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Warrent Buffet of China Guo Guangchang Disappears; Geneva on Heightened Terror Alert; Qatar Airways CEO: Trump Will Not Be Welcome in Middle East. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired December 11, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:20] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream.

Now, after Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., now one prominent business leader says Muslims won't welcome Trump in the

Middle East.

Now he is known as the Warren Buffett of China, but our reports say Guo Guangchang has disappeared.

And one fo cinema's most iconic characters returns: Harrison Ford tells CNN what it's like to play Han Solo again.

White House hopeful Donald Trump is not backing down from his call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States and he says the

public stands with him. The billionaire businessman has repeatedly cited the support of his Muslim friends at campaign rallies, but we are seeing

Muslims line up in opposition.

Now, the CEO of Qatar Airways tells CNN that Donald Trump won't be welcome in Muslim countries. He Aqbar Al Baker told our Richard Quest that he

counts Trump as a friend but as a Muslim, he was offended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AQBAR AL BAKER, CEO, QATAR AIRWAYS: I think his statements have been misplaced. He's not realizing what he's mentioning is a detriment to his

own interest in the election. At the same time, he is also not realizing that he has investments in Muslim countries and he will not be welcome

there anymore.

So, I think what he is saying is not in the best interest of the realtionship between him and the Muslim world.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, you are quoted as saying you've met him sometime. He's been a friend of yours. But what are

you hearing in countries from other Muslim CEOs, from other people in the region about their sort of gut reaction on this?

BAKER: I didn't have time to get reactions of other people, but I can say the reaction as a Muslim, I have taken offense to this and especially when

it is coming out from a friend of mine. Ii didn't expect him to be so naive to make much statements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, meanwhile, billionaire tycoon Guo Guangchang, known as China's Warren Buffett, has reportedly disappeared. Now, the Beijing media

group Taichin (ph) reports that the Fosun Conglomerate has not heard from its chairman since Thursday. Now, Guo's disappearance is the latest in the

string of missing executives and top government officials in China. And our Asia-Pacific

editor Andrew Stevens joins us now here in Hong Kong.

Andrew, what has happened to Fosun International and its founder and chairman Guo Guangchang?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORERSPONDENT: Well, this is the great mystery. No one knows for sure, Kristie.

Guo, according Fosun, the company, was last in contact with them at noon on Thursday and hasn't been heard of since. The company has informed the

stock exchange at least we think they've informed the stock exchange, because the shares have been suspended from trading, although the

announcement didn't say anything at all about Guo, whether he's missing or not.

But what we are hearing from a very respected magazine based in China, the Taichin (ph) magazine, is that they are reporting that he has disappeared

and there are reports that he was being -- he was seen being escorted by police in Shanghai, at Shanghai Airport.

Now, we don't know whether he's gone to the police to help with inquires or he's the target of inquires. We don't know officially whether he's with

the police at all, because we're not getting any calls returned from the authorities in China, indeed none from Fosun either.

So it's very difficult to piece together. But at this stage, it looks likely

that he has been taken into custody for what reasons we don't know yet.

He has spoken to the police earlier this year on another matter involving corruption. He was -- it wasn't to do with him but he was asked questions

about someone else whether it's related to that investigation, we just don't know, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And what a remarkable development here. We have shares of a listed company suspended with no apparent reason, nothing that we have

heard yet. The chairman is reportedly missing. This is extraordinary, but this has happened before in China.

STEVENS: It is extraordinary, isn't it? You see that. Imagine if you're a shareholder in Fosun, which is listed here in Hong Kong. All you know is

officially that the shares in the company you own have been suspended. You don't know why. The stock exchange is giving you no information at all.

The company is giving you no information at all. And it would be extremely worrying if you're a shareholder.

Now, you're right, this is not the first time this has happened, certainly not recently. Two top executives are one of China's biggest brokerages

have also disappeared in the last two weeks or so. And an executive at another

brokerage has disappeared also about three weeks ago.

So this, if you looking at something, if you're looking for a pattern here, it may be related to the fact that you go back to that big summer stock

market meltdown we spoke about at the time, Kristie, and the repercussions have cracked

down on what they call corruption in the financial industry. It's important to remember that Fosun is not in the financial industry, but

these brokerages are being targeted to see if there's any foul play, if you like.

They were bending the rules or breaking the rules as far as the -- the input into that stock market meltdown. So, there has been a crack down on

brokerages, but what this has to do with the company and Mr. Guo, we don't know yet.

LU STOUT: Interesting, as we've been reporting on this new corporate mystery inside china. Thank you, Andrew.

Now to Geneva where a source says police are looking for five radicalized people, this one day after the city raised its terror alert level.

