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Cuban Exiles Celebrate Death of Fidel Castro in Miami; Francois Fillon Emerges as Conservative Candidate for President of France; Syrian Government Forces Make Big Gains in Aleppo. 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired November 28, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:19] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream. Now, Cubans face and uncertain future without

Fidel Castro the man who governed their country for almost half a century.

Francois Fillon emerges as the conservative candidate for next year's election in France where he is likely to face right-wing leader Marine Le

Pen.

And Syrian Government forces make their biggest gains in Aleppo in Years, pushing rebels out of parts of the besieged city.

The death of Fidel Castro, the man who governed Cuba for almost 50 years has brought on a mix of joy and sorry, celebration, but also uncertainty.

Now, Cuba is honoring its long-time leader with nine days of mourning. Official ceremonies kick off in the coming hour. And just a few 100

kilometers away in Miami, Florida, an outpouring of emotion as some Cuban-Americans welcoming the news. Some shouted libertad

(ph), or freedom, an expression of hope for their compatriots in Cuba.

Now, let's go straight to CNN's Nic Robertson who is in the Cuban capital Havana. And, Nic, the symbolic process of mourning Castro has started in

earnest today. Tell us what's happening.

NIC ROBERSTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in about an hour's time, that's when the commemoration begins, if you will begins, it begins

with a 21-gun salute. Flags have been flying at half-staff over the weekend, but the mood here has been very muted. No sort of celebrations of

joy or big emotions or outpourings of grief either on the streets. But that may change today. We're expecting tens of perhaps hundreds of

thousands of people to gather in revolution square here in Havana after that 21-gun salute. They will be doing this again on

Tuesday and then Tuesday evening. There will be a service and that will then put in play the beginning of a procession across

the country Wednesday through next Saturday, a 1,000 kilometer journey, all way along the length of Cuba to Santiago. The Fidel Castro's ashes

arriving there on Saturday, his funeral service on Sunday.

So that's what's expected across the country. But today, perhaps, as you say this is when we are going to begin to see those outpourings of emotions

as people gather, as the government is organizing in revolution square. And this is expected to continue throughout the day here today and in the

coming days. The government saying there will be commemorations like this, memorials in towns and vigils across the country.

LU STOUT: And you thoughts on Cuba after Castro. I mean, Cuba had already been changing, entering this new era of relations with the U.S. After the

death of Fidel Castro, can Cuba finally move on and fully open up?

ROBERTSON: Well, there's a sense here, you know, when his brother Raul Castro took over

full power as president in 2008, eight years ago, he began that transition, he put some of his own people

in, replaced some people who he saw as being more aligned with his brother. But the changes that he made have been very, very small and very, very

incremental.

Yes, it's borne new diplomatic relations with the United States. We have arriving this morning, the first commercial flight scheduled commercial

flight arriving into the United Nations.

That's been a trickle that's been going on over the past couple of months, but that's also symbolic of where the new relationship is going.

But it still has a long way to go. And there's a lot of things that Cuba would need to do to meet the standards of the Helmsberg Act (ph) in the

United States, congressional act, that would allow full relations to be restored.

And so the question on people's mind here is, is now Raul Castro is alone, that he doesn't have his older brother Fidel looking over his shoulder.

Will he enact more changes. And there's a sense here that what he's put in place so far has been slow, but there's concern that maybe it won't go as

far as a younger generation here would really aspire and like it to go.

So, it's not clear, quite the path that Raul Castro will take. He has made changes in the past. I think people expect him to make some more changes.

He said that he will step down from power in 2018, but to whom and the process? And that -- the process, even, of handing on power, that is

something that plays into that act in the United States, that congressional act that will determine the

relationship between the two countries, and that's before you have what President-elect Donald

Trump has been saying in his electoral campaign and over the weekend, his surrogates also saying -- questioning whether or not he may roll back some

of the changes that President Obama put into the relationship with Cuba.

So you have all of these uncertainties there, and all of that obviously, the political uncertainties in the United States will factor into Raul

Castro's thinking as well about what he does.

[08:05:17] LU STOUT: Nic Robertson, reporting live for us from Havana. Thank you, Nic.

Now, world leaders have been offering their condolences to Cuba, but the Canadian prime minister's tribute, that raised some eyebrows. Now, Justin

Trudeau wrote this -- quote, Fidel Castro was a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century.

Now, legendary revolutionary and orator, Mr. Castro made significant improvements to the education and health care of his island nation. We

join the people of Cuba today in mourning the loss of this remarkable leader.

