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Black Box Is Found: Investigators Searched The Ethiopian Airlines Crash Site To Figure Out Why The Boeing 737 Came Down; Set Free: One Of The Women Accused Of Killing The Half-Brother Of North Korea Is Let Of All Charges; Data Hack, Facebook Has Filed Against Two Ukrainians Alleging That They Used Quizzes To Access Private Information. Aired: 8:00-9a ET
Aired March 11, 2019 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST, NEWS STREAM: I am Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream." Black box is found: Investigators searched
the Ethiopian Airlines crash site to figure out why the Boeing 737 came down. Set free: One of the women accused of killing the half-brother of
North Korea is let of all charges. And data hack, Facebook has filed against two Ukrainians alleging that they used quizzes to access private
information.
And we begin in Ethiopia, where there is an urgent search for answers after a passenger plane crashed shortly after takeoff. One hundred and fifty
seven people died when the Ethiopia Airlines plane came down after leaving on Addis Ababa on Sunday. The airlines says both the flight data recorder
and the cockpit voice recorder have now been found.
Ethiopia, China and the Cayman Islands are grounding the type of aircraft involved, Boeing's 737 MAX 8. Ethiopia and Kenya have also created a joint
disaster response team to find out more. Now, let's get an update soon from the crash scene, that's going to be taking place in a few moments from
now, but first, Farai Sevenzo is live for us from Nairobi, Kenya, as to where the plane was heading. He joins us now and Farai, as you heard just
then, as you know already, the black boxes have been found. Is that offering any more hope for answers for the families who have turned up
there at the airport looking for just that?
FARAI SEVENZO, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Kristie, you can imagine the scene here, just over 24 hours ago here at Jomo Kenyatta International
Airport, a very busy airport on any given day, but of course, the focus today was with the Kenyan authorities together with the Ethiopian
counterparts, mainly the man in charge of the Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde GebreMariam, to try and allay fears that anything was astray in terms of
Ethiopian Airlines ability to provide their services. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TEWOLDE GEBREMARIAM, CEO, ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES: We have more than 300 flights a day and it's a very safe airline. The operation is running very
smoothly. This is a very isolated and unfortunate incident, accident and we are taking care of, as I say, the families and friends and relatives of
the bereaved passengers and crew.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEVENZO: And all through the morning, of course, and into what is now the afternoon here in Nairobi, we have been getting drip-drip of comments from
all kinds of embassies.
Remember, 35 nations were affected by this and it is of course, the hub of everybody who works in the humanitarian sector, WFP, people who deal with
refugees, the World Bank, international migration people, so everyone has lost people. I'm just looking at now at our feed in our own group that the
WFE have named, one, two, three, four, five, six people.
And you remember also what this means in terms of the nationalities involved. Just last September, we were talking about a forum on China and
Africa corporations out in Beijing. They lost eight of their citizens. That's China I am talking about. This year alone, Russia is hosting its
first Russia-African Summit. They lost two people and of course, Turkey has opened over 26 embassies on this continent.
Despite the tragedy, it shows you why there are so many people involved in this routine flight from Addis to Nairobi because Africa is becoming a part
of everybody's conversation and these kind of flights are regular.
But of course, the real tragedy and the real pain goes out to those members of the humanitarian community, the United Nations who lost a lot of people,
the people that we, as journalists here in Nairobi would normally reach out to for comment about refugees in South Sudan or the situation in Somalia or
what's happening in terms of crisis of migration up into the Sahara.
So everybody is feeling rather shell-shocked that this could happen. And of course, any of my team could have been on this flight. It's really,
really struck home here in Nairobi, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yes, so many people from across East Africa and the world have flown this route. This is an incident that have shaken so many people
deeply. Farai Sevenzo, reporting live for us from Nairobi at the airport there.
And before we go to our David McKenzie standing by. This just in, we've learned that Indonesia is the latest country in addition to China, to
ground all these Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircrafts on the back of this new disasters taking place.
[08:05:00]
LU STOUT: Now, David McKenzie is by the crash site near the town of Bishoftu, Ethiopia. He joins us now. And David, amidst all the wreckage,
the debris behind you, we know that the black boxes have been recovered, describe the scene.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, that's right. Just a short time ago, they recovered the data recorder and audio recorder that could be key
evidence. But I want to just step out of the shot and show you what's going here now.