Now, they are suspected of being part of a network whose leader recruited one of the Paris attackers.

Now, the source adds, U.S. intelligence picked up communications between a group of extremists. Now they were allegedly discussing the possibility of

an attack on Geneva.

Now security officials there say we have gone from a vague threat to precise threat. We'll have more our Nic Robertson on this story later in

the hour.

Now next to people who escaped the terror of ISIS and Syria's war firsthand only to face uncertainty about what would happen next.

Now they are to begin a new life in Canada after becoming the first Syrian refugees to arrived there by plane.

Now they were greeted by the prime minister himself. Justin Trudeau described 163 Syrians as new Canadians after they touched down in Toronto.

Now, they are the first of 25,000 refugees Canada says it will take in as part of its resettlement program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUDEAU: This is a wonderful night where we get to show not just a planeload of new Canadians what Canada is all about, but we get to show the

world how to open our hearts and welcome in people who are fleeing extraordinarily difficult situations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Justin Trudeau there.

You're watching News Stream. And up next, deadline delayed: why the global climate talks in Paris are going into overtime.

Also, shocking allegations in Bangladesh raising concerns about child workers in the country.

And not in our name: the Muslims in Indonesia keen to show that ISIS has no place in Islam.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:10:50] LU STOUT: Now, no rest for climate negotiators in Paris as they make a final push toward an agreement. The deadline has been pushed back

from Friday to Saturday. And the hope is to get all 195 nations to agree to mandatory cuts in carbon emissions. Now, such a deal would be historic.

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is urging countries to make a wise decision based on what he called a global vision.

So, what should we expect from the final agreement if there is one? Now, there may be some clues from the latest draft. Now, one sticking point

whether to limit global warming to 2 degrees or less. The U.S., EU and others have been pushing for that lower limit and it looks like they have

succeeded with a new document pointing to a goal of well below two degrees Celsius. But some divisions remain.

One is how much wealthier nations should contribute to developing countries.

Now, some insist that everyone should be held accountable, others say that poor nations should be able to set a target.

So, will there be a deal? Now, for more on this story, let's go to straight to our CNN digital columnist John Cutter. He joins us, of course,

from Paris.

And John, it is crunch time. Is there still a sense of optimism? You know, can the 195 countries there in Paris reach a deal?

JOHN SUTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is really still a sense of optimism here

which is pretty incredible if you think about it. These negotiations for the last two weeks had been running really like clockwork and they have

slowed down -- you know, you mentioned the delay of about a day in the process, but I still think that a lot of optimism surrounds the talks in

Paris.

I'm hearing that the main sticking point is this idea of how do you split the countries and who is most responsible for cutting emissions. There are

sort of two camps here, there's the EU and the U.S. who are the -- have emitted the most carbon pollution since the industrial revolution and then

there's China, India, Saudi Arabia, some of the countries that are doing more of the polluting these days, but aren't as liable for the whole of the

climate change that we're already seeing.

So, these are old divisions and countries that are trying very hard to work them out. But we're hearing very optimistic statements, publicly at least,

from negotiators, from the French foreign minister saying that a deal will be reached, but we have to see exactly how it's haggled out.

The details will be very important in terms of how sticking this is and whether we actually will be able to meet these ambitious goals that they've

set out, a meeting 2 degrees Celsius or even 1.5 degrees Celsius. These are very high targets. They require basically

getting off of fossil fuels by mid-century.

LU STOUT: Yeah, I know it will also be interesting to see to what degree really high profile, high level carbon emitter countries like China and

India will be on board. We know China is the world's biggest emitter. It's been actively taking part in climate talks. Is there a concern they

could throw a wrench in the works there at COP 21?

SUTTER: So, I think the China story is one of the major storylines here at COP21. I'm not hearing indication that they are trying to throw a wrench

into these talks although much remains to be seen. And there will be last minute tensions. There will be a big meeting where all the countries will

come together and air their grievances about a new final text that we're expecting tomorrow morning.

So, who knows, but China, as far as what I'm hearing, is sitting back a little bit and letting

India and Saudi Arabia take the forefront in terms of negotiating some of these tougher points with the United States and the EU.

But what China does matters greatly to the global picture here. What is so tricky about climate

change, that all of these countries have have to work together. China, as you mentioned, is the biggest polluter annually at this point, so they have

to be included. They've made ambitious goals. They put out there that they want to sort of turn the corner and start reducing their emissions

after 2030, which is seen as very ambitious, the smog in Beijing recently has sort of given a moral incentive for them to do something about this

regardless of these talks.

