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President Putin Promises Consequences For Ukrainian Government; Pope Francis To Canonize Two Popes Sunday; Three American Doctors Killed At Kabul Hospital; YouTube Turns Nine; Washington Sides With Japan On Island Dispute With China

Aired April 24, 2014 - 8:00   ET

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


KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Now Vladmir Putin warns Ukraine there will be consequences if it continues its action against militants in the country's east.

The U.S. president says Washington stands by its security agreement with Japan and Tokyo's dispute with Beijing over a group of islands, but urges that diplomacy is the way forward.

And we look at what will happen if planes streamed black box data to the ground at all times.

Now tough words from Russian President Vladimir Putin as the violence in eastern Ukraine appears to be escalating.

Now Ukraine is clamping down on pro-Russian militants who have occupied government buildings across the region. The interior ministry says the Ukrainian forces killed five militants during operations to take down a road block in Slovyansk on Thursday. And in the Donetsk region, gunmen opened fire on a Ukrainian military unit on Wednesday night.

Now for more on the crisis in Ukraine and a new warning from Russia, let's bring in Frederik Pleitgen. He joins me live from Kiev.

And Fred, strong words from Russian President Vladimir Putin directed straight at Kiev. What did he say?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely. Very strong words coming there from the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

What he said was first of all that he believed that the actions that Ukraine was taking in eastern Ukraine were absolutely illegal. He said that they constituted what he called a serious crime. And he also said that there would be consequences.

Now one of the interesting things that these two sides seem to be trading all the time, the U.S. as well as the Russian Federation is that both sides seem to be blaming each other for the escalation that's currently going on.

The Russians for their part are saying that the Ukrainians are not implementing the things that were agreed upon in that Geneva agreement. And one of the things that Vladimir Putin mentioned today when he made all those statements is that he said instead of disarming Ukrainian nationalist militias, that the government here in Kiev was, quote, making them legal. So he said that's something that breaches that agreement as well.

The situation on the ground, of course, remains very fluid. You were saying it before, Kristie, there seems to be a lot of military action going on in the town of Slovyansk with the three checkpoints that the Ukrainian army says it has taken down. Aside from the fact that it says that five pro-Russian separatists were killed in that action, there's also talk of at least one Ukrainian soldier being wounded in that action. So certainly at this point a very volatile situation.

What we're hearing also is that there's helicopters in the air for air support for the Ukrainian forces. It's unclear, however, how much headway they've already made, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, a very volatile, a very fluid situation across eastern Ukraine. What is the country up against as it battles these pro- Russian protesters, the separatists as well as we can't forget the Russian forces still there along its border?

PLEITGEN: Well, of course. I mean, the Russian forces there across the border are of course the big unknown in all of this. One of the things that Ukrainians have been saying over the past couple of days, Kristie, is that they believe that the Russians have started a new military maneuvers there. They believe that as much as 40,000 Russian troops might be on the other side of the border. And of course that is something that gives those pro-Russian separatists a lot of leverage as well. With those Russian forces not only being stationed there, but being poised to enter eastern Ukraine at any point in time, certainly that's something that hey could do fairly easily with that big amount of force.

We also have to keep in mind that the Russian military is, of course, much better equipped and has much more firepower than the Ukrainians do. So that's certainly something that is a factor in all of this.

And then of course you have the separatists. And the separatists themselves are not only armed with regular small arms, apparently they also have rocket propelled grenades and similar weapons as well. So it is quite a force that the Ukrainians are up against, at least enough as we've seen to be able to take over all those government buildings and really stir unrest there in the eastern part of the country -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Fred Pleitgen reporting live from Kiev, thank you.

Now the death of a local politician in eastern Ukraine has also added fuel to the fire in the country's ongoing conflict. Now Kiev pointed the figure at pro-Russian militants who they claim tortured and kidnapped him and others. Now pro-Russian leader denied involvement.

CNN's Arwa Damon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When the windows were smashed, they didn't bother repairing them. The Gorlifka (ph) office of the pro-Ukrainian Fatherland Party is getting used to intimidation.

"It's the price we are paying for our independence and for our convictions," says local party leader Dennis Tokan (ph). And the same happened to Violadimir Ribak (ph), he paid the price for his convictions.