And listen to those sounds. This is a digger that is pushing some of the debris of the plane, Kristie, into a pile. And you can just see by the
nature of this twisted steel and metal just how massive the impact was when this brand new 737 slammed into this mountain behind me.
There has been terrible scenes all through the day here as the Red Cross and others have tried to recover parts of the plane. Of course, those data
recorders and crucially, any personal effects of the passengers and crew that tragically died in this accident.
LU STOUT: And David, there are the site of the wreckage, have you come across the personal effects and belongings of the victims of this crash?
What have you seen?
MCKENZIE: Well, I've seen the Red Cross officials bringing out particularly hand bags and backpacks and being very careful and respectful
over those items and the reason they focus on that is to try to get any IDs or personal effects, photographs that they can save possibly for the
family.
There's also the grim task recovering the bodies that has been going on for several hours, of course. No survivors in this crash and the question
being asked of course about this brand new Boeing 737 8 MAX that lost contact just a few minutes after leaving Bole International Airport here in
Ethiopia.
The pilot, very experienced, tried to turn back, didn't manage. We spoke to the U.S. Ambassador on the scene here. He was here with other officials
who said that investigators from the U.S. will be coming in overnight to look at the scene and help with investigations.
Interpol is working with the U.S. and Ethiopian authorities to try and identify the bodies, Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yes, recovery teams there, we can see behind you using whatever they can including those big bulldozers, to sift through the remains to
find out any answers especially for the loved ones of the victims. David McKenzie joining us live from the site of the wreckage, thank you.
Now, Boeing is now facing increased scrutiny over its bestselling passenger jet after Sunday's fatal crash. The 737 MAX 8 aircraft is the same model
of the plane that went down in Indonesia few months ago killing 189 people. Both of them were brand new and both crashed just minutes after takeoff,
but so far, there is no evidence that these two incidents are linked.
Now, CNN aviation analyst, Mary Schiavo joins us live via Skype from Charleston, South Carolina. Mary, thank you for joining us.
The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, they have been recovered. So what clues will they provide about what definitively caused
this crash?
MARY SCHIAVO, AVIATION ANALYST, CNN (via Skype): They will provide so much information because they are the newest model black boxes that are out
there on this new plane. The cockpit voice recorder will contain 25 hours. So it will contain not just this flight, but the prior flights' prior days'
activities.
Remember, the cockpit voice recorder powers up when you power up the plane. So we will have prior flights as well. So if they had problems on previous
flights, we will know that, too if the pilots discussed it, and on the flight data recorder, this is a very advanced one. It has approximately a
thousand parameters, different kinds of data from every system and instrument on the plane get fed into that black box.
So as soon as they download the cockpit voice recorder, they will hear what the pilots were fighting. I imagine every warning system in that cockpit
was going off. There will be a cacophony and the flight data recorder will have the answer. They could know by the end of the week.
LU STOUT: Mary, the last time we talked was after the Lion Air crash back in October and that plane, like the Ethiopian Airlines jet was brand new.
These are both brand Boeing MAX 8s and both crashed minutes into the flight. Do you believe that these two incidents are linked in causality?
SCHIAVO: They very well could be, but whether they are or not, both pilots reported a problem with the plane, so that alone says that they are linked
at least in something being wrong with this particular plane model and statistically speaking, it's very suspicious because when you get a new
model plane, when you have a new improved -- supposedly improved model plane, the statistics on air safety are usually much better with the new
adaptation of a plane you get better safety statistics.
Here, it's the exact opposite. So whether it's the same exact systems, remember in the Lion Air, it was the angle of attack indicators did not
agree and they were counting on the pilots to know how to shut off the system that pushed the nose down, of course, they hadn't been trained.
Well, Boeing changed those instructions and all pilots were supposed to have been trained.
But in this case, what it looks like is that at the very end, the nose pitched up, the altitude increased dramatically just before the plane
appears to have suffered an aerodynamic stall and crashed and plunged to the earth.
So different -- you know, it's the same phase same flight, same airspeed, same scenario with a mechanical problem, but the plane behaved differently
at the end.
