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World Cup to Expand to 48 Teams; Trump Cabinet Confirmation Hearings Begin Today; Is Automation Bigger Threat to Workers Than Globalization; Trump Meets with Jack Ma. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired January 10, 2017 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:30] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream. Donald Trump facing criticism for picking his son-

in-law as a senior adviser. As the first-round of confirmation hearings for his cabinet picks are set to begin.

Expanding the World Cup. FIFA says it will increase the number of teams to the tournament from 32 to 48.

And could you be replaced at your job by a machine? We speak to the author of Rise of the Robots.

We begin with a major test for Donald Trump's incoming administration. In the hours ahead, confirmation hearings begin for his cabinet picks starting

with attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions.

There could be fireworks as senators prepare to grill him on his record on civil rights and

other issues.

Now, also in the spotlight, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now his choice for senior adviser.

Jason Carroll has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president-elect says he's confident in all eight of his cabinet nominees facing confirmation

hearings this week.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: The confirmation is going great. I think they'll all pass. I think every nomination will be -- they're all at

the highest level.

CARROLL: Trump's controversial pick for attorney general, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, is first up, followed by retired Marine Corps General John

Kelly, who is up for homeland security secretary, but it is Trump's move to appoint his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as senior White House adviser that

is raising lots of questions.

Top Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee calling for a review of the appointment, arguing the anti-nepotism law leaves Kushner ineligible for

the job, but Kushner's attorney maintains the anti- nepotism statute excludes West Wing posts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell us how the transition is going?

CARROLL: Meantime, Kushner is moving to resign from all executive positions at his companies and divest a significant number of assets, including all

foreign investments, to comply with government ethics rules, something the president-elect has yet to do.

An official briefed on the transition says Kushner will not take a salary at the White House, and not all Democrats are wary of Kushner.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: I'm certainly pleased he'll be in that role. I find him to be a lot more reasonable and a lot more moderate.

CARROLL: It's not clear what role Kushner's wife, Ivanka, will have, or whether the first daughter will have a West Wing office.

TRUMP: We'll talk about that on Wednesday.

CARROLL: That's when Trump will hold his first press conference in nearly six months, where he is expected to be pressed about his conflicts of

interest.

TRUMP: It's very simple, very easy.

CARROLL: And whether he accepts the conclusions of intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the U.S. election.

TRUMP: We'll talk to you about that at another time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Jason Carroll reporting there.

Now, another key issue Donald Trump might talk about at his news conference: bringing more jobs to America. You just saw him there with

Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, also pictured here, at Trump Tower in New York on Monday.

Ma says the Chinese company could bring a million new jobs to the U.S. And he explained how it would work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK MA, CHAIRMAN, ALIBABA: No, we are specifically talking about we will create supporting 1 million small businesses especially in the Midwest of

America. Small business on the platform, selling products, agriculture products, American services, to China and Asia, because we're pretty big in

Asia, Southeast Asia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: All right. Now, for more on this story, CNN Money Asia-Pacific editor Andrew Stevens joins me here in Hong Kong. Andrew, 1 million new

jobs in America. It's quite a big statement. Can Alibaba and his platforms actually deliver that?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Kristie, if you look at the reaction

by research houses, it looks highly unlikely. It's a very big claim, as you point out, and the details are

very vague. It's in fact, a very simple concept that America will produce all sorts of things at the moment here Jack Ma talking about produce,

agricultural products, and the rising middle class in China will buy it and the conduit will be Alibaba's own online platform, platforms like Taobao or

Tmall. That's the idea.

In fact, Jack Ma has been talking about this idea for well over a year now about trying to build out this infrastructure, which would allow not just

the U.S. but the whole world to be trading on an Alibaba platform. He specifically talking about this 1 million jobs. We

heard that very clearly. But at this stage unlikely, say a lot of analysts, that could come to fruition. It depends really on just how big

the demand is from China and how much more is needed to be produced in the U.S. to actually make it work.

