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Search for Bangkok Bombing Suspect; China Blast Aftermath; The Horrors of Syria's War; Greece Struggles with Island Migrant Crisis; Clinton's Competition; Donald Trump's Tweets in Song; Thailand Tourism Fear; Hackers Post Cheating Site's Customer Data; Pistorius Will Not Be Released Friday. Aired 10-11 ET
Aired August 19, 2015 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for joining us.
We begin the show with the investigation into the Bangkok bombing. Police say the bomber had accomplices. This comes a day after Thai police
identified the suspect in Monday's attack, they say surveillance video shows at least two other people helping him. The main suspect wore a
yellow shirt; the others were dressed in red and white shirts.
Police also released a sketch of the suspect, who was seen placing a backpack under a bench then leaving minutes before the explosion.
They're also seeking in court an arrest warrant for the suspect. Authorities still don't know his nationality. The death toll, though, has
been reduced from 22 to 20.
CNN's Saima Mohsin joins me now from Bangkok.
Hi, there. You're on the ground. You've been hearing how the investigation is going. But we also understand a taxi driver has been
speaking.
What did he say?
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of fast-moving developments, Robyn, in the last hour. Two things I've got to tell you. First, let's
talk about our taxi driver you mentioned. This is a motorbike taxi driver. It's the best means of transport, apart from the public transport,
Skytrain, to get around the city.
And what he tells us is that just after the blast he was stationed at his usual point at a taxi rank when this man that he has now seen on the
CCTV footage released by the police to the media approached his taxi rank and got on the motorbike.
But before he did that, he didn't speak to him to tell him where to go. He handed him a note, on it, in English, was written "Lumphini Park,"
those two simple words. That's where he wanted to go.
Lumphini Park, Robyn, is a large park in Bangkok, much like Central Park in New York or Hyde Park in London or any major city park. Now he
just handed him that note. He didn't say a word. Got on the back of the bike and they were on their way.
Another thing that this motorbike taxi driver noticed that was very strange is that this man started speaking on the phone. Now we don't know
whether someone dialed into him or if he dialed out. But he started speaking on the phone in a language that this taxi driver could not
identify. He said that he did not recognize it as Thai nor English and nor did he say that the man looked Thai.
Now this man is the main suspect, Robyn, that is identified in that yellow T-shirt, bringing in the backpack, leaving it under the bench inside
the shrine. Now in the last few half an hour or so I've spoken to the police spokesman here, Leftenant General Prawut Thavornsiri, who told me
the police have now zeroed in on the two accomplices they believe could have been working with this main suspect.
Now those men, also on the CCTV footage, one man in a red shirt, the other in a white shirt. In the footage, Robyn, as that yellow-shirted man
sits down with his backpack, you can see those two men standing up in right in front of him.
Now what police believe -- and of course they have yet to identify these men, find them, speak to them -- they believe that they were
deliberately standing in front of that man so that no one could see what he was doing when he was planting what they believe to be his bomb in that
backpack.
So they now want to speak to all three of these men and they're asking for the public's help releasing an award of 1 million bat -- that's around
$28,0000-$30,000. And they are also asking people to come forward with photographs, video footage of this location.
There's a lot of tourists there, a lot of local people that take pictures like this, much like police in the United States appealed for that
kind of stuff after the Boston bombing. They want a 360 perspective of what was going on, seeing these men going in and out. Where do they come
from? Where did they go to -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Indeed, it's just chilling, looking at those images as you're talking. So we don't know much about these suspects. What is clear is
that there's three of them. Is there a belief that they belong to a cell where could they be and of course what was their motive?
MOHSIN: Yes. Now this is what's really confusing everyone. There hasn't been any claim of responsibility. Now of course after any terror
attack, when it is conducted by a terrorist outfit, they are very quick to claim responsibility. They want people to know that they are behind this.
[10:05:00]
MOHSIN: They want to instill that sense of fear and power over people. Now no one has claimed responsibility, leading police to say,
well, it's not likely, not likely to be a major terrorist organization; otherwise they would have perhaps claimed responsibility by now.
Was this a lone wolf-style attack by a random group of people? We know of course now that it wasn't just one man. They believe him to have
two accomplices.
But who are these people?
Now they did release a sketch as well, Robyn, of this main suspect, wearing the yellow T-shirt. He was wearing glasses, had a slightly longer
shaggy cut hair, dark hair, pale skin. And they're not identifying him as Thai, just like this motorbike taxi driver has told us.
