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Interview with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings; Samsung Executive Jay Y. Lee Indicted on Corruption Charges; Netflix Releases Updated 3310. Aired 8- 9a ET

Aired February 28, 2017 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:25] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: The heir to one of the biggest names of global business has been indicted on corruption charges. Samsung's Jay Y.

Lee is caught in the political scandal that saw the country's president impeached.

Donald Trump will lay out his vision for the United States when he addresses congress hours

from now.

And fresh from winning their first ever Oscar for the documentary White Helmets, I speak to the CEO of Netflix.

I'm Kristie Lu Stout at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and welcome to News Stream.

Today, we're in Barcelona on the floor of the Mobile World Congress, one of the tech industry's most important events. Now virtually every major name

here is showing off their latest products. And charting the future of the industry.

Now, one of the big names here is, of course, Samsung. But back at home in South Korea, the group is dealing with a legal nightmare that just got

worse. A short time ago, prosecutors formally indicted the company's de facto chief in a widening corruption scandal. Now, Jay Y. Lee is charged

with bribery, embezzlement, perjury and other crimes as all part of a massive political corruption

scandal that led to President Park's impeachment.

Both Lee and Samsung deny the allegations. Now, Samsung is involved in virtually electronics to hotels, even to life insurance and hospitals. Now

Paula Hancocks is in Seoul. She joins us now.

And Paula, he's been indicted. What is the accusation here. And how is Samsung responding?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, it's interesting. We haven't heard an official response from Samsung since the

actual indictments came through. We've certainly heard from them before, they have denied wrongdoing. As you say, Jay Y. Lee himself has denied

wrongdoing as well. But clearly prosecutors believe that they have enough evidence against the heir of Samsung to indict him on those charges you've

just mentioned.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: One of the richest and most powerful men in South Korea is behind bars and waiting trial. Jay Y. Lee, the head of Samsung charged

with bribery, embezzlement and other charges. Embezzlement alone could mean a minimum of five years in prison if found guilty. Four other company

executives also indicted.

Prosecutors allege that Lee gave tens of millions of dollars to secure government support of a

merger he was planning that would help cement his ascension to power, an accusation lee denies.

A blow to the ongoing transition from father to son. Father, Lee Kun Hee suffered a heart

attack in 2014 and is in ill health. An internal reshuffle could mean the impact to the operational

side of things could be minimal.

GEOFFREY CAIN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: It's a company that is so big and spread out across all these different is groups and product lines and

affiliates. That it can really get anything done with or without a leader up top.

HANCOCKS: It's part of a massive corruption investigation in South Korea is that has led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye in December.

Park has been accused of sharing confidential information with a close and unelected confidante.

Choi Sun-sil's trial is already underway. She's been charged with abuse of power, coercion and fraud, charges she denies.

Special prosecutors saying Tuesday they would pass evidence on Park's alleged wrongdoing to

state prosecutors to investigate her as a bribery suspect.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: Now, certainly in the case of Samsung, Kristie, they have been here before. The father, Lee Kun hee was arrested twice, he was convicted

twice, and he then had two presidential pardons on different occasions.

Of course it's difficult to see how that would potentially happen this time around with the son as technically the president has been impeached as an

acting president at this point and the political scene here in South Korea is an absolute disarray - Kristie.

LU STOUT: And here in Barcelona where the Mobile World Congress is underway, there has been a lot of discussion, a lot of concern about the

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle and what that means for the industry for smartphone battery development. But there hasn't been much talk here about

the impact of the indict. I want to get your thoughts on that, Paula Like what impact is this going to

have, the legal issues, on the bottom line is for Samsung across all its units?

[08:05:08] HANCOCKS: Potentially very little. Everyone that I have spoken to who has looked at this quite closely said that it didn't necessarily

matter on the day to day running of the business who is at the top. This is a massive company. It has a huge amount of affiliates, a huge amount of

different arms that are all run separately, they're run independently really of the central office.

They're doing some kind of an internal shuffle as well within the Samsung empire, we understand, one of the control tower units if you like they call

it is going to be abolished because they don't believe that that has been working.