LU STOUT: Got it. We know that China is one of the world's biggest users of the aircraft in question here. It has just grounded them, all of them.
Indonesia has announced similar moves. Are these countries doing the right thing?
SCHIAVO: Well, they are doing the right thing and they don't really have a choice because the internet is literally on fryer with people saying how do
I see if my flight is one of these planes? How do I get off? I want to re-book. People are voting with their feet on this aircraft because this
is a mystery, this is a very serious aviation mystery and the responsible thing will be to ground it until they figure it out and they will figure it
out very quickly because of these black boxes being found.
LU STOUT: So that's a responsible thing. Quick question, yes or no. Is it safe to fly one of these Boeing planes right now?
SCHIAVO: Not now. They need to figure out what happened and maybe the second one is not related at all. I mean, one eyewitness said they saw
smoke coming from the plane. Now that could be a whole different scenario. And it could be wrong. Eyewitnesses are often mistaken. But if there was
smoke coming from the plane when it went down, you don't have a problem with your angle of angle or air speed indicator, you've got something else
going on.
So there are a lot of things, but until you have any answer, no, you should put these on the ground and figure out what went wrong.
LU STOUT: Got it. This is a terrible disaster. We are waiting for answers, Mary, appreciate your analysis. Thank you.
A dramatic development in the murder trial of two women accused of killing the half-brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. The Indonesian
defendant is now free.
Prosecutors accused the women of exposing Kim Jong-nam to deadly nerve agent, VX as he entered the airport in KL in February of 2017, killing him
within minutes. The trial for the other woman, who is Vietnamese is expected to resume this week.
Our senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, has been following the story. He joins us now and Ivan, this was a surprise ruling. Did it come
as a shock to many inside the courtroom as well?
IVAN WATSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Absolutely. A lawyer for one of the defendants, Doan Thi Huong says that they were
expecting that she was going to defend herself today. Instead, suddenly, prosecutors dropped charges against the other defendant. The lawyer says
he was stunned. He claims that the judge was stunned and the two women, the two chief suspects embraced emotionally, he says, before one of them
was set free.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
WATSON (voice over): More than two years after the brazen assassination of the North Korean's dictator's half-brother, one of the key suspects in the
murder is now suddenly free.
Siti Aisyah, a citizen of Indonesia, all smiles after Malaysian prosecutors suddenly dropped murder charges against her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SITI AISYAH, ALLEGED SUSPECT IN KING JONG NAM MURDER (Through interpreter): I feel so happy. I didn't expect that I will be released today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON (voice over): Malaysian authorities arrested Aisyah and a Vietnam woman named Doan Thi Huong after the deadly poisoning of Kim Jong-un's
half-brother, Kim Jong-nam. Security cameras filmed what appears to be the two women wiping something on his face in the Kuala Lumpur Airport in
February 2017.
Soon after, he died poisoned by VX nerve agent. Both women pleaded not guilty. Four North Koreans have also been charged with Kim's killing.
Their whereabouts are unknown.
Aisyah's unexpected release on Monday, apparently the result of high level lobbying. At a press conference, Indonesian officials showed journalists
this remarkable correspondence.
This undated letter from Indonesia's Minister of Law and Human Rights urges Malaysia's Attorney General to set Aisyah free. It argues quote, "Ms.
Aisyah was led to believe that her actions were for a reality show, hence, she had no intention of killing Kim Jong-nam."
On March 8th, the Attorney General wrote back saying, Aisyah would be set free after quote, "Taking into account the good relations between our
respective countries."
Aisyah's release raises sudden questions about the fate of fellow suspect Doan from Vietnam. A question I raised this month with the Vietnamese
Prime Minister as he was about to host the North Korean leader.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON (on camera): Did the North Korean government apologize to Vietnam for the involvement of this Vietnamese woman Doan Thi Huong allegedly in
the murder of Kim Jong-nam?
