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Twitter Shuts Down Vine; London Names Best City in the World; Trump's Continued Rigged Election Claims; Clinton Defends Against Latest Email Dump; Lithuania Defends Against Possible Russian Aggression. 8:00a- 9:00a ET

Aired October 28, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:13] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in HongKong and welcome to News Stream.

Now, Donald Trump continues to claim the U.S. presidential election is rigged while Hillary Clinton defends herself after new revelations emerge

from hacked emails.

Rebels launch an offensive to break the siege on the Syrian city of Aleppo as ministers meet

in Moscow to discuss the crisis.

And gone in six seconds, Twitter shuts down its short video sharing service Vine.

We are down to the final leg of the U.S. presidential race. Election day is less than two

weeks away and Donald Trump is hammering away with allegations of fraud as millions cast ballots in early voting.

Hillary Clinton is turning her attention to key battleground states and defending herself amid new revelations from emails hacked from her

campaign.

Jason Carroll has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should just cancel the election and give it to Trump, right?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump reigniting his unsubstantiated

claims of a rigged election.

TRUMP: You look at Texas, a lot of calls were made from Texas, an incredible place. I

love Texas. And the lines are massive, and they were talking about flipping, where they press a button and they press it for me and another

name comes up named crooked Hillary Clinton.

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS: Do we have any data on that? Do we have any facts on that? You know, anybody can put...

TRUMP: No, they just call in. No, they call in.

CARROLL: Texas officials deny any voter fraud issues. Trump, who has repeatedly publicly called on African-Americans to support him, now his

campaign accused of trying to suppress their turnout through negative advertising, though the campaign denies those allegations.

As new campaign finance reports show, Trump drastically slowing the flow of his own money to his campaign after vowing to pump millions more into it.

TRUMP: I"ll have over $100 million in the campaign.

CARROLL: Filings show the billionaire only put in $30,000 this month after consistently investing $2 million in previous months.

Hillary Clinton nearly doubling Trump's haul in October.

On the stump in Ohio, Trump slamming the Clintons after hacked emails reveal how much

Bill Clinton made off lucrative speeches and ties to his foundation's fundraisers.

TRUMP: If the Clintons were willing to play this fast and loose with their enterprise when they weren't in the White House, just imagine what they'll

do given the chance to once again control the Oval Office.

CARROLL: The Clinton campaign saying in a statement that she never made decisions because of donations to the Clinton Foundation. None of the

relationships being reported today are new.

Meanwhile, Trump suggesting he might sue NBC over the release of that 2005 Access Hollywood video of him making lewd remarks about women.

TRUMP: I think it was very negative. It was locker room talk. The microphone was not supposed to be on, not that I make that as an excuse for

myself, but certainly, it was an illegal act.

O'REILLY: Are you going to take any action after the election against NBC?

TRUMP: Well, you'll see, you'll see.

CARROLL: A sharp contrast to Clinton and the first lady joining forces in the battleground state of North Carolina.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: Hillary doesn't play.

HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Seriously, is there anyone more inspiring than Michelle Obama?

CARROLL: The duo casting Trump's campaign as a war on women.

CLINTON: Dignity and respect for women and girls is also on the ballot in this election.

CARROLL: And condemning Trump's claim of a rigged election.

OBAMA: They are trying to get you to stay home. They are trying to convince you that your vote doesn't matter. They are trying to take away

your hope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: On Thursday, though, all the attention was focused on Trump's running mate Mike Pence now, after his campaign plan skidded off the runway

at La Guardia airport. Nobody was hurt.

Now, reporters on the plane said it fishtailed right before landing.

Now Pence, canceled an appearance at a fundraiser that night. And Trump officials said it fish tailed right before landing. Pence canceled an

appearance at a fundraiser that night and Trump mentioned the accident in Ohio and reassured voters that Pence was fine. Officials are

investigating.

Now, it's mentioned earlier the latest hacked emails released by WikiLeaks are giving Trump

more ammunition against Clinton.