So, each of the different affiliates of Samsung have their own CEOs. They have their own CFOs. They are able to operate independently. So, the day

to day impact on the business is likely to be very little.

But of course experts say it's when you're looking going forward for the future, the more aspirational long term strategy, you need someone who has

the aspirations of the likes of Jay Y. Lee or whoever is going to be the de facto head of the company to be in place.

LU STOUT: And the question remains about leadership. Paula Hancocks reporting live for us from Seoul, thank you.

Now, turning to North Korea now, lawmakers in South Korea say the north has executed five state security ministry officials and that anti-aircraft guns

were used to carry out those executions.

They say that Kim Jong-un became angry after the officials made false reports of their boss, the state security chief was fired just last month

and is under house arrest. Now, the deaths of the latest of more than 340 executions that Kim has reportedly ordered since he came to power in 2011.

And this is not the first time the regime has used anti-aircraft guns for executions.

Now, meanwhile, a new development in the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the North Korean leader's half-brother. As you may recall, he was rubbed with a

toxic agent at a Malaysian airport. And he died within 20 minutes.

Now, Malaysia says it will charge two women with his murder.

CNN's Alexandra Field is in Kuala Lumpur with more on the story. She joins us now. And, Alex, tell us more about these two women who are now facing

murder charges. And also do they still insist that they were part of a TV prank?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it was such a bewildering explanation for so many people who have watched this murder mystery unfold.

These two women, a Vietnamese and an Indonesian suspect whom police say poisoned Kim Jong-nam, deploying this chemical weapon of mass destruction

inside a busy airport terminal had told authorities from their home countries that they that they were playing part in some kind of prank.

Malaysian officials say that is simply not possible, that isn't the case, that these were women who were trained to kill. South Korean intelligence

agents say that these women had been recruited by North Korean officials and now they will have their day in court tomorrow when both women will

formally be charged with murder. It is a serious charge here in Malaysia with a mandatory sentence, death sentence with conviction, that's how

serious this charge is here.

Those women will go to court. There is a third person who remains in custody, a North Korean citizen, Kristie, who has not yet been charged.

Authorities say he is still under investigation.

LU STOUT: You mentioned that third suspect in custody, the North Korean national. He has not been charged yet. We know that there are many other

suspects in the case. What is going to be their fate?

FIELD: Well, that's a lot harder to tell at this point, Kristie, because frankly authorities here were able to nab the two women who they suspected

- these are women who were seen on CCTV video that was recorded inside that airport terminal. But the rest of the people who whom they want to

question will be far harder to reach. They are looking to speak with three North Korean citizen, all of whom are believed to be in Malaysia, but they

are looking to the North Korean government to help them track down those North Korean citizens and in a much more difficult turn of this

investigation, they are also looking for four suspect who they believe left Kuala Lumpur immediately following the attack and fled to Pyongyang.

Again, according to estimates from South Korean spy agency, those four suspects who are

believed to have fled the country are also believed to be North Korean government officials.

So, the possibility of Malaysian authorities being able to reach any of them now that they are inside North Korea is simply hard to fathom in any

way, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Alexandra Field reporting live for us from Kuala Lumpur. Thank you, Alex.

LU STOUT: Now, President Donald Trump is preparing for battle on Capitol Hill. He's about to face a joint session of congress one day after

outlining proposals for his first budget.

Now, plans for a substantial boost in defense spending, along with sweeping cuts to education and environmental programs, are likely to draw opposition

from both sides of the aisle, and that is not the only fight Trump faces as Joe Johns now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:10:09] JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The White House says President Trump's speech will lay out an optimistic vision and bold agenda.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle looking for the president to outline specifics on the many campaign promises that got him elected.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This budget will be a public safety and national security budget.

JOHNS: The president unveiling his budget outline Monday, which aims to boost defense spending by $54 billion...

TRUMP: We're going to spend a lot more money on military. We really have to. We have no choice. And a lot of people think it's a tremendous amount

of money. It could be, actually, $30 million, $30 billion more than that.

JOHNS: ...while slashing other government departments, like the EPA and State Department, with a big focus on cutting foreign aid.