Party member Voladimir Ribak (ph), a local council member, disappeared late last week. Voladimir Ribayek (ph) was last seen on the evening of the 17th out here in front of city hall. He had gotten into an argument with pro-Russian protesters because he wanted the Russian flag removed. And according to eyewitnesses he was last seen getting into a vehicle with unidentified men.

Amateur video of the incident shows him being pushed around and at least one masked man nearby. He seems to be lead away.

Tatiana Dymochenko (ph), a pro-Russian activist who was here that afternoon says Ribayek (ph) was a well-known pro-Kiev figure in the town. She says there was an argument and they called the police.

"I separated him from the others to calm the situation down," she adds. "And then we saw him with three people we thought were his friends. They weren't."

Two days later Ribayek's (ph) body was found in this river not far from Slovyansk, but a long way from where he was last seen. His body bearing obvious signs of torture.

He'd been stabbed, his body weighed down by sandbags.

It was brought to the morgue in Slovyansk, a town held by pro-Russian protesters. President Turchynov accused pro-Russian militants of murdering Ribayek (ph), a member of his party.

But the self-declared mayor of Slovyansk denies Ribayek (ph) was ever held by his men and blames right-wing Ukrainians for staging a provocation.

It took Ribayek's (ph) wife two days to finally be allowed into the city and identify her husband's body. Her loss now being used by others to accuse and inflame tensions in the region.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Slovyansk, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: In South Korea, memorials have been held for the victims of the ferry that sank in the Yellow Sea last week.

Now divers have now recovered 171 bodies. Now 131 people are still missing. And most of the passengers were high school students. At their school near Seoul today, hearses drove onto campus in a symbolic tribute to those who have died.

Now third year students return to school to meet with grief counselors. It is unclear when the few surviving second year students might return.

Now authorities are still investigating what went wrong. Prosecutors have charged 14 of the 20 surviving crew members and raided the offices of the ferry company.

[A portion of this transcript has been removed.]

LU STOUT: Ahead here on News Stream, the U.S. President weighs in on a decades' old dispute in Asia, but he is treading carefully on this controversial and sensitive issue.

And the latest in a string of deadly attacks on foreigners in Afghanistan. Four Americans shot at a Kabul hospital. We'll take a look at the dangers that doctors face in Afghan hospitals every day.

Plus, militants in Nigeria continue to hold 187 girls captive with no apparent progress in getting them back. We hear from one of the few who managed to escape.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching News Stream. And you're looking at a visual version of all the stories we've got in the show today.

Now we started with the situation in Ukraine. A little bit later in the program, we'll show you raids by Brazilian police into Rio's infamous favelas.

But now let's talk about the U.S. president's visit to Japan.

Now Tokyo is the first stop on Barack Obama's weeklong tour of Asia. It is the first state visit by an American president to Japan in almost two decades. Emperor Akihitogreeted Mr. Obama at the imperial palace. They shook hands. And the president appeared to bow slightly.

Now he was criticized for bowing too low when he traveled to Japan in 2009.

This time around Mr. Obama is being scrutinized for his comments on these islands. Now he reaffirmed U.S. support for Japan if conflict arises.

Now Tokyo administers the uninhabited Senkoku Islands, but China claims ownership and calls them Diaoyu.

Now China's foreign ministry responded by saying, quote, "no matter what anyone says or does, it cannot change the basic reality that the Diaoyu Islands are China's inherent territory."

Now China has a number of territorial disputes with its neighbors over islands.

Now Mr. Obama is also urging dialogue and compromise. Now CNN's White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski joins me now live from Tokyo.

And Michelle, in the islands dispute, I mean just how much support is President Obama offering to Japan?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I thought it was interesting that he made it very clear that the U.S. sides with Japan on this issue, kind of laid it right out there, even causing a few gasps among some of the Japanese people who were listening to this press conference. They kind of didn't expect it to come up that bluntly and that soon.

But, you know, I think you would say well that would follow, that if these islands fall within the security treaty between the U.S. and Japan well that would mean that the U.S. would defend those islands, right, militarily if there were a conflict. That would be the logical progression of thinking on that.

But the president would be drawn. He only answered that question by saying, look, we don't see a military conflict here. There are other ways to deal with these problems. It doesn't means you automatically go to war.

But he did make it clear that that is the way the U.S. sides on this issue and it opposes any interference.

You know, sovereignty and territorial integrity have been these kind of catch phrases that we've heard over and over again in the president's dealing with the crisis in Ukraine. And you can't really espouse those ideals in one region of the world and not in another.