Jim Sciutto reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Newly released stolen e-mails show the Clinton team reacting with disbelief and

frustration as news broke off her private e-mail server.

In March 2015, campaign chair, John Podesta, wrote to campaign manager Robbie Mook, "Did you have any idea of the depth of the story?" "Nope,"

Mook replies. "We brought up the existence of e-mails in research this summer but we're told that everything was taken care of."

Later in July, a Clinton surrogate and now transitioned co- chair Neera Tanden wrote Podesta, "Do we actually know who told Hillary she could use a

private e-mail and has that person been drawn in quarter before it more colorfully calling the whole thing expletive insane."

A 2011 memo also stolen shows former Bill Clinton aide, Doug Band, taking credit for generating money for Bill Clinton by arranging paid speeches and

leveraging contacts with corporations that donate to the Clinton Foundation, activities that he dubbed Bill Clinton Inc.

In the memo, he goes on to say, "Since 2001, President Clinton's business arrangements have yielded more than $30 million for him personally." There

is, however, no evidence in the e-mails of any quid pro quo between the businesses and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. That has not stop

Clinton's opponents from pouncing.

[08:06:14] TRUMP: Mr. Band called the arrangement unorthodox. The rest of us call it outright corrupt.

SCIUTTO: Band seen here playing golf with Bill Clinton and President Obama wrote the memo after Chelsea Clinton who was then taking a more active role

in the foundation, expressed outrage over Band's actions. In one e-mail she recounts a call where Band, "yelled and screamed at my dad."

Later in 2015, reacting to news reports examining the foundation's finances tend an e-mailed Podesta, "I'm hoping someone is keeping tabs on Doug

Band."

SCIUTTO: As a matter of policy, the Clinton Foundation has not responded to questions about

individual stolen emails, saying that there's nothing to guarantee their authenticity,

But on the issues of the Foundation, a statement from the Clinton campaign today saying, quote, the State Department has made clear that Hillary

Clinton's actions were made in the best interests of American foreign policy and that she never made decisions based on donations to the Clinton

Foundation.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And now to the Syrian city of Aleppo, where residents tell CNN that there are major clashes under way. Opposition fighters say that they

have launched an offensive to try to break the siege around the rebel controlled eastern neighborhoods. Now, they have claimed responsibility

for at least two car bombings.

Now, the fighting comes as Russian, Syrian, and Iranian foreign ministers meet in Moscow to

discuss the crisis in Syria. Ivan Watson has been following developments all day from Istanbul. He joins us now live. And Ivan, what is the latest

on this new rebel offensive in Aleppo?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Syrian opposition, the armed opposition, unleashed what looks like a very impressive and

deadly amount of fire power, largely appearing to come from the southwest of the city in an attempt to puncture Syrian government front lines and try

to break into the city and to break the two-month siege of the eastern part of Aleppo.

So what we've seep in a series of videos that the opposition have published, and we can't confirm they are all genuine, but what it does

appear that there are tanks being used here, armored personnel carriers, rocket salvos, mortars, artillery, as well as at least two vehicle-borne

suicide car bombs.

Just a massive amount of fire power hurled in the direction of the Syrian government front

lines.

The residents of Aleppo, who are no stranger to war throughout this five- year conflict, some of them spoke to us as they were quite literally headed to their basements to hide from this deadly rain of metal on to the city.

Some of them saying, one of them saying, I've never heard anything this intense before. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that in the

government-controlled western part of the city, at least 15 people were killed by the rebel artillery and rocket bombardments this morning alone --

Kristie.

LU STOUT: And as this new just all-out violence and fighting breaks out in Aleppo. We that know this meeting underway involving officials from

Russia, Syria, and Iran. They are meeting in Moscow to talk about the crisis.

What can they do for Aleppo?

WATSON: The Russians have been working alongside with the Syrian government and the

Iranians to try to recapture this city. They came under a lot of criticism from human rights organizations, from the United Nations for the pretty

much indiscriminate bombing campaign of the eastern part of the city for some two months.