Now, those comments have created a firestorm. U.S. Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio called the tribute disgraceful and shameful. Critics say the

Canadian prime minister glossed over Castro's human rights record.

But Mr. Trudeau defends what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: The fact is Fidel Castro had a deep and lasting impact on the Cuban people. He certainly was a polarizing

figure and there certainly were significant concerns around human rights. That's something that I'm open about and that I've highlighted.

But on the passing of his death, I expressed a statement that highlighted the deep connection between the people of Canada and the people of Cuba.

And at the same time, Canadians know that I always talk about human rights, including here yesterday, including with Raul Castro two weeks ago,

including wherever I go around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, the U.S. presidential race ended weeks ago, but the election drama is still not over. In less than two hours, the election

commission in Wisconsin, will need to set up a time line to recount votes. The Green Party candidate Jill Stein called for

that recount. She also wants recounts in two other key battleground states where Donald Trump won: Pennsylvania and Michigan.

On Saturday, Hillary Clinton's campaign said it would join the Green Party's effort in Wisconsin, but they said they would not challenge the

results of the election. And Donald Trump slammed the effort on Twitter saying Clinton already conceded the race. He also issued an election

allegation of his own. Without any evidence, he claimed millions of people voted illegally for Clinton, costing him the popular vote he won the

deciding the electoral count.

Now, conservatives, meanwhile, in Fracne are throwing their supported behind Francois Fillon as their candidate in next year's presidential

election.

Now, the former prime minister easily beat rival Alain Juppe in Sunday's primary runoff. Fillon is a social conservative. He has called for major

economic reforms and has promoted a hard line on immigration. And he could face far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen in the final round of

voting in the spring.

Now, CNN's Melissa Bell is following all the developments in Paris. She joins us now live.

And Melissa, no one saw his victory coming here, so just how did Francois Fillon manage to take his party's nomination?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Those who support him, those who ran his campaign, Kristie, say that it was simply a very effective grass roots

campaign, that unlike some of the candidates that faced him in this race. Francois Fillon very quietly, far from the cameras, ran a campaign that

took him all across France over a three-year period and that it was about a campaign that is much about listening as it was about explaining his

project.

In fact, he talks about the fact that his project was very much nourished, to use his expression, by the desires, by the anger of people out there.

And that brings me to another point. That we've seen the polls get it wrong time and time again over the course of the last few months in polls

nationally whether they are presidential or referendums. And this appears to have happened again. Within his campaign they were telling me just a

week ago, that they, themself, haven't quite seen the scale of this popularity, of this victory, of this looming victory at the time coming, and it was by a

huge majority that he beat his final opponent last night, more than 65 percent of the vote, Kristie. And I think that is because he has managed

to tap in to sort of popular anger, a sense of popular revolt, the fact that people are angry with the status quo. They want change and Francois

Fillon suddenly seemed out of nowhere to be the candidate that seemed to offer them the most -- the strongest idea, the strongest possibility that

change was possible.

LU STOUT: And so now we're looking ahead to the presidential race. The election, itself, to take place a few months from now. It looks likely

Fillon will be facing the far-right National Front party leader Marine Le Pen. Is that going to happen? And how will that play out?

BELL: It is probably worrying for Marine Le Pen more than any other figure on the political -- in the political -- French political landscape,

Kristie, that he has won -- Francois Fillon has won and with such a majority.

She was the one who was expecting only a couple of weeks ago to be benefiting from that growing populist anger here in Europe, the far-right

was expecting to do well. Marine Le Pen believed that her time had finally come and that Trump's victory in the United States was almost a

foreshadowing of her own next spring.

Francois Fillon with his extreme social conservatism and his call for economic reform taps into a part of the electorate she had been hoping to

base her forthcoming campaign on and it will no doubt oblige her to redefine the basis on which she fights that campaign.

It is looking as though she will be facing Francois Fillon in that second round. But it is also now looking as though Francois Fillon is probably

the candidate most likely to see off any challenge from the far right. And that of course has huge implications looking beyond next year's election to

international relations.

Francois Fillon is the most pro-Kremlin figure on the French political landscape, and that will mean another member of the UN security council

looking for an alliance with the Russians rather than for going opposition against them.

[08:11:06] LU STOUT: Interesting trends in presidential politics there in France. Melissa Bell reporting. Thank you.

And now to the political firestorm that is consuming South Korea. A lawyer for the president says Park Geun-hye cannot cooperate with a prosecutor's

request to meet on Tuesday, because she's too busy.

