthichansk (ph).

And Diana, Ukraine is claiming that these 10 Russian soldiers have been detained. What more have you learned?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's also video that Ukraine has released of these soldiers giving testimony. They

are 10 paratroopers. Their battalion has been named. And in that video testimony, which doesn't seem to have been forced in any way on first

inspection, they do tell a slightly different stories. But it's very clear that they weren't prepared to be going onto Ukrainian territory.

One of them said that he had gone to Rostov, which is a big town and military base close to the Russian border where they had been told paint

their license plates white. He believed that this was for a military exercise, another said it was only once they saw that the vehicles around

them were waving Ukrainian flags that they realized that they had crossed the border.

Another that it -- the officers had known where they were deployed to, but the paratroopers themselves had not.

Now, Russia's ministry of defense has not commented to us directly, but Russia's state media says that apparently this paratroop battalion on

the Ukrainian side of the border was just a mistake and that they hadn't meant to cross this border.

There is of course huge stretches that are unmarked where you can just cross over in bare land. And it feeds into this narrative that Russia has

presented consistently since the beginning of the conflict in the east of Ukraine that there are no Russian fighters and no Russian weapons coming

over to feed and fuel the pro-Russian rebels on this side.

But it is very, very hard to believe, especially given the lack of credibility that the west, that Ukraine can have in Russia after they

denied that the little green men in (inaudible) in Crimea were theirs until the annexation had occurred, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Well, thank you for lending clarity to this latest incident and prolonged crisis there in Ukraine. There have been months of fighting

between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels. I mean, what has been the human toll of all the violence there in eastern Ukraine?

MAGNAY: Well, it's very difficult for us, Kristie, to get to the two main rebel strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk where really these are two

cities under siege. And from what we're learning, the humanitarian catastrophe there is -- the situation is very, very critical.

It's hard for us to cross the front lines and it's hard for those journalist colleagues in contact of ours in Donetsk and Luhansk to manage

to get out in Donetsk at least -- Luhansk we haven't really been able to be in touch with anybody there. But even when you're coming from behind, the

Ukrainian line, the devastation is very clear. Let's take a look at what we saw as we drove around.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY: This conflict leaves deep gashes in village after village in Ukraine's east. The fabric of the day-to-day trashed as war sweeps

through.

The Ukrainians recaptured the town of Propoznaya (ph) last month. This house was shelled by Ukraine's national guard, locals say, as they

tried to push the rebels out.

RUSLAN MOROZ, VINNYTSIA BATALLION (through translator); Our task is to defend this territory and to keep law and order because there is

looting, and because some of the local police joined the separatists.

MAGNAY: History repeating itself for those old enough to remember.

"I lived during World War Ii. I was small, but I remember," this woman tells me. "Why do my children and grandchildren need this war today?

I have a great-great granddaughter and a great-great grandson. He is 2 years old. Why do they have to live through this shelling?"

Eight-year-old Archung (ph) wanted desperately to be on camera.

When you grow up, would you like to be a soldier, too?

BOY: Nyet (ph).

MAGNAY: Why not?

BOY (through translator): Because I really like peace.

MAGNAY: The Mahonan (ph) family fled their town of Tiepa Lagorsk (ph) two days ago. Intense shelling meant they'd had to stay 24/7 in an

underground bomb shelter with more than 100 others.

"I don't think about Russia," the mother says. "I don't think about who is involved. I think about one thing, how to survive and how my child

will survive."

For now, the fire brigade in a nearby town is providing them shelter. They don't know where they'll go after this.

We talked to the international Red Cross about how they're getting aid into besieged cities like Luhansk.

PETER HUBER, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: We have 10 trucks full of humanitarian goods that we want to bring in, but so far

there was no possibility to bring that in for security reasons.