But they cannot say for sure what nationality is, where he's from, if indeed he is Thai or not. They are right now really want more people to
come forward who may have seen these men to help identify them and locate them.
And of course if anyone else has seen anything suspicious -- and that's another thing that's pretty struck me actually, Robyn. You know,
because of terrorism these days, everywhere around the world, we're all so aware of suspicious packages or bags. Whenever I go through an airport or
a train station, we hear these things.
But that's not really a sentiment that's ever expressed here in Thailand. I've been living here for 1.5 years. People don't -- aren't
aware of these things. And I think that's something for the Thai authorities to be perhaps now alerting and make the public more aware.
If you see a suspicious bag, please alert us. And if you see these suspicious characters, let us know -- Robyn.
CURNOW: And also complications, questions on whether the government is going to crack down even more and what the implications of that is.
Saima Mohsin in Bangkok, thank you so much.
To China now: 10 executives have been detained in connection with last week's deadly chemical explosions. They worked for the company that
owned the warehouse where the blasts detonated. Officials say the site was full of toxic sodium cyanide and chemical contamination is still a major
concern.
Will Ripley filed this update for us earlier.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now several thousand people are on the ground here in Tianjin, working to clean up the chemical disaster
that is unfolding here. And you can see some of the crews right here behind me.
They actually had to throw out the hazmat suits that they were wearing and they just changed into these new yellow suits because they say they
were contaminated with sodium cyanide. They have detected and collected that deadly toxin and they've also detected other dangerous chemicals in
this area.
We're about a half a mile from the blast site and of course the concentrations only get higher as you get closer. The chemicals that they
found they have deposited in this truck. You can see they have those storage containers to secure it safely and ship it to an area where it can
be contained and away from the public because, keep in mind, we are standing right now just across the street from thousands of apartments,
where people are supposed to be moving in in less than two months.
A state reporter who tagged along with these hazardous material crews actually traveled to the center of the blast site, which remains heavily
restricted. So there is not any access to the general public. But this reporter was embedded with the crews and as they were getting closer to the
center of the blast site, the levels of sodium cyanide, which can be lethal in small doses and also the levels of neurotoxins actually exceeded the
measuring capacity of their testing meters.
That shows you just how heavily concentrated these chemicals are. And it's made worse on the ground here by the fact that it has been raining
today. And so the rain, while it clears some of the pollution in the air, it makes things much more complicated here on the ground because the water
can actually interact with the chemicals that these folks here or these hazmat workers here are working to detect.
The cleanup effort continues and so does the process of identifying the bodies. The death toll is holding steady and more and more families
are learning, in fact, are getting the confirmation that their loved ones were killed in this disaster a full week ago.
But there is still a search underway for the missing and there are dozens missing, a full week after this explosion and the ensuing
environmental disaster that this city and this country is still coming to terms with -- Will Ripley, CNN, Tianjin, China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Terrifying levels and concentrations of those chemicals and the Chinese government has promised a full investigation and a local safety
official is apparently under scrutiny.
Now the government normally keeps tight control over the media. But is now acknowledging the role social networks played in publicizing the
disaster. A commentary in the Communist Party newspaper, "The People's Daily," said in part, "All related government agencies as well as private
companies have learned a lot of lessons and gathered experience in handling emergencies --
[10:10:00]
CURNOW: -- "in social media reports. We should focus our attention more to providing accurate information, preparing well for social responses
and showing our sincerity in handling the crisis."
You're at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Still ahead, if the U.S. presidential race were held today, would Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump?
We'll have the latest poll numbers. And migrants flood the tiny Greek island of Kos. How the government is dealing with the influx with a cruise
ship -- that's next.
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CURNOW: Welcome back. I'm Robyn Curnow. You're watching CNN.
Now the Sunni extremist group ISIS has already wiped out thousands of years of history in Iraq and Syria. And today there's news of another
brutal act.
A Syrian opposition group says ISIS publicly beheaded the man you see in this picture, Khaled al-Assad was antiquities expert in Palmyra. ISIS
seized the city back in May, destroying two ancient Muslim shrines and posting pictures on Facebook.
Palmyra is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The battlefield in Syria's civil war is already bloody -- was already bloody when ISIS started to gain ground. Now a Syrian defector has
released a cache of 50,000 photographs that show the brutal torture of civilians under the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Brian Todd has
more on the story.