[08:05:45] LU STOUT: Absolutely. Supply and demand.

Now, Donald Trump, he has so often attacked China on the campaign trail, and in the last few months as U.S. president-elect. We know Alibaba is in

the hotseat, it's under investigation by the SEC, it's under scrutiny for IP violations, but this was such on face of it friendly meeting between

Trump and Jack Ma. Is Trump getting friendly with China now?

STEVENS: I think that's a big statement. Certainly -- it's a great headline for Donald Trump, let's face it -- jobs, jobs, jobs and that's

what he's been going on and going after for the last few weeks. So, that was the headline he wanted to get out of it.

But Donald Trump is not showing no signs on backing off in his threats on slap tariffs on countries which he thinks have unfair trade practices take

place, and China has been the constant target, as you've pointed out.

Now, what he may be making the distinction here is what Jack Ma is talking about is creating these jobs in the U.S. and what Trump is about as far as

trade goes between the two countries, particularly trade in goods that are built in China heading towards the U.S. where this is the other way around.

But, certainly it was unusual to see such a friendly meeting between the two. And you're right, I mean Jack Ma wants something as well. His

company is facing a lot of pressure in the United States. It's been put on a list of notorious platform, notorious for selling counterfeit goods on

Taobao.

So, Jack Ma is now trying to work out, and Alibaba is trying to work out, what they need to do and how they need to get off that. They say they are

working hard to do it. Not hard enough, say the U.S. authorities. The trade representative says that, you know, you've got way too much

counterfeit product on your website. Certainly these sort of meetings with Donald Trump, it's a way of Jack Ma explaining to Donald Trump what's

going on and indeed Donald Trump can talk to Jack Ma about what he has to do.

LU STOUT: Yeah, there definitely interest at stakes for both sides here. Andrew Stevens, thank you.

Now, next I want to bring in an expert on the business of Alibaba, Duncan Clark. He is the chairman of BDA China. He's the author of book "Alibaba:

the House that Jack Ma Built." And he joins us now.

Duncan, so good to see you. And I just want to get your thoughts here -- again, after all the China bashing we heard from Donald Trump, why did Jack

Ma fly to New York to meet with him?

DUNCAN CLARK, CHAIRMAN, BDA CHINA: Well, to some extent -- thank you for having me on the show -- this is Jack Ma's pivot to Trump. He was quite

close toward the Clintons. He had lunch with Barack Obama last year. But as we just heard from Andrew, yes, I mean, Alibaba is a high-profile

Chinese company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It doesn't actually have much business in the U.S. itself. It's trying to bring in U.S.

brands to Chinese consumers and with the other issues that we just heard about, you know, this is an opportunity to trump it, if you well, Ma's own

strategy to open the doors of China to U.S. goods.

LU STOUT: Yeah, especially the time when there's a lot of scrutiny of Alibaba here. Its accounting is under SEC iinvestigation. As Andrew just

reported, Alibaba is back on the notorious markets list. What do you think that meeting with Trump and that literal pat on the back from Donald Trump means here? I mean, will it reduce

concerns and market skepticism about Alibaba?

CLARK: Well, yes, we have to like balance reality television now with politics and other things. It did look like an episode, perhaps, of one of

his shows. I don't know if Jack is The Apprentice, but certainly Jack made the statement that he wanted to make, which is that he loves China, he

loves America. He views himself as a bridge between both, both markets.

So, you know, Jack has always this linking role. They started out as an international business to business platform, so he's really trying to also

create some headway for other businesses they have now.

Don't forget they are investing heavily in Hollywood. They made an investment in Amblin Entertainment, Steven Spielberg's company. So, he

doesn't want to be pigeon-holed, I thin, with other Chinese companies that miht be subject to trade friction or worse. He's trying to put himself as

first among equals here.

LU STOUT: Yeah, Jack Ma, as you pointed out, not just an ecommerce giant, a media giant as well.