So, they are in this in a way that they really never have been before. And I think that's hugely important and I'll be watching very closely to see

what they say as we get to the final hours of these talks.

LU STOUT; Yeah, and the ultimate climate goal here, are we seeing this -- I mean, all senses of the word, a sea change in terms of the goal? You

know, that 2 degrees is the wrong climate goal? I there this increasing feeling among many of the nations represented there that we should be

aiming for a 1.5 degrees Celsius limit for global warming?

SUTTER: There is. And this is a really surprising thing I would not have expected this at all coming into the talks.

There's this group of countries that are calling themselves the high ambition coalition which rhymes and sounds sort of funny, but their basic

message is that we cannot accept a future where we're guaranteeing that small island states including the Marshall Islands, Kirabati, Tuvalu out in

the Pacific will be wiped off the map by sea level rise. And that's what's expected to happen around 2 degrees Celsius of warming.

These predictions are all a little bit vague in some ways, but basically these countries are saying

it's unacceptable morally for us to allow that to happen. And so they are pushing for 1.5 as the target.

That's in the current text, it's not bracketed, which means that there is some agreement on it. We're seeing countries like Saudi Arabia pushing

back against all of that.

So it's still slightly in play. But there's more agreement on this idea of very ambitious climate targets than I think anyone saw possible before

countries started meeting here in Paris.

And, again, to underscore how difficult it will be to reach those goals, this requires getting basically off of fossil fuels, being carbon neutral

as a world, having a clean energy economy by about mid-Century. So, we're talking about a very rapid transition that would take place if countries

are actually serious about meeting these targets that they are trying to set

here.

LU STOUT: John Sutter reporting live for us from Paris, many thanks indeed for your updates along the way.

Now, for decades they were denied rights and they faced discrimination simply because of the

circumstances of their birth. And now China is finally granting legal rights to its so-called ghost children. Now, most of them were born in

violation of Beijing's one child policy which the government is now ending.

Now, the documentation, known as the huko (ph) will give 13 million undocumented people

access to things like health care as well as schooling.

North Korea is boasting of a new addition to its arsenal. Now, North Korean media report a hydrogen bomb is ready for detonation. But as Brian

Todd reports, most analysts believe Pyongyang is bluffing as the country's human rights record is being discussed at the UN security council.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This would be a huge and frightening leap if the North Koreans claims are accurate.

Kim jong-un said North Korea is, quote, ready to detonate a self- reliant hydrogen bomb.

What could that do? The Hiroshima explosion in 1945 produced the equivalent of 13- thousand tons of TNT. The first hydrogen bomb test in

the 1950s was 700 times more powerful and they've only gotten more powerful since then.

Now on North Korea's claim, U.S. intelligence officials are not commenting. South Korean intelligence and the experts we spoke to are very skeptical.

Analysts say Kim's regime simply does not have the capability to produce a standard hydrogen bomb. What they're likely trying to do, they say, is

take the materials used to make hydrogen bombs, materials like tritium, deuterium, and compress them, place them onto their existing nuclear bombs.

Now that would increase the yield of those nuclear bombs, that's the pure explosive power of those bombs.

But what's important to note here, our experts say Kim's regime is working toward producing an H bomb. They have the desire and will to do it. And

they are moving toward it.

But they do have some technical hurdles to overcome. And it will likely take more than five years, we're told.

Now as far as what they're doing to overcome it, the institute for science and international security recently published satellite photos of the

Yongbyon facility, that's where North Korea produces the materials for nuclear weapons. I spoke with former UN weapons inspector David Albright

from that group. he says the photos show that at Yongbyon they have constructed buildings which could separate tritium, they could refine that

material. Now that could be an important step toward eventually constructing a hydrogen bomb and that is what's so concerning right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: That was Brian Todd reporting. You're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program, they are forced to give up their

childhood to support the family and some suffer horrific abuse.

The child maids of Bangladesh, that story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now, the Chinese internet giant Alibaba says it will buy the South China Morning Post, Hong

Kong's main English language newspaper.

Now, no financial terms have been released, but in a letter to readers, Alibaba's executive vice chairman says that Alibaba's digital strength will

help century old newspaper.

Now, the Post says it has a circulation of around 100,000, and it's one of only a handful of newspapers that serve Hong Kong's English speaking

minority.

Now, a well known athlete in Bangladesh is accused of abusing his 11-year- old maid. Now the legal case comes as attention is focused on the plight of children working as domestic helpers in the country.

Now, the CNN Fredom Project spoke exclusively to the young girl whose nickname is

Happy. Mallika Kapur has her story. And a warning, it contains disturbing content.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Dhaka, 14 million people live here, crammed into 125 square miles. Slums and skyscrapers exist side by

side. This is the part you see. Some things you don't.