MAGNAY: There's no water or electricity in Luhansk. With the city of Donetsk, these are the last two rebel strongholds. And Ukraine is fighting

a fierce battle to win them back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY: Now Russia says that it wants to send a second humanitarian aid convoy into Luhansk. You'll remember that Ukraine termed the first a

direct invasion. But whatever President Putin's motives are, and they're treated with the utmost suspicion by Ukraine, there is no doubt, Kristie,

that the situation in Luhansk is dire for those civilians still left there, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And now all eyes and a possible meeting between two presidents, Putin and Poroshenko, to meet perhaps at a summit in Belarus.

If that meeting happens, what could come out of it?

MAGNAY: I don't think we should expect much to come out of it, Kristie. If you look at the various signs -- Ukraine would think that the

paratrooper incursion and two more incursions with tanks across the border yesterday are provocations. It will consider this second aid convoy a

provocation, however much Russia says that it wants to cooperate with Ukraine's foreign ministry on this convoy.

And the cards are in Mr. Putin's hands. Think about it, Ukraine in wintertime will need Russia's gas. Russia has all the gas. Mr. Putin just

needs to sit and wait until Ukraine is really desperate.

And also, Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, doesn't look as though he's going to let up. This offensive in the east, he's going full-

scale at it, however much international leaders such as Angela Merkel may be requesting that he allow President Putin some opportunity to come out of

this saving face in some way, which an all-out crushing of the rebellion wouldn't allow him -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Diana Magnay reporting live from Lithichansk (ph), Ukraine, thank you.

You're watching News Stream. And up next, Ebola is killing the very people fighting on the frontline against the outbreak. We'll tell you

about the deadly toll the virus is taking on health care workers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in many ways. In a new report, the World Health Organization says the high

proportion of health care workers have been infected. Out of the more than 240 workers who have contracted the virus, about half have died.

Now the report also says that in the three hardest hit countries, just one or two doctors are available to treat 100,000 people.

Now Ebola has also appeared in a different part of the continent, the Democratic Republic of Congo is reporting two new cases. And the country's

health minister said that the virus strain they found is not the same as the one spreading in West Africa and that these two cases have no link to

that outbreak.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited a quarantined area called Westpoint Slum on Monday. And she spoke with angry residents, and

tried to ease their concerns. But, as our Nima Elbagir shows us, Ebola is not the only threat to the residents there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDNET: On the drive in to west point, you're met with barbed wire and barricaded shops, and at the

quarantine line, angry residents congregating to stare down police.

Crossing through the line you are immediately swarmed by people desperate to be heard, and desperate to believe this isn't happening.

At a rough estimate, there are over 70,000 people living in Monrovia's west point slum; no sanitation, no running water, and since the government

designated it an Ebola quarantine zone last week, no way out.

This was after rioters looted an Ebola center. Claiming the virus was a government hoax. A nurse at the center told CNN she arrived for her shift

that night to find the center destroyed and not a patient to be found. Now they are slowly rebuilding their community's only refuge

You can see this center it's not extraordinarily well equipped. They have to rewash their protective gear, a squirt of diluted bleach and a door

that was ransacked and left for broken during the riots. This is it. This is the only place people have.

Even here the most that they can hope to get is to be made comfortable while they wait to either overcome the virus, or not.

Charming Fallah, is a hairdresser, like many here in west point, she has to travel out of the township to make a living; the only breadwinner

for her two children.

CHARMING FALLAH, WEST POINT, LIBERIA RESIDENT (through translator): Right now my mother doesn't have anything. First I was the one that

provided for her but as time goes by, now she's complaining the rice is finished.

ELBAGIR: Are you more scared of Ebola or are you scared of the hunger?

FALLAH (through translator): Both. that's what's worrying us. The hunger, the Ebola everything. I'm scared of everything.

ELBAGIR: Charming leaves us. She's going to see if her mother is right, if the food really has run out.

As we walk back out onto the street, the crowd has grown larger. At the quarantine line, the standoff continues, desperate to at least be seen

and heard, if not released.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, Monrovia, Liberia.

(END VIDEOATPE)

LU STOUT: Well, to update you now on two Ebola patients we introduced you to earlier this month.

