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Power Typhoon Sweeps Across Philippines; Remembering 80s Icon George Michael; Israeli Prime Minister Summons U.S. Ambassador Over UN Resolution. 8:00a-8:30a ET

Aired December 26, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:18] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream".

(MUSIC)

LU STOUT: Now, a music icon who helped define the sound of the '80s, singer and songwriter George Michael, dies at the age of 53.

A powerful typhoon sweeps across the Philippines and thousands are forced from their homes

during the holidays to shelter from the storm.

And Israel is furious at the U.S. after UN resolution condemning settlements has passed as tensions rise between the two long-time allies.

A singer and songwriter, a style icon, a pop music megastar: now George Michael was a man of immense talent and the world lost him on Christmas Day

at the age of 53.

George Howell takes a look back at his incredible rise to stardom and the challenges he faced along the way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the song that had the world dancing. That hit "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go."

MICHAEL: Before you go go, because I'm not planning -

HOWELL: It was 1984 and they were the British duo known as Wham!

MICHAEL: Take me dancing tonight.

HOWELL: They had several top ten hits together, but really it was George Michael with that statement t-shirt, those moves that quickly took the

spotlight, sealing his fame with this chart-topping song "Careless Whisper."

MICHAEL: Time can never mend the careless whispers of a good friend. To the heart and mind

HOWELL: Michael split from bandmate Andrew Ridgely in 1986 and launched his own solo career, never looking back but headed straight into his first big

culture clash.

MICHAEL: Because you don't (INAUDIBLE) that's the way it goes.

HOWELL: The year was 1987. George Michael, looking the confident rock star, in a provocative video with an equally provocative title.

MICHAEL: I want your sex.

HOWELL: The song's lyrics were considered by some to push the envelope. The legendary Casey Kasem refused to even say the title of the song on his

"American Top 40" radio show and some pop radio stations wouldn't even play the song until after dark.

MICHAEL: Well, it's playing on my mind. It's dancing on my soul.

HOWELL: Michael's lyrics speaking directly about sex bumped heads with not just conserves who thought he'd gone too far, but with a Hollywood

desperate to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic and the need for safe sex. Michael would later say his lyrics were misunderstood.

By the late 1980s, George Michael was a bona fide superstar, garnering awards, hanging out with celebrities and royalty and delivering more hits,

like "Father Figure."

MICHAEL: I will be your father figure, put your tiny hands in mine.

HOWELL: And one more try.

MICHAEL: So I don't want to learn to hold you, touch you.

HOWELL: And there was the hit song "Monkey."

MICHAEL: Why can't you do it. Why can't you (inaudible) monkey...

HOWELL: In the 1980s, George Michael saw the height of his success. It can be said the 1990s weren't quite as kind. Fewer smash hits and then this.

April 7, 1998, Michael was arrested by an undercover male police officer charged with engaging in a lewd act in a park in Beverly Hills, California.

It took no time for his arrest to become an international headline. On CNN, not long after the arrest, Michael confirmed what had long been rumored. He

was gay.

MICHAEL: And I want people to know that I have not been exposed as a gay man in any way that I feel - I don't feel any shame for - I feel stupid and

I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way, but I don't feel any shame whatsoever and neither do I think I should.

HOWELL: In the years to come, there were more scuffles with the law, drug- related arrests, and a nasty car accident in 2010. Michael was found to be driving under the influence of cannabis and went to jail. In 2011, he fell

ill with a severe case of pneumonia and had to cancel his European tour. But there was always the music. "Symphonica," his creative masterpiece with

a full orchestra, a critical success.

MICHAEL: The first time ever I saw your face.

HOWELL: George Michael once said, "I still believe that music is one of the greatest gifts that God gave to man." Lucky for us, he left us plenty of

it.

MICHAEL: Freedom, I won't let you down. Freedom, (inaudible) give you up. Freedom. You got to give what you take.

HOWELL: George Michael dead at the age of 53 years old.

George Howell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:06:11] LU STOUT: An incredible career.

Celebrities from Elton John, to Boy George, Ringo Starr, Duran Duran and more all paying tribute to George Michael.

Elton John, he tweeted this, quote, "I have lost a beloved friend, the kindest, most generous

soul and a brilliant artist."

Now Andrew Ridgeley, Michael's partner in Wham tweeted this, quote, "heartbroken at the loss of my beloved friend: me, his loves ones, his

friends, the world of music, the world at-large. Ever loved."