But first, a warning: some of the images you're about to see are very disturbing.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A top U.N. envoy in Syria's capital openly expressing his anger over the killing of more than
100 civilians in government airstrikes.
STEPHEN O'BRIEN, U.N. UNDER SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: I am absolutely horrified by the total disregard for civilian
life by all parties in this conflict.
TODD (voice-over): But despite allegations that Syria's president is bombing his own people and even used chemical weapons on them, which he
denies, Bashar al-Assad likes to present himself in interviews as a soft- spoken, benevolent leader.
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, PRESIDENT OF SYRIA: First of all, it's not my nature to threaten anybody. It's -- I'm a very quiet person. I'm very frank.
But I wouldn't threaten.
TODD (voice-over): But his opponents say these photos show what happens to people who cross him, pictures so horribly graphic we have to
blur most of them, bodies mutilated, emaciated, many victims had their eyes gouged out.
QUTAIBA IDLIBI, SYRIAN DEFECTOR: This is almost routine. So many of them, a sharp metal instrument is used to gouge out the eyes, causing a
spray of blood that you can see sometimes around the eye socket and it just -- as a routine welcoming into the torture that they're going to have to
endure.
TODD (voice-over): These pictures recently exhibited in the halls of the U.S. Congress, taken by a former Syrian military police photographer
who goes by the pseudonym "Cesar," he testified before Congress and is now in hiding.
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TODD (voice-over): Another defector, Qutaiba Idlibi, says he was tortured in a way that was almost clinical. When arrested, he was made to
strip then a doctor walked in.
IDLIBI: The doctor came and he started touching my body and seeing the muscles I have and then he told them, start with level 3. So they
would not waste time doing stuff that my body can handle.
TODD (voice-over): Human rights activists say many of these victims were ordinary citizens, some who'd spoken out against Assad or were
believed to have information on those who did.
Idlibi displayed a picture of a young man named Mahmoud (ph), who he says was rounded up with his father and tortured just for being Idlibi's
neighbor. Mahmoud's (ph) father told Idlibi of his son's last words.
IDLIBI: He just -- he carried him and put his head on his lap. And Mahmoud didn't say anything. And he was just -- he told me looked him in
the eye and he told him I just don't know -- I don't want to die, Dad.
TODD: We reached out to Syrian officials in Damascus and at the U.N. about the photographs. They didn't respond. One top Syrian official,
asked previously about the pictures, said the accusation of government tortures and killings is, quote, "a huge lie" -- Brian Todd, CNN,
Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Horrifying.
Now the situation for Syrian civilians has become even more desperate in the Yarmouk camp.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency is reporting a typhoid outbreak at the camp where many Palestinian refugees live. Spokesman Chris
Gunness says access to the camp is restricted and conditions are, quote, "dire." He says the outbreak, quote, "is likely to be the tip of the
iceberg."
There's no shortage of people understandably trying to escape the horrors and chaos of war. CNN's Atika Shubert is on the island of Kos
between Greece and Turkey -- sorry; mixed those words up together -- to show us how the Greek government is dealing with the influx of migrants.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the Greek solution to the refugee crisis on the island of Kos: a cruise ship to
house 2,500 at a time.
So this is how it works: refugees can temporarily live aboard this ship while they're getting registered. Now that should only take a few
days. And then once they have their registration papers, they can move off the island. And for many here, that is the doorway to Europe.
But will it work? Greek officials won't let media on board. But these pictures, taken from inside by one of the refugees, shows good
conditions and hot meals provided. Not without problems though; backed up toilets and the boat is filling up fast.
Fawaz Faoui (ph) says he is happy to be on board, though.
FAWAZ FAOUI (PH), SYRIAN REFUGEE: This is good solution. It's better to stay to see the people outside in the street.
SHUBERT (voice-over): But Fahzi Najar (ph), an anesthetist from Idlib, Syria, warns the boat is getting crowded.
"Now it's getting full," he tells us, "and it's better to process our registration quickly. There will be too many people inside. I told my
neighbor just this morning there must be 2,000 people just inside this cafeteria," he said.
The number camped out on the streets has diminished. But this is only a partial solution. The boat is for refugees fleeing the war in Syria and
Iraq only.
The thousands of others from Pakistan to Nigeria, the wait is much more, weeks or longer. They crowd outside the police station to register
in the baking sun, camped in squalid conditions.