That said, for all of this statement making today, the president wanted to be careful to also add that the U.S. has a good relationship with China and supports the peaceful rise of China -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Interesting to hear his comments on China, also on Ukraine. And just speaking not in terms of, you know, related to this tour that's underway, but also in general, do you feel that Ukraine and other political hotspots have overshadowed the U.S.'s so-called pivot to Asia and America's commitment to the region?

KOSINSKI: I wouldn't say that they've completely overshadowed it. I mean, just seeing pictures of the president at this elaborate state dinner. As you mentioned the first time a U.S. president has had such a meeting in two decades.

Here these important issues in Asia always come to the forefront, but of course the president is going to be followed by his -- how he handles this crisis in Ukraine. And there's almost frustration in the questions now of, OK, the U.S. is talking tougher sanctions. Well, when is this going to happen. It seems as if the U.S. has been watching and waiting for quite awhile now without setting any deadlines, but the situation continues to escalate instead of deescalate.

We'll tell you the president addressed that, saying that, well, we are looking at days not weeks in this watching and waiting to see if Russia lives up to the agreement it signed one week ago in Geneva to take concrete steps to deescalate the situation. And that it would appear that that has not happened. President Obama says that he, himself, is not optimistic or hopeful that that will happen.

So he established that sort of period to be over soon before we see these sanctions actually imposed.

It's a bit anti-climactic, because we know the U.S. has already imposed sanctions as has Europe. They will be imposed even when expanded on individuals and entities like banks or maybe some more companies. But I think there's an element out there that wants to see these sweeping economic sanctions imposed on sectors of Russia's economy, but the U.S. has already said that that would won't happen unless Russia full on invades Ukraine -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Michelle Kosinski there with the very latest comments from the U.S. president on the crisis in Ukraine as well as what's happening with this four nation tour. This visit today wrapping up there in Japan. Michelle, thank you.

Now more than six weeks on, we still have no sign of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370. And while the search goes on, a preliminary report on the plane's disappearance has been sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization. And some experts question why Malaysia has not released it to the public.

Now the UN body for global aviation did tell CNN it contains a safety recommendation. Brian Todd has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The black boxes from Flight 370 are as elusive as its wreckage. Inside them, the cockpit voice and flight data recorders that could unlock this mystery. Now there's new momentum for the idea to avoid having to recover black boxes.

CNN has learned Malaysian authorities have recommended to international regulators that commercial aircraft should be tracked in real time.

(on camera): Is it time for that? Are these obsolete?

MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FORMER FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: I feel there are few people in the world today, Brian, after the Malaysian air crash, who wouldn't say yes. I mean, clearly, this is old technology.

TODD (voice-over): Now the NTSB is reviewing new technology for airliners to live-stream flight data back to the ground as they fly. One challenge the NTSB sees: too many planes transmitting too much information.

JOE KOLLY, NTSB DIRECTOR, RESOURCES AND ENGINEERING: You only can have so much bandwidth, you know, so much ability to receive data, transmit data, and so you're looking for what -- what is the most important information.

TODD: But two Canadian companies have already developed real- time streaming that bounces off satellites. The hardware looks like this when it's installed in a plane. As the jet is flying on the right, the airline's operators on the ground can see information on the left, like air speed, altitude, and location, in real-time. But it doesn't transmit all the time.

RICHARD HAYDEN, DIRECTOR, FLIGHT AEROSPACE SOLUTIONS: It's only activated when a specific set of circumstances occur that are predefined.

TODD: Predefined by the airline. Circumstances like the plane deviating from its flight path, a sudden pitch or roll. These systems don't send back the cockpit voice recordings.

GOLDFARB: We have a cultural problem with the airlines and the airline unions for the pilots. They do not want Big Brother in the cockpit.

TODD: The FAA doesn't require American carriers to outfit their jets with live streaming. And the Canadian companies tell us only a few U.S.- based airlines carry them. They won't say which ones.

Why aren't more major airlines using live streaming?

GOLDFARB: It's always cost. The airlines don't want to put anything else in the aircraft that they can't make use of. And they don't want to carry anything that adds weight and, hence, costs more fuel.

TODD: At about $100,000 per plane, it's not cheap. But analysts say if Malaysia Airlines had had live streaming on that plane, we would at least have some answers now.

