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A Look Inside Ravaged Debaltseve; White House Criticized for Avoiding Islamic Terror Term; China Celebrates Lunar New Year; Bostonians Get Chided By Mayor; The Smart Grids of the Future

Aired February 19, 2015 - 8:00   ET

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

JONATHAN MANN, HOST: Hello, I'm Jonathan Mann at CNN Center. Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Controversy at what's being called the biggest show on earth as China weaves an anti-corruption message into its lunar New Year TV special. We

go inside Debaltseve, the key town that Ukrainian government troops were forced to abandon.

And is it the Netflix of books? We're going to look at the all you can read service Scribd.

Thanks for joining us. Millions of people around the world are celebrating the start of the Lunar New Year. And if you are Happy New Year

to you.

Live pictures from Hong Kong now of the annual parade there. China's biggest holiday of the year sparking a mass migration as hundreds of

millions of workers leave the cities to return to their homes and celebrate with their families.

The Lunar New Year is also widely celebrated across Asia and by Chinese communities across the globe by some estimates by one-sixth of the

world's population.

Now you may have heard some people say that this is the year of the sheep, or the goat, or the ram. Which one is it? Well, all three are

actually correct.

It's all because of a Chinese character which is used to represent this year. By itself it could mean a number of animals. It's only when

you add another character that it refers to a specific animal.

So adding the character makes it a sheep. Adding this character makes it a goat. And adding this character makes it a ram.

So whether you call it the year of the sheep, the goat, or the ram you're not wrong. As the South China Morning Post writes it's much adieu

about mutton.

Every year Chinese state TV hosts a New Year's Eve gala that might be the biggest show on Earth, so big that it has more viewers than the Super

Bowl, the Oscars and the Emmy's combined. David McKenzie gives us a rare behind the scenes look at the world's biggest show.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This Shaolin temple school is famous for its gravity-defying Kung Fu. Still, after three

months of painstaking rehearsals, they may not make the cut.

"There is intense pressure," says their coach. "Each rehearsal is also an inspection. Up until the last minute, the show isn't confirmed."

The show is the annual New Year gala on State TV. At one of its final rehearsals, it's a menagerie of Chinese opera singers, traditional dancers

and acrobats. All competing for coveted slots.

This Shaolin school has performed in the gala before, but it's Hu Mingming's first time.

"I'm so excited this year," she says. "I used to watch them perform on stage, but now it's my turn."

The New Year's gala is an old school variety show, a five hour marathon, heavy on song, dance and Communist Party style patriotism.

It's a cultural phenomenon in China, drawing more viewers than the Oscars, Emmys and VMAs combined.

And the audience numbers are staggering. Around 700 million people watch the gala every year. And they tweet on tiny social media nearly 50

million times a minute. So this is key propaganda tool for the Communist Party.

And now in what seems a soft power push, they're taking the gala global, buying newspaper ads and primetime advertising space in the heart

of Times Square.

They've even done deals with Twitter, Google and YouTube, all sites banned in China.

But after more than three decades on air, the gala struggles to be relevant with the younger generation. Last year, young Chinese flooded the

internet with pictures of their grandparents napping through the marathon show.

For the performers of the show, though, it's very serious business.

"I want to perform my best," says Ju (ph), "so I can bring the best show to the people in China and the world."

They do call the gala after all the biggest show on Earth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: Well, for more on the biggest show on Earth, David McKenzie joins us now live on the line. David, you mentioned in your report the

social media response. It sounds like a flood of first impressions. So what were people saying this year after the show?

MCKENZIE: Well, certainly a flood. And it's a deluge. And a lot of the social media comments often critical. You know, it's like many parts

of the world. And when people get online and voice their opinion, they're likely often have a kind of snarky opinion.

I have to say, though, young Chinese I spoke to today, a lot of them felt some of the show was dated, others said that there was actually quite

a bit of sexism in their view of the show, controversially highlighting things like leftover woman, which is a very touchy subject here in China --

Jonathan.

MANN: Well, one issue, which the program also addressed I gather for the first time is a corruption and it seems like an odd topic to insert

into this kind of entertainment, but this is an enormous campaign that Chinese authorities are leading thousands of arrests, hundreds of thousands

of investigations.