In your book, you talk about Jack magic, the charisma of Jack Ma that just wins over investors, wins over world leaders. Do you think Donald Trump is

falling for Jack magic here?

[08:10:04] CLARK: Yes, I mean, we heard about Steve Jobs's reality distortion field. And to some extent Jack, maybe Jack Jobs now is the

thing. By associating himself with Jobs in the U.S., Jack is trying to push back with the incoming president.

But, you know, there's an element of fantasy about China, the opening of the Chinese market, that has you know long been part of the west relations

with China. So, I think he's playing a bit to that.

And he can demonstrate -- in China, they've created, you know, 10 million jobs locally, perhaps many more, in terms of servicing those jobs. But the

question is can he do this in the U.S? Can he really help the small and medium-sized enterprises unlock China for them? It's going to be a tall

order, but that's all part of the magic and the mystery that he's promising here.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and your thoughts about that. I mean, realistically for SMEs in the United States, how much success can they have on Taoboa or

Tmall selling into Mainland China?

CLARK: Well, the big focus now is on Tmall. We've heard about the problems with Taobao and, you know, fakes and others. And it's also very

sort of small companies selling to individuals.

But increasingly Tmall, which is where Alibaba hosts, you know, brands -- you know, the idea is they could have some merchants. They already have

companies like Macy's and others selling in.

Look, it's very early days, but this is part of the future of Alibaba is to shift from this old small merchant selling domestically to bringing in some

international brands.

So, whether he could do a million, that is a tall order. But, you know, frankly it's five years he' saying this will happen, five plus. That's one

year longer than the administration. So, whether we will be around in four years to think about exactly about where we're going with that, we'll see.

But it's very useful to Trump, certainly it's useful to Alibaba, but right, some healthy skepticiam, of course, is in order here.

LU STOUT: And one more question for you, we know that Alibaba has had deep ties with the Chinese government, so is it safe to assume that Jack Ma met

with Chinese officials before that meeting with Donald Trump in New York?

CLARK: I know there's a lot of speculation in China about that. I -- you know, I think people in China probably over imagine that.

One thing we know that Jack Ma is heading to Davos. Xi Jinping, the president of China, will be at Davos, the U.S. will be absent, of course,

in many ways in terms of the government. So, this is some bragging right for Jack there. But I think in Davos, Jack will have to play very close

second fiddle to Xi Jinping. He'll need to be humble there. So, this is a way to have some headlines before all of that.

LU STOUT: Got you.

Duncan Clark joining us live. Thank you so much. Take care, Duncan.

CLARK: Thank you.

LU STOUT: Now, Alibaba and its influence in the business world is clear. In fact, Yahoo announced once its Verizon sale goes through, what remains

of the business will be converted into an investment company for its Alibaba holdings. That company will be renamed

as Altaba. One of its primary assets will be a 15 percent stake in Alibaba.

On tape of the name change, Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer will resign from Yahoo's board of

directors once Verizon's acquisition is complete. Now that is according to a new regulatory filing.

You're watching News Stream. And up next, the founder of WikiLeaks slams the U.S. report on Russian hacking. Why he calls the investigation

embarrassing.

And giving more of the world to the World Cup. How football's most prestigious tournament is about to be changed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:26] LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream. Now, Pakistan says it has successfully tested its

first submarine launched cruise missile. It says the missile has a range of 450 kilometers and hit its target with precise accuracy.

This launch from the waterfall is Pakistan's claim that it tested a ground launched cruise missile back in December.

Now, Russia is calling U.S. allegations of hacking a, quote, full scale witch-hunt. A government spokesman says U.S. intelligence report released

last week was unfounded and amateur. The report points the finger directly at President Vladimir Putin for ordering what it calls an influence

campaign in the runup to the U.S. presidential election. It says hackers targeted democratic groups and released information to websites such as

WikiLeaks.