Now David McKenzie met Tenna Nallow (ph) in Sierra Leone. The disease had already claimed her husband and son. Now her 12-year-old daughter was

with her, both infected and isolated. An estimated 70 percent of people at that treatment center have died. But, now Tenna (ph) and her little girl,

they have beaten the odds. They have been discharged.

Now to the continued fighting across the Israel-Gaza border. This used to be one of Gaza's tallest buildings. It was hit by an Israeli

airstrike on Monday night. Just take a look at how powerful the blast was.

As you can see, the structure, it was known as the Italian Tower, it was just demolished. The Israeli military said the residential bloc housed

a Hamas command and control center. Residents had some time to evacuate after a warning strike from an Israeli drone.

Palestinian health officials say 20 people were wounded in that attack.

Now this is News Stream. And still ahead, find out how the stars of the little screen made out on the biggest night for American television.

We break down the wins and the losses at the 66th Annual Primetime Emmys.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now some familiar names won big at the Primetime Emmy Awards, despite some pretty tough competition from edgy newcomers. Our entertainment

correspondent Nischelle Turner has all the highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Emmy goes to Breaking Bad.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Emmys were very good for Breaking Bad, the show regarded as one of best of

television history wrapped up its season in September. But it got a final send off at the 2014 Emmys where it won the Outstanding Drama category, as

well as five other awards including an Outstanding Actor Emmy for star Bryan Cranston.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the Emmy goes to Bryan Cranston.

TURNER: And he also had one of the night's most memorable moments with his former "Seinfeld" co-star Julia Louis Dreyfus as she walked to claim

her Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

JULIA LOUIS DREYFUS, ACTRESS: Yes, he was on "Seinfeld". Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

TURNER: Many predicted shows from streaming services and cable networks would dominate tonight.

SETH MEYERS, HOST: That's like network TV holding an award show and giving all the trophies to cable and Netflix. That would be crazy.

TURNER: But that wasn't the case as the networks took home their share of high profile awards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Modern Family.

TURNER: Modern Family surprised many by winning the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for a record fifth time. The Big Bang's Jim Parsons took home

his fourth trophy for Outstanding Actor in a Comedy.

JIM PARSON, ACTOR: Wow, oh my god. I really don't believe this. TURNER: And Julianna Margulies won the Outstanding Actress in a Drama award

for her role in The Good Wife.

JULIANA MARGULIES, ACTRESS: What a wonderful time for women on television.

TURNER: But the most emotional moment may have come when the celebration paused and the show took a moment for Billy Crystal to remember

his good friend, Robin Williams.?

BILLY CRYSTAL, COMEDIAN: It's very hard to talk about him in the past, because he was so present in all of our lives.

TURNER: Nischelle Turner, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream right here on CNN. And up next, as Amazon bets big on the live video gaming service Twitch, we ask an

expert if it's really worth a near billion dollar price tag.

Also ahead on the program, heavy rain is battering South Korea. And one passenger bus is caught in the deadly flash flooding. We'll get the

very latest on the extreme weather next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now Ukraine says 10 Russian paratroopers have been detained in Donetsk. And it has released video that shows Russian soldiers confessing

to crossing into Ukrainian territory. Now according to Russian state media, the soldiers were patrolling the border and likely crossed by

accident.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin today in Belarus. Now both leaders are in

Minsk for regional trade talks. The EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is also there heading up a European delegation.

A U.S. official says President Obama has approved reconnaissance flights over Syria. They'll be used to gather information on ISIS targets

in that country and could pave the way for possible airstrikes.

Amazon is buying the video game streaming site Twitch for $970 million. Now Twitch allows people to stream the games they're playing live

for others to watch on the internet.

Now this deal came as a big surprise. Weeks of rumors had suggested that Google was set to buy Twitch.

You're probably wondering what's so compelling about watching people play video games? Well, many Twitch streams are from professional gamers,

either competing in tournaments or trying to set records for finishing games as fast as possible.

Now players can also add audio and video commentary and interact with viewers commenting on their video in real-time.