And once again, I guess with this program, they're trying to prove that they are trying to make a point all across the country in every corner

of the country.

MCKENZIE: Well, that's right. And certainly this is the ultimate selection of a program by a committee. And at the very top, you're going

to have the Communist Party.

So, nothing is done by chance.

And there was several elements of the show that dealt with corruption, including traditional comedy cross-talk as it's called. But that even in

itself was criticized quite a bit by those I've spoken to who said, well, it dealt with the issue, but it didn't get into the nitty-gritty of it.

And they obviously a lot of thing that people talk about that are completely not allowed on a show like this.

But it does show that corruption and anti-corruption is a major platform on the party. And that's why it's on a show like this.

MANN: I think you were generous and diplomatic, but it doesn't just sound like that biggest show on Earth, it sounds like the longest. Did

your mind wander a bit?

MCKENZIE: Well, I think in a way it's besides the point. I mean, we wanted to understand how this is treated in China. You know, the New

Year's period, particularly the next few days, many people are going home for one of the few times a year, and sometimes for migrants the only time a

year.

And this is kind of like an institution in China. For more than 30 years, people will put on the TV, have the gala showing -- it's kind of

like background noise often, that people will look up from their meals and kind of comment, have a laugh about it with their family. It doesn't mean

you have to be glued to the TV for the four hours plus that it's running.

But it shouldn't be dismissed as a major cultural phenomenon in China. We spoke to, you know, an number of students in the U.S. who are watching

this show on YouTube and other ways, often to make fun of it, frankly, but still at the same time it's like the tried and tested part of Chinese

society with all the wrinkles that come with it.

MANN: It's a remarkable tradition. David McKenzie in Beijing, happy new year.

Now to Iraq where there are allegations of new atrocities by ISIS. A member of the provincial council in Anbar Province accuses the militants of

killing at least 40 people by burning them alive. CNN cannot independently confirm that claim. The Pentagon says it is looking into it.

It comes just days after the jihadist group carried out the brutal decapitation of 21 Christians in Libya.

Meanwhile, it is the final day of a counterterrorist summit in Washington to discuss strategies against violent extremism. Our Michelle

Kosinski is at the White House with the latest on that.

Michelle, the White House obviously has been reluctant to put Americans in harm's way to get anyone too exposed to ISIS on the ground in

Syria or Iraq. But it is addressing the issue in a very prominent way. What can you tell us?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, building coalitions and partnerships both militarily and ideologically has been the

plan. I mean, if you could lay out what the U.S. wants to do, that's pretty much it, continue air strikes as well as address what's the root

cause of extremism. I mean, no one can do that overnight.

And the White House hasn't been shy about saying this is going to take a very long time. It's a generational issue, as they've been putting it.

So this summit today -- I mean, from one perspective you could look at it and say, well, it's a bunch of people talking about how to confront

extremism, but what we found in listening is there's a lot of practical information being shared about programs that have been started. They're

early on. They haven't been entrenched in communities. But it is very community based. Things like trying to address early warning signs,

getting teachers involved, even teaching educators empathy towards vulnerable communities, expanding opportunities and job training.

So, even though these things sound very far away from the immediate threat on the battlefield, the White House insists that, you know, this is

going to be a many -- a multifacted approach. And this is really the way you get at the root causes of some of this extremism, Jon.

MANN: Now interestingly, the president and the White House are both refraining from using a very obvious title. We're talking about extremism,

we're talking about the Islamic State, but they never call it Islamic extremism, they never call it Muslim extremism, it seems like they're

trying to tread very, very carefully, so much so -- and I think we've got a copy of it -- the New York Post was making fun of the president for being -

- putting on blinders. Islamic terror? I just don't see it.

What's the issue at the White House?

KOSINSKI: Right. That's really become a talking point lately. Out in the public -- I mean, yesterday we had a few people demonstrating here

outside the White House during this summit. And one guy was holding up a sign that said "Just say it."