It was a bombing campaign that largely came to a halt or a lull at least last week due to a

unilateral cease-fire. That Russians and the Syrian government are accusing the rebels of breaking that

ceasefire. The UN accuses both sides of not acting in good faith and allowing the evacuation of some hundreds of thousands of civilians believed

to be trapped there.

In their meeting, the Russian foreign minister called for a martial plan, if you can believe it, harkening back to the U.S. plan for rebuilding

Western Europe, calling for some kind of a plan like that to help rebuild Syria.

The problem is, is that there is no sign that this horrific conflict is coming to an end any time soon. And if this rebel offensive shows us

anything, it shows us that they're not anywhere close to stopping their war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad and its most important supporters:

Russia and Iran -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, it's too early to talk about any sort of new Marshal Plan when the bombardment and the fighting drags on in Syria. Ivan Watson

reporting for us live. Thank you.

Now, the fight against ISIS is also under way in Northern Iraq and witnesses in Mosul are

giving us new information of what coalition forces are up against in their effort to recapture the country's last ISIS stronghold.

Now, people in the city tell CNN the jihadists are putting rocket systems and suicide vehicles in

place, empty houses are being bobby-trapped.

Now, let's bring in Michael Holmes from Irbil, east of Mosul. He joins us now. And Michael, we know on the road to Mosul coalition forces have been

making steady progress, but are they ready for what they are going to see and encounter once they enter the city?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, making steady progress, but also meeting some resistance, as well, Kristie. We do know

that in that town of Hammam al-Alil (ph) the Iraqi army has surrounded that town, but inside there are a group of foreign fighters we're told,

Chechens, and Tunisians, Moroccans, Afghans, who are there and willing to fight to the death. So you've got some forward units that are basically

within sight of Mosul, but there are others that are 20, sometimes more, kilometers away.

Yesterday, we were near Bashika (ph), which was still being pounded from the air by planes and artillery. And that's 20 kilometers or so south of

the city.

Meanwhile, disturbing news of increasing executions by ISIS, sowing terror to control the population.

The United Nations telling us that nearly 200 -- well, 230 people were killed near Mosul on Wednesday and today, we heard from inside Mosul of 20

men being executed for being spies allegedly.

They were actually tied together and electrocuted. Now, this happened near Mosul University. The bodies left out in the street. Most of the men

apparently former security officers.

Now, in addition to that, we've hearing of increasing numbers of civilians. We're talking tens of thousands, according the UN, being forced from the

outskirts of Mosul into the main part of the city as human shields.

We've also heard that ISIS has been pulling down cell towers around Mosul. This is for the Iraqi cell phone carrier Asia Cell. One piece of good

news, if you like, would be that Iraqi forces took a town called Shura (ph) and in doing so freed 5,000 to 6,000 civilians, but that's one little bit of good news amid some bad news with all of those

executions and also being told that ISIS carrying out a scorched Earth policy as it retreats from the places it has held and that

now the Iraqi security forces and Kurdish fighters have now taken.

So a mixture of news as the forces get ever closer to Mosul, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and fear of more bad news to come. Ever since this offensive began over a week ago, there has been extreme concern expressed

about the fate of civilians inside Mosul. The Un has said protecting civilians inside the city is critical, that it must be part of the military

strategy to retake Mosul.

But is it, and how?

HOLMES: Yeah, exactly. Well, it has to be. I mean, we know very clearly ISIS doesn't care about civilians, but the Iraqi security forces,

obviously, are going to have to. They are going to get up around Mosul. They are working on a plan of how to retake the city, at the same time

doing as little damage to the civilian population as possible.

One imagines it's going to be impossible to not have civilian causalities. ISIS pulling back a lot of its forces into the western part of the city

where the old city is, very narrow streets and tightly packed housing, which gives them the advantage as the incumbent in an urban warfare

situation.