Plus the cruise ship is on scheduled to be here until the end of the month and with as many as a thousand arriving on these shores every day,
Kos may find it needs more than a boat -- Atika Shubert, CNN, Kos, Greece.
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CURNOW: You're at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Still ahead, Thailand's economy relies heavily on tourism. How will this week's bombing in Bangkok
impact tourism?
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CURNOW: Welcome back; to U.S. politics now and the Democratic race for president. The latest CNN/ORC poll shows Hillary Clinton holding the
lead over her competition and many Republican rivals, 47 percent of Democratic voters surveyed say they support Clinton. Senator Bernie
Sanders holds second place with 29 percent. Vice President Joe Biden follows with 14 percent, though he's not officially running.
The other candidates are much further back.
Well, let's get some perspective on the numbers now from our senior political reporter Stephen Collinson.
Hi, there, Stephen. There are also numbers on how Hillary Clinton fares against Republican candidates. I mean, how does that play out,
particularly with Trump out there in the theater of this?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. At the moment, Hillary Clinton is still beating every single Republican candidate
in this poll. But what's very interesting is the surge in support for Donald Trump. He's only 6 points behind her now in a head-to-head matchup.
That's a real surge from the last time this poll was conducted a month ago.
And it shows that Donald Trump has considered support among Republicans, among independent voters and among white voters. And the
reason that's interesting because it suggests that Donald Trump's campaign is a little bit more sustained and robust than many commentators in
Washington thought, when he first burst on the scene, many people thought he was just going to be a flash in the pan.
Well, that's two months ago; he's leading the Republican race in all the polls and now he's showing himself competitive against Hillary Clinton.
One caveat obviously is that this is a long, long time before the election in November 2016 and a lot can happen.
But it does give an interesting snapshot of the movement in this race.
CURNOW: Indeed. I mean, things could all change but it has been fascinating and it really is still such a long way to go.
So with all of that in mind, what will the Hillary Clinton team make of these numbers?
Do they do anything differently? Do they keep doing the same thing?
How does this play out? What kind of impact does it have?
COLLINSON: Well, I think there are some worrying trends in this poll in this sense for Hillary Clinton in that the trend of these polls is going
down, have favorable ratings dipping. It's the first time in a Democratic poll she's been below 50 percent of support of likely Democratic voters.
There's a surge by Bernie Sanders, the Socialist senator from Vermont that you mentioned who's very popular in the left wing of the party. He
was up 10 points over the last month. Many people think he's not a real threat to Hillary Clinton winning the nomination. But he's very strong in
the early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire. So he could give her a shock at the beginning of next year if this poll is borne out.
So there are things to worry about for Hillary Clinton, these polls. But the bottom line is in the end, is that she's still likely the most --
the favorite to become the next President of the United States, to win the Democratic nomination and then to beat Republicans.
But if these trends continue, that could change in the months to come.
CURNOW: And Joe Biden, he hasn't thrown his hat in the ring. We understand he's still contemplating it.
But do these numbers impact whether or not he'll make a bid?
COLLINSON: I think if I was Joe Biden, I'd be looking at these polls and thinking, well, Hillary Clinton is being impacted by this scandal over
her email server that she had a private email server when she was secretary of state.
The trend lines appear to be down. That might weigh on Joe Biden's thinking, his wondering whether to get into this race, perhaps Hillary
Clinton is a weaker candidate than everybody thought.
But at the same time, Hillary Clinton still beats him in these polls by over 30 percent. And the poll also shows that if Joe Biden doesn't run,
that actually strengthens Hillary Clinton's position most of the support that is now saying that they would side with Joe Biden would go to her
rather than Bernie Sanders. And that could bolster her position in the next few months. And we'll see that in the next few polls.
CURNOW: Stephen Collinson, fascinating numbers. Thanks so much for joining us here on the IDESK. Appreciate it.
COLLINSON: Thanks.
CURNOW: Now Donald Trump is known for using Twitter to express his thoughts and typically he doesn't really hold back. Now some of his tweets
have been put to music. You've got to see this one.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Donald Trump's tweets are a window to his soul, what could be more soulful than Josh Groban
singing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The best tweets --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- of Donald Trump.
MOOS (voice-over): Prepare for deep thoughts and weighty words.
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JOSH GROBAN, COMEDIAN: I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke.
MOOS (voice-over): Trump now uses Twitter to launch political attacks, but in the past he's dispensed romantic advice.
