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NEWS STREAM

Search For Missing AirAsia Fuselage Continues Amid Heavy Weather; al Jazeera Journalist Peter Greste Applies For Deportation; Italian, Icelandic Coast Guard Tows Derelict Vessel Full Of Migrants; A Glimpse at Empty London

Aired January 02, 2015 - 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 the bodies of 30 victims have been recovered after the AirAsia plane crash, but the search for the fuselage and the remaining victims

continues.

And we speak to the brother of jailed al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste as an Egyptian court calls for a retrial.

And a rare view of London virtually empty.

Now crews have been searching for AirAsia flight 8501 for six days now. And so far they have recovered 30 bodies in the Java Sea. Now four

have been identified and returned to victims' families, but 132 crash victims are still missing.

Now officials have identified what they call the most probable search area for the main part of the plane. It is on the red box on that map on

the screen.

Now the area, it's roughly the size of Brisbane, Australia or twice the size of Luxembourg.

But bad weather continues to slow down recovery efforts.

Now let's go live to Surabaya, Indonesia. Gary Tuchman is there. He joins us now.

And Gary, as 30 bodies have now been recovered, a new search area has been established. Is that raising hopes of finding the wreckage and more

remains?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is raising some hopes, but it will do little good if the weather stays bad. And it has been very bad

for most of these six days.

As we speak right now, Kristie, it is continuing to rain in this region. It's raining right here. And the search had to be called off

early today, but the hope is that the weather will be improving this weekend.

Now when we covered these tragic stories, there's all kinds of sad anecdotes we learn about. And one of them is this: this nation, Indonesia,

is the most populous Muslim country in the world, but there's a small Christian denomination that had nearly one-third of the passengers on this

plane.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TUCHMAN (voice-over): They are people who have long had something in common, they belonged to the same Protestant denomination. But as they come

into a church sanctuary used by the police in Surabaya, Indonesia, they arrive with something else in common, they are all people who lost loved

ones aboard AirAsia Flight 8501. The heartbroken people here are members of the charismatic Mawar Sharon Church with about 45,000 members across

Indonesia. Sadly, many of them had packed the AirAsia flight to celebrate the new year in Singapore.

Lianggono Tajo Bunarto is a church pastor.

(on camera): Forty-six people from this church were on the plane.

REV. LIANGGONO TAJO BUNARTO, PASTOR, MAWAR SHARON CHURCH: Yes.

TUCHMAN: That's almost one-third of the total people on the plane.

BUNARTO: That's correct. We're putting trust in God's hand.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): The 46 members of the church were not all traveling together. It was just a coincidence so many of them ended up on

this flight.

BUNARTO: Something that's happened in our lives, sometimes we just don't understand what God's really intent. And in that way, we just put our

trust, everything completely in his will, because he's going to bring everything is the best for our life.

TUCHMAN (on camera): None of the bodies of the 46 members of the church have been recovered yet. The pastor telling me that until they're

accounted for, they're in a place between life and death.

(voice-over): Church members preferred not to talk on camera, but sometimes you don't need to hear words because when you look at their

faces, you understand how they feel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: So much loss and sorrow, that was Gary Tuchman reporting there.

Now, we have been talking a lot about the weather in the search area over the Java Sea. And CNN's meteorologist Ivan Cabrera has a forecast for

the coming days.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: At times you can't even see the Java Sea, it's completely covered by thunderstorm activity, just amazing. The

time of year the storms set up here. And it is very difficult to get an extended period of dry weather. In fact, I don't think we're going to see

that, although Saturday looks a little bit better. And I'll show you the forecast in a second.

But there is the area of interest, of course. And you can see the thunderstorms just covering the entire Java Sea here with torrential

downpours. And some of these thunderstorms have been producing wind gusts in excess of 50 miles an hour. And that has led to what we've been talking

about, upwards of 10 to 15 foot waves. Those are not conditions you want divers in.

So, I think what's going to happen and what they're going to have to deal with an extra few days is they're going to have those ships on standby

and have the divers on standby and wait for a break in the weather, which will come for a few hours and then try to get some work going there.

But there you see the forecast in the next 48 hours. We will have a few breaks. I think Saturday looks dryer than Sunday where we have another

wave of showers and heavy thunderstorms roving through.