TRUMP: We're going to do more with less and make the government lean.

JOHNS: Democrats say the president faces an uphill, nearly impossible battle.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: The priorities they are pushing are way out of touch.

JOHNS: President Trump's budget outline doesn't touch Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which puts him at odds with House Speaker Paul Ryan,

who wants Congress to tackle entitlement programs.

The president also facing mounting pressure to deliver specifics on how he will repeal and replace Obamacare. But Mr. Trump now admits that it's

unbelievably complex.

TRUMP: Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.

JOHNS: Meanwhile, President Trump is pointing the finger at his predecessor, without evidence, for White House leaks.

TRUMP: I think that President Obama's behind it, because his people are certainly behind it.

JOHNS: And for scenes like this...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do your job!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do your job!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do your job!

JOHNS: ...at town halls for Republican lawmakers across the country...

TRUMP: I also understand that's politics. And in terms of him being behind things, that's politics. And it will probably continue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Joe Johns reporting.

Now, the focus on the U.S. military comes as policy makers weigh their next move in the fight

against ISIS. The Pentagon is going over scenarios at the White House that could include sending

ground troops inside Syria.

For reaction, let's go straight to Amman, Jordan. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is there standing by for us. And Jomana, President Trump is reviewing

options to accelerate the U.S. fight against ISIS, including an option deploying U.S. troops in Syria. So, how is that being considered there and

across the region?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, Kristie, different countries in this region do realize that President Trump has been

provided with different various options when it comes to accelerating the fight against ISIS and they are going to wait and see what this new U.S.

administration is going to decide, how it is going to move forward with its strategy in this fight.

You have countries, for example, like Jordan who would probably welcome more U.S. involvement, the leadership here has been wanting to see a more

aggression suffer fight against ISIS, against extremist groups, expanding it beyond Iraq and Syria and going after other groups in other countries

too.

But at the same time, you will have others who will be very suspicious of U.S. motives. We have heard this in the past, especially when it comes to

ground forces, whether you're talking as you mentioned the possibility that we heard from U.S. officials about proposing

sending combat forces into northern Syria, or if it's about increasing the number of troops in Iraq. And that especially sensitive

after comments that we've heard from President Trump about mistakes of the past and not taking Iraq's oil, for example.

And then you will have others who will be concerned about adding a new fighting force or a

large number of American boots on the ground when it comes to northern Syria, a complex battlefield with so many different groups with regional

and international influence. So that would be also a concern for some.

And then you're got the issue of the Syrian Kurds, something that the Kurds and Turkey will be

looking closely to see how this administration is going to be dealing with that issue. The Kurds have been the key partner, if not the most reliable

partner, for the United States when it comes to the fight against ISIS in Northern Syria.

What is going to happen now? Are they going to still be getting the same support or more support or less support than they did before, because this

is something we know that Turkey has objected to.

So, so many different options. Everyone is waiting to see, Krsitie, what happens. There is no one option that will be accepted by everyone. As we

know, this is a very complex and divided region.

LU STOUT: Yeah, Jomana Karadsheh reporting. A look at what happens next in the overall battle against ISIS. Many thanks indeed for your reporting

there.

Now, to India where the body of a man shot and killed in the U.S. has arrived home. The FBI is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. And

a second man also from India was wounded.

Now, there has been an outpouring of grief in India and questions about the safety of foreigners in the U.S.

CNN's New Delhi bureau chief Ravi Agrawal joins me now on the story. And Ravi, this, let's face it, unnecessary death must be victim's family and

friends. How are people across India trying to make sense of this death?

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, Kristie, it's really painful for the family and really it hit home for them today because

the body Srinivas Kuchibhotla of arrived in his home city of Hyderabad Monday night. Today, Tuesday, it was cremated by his extended family.

There were really sort of signs of sorry.

We spoke to one of the Kuchibhotla family members and they said that this was a complete shock to them. They expressed great sorrow over this. And

that's just the story in Hyderabad. But this really is a story that has reverberations across India and even the Uunited States. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

AGRAWAL: In Olathe, Kansas, an emotional display of unity. It's a call that mirrored half a world away in Calcutta, India. As Indians come to terms

with the news from American that a gunman opened fire on their two own. Srinivas Kuchibhotla was a 32-year-old engineer. He was killed. His

colleague, Alok Madasani, survived.