And everyone knew what he was referring to -- I mean, you listen to the president's words yesterday. He kinds of starts out by saying you can't

shy away from the discussion. You had to confront it head on. Take on this twisted ideology honestly and squarely.

But then you think over the last couple of weeks the White House has really come under fire for never wanting to use those words Islamic

extremism. And the choice of words doesn't change the reality. And we all know there are other kinds of extremism.

But at times it would reach this level of awkwardness that they seem not to want to include that in the discussion, especially when the programs

that are being highlighted during this summit all are focused on Muslim communities in America.

Well, now the president has addressed this, spelling out the administration's thinking as well as calling on communities themselves to

take some responsibility. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Al Qaeda and ISIL and groups like it are desperate for legitimacy. They try to portray

themselves as religious leaders, holy warriors in defense of Islam. And we are not at war with Islam. We are war with people who have perverted

Islam.

Just as leaders like myself reject the notion that terrorists like ISIL genuinely represent Islam, Muslim leaders need to do more to discredit

the notion that our nations are determined to suppress Islam.

If we're going to prevent people from being susceptible to the false promises of extremism, then the international community has to offer

something better.

There will be a military component to this. There are savage cruelties going on out there that have to be stopped.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: And we're going to hear from the president again in just a few hours talking to foreign ministers and other leaders from around the

world, Jonathan.

MANN: Michelle Kosinski at the White House, thanks very much.

Now to a major battle against ISIS in Northern Iraq. Kurdish orces managing to repel an attack outside the city of Irbil. Dozens of militants

were reportedly killed.

CNN Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is near Irbil and joins now.

Ben, where exactly are you? And what can you tell us?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're about 40 kilometers down the road from Mosul, this is the river Zab (ph). It was

down the river in a town called Guare (ph) where that battle took place.

Now what you see here is this bridge, one bridge which has been rebuilt within the last month. But the main bridge on this road leading to

Mosul was blown up by ISIS last summer.

And it's very instructive, indicative of ISIS's abilities when it comes to waging war.

We are told by soldiers and eyewitnesses that in the late summer when this bridge -- there was a battle going on when ISIS had advanced on Irbil,

the Kurdish capital and was pushed back.

Now, a battle going on here with airstrikes. ISIS sappers were able to rig with explosives this bridge within an hour and blow it up. And it

gives you an idea of just how good they are at what they do when it comes to this sort of thing.

And the Kurds say that that is their real challenge, they're fighting an enemy that seems very well trained, very well disciplined, and

importantly very well armed, keeping in mind that last June when ISIS attacked and occupied the city of Mosul and the Iraqi army essentially fell

apart and fled, they left behind much of their equipment -- Humvees, heavy artillery, loads of ammunition, all things that the Kurds do not have.

Now they were able to repulse this salt late last night on this area 30 miles, 45 kilometers outside of Irbil, but it was largely because of the

intervention of coalition aircraft.

So people here are beginning to ask after six months of these airstrikes, how is it possible that ISIS can still challenge Kurdish forces

so close to the Kurdish capital -- Jonathan.

MANN: As you say in part because they're well trained, they're well armed, and maybe a part of it is their reputation for unspeakable savagery.

And I mention that because of this latest report about prisoners burned alive.

What do you make of it?

WEDEMAN: Well, it's really hard -- the fog of war is intense as the moment. And in Iraq, of course, all sides have always twisted the truth to

a certain extent. So we don't know whether this is simply a case of local Iraqi government officials trying to ring alarm bells so that the central

government in Baghdad will focus more resources and attention on the situation down there.

We have not seen any video or still photos of this. And interestingly enough, if you look at some of the Iraqi media, they're not making a big

deal, or even giving much credence to these reports that as many as 40 or 45 Iraqi security personnel and tribesman were burned to death.

So as I said you have to treat these reports, like the report about the alleged organ harvesting by ISIS with a grain of salt. As I say, the

fog and the clouds of war are thick at the moment, Jonathan.

MANN: Ben Wedeman along the front lines. Thanks very much.

Coming up on News Stream this hour, as Rebels take control of a strategic town in eastern Ukraine, world leaders renew their efforts to

salvage a crumbling ceasefire. We'll bring you details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back.