So, a few brief windows.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Ivan Cabrera there.

Now as we've mentioned, the search continues for the 132 crash victims.

Let's get more now on the recovery effort from our Asia editor Andrew Stevens. He joins us live now from Surabaya.

And Andrew, at least 30 bodies have been recovered now. And that number is expected to rise, of course.

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Of course, it's now just a matter of when as we were hearing from Ivan there whether it is just

so critical now, Kristie, so critical, in fact, that there's no real effort to make visual identification over that search area, because the

visibility is so low. The wind speeds are gusting and it's generally dangerous flying.

So, the search area, which has now, as you are saying, being narrowed down to that 5,200 square kilometer zone. It's really all about searching

underwater. And on the site at the moment of that search zone. There are three ships with more coming. They include the U.S. destroyer, the

Sampson, as well.

And what they're bringing, what all those vessels are bringing, Kristie, is a lot more sophisticated underwater detection technology

basing. I'm talking about sonar and very, very sensitive listening equipment, which is towed along behind vessels.

Because what they're looking for, obviously, is any sort of pinging coming from the black boxes, the voice in the data recorders on that plane,

also the electronic transmitter locator, they haven't been heard yet. It's difficult, I'm being told, because the water is so shallow there, perhaps

20, 30 meters -- only 30 meters deep, you get a lot of background noise, strong sea there as well, so that does make it more difficult to

distinguish the sounds of the pinging.

There has been a picture tweeted from the Singaporeans showing looks like a window -- a small window section of the plane.

But as yet, still no word on the main fuselage.

The working assumption here, Kristie, is that there is a main fuselage in -- pretty much intact, which has the black boxes where many, many more

passengers are still strapped into their seats at the bottom of the ocean. That is what they're looking for. That is the focus.

But at this stage, they're no closer, at least (inaudible) closer to finding it than they have been for the past 48 hours, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Andrew, the search is going underwater to find the main body of the plane, to find more wreckage, and of course more remains. I

was wondering if you could walk us through the process of identification. As more remains reach where you are in Surabaya what is the procedure and

how long does it take to identify the victims?

STEVENS: Well, it's certainly painstaking in their identification process, because they just can't afford to make any mistakes at that

unbelievably sensitive level. In fact, where we are, Kristie, this is actually the naval air base at the main airport. We've just seen a convoy

of at least 10 ambulances going past escorted by police, which we understand are carrying bodies -- we don't know exactly how many -- on

their way to the prison hospital, which is about an hour away from here.

There, the victims, the remains will be matched with photos.

You've got to remember, though, these bodies have been in the water for a long time, so visual recognition is becoming increasingly difficult.

What they're looking for is any distinguishing marks, any distinguishing marks, any distinguishing jewelry they may be wearing and of

course the key will be DNA testing. The families have been asked to bring in anything which may have some sort of DNA of the victims so they can do

matches that way.

It is, as I say, a painstaking process. The first victim who was identified, it was a little more than 24 hours after she had been brought

to that prison hospital.

So it is going to be a slow process, as Gary was saying in his report. There are families, there are relatives down there waiting as more and more

of the remains come in.

There are areas for the sectioned off for them to stay in, but just absolutely just so painful for those families as they wait, because they

don't know who actually does come in until they are given that final confirmation that, yes, your loved one has finally been identified.

LU STOUT: Now this is a very painful and a very painstaking search recovery effort indeed. Thank you very much for that update. Andrew

Stevens reporting live from Surabaya, we thank you for your reporting.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, the Australian journalist Peter Greste, seen here in the middle of your screen, he remains

in an Egyptian jail. And all three there awaiting a new trial, but if Greste gets his way he'll never see it.

Up next, we'll speak to his brother about the case for deportation.

Also ahead: with the ruble plummeting, Russians say that many of them could be out on the street unless President Putin steps in.

And this ship in distress is being towed to safety right now. Hundreds of migrants are on board with no sign of any crew.

(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.

Now we've told you about the ongoing search for the main fuselage of a crashed AirAsia jet. In just a few minutes we'll check on the progress of

a stricken ship off the coast of Italy with hundreds of migrants on board.

But first an Egyptian court has lifted the conviction and sentence of three jailed al Jazeera journalists, but they are not free. Instead, they

go back to being prisoners charged with colluding with the terror group The Muslim Brotherhood and awaiting retrial.