Now many of us grew up watching, listening, even dancing to George Michael. And after the height of his success -- and, yes, run-ins with police,

George Michael continued what he loved to do: making music. Let's take you to George Michael's home in North London. Ian Lee is there. And Ian, fans

have been gathering there since the news broke.

How are they remembering him, how are they paying tribute?

IAN LEE, CNN CORREPSONDENT: Kristie, let me show you just some of the fans behind me here. We have people that have been gathering here all day

leaving flowers, messages, and candles. And some of these messages really heartfelt about how he influenced their lives, how he was -- had a

message of love and inclusiveness. One thing that really stood out to me, I was talking to a man who brought his two sons, and they were 9, 11, way

too young to know or grow up with George Michael was at his height, but asked him what song they loved and they said, you know, his music they

loved "Faith," they loved "Last Christmas," and I asked them, what did they like about his music that they may not hear today, and they said really

just his voice and his musical talent, they said, was just something that is really rare.

And that's really what you're hearing today, people talking about the kind of musician he was. This is someone who wasn't just someone with a good

voice, who could sing, but he was a songwriter, he was talented with various instruments. And so that's what a lot of

people are remembering today, the musician and the man.

LU STOUT: You know, and I wonder if you could just elaborate on that, because he was not just a style icon, a teen pop idol, just a so-called

quote, unquote "pretty face," he was a producer, he was a songwriter, he was a man of many, many talents.

LEE: That's right. And he also did a lot of good away from the music scene. He was a strong advocate for AIDS awareness. He was also an

advocate for the LGBT community. And I think one thing that he did was that, you know, the envy of everyone at the time was

that he was the first pop band to play in China in 1985 when, you know, you had the Rolling Stones, you had Queen trying to get in, too, and he was

able to break through right after the cultural revolution.

So this is a man who's a real ground breaker for not only the music industry, but for a lot of

other areas.

LU STOUT: Yeah, he was a pop music pioneer in so many respects. Ian Lee reporting live from the London home of George Michael, many thanks indeed

for that.

And George Michael was one of the more enduring British musicians of the 1980s.

And next I want too bring in Ben Jones from London. He is a radio D.J., and he joins us now with more on reaction to the news. And Ben, such heart

breaking and shocking news. As soon as you heard of George Michael's death, what did you think? What came to your mind?

BEN JONES, D.J.: I sprang out of bed at 7:00 when I got a text message. And I just thought I cannot believe it. I mean, here we are again in 2016

talking about the passing of one of our musical heroes. It's happened too many times, and I can't believe that at 53 George Michael is gone. I mean,

what an artist, what a legacy he leaves, but he's left it far too soon.

[08:10:04] LU STOUT: And let's talk more about his legacy and his impact on pop culture. I mean, especially at the height of his powers, he managed

to be both transgressive and fully mainstream at the same time. I mean, how do you think he was able to achieve that?

JONES: You know, it's interesting, I've just driven from the south coast of the UK back to London after spending a few days with some friends and

family for Christmas. I spent two hours in the car, I listened to nothing but George Michael and I didn't hear a bad song. I mean, that man has

given us such incredible tunes from the Wham days, Young Guns, to, of course, the hit that made them

so huge, "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go," right the way through to stuff like "Amazing" from the Patience album about ten years ago. Such incredible set

of songs and matured as we did.

Imean, if you grew up in the '80s, I'm nearly 40, he was there with me at school discos with Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, he was there agai9n with

Heal the Pain, and Listen Without Prejudice. Safe, one incredible album. I mean, that album, a bit like Bruce Springsteen's "Born in

the USA," is everything you need to know about the '80s, and yet it isn't a hitch and novelty like

so much of the '80s was. It really does stand the test of time. Tracks like Monkey.

I mean, you listen to that now, it doesn't sound like an '80s song, it sounds fresh as a daisy. And that's an incredible (inaudible) music, as

his father figure.

LU STOUT: He was an enduring talent and he was able to just make this evolution in his music and his image over decades, you know, from this teen

pop idol in the early '80s as you mention early on with Wham, to a sex symbol, to this musician fully in control of his music and image with Fast

Love.

I mean, how do you describe his evolution, how he was able to achieve that over the years?

JONES: Well, I would just say that Fast Love, I think -- and I've said this before on the radio, is probably one of the best pop songs of the last

25 years. I mean, what a song. I mean, the video, as well.