[08:15:06]
NGUYEN XUAN PHUC, VIETNAM PRIME MINISTER (Through interpreter): This is an issue of the law. We also care about protecting the rights of our
citizens, but both countries will discuss this specifically at a later time, not during this period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON (voice over): Doan's attorney is now appealing for her release on the grounds of fairness as her trial resumes this week. After all, Siti
Aisyah just escaped a possible death sentence and is now back home a free woman.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
WATSON: So Kristie, now the question is, is it just Doan Thi Huong, this Vietnamese suspect who could potentially face the death penalty in this
very brazen assassination? Could she be alone in facing that as these four North Korean nationals have gone missing somewhere and now, the Indonesian
suspect has been set free?
The Vietnamese government during that interview with the Vietnamese Prime Minister, top diplomats were telling me that they have been very actively
involved in trying to help their citizen and I guess we may see on Thursday when she is expected to be here in in court in Kuala Lumpur whether or not
the same type of intervention could work to her benefit as well -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: So we are awaiting that legal resolution in this case that has, wow, sent such geopolitical shock waves throughout the region since the
assassination took place. Ivan Watson reporting live for us, thank you so much and take care.
The last 24 hours have seen a new round of intense fighting in Eastern Syria. U.S.-backed forces resumed their assault on the last ISIS enclave
in the country.
That was the scene on Sunday, explosions lighting up the night sky, the sound of heavy gunfire. CNN's Ben Wedeman; producer, Karim Kotter (ph);
cameraman Scottie McWoody (ph) and team member Adam Dobbie (ph) have been covering this battle there from the front line.
For the latest, Ben joins us now live from Eastern Syria, and Ben, this battle has certainly intensified. What's happening out there now?
BEN WEDEMAN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, right now, I'm hearing a U.S.-led coalition aircraft overhead and behind me, you see smoke
rising from what appears to have been an ammunition dump inside that encampment held by ISIS. It is going off. And I just heard another loud
explosion that could have been from that ammunition dump or it could have been an airstrike given there is an aircraft flying overhead.
The bombardment, the airstrikes were much more intense overnight. Throughout the day, there have been occasional airstrikes and gunfire, but
nothing compared to what we saw over the night.
And despite all of that, we were able to see through our telephoto lens and binoculars, men walking around among the tents, among the wrecked cars that
are all that's left of what was the realm of ISIS. Also, you may be able to see in the distance a black banner of ISIS flying in the wind. But
that's really all that's left.
Now, as far as who is actually still inside this encampment, we're told by officials from the Syrian Democratic Forces that no civilians came out
today, and that in the previous 48 hours, only a few dozen had left. That is why they initiated this final third offensive to try to retake this
territory, which had been twice put on hold to allow so many civilians who were inside to leave.
A month ago, we were being told by the SDF that there were only 1,500 civilians inside. That number turned out to be over 30,000 -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: The latest on the so-called last battle for ISIS in Syria. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much and to you and the team, thank you for your
reporting and take care.
You're watching "News Stream" and still to come right here on the program, the self-declared interim President of Venezuela steps up the pressure on
the Maduro government. We are going to tell you what he is planning in a live report from Caracas. Keep it here.
Plus, we have got new questions about the woman who formerly owned a spa where Robert Kraft allegedly solicited sex, what the "Miami Herald" is
reporting about her attendance at a fund-raiser for President Trump.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: It's the start of a new week here in Hong Kong. Welcome back, this is "News Stream." In the coming hours, Venezuela's self-declared
interim President is set to call for a state of national emergency.
Massive power outages are crippling the crisis-ravaged country. Juan Guaido says 17 people have died because of the blackouts. Using strong
language, he says that they were effectively murdered by the government of Nicolas Maduro.
Let's bring in Patrick Oppmann live from Caracas, and Patrick, Juan Guaido also says that he is about to call for state of emergency for his country.
You know, as the self-declared interim President, can he do that and what would that do?
PATRICK OPPMANN, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Absolutely, and whether the government recognize it or not is of course a different question, Kristie.
But let me this set this up for you.
We sat down with Juan Guaido yesterday and spoke to him and he said this emergency session would allow him to appeal for international cooperation.
And that sounds pretty benign, but under Juan Guaido's understanding of what international cooperation is, he feels that he could, at that point,
ask for a military intervention from the United States if this resolution then passes this morning.