So, back to square one, but not exactly -- at least not in the case of Egyptian Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Australian journalist Peter Greste,

both have applied to be deported.

Now earlier we reached Peter Greste's brother in Brisbane. And I asked him how the family had reacted to the news of his brother's retrial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE GRESTE, PETER GRESTE'S BROTHER: Well, to be perfectly honest, our immediate reaction was disappointment. Naturally, we were hoping for

the most -- the best outcome, which would have been for the charges and the whole case of being dismissed and peter totally exonerated. We always knew

that there was possible, but unlikely.

So, it's disappointment to that end, but we certainly had got the next best result, which was a retrial. And that was (inaudible) because it

acknowledges the flaws that were present in the first trial and now Peter is no longer an accused person and we can have another go at it.

LU STOUT: Deportation: your brother, he filed an application to be deported to Australia. How is that proceeding? And is that his best

option to get back home?

GRESTE: Certainly we see that as his best option at this stage. We feel that deportation is in the best interests of Peter and the rest of the

family. And we see it as a best and quickest option to get Peter home to Australia.

LU STOUT: And if deportation is not an option, then we have the long legal process ahead, the retrial. Is your family ready for that? Is Peter

ready for that?

GRESTE: I think that's something we're not trying to contemplate too much about. It's easiest and best in one ordeals like this to break down

into small steps so at this stage we're just looking at the deportation, putting our energy in concentration to try and maximize the options and

chances of having success with that and then we'll have to address what we have to do for the retrial if the deportation not be successful.

LU STOUT: Your brother and his colleagues, they have been in prison in Egypt for over a year now. Under what kind of conditions is he living

in? And how is he doing?

GRESTE: Peter is a remarkable character. He's especially resilient. And thankfully he's a glass half full kind of personality. You know, we

haven't had an opportunity to speak to him and get his feedback on the result of the court of (inaudible), but you know he's doing it tough, but

he's making full use of his time in prison.

Mom and dad last visited him on Christmas Day. He was anxious to -- full day of preparation, but he's been getting stuck into doing a diploma -

- a university diploma in international relations. So, he's certainly been making full use of his time.

Otherwise, the conditions are, you know, very challenging, very tough. You know, it's a fairly dusty, you know, old place and it certainly, you

know, not a five star resort.

So, you know, 12 years in a prison in these kinds of conditions when you're -- especially when you're completely an innocent person is very

trying. And he's ready to have it (inaudible).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was Mike Greste. His brother is awaiting retrial in Egypt along with two other al Jazeera journalists. All three were

convicted on charges of supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Now Italian and Icelandic coast guards are towing a crewless ship with hundreds of migrants to safety. A distress call was issued after the

Sierra Leone flagship lost power about 90 kilometers off the Italian coastal city of Crotone.

Now it's believed there are about 450 people on board. It is the second migrant ship to be rescued this week.

Let's head to Italy now for the very latest. And journalist Barbie Nadeau joins us now from Rome.

And Barbie, tell us, who is on board this ship and what is being done to rescue them.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really a dramatic situation. And partly because the seas are so rough right now. The only

way that an Italian coast guard could reach the ship was to air lift a navigator and several medical personnel that had to check the situation.

We understand there are between 50 and 60 small children on this ship. And we understand there are a lot of pregnant women. And at this point

they're being towed into the Italian coastal city of -- excuse me, the side of Italy at the heel of the boot, I guess you'd say -- and they are

expected to arrive some time around midnight tonight.

But it's really, really a perilous journey for them, because of those seas and because they've been on this ship without a crew, which means they

don't have, you know, proper food. They don't have supplies. They're just really basically out to sea for a number of days now. We don't really know

until they get in exactly what the conditions are and how long they've been at sea since they left the Turkish port.

LU STOUT: Yeah, there are hundreds of no doubt cold, hungry and scared migrants on board the ship you just mentioned of up to 50 to 60

children, they're waiting to be rescued, waiting to be towed rather, to port. Who is the owner of this ship? And is this the work of human

traffickers?