(on camera): Experts say there is another possibility. A deployable recorder, a box that would automatically eject from a plane when it's in distress and land separately, either on the ground or in the water. Those already exist in some military planes.

Brian Todd, CNN, at Reagan National Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And after the break, a police office guarding a hospital in Afghanistan turns on the very people he was supposed to protect. Details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now, in Afghanistan, four Americans working at a hospital in downtown Kabul were shot by a police officer guarding the buildings. Three of them died from their injuries.

Now the guard later turned the gun on himself, but survived. The motive for the attack is not clear.

Now the country has been in a spate of deadly attacks against foreigners in recent weeks.

Now the killing of those American workers not only highlights the dangers, but it also reminds us of the difficulty of working in Afghan hospital. Now CNN's Anna Coren spent the day at a different hospital in Kabul. She shows us what doctors there have to deal with every day.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the back of an ambulance, the bloodied bodies of two teenaged boys lie motionless as medics desperately work to keep them alive.

They've just arrived at Kabul's emergency hospital from Guzni province (ph), a three hour drive away where some of Afghanistan's most vicious fighting is taking place.

But it wasn't gunfire that tour their flesh, riddled their bodies with shrapnel and blew a part of the jaw of 15-year-old Najibullah (ph), but a landmine buried in the dirt where he and his 13-year-old cousin had been herding sheep.

"Why are our children being killed and injured?" Asked the boy's uncle. "Every day there is fighting. No one is safe."

With blood soaked bandages strew on the floor, the teenagers are prepared for surgery before being wheeled into the operating room.

EMANUELE NANNINI, PROGRAM COORDINATOR, EMERGENCY HOSPITAL: Unfortunately, our statistic are showing the change -- and this very dramatic change of increase of fighting and injured and killed. In the other ends (ph), I believe that Afghan people are getting to -- starting to be tired on the conflict and they want peace.

COREN: Emergency Hospital, an international NGO working in conflict zones around the world, was set up in Afghanistan back in 1999. Predominately run by Italians, it treats all victims of war from both sides, providing high quality care free of charge.

The international staff working alongside their Afghan colleagues, sign up for three month rotations, although many end up staying a lot longer.

NANNINI: I was expected to stay here six months, and I lasted here for five years. It's an amazing place. It's very challenging, but it's also very interesting.

COREN: Hospital bed after hospital bed, another innocent victim. A mud wall collapsed on this 5-year-old girl during a rocket attack, while this 8-year-old boy was hit in the back by shrapnel as he gathered firewood.

This is something that happens every single day, Afghans are brought to the Emergency Hospital with serious, if not life threatening injuries as a result of landmines, gunfire, and rockets. And it's only going to get worse as fighting season begins.

The arrival of warmer weather means more casualties and more losses.

LUCA RADAELLI, MEDICAL COORDINATOR, EMERGENCY HOSPITAL: I hate when we cannot do anything else, because he's -- the patient is too into bad condition.

COREN: As for the two teenaged boys who underwent surgery, they're slowly recovering. But as long as this war continues, so too will the tireless work of the Emergency Hospital staff, hoping to ease the pain and suffering of these people.

Anna Coren, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And still to come, we head to the streets of the Nigerian capital where frustration is growing at authorities who have failed so far to rescue nearly 200 abducted girls.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, you're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

As Ukrainian forces clamp down on militants in eastern Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin says Kiev's actions constitute a, quote, "very serious crime." And he warns there could be consequences.

Now U.S. President Barack Obama has reiterated American support for Japan in the face of territorial tensions with China. Now speaking in Tokyo alongside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mr. Obama did not elaborate on how the U.S. would honor its security commitment.

Now South Korean authorities say 171 people are now confirmed dead in last week's ferry tragedy. 131 others are still missing. As hundreds of divers continue to comb through the wreckage, authorities have searched the offices of the company that owns the ferry. Now 14 members of the ship's crew have been charged in connection with the disaster.

Another setback in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 as an underwater probe carries out its 12th mission. Authorities say a metal object that washed ashore in western Australia is not linked to the missing plane.