There are growing demands for the president to resign over a corruption scandal.

Now huge demonstrations have been held every weekend for more than a month. Now, Saturday hundreds of thousands hit the streets in a peaceful protest.

And Paula Hancocks was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is Saturday night downtown Seoul, the protest to unseat President Park Geun-hye, and it is

one of the most good-natured protests I have ever covered in my career. Every Saturday night. It's like a carnival atmosphere.

You can see, someone is doing well out of this: there's food sellers, there's other vendors, that are set up along the street trying to tap in to

hundreds of thousands of people who are on the streets.

Now, of course there is an awful lot of frustration for people here, there's an awful lot of anger against the president, but that is not being

shown on the streets itself. It's very peaceful.

And it's a real family affair as well. We have seen a remarkable amount of families here with babies in France and strollers. We've seen a lot of

children, a lot of high school students, university students all the way up. There is a hugely diverse aid group here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is pretty positive. I see no accidents. I see so many children coming with the family. I think we are teaching the

children how to really proclaim our rights to the children. I think it's really important.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are speaking out loud, but we're trying to make this peaceful. but I don't think it's going to stay peaceful if

impeachment doesn't work.

HANCOCKS: And also, one thing that is staggering is that these protesters are cleaning up after themselves. We have seen volunteers that are trying

to make sure that the streets are kept clean after hundreds of thousands of people are here. That doesn't happen in many protests around the world.

And we also know that there is a fairly good relationship for the most part, between the protesters and police.

Local media had been reported that some of the protesters turned up to the protests with give to the police. We seen the police have a hands-on

attitude towards the protesters. And up until now, that has really helped keep these protests peaceful.

Though, certainly, even though there is anger, there is frustration, there is determination to keep protesting until President Park steps down, there

is an awful lot of good will among people here. They want to come and be part of democracy, I've been told, many, many times. They want to show

their children exactly what is happening, and what they say is a very historic time.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You are watching News Stream. And still to come, abuse allegations rocking English football. We find out what the football

association is doing to investigate the alleged child abuse in clubs next.

And a trafficking survivor's remarkable story. Ahead, the challenges she faced to reach safety from abuse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:26] LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you are back watching News

Stream.

Now, Syrian forces have made large territorial gains in the city of Aleppo, driving a wedge through the middle of a zone that has been held by rebels

for more than four years.

Residents tell CNN the rebels have withdrawn from around 20 percent of the areas they controlled. Government troops and their allies broke through

rebel lines over the weekend, pushing into two neighborhoods. The offensive was backed by airstrikes and artillery. Civilians have been

trying to get out, some taking shelter in government-held areas, and others tell CNN they have nowhere to go.

Now let's bring in Fred Pleitgen who has been following the assault on Aleppo. he joins us now from CNN's London bureau.

And Fred, these are fast moving developments in this assault on eastern Aleppo. What's the latest?

FREDERIK PLETIGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: You know, Kristie, it's fast moving developments in a conflict that really was stalemated for

a very long period of time. We can't really overstate how significant these developments are that are going on there in the east of Aleppo,

because for around four to five years, it was almost impossible for the Syrian military to make any gains there in the eastern Aleppo area.

Now it seems as though over the past week, but especially over the past 24 hours, as you said things are moving quickly whereas you stated around 20

percent of the territories that the rebels held in eastern Aleppo seems to have now -- seems to now be in the hands of the regime. It seems as though

they cut the area that was held by the rebels in half and then managed to take the northern half of that.

So, now they control most of the northeastern part of Aleppo. And we've just seen the devastated consequences for the civilians that are there.

There are a lot of numbers out there about how many of these civilians have manged to flee the rebel-held areas, some observer groups saying it could

be up to 10,000 fleeing not just to regime controlled areas, but also to other rebel controlled areas and then to also to a Kurdish-held area called

Sheikh Maksoud (ph), which is also part of Aleppo as well.

So, very significant developments. And it certainly seems as though at this point in time the Syrian military is making very, very big, very

significant gains in what is by far the most significant and important battlefield in Syria's civil war, Kristie.

LU STOUT: You mentioned the humanitarian toll here. Humanitarian concerns very high at this point as this assault grinds forward, as Syrian forces

take more significant territory in east Aleppo, in terms of the battlefield here, what is at stake for the rebels, and what would the fall of east

Aleppo mean for them?

PLEITGEN: Well, it certainly seems as though we might be at very pivotal moment here in Syria's civil war.