Witnesses told local media the shooter, a man named Adam Purinton, yelled out "Get out of my country," before he opened fire in a bar in Olathe.

Those words are now reverberating across Indian, even as authorities try to verify the statements and determine whether this was a hate crime.

There are currently 166,000 Indian students studying in the United States. There are many more on work visas. At Delhi's famous Indian Institute of

Technology, many would-be engineers aspire to move to America. Now added to their concerns about a clampdown on immigration are new worries about

safety.

UNIDENTIFEID MALE: There are opportunities over there, much better facilities. We would not like to sacrifice our own well-being for that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are all attracted to the U.S. and the research they have got there. The thing is that we have to look into our own progress. I

would still like to go there no matter how much incidents like these happen.

AGRAWAL: The worries were mirrored on national TV news in India and on social media.

The foreign minister tweeted saying, "I am shocked at the shooting incident in Kansas," to which a popular Indian actor responded, "Don't be shocked,

be angry. Trump is spreading hate. This is a hate crime."

Meantime, Kuchibhotla's body arrived in his hometown on Monday night. It was a community in mourning as they questioned whether it's safe to send

their sons and daughters to America.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AGRAWAL: Now, we had a producer on the ground in Hyderabad at the funeral and she reported back to us that there were a number of protesters there

from the IT Forum of India and those protesters were holding posters saying down with Trump.

Now, I've actually made clera there is no real link here to President Trump, but if there is any link at all to the new White House

administration, it is this, and is this is that the new White House administration has said that it wants to curb immigrant visas, that is the

issue here in India that everyone has been looking at for many months now, and they have been looking at it thinking that

they go to the United States to study, but if they're not going to get a work visa at the end of that, why go. So those are the debates that

Indians have been conducting for the last couple of months now.

And to add to that, you have this incident, while it is isolated, it is spreading fear amongst a number of Indians who know so many Indians who

work in the United States who study in the United States, who have family there, and this is something everyone across India has been talking about -

Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, it's a heartbreaking incident raising concerns and fears on whether Indians are welcomed in America.

Ravi Agrawal reporting, thank you.

Now, Israeli security forces are prepared to evacuate a number of homes in the West Bank. It follows a standoff with some Jewish protesters and you

can see some of them here. They're angry about a court ruling that found the houses should be demolished because they were built illegally on

private Palestinian land.

You're watching News Stream. And coming to you live from the Mobile World Congress here in Barcelona, a lot of people here and around the world have

had a Nokia 3310 phone at some point. We're going to show you how Nokia thinks fond memories of that phone could attraction customers today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:05] LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching a special edition of News Stream coming to you live from the Mobile World Congress here in

Barcelona. Now, since the introduction of the iPhone 10 years ago, smartphones have become an intregal part of our lives and sales have long

outstripped PC sales, making a phone more of a person computer than the PC itself.

This hugely important device has the ability to access the sum of humanity's knowledge and to

connect you to another person on Earth from virtually anywhere on the planning planet. And yet the device attracting the most buzz here at the

conference is a phone that can do very little of that. Nokia is taking a step toward the past by bringing back an old favorite.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Ah, nostalgia, the Nokia 3310 is one of the most iconic hand sets of the early mobile era. It was known for its endless battery life,

apparent indestructability, and of course that iconic monochrome game Snake.

The original version was launched back in 2000. It was retired a few years later after selling more than 120 million units. But is it's back, reborn

in this form here at the Mobile World Congress to intense interest and fanfare as you can see.

But the new version is slightly different.

ROGER CHANG, EXECUTIVE EDITOR CNET: The 3310 is back. It's sleeker, it's got a new design to it. It lasts even longer than that 3310 you remember,

it's got ten times the talk time and standby. So that's 22 hours on talk and it can last a month on standby. It's pretty amazing.

It has a camera this time and instead of that monochrome screen, they add back in color and a camera and it has got snake.