GROBAN: Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart. She cheated on him like a dog.
MOOS (voice-over): Truth be told, the Jimmy Kimmel show took at least one of Trump's tweets out of context.
GROBAN: We need global warming.
MOOS (voice-over): Actually, Donald tweeted, "It's freezing and snowing in New York. We need global warming."
But there is nothing warmer than the Donald's regard for himself.
GROBAN: My IQ is one of the highest.
MOOS (voice-over): But you can't prove it by his tweets.
To illustrate the point that The Donald's tweets are like something a 12-year old might send, "GQ" posted a quiz.
"Who tweeted it, Donald Trump or a random teen?"
Spoiler alert: it was a teen who tweeted, "Lena Dunham is still dummy trash." And it was Donald who tweeted, "Word is spreading that I got a
tattoo. No way."
Lately, Donald has tried to be more diplomatic.
But even as he tries to be a kinder, gentler Trump, he slips up.
Trump told columnist Maureen Dowd, "Heidi Klum. Sadly she is no longer a 10," prompting Heidi to release a video of a guy in a Trump mask
demoting her.
She shrugged it off with the #HeidiTrumpsTrump.
And cartoonist Jeff Danziger depicted Trump rating Heidi in all of his bare bellied splendor.
The last time Josh Groban sang tweets, they were from Kanye West. But The Donald and The Kanye, birds of a feather, went tweeting.
GROBAN: I love me --
MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN --
GROBAN: -- #MakeAmericaGreatAgain.
MOOS (voice-over): -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CURNOW: Fabulous stuff.
Speaking of The Donald, tune in for a CNN special report, the Donald Trump interview. That is Thursday morning at 9:00 in Hong Kong. That's a
bright and early 5:00 am in Abu Dhabi.
This is the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Ahead, Thailand's tourism faces a big hit in the wake of the Bangkok bombing. We'll talk
about it with someone in the industry with a live interview. Stay with us for that.
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CURNOW: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for joining us. Here's a check of the headlines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW (voice-over): A Turkish news agency says police have arrested two gunmen near the entrance to a palace in Istanbul. The arrests come
after gunfire was reported near a police station at the palace entrance. No deaths or injuries have been reported.
The German parliament has overwhelmingly approved a third bailout package for Greece. The package is worth about $95 billion. If all goes
according to plan, Greece will receive the first installment of cash on Thursday.
Indonesian officials say a passenger plane that crashed on Sunday was carrying nearly half a million dollars. A post office was transporting
cash to distribute it to the poor. Search teams did find some money at the crash site. Some of it's still usable. All 54 people on board the air
flight were killed.
Suspects in Monday's bombing in Bangkok had accomplices. Police say surveillance video shows he had help from at least two other men in white
and red shirts. Police are offering a reward for information leading to his capture. They say they're unsure also if a second explosion Tuesday by
a river pier is related to Monday's bombing although the bombs were similar.
Monday's blast killed 20 people and it could strike yet another big blow to Thailand's tourism industry. Last year, the country enjoyed a
military coup (INAUDIBLE) part of Thailand's economy fueled by growth from mostly Chinese visitors. Some tour groups have already canceled trips in
the wake of the bombing.
David Scowsill (ph) is president and CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council. He joins me now from CNN London.
Thank you so much, David, for joining us here on the IDESK.
What do you think is the likely impact of this week's bombing in Bangkok on Thailand?
DAVID SCOWSILL (PH), PRESIDENT AND CEO, WORLD TRAVEL AND TOURISM COUNCIL: There's going to be a short-term impact on the economy and on
the travel and tourism industry. Thailand is very dependent on travel and tourism. It generates something like $72 billion of GDP, which is roughly
20 percent of the country's GDP. It employs around 5.5 million people, about 14 percent of the population.
So there will be a short-term impact and the key is to manage this on the ground from the government's perspective and to make sure we restore
confidence in the country as a travel and tourism destination as fast as we can.
CURNOW: You say a short-term impact. Is there -- say there's just been an incident in Istanbul; we know about Tunisia a few months ago. Does
issues around crime and terror make a difference?
Or do cheaper flights and favorable exchange rates in the long run trump that?
SCOWSILL (PH): Well, we're dealing with a global terrorist problem that happens to break out in a certain country with dramatic and appalling
consequences.
But overall, the industry continues to grow at roughly 1 percent faster than GDP, something like 3.5-4 percent a year. That's what's
happening globally.