Right now, eastern Aleppo is the last urban stronghold of the rebels. It's the last key city, bit, large Syrian city where they hold a considerable

amount of territory. So, certainly, losing that would be of great significant. It's also of great significance for the Assad regime

as well. They have been trying to win back Aleppo for a very long time. They are trying to win back territory in the west of Aleppo, certainly

around places like Homs, Damascus and then of course Aleppo as well to try and get those big cities back under their control.

So, we have seen that Aleppo has been a focal point for both the rebels as well as the Syrian government also. And that's why you have seen those

massive airstrikes by Syrian regime forces over the past couple of days, you've seen that amassing of troops, not just Syrian troops, but also

Iranians, Hezbollah as well and Shia Iraqi fighters that then put up a very big force to try and storm those neighborhoods.

It is a key battleground, it is one that could shift the momentum of Syria's civil war. And at this point in time, it certainly looks as though

right now all things seem to be shifting in the direction of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad -- Kristie.

[08:20:07] LU STOUT: Yeah, this is indeed a very key turning point in Syria's long running civil war. Fred Pleitgen reporting for us live from

CNN London. Thank you, Fred.

Now, in the UK, the English Football Association has appointed an independent counsel to help investigate allegations of child sex abuse in

clubs. A growing number of football players have come forward with at least 20 footballers so far alleging abuse when they were children.

And as many as seven football clubs potentially implicated.

Erin McLaughlin joins us now. She's outside the FA's headquarters in London. And Erin, an investigation is underway. What's the latest?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie. Well, over the weekend the FA put out a statement detailing the focus of that

investigation. They say they're going to be looking at essentially what the FA knew about this abuse and when during that relevant time period.

They're are also going to be looking at individual football clubs. Some of those clubs already launching investigations of their own. They are also

going to be conducting an audit of current practices to make sure this does not happen again. And as well they are working along make sure, they are

working alongside police. Several police forces here in the United Kingdom have launched investigations of their own, and the FA looking to help

coordinate with those efforts to be as cooperative as possible, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And as more former players come forward and share their stories what are they saying?

MCLAUGHLIN: That's right. The scandal really does seem to be growing by the day. Every day it seems that we are hearing from more players really

giving horrifying accounts. Jason Dunford is one of those players to waive their right to anonymity. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON DUNFORD, FRM. MANCHESTER CITY YOUTH FOOTBALL PLAYER: It's overwhelming. This is getting bigger by the hour the amount of response

you think about the hour, the amount of response. I've had support. We've had other recent players, ex-

professional players, who have been contacting me over the last24 hours who are on the verge hopefully of coming forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Now, Dunford alleges that he was abused by a former coach and scout by the name of Barry Bennell -- Barry Bennell being implicated in

many of these allegations. He was actually convicted and sent to jail three times for child abuse. Some of

his victims allege that he raped them dozens of times.

Dunford alleges that rejected Bennell advances. When he did he says that he was dropped from the team.

LU STOUT: And, Erin, what kind of support is in place to encourage more former players to speak out and to know that they don't have to suffer in

silence?

MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, a real emphasis is being placed by FA officials as well as government officials as well as football stars such as Wayne Rooney on

victims being able to come out feeling safe enough to come out and share their stories, a real effort at tackling the stigma that surrounds this

kinds of abuse, the FA has set up an entire hotline meant to provide support to victims everywhere from the grass roots level all the way

through the Premier League, a hotline where they can call, they can share their stories, not only to be able to give their support to the victims of

this abuse, a growing number of victims, as I said, pretty much every day, but also to figure out the true extent of the problem, and that's really

seen as incredibly important in order to prevent this kind of abuse from ever, ever happening again, Krsitie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and this investigation has only started.

Erin McLaughlin reporting for us. Thank you, Erin.

Now this week, the CNN Freedom Project is focused on the people creating the demand for human trafficking. And we begin with the story of one

survivor in Mexico who is now an activist. Rafael Romo reports her journey to safety was long and difficult because many of her abusers were in

positions of authority.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARLA JACINTO, HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIM (through translator): That little face you see there, that was my face at the age of 12.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: She travels the world telling her story.

JACINTO (through translator): They would beat me with sticks. They would beat me with cables. They would beat me with chains.

ROMO: Her name is Karla Jacinto.

JACINTO (through translator): I'm a human trafficking survivor, I'm 24 years old. They forced me into prostitution starting at age 12.

ROMO: By her own estimate, she was raped more than 43,200,000 by the time she turned 16. After being forced to work as a prostitute for four years,

she was rescued during a police raid and taken to a shelter.