Now, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the evidence is weak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: It is, frankly, quite embarrassing, I think, to the reputation of the U.S. intelligence services to be putting

out something that claims to be a report like that. This is a press release. It is clearly designed for political effect. And U.S.

intelligence services have been politicized by the Obama administration in the production of this report and a

number of other statements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: All right, Julian Assange there calling the report, quote, embarrassing. Now, let's go straight to our chief international

correspondent Christiane Amanpour who joins us now from CNN New York.

And Christiane, thank you for joining us. This U.S. intelligence report is remarkable, because it highlights not just the cyber hacking, but what is

being called the Kremlin's grand strategy to undermine the election.

We know Moscow has dismissed the report, WikiLeaks as well, but your thoughts the report and what Russia has achieved here.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Two things. Obviously Russia would dismiss it, because it doesn't want to be caught

red-handed or admitted to red-handed interference. Obviously, Julian Assange would say what he does because he also doesn't want to be caught

sort of red-handed, if you like, doing Russia's business and carrying Russia's water. That is the conclusion of not just the U.S. intelligence

committee, but intelligence from U.S. allies as well.

The thing that we have found from reading and talking to various intelligence experts, including we're going to be interviewing David

Petraeus, former CIA director and Mike Murrell, the former acting director, they are rather impressed by what they called the high level of confidence

that's been expressed by the intelligence community on this report. So they believe that that, you know, that language, high level of confidence

is very, very important and it denotes a huge number of factors and various sources and modalities that went into this report.

And this level of confidence is something that the CIA introduced after the mess during the Iraq War on the weapons of mass destruction analysis. So,

they don't just present the facts, they then dig and do more work to discover whether those facts present a high level of confidence that such

and such is so.

LU STOUT: And that's why U.S. intelligence is so confident that there was an influence campaign and that it was ordered from the very top by Vladimir

Putin himself.

But then we have President-elect Donald Trump again reiterating his support for Russia. In fact, sending out a tweet -- we'll bring it up for our

audience here -- tweeting that, quote, "only stupid people or fools would dismiss closer ties with the country."

And that begs the question, Christiane, should the U.S. under President Trump be aiming for a better relationship with Russia?

AMANPOUR: Well, here's the thing. And today very, very interestingly the Kremlin spokesman has just come out, Dmitry Peskov, to talk about the

regret that relations between the United States and Russia deteriorated so dramatically in the second Obama administration. And they say they are

ready for better relations.

But when it comes to the United States, Donald Trump is finding himself now under increasing pressure, not just from opponents and the opposition, but

from within his own party and, indeed, from members of his own incoming cabinet, those who he has nominated to serve him in his administration over

the issue of Russia.

Because more and more believe that Russia actually does have this malevolent intent towards the United States and that it is part of a much

wider Russian geopolitical strategy, which is to undermine confidence in the United States, to undermine institutions, so that the people of the

United States, you know, find their confidence shaken in their own government, in their own processes, and incredibly crucially to undermine

the link between the United States and its western allies, notably its NATO allies. That is the conclusion of now most in the intelligence community

and also on congress.

So this is a very, very important moment. So, of course, you know, Donald Trump there with that tweet is mixing two things. One was about the

intelligence, which he didn't address, the other was about resetting relations with Russia.

And of course it's good idea to reset relations with Russia, but not at any cost, according to members of his incoming cabinet, according to members

of the intelligence and many, many in the foreign policy establishment, because striking a grand bargain with Russia on Russia's terms, which

Russian wants, is not in the interest of the United States or the Transatlantic alliance. And Russia clearly wants Donald Trump to come in

and say OK enough of these sanctions over Crimea and Ukraine, enough of us doing this, that and the other, we're going to go back and wipe the slate

clean and start again.

But that, most people believe, will send a very negative signal and will not act in anyway to deter Russia which is a very, very good and powerful

and expert cyber hacker, won't deter them from doing more of that.

[08:21:36] LU STOUT: All right, and more signals are expected when that expected meeting

between Putin and Trump will take place. We'll leave it at that. Christiane Amanpour, as always, thank you so much for joining us here on

the program.