But it's not just about watching games, earlier this year thousands of people played the original Pokeman game on Twitch all together. They typed

their commands into the comments section to play the game. And tens of thousands of people typing in their commands, many of them contradictory,

things got a little bit chaotic. But, after 16 days, they actually managed to finish the game.

And Twitch users, they do love this service. Twitch says it has 55 million visitors a month, but that's not the big number here. What makes

Twitch incredible is that those users are said to watch on average 106 minutes every day.

Now Tina Amini joins me now from New York to talk more about this deal. She's the deputy editor of the gaming news website Kotaku. She

joins me live from New York.

And Tina, thank you so much for joining us on this story.

And just as an explainer right at the top, from Amazon's perspective here, what is the appeal of Twitch?

TINA AMINI, KOTAKU: Well, you hit basically the highlights earlier, there's such a large user base. It's really only three years old and

already year-to-year we're seeing such an increase in viewership with Twitch and so many different applications, too.

LU STOUT: And why do you think Twitch said yes to Amazon and not settle for Google or YouTube?

AMINI: Well, I think maybe the reports from Google were not confirmed at the time, which might be why the rumors were spreading there. But

Amazon is a pretty savvy company. They certainly have the money, clearly to make this kind of a deal and they've actually been entering the game

space in a fairly significant way recently.

So it might seem like some sort of a surprise that Amazon is actually trying to buy Twitch, but earlier this year they bought a game studio.

They hired two high profile game designers. And clearly they're trying to enter this space in some sort of a way now with Twitch. And who knows what

will come of that at this point.

LU STOUT: Yeah, tell us more about that, Amazon being in the game space, because, you know, for our wider audience out there, we know that

Amazon has a lot of clout in the world of DVD movie sales and book sales, but how much gaming clout does Amazon really have?

AMINI: It's actually a surprising amount. I would say it's comparable to movies and TV etc. They're constantly offering a lot of game

deals and bundles. Amazon is one of the biggest retailer sources to purchase games and consoles.

LU STOUT: And finally, what is Twitch's end game here? We know that they're good with games, but their core tech here is streaming, you know,

for Twitch. So with Twitch, could it become the YouTube of live streams?

AMINI: Absolutely. I mean, I can see them going that route. I mean, Amazon even has a home console of their own, the Amazon Fire TV, which

works as an entertainment streaming service, but also a game streaming service. So maybe they want to integrate the two or maybe they want to tap

into that viewer base, or maybe they want people to be sending Amazon products instead of donating money for streamers. Who knows at this point,

really.

LU STOUT: All right, we'll have to wait and see. Tina Amini of Kotaku joining me live from new York. Thank you so much. Take care.

AMINI: Thank you. You, too.

LU STOUT: Now two Australian airlines are now allowing passengers to use electronic devices in flight mode during takeoff and landing. This is

a big gamechanger here. Now Qantas and Virgin Australia say travelers can now use their smartphones their tablets and MP3 players from gate to gate.

They announced the move after Australia's civil aviation authorities said the electronics don't affect the safety of the plane. U.S. regulators made

a similar ruling last year.

Now time for your global weather forecast. Again, heavy rain has hit South Korea causing some pretty dangerous and fatal flash flooding there.

Let's get the details now with Mari Ramos at the World Weather Center.

And Mari, I understand that you have some pretty chilling video to share as well.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: This is a very scary situation, Kristie. When you look at pictures like this, we're going to go

to those in just a moment, but I want to start you off kind of at the beginning here with the satellite images and explain to you what happened.

We're going to go ahead and put this in motion, this starting on Sunday night. Already, there was a lot of cloud cover here across southern

portions of the Korean Peninsula. North Korea also had a lot of rain, but not as heavy as what we experienced here across South Korea.

Here you see the big -- the first big cluster of rain that moved through the area. This is Monday morning. So as you guys were getting

ready to go to work, the rain was already coming down pretty heavily pretty much across the entire country here.

But then, as the day went on, the cluster got even more intense. And by Monday afternoon, there was some very heavy rain that was spreading

across the entire region. The result, of course, was significant flooding that happened very, very quickly.