Of course, very few people believe the United States is going to get involved militarily in Venezuela. So this is just another pressure point
that Juan Guaido appears to be using to get the government to begin negotiating, to get them to call for new elections.
But he told me yesterday, of course, he prefers peace over war. But that essentially, according to him, Venezuela is already living in a state of
war when you have no water, when you have no electricity, when you have lines for food and gas and people fleeing by the millions. And it so it
was a very interesting and very stark interview. Let's have a listen to what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUAN GUAIDO, SELF-DECLARED INTERIM VENEZUELA PRESIDENT (Through a translator): There is no service in the hospitals. These were the best
hospitals in the country. If we are in the capital, what is it like kilometers inside Venezuela where there hasn't or there has been very
little gasoline with periodic cuts in electricity without basic goods, with inefficient public transportation? You can say with all responsibility
that Venezuela has already collapsed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPMANN: So again, when I asked him if Venezuela is going to collapse, I was somewhat surprised that he said that he felt that it had already
collapsed and even though the power is coming back on in certain neighborhoods, where we are, we have power right now, but don't have water
and that complicates everything.
I was at a gas station yesterday and the lines went for hours and this is a country that used to produce energy for the region. So it's just
incredible with the vast reserves of petrol that they have here that the lights are off, that they can't supply gasoline.
Of course, the government said that they would have the lights back on in three hours, we are now entering the fifth day -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yes, and Patrick, it is interesting how you characterize Guaido's politics is pressure point politics. He needs to keep up the
pressure on Maduro while also keeping up the momentum in his own movement.
[08:25:10]
LU STOUT: Patrick Oppmann, we'll leave it at that. Thank you so much for reporting and bringing us that interview.
Now, we are also learning new details about the former owner of a day spa where NFL team owner, Robert Kraft allegedly solicited prostitution. The
"Miami Herald" is now reporting that Li Yang arranged for Chinese business leaders to attend a fundraiser for U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017.
Let's get the latest now from CNN's Kaylee Hartung. She joins us from Jupiter, Florida, and Kaylee, Li Yang, she is under the spotlight for a
number of reasons, but now for her political consulting work which is linking China with the U.S. President. What more can you tell us?
KAYLEE HARTUNG, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: That's right, Kristie. And now, Li or Cindy Yang is not being accused of doing anything illegal. She first got
our attention taking that Super Bowl selfie with President Trump at his private event at Mar-A-Lago. This coming just two weeks after, Robert
Kraft, the owner of the Patriots was formally charged with soliciting for prostitution at this day spa that she formerly owned.
Now, Yang told the "Miami Herald" she is no longer is in the spa business, but it's her new business that is now raising new questions.
Her consulting firm based here in Florida advertises itself to Chinese investors as being able to introduce them to President Trump, to attend
functions at the White House, to attend VIP events at Mar-A-Lago. And now, we're learning from the "Miami Herald" that in December of 2017, Yang did
just that.
There was a paid fundraiser for President Trump in New York City that day, and she arranged for a group of Chinese businessmen to attend that event.
Now, in the U.S., there are campaign finance laws that guide who can and can't donate to political campaigns.
Foreign visitors are allowed to attend political fundraisers, but can't pay their own way into these events, only American citizens and permanent
residents of this country can donate to U.S. political campaigns. We've learned that in the days leading up to that December 2017 fundraiser for
President Trump, Yang contributed almost $30,000.00 to various political funds supporting President Trump.
Now, what would be illegal, Kristie, is that if any foreign national were to reimburse Yang for their entry fee into one of these events. We have
reached out to the White House through the Republican National Committee who sponsored that particular fundraiser for Donald Trump as well as the
Trump campaign and Yang herself, but all those efforts have been unsuccessful and no one has replied to our request for comment.
LU STOUT: Very interesting, Li Yang, her connections as you put it, that Super Bowl selfie raising a lot of questions about how much access people
can get to the U.S. President there in the State of Florida. Kaylee Hartung, we thank you for your reporting.
You're watching "News Stream" and still ahead right here on the program, the black boxes have been found. Now, investigators, they are working
around the clock to find out why Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 came down. We'll look at what it means for the industry as well.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, you're watching "News Stream" and these are your headlines. One of the two women charged with killing
the half-brother of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un has been released. Prosecutors accused the woman of exposing Kim Jong-nam to a deadly nerve
agent during an at the KL Airport in 2017. The other defendant, a Vietnamese woman, is still facing a murder charge.