Now many in Russia are hoping for warmer relations with the U.S. In fact, residents of one town are so optimistic that they are trying to honor

Donald Trump with his very own street.

Fred Pleitgen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While families brave the cold in a winter that's harsh even by Russian standards, many in

the town of Ryazan around 150 miles outside Moscow are hoping for a thaw in U.S.-Russian relations and pinning those hopes on Donald Trump.

So much so that Sergey Bizyukin has started a petition to rename this little street after Donald Trump. He says almost 300 have signed so far.

SERGEY BIZYUKIN, RYAZAN RESIDENT (through translator): Some saw it as a joke because it was fun. Some stood for normalization of Russia-U.S. ties

and some signed because they don't like the current name of the street.

PLEITGEN: Right now the street is called godless, a holdover from communism which rejected religion. The name change campaign slogan is make Ryazan

great again, despite the recent U.S. intelligence report saying there is no doubt Vladimir Putin and Russian spy agencies are behind the hack into

Democratic national Committee computers.

The president-elect says he wants to improve ties with the Kremlin, something folks at Ryazan like to hear. Like in so many towns in Russia

people here in Ryazan generally have a positive view of President-elect Donald Trump. Many believe a Trump presidency could lead to better

relations between Moscow and Washington.

We didn't find a single person unhappy about Trump's ascension to the White House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Vladimir Putin respects Donald Trump exactly the same way that Donald Trump respects Vladimir Putin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I like family. His ties with children, wife, all of that. His ideas, he does wants to go to war. He

wants to make friends. What's bad about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He has a good program for the people and if his people live in friendship and peace, then our Russia will

live in friendship and peace.

PLEITGEN: As for the Donald Trump Street, there are roadblocks for a name change. Ryazan city council says streets can't be named after people who

are still alive. But Sergey Bizyukin says that doesn't bother him. He believes simply launching the petition may have already led some to take a

more positive view of America.

Fred Pleitgen, Ryazan, Russia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, the world's biggest football tournament is about to get even bigger. For first time in almost two decades, FIFA has agreed to

expand the number of teams competing for the World Cup. Now, from the year 2026, 48 teams will be able to compete in the finals, that is up from the

current 32 teams.

Let's get more from Alex Thomas in London. And Alex I mean, why is FIFA doing this? What is their vision and how would this 48 team plan work?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, the new FIFA president, Kristie, Gianni Infantino stood for election and one of his pledges was to increase

the size of the World Cup. He suggested 40 teams as it is from 2026 onwards will have 48 team World Cup if FIFA's congress, that's all of the football

associations across the world, agree to ratify the FIFA council decision today when they meet in May. And that seems like a pretty much a foregone

conclusion.

Now, what it means is as you can see from that graphic there that where currently, Europe with

56 countries in it, has 13 spots at the World Cup, if we show the next part of this graphic, you'll see that Africa, with two fewer teams, has gone

from five World Cup spots to nine. So, it's trying to make it a little bit fairer.

Critics will say it dilutes the quality, almost a quarter of the world's countries will be at the World Cup, which is supposed to be an elite

football competition.

And of course it's going to make more money, which makes us very skeptical when we talk about all the corruption we've seen at FIFA down the years,

almost a billion more dollars will go into the FIFA coffers and it's said that Brazil 2014, the last World Cup, already made close to $5 billion as

it was, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And there's some other criticism out there about the expansion. People saying the quality of football could suffer. Your thoughts on that.

STEVENS: Yes. Gianni Infantino spoke to my World Sport's colleague Amanda Davies back in October and said he doesn't go with that idea, that people

are being patronizing about the smaller teams. It's a chicken and egg scenario, because if the smaller nations don't play against the bigger

ones they can't get better, but at the same time the bigger ones want to carry on without them because it's an elite football competition, so how do

you give them a chance to play and get better except at a World Cup which is only once every four years?