But when you have incidents like this, typically it follows a pattern. So there will be some short-term cancellations. About half of the visitors
that come to Thailand are from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Russia. And some of those people will think twice about going to Thailand in the
immediate future.
But we have to remember, this was in Bangkok, the capital city. And the majority of tourists only spend a night or two in Bangkok and go to
Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai and Phuket and Krabi and all these other places. So typically, the cycle is there's a short-term drop-off for 2-3 months.
And then rapidly the confidence gets restored; a lot of marketing, a lot of entertaining, a tour operating and travel agents need to make sure they
understand the country's safe. And then the business returns to normal pretty rapidly.
CURNOW: OK. So when we talk about that, I'm South African and there's been a huge impact on South Africa's tourism because of the
institution of some new document that an unabridged birth certificate that parents have to take if they're bringing children in and out of the
country.
When it comes to comparing a bureaucratic addition like that, which has had a huge effect on South Africa's tourism, is that more dangerous
than, say, a terror attack or crime or fears about safety?
(CROSSTALK)
SCOWSILL (PH): -- situations.
CURNOW: -- they are very different, but in terms of the sort of overall impact on how tourism moves around.
SCOWSILL (PH): Well, South African example is a very interesting one, because in a potentially misguided attempt to do something about child
trafficking, there's been a knock-on impact for the travel and tourism industry by putting in place all sorts of biometric testing and visa
requirements which, frankly, are unnecessary. And so South African travel and tourism is declining gradually as a result.
But when you look at these other terrorism incidents and Thailand itself has had one or two blips with bombs; it's had the Asian tsunami in
the past, but the -- what happens is --
[10:35:00]
SCOWSILL (PH): -- once the media disappears from the focus on a particular country, the authorities take the necessary steps to restore
security there, then we find it rebounds quite quickly, within 3-6 months of the original incident.
CURNOW: OK. Thank you so much for your expertise, David Scowsill (ph), appreciate it, for joining us here on the INTERNATIONAL DESK.
I'm Robyn Curnow. We'll be back with more news right after (INAUDIBLE).
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CURNOW: Welcome back.
Hackers have followed through with their threat against the cheating website ashleymadison.com. A month after they warned the site to shut down
or risk a huge darter leak. The hackers, known simply as Impact Team, published the site's customer information on what's known as the "dark
Web."
Let's go CNNMoney correspondent Laurie Segall for more.
There's so many questions here, first of all, why is there a cheating website, who goes on it?
But there's also the broader concerns around hacking.
What's happening here?
LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's actually pretty scary when you think about it. And just the amount of data that was published,
Robyn. We're talking 35 gigabytes once you download it of data. That is a huge, huge amount. And let me get specifically to what has been put out
there on the dark Web. We're talking 33 million accounts, like 36 million email addresses; again, you have to take that with a grain of salt because
sometimes people put fake emails, fake usernames. But they don't put fake payment information. So there are -- you're seeing a lot of that, credit
card information, home addresses, phone numbers, also internal corporate data.
You know I spoke to one security researcher, Robyn, and he said the amount of information the hackers were able to take is just unprecedented.
And it was on the dark Web, right? But now what we're seeing in the next couple -- in the last couple hours is this information is finding its way
over to the open Web. There's a site right now -- I don't want to name it -- but there's a site out there right now where people can just put in an
email address and see if someone they know is on this -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Well, I mean, we had a few people in the newsroom, somebody suggesting they might go and see if their ex-husband's name is on that
list. But I mean, that's what people are now going to be asking, can you go and just find people's details and names very easily, not just on the
dark Web?
I mean, can anybody go and type something in and get some information?
SEGALL: Yes, and I think we have to take this with a grain of salt, right? And people might put fake names out there. Now that being said,
there was so much data released. We're talking credit card information, geolocation data. There's another person that's working on using a Google
Map to kind of identify where the most cheaters are. So it's pretty disturbing. You've got to think if you're on that list if you were using
Ashley Madison whether or not you agree with this, you're probably pretty worried right now.
And it's to chat a little bit about who's behind this. We look at -- you mentioned the Impact Team. This is the first we're hearing of this
hacking collective, this hacking group. And they say that they're doing this for moral reasons. They don't believe in Ashley Madison, this site
that promotes infidelity. It's a very controversial site.
