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CNN Live At Daybreak
The Morning Call: Typhoon Season in Hong Kong; CNN Sets up Bureau in Nigeria
Aired July 25, 2001 - 08:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Every morning, we've got a morning conference here at CNN that helps plan our coverage for the day. We want to give you some insight into how we make the decisions as well as how many places we are really in the world.
Let's go to Hong Kong. We're going to check in with senior assignment editor there Kieran Baker.
Kieran, what are you working on?
KIERAN BAKER, CNN SENIOR ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: Carol, we're tracking the typhoon season across the South China Sea. We've been tracking Typhoon Yutu for the last 24 hours. We had a team on standby all last night. Our intrepid crew and correspondent were out all day today.
It's an incredible picture story, somewhat of an anticlimax today, but a relief for the people of Hong Kong, most of whom stayed home, schools were closed, the banking and financial centers shut down.
We have an incredible vantage floor from our 40th floor offices, where our studio cameras can show live the ever-changing weather patterns. We're also able to go live from the harbor and ferry ports, across Hong Kong Island, and it's a surprisingly airy scene right now in what is normally a very dynamic city, the famous harbor -- and one of the world's busied shipping lanes is deserted, as the tankers and ferries have taken cover from the typhoon.
It's so far bypassed it. It is, however, expected to hit mainland China. It's going to hit west of here hours -- Carol.
LIN: Kieran, I'm glad it's bypassing you. But in a situation like this, where you're facing winds up to 100 mph, I'm hoping you are in a steal-reinforced building, but how do you stay in the position for that kind of coverage?
We're lucky enough to have an incredible vantage point. We do have a team on the ground. WE are relying a lot on our affiliates, as well, for live coverage, but own correspondent and crew are there. It's where precautions are taken. It's a natural thing for us to do, obviously.
LIN: Thank you very much, Kieran Baker, checking in from Hong Kong.
Let's go to Lagos, Nigeria, where we have a new bureau chief.
Jeff Koinange, welcome to CNN.
What are you working on?
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN LAGOS BUREAU CHIEF: Thanks a lot, Carol. This is a kind of typhoon happening in west Africa. It's soccer season right now, and soccer is huge in Africa, in general, and in Nigeria in particular. And the Super Eagles, the local soccer team, is in the fight of their lives. Those of you will recall the Super Eagles won the World Cup in the United States in 1994. Soccer here is like baseball over there, only they play it 365 days a year.
The Super Eagles, who will play this weekend against their perennial rivals, Ghana, and also their neighbors, if they lose, they will not go to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Japan and Korea next year. If they win, it's going to be huge. There are going to be celebrations everywhere.
The team is training hard. We're with them right now. I see them training, as we speak. Star players are talking to coaches. Talk to people in the street, see how they feel. What will they do if they lose, or if they win. It's going to be big.
LIN: Since we're setting up a bureau there, what is the range of stories you look for to come out of Nigeria?
KOINANGE: Politics is always a big story. This country was under military rule for so many years -- under democracy for a couple of years. It will be interesting to see whether the military will indeed come back at some point or whether democracy will hold. Oil is also a big story, the biggest foreign exchange earner. That will always be a story here. Big oil companies -- American and European companies -- making it big doing off-shore drilling. That's always a big story. The economy. This is the largest population in sub- Saharan Africa -- over 120 million people -- it's a huge, huge population, with big buying power.
There will always be stories -- human interest, economic, the works -- Carol.
LIN: We will be looking forward to your coverage, Jeff Koinange, our new Nigeria bureau chief, in Lagos.
It sound like the soccer team just went running by.
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