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CNN 10

More Than 20 Nations Expel Russian Diplomats; Governments Call on Facebook to Address Data Privacy, A Young Hero Harnesses the Energy of Ocean Waves

Aired March 28, 2018 - 04:00   ET

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

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: International pressure on Russia is our first subject today on CNN 10.

I`m Carl Azuz, explaining world news from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you for taking 10 minutes for our show.

More than 20 countries have asked some of the Russian diplomats who are staying there to leave. This is seen as an international show of support

for the United Kingdom, where a former Russian spy who lives there and his daughter were poisoned early this month. The U.K. says it`s, quote, highly

likely that Russia poisoned the pair who are still alive but in critical decision at a British hospital.

Russia has denied being involved, calling the accusations nonsense, saying that it had no motive to poison its former spy and saying that it doesn`t

make the poison used in the attack. But several other countries, including the U.S., believe Britain`s assessment that Russia probably was involved in

the poisoning. And after Britain responded by expelling more than 20 Russian diplomats from the U.K., other nations are taking action like it.

The United States, a close ally of Britain, told 60 Russians to leave, and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle, Washington. That`s seen as the

Trump administration`s toughest diplomatic action against Russia so far.

While that country says it deeply regrets America`s decision, there are some nations standing with Russia. China for instance is telling other

countries to, quote, abandon a Cold War mentality and avoid taking any actions that would aggravate the conflict with Russia. It doesn`t look

like the U.S. will take that advice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While we haven`t heard from Russian President Vladimir Putin yet on this unprecedented move, but we know that

the Russian ambassador to the U.S. has already warned pretty starkly that the time is going to come that the U.S. is going to realize that this was

in his words a grave mistake. In return, the Trump administration has warned right back that if Russia does expel U.S. diplomats, which we fully

expect them to do, then the U.S. could well take some additional action against Russia.

But look at the scope of this now. It`s now up to 25 countries that have worked together to craft the biggest mass expulsion of Russian diplomats in

history.

In the U.S., it`s the largest number, too. Sixty of them, 12 will be kicked out of the U.N. in New York. The rest are spread around the U.S.

The U.S. is closing down the Russian consulate in Seattle entirely, saying that it`s too close to a U.S. submarine base there. And, in fact, the

administration isn`t even really calling these people diplomats at this point. It`s flat-out calling them spies, saying that they are aggressive

collectors of intelligence and that the U.S. is going to be safer without them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: The CEO of Facebook is planning to testify on Capitol Hill about what he has called a major breach of trust.

We reported last Thursday on how a Facebook app had been used to gather information on as many as 50 million users and how it had shared that

information inappropriately with a company that was trying to influence how Americans voted. Facebook says that sharing information like that was

against its rules.

But the company`s reputation has taken a hit. And now, governments on two sides of the Atlantic Ocean are trying to get answers about how Facebook

collects and stores its users` information.

In the United Kingdom, parliament has requested that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appear to answer questions. His company says he won`t but that

it would send two senior Facebook executives to Britain.

In the United States, several members of Congress have called on Zuckerberg to testify. At least one of those hearings will focus on data privacy.

And last week, Zuckerberg told CNN that he`d be happy to do that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Facebook is keeping records of every phone call and text message you sent. That`s the surprise some Android

users are discovering as people across the globe start taking a closer look at the data tech companies are collecting about all of us.

If you want to see everything that Facebook knows about you, just go to the upper right hand corner and scroll down to settings. That will take to

this page where you`ll click, "download a copy of your Facebook data", then click "start my archive" and Facebook will email you a copy of all the

intimate details the social network knows about you.

Inside that file, Android users are seeing Facebook has been collecting logs of other phone calls and text messages for years. Android maker

Google hasn`t responded to our requests for comment, but Facebook says Android users explicitly opt-in for this feature when they download their

messenger app or a slim down version of the social network, an app called Facebook Lite.

Facebook says they do this so Android users can find people more easily, but they don`t explain why they take the extra step of saving the data on

their servers. Users who don`t realize they`ve been sharing this data are getting a rude awakening when they delete their Facebook accounts and look

through this archive data for the first time.

Even users who don`t have the name Facebook app on their phone are finding out they`ve given their call and text message logs, too.

Facebook says you can opt out of this feature at anytime and they`ll delete all the call and text message logs they have saved about you. To do that,

Android users will have to go to home, tap on their profile picture and then tap "people" and under "synced contacts", that setting can be turned

on or off.

And with the tech giant under scrutiny, every piece of data we share with the company knowingly or not is getting a second look.

Samuel Burke, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:

Approximately what percentage of the Earth`s surface is covered by oceans?

Sixteen, 33, 60, or 71 percent?

Most of our planet is under water, ocean water. It covers 71 percent of the Earth`s surface.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: And as far as all the water on the Earth goes, the oceans hold 97 percent of it. Now, you might think that those massive seas teeming with

all their life would be a good potential source of energy. And you`d be right.

The challenge is finding a way to harness that ocean energy and the subject of our "Tomorrow`s Hero" report has done exactly that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

INNA BRAVERMAN, INVENTOR: The sea was a big part of my life growing up. Most of our time as children were spent on the beach. Constantly seen the

power of the breaking waves, I`ve really knew from firsthand the importance of renewable energy.

My name is Inna Braverman. I`m 31. And I`m the co-founder of Eco Wave Power.

I was actually born in Ukraine. Two weeks after I was born, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded, causing the largest in history nuclear disaster.

And I was actually one of the babies that suffered from the explosion.

I knew from a very young age that I got a second chance in life and I want to do something good with it.

Eco Wave Power developed a unique technology for a generation of clean electricity from ocean and sea waves. We installed floaters on existing

break waters and other type of ocean structures and the floaters are going up and down with the wave movement and are generating clean electricity

from this resource, thereby we don`t create any presence on the ocean floor. We just connect it to a manmade existing structure.

Most of the companies, they took all the conversion equipment and put it inside the actual floater. In our case, we put only the floaters in the

water, all the rest of the equipment on land. This enables (ph) a low price and high reliability.

Most people, they speak about pollution but they don`t really feel from first hand the effects of pollution. I really hope that all these

countries, developing countries and even developed countries will use this type of technology as a means of mitigating the pollution.

Wave energy is a huge resource and it`s completely untapped in the world at the moment.

I always say that passion is the greatest renewable energy source. Everything is possible. Whatever you want to do if you really, really

believe it and it`s really your true passion, you should go with it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AZUZ: You`ve heard that age-old advice never to eat yellow snow. But what do you do about orange snow? Apparently, you ski on it.

This was the scene last weekend in southwestern Russia. It was one of the several countries affected when a massive snow storm blew from North

Africa`s Sahara Desert, past over Greece and dusted up places as far away as Sochi, Russia, where it turned the snow orange.

One social media user said it was like skiing on Mars.

That`s certainly an alien concept and to think skiers didn`t even planet. It may not prove there`s water or at least snow on Mars, but it does show

you how a dust up on Earth can make our home look like the Red Planet, Sahara, thera and everywhera.

Now, aren`t you glad you watch CNN 10?

END