NADEAU: Well, we spoke to officials from Frontex, which is the European Union's border control mission right now in charge of the rescue

operations in the seas right now. And they're saying this is the work of human smugglers. This is just a new way for smugglers to move people

across into Europe by way of Italy. 170,000 people arrived through Italian seas through Italy in 2014 and these are just, you know, the beginning of

the people arriving in 2015.

But this ship -- these are decommissioned ships -- this one and one that was rescued just two days ago, which had almost 1,000 migrants on it

as well under similar circumstances. These are decommissioned seas that the smugglers have somehow got in control of in order to bring more people

and in order to ensure that they can traverse these winter seas.

Usually we see all of these migrants coming across in the summer months on much smaller vessels, which are fishing boats that carry maybe

the same number of people, but the boats are much smaller. These are giant, you know, cargo ships that if they crash into the Italian coast

you've got a serious maritime disaster in addition to the human loss of life potentially.

LU STOUT: That's right. Barbie Nadeau reporting live for us from Rome. Thank you very much for keeping tabs on the story for us.

Now a series of attacks on Israelis have some taking self-defense training.

Now those living in West Bank settlements say it's essential to protect them from attacks by Palestinians. Ian Lee reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It may look like fun, even at times funny, but what these Israelis are learning is serious: self-

defense techniques that could save their lives.

Today's lessons here at Caliber 3, how to defend against a knife attack using Krav Maga, an Israeli fighting style.

Last November, a Palestinian man went on a rampage with a knife at a nearby settlement bloc. He's taken down eventually, but not before killing

one person and injuring three others.

Students say it's because of attacks like that they're here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really empowering to feel that you can possibly control the situation, that you're not at the mercy of whomever

shows up, you know, with a knife.

LEE: The goal isn't to create Rambos, the instructors say, but alert capable citizens who also train in defensive driving and gun

handling.

EYTAN MORGENSTERN, SELF-DEFENSE INSTRUCTOR: The man thing, though, is learning how to become aggressive. If someone is attacking you and trying

to hurt you, you've got respond with aggression.

LEE: With the United Nations recording more than 200 Palestinian attacks against Israeli settlers in 2014.

Self-defense training can save lives, but here in the West Bank Palestinians say they're the ones in need of defense. The UN put the

number of attacks by settlers against Palestinians at over 300 last year.

Those attacks can turn deadly. In 2011 an Israeli settler shot and killed Fatima Halal's (ph) 15-year-old son Yousuf (ph) during an

altercation. Police investigated the killing, but the case was closed, the prosecutor said, for the lack of sufficient evidence.

"There's no justice in Israel," Fatima (ph) tells me. "Palestinians are attacked and killed every day."

Yousuf's (ph) father Fakhri (ph) shows us where his son was killed while the two were planting peach trees.

"Defending themselves, a kid against 40 men," says Yousuf's (ph) father. "Did he have bullets? Let's pretend Yousuf (ph) throw a stone.

Does he deserve to be shot and killed?

Back at the self-defense class, instructors say, anyone looking to take their skills on the offense is not welcome.

With the political process in a standoff, both sides fearful of the other, neither will remain truly safe.

Ian Lee, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And still to come, a plea to President Putin for help. Protesters feeling the pain of Russia's

crumbling economy say they need the government to step in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now in Russia, the plummeting ruble is causing the costs of some mortgages to skyrocket. It affects those who have foreign currency

homeloans, something that is prevalent in Europe. And some say they are desperate for help.

Erin McLaughlin has more from the streets of Moscow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: People here say this is their last hope, a desperate plea for help to Russian President

Vladimir Putin. To have their voices heard, they're willing to stand in temperatures well below zero. They didn't know that interest rates would

spike and the ruble would collapse in value, the result of falling oil prices and western sanctions for Russia's alleged actions in Ukraine.

The people you see here have mortgages in a foreign currency. They say either the government steps in or they'll end up on the streets.

According to a state-run mortgage agency, foreign currency loans account for 3.3 percent of all mortgage debt, but critics say the

government is playing down the problem. They say as many as 150,000 people could be affected.

It's here that we meet Marina (ph) and her family. She ask we not use her last name. She blames the banks for being greedy. Despite her

troubles, she says she believes President Putin is doing things the right way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd rather lose my apartment, but not lose Crimea.

MCLAUGHLIN: A heavy price to pay for Russia's foreign policy, but she hopes it doesn't come to that. She says she's counting on the government

for help.