I want to show you some of these pictures first. You see, there's a rescue worker right there. This is in Changwon and it's in the out and

east of the country. And this is a bus that ended up lodged on an overpass there, on a bridge, after it was swept away.

Here's another picture, at least one person is confirmed dead on that bus and four others missing as the latest information. And the bus was

filled with passengers, so it's very scary to think what could have happened.

And I want to show you this bus in motion. Let's go ahead and role the video now.

There you see it as it was being swept away, a very dramatic and scary situation. The driver of the bus, by the way, still missing. And you see

the onlookers just in complete and utter shock when they see the bus disappear under the water. The bus swept away and the ending point is the

one that I showed you. I guess luckily stuck underneath that bridge and people were able to get out and rescue was ongoing.

But this was just one example of the situation that people have to deal with here, widespread, children being evacuated from schools because

of high water, like what you are seeing there.

Let's roll the next piece of video, because it's also pretty significant when you see here how many cars, dozens and dozens of vehicles

stuck in the water, dramatic rescues that were ongoing throughout the day, areas that could not even be crossed because of flooding and because of

mudslides like the ones that you are seeing right there, very dramatic stuff. And of course the cleanup is ongoing even as we head through the

evening hours tonight.

The next piece of video also shows you some pretty dramatic situations. Here you see a motorist trapped in his vehicle, able to get

out. The water gushing and taking the car away with it, too

You see other vehicles, larger vehicles, that think, well, you know what, maybe I can get through. But you saw what happened with that bus.

It doesn't take a lot of water to make your car float. And then there's that, a landslide caught also -- wow, so scary, so many things happening

across this area.

Let me show you some of maps that we have for you now, I'll tear you away from that video. Easily widespread across the country, over 100

millimeters of rain. Some areas, of course, receiving even much more.

There's one location, Masan, that had over 250 millimeters of rain. Reports that some of the rain came down at a rate of about 100 millimeters

per hour. So it happened very, very quickly. That's about 4 inches of rain per hour and that's pretty significant in itself.

As we head through the next 24 hours, we're looking at drier weather conditions. Still the chance for some scattered rainshowers. It's not

going to be completely dry, but because that rain that happened so quickly, Kristie, the potential for more mudslides is still there as is the

potential for flooding.

And then the one question that I get all the time, well is this climate change? Well, it's hard to put one event and say yes it is. But,

with Climate change, events like this where we see extreme rainfall, extreme precipitation events, experts have always said, would become more

common.

Back to you.

LU STOUT: And whatever the cause, as you said, the danger there in east Asia not over yet. Mari Ramos there, thank you.

Now almost two full days after a strong earthquake rattled part of northern California, the two true scale of the damage is still not clear.

Now U.S. government estimate says that the economic loss will probably top $1 billion. And then there are the losses that you simply can't put a

pricetag on.

Gary Tuchman has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORREPSONDENT: Bill has lived in the same house for many years, but this is all that's left. He and his wife Theresa's mobile

home in Napa destroyed after the northern California earthquake. And he's looking for his kitten.

BILL, NAPA RESIDENT: Coco. Coco, girl. Coco. Coco. Where are you at?

Mommy and I miss you.

TUCHMAN: Bill, who requested we only use his first name, was in the house with his wife when the earth started rumbling, and then a fire

erupted. It's believed a gas line ruptured. Three homes in this lot, including Bill and Theresa's, are total losses.

The fire started almost immediately after the earthquake began. Nobody had any time to take out any personal belongings, they lost

everything, and it's all unrecognizable. But everyone who lived in these three houses escaped with their lives.

BILL: You look at stuff on TV, right, about how people lose stuff, you know, they lose their home, there's a hurricane, there's an earthquake,

it's a fire, a lot of things, you look at that and you go on TV -- if you look at it on TV, you go, gee, what a bummer for them, but you don't get

it. Nobody gets it until it happens. Now it's happened to me.