And he always had these sort of supermodels around him, the songs were always incredible, but the image -- you're right, if you look at sort of

the young George Michael as he was in wham to the front cover of Older, it looks like a completely different artist.

And always so trendy, you know, the other artists wanted to work with him, Maria Testina (ph) wanted to take photographs of him. Everyone wanted to

be around George Michael, and I just don't mean the great and the good. He is a North London boy. And the weird thing about the passing of

George, maybe even more so than the passing of Prince -- Prince felt like someone who was like a Zeus, a god, someone you couldn't really ever get

close to, and yet George Michael lived up the road. I know people who know him.

The fact that he's gone is devastating. And my thoughts go to his friends and family on such a sad day like yesterday and today.

LU STOUT: Yeah, absolutely. Our Thoughts to his friends, his family, his fans all around the world who loved his music, his music videos, but also

his performances. I mean, they were really the stuff of legend with his beautiful soaring voice, his pioneering performances like in China back in

the '80s, Live Aid, performing with the greats like Aretha Franklin, Elton John.

Did you ever get to see him live?

JONES: I did a few times, probably about eight years ago, but one of the greatest live moments for me as a kid growing up and something that made me

go, you want to work in music, was seeing him at Freddy Mercury tribute concert, which I think was sort of '91 or early '92 and the live

performances that he gave -- I mean, I can't tell you the name of anybody else that performed on that tribute show. But when he did Somebody to

Love and he did Papa Was a Rolling Stone, they were two of the greatest live performances I have ever heard. And if you haven't seen them or heard

it out today, have a listen to it, and let's pay tribute to George I think the way he'd like to be remembered.

LU STOUT: Absolutely.

Let's pay tribute to George Michael by updating our play list and also our video play list of his

incredible work of art. Thank you so much for joining us here and take care.

JONES: Thank you.

LU STOUT: Now, the actress Carrie Fisher is now said to be in stable condition after falling ill on a flight on Friday, that's according to her

mother, the actress Debbie Reynolds. Now Reynolds made the announcement on Twitter and thanked the fans for their prayers and good wishes.

The 60-year-old Fisher was flying from London to Los Angeles when she suffered a cardiac event shortly before the plane landed.

Now, Fisher is best known for her role as Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies and was in

London filming a new series for Amazon.

Now, you're watching News Stream. And still to come, thousands of travelers are stranded in the Philippines as Typhoon Nock-Ten shuts down

the country's ports.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:51] LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back, you're watching News Stream.

Now, the Kremlin says terrorism is not likely the reason a military plane disappeared from radar

with 92 people onboard. The Russian media report divers have found large pieces of the aircraft in the Black Sea. The plane was headed to Syria.

Authorities say there are no signs anyone survived the disaster. And Russia is observing a national day of mourning.

A super typhoon is sweeping through the Philippines. Hundreds of thousands have taken

refuge in evacuation centers, especially those from areas declared a state of imminent danger. Now Typhoon Nock-Ten shut down the country's ports,

leaving more than 11,000 passengers stranded.

Chad Myers is at the CNN weather center with an update. He joins us now. And Chad, how much damage and disruption has it caused?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Quite a bit. Quite a bit that we don't even know about yet because power lines are down, transmission is down, and

it was a super typhoon for a while in its life.

It's gaining some strength right now. You notice how it's getting more red on the weather map compared to where we were 130 kilometers per hour,

gusting to 160. Now, that is not a super typhoon anymore because the land mass, the land of the Philippines itself, tore the storm up and made it a

lesser of a storm.

But it's still about a category 1 equivalent to a hurricane, 130 miles per hour, 130 kilometers per hour, 160 kilometers per hour in the wind gusts.

Now that's somewhere almost to around 100 miles per hour, depending if you're doing kilometers or miles.

West-Northwest at 30 kilometers per hour. It's really moving quickly now. But it's getting into more warm water and heading toward Vietnam, so we'll

keep watching that. And if you're playing at home, 14.2 north, 119.4 east. That is its latest location by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

So where does it go from here and what does it do? I think the biggest threat right now is more flooding possible for Vietnam as it moves in that

direction. There still could be some lingering rain in the Philippines, but it is essentially gone now from the Philippines. I don't think we'd

get more of what we see significant rainfall.