MAHFUZA "HAPPY" AKHTER, 11--YEAR-OLD MAID (through translator): I used to clean the house, clean the dishes, cut the vegetables, wash the clothes

and do other small jobs.

KAPUR: Maids, many just young children, toiling away in the homes of the rich.

Mahfuzer Azkhter, nicknamed happy, is 11 years old. Deserted by her parents, she lived with her grandmother. They needed money so her

grandmother got her a job as a maid. She worked in this man's house. He's Shahadat Hossein, a well known Bangladeshi cricket player.

Happy says Hossein and his wife abused her.

AKHTER (through translator): They hit me everywhere, all over my body. They scratched me and slapped my face.

KARUR: He tells me she had no freedom, that her employers would keep a close eye on her during the day. And she says at night, they would make

her sleep in the bathroom and lock the door from outside.

AKHTAR (through translator): I thought I was trapped as a slave to them for the rest of my life.

KAPUR: She says she often thought of escaping.

One day, she says, she took a chance.

AKHTAR (through translator): They hit me more than usual that day. When I saw the door open, I ran out of the house.

I couldn't run. I was limping. I was in so much pain. I thought it's better to beg on the street than be in that house.

One local journalist found her crying on the side of a road. Bruised, a black eye and multiple broken bones.

SALMA ALI, LAWYER: If you see her face, when she -- when we first saw that at the crisis center, you could no imagine. Is it possible?

KAPUR: Lawyer Salma Ali is a lead are women's right activist. She and Happy agreed to talk to us at the shelter Ali runs. She says the case got

attention because it involved a famous employer, Hossein and his wife were charged with child repression and employing a minor. He remains in

custody. The wife is out on bail on humanitarian grounds.

Hossein's lawyer says he is innocent and that he wasn't home the day Happy ran away.

The lawyer refused to comment on behalf of the wife.

Bangladesh is full of children hired as domestic helpers and many of them are abused. Poor and desperate for money, approximately 421,000 children

work as domestic help.

Ali says many are abused by what she calls their masters.

KAPUR: You use the word master a lot. That makes it sound like this is a form of slavery.

ALI: Yes, this a form of slavery. They have no freedom. They have no childhood.

KAPUR: Happy is starting over at the shelter, doing what she says she thought was impossible, enjoying a childhood with friends, freedom and

laughter.

Mallika Kapur, CNN, Dhaka.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Oh, I can't believe it, just tortured and abused as a slave. She was only 11 years old.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program, Geneva is on edge. We'll have the latest on the terror alert in that city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:30] LU STOUT: Now let's get more on the security alert police in Geneva. Nic Robertson is in the city with more. And Nic, walk us through

all the factors that triggered the terror alert there in Geneva.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, the very latest thing that's happening here right now, Geneva airport a few miles

away from where we are here outside the UN's Geneva headquarters, the Geneva airport, part of it is on lockdown at the moment.

The police are investigating a suspicious item of luggage there. They don't know precisely at the

moment is this left lost luggage or is it some sort -- has it been placed there nefariously. So, that's under investigation at the moment. It

really gives you an indication of how heightened the sense of security is here. That sort of thing doesn't happen very often at Geneva

airport.

What has led to this, three separate items of intelligence information, one has come from U.S. intelligence officials to Swiss officials saying that

the U.S. intelligence officials picked up four members of ISIS in Syria chatting about a possible Geneva attack.

Now, those ISIS members in Syria, at least a couple of them we understand, speak French. Geneva, obviously, the French speaking part of Switzerland.

And the whereabouts of these four now is unknown. That's one point of concern.

Another point of concern a Belgian registered van drove into Switzerland in the past few days. When police checked up on who owned that van, they

found it was owned by an associate of Salah Abdelsalim, one of the men associated with the Paris attack. There's an international arrest warrant

out for him at the moment. He went on the run the night of the Paris terror

attacks and back to Belgium where he is living. So, that's a concern, this apparent van that seems to have come from Belgium that belongs to an

associate of somebody closely tied in with the Paris attack.

And then the third intelligence item here that's causing concern, that's playing into all of this, is that one of those Paris attackers has become

known, if you will, as the sort of a third Bataclan attacker, the third attacker at the music venue where they killed so many people, now his

identity is known.

It is now understood that he was recruited by a former ISIS member from the Geneva area. Now this ISIS member hismelf an associate of his is a member

of ISIS, has been in Syria and his whereabouts are now unknown.