The next one, Russia 2018 will still be under the current 32 team format as for the Qatar 2022 competition. We don't know where the 2026 World Cup will

be held, but the United States is a possibility and that will certainly that will have the space to incorporate 48 teams playing at a World Cup,

Kristie.

LU STOUT: Absolutely. Alex Thomas reporting for us. Thank you, Alex. Take care.

And Alex is going to have much more on the FIFA expansion plans, that's coming up on

World Sport. That's starting in about 15 minutes from now.

Now, earlier we told you about Donald Trump and his effort to bring jobs to the U.S.. Now according to one expert, the president-elect might want to

pay more attention to economic threat posed by robots and artificial intelligence.

Coming up, could AI take away your job?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:30:52] LU STOUT: An insurance company in Japan has announced it will lay off more

than 30 employees and replace them with an artificial intelligence system. It's based on IBM's Watson, which is billed as having cognitive technology

that can think like a human.

Now, could this be the beginning of a new industrial revolution? And is your job, my job at ris? I talked with a futurist and "Rise of the Robots"

author Martin Ford about what he thinks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN FORD, AUTHOR: Well, I don't think it's a surprise at all. I mean one of the things that I think we understand is that in many cases it's

going to be easier to automate knowledge jobs than blue collar manipulative jobs, to automate a desk job where you sitting in front of a computer

manipulating information in some way.

You don't need an expensive robot or any kind of mechanical device to do that, the only thing you need is really software.

LU STOUT: And as we look back through history, technology has always created and destroyed jobs, going all the way back to development of the

printing press. But with the advent of AI, how does that change the equation here for employment?

FORD: Well, you know, the thing is that artificial intelligence is just that, it means machines that are at least in a limited way beginning to

think. And of course our ability to think and to adapt and to learn new things and find new things to do, those are the things that enable people

to stay ahead of technology. That basically is the reason that so far technology hasn't displaced us, because we have

this ability to think and reason and learn.

But now artificial intelligence is beginning to encroach on that. You know, it's moving into that space, too. It's really taking on that

cognitive capability. So, it's really a new kind of threat.

LU STOUT: Absolutely. AI can take over cognitive jobs, non-routine professions as well. Which professions do you think will be most

vulnerable to automation? And are there any professions that will be in the clear here?

FORD: Well, you know, it's not so much about particular professions as about the nature of the work. And the reality is that any kind of work

that is on some level predictable, not necessarily rote repetitive, but if you're coming to work and you are facing the same kinds of challenges again

and again. You're doing the same basic kinds of things then that's going to susceptible to artificial intelligence and machine learning.

And that may be blue collar work with robots where you're actually manipulating things physically or it could be just knowledge work. So the

areas that are probably safest for the time being are those that really require either genuine creativity where you're thinking up new idea or

building something entirely new, or really deep interaction with other people, with other human beings, and that might be, for example, caring

jobs like nursing or teaching where you're really working intimately with other people, or in the business world it may be the kind of occupations

where you really have to build very strong relationships with clients.

LU STOUT: But as you point out, people today are already losing their jobs to artificial intelligence. So is this a trend that can be stopped? Or is

this just an inevitable part of capitalism?

FORD: I think it's inevitable and it certainly is an integral part of capitalism. And there's always this powerful incentive to become more

efficient, to save labor. And that's something that's always been a part of our system and it's going to continue to be the case. It's just that

now artificial intelligence may in many ways accelerate that and make it much more

dramatic.

LU STOUT: If this is, indeed, our new reality, this is our inevitable future, what does it

mean for the next generation how they should approach education and the definition of livelihood?

FORD: Well, I mean, the best advice I can give to anyone that's concerned about this, whether it's a young person that's in school or an older person

that's concerned about this, is to really avoid an occupation that's fundamentally routine and repetitive and predictable, because we know that

those kind of jobs, that type of work, is definitely going to be, you know, highly threatened in the future.

LU STOUT: I have to ask you about Donald Trump. You know, Donald Trump wants to save

American jobs from going to Mexico or coming here to China. Is automation and AI the bigger threat, though?