But there has been many areas with 200 millimeters of rain and some spots worse than that. This is what happened when it moved through the

Philippines, made one landfall in an outlying island and another here and moved to the south of Manila. Now, because it moved south of Manila, the

wind was away from land and not piling the water back into Manila Bay, or back toward Subek (ph), not piling up all of that water, making a storm

surge as you're taking the storm, taking the wind, taking the water, and pushing it away from Manila proper.

Here's where it goes from here. We still make some landfall somewhere in the Vietnam vicinity, I don't know what yet that's still a few days away.

And we'll probably see another 50 to 100 millimeters of rainfall in spots there across parts of Taiwan and enter into the Philippines. That's where

the significant rainfall will eventually take place, and then it just completely dies.

The water temperatures just to the west of here will be cool enough to make it die off and not be a super typhoon again. That is some good news, but

certainly, a Christmas Day super typhoon making landfall in The Philippines, now Boxing Day it's finally dying off and moving away --

Kristie?

[08:20:04] LU STOUT: All right, Chad Myers with the latest on the storm and tracking where it's going to head next. Thank you so much for that,

Chad. Take care.

Now, U.S. President Barack Obama is nearing the end of his two terms. And in an interview with his former senior adviser David Axelrod for the Ax

Files Podcast.

Mr. Obama implied he could have made it back into the Oval Office for another term if he was eligible. He did say Hillary Clinton did her best

in a tough election, but seemed to suggest he could have rallied people behind a message of hope and change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the wake of the election and Trump winning, a lot of people have suggested that somehow it really

was a fantasy. What I would argue is the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and

diverse. I am confident in this vision, because I'm confident that if I -- if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could have mobilized a

majority of the American people to rally behind it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Mr. Obama added while he would feel a responsibility to speak out about major issues once he leaves office, there should be room for new

voices.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, tension between Israel and the U.S. is high after that UN security council resolution vote. The

Israeli prime minister accuses the Obama administration of orchestrating it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned the U.S. ambassador. Now, he is lashing out at the U.S. for allowing a United

Nations Security Council resolution to pass that condemns Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Israel says it has, quote, ironclad information that the Obama administration was behind the resolution, an accusation the U.S. denies.

Now, let's go straight to Jerusalem now. Now, Oren Lieberman joins us from there. And Oren, Netanyahu has launched a scathing attack against the U.S.

and there's also concern about a follow-up resolution. What's the latest from there?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the concern here is that UN could try to pass -- the Security Council specifically --

could try to pass a resolution on parameters, which is to say on the conditions for peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

That in a way would be a follow-up to this current resolution trying to advance the peace process. The current resolution says we should get back

to it. A new resolution would be essentially how to get back to it and what both sides need to agree to. That's Israel concern right now, not

only over the next week, but also very much up until January 20th when President Obama is still in office.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lashed out at Obama like we have never seen before. We knew this was a strained relationship, but now we're

seeing it deteriorate so quickly in thees final days. Netanyahu called not only the U.S. ambassador, but 10 ambassadors that voted for the

security resolution. But those other 10, they met with the foreign ministry. It was specifically the U.S.

ambassador that met with Netanyahu so Netanyahu could send one more more statement to Obama.

LU STOUT: The relationship, as you mentioned, has deteriorated. There is clearly tension now

between the U.S. and Israel, but Oren, how much of that is due to the events of the last week, because of the UN vote, or was the vote just a

catalyst, merely brought it all out into the open what was already there?

LIEBERMANN: Well, I think a lot of the animosity between these two leaders may very well already have been there, but it was kept essentially under

wraps. We always referred to it as a strained relationship, now it's out in the open and Netanyahu is not afraid at all

of what Obama may do in the coming weeks. He's made it blatantly obvious he's done working with Obama,

now he's ready for President-elect Donald Trump. Netanyahu's made that clear, others in the

Israeli government have made that clear. It's just a matter of getting to January 20th for Netanyahu and his government.

LU STOUT: Oren Lieberman reporting live for us from Jerusalem, thank Oren, take care.

Now, there's the Christian prayer, the Hail Mary, and then there's Hail Mary by the rapper Tupac Shakur, and that was the version that wound up in

a Sri Lanken church service.

Now, surprised churchgoers, they found the profanity laced lyrics printed in their Christmas carol booklets. And the archdiocese at Colombo has

apologized, saying the printer was a young boy who had downloaded the wrong version of the song.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. I'll be back with a check of the headlines next.

END