U.S.-backed forces have launched a renewed attack on the last ISIS stronghold in Eastern Syria. The CNN team witnessed airstrikes and
explosions there in Baghouz as the operation got under way on Sunday. A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces tweeted that the timeline for
ISIS to surrender themselves is over.
A Kremlin spokesman is denying that Russian lawmakers are taking steps to tighten internet restrictions, instead, he says, the Kremlin and its
supporters are arguing for so-called sovereign internet that would defend against foreign meddling. At least 29 people were detained Sunday at a
rally in Moscow against this new legislation.
Ethiopian Airlines says that crews have found both the digital flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder belonging to Flight 302, all 157
people on board died when the plane crashed on Sunday. The Nairobi bound flight went down minutes after take off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Several countries are grounding the type of aircraft involved, Boeing's 737 MAX 8. Now, let's get more now from Richard Quest in London, and Richard,
a lot of questions for you, but first, we found out in the last hour, hour and a half that the black boxes have been recovered. When there are so
many questions about the flight and also the plane, what will be answered as a result of extracting the data from these boxes?
RICHARD QUEST, ANCHOR, CNN: Everything. They will hear what the pilots were saying to each other and how to they were responding as the events
took place. The parameters on the black box itself will show in detail exactly what was happening on the aircraft -- what failed, how they
responded, what the aircraft was doing, what the automation was doing -- this will give them a complete picture of exactly what happened. It is the
fullest account of what took place on the plane.
LU STOUT: Now, we've learned that multiple airlines have grounded Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes. China has grounded them. In the last 30 minutes, we've
learned Indonesia as well. Is that an overreaction or is that a sound move?
QUEST: It's a very sound move. It's a safe move. You have an industry that prides itself on always taking the most cautious route, where safety
is paramount. In this circumstance, where you have two crashes in similar circumstances, same fluctuations, same phase of flight, brand new aircraft,
you cannot claim to have an abundance of caution and not then take some action as a result.
Now, the two countries involved, there's about 94 MAX in the Chinese fleet at the moment. There's 14 MAX with Indonesia. Lion Air has them. Now,
they are obviously going to be one of the first to withdraw. The test, Kristie, will be, as the day moves on, what do the U.S. Airlines and what
does the U.S. regulator, the FAA say? Because the FAA is the main certifying authority for the aircraft.
And if the FAA basically concludes by day's end that it's safer not to fly it, then they will have to ground them worldwide.
LU STOUT: And ahead of any announcement from the FAA, we did speak to Mary Schiavo, at the top of the hour. She of course is the former Inspector
General of the Department of Transportation in the United States and she says that these planes are not safe to fly right now. What are your
thoughts about what this means for Boeing and the future of the company?
QUEST: Well, there's two sides to that. The future of the company, it doesn't mean anything in the sense that Boeing is a vast company that makes
many aircraft that had been flying for decades, centuries worth of decades if you like. The planes from 777s, to the 76s, 75s, there is an enormous
number flying beautifully and safely around the world.
In the short term, this is going to be very, very difficult for Boeing because they have staked a lot. They've staked a lot. Now, here's what
you need to remember, Kristie.
[08:35:10]
QUEST: Boeing is not going to try and avoid this. Boeing is not going to try and say this doesn't matter to us. They are not going to try and sweep
it under the carpet. Boeing has as much interest, if not more, to find out what really happened, however embarrassing or unpleasant that might be or
damaging it might be.
So Boeing will be well and truly top of this. And if changes need to be made, then so be it. Kristie, there is one important point at this hour to
say, the traveling public -- you, me, everybody in the airports now is left in an impossible position.
The Chinese have grounded them, the Indonesians, the Ethiopians have grounded the MAX aircraft. The rest of the world is still flying them. It
is legitimate for passengers to say to people, "Hang on, is it safe or isn't, isn't it?" You have two conflicting views from different
authorities. That needs to be clarified by day's end.