FORD: Yeah. It definitely is the bigger threat. And I think people don't really realize that. I mean, if you talk to the voters that supported

Donald Trump they will of course talk about China and globalization or immigration, and not to discount those things entirely,but automation has

already I think played a more important role and the really key point is that going forward from this point it's going to be even more so.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: That's our reality, folks. That was my conversation with "Rise of the Robots" author and futurist Martin Ford on our increasingly

automated future and loss of jobs to AI.

You're watching News Stream. Still to come on the program, U.S. President Barack Obama is

putting the final touches on his farewell speech. Why he faces criticism in his home town of Chicago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Looking back. Now, in the coming hours U.S. President Barack Obama is to

deliver his farewell speech. Aides say he will talk about confronting future challenges and highlight his accomplishments in the past eight

years. But that won't resonate with everyone in his hometown of Chicago where Mr. Obama is to deliver the speech.

Rosa Flores has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eight years after his victory speech from Chicago's Grant Park, President Obama is returning to his hometown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we don't need no justice.

FLORES: But some are giving him a cold welcome, saying his promise of hope and change never came.

JA'NAL GREEN, ACTIVIST: We're not going to be saying thank you for the eight years of work that he didn't do in the black communities.

FLORES: Activist and former Obama supporter Ja'Mal Green referring to the surge in violence in Chicago. Last year, marked its deadliest year in

nearly two decades, with 762 people murdered, nearly 4,000 people killed on the streets of Chicago during Obama's eight years in the White House.

One flash point, the 2014 deadly shooting of black teenager, Laquan McDonald by police which launched the largest investigation of a police

department by the U.S. Department of Justice.

GREEN: I would be embarrassed as the president to know that I've done really not much for the people that put me there.

OBAMA: I said in Grant Park when I was declared the winner of the presidency that this wasn't a task for one year or one term or even one

president.

FLORES: Some of his faithful supporters don't believe it's fair to blame the president for the city's violence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obama tried his best. He's only the president. He's not a dictator. He can't do what he want to do.

SAVANNAH DEAN, OBAMA SUPPORTER: The people who criticize him really don't know no better. We had a black president who served two terms, and

everything that he did for us, it's just a blessing. It is a blessing.

OBAMA: I can't send the marines to Chicago, but it is heartbreaking. Chicago is the one big city where you've seen a big spike in the murder

rate.

[08:40:10] FLORES: Which is why Ja'Mal Green wishes the president would have done more.

GREEN: He's neglected to talk about the starving communities. He neglected to talk about the violence. He's neglected to talk about the lack of

investment into urban communities. He's neglected to talk about police brutality.

Issues that are plaguing the black communities all over the country, and so, we do feel neglected and we felt like he could do more and he could

have possibly saved some lives.

FLORES: Rosa Flores, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And CNN will bring you President Obama's speech in full, 9:00 p.m. in New York. You can you watch it here in Hong Kong, 10:00 a.m. local

time on Wednesday, 2:00 a.m. in London right here on CNN.

Now a film that celebrates old school Hollywood romance is the newest toast of the town.

There's more music to the ears of the team behind La La Land as the film is up for 11 awards at this years BAFTAs. The nominations include best film,

best director, best actor for Ryan Goslin and best actress for Emma Stone.

This follows the movies clean sweep at the Golden Globes on Sunday. Nocturnal Animals and Arrival have nine nominations each. Manchester by

the Sea received six. The BAFTAs are to be handed out on February 12 at London's Royal Albert Hall.

And finally, I want to leave you with a breathtaking and chilling sight. Now, these elaborate ice sculptures are on view in China. The city's

international snow and ice festival is one of the largest of its kind, in fact, one of the largest in the world. Now, artists come from across the

globe to show off their carving skills. Thanks to the cold weather there, the sculptures will be sticking around for a while.

So, yes you have a chance to go there to Harbin (ph) and to pay a visit.

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

END