It didn't take long. Russia is quickly rejecting Kiev's call for the deployment of UN peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine to enforce the ceasefire

there. Kiev suggested bringing in the peacekeepers after pro-Russia separatists kept fighting to take the key railway hub of Debaltseve despite

the ceasefire that was struck by four international powers in Minsk Belarus.

The leaders of those four nations: France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia spoke by phone today to discuss the next steps forward.

Ukrainian troops have now pulled out of Debaltseve leaving it in the hands of those pro-Russia rebels.

Our Nick Paton Walsh made his way in and saw the destruction from weeks of fierce fighting firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're heading towards Debaltseve where something has happened that has profound

implications for European security. A town vital to both sides at the heart of a flawed peace agreement is falling to separatists as we drive.

The ground around it changing hands fast. Hours earlier, this was a Ukrainian checkpoint.

APCs still smoldering, bodies left behind. Locals emerging unscathed, the Ukrainians mostly retreating.

"Of course it's better now we're not being shelled," says Svetlana, "but we have no pensions."

The loss of Debaltseve is not only a strategic blow for the Ukrainian government because it gives the separatists the borders that they ideally

wanted. It's also a massive blow for diplomacy, because this destruction here happened on the supposed fourth day of a ceasefire.

Stalke (ph) shows us what he says is a booby trap. But it's clear the men who fled here faced a far better equipped enemy.

The fighters here like Victor (ph), this is a moment to savor with his brother.

"The point is we survived the Kiev junta," he says. "Next, to Kiev and then Berlin," Victor (ph) adds. "Merkel can make us tea."

Hard to separate joking from ambition when their enemy collapsed so fast.

Here, they left behind armor and a massive stock of artillery shells, even their better missiles, not the orderly withdrawal the president

claimed.

It is not hard to imagine the fear felt here when you see the destruction the men lived through.

This fight for land and geopolitical clout is happening in some of Europe's most desolate communities. Ukrainian soldiers fled this coal mine

hours earlier, having held it for five months, we're told.

Simple lives from poor towns dragged into a bigger game.

Victor (ph) explains the mine used to give work to miners and salaries, but who knows how long until it works again. He thinks Russia

will help. And I ask, hasn't it already?

(LAUGHTER)

WALSH: The fight is continuing, but if presidents still call this a ceasefire, when will it stop? Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Orhavatka (ph),

eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: You're watching News Stream. Coming up, frigid temperatures sweep through the eastern U.S. thanks to an Arctic blast from the north.

We'll bring you the latest. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back.

I have to confess, everybody in this newsroom, our studio and control room came in bundled up and complaining today because record low

temperatures are hitting a large part of the U.S. and they'll be sticking around for awhile.

The cold blast bringing below normal temperatures to some 27 states. More than half the country. Tennessee, for example, has already had six

weather related deaths.

And the snow just keeps piling up in Massachusetts. The weight of it caused the shopping center roof to collapse Wednesday.

To get a better idea of the extreme scale of this, NASA snapped an image from nearly 650 kilometers above Earth. It shows the northeastern

part of the country -- I don't know if you can make it out there -- that's the thing covered in snow.

And as crazy as it sounds, Boston's mayor has been forced to tell his citizens to stop jumping out of windows and into snowdrifts. Jeanne Moos

has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Why are a few knuckle head Bostonians choosing to deposit themselves in snow banks wearing shorts?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm recording.

Oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

MOOS: If the fall doesn't get you, the frostbite might.

MARTY WALSH, MAYOR OF BOSTON: So I'm asking people to stop their nonsense right now when it comes -- these are adults jumping out windows.

MOOS: Jumping off car roofs. Teetering on railings. Leaping off porches. Launching themselves downstairs.

But it's the high flying high jinks that have Boston's mayor frosted.

WALSH: First of all, it's a foolish thing to do. And you could kill yourself.

MOOS: There's a name for this behavior.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boston blizzard challenge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a blizzard challenge.

BURNETT: Some involve less challenge than others. The mayor asked people to act responsibly.

WALSH: This isn't Loon Mountain. This is the city of Boston.