Over several years, she says, she went from being a victim to a trusted volunteer who would help and give advice to other victims. When we first

met Karla in early 2015, she was still recovering from her deep emotional wounds and harrowing memories of sexual abuse.

[08:25:18] JACINTO (through translator): There were people who would laugh at me because

I was crying. I had to close my eyes so that I wouldn't see what they were doing to me.

ROMO: She said she wants the world to know human trafficking is part of today's reality and every child is at risk. Karla says some of the men who

abused her were in law enforcement.

JACINTO (through translator): The uniform police officers entered a room we were in. We had to do everything they asked of us. The whole thing lasted

three or four hours.

ROMO: What was going through your mind at that point, thinking that those who are supposed to protect you were abusing you?

JACINTO (through translator): I thought they were disgusting, they knew we were minors. We were not even developed. We had sad faces.

ROMO: Rosi Orozco, a former Mexican Congresswoman who now fights against human trafficking, says men in positions of power were among Karla's worst

abusers.

ROSI OROZCO, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTOVIST: She had clients that were judges, priests, pastors, police, so she knew that she could not run away to go to

the authorities.

ROMO: Now, Karla is not only surviving, but thriving, speaking publicly against human trafficking in different countries.

JACINTO (through translator): I never imagined that the girl who use to stand up at a corner wearing short skirts and high heels, the one people

would consider a prostitute would feel so strong. Nowadays many people are listening to me, and it's not only here in Mexico.

ROMO: Last July, she told her story to Pope Francis at the Vatican during an international conference about modern day slavery.

JACINTO (through translator): It's one of the greatest experiences I've ever had.

ROMO: In the end, she says, her main goal is raising awareness and protecting girls and boys so that they don't fall prey to human traffickers

like she did.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And tomorrow we'll show you what the U.S. city of Oakland, California is doing to fight human trafficking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very excited to be announcing the launch of reportjohn.org.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: the fight aims to crack down on demand for the sexually exploited, by encouraging people to photograph license plate

numbers of vehicles belonging to suspected sex buyers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: More on this new initiative on Tuesday, the next part of the new CNN Freedom

Project series tracking demand.

Now coming up, as Cuba mourns the death of Fidel Castro, some Cuban exiles in Miami

welcome the news. What's behind the anger toward the long-time Cuban leader? That straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:45] LU STOUT: Now, returning now to our top story: the death of long-time Cuban leader Fidel Castro. And the reactions the news has

brought to Cubans within the country and beyond.

Now, Boris Sanchez is in Miami with the response there. And he joins us now. And we know, Boris, that Cuban-Americans have been celebrating in

parts of Miami. What's the mood there now?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kristie.

Yeah, it's hard to believe that people here in Miami and the people in Cuba are responding

to the death of the same person, such a stark contrast. There are nine days of mourning in Cuba. So far there have been three days of partying

here in Little Havana outside Cafe Varsailles (ph) in Cailla Ocho (ph). This is the heart of the Cuban exile community in Miami.

There were people banging pots and pans, singing and dancing, some people bringing mementos of loved ones that had long awaited the death of Fidel

Castro. This is someone who is not popular in this community, so it is certainly a festive moment as you can hear on the street behind me.

The crowds have calmed down. There aren't as many people here as there were yesterday, as to be expected.

Wednesday, though, there is a planned march, not far from here at a monument to the Bay of Pigs. People here are also reacting to statements

put out by world leaders. President Obama came out and said that he wanted to offer condolences to the family of Fidel Castro, saying that history

would ultimately be the judge of his legacy. A very, very different response from President-elect Donald Trump who called Castro a tyrant and

said that Cubans here in the United States suffered many tragedies that may never heal at his hands.

Of course, Trump has threatened repeatedly to undo some of the executive that President Obama installed that relaxed relations between Cuba and the

United States.

I can let you imagine which response was better received here in Miami, a place where, as I said before, many people, generations of people, had long

awaited the death of someone they saw as a monster -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: You know, this is such a critical moment for Cuba following the death of Fidel Castro, also at this moment. We have the first regularly

scheduled flight to touch down from Miami to Cuba very shortly.

And what is the feeling there among the Cuban diaspora about the future of Cuba after Castro and with President-elect Donald Trump?

SANCHEZ: I'll give you an idea of what my mom said. I am actually Cuban, myself, and I moved to the United States when I was a young boy. My mom

feels that this is not necessarily a shift in policy. But she was hoping for the moment that Castro died because to her it was a symbolic closure of

a festering wound.