LU STOUT: Another key difference, the cost. The new 3310 retails for around 52 U.S. dollars. That is much less than the retail price back in

the day for the original one.

The new version is being met with a lot of interest, a lot of smiles, and also some raised eyebrows.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It would be good with if new phones got this kind of battery and with Snake, but with internet too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got to have it now? No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably not, because I need my emails. I need my Facebook.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I need my map.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, maps, 100 percent need maps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I couldn't get anywhere if I didn't have a map on my phone, I don't think.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can totally feel like my mom would definitely buy it.

She would give up the iPhone to go back to that, it's a dream for her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: So don't call it a comeback just yet. I mean, this is the old original version. The new revamped one, it's still in its early days, but

consider it sort of the rebirth of an old relic from an early mobile age.

Now from a look at the past, let's race to the future now, because it's not just phones that's drawing attention here. I mean, we've got self driving

cars making a splash. And we've got Samuel Burke standing by.

So, we've got to see one of these electric self-driving race cars. What are they like?

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN MONEY: The cars are always racing into these tech shows and stealing all the thunder now. This is the first time that we've

actually seen an electric race car. It's been on the track in prototype. And I have to say it was incredibly impressive. It goes 320 kilometers an

hour, 200 miles per hour. But to me what is so interesting here is all the artificial intelligence that's baked into it.

Keep in mind there is no driver there, so they get to take out all of that room. They don't need the the cockpit need the cockpit. And it's all

about how these algorithms can be manipulated to make the car go faster.

So, on the racecar track, you will actually see the same is exact cars, the same exact specs, but

instead of rooting for a driver, you will be rooting for a coder. Too geeky for you and me, I think.

LU STOUT: But I think it's incredible. It's like taking those RC cars, those remote control cars that kids used to play with in the 1980s and 190

and bringing it up-to-date thanks to artificial intelligence.

And you're seeing AI driving a lot of technology out here at the congress, aren't you?

BURKE: Driving a lot of technology, literally driving but it's so interesting to see how it's baked into almost every product that we see

now. Of course mobile phones that are adapting to your voice when you use Google or Siri and all the companies that are making advances with it in

their own devices. Think about how you use Amazon's Echo when you talk to Alexa. She's adapting. That is all artificial intelligence. You remember

my famous romantic liaison with the robot (inaudible).

LU STOUT: Never forget her. That's right.

BURKE: She adapting to you as you go. So, it's funny to see how even the smallest of companies are making huge gains with artificial intelligence

and baking it in there. And how a device can really adapt to you whether it is a car or if it's a phone.

LU STOUT: Yeah, even Huawei talking artificial intelligence creating its own digital assistant for the Chinese market. We'll leave it at that.

Samuel Burke, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Take care.

Now, the personal data of hundreds of thousands of children might have been exposed due to a security flaw in, get this, smart teddy bears. Now,

according to a private researcher, the toy company, it's called Cloud Pets, stored data in an insecure database. Here's how the toy works.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Staying in touch is easy and fun with Cloud Pets. Just record a message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope you had a good day at school. I miss you.

ANNOUNCER: And send to the cloud. In just seconds, it floats down to the app on your smart device allowing you to send the message to the cloud pet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hope you had a good day at school. I miss you.

ANNOUNCER: It's a message you can hug. Now squeeze puppy's arm to send one back.

GIRL: Hi, daddy, I love you.

GIRL : Hi, daddy, I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: After the fact that ads seems a little creepy, right?

Now, researchers say some 820,000 accounts were breached leaving voice recordings, photos, personal information often involving kids exposed.

Hackers stole the data. At one point, all of that information was held for ransom. But it seems that Cloud Pets restored it from a backup and never

told customers about the leak.

Now, Cloud Pets, Spiral Toys, denies that messages or images are compromised.

You're watching News Stream, coming to you live from Barcelona and suspicions that just won't go away.

Now, some lawmakers are pushing for an investigation into any contact the U.S. President's campaign had with Russia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:44] LU STOUT: Now, U.S. lawmakers on the House intelligence committee have

signed off on a plan to examine purported contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia.