Much more difficult for the Iraqi security forces to maneuver the types of armor that they have got out in the plains and the towns and the villages

around places like that.

And if you're talking a million, a million and a half civilians, it's going to be extraordinarily

difficult with ISIS deliberately using them as human shields. I mean, we've heard reports of them

piling them into trucks and taking them to places specifically where they can be between the advancing forces and ISIS fighters.

It's just a horrific thing to imagine what could happen.

Iraqi officials are talking about opening humanitarian corridors once the fighting begins, but again, you've got to imagine if ISIS is pulling the

strings with those civilians, how do you do that, how do you protect them? It's a very concerning situation, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, especially given some horrifying scenarios there. Michael Holmes reporting. As always, thank you.

Now, troops advancing on Mosul, they are finding tunnels like this built by ISIS militants to get

around undetected. Our senior international correspondent Arwa Damon walks us through one of these

subterranean mazes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Inside a residential home.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON: All of the rooms have been filmed with the dirt that they dug out from underneath so that no one could see what it was that they were up to.

They have dismantled some IEDs, explosives that they have found inside, as well.

When they came, they saw that this ladder was already in place. They found a couple of drills and wheelbarrows that they have removed.

Look at this cable, they were even running electricity down here.

This is another of the tires that the counterterrorism soldiers burnt inside this tunnel to try to suffocate any ISIS fighters that may have been

inside. And that's why there is this black soot that is covering everything.

It's sort of a staircase that they have carved out that goes all the way up to the road. It's pretty narrow and hard to move through here.

Oh, this goes all the way up into a hole in a opens up on to the street that we were just walking

down. And ISIS fighters were able to use this to move up and launch surprise attacks on troops as they were advancing.

But he's saying that it also serves as a way to circulate oxygen because this tunnel

complex is pretty far underground and it goes off in yet another direction.

Wow, they have a fan down here, as well.

This distance, that we just came through underground, had they been able to complete it, this would have opened up on the other side of the main

street.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Bartullah (ph), Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, what we're about to show you next is disturbing and truly speaks to the horror in Yemen, where a population is starving to death.

Now, the woman you see here on your screen is 18 years old. She's had no access to food or

medicine in her village because of relentless air strikes. And this is a scene that is playing out again and again right across the country.

Now, the UN warns more than 14 million Yemenis are barely able to feed themselves. The World Food Program says it needs some $257 million just to

help the population until the spring.

Now, the horrific situation in Yemen is often referred to as the forgotten war, overshadowed by

the constant bloodshed in Syria and Iraq. The conflict, it started in early 2015 when Houthi rebels amid a minority Shia group took over the

capital Sanaa driving out the U.S.-backed government. And since then, a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting to reinstate it.

But here's where it gets more complicated, Iran is backing the Houthi rebels, so Yemen is a proxy battleground between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

All the while, more than 10,000 people have been killed and as just reported a famine is gripping much of the country.

Now, protesters in Venezuela clash with police for a second day ahead of a national strike. The opposition accuses President Nicolas Maduro of

blocking a referendum and blames him for the country's brutal economic crisis.

Frustrations have spilled out into the streets as people struggle to find food or even afford it because of extremely high inflation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Throw me your (inaudible) and kill me because I'm hungry. Kill me, shoot me because I'm hungry. Shoot me,

you hear me? Shoot me because I'm hungry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT; President Maduro is raising the country's minimum wage for the fourth time this year. And critics say that is simply not enough.

Now, you're watching News Stream and still to come on the program, Xi Jinping gets a new title. We'll look at what this means for the Chinese

president now more than three years in power.

And, Russia is making one of its tiny neighbors very nervous. Up next, the story of how Lithuania is prepping its population in case it's invaded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:58] LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back, you're watching News Stream.

Now, China's president Xi Jinping has an impressive new title. In fact, it's one of the highest a Chinese leader can get. He is now officially the

core of the Communist Party. Now, this puts him on par with icons like Chairman Mao Zedong and economic reformer Deng Xiaoping .