LU STOUT: Yes, the fear is out there. It needs to be clarified. Richard Quest, we appreciate your analysis; as always, thank you so much. You're
watching "News Stream" and keep it here because still to come right here on the program, we are learning new details from Facebook, hackers using these
online quizzes to steal your personal data, this according to a new lawsuit filed by Facebook. What you need to know, coming straight up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Oh, sparkling night here in Hong Kong. Welcome back, this is "News Stream." Now, we've all seen these online quizzes with titles like,
"What does your eye color say about you" or "Do you have royal blood?" Now, they seem like an innocuous way sort of waste a few minutes on online.
But now, Facebook says that some of those quizzes may not be as innocent as they seem. In fact, they just filed a lawsuit against two Ukrainians that
says used the quizzes to gain access to user data.
CNN's Donie O'Sullivan joins us from New York. He has got more details. Donie, good to see you. How did this all work? What kind of data did the
alleged hackers access?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, REPORTER, CNN: Kristie, I mean, many of us, I know, I certainly have done some these online quizzes and most of them are based on
the premise, that not only you sort of answer some questions, but you also hand over some of your data.
So oftentimes, some of those questions you mentioned there, for instance, "Do you have Royal blood?" The quiz makers say, "Log in with your Facebook
account," or "Log in with your Google account so we can look at your likes, so we can look at your friend network and then we will base our judgments
off that data you hand us over."
In this instance, as well as people doing the quizzes, the app makers prompted them to download an internet browser extension, so, you know,
across Chrome and Safari and even Internet Explorer, people can download plug-ins which basically serve all sort of different functions.
Once users download these plug-ins, it basically gave the hackers access to user's internet traffic. What they did with that was they accessed some
private Facebook information including our list of friends, but also were able to start injecting sort of malicious ads into the Facebook News Feed.
[08:40:07]
O'SULLIVAN: Now, Facebook tells us about 60,000 users or so were impacted by this and were mostly Russian and Ukrainian speakers.
LU STOUT: Wow, 60,000 people were affected by this. Facebook may be taking action but this happened, data was breached for a lot of people. So
what does this tell us about the security of our Facebook data?
O'SULLIVAN: Sure and I think it's important to point out even though Facebook is taking this action and some Facebook tools were used here, this
sort of goes beyond Facebook.
Multiple different browsers from different companies were also impacted and it was actually Facebook who took the proactive move to discover this and
then sort of informed the other organizations. Now, Facebook hasn't told us what organizations they are.
But to your question of what does this mean about Facebook data? I mean, we share an enormous amount of information with Facebook and Facebook is
always trying to assure us that they keep it safe.
But you'll remember last year, the Cambridge Analytica scandal actually came about through an online quiz like this. An app developer was able to
gather data on tens of millions of people around the world using an online quiz. So I think Facebook has been looking to see how it can, you know, I
think improve how it passes on our information to these third party app developers.
In this case, there was a failure on Facebook's part. These app developers misrepresented themselves to Facebook. They said, they used aliases and
Facebook only figured that out after the fact.
So I think there probably is going to be more scrutiny to see Facebook stores our data, but it also gives us the opportunity to log in to
different services using its platform. How that relationship works with third-party developers, I think Facebook has to improve.
LU STOUT: Yes, and these quizzes again, they're out there. We've done them before. They look so innocuous. But we have got to be aware about
what could be lying under the surface. Donie, we'll leave it at that, but thank you so much for your reporting and take care.
India is the largest democracy in the world and in one month, voters will be going to the polls. Politicians are already in campaign mode, 900
million voters are eligible to vote with the nationalist Prime Minister, Narendra Modi bidding for a new term. Five hundred and forty three seats
in the Lower House of Parliament are up for grabs and Mr. Modi could face a tough battle.
His Hindu Nationalist BJP Party lost a number of polls in Indian states in December.
At age 116, this Japanese woman is now officially, the world's oldest person. Kane Tanaka was born on January 2nd, 1903. Guinness World Records
has honored her for being both the oldest living woman and the oldest living person. The super centenarian likes to wake up at 6:00 in the
morning. She likes to study Math and she is said to be very good at playing the strategy board game, Othello.
And that is "News Stream." I am Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Alex Thomas is next.
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