Now the Bluefin-21 sonar probe has scanned 90 percent of the designated search area and has so far come up empty in the search for wreckage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hitting out at Ukraine's crackdown on militants in the east. Now tensions there continue to escalate, but the battle isn't only being fought on the ground. Diana Magnay takes a look at the soft power at play on Russian state TV and attempts on social media to counter Moscow's versions of events.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's a joke making the rounds on the Russian and Ukrainian Twitter sphere this week. The black and red business card with Dmitry Yarosh, head of Ukraine's Right Sector Party, in all sorts of unlikely scenarios held aloft by the Joker from Batman gracing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

The tweet's claiming it's just as unlikely as this scenario reported in Russian media that Yarosh's card was found here at the scene of a deadly attack at a checkpoint in eastern Ukraine, conveniently alongside U.S. $100 bills and weapons near burned-out cars. Proof, pro-Russian groups say, that Yarosh's Right Sector was behind the attack, a claim rejected by the group.

On Rossiya 24, Russia's state-run 24-hour news channel, the on- screen bug for the crisis in Ukraine, is three revolving images of the players on the ground. Ukrainian state forces, pro-Russians and balaclava-ed (ph) militants from the Pravy Sektor of the Ukrainian far right portrayed as the bogeyman of the conflict and crucials (ph), the Kremlin narrative that Ukraine is at risk of what it calls a fascist takeover.

MIKHAIL TROITSKY, POLITICAL ANALYST: Fascists I think is now being used to designate all things obnoxious and bad in the Kremlin line of argument.

MAGNAY: This, political analysts say, is the Kremlin tries to reinforce the notion of patriotism through a carefully-honed campaign across state media, tapping into a vein of national pride which swelled during the Sochi Olympics and kept its momentum through last month's annexation of Crimea by Russia. Dozhd TV is one of the very few independent Russian media outlets recently dropped by most cable operators after it asked viewers whether the city of Leningrad should've been surrendered to the Nazis during World War II to avert massive loss of life.

MIKHAIL ZYGAR, EDITOR IN CHIEF, DOZHD TV: It was a huge campaign against us, blaming us for insulting all the veterans of Leningrad siege.

MAGNAY: Zygar says he's now worried about a polarization in Russian society over Ukraine, about a demonization of independent voices like his in the public consciousness.

ZYGAR: The new generation is coming that really believes that there is some kind of fifth column, people paid by the Western countries and who are working just to undermine the greatness of Russia.

MAGNAY: Tuning out the opposition served Russia's purposes in Crimea where Ukrainian newscasts were taken off air and replaced by Russian broadcasts, Crimeans fed a pro-Kremlin news diet in the days before the referendum. Now, the same appears to be happening in parts of eastern Ukraine with the takeover of at least one TV tower by pro-Russian separatists in Slavyansk. Vladimir Putin knows that his main source of support, his direct line to the people, is state TV. Not just as a way of influencing his domestic audience but also now to garner support in Russia's near abroad (ph). Diana Magnay, CNN Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now U.S. regulators are planning to propose new rules that critics say would be in violation of net neutrality. Well, let's just explain what net neutrality is. Now you probably heard the internet described as the information superhighway. Well, if you manage it as a highway it's one where the same rules apply to everyone. What that means is no matter which website you go to, no matter whether you stream video from Amazon or Netflix, you should have equal access to all.

But now the FCC is proposing the creation of a fast lane. This would allow internet providers to cut deals with companies, allowing them to pay more for better access.

Now critics fear scenarios like this where Netflix could pay your internet provider to allow exclusive access to the fast lane, leaving rivals like Amazon behind, potentially hurting customers who use Amazon's video services.

Now the FCC claims that it will require internet providers to offer a, quote, baseline level of service to all. But critics are worried about just what a baseline level of service would look like. And they're upset that one of the internet's basic principles, that all sites should be treated equally, may soon disappear.

Now turning now to Nigeria. And frustration is mounting there with 187 schoolgirls kidnapped and still missing. Now they were abducted by Boko Haram militants from their boarding school in the northern town of Chibok, that was over a week ago. And since then, the school says 43 students have managed to escape. And now some of those brave girls are sharing their stories. Vladimir Duthiers reports from Abuja.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amina Shawok is one of the lucky ones, after armed attackers stormed her dormitory last week and kidnapped more than 200 of her fellow classmates, she made a run for it and escaped.

AMINA SHAWOK, ESCAPED FROM CAPTORS (through translator): We thought they were soldiers. And they asked us to board a vehicle, which was headed towards Zimboa (ph). And my friends and I jumped from the vehicle and ran back home, because we realized they don't look innocent to us. DUTHIERS: The militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for the abductions. And while dozens of students like Amina managed to escape, the number of those still missing is unclear.