Now, one doesn't get this title simply by being the president. Xi's immediate predecessor, Hu Jintao was never named the core (ph).

Now, the move sends a strong single ahead of next year's national congress. Five of the seven members of the high level politburo standing committee

are expected to retire. The replacements will be key to Mr. Xi's hold on power.

And one China watcher I spoke to says Mr. Xi is arguably already more powerful than Deng Xiaoping. Now Mr. Xi was appointed commander-in-chief

this year, putting China's military under his personal command. And under his lead, the internet and media have come under tighter control.

Mr. Xi has also wielded his power to crack down on corruption while targeting human rights activists.

Now, some question his motives, but Mr. Xi has insisted he is focused solely on stamping out graft, not purging his political rivals.

Now, in the tiny of Lithuania, people are getting nervous. Now it borders part of Russia, a

country which has made no secret of its willingness to flex its military muscle if tested, so just in case, the government has drawn up a manual on

what to do if it's invaded.

Nic Robertson reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: U.S. troops and live fire training.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get prepared to move.

ROBERTSON: On what some fear could be Europe's next battlefield: the sandy plains of Lithuania on nature's eastern frontier, barely an hour's drive

from the border with Russia.

Training here is intense and with good reason. No one doubts Russia could provoke a confrontation.

Nearby in joint exercises, the pressure is on to get Lithuanian recruits up to snuff, too.

[08:25:05] EUGENJUS LASTAUSKAS, LITHUANIAN BATTALION COMMANDER: The Russian activities in Crimea and eastern Ukraine show that it's not only

that Russia possesses the capability to harm us, but also might have intentions.

ROBERTSON: So worried is the Lithuanian government become, they've massively upped defense spending and restarted conscription that was cut

eight years ago. They've been flooded with volunteers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watching our neighbors bring in greater, bigger weapons and making big practices at our walls, well, it just seems threatening to

me.

ROBERTSON: And this is where the threat is greatest: Lithuania's border with Russia's Kaliningrad (ph) region.

These days, tensions keeping crossings down.

Although, it doesn't look like much from this side of the border, Kaliningrad (ph) is a key strategic military hub for Russia, an important

naval base, and home to an integrated land, sea, and air missile system that projects deep into Europe. But it is an enclave, Kaliningrad (ph) is

isolated from mainland Russia, and that's key to what worries the Lithuanians about what Russia might do next.

UNIDENITIFIED MALE: (inaudible) for the tanks and also for self-propelled artillery.

ROBERTSON: Nervous enough for the government to tell its citizens what to do in case they are invaded.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE; And when we are going into light weaponry...

ROBERTSON: We got an advanced copy of the new manual. It goes way beyond the humorous guidance of previous publications.

This is intelligence gathering, it's survival, and it's forming a resistance force.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, exactly. Exactly.

JUOZAS OLEKAS, LITHUANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: We are doing everything to stop

the war outside our borders. We demonstrate that every aggression across the borders he will have strong resistance from our society, from our

military forces.

ROBERTSON: Help from NATO is ratcheting up, too. The French air force just one of a number of NATO nations wrapping up intercept missions over

the Baltics, mostly monitoring Russian flights to Kaliningrad (ph). For tiny Lithuania, the support is vital.

OLEKAS: President Putin understands only power against the power.

ROBERTSON: By any measure, Lithuanians sandy plains are becoming witness to Europe's new Cold War.

Nic Robertson, CNN, eastern Lithuania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And still to come, a survivor of child sex trafficking talks to the FBI and the CNN Freedom Project.

Also ahead, Twitter says it is shutting down Vine and we'll tell you why activists in

particular are mourning its passing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:37] LU STOUT: An international operation led by the FBI has rescued 82 children from sex trafficking. It's called Operation: Cross-Country,

and because of it, hundreds of suspected pimps and other criminals have been arrested.