A year ago, in a working class suburb of Moscow, she purchased her first apartment. Her new place a source of pride for a single mother of

three. She says the bank would only offer her a mortgage in dollars.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Grab it or we don't give it to you. That's it.

MCLAUGHLIN: And you just decided that it was worth it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I decided to live in my own apartment.

MCLAUGHLIN: Now she says her mortgage is twice her monthly salary. And she's behind on her payments.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was (inaudible) taking, so take it like this.

MCLAUGHLIN: Plans to remodel have been put on hold. The family lives in half the apartment, the rest is a construction site.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have to like count money right now. And decide what to do -- to spend on food, or paying the banks.

MCLAUGHLIN: And so Marina (ph) is taking action. This is her second protest.

Are you confident that President Putin will help you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, he will help, yeah -- yeah. Call me in six months and I'm going to tell you the result, or I'm going to be on the

street.

MCLAUGHLIN: This time of year the streets of Moscow are about as cold as Russia's economy. And for these people it looks like it could be a long

winter.

Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And still to come, from Uber to hackers, we take a look at some of the biggest tech stories of 2014.

That right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now Indonesian authorities have now recovered 30 bodies from AirAsia flight 8501. Four victims have been identified and their bodies returned

to their families. Now the plane disappeared on Sunday with 162 people on board. Bad weather continues to slow the search for the fuselage and the

remaining victims.

Prominent U.S. Politician Mario Cuomo died Thursday at age 82. He served as New York's governor for three terms from 1983 to 1995. Now some

speculated he would run for president, but he never did. He is survived by five children, including current New York governor Andrew Cuomo and CNN

anchor Chris Cuomo.

Icelandic and Italian coast guards are towing a crewless ship with hundreds of migrants to safety. 450 people are believed to be on board the

Sierra Leone flagship. Now the coast guard team is trying to restart the ship's engines. They already rescued another migrant ship earlier this

week.

Stephen Gerrard says that he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season. Now the 34-year-old began his career at his hometown club's

academy at the age of 8, leading his team to victory in the Champion's League in 2005. But he couldn't end Liverpool's long wait to win the

English Premier League. Gerrard says that he will look for a new team outside the United Kingdom.

Now 2014 saw a string of high profile hacking attacks, the most prominent being the one that targeted Sony Pictures. Now hacking and cyber

theft, nothing new here, but the scale of that attack was something that we had never seen before. So let's take a closer look at that and the other

big stories from tech in the last year and the story that will continue to resonate this year.

I'm joined by our regular contributor Nick Thompson. He is the editor of the New Yorker.com. He joins us now. Nick, good to see you. Happy New

Year.

We've got to talk about the big tech story of last year without a doubt hackers and cyber war. What did we learn in 2014 about how safe we

are on the Internet?

NICK THOMPSON, NEW YORKER.COM: You know, we've been talking about hackers and cyber war for a long time. And there's been a balance over the

last, I don't know, five, 10 years between putting stuff into your cloud and the convenience that you get from that and the danger that comes from

that.

And this is the first time in that period that I've really thought, wait, the balance has shifted. I'm now more worried about the danger than

I'm pleased with the convenience.

If you look at the horrible things that happened with that Apple hack, the Jennifer Lawrence hack this summer and then with the Sony hack, that is

extraordinarily confidential information that was blasted all over the internet.

So I'm more worried than I've been in a while.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and now the big lesson learned, nothing in the cloud is safe.

Now another big story last year, Nick, big companies versus essential governments around the world. And I know you have some interesting

examples of both tension and collaboration.

THOMPSON: Well, this is one of the things that will continue to be a huge story next year and the years to come, which is that there are very

few internet companies that have real power, but their power is increasingly growing. And in fact their power over things like

international relations in growing relative to state governments.

So, at one point does Google have more influence over international affairs than the United States. Not yet, but these two things are coming

into tension.

So two examples that we saw were Google and Spain and the right to be forgotten where the Spanish government pushed a law on Google saying we're

going to be able to delete search results that people find unpleasant. Google pressed back. There was a very interesting fight.

And then in the Sony case, so interesting, because Sony decided they weren't going to put out The Interview, then Barack Obama said well

actually maybe they should put out The Interview. And then Google came to Sony and said we'll help you.