Amid the ongoing search, there's been conflicting information from the government. And Nigerians in the capital Abuja are frustrated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really (inaudible) because families are crying, people are expecting that they'll release them, you know. But so far the ones they abducted in the past nobody heard from them again.

DUTHIERS: Last week, hours after saying all but eight girls had been freed, the Nigerian military was forced to retract that statement, saying a source had gotten it wrong. Now, many here believe nothing is as it seems when it comes to the government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most times, the information they give on the air, they've gotten from someone. Nobody (inaudible).

DUTHIERS: Hawa Gazma (ph) is from Borno state where the school is located and where Boko Haram has launched a number of attacks in its stated aim at overthrowing the government.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Well, what the government is doing is they're trying to cover up and feel like they're doing something important. So they keep telling us, oh, these people escaped, these people. I feel they're just misinforming us so we feel they're doing something, but they're really not doing anything.

DUTHIERS: It's been several days since we last heard from the military about what they say is an ongoing search and rescue operation to bring these girls home. We reached out to several government ministries. In fact, we're in the shadow of the education ministry here, but we have not heard a whole lot back. And so while the families and the parents of these girls wait desperately for some information, it's unclear as to exactly what's become of these girls.

Zulaheit Abdulahi (ph) has school aged children. She's shocked by the brutality of the attack and worried about what militants will do next in a region that has already seen so much. Deadly church and mosque bombings, assassinations of political figures and now this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My heart bleeds. Any day, any time I think about those girls, because I don't really know where they are, in, or what they are facing and your mother, because I'm afraid. i don't know what to happen next. We are not safe. We are not safe.

DUTHIERS: Vladimir Duthiers, CNN, Abuja.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, coming up right here on News Stream, as the World Cup approaches, Brazil's army goes straight to the heart of Rio de Janeiro's criminal world. And walk with us through the streets of one of the city's most dangerous favelas after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now in less than 50 days, the World Cup kicks off in Brazil.

Now with security a big issue in Rio's notoriously dangerous favelas, authorities have deployed thousands of soldiers to ssqueeze out drug gangs.

Shasta Darlington has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Soldiers move silently down the streets weapons drawn. An occupying force in the middle of Rio de Janeiro, an emergency response to escalating violence in one of the city's most dangerous slums.

GEN. ROBERTO ESCOTO, BRAZILIAN ARMY: No, it's not a peaceful operation because we have three different criminal gangs here and they are rivals.

DARLINGTON: General Escoto was called in to help secure the sprawling Complexo de Mareira (ph) favela just two months before the World Cup kicks off.

ESCOTO; I have almost 3,000 troops under my command.

DARLINGTON: The army gives us permission to accompany troops during driver throughs in armored personnel carriers and on foot.

This is one of the ongoing patrols. They've really only been here for a couple of days. First of all to shoe their presence, that they not here, they're not leaving. Also to keep looking for any criminal elements, drug gangs that are still inside the community.

Some 130,000 people live in the Complexo de Mareira (ph) slum just a few kilometers from the international airport.

It's just the latest favela in Rio's so-called police pacification effort. But after a wave of attacks on police posts, Rio is again turning to the army.

Back at the beach, tourists don't seem very worried.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do I feel safe? Yeah, I feel safe, but I know where not to go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, and use common sense. For example, grab a cab in the evening or something like that.

DARLINGTON: Rio hopes the army will help keep the peace.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.

(END VIDEOATPE)

LU STOUT: Now the strongest sand storm in years is sweeping through China. Let's get the details now with Mari Ramos. She joins me from the World Weather Center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, right on time, huh? Springtime is when we tend to see these sand storms a bit more common. A lot of different reasons why that happens. And I'll talk to you about hat in just a moment, but his picture that you see here without the arrows, of course, is an actual picture taken from space of what the sand storm looks like across northern parts of China and through Mongolia.

It's this right over here, can you see it? It almost looks like it was drawn in, but no, that's what it looked like from space, this rapidly moving sand storm, or dust storm, whatever you want to call it advanced 75 to 100 kilometers in just a matter of two hours. You want to see what it looks like on the ground? It was really windy. Take a look at this.

And visibility near zero. It was almost impossible for people to even stand up. Crops were ruined, buildings were damaged, trees came down, power lines came down, visibility obscured very much as you can see. And look at that reddish tone the sky took after awhile as well as the thickest part of the sandstorm was moving through, because the way it filters the light it's almost like what you would see in a sunset from far away.