But deep divisions remain between Republicans and Democrats. As Sunlen Serfaty joins me now live from Washington with more. And Sunlen, a plan

has been signed off to investigate . How will this proceed?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, now they essentially start getting into

the knit gritty of this investigation. It was notable that this investigation is inching forward. As you said, the House Intelligence

Committee formally signing off of a plan to look at the evidence that there is, if it exists, between communication between Trump campaign officials

and Russia.

But already going in to this, there are some sharp disagreements. You have a real split between the top Democrat on the committee and the top

Republican on the committee who are both leading this probe. Going in, they have completely contradictory views on what they ever seen so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says there's no evidence that contacts between President Trump's

campaign and Russia during the 2016 race.

REP. DEVIN NUNES, (R) CALIFORNIA: Right now I don't have any evidence that would -- of any phone calls.

SERFATY: But the top Democrat on that committee, Adam Schiff, calls that premature.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D) CALIFORNIA: We have I think reached no conclusion, nor could we in terms of issues of collusion because we have not called in

a single witness or reviewed a single document on that issue as of yet.

SERFATY: One thing the committee agrees upon, investigating any connection between Trump's campaign and Russian officials and leaks coming from

government and intelligence officials.

NUNES: No one is focusing on major leaks that have occurred here. We can't run a government like this.

SERFATY: As calls grow for an independent prosecutor to investigate potential ties to Russia.

SCHIFF: If we get to a point where there is a criminal referral, then yes, I think the attorney general has to recuse himself.

SERFATY: Republican Congressman and Trump supporter, Darrell Issa, joining those who say Jeff Sessions can't lead the probe.

REP. DARRELL ISSA, (R) CALIFORNIA: You're going to need to use the special prosecutors statute.

SERFATY: Issa doubling down in a new statement, saying, quote, "Right now we have speculation and assumptions but not clarity and fact. Any review

conducted must have the full confidence of the American people." The president dismissing questions about a special prosecutor.

TRUMP: I haven't called Russia in 10 years.

SERFATY: A bizarre response considering Mr. Trump spoke to Russian president Vladimir Putin just a few weeks ago.

SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: How many people have to say that there is nothing there before you realize there's nothing there?

SERFATY: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer zealously defending the president. Spicer even leading the White House crackdown on internal leaks.

Sources telling CNN that the president signed off on checking aides' cell phone to make certain they weren't texting reporters or using encrypted

apps during an emergency meeting last week. But Spicer denied the president was involved in that decision.

TRUMP: I would have handled it differently than Sean, but Sean handles it his way, and I'm OK with it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And attorney general Jeff Sessions speaking up for the first time about all of those calls for him to recuse himself in the Russia probe.

Sessions telling reporters, quote, "I will recuse myself from anything I should recuse myself from." But, Kristie, offering no more specifics or

definitive answer after that.

[08:35:10] LU STOUT: All right. We'll see how this probe unfolds. Sunlen Serfaty reporting. Thank you.

Now, the Netflix CEO has made no secret of his unhappiness with Donald Trump, but now he seems to have changed his tune. Hear from Reed Hastings

himself when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching a special edition of News Stream coming to you live from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Now, one of the tech industry's most important annual gatherings, and this show isn't just about new smartphones. Now Netflix is also here in

Barcelona. And CEO Reed Hastings, he was extremely critical of the travel ban brought in by the U.S. president. And we discussed whether he still

feels the same way.

But, first, I congratulated him on the very first Academy Award won by Netflix.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REED HASTINGS, CEO, NETFLIX: First Oscar ever. We're so excited about it, but we've had many nominations, and of course, we've got so many stories

that are Oscar worthy.

LU STOUT: And do you feel that your investment in original content and documentaries is paying off, especially in terms of subscriber growth?

HASTINGS: You know, I don't know if it's paying off. We don't look at it that way. We look at it is it a great story, are we proud to be associated

with it, whether that's the 13th, or Audrey and Daisy, or the square, many documentaries and many features and TV series. So,

we're just trying to make people enjoy Netflix.