MOOS: Loon Mountain, are you accusing your citizens of acting loony?

Nah, the mayor meant Loon Mountain, the nearby ski resort in New Hampshire. On its Facebook page, Loon Mountain is milking the mention by

doctoring by the Boston's skyline with the resort's gondolas. If you're going to dive banks, stick to the shallow end of the pool to practice your

butterfly and your backstroke.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

MOOS: Because you're going to give the mayor a stroke if you keep this up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Boston blizzard!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm stuck!

MOOS: And you wouldn't want the mayor to flip out.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: OK. I confess, I've done it. It was many years ago. It was from a porch. It wasn't that high. It was that much fun.

You're watching News Stream. Still ahead, the company that's been called the Netflix of books is making a big addition: comic books. We'll

hear from the CEO of Scribd next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: I'm Jonathan Mann at CNN Center, you're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

Pro-Russia rebels are apparently in full control of the town of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine. A pullout by government forces follows

weeks of fierce fighting there despite a ceasefire struck in Minsk Belarus. The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine spoke by phone today

about the next steps for implementing that ceasefire.

The government of Libya has called on the United Nations to end its weapons embargo so the country can fight terrorists. Conflict between

different factions and even two rival governments in Libya have helped ISIS and other militant groups gain a foothold there.

Egypt supports easing the arms embargo, but says a blockade should be imposed to make sure weapons don't head to areas outside the control of

Libyan authorities.

It looks as if Germany has rejected Greece's request for an extension of EU loans. A spokesman for the German finance ministry says Greece has

asked for bridge financing without meeting the conditions of the bailout program. Athens has been trying to negotiate better debt terms, but has

been broadly turned down.

Asian communities worldwide are ringing in the first day of the Lunar New Year. And you're looking at live pictures from Hong Kong where the

city is holding a huge international parade. Performers from all over the world were invited to take part in the celebrations.

Just days after multiple reports say Apple may be working on a car, the company is now being sued for hiring employees from an electric car

battery maker. A123 Systems says five of its engineers have been hired to work in Apple's new battery division. The company says the staff was

critical. And projects they'd been working had to be abandoned after they left. This just days after reports that Apple recruited experts from auto

giants like Tesla and Mercedes-Benz.

80 million people already know about it, that's how many readers -- monthly readers -- the book subscription service Scribd boasts it has. The

service was just launched a couple of years ago, but it's growing fast after expanding content to include audio books, comics and document

sharing.

Kristie Lu Stout spoke with the company's CEO Trip Adler.

(BEWGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRIP ADLER, CEO, SCRIBD: Scribd is a book subscription service that makes unlimited books available for $8.99 per month and what we wanted to

do was expand it to other kinds of written content. So we'd be a subscription service for all kinds of reading. And we went into audio

books after ebooks and then we decided comics was the next natural fit.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you going get some big comics names to sign up as well like D.C.?

ADLER: Well, we currently have about a dozen of the biggest comics publishers in the world, including Marvel, IDW, Valiant, Archie. We don't

have D.C. yet, but I think there's going to be a lot more publishers on the way, so there should be some more announcements soon.

LU STOUT: And what about self-published comic books? Could that be on your service?

ADLER: Yeah. So, I think that's a great idea. We already have self- published content on Scribd. And I -- there's a lot of comics on there. And I think we could definitely build out that part of the business.

LU STOUT: Now you're charging about $8.99 for unlimited subscription on Scribd. Is that a price that you feel that consumers are comfortable

with?

ADLER: Yeah, I think it's a very good price. So, it's -- you know, it's right -- it's very similar to what Netflix and Spotify both cost. And

it's -- and it's similar to what a lot of consumers spend on books in the typical month.

So, you know, unlimited ebooks, audio books, comics for $8.99 per month is a really good deal, because it's a very good selection with a lot

of quality content for a low monthly price.

LU STOUT: Now Scribd for books, audio books and comics has been out for, what, a year-and-a-half now. How many people have signed up?

ADLER: So, it's been growing at about 31 percent per months since we launched the book subscription service in October of 2013. So it's

definitely getting a lot bigger. And, you know, really starting to return some meaningful revenue to publishers.