She acknowledges, though, because Raul Castro is in power, and he's been in power for quite some tmie, almost 10 years now, not much is expected to

change.

Raul is expected to step down. He said that he will step down back in 2018, but whether or not that means a significant change in policy for the

island is unclear.

What should be noted is that in the approach to Cuba is much more likely than a change within Cuban policy itself as far as the United States goes.

As you said, the first commercial flight -- routine commercial flight to Cuba left today, whether or not that's something that something continues

under a President Donald has yet to be seen.

[08:35:07] LU STOUT: Yeah, powerful emotions being disturbed by the death of Fidel Castro. Boris Sanchez reporting live for us in Miami. Thank you.

Now, you are watching News Stream. And still to come, imagine walking the aisles of your favorite store without ever leaving home. We are going to

take you inside the world of virtual reality shopping.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, imagine having your favorite store all to yourself even on cyber Monday or black Friday.

Well, the Chinese retailer Alibaba is rolling out an experience like no other -- virtual reality shopping. Andrew Stevens put the technology to

the test.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did you come from?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA PACIFIC EDITOR (voice-over): I've come to do some shopping in the big Apple and I'm getting the whole experience. A ride in a

pink Cadillac through the streets of New York.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, and welcome to Macy's.

STEVENS: To an iconic store, Macy's on 34th street. In fact, you've probably guessed by now, I'm not.

(on-camera): I'm actually a few thousand miles away in Southern china testing Alibaba's new virtual reality online shopping service. It's pretty

simple really. You get the right headset, you pop your mobile phone in, get the right app, close it up and go online shopping.

You can see what you want, buy it and within a few days, the real thing will be at your doorstep. Let's show you how.

(voice-over): It starts inside a virtual home, the blue dot at the center of your screen is your guide. Line it up on one of the wall posters showing

what stores you can access and off you go.

Just aim the blue dot at what you'd like and up pops the details and price. Focus on the buy sign and the deal is done. Real money will then be

extracted from your Alibaba payment system and delivery is a few days later.

Ali calls this program Buy+. It still in trial stages, but there seems to be plenty of interest. When Ali went live with Buy+ for ten days earlier

this month, 8 million people around China tried it out. They were buying but Ali won't say how much.

(On-camera): Remember, this was only launched at the beginning of the month so it's still a little bit clunky, but in the words of Alibaba founder Jack

Ma, it's all about enhancing the shopping experience online and certainly this is an experience.

Andrew Stevens, CNN, Shenzhen, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And after what seems like endless U.S. election coverage, two key media players have taken a step back to discuss something a little bit

more personal. Now, CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke to Fox News host Megyn Kelly. The two anchors sharing their experience of losing a father at a

fairly young age and how it shaped them as adults.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You and I share something in common, which -- I lost my dad when I was 10. Your dad died when you were a sophomore in

high school. And I hadn't realized that until I read the book. And there's a quote -- my mom always quotes a writer named Mary Gordon who said

a fatherless girl thinks all things possible, nothing is safe. My mom grew up without a father.

You had a father for much of your childhood. But I'm wondering that loss did it shape the person you are now? Did it change the person you were?

[08:40:04] MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: I know you know the answer is yes, right, because when you lose a parent at a young age, it just creates a

void that can never be filled. I mean, you can go all over the world covering very dangerous wars and it's still there. You can ascend to the

top of the news business and it's still there. And I'd love to say it's given me great perspective on the world and made me a better person. And I

guess to some extent that's true. But I'd trade it all back to have one more day with him.

I feel lucky that i had my dad until I was 15 and his imprint on me was made and is secure. I think about that now with my own kids, who are 7, 5

and 3. I worry about mortality, right. You do if you have great loss at a young age.

COOPER; How old was your father when he died?

KELLY: He was 45. My age right now.

COOPER: That's -- yeah, my dad was 50. I always thought I would die by 50.

KELLY: That's how I feel. I'm 45 right now. I turn 46 on Friday, so I've got a few more days.

COOPER: I think you're going to be all right.

KELLY: But I have been looking forward to my 46th birthday. I mean, for that reason -- but I think about mortality a lot and the thing that I take

away from it Anderson is that, no, really, you could die any day, and you can't waste one second of your time here. It's too short to be mired in

controversy and acrimony and sadness and I changed my life to settle for more and try to do better for myself, and that's a gut check moment I

continue to do, and that I want others to do to improve their own lives because, who knows?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Wow, what an incredible and honest exchange there.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere.

END