LU STOUT: Donald Trump and the travel ban. We know when the first travel ban, the executive order came out, you were very vocal against it. There

is going to be a revised order coming out. So, how optimistic are you about that?

HASTINGS: Well, I'm trying to be really optimistic. You know, he's my president. And I wish him really well.

LU STOUT: I know that Trump has his advisory board with some notable tech leaders on it. Do you think Trump is listening? Do you think the leaders

of technology today can sway the U.S. president?

HASTINGS: Well, I think the president is always listening. So, you know, it's for us to really try to do the best we can at this early stage. He's

our president. We need to hope that he'll do a great job for all Americans.

LU STOUT: We're here at the Mobile World Congress. So, I have to ask you a question about Mobile. How many people are accessing Netflix mobile

through platforms?

HASTINGS: Well, almost everybody watches Netflix through mobile. They also watch it through the TV. The great thing is you could be in the

middle of a show, leave your house stuck in traffic and then you can watch the rest of the show.

So, you know, it's very fluid. There's - we know exactly where you left off and so you get to restart in the right place. So it's super easy to

move between screens.

LU STOUT: I have got to ask you a question about China. China is the world's biggest box

office, world biggest internet market. You know, the superlatives go on. You're not really there yet. Have you given up on streaming in China?

HASTINGS: Well, China is such an amazing country in all those ways. And what we're doing is selling our content to Baidu, Tensen (ph), Ali and

others, so we're not operating our service directly there.

LU STOUT: Netflix when you started, it was about selling DVDs, content made by other companies, and other studios.

Then, you started streaming content from other studios and you started inserting your own original content. Do you foresee a day when Netflix is

going to be streaming only your only original content? Is that end game here?

[08:40:05] HASTINGS: No, the end game is just increasing customer satisfaction. And when we can do that by creating shows like Narcos, then

we're happy to do that. If we can do that by licensing content, we're happy to do that. We're just really trying to create satisfaction.

LU STOUT: Got you. You know what, one of my New Year's resolutions was to watch less

Netflix.

HASTINGS: Less? Why?

LU STOUT: Because I want to read more books.

HASTINGS: Why? TV is so much better than books.

LU STOUT: And then go ahead and you launch the Santa Clarita Diet and all these other stories and you're not helping me with my new year's

resolution. Do you purposefully like on purpose do create content so we can become addicted and we keep watching

it?

HASTINGS: Well, you know, when you think about a book, it takes forever to read a whole book instead of you can just watching the movie. It's so much

more time efficient to watch the series or move.

LU STOUT: Stranger Things.

HASTINGS: Amazing show.

LU STOUT: A lot of fans from Stranger Things, too, coming up. What should we expect?

HASTINGS: Halloween. Coming out Halloween. Expect some new twists. It will be very, very fun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: I'm still going to work on my new year resolution? OK. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings there trying to convince me that TV shows are better than

books.

Now, this is my last day in Barcelona, but we're going to have much more from the show this week. We're going to take a look at LG's latest handset

as the company tries to capitalize on rival's Samsung's trouble.

Now, two thrill seekers are parting with a sizable chunk of money to make a trip around the moon. SpaceX has not revealed their names, nor how much

they're paid. But travelers were known to have paid some $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station. No humans will travel past Low

Earth Orbit since the final Apollo mission back in 1972, so what is SpaceX trying to accomplish with this upcoming adventure?

Now, retired NASA Leroy Chiao gives us his take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEROY CHAIO, RETIRED NASA ASTRONAUT: Elon Musk has said many times that he created SpaceX specifically because he wants to go to Mars. He wants to

colonize Mars. And you know to me the moon always was a logical stepping stone to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Landing humans on Mars is just one of the many ambitious targets set by Elon Musk, but the CEO has a tendency to fall behind schedule.

Last year his company Tesla fell a little short of its goal to deliver 80,000 orders to customers. He blamed it on an update in auto-pilot

hardware. And then in September, an unmanned SpaceX rocket blew up on the launch pad. On the retry, would take a few more months, but it turned out

ultimately to be a success. And that is all from this special edition of News Stream. Live from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. I'm

Kristie Lu Stout. And World Sport with Amanda Davies is next.

END