And I want to read you a little bit of their manifesto, because they also put that out there, along with this enormous amount of data.
They said, "Find yourself in here? Learn your lesson and make amends. Embarrassing now, but you'll get over it."
So there are a lot of --
[10:40:00]
SEGALL: -- folks right now who are pretty worried about this. And you also have to think, sure, there might be a lot of tough conversations,
potential divorce attorneys. But you know, people are really, really worried also about identity theft since now all this information is out
there and it's also making its way to the open Web -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Indeed. And put aside the moral implications of this, the dubious nature of some of this activity, it also, again, reinforces --
you've kind of touched on that -- the issue of passwords and being protected on the Internet. Really you're not. Work on the assumption that
anything that goes online is possibly going to make it out there.
Isn't that basically the lesson out of this -- again?
SEGALL: Yes. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but how many times do we have to sit here and talk about another day and another hack and
personal information getting out there?
There's nothing really as a consumer you could have done if you thought that this site was going to protect you. They swear to secrecy.
And as fate would have it, it was very, very easy to get into.
I was just at a hacking conference actually in Las Vegas, with a lot of security researchers. And one of them showed me. He did this legally
because the Fortune 500 company had hired him to actually try to actively break in, which people should be doing that. And he was able to break into
their system by picking up the phone and getting someone at a help desk to click a link. And he was able to take over as many servers as he wanted.
So it just shouldn't be that easy. And this is very eye-opening -- Robyn.
CURNOW: Laurie Segall, thank you so much, very eye-opening. I think that's one way to put it -- thanks so much for all of your reporting.
Now I just want to bring you up to date on some breaking news just in to CNN. South Africa's justice minister says Oscar Pistorius, the Olympic
runner, will not be released on house arrest on Friday.
Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide and has spent 10 months in jail for the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. He was
sentenced to five years in prison but is eligible for release on parole. That had been expected to happen on Friday. Before this decision or at
least his comment from the justice minister.
David McKenzie joins me now live from Johannesburg.
What's happening? This is a major U-turn by the South African government.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a U-turn and it's certainly been left to the last second because as you say, Oscar Pistorius,
disgraced Olympian, who killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, and was set to be released on correctional supervision on Friday to be released to his
uncle's house. And now there is this U-turn.
The justice ministry, through their spokesman, telling CNN that they are now suspending the parole board's decision, the parole board, which met
in June and decided that he would at least get released in this way, and that they should review it again.
Yesterday the justice minister got on local radio and TV, saying that he questioned the release of Pistorius during Women's Month here in South
Africa. A women's group had petitioned the justice ministry, saying that it shouldn't happen and it sent a bad signal in terms of violence against
women, particularly given the high-profile nature of this case.
But it does seem now that his release is put on hold, at least for now. There will be some time -- I'm not entirely sure how long -- before
that parole board can meet again and reassess the case.
This is under the remit, says the spokesman, of the Justice and Correctional Services minister to query a parole like this. They're also
saying that the parole board met too soon to come up with this decision, even though one-sixth of the sentence is well in line with South African
law, say legal analysts.
CURNOW: Indeed, well in line with the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, to be specific. I mean, is this an indication of political
interference in the work of a judicial commission, expect to be the parole board is working for Correctional Services, not for the Justice Ministry?
MCKENZIE: Well, at this point, I think interference, it's too early to say. But certainly political pressure would have played some role in
this decision. And the justice minister said as much, that they have been petitioned by an NGO which works on women's rights to query, at least, the
release of Oscar Pistorius.
Now whether a person who had been involved in a similar crime would have gotten this level of attention, all the way up to a cabinet minister
post, that's highly unlikely. So in that case, yes. The nature, the high- profile nature, the fact that the world's media is here in South Africa awaiting his supposed walk out of prison would mean there's a lot of
attention on this case. And that seems to be playing into the justice minister's decision.
But they are saying this is their right within the law to question a parole decision and it doesn't mean that Oscar Pistorius won't leave
prison. But it does appear that he's not going to leave prison soon, that's for sure -- Robyn.
CURNOW: All right. It's unclear how this is going to play out and of course there is an appeal scheduled --
[10:45:00]
CURNOW: -- for November. So Oscar Pistorius, it appears, not going under correctional supervision on Friday; David McKenzie, thank you for
updating us on this story. Appreciate it.
That does it for us here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow. Don't go anywhere. "WORLD SPORT" with Alex Thomas is up next.
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