He is Swiss, so that's causing concern, is he converging on Geneva. So you have these three essentailly separate, disparate threads. The police are

obviously looking at all of those threads. Are there any connections? And in the midst of that the UN guards have bigger weapons than they would

normally for securing the premises, the police in the city are under heightened alert but now you have a

situation at the airport in Geneva, part of it on lockdown, as police investigate this suspicious piece of

luggage.

LU STOUT: All right, Nic Robertson there reporting live from Geneva, another European city on high alert.

Now, the ISIS recruitment campaign has capitalized on its online propaganda to promote its extreme view of Islam, but one of Indonesia's largest Muslim

organizations is looking to counter that.

Now the group has produced a feature length film promoting its moderate views.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[11:35:10] LU STOUT: This is a film by Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nadhatul Ulama (ph), or NU. The group has a long tradition of

rejecting extremist ideology in the country. This time it's fighting ISIS ideology and propaganda head on.

YAHYA CHUIL SLAOUF (PH), NU GENERAL SECRETARY: Disaster, destruction, killing, murders. What order can you hope from them? That's (inaudilbe).

LU STOUT: Indonesia is the home to Islam Nucentara (ph), or East Indies Islam, a centuries old movement that promotes spirituality and plurality.

Islam here is starkly different from the one practiced in the Arab world and that it's mixed with local culture and religious traditions, some from

Indonesia's Buddhist and Hindu past.

CHARLES HELLAND TAYLOR, CEO OF LIBFORALL FOUNDATION: The purpose what Nadhatul Ulama is doing with Islam Nucentara (ph) is not to proclaim the

supremacy of Islam Nucentara (ph), by no way, but rather to affirm the legitimacy, the beauty of Islam all of which are anathema to radical

Muslims.

LU STOUT: That message NU hopes to spread in Indonesia and abroad. They're planning toto hold dialogues in the U.S. in May. The NU supreme

council's general secretary says its campaign is even more relevant now after Donald Trump's statements on temporarily banning Muslims from

entering the U.S.

SLAOUF: When a certain type of kind of Islam, radical Islam, attacks you and you have no

comprehension about the nature of it, then it's only natural for you to generalize Islam.

LU STOUT: It's a threat Indonesia has learned to understand. In 2002, 202 people were killed Jama Islamiyah, or JI, a homegrown terror network linked

to al Qaeda, bombed the resort island of Bali. Authorities have since weakened the JI network, but other militant groups continue to exist, some

have pledged allegiance to ISIS>

According to government officilas, a few hundred Indonesians have left for Syria, although not all of them to fight.

Although radical ideology has made inroads in the country, surveys show most Indonesians reject ISIS and what it stands for.

For NU and moderate Muslims here, the battle is just starting, winning it will take having their voices heard more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Nadhatul Ulama says that the movie will be released in theaters and online in the

coming weeks.

Now, you're watching News Stream and coming up, it's good to be home. Han Solo is back with his blaster pistol for a new Star Wars. Now, can we get

him to reveal some Star Wars secrets? Find out after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: The film Star Wars: The Force Awakens has its world premiere on Monday. And as you can imagine, fans can hardly wait. Now, Isha Sesay

catches up with the famous smuggler, Han Solo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRISON FORD, ACTOR: Chewie, we're home. It's good to be home.

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As you say in the trailer, Chewie, we're home. What's it like to be back?

FORD: It's good to be home. It's good to be home.

SESAY: You've done so much since the original film, so much time has passed, but I wonder whether coming back to this character, whether it's

almost like muscle memory?

FORD: It is. You know part of it is that muscle memory, but you put on the clothes of the character, you remember the gate of the character, the

swagger of the character. It's all -- you know, it comes back. It comes back.

SESAY: How has Han changed? I know there's not a lot you can tell me. You i may have to kill me first, but imagine that wasn't the case.

FORD: I'd have to kill you after I told you, then I'd want to kill myself.

He's certainly 30 years older. There's no attempt to soften that blow. The story involves some of the changes in his -- in his understanding of

the world.

SESAY: Are you ready for the latest round of fandom?

FORD: I'm delighted. I hope the film is successful as, you know, as it can be. And I'm ready for whatever comes.

SESAY: And no regrets to coming back, because I know in the past you seemed a little...

FORD: No, I just thought at a certain point I thought that when we were making the third film that we could make an interesting -- we had an

interesting opportunity with the character, who had always been cynical and outside the story for him to sacrifice himself for the greater good, for

the -- for the benefit of the good side of for the light side as opposed to the dark side that he might lend some gravitas to the proceedings if he

were to sacrifice himself.

SESAY: Well, I'm personally pleased they never killed you off.

FORD: Very grateful, thank you.

SESAY: Harrison Ford, thank you, best of luck with the film.

FORD: I appreciate it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

END