TUCHMAN: This community, with 225 residences, is very tight-knit with many retirees. There's destruction everywhere, homes are off foundations,

there's no water or gas, and people are filling up buckets in the swimming pool for now.

You're about to turn 93-years-old and you look younger, which is great, but in your 93 years have you ever experienced anything so scary as

this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not really, no. I was even almost in a car wreck, but that didn't even scare me.

TUCHMAN: But this did?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This did.

TUCHMAN: How long have you lived here?

UNIDENTIFEID MALE: Six years.

TUCHMAN: Bill Linder lives across the street from where the fire broke out.

BILL LINDER, NAPA RESIDENT: Well, there was a loud, loud explosion, at least it sounded like an explosion, and a big hard shake, that's why I -

- it didn't feel like an earthquake, it felt like a plane crash. And that - - I came out, I saw the flames, and I thought a plane has hit the park.

TUCHMAN: When the fire started in their home, Bill and his wife ran out quickly. Bill went back in to try to rescue Coco, but he had to leave

when it got too dangerous.

BILL: She follows us around all the time. She's a like the cutest kitten in the world. I guess everybody's kitten is the cutest one, but

she's white with black markings and she's got black around here, and a little black nose.

TUCHMAN: Bill will continue looking in and around this community that was jilted awake in the dead of night.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Napa, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now China's advertising industry has come a long way in recent decades and it's expected to top $50 billion in revenue by next year.

Now Shenan Chuang, the CEO of Ogilvy and Mather Greater China is part of the reason. I sat down with her in Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: This is where the magic happens in the Beijing arm of global advertising giant Ogilvy and Mather. And in a country not known as

a hotbed of innovation, Shenan Chuang is doing everything in her power as CEO to ignite her team's imagination.

You once described your management style as three words: knowledge, people and creativity. Why emphasize creativity?

SHENAN CHUANG, CEO, OGILVY AND MATHER GREATER CHINA: We are in a creative business. And I think the clients come to us it's looking for

creative ideas. We have a lot of creative talents, not necessarily people in the creative department, because we talk about pervasive creativity,

everyone, including myself, we need to be creative.

LU STOUT: When Chuang arrived in Beijing in 2003, she immediately transformed the company's office. She established a creative flood to

bring together all creative teams from different disciplines and a permanent art gallery in the lobby, the old gallery supports local Chinese

artists while inspiring her employees.

But why put an art gallery in your office?

CHUANG: Because it's part of our creative culture.

LU STOUT: Under Chuang's leadership, Ogilvy China has gained international acclaim.

CHUANG: There's a campaign from Coke with the creative poster campaign for them. It's called Coke (inaudible), we want a Grand Prix (ph)

at cans into a top (ph).

You know, Coke is like a cultural icon for people, right.

LU STOUT: But Chuang's own efforts also have not gone unnoticed. Fortune China ranked the Taiwan native among the top businesswomen in China

in 2010 and 2011. Inspired to succeed, she says, by the other strong women in her life.

CHUANG: Well, I think my family tends to have strong women. My aunts, my several aunts, they were very ,very strong. And they actually take care

of everyone.

So I think I learned a lot from them and then advertising I have to say David Ogilvy, our founder, probably the one, you know, influenced most.

LU STOUT: And your advice to young women just starting out in marketing communications, PR, advertising, what do you want to tell them?

CHUANG: I think I want to tell them one, you have to be brave, right. You have to stand up for yourself. You have to demonstrate, you know. We

have (inaudible) to be in charge and don't be shy. And also are there any senior people, senior women, people like me in different companies. They

should, you know, help young women and protect them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: A lovely woman Shenan Chuang there.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, taking the selfie to new heights. The story behind the dizzying shot when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now China is an Olympic powerhouse, but it's also a country without a strong sporting culture in its schools. Some say Chinese parents see sport

as a distraction from academic pursuits.

Now in this segment from On China, I asked a team of experts what China is doing to bring sports to its students.