Now, CNN Freedom Project speaks to one of the victims, and the law enforcement team behind the project. Here is Amara Walker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Child sex-trafficking knows no borders. Its victims often run from one horror only to be ensnared in another. The

United States FBI provided this survivor's account on its website. She says she was abused by her father until she was 15. Then tricked by a pimp into

prostitution.

UNIDENTIFIIED FEMALE: I was 17 at the time when I met him. And I got in the adult entertainment business because of the fact that he asked me about

it. And he told me the money would be used towards the modeling. And I believed him I really thought this was a real legit thing. And somehow I

found myself into this dirty game that I really believed it was a real job of modeling. And it wasn't. He beat me. He had me in hotel rooms by myself

for weeks. I'd go hungry because I wouldn't obey what he wanted me to do. It's a trap. Once you're there, it's hard to get out of. It's really hard.

WALKER: It's a story the CNN freedom project has heard many times and one the FBI knows all too well. In just 4 days, the FBI says they made hundreds

of arrest and rescued 82 teens.

BERNIE RIEDEL, FBI, SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: We find that the average age of the minors we do recover is around 15-16 years old. There's been as

young as 9 but that's not the norm. Normally between 12-17. The pimps have a great deal of influence over these females. Whether it's physical and

emotional abuse. These are a lot of girls that come from families or just a lot of times in a broken situation whether it be victims of sexual assault

previously in their home life or physical abuse, and the pimp steps into that.

WALKER: Authorities call it "operation cross country x". Its in its 10th year and includes law enforcement in the United States, Canada, Cambodia,

Thailand and the Philippines.

RIEDEL, This is part of the overall initiative by the FBI which is the innocence lost initiative to address sexual exploitation of children

throughout the US as well as throughout the world.

WALKER: Many of the teens don't realize they are victims.

RIEDEL: The recruitment process by the pimps. The people that, the subjects of these cases. They have a very, they really have a very powerful

influence physically and psychologically. They might entice the girls to come into that life through the promise of money, love whether as a

boyfriend or a father figure.

UNIDETIFIED FEMALE: I have learned I was a victim. At the time, I didn't believe I was because I was like, hey, I volunteered. But at the end of the

day, I didn't volunteer. It was something I was tricked into, thinking I could turn out to be a model.

WALKER: For victims being exploited, there is hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, If you're a victim and you went through this, there is justice for you, definitely. Not only is there justice for you, you don't

have to be scared anymore once you elaborate and go to the police, because they will be arrested. To where it's neat, you can breathe. I can breathe

and say I can finally put him behind me.

WALKER: Amara Walker, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOATAPE)

[08:35:00] LU STOUT: A powerful message there from a survivor. You can help the victims of human trafficking. Check out our website for more

information. It's at CNN.com/Freedom.

Now, it's time to say goodbye to Vine. Now Twitter says it's going to kill the video sharing app. Vine lets people share six-second bite-sized clips

and it quickly took off as people found it easy to share highlights from breaking news, and comedy, to sports clips and it's turned into its own

community with millions of users creating videos every day.

The question then is, why kill off the app? Well, Twitter has been struggling financially recently, it just announced significant job cuts.

As our correspondent Paul Lamonica points out, Vine was falling fast behind some rivals.

(BEGIN video clip))

PAUL LA MONICA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It became a crowded market. You had Instagram having short videos, as well, and now you have Facebook Live.

These are, obviously, longer videos, but that is something that eats into demand for Vines, as well.

And then Twitter itself with Periscope and their own live streams of big events, I think Vine quickly became this niche product and Twitter can't

afford to be funding all these little niche type of products anymore, because the company needs more users.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, Vine was instrumental in documenting some big moments in recent history, though. Now, back in August of 2014, activists turned to

Vine to show the protests and racial tension in Ferguson, Missouri after a white police officer shot a black teenager.

And those six-second videos quickly spread on Twitter, turning the world's attention on to the town.