LU STOUT: Now what about the economics of the business? I mean, how much money, what is that meaningful revenue for publishers?

ADLER: What we do is we pay publishers whenever their content is read. And for some of our publishers, we're already one of their top three

digital revenue sources, and that's continuing to grow really quickly.

LU STOUT: Can you talk more about exactly how much you pay publishers?

ADLER: I mean, so we pay them the price of the book, or the price of the comic, or the price of the audio book. So it's as if they sold the

content. So it's basically -- for consumers, it's a subscription service where they pay once and they can read whatever they like, and for

publishers it's almost like another retail channel.

LU STOUT: You've been called the Netflix, or the Spotify of books. Which one is the better comparison?

ADLER: I think they're both pretty good. I mean, I think that both services are fundamentally a way to subscribe to listen to or watch

different kinds of content and have a new kind of experience for exploring and discovering new things to watch and listen to, and I think we do the

same thing for reading.

So, I think we're similar to both. And we're also different from both of them. So I mean, we're kind of our own thing.

LU STOUT: So, do you have big Netflix dreams? I mean, how big is Scribd going to get?

ADLER: It's a good question. I mean, we've been growing 31 percent per month. And I don't see that slowing down any time soon. I mean, we're

really just getting started. We're going to be adding a lot more content both with ebooks, with audio books, with comics and with new types of

content.

And we also have a lot of things we're going to do to the product. We're going to really improve the discovery experience for books. We're

going to make it -- improve the reading experience. We're going to make it more social for books. You can discover books with your friends.

So, I think as we do all this, it's just going to continue to grow. And I think it could be a really large business.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: Read all about it. Kristie Lu Stout speaking with Scribd CEO Trip Adler. He says users have clocked more than 17 million hours of

reading time on his service.

You're watching News Stream. Still ahead, it was once one of the world's great marvels, now it's an aging century old system. We'll show

you the modern makeover some cities are giving the electric grid.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MANN: Welcome back.

The demand for electricity grows every year, but the way that energy is distributed hasn't changed much since the first commercial power grid

was created more than a century ago.

In this week's Tomorrow Transformed, Richard Quest shows us how new technology could change that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In 1882, on Pearl Street in New York City, Thomas Edison opened the world's first commercial

electric grid, lighting up local homes and businesses with cables connected to his power station.

Today, while the cars, the fashion and the skyline may all have changed, the way we power our cities substantially hasn't.

What if we could bring the whole grid up to date?

Let's visit Mannheim in Germany.

Every house in Mannheim is connected to a smart energy network, making the most of renewable energy.

Now this is not just a set of smart homes, it's a smart city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I think is that the power grid can become a brain for the city by all that information that are generated in the grid.

We first thought about, OK, how should the future smart grid look like? So, we started with a very small number of houses. And the first

project phase was 20 households and we grew that to 200 households in the next year. And then the year after we went to large-scale project with

1,000 private customers connected to our grid.

QUEST: At the heart of the network lies a butler, not like Mr. Carson from Downton Abbey, but the energy butler, a small box that monitors how

much power you're using when boiling the kettle or watching your favorite movie, for instance.

All this information is then fed back by a series of smart meters to a central system that learns how much power is being used, where, and when.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were using (inaudible) powerline communication technology in order to transfer data from A to B over the powergrid itself.

We can send information back from the meters, from measurement devices about power quality, about the current status of the grid.

QUEST: The network is designed to use as much renewable energy as possible. And as well as being good for the environment, it's designed to

help your bank account too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the availability of renewable energy always leads to a lower price of electricity. And we use that mechanism and

forward it to the private customers.

QUEST: What's happening in Mannheim is but an experiment. And it's a vision for the future, because what's happening in Germany could very

quickly be adopted on a much larger scale elsewhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would work everywhere, because the powergrids worldwide are operated more or less the same way. We developed this

architecture that can be implemented everywhere.

QUEST: With a smart grid in place, the future of our cities may just be a little brighter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MANN: Fascinating stuff.

And that is News Stream. I'm Jonathan Mann. Don't go away. World Sport with Amanda Davies is next.

END