TOM BYER, CHINESE SCHOOL FOOTBALL PROGRAM: I'm part of a very exciting program called the Chinese School Football Program, and that

program is very -- it's unknown by a lot of people, but it's a huge program in 126 cities with 6,200 schools and about 2 million children. Football

has unfortunately gone in a reversal spin, so to speak. 20 years ago, if you look just in the region of Asia, China was much stronger than perhaps

Japan was.

Team sports, especially with children, the lack of children playing sport in this country where young families or parents look at sport more as

a distraction to education and in the west we look more at physical education as part of education whereas here for many years the educators

have tried to keep sport out of education.

So, we are trying to combat that.

You know, grassroots sports is a marathon, it's not a sprint. So it's going to take years to change.

THOMAS BACH, INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: It is changing in this country. I had the opportunity to meet President Xi Jinping twice, will

meet him here again and the representatives of government. And there you see clearly that the government has realized that sport must be part of

education and that sport helps in the education.

You can see by many studies today that the kids who are playing sports, they are better in school. It's with regard to health. It's

against obesity. It is with regard to learning about the values, to respect rules, to play in a team and many other values.

And therefore I really think that this understanding of sport will make great progress in China.

LU STOUT: Yeah. It will happen, but we're not there yet, because what does sport really mean in China today? Is it still very much about

national pride first and foremost?

SHENG LI, CEO, SECA: I think that's changing. 2008 it was the peak, you know, winning 50 gold medals and then what can you do more than that?

How can you better that?

But I think it's changed a lot. I mean, 2013, there were about over three-quarter of a million people running marathon, for example. We have

over 50 marathons in China. And it's growing at 20 percent annually. That's not about national pride anymore.

LU STOUT: It's about achieving their personal best.

LI: Yeah. It's about your self value.

YANG YANG, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: National pride is nothing wrong. I mean, for the dream, for the athlete, and want to be the best, I want to be

the champion, nothing wrong. Before, we most likely about the national pride, but now because the society is changing and the world is changing,

the sports has more meaning in China, which is -- I can say the future of the sports even bigger.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You could see more on how sport is transforming China from its students to its elite athletes at the very top. Tune in to On China

this Thursday 4:30 p.m. Hong Kong time.

Now, this a fairly typical view of Hong Kong, a beautiful nighttime skyline, the city, some of its buildings here. But what if you wanted you

wanted to get a more unique vantage point?

Jeanne Moos shows us how far, or rather how high, some people are willing to go to get just that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORREPSONDENT: Sometimes your eyes speak louder than your mouth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did he get up on top of that building?

MOOS: But all we hear is the wind. No explanation for how these three got on top of Hong Kong's fifth tallest building to take what's being

described as the world's scariest selfie.

That's photographer Daniel Lau (ph) holding the selfie stick that's holding the camera atop the 73 story building known as The Center.

UNIDENTIFEID FEMALE: It makes me dizzy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow.

MOOS: The video ends when Daniel seems to get a text message.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, he probably got great reception up there.

MOOS: But maybe, just maybe there are more layers to this story than meet the eye.

Who eats bananas 1,135 feet in the sky?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would be throwing up bananas.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, while they're up they might as well have a snack. I mean--

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They want energy, energy.

MOOS: Energy?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.

MOOS: Potassium.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Potassium, exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a Guinness Book of World Records stunt. They want to be the highest person ever to eat a banana.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're acting like they're King Kong.

MOOS: Interesting, but that was no banana Kind Kong was clutching.

Some theorize there's a more serious connection to primates, that this is an anti-racism message.

This past spring, Spanish soccer fans threw bananas at Brazilian players they perceived as black. When it happened again during a Spanish

league match, defender Dani Alves picked up the banana and took a bite. It turns out the players had already consulted with an ad agency, and thus was

born the hashtag #weareallmonkeys campaign featuring players and regular folks tweeting photos of themselves eating bananas to make their anti-

racism point.

So was this a high altitude snack or a message?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That feels like a long way up to go eat a banana.

MOOS: Hope they didn't just drop the peels.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: I'm afraid I can't be that fearless here in Hong Kong.

That is News Stream, but the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.

END