But now imagine a film that didn't totally align with Google's values where Google didn't entirely agree with it. Would they have helped so

eagerly? Its' very, very complicated, this tension.

LU STOUT: Yeah, an interesting question being raised there at the end.

Now up next, we have to talk about the so-called sharing economy and referring to apps like Uber and Airbnb and the very big backlash against

the sharing economy in 2014.

THOMPSON: Yeah, so the idea of the sharing economy, which is one of the big ideas the last couple of years is that there are all these unused

resources, you know -- cars that are parked, people aren't driving, apartments that nobody is in. So, let's rent the apartment, let's put

people in the cars and lets, you know, drive people around in them.

Great idea, big idea, disruptive idea, but with all big and disruptive ideas you're going to clash with entrenched interests. And if you try to

move too fast and you try to cut corners, you can run into a lot of problems.

So, this is a year where Uber, their valuation just skyrocketed, went way up, way up, way up, but then they've had, you know, dozens of lawsuits

brought against it. They've had all kinds of problems. Their reputation has, you know, dragged through the mud. They have made a huge mess of it

as they've grown.

So we'll continue to see that. We'll see the companies that are disrupting things as part of the sharing economy, and we'll see the

backlash against them.

LU STOUT: And finally we've got to talk about Facebook, because 2014 was a year Mark Zuckerberg went on a huge shopping spree and effectively

turned Facebook into a conglomerate. Tell us about that.

THOMPSON: Yeah, so he bought WhatsApp in the beginning of the year for $19 billion. He bought Oculus Rift. These are companies that don't

clearly tie into Facebook products, buys them for lots and lots of money and then Mark Zuckerberg becomes something like a roving diplomat traveling

around the world meeting with heads of state. His company puts out all these -- you know, has all these big launches like Facebook paper that

everybody covers, everybody gets excited about and then disappear.

So in one way it's a very weird year for Facebook, right, they don't put out things that people are excited about, they seem to be coming in a

way a little bit less interesting. On the other hand they just keep gaining power and gaining influence. So they're gaining influence, losing

cool and becoming much more complicated.

LU STOUT: All right, super smart analysis, as always. Nick Thompson, really enjoyed that. Thank you so much. And we'll be talking again next

week. Take care.

THOMPSON: Thank you, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Now don't forget to tune in next week for the second part of our discussion, it's a review of the tech stories in 2014. In fact,

we'll take a look at some of the tech personalities who made big headlines last year.

Now still to come right here on News Stream, it is a rare sight, the streets of London free of traffic and people. We'll hear from the

photographer next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now if you visit London, you can't help but notice that no matter the time of day its center is always buzzing with activity, but for just a few

hours each Christmas morning the heart of London is deserted.

Now CNN cameraman Woj Treszcynski timed it just right. And the images he captured are unlike any you've seen before. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOJ TRESZCZYNSKI, CNN CAMERAMAN: I've seen similar pictures from previous years by other photographers and decided to just have some fun and

enjoy the morning and silent in a way that you don't usually see it.

I started about 8:00 in the morning. Got up, rented a bike and rode through the kind of typical places in the center of London where usually

there would be a lot of tourists and a lot of people.

Because there are no cars and very few people in the street, it's incredibly quiet which makes it really eerie. And you enjoy the city in a

kind of a different way then you would normally on a busy day.

You're working in news as a cameraman. You don't have time to reflect on things and you don't have really time to play around with

images. You do things very fast. And this being kind of a personal project just for fun, it allowed me to look at my work in a different way

and do something different.

As the day -- as the morning progresses people -- probably after breakfast -- start adventuring out or there were more tourists and you can

see that there were tourists taking pictures and other photographers just milling around, but very, very few people until about noon.

Yeah, this once a year opportunity kind of gives you a look into London that you would normally get where you can enjoy almost in your own

privacy the big city and the expanse of London that it is.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Those are captivating and eerie cityscape. Well done there.

Now NASA's Mars rover Opportunity is having bouts of amnesia. Opportunity has been exploring Mars successfully for more than 10 years.

And its team thinks an age related fault is affecting the flash memory used by the robot.

NASA project manager John Callas explained to Discovery News that his team believes it has found a way to hack the rover's software to disregard

the faulty part.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Amanda Davies is next.

END