Now, Vine was there to document and to share everything before Twitter's live streaming app Periscope and Facebook Live were even available.

And now activists are mourning the loss of an app so key to their movement.

You're watching News Stream.

And still to come, it has the Thames. It has Big Ben, Westminster Abby, but is London really the best city in the world? Well, according to one

survey, the answer is yes. We'll have the results straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

And this just into us here at CNN. The U.S. economy grew 2.9 percent in the third quarter. That is the fastest growth in two years. This is the

final reading on economic growth we'll get before the U.S. election on November 8. And we'll have much more on the U.S. GDP figure on CNN Money

in about 20 minutes from now.

Now, an enormous bay in Antarctica has become the world's largest protected maritime area. The United Nations brokered the agreement for the Ross Sea.

It is home to huge proportions of the global population of Orcas, Adalie penguins, and Emperor Penguins. The World Wildlife Fund says it will

protect to fight the 30-year time limit on the protected area.

Now how's this for setting the cat amongst the pigeons. A new report declares London is the best city in the world. Now, accounting firm

Pricewaterhousecooper's claims it tops Paris, New York, even Sydney, Australia, so is it really the best?

Well, CNN's Sydney born correspondent Phil Black gives us his assessment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For about ten years now on and off I've lived in London, where life takes place under an endlessly

gray sky, or at least that's what it feels like.

But when I think of my hometown Sydney, I think of the color blue, that's the sky and the ocean

there for most of the year.

In London, there's the daily crush of the tube where getting growled at or sneezed on is all

generally included in the ticket price.

While in Sydney I could commute by ferry across one of the most beautiful harbors in the world.

And in London, there are people, so many people, everywhere.

In Sydney, everyone gets their own beach -- not quite, but you get the idea.

Now, kicking London brings no pleasure. I love this place. Truly, it's my adopted home. But I'm surprised recently, so were many of my colleagues,

mostly Brits, when we learned that this challenging, often infuriating city had topped a list of the world's best cities.

And when you think about the competition, we wanted to know how it that possible?

Accounting giant Pricewaterhousecoopers released two studies, one a survey of around 5,000 people measuring the perceptions of international cities,

the other an analysis of the facts.

Sydney came fifth for perception, tenth for reality. London is number one in both rankings. London cored very highly for international connections,

well developed infrastructure and legal frameworks, political influence, and being a leader.

That could be because most those surveyed are described as informed elites and business decision makers, a demographic also known as those who

regularly wear suits.

Best city in the world, go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: London.

BLACK: Why London?

UNIDENIFIED MALE: Cosmopolitan, business, ease of access, rule of law.

BLACK; You've noticed the color of the sky, though, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it could also have the weather of Australia, it would be even better.

BLACK: Wouldn't it just?

For affordability, London ranked close to the bottom of the list, that's not news to those who work far from the suits, but most still agree, this

is the best city in the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no place on earth that can compare with London. Might be a little bit expected, but hey, don't worry about that, forget

that.

BLACK: It's hard to forget that, though, because it is really expensive.

UNIDENTIFIIED MALE: It is really expensive. They say it's one of the most expensive places in the world, but listen, everywhere is expensive at the

moment.

BLACK: Andrew Cooke works for the agency which is paid to promote London's good image abroad.

There is a real risk that London's perception internationally could take a hit because of Brexit, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think where there's uncertainty, and clearly Brexit is causing some uncertainty at the moment, there is a risk to

business.

BLACK: Ultimately, London finished first by performing strongly in most categories, despite its famous weaknesses. Londoners have learned how to

endure those.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forget the weather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forget the weather,

BLACK: So, forget the weather, forget how expensive it is, forget the traffic.

UNIDENIFIED MALE: Forget the traffic. Yeah, forget all that. Don't look at the negative side.

BLACK: Phil Black, CNN, reporting from, arguably, the best city in the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And the debate doesn't end there. And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. But don't go anywhere, World Sport with Christina

Macfarlane is next.

END