The other thing that happened is there were several fires that were already burning that spread very, very quickly through this area that already doesn't have a lot of vegetation. And it's very difficult already for people to grow crops in many cases and a lot of those crops were damaged because of the very strong winds. And you can see the visibility as the day started -- kind of moving forward we started to see a little bit of an improvement, of course, in the -- in the air quality there.

Well, these sandstorms tend to happen this time of year. They're more common in spring, because the storms take a little bit of a more southerly track. And they go through that source area, the Gobi Desert in particular, where they pick up all of that dust and sand. Visibility is reduced, the air quality is reduced and they can travel very very quickly, eventually all of this will be moving across northeastern China, possibly not as intense -- across the Korean peninsula and through Japan as we head into early next week.

And see, doesn't that look familiar? There you see the front that moved through that source area that we were talking about. All of this will be continuing to move toward the east. And that will bring a change of weather across these areas through the Yellow Sea, through the Korean peninsula and eventually through Japan. And I want to particularly talk about this area, of course where the ferry sank, Kristie, because it is ongoing there 24/7. They are still doing that task of trying to rescue and pull people, pull bodies out of the water. And it is very important to have not just calm waters, but good weather. And they've had that for the last three days. And we're going to see a change in that near the southern tip of South Korea over the next couple of days as the -- what we're going to see is an increasing in rain showers, an increase in the winds. And all of this will be happening by Saturday evening. And then by Sunday, the chance of rain goes up 100 percent. The temperature will go down and the rain will start coming down late Saturday night and into Sunday.

So a big change of weather happening here. And you can see that by Saturday morning, all of that activity will be right here just to the east and the clouds will start to move in around 9:00 am local time.

So definitely a change in weather happening in this part of the world compared to what we've had over the last few days. Back to you.

LU STOUT: All right, thank you so much for an update on the search there in South Korea. Mari Ramos there. Thank you.

Now the Vatican is marking a historic occasion this Sunday -- not one by two popes will be declared saints. Now they are Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII. Jim Bittermann explores the early lives of these beloved leaders of the Catholic church.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The two newest saints of the Catholic church were two very different popes who shared many things in common, including an improbable path to sainthood.

Both popes -- John XXIII and John Paul II -- came from humble beginnings in unlikely circumstances. John was one of 13 children of an Italian peasant family. John Paul was mostly raised by his widower father in a grimy Polish industrial town spending his formative years living under Nazis and then under communists.

Yet both overcame, some now would say benefited from, their past.

ROBERT MICKENS, VATICAN ANALYST: Because they had a pastoral sense.

I think that their humble background -- they don't come from noble families, either one of them. Working class families. I think they also are two people that had a real sense of humanity.

BITTERMANN: They also turned out to be leaders with unforeseen qualities. John XXIII, who was supposed to be just an interim pope took the surprising and courageous decision 100 days into his reign to try to modernize the church by calling for the second Vatican council against the will of many church leaders.

John Paul II, once an actor, had a presence before the cameras that millions of Catholics young and old found enthralling as he evangelized to the far ends of the earth, certainly not what one might expect from someone who grew up under dictatorial regimes.

Those who have seen the church at work inside and out may be amazed at the distance some of its leaders have traveled, but are not surprised that the institution can still make it happen.

ALBERTO MELLONI, CHURCH HISTORIAN: Roman Catholicism mostly after the end of temporal power has been one of the most effective social innovators in this planet taking people from the most humble conditions and bringing them to the top.

BITTERMANN: The two new saints are among those who took that social elevator to the top. And for the Catholic faithful, now to the heavens beyond. Their similar journeys from insignificant beginnings to the summit of the church hierarchy are bound to be an inspiration for believers of what the church in the best of circumstances can do.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now just ahead, we are celebrating a birthday here on News Stream. YouTube is turning nine. And to celebrate, we treat you to the best and the worst of the site's animal videos.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now CNN is reairing its landmark series Cold War every other Saturday this year to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.

And the series, it gives an unparalleled look at the events that shaped the second half of the 20th Century and the struggle between capitalism and communism. Now here is a look at what's in store for the latest episode.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KENNETH BRANAGH, ACTOR: March 1953. The Soviet Union mourns the death of Stalin. For almost three decades, Stalin ruled supreme. How would they manage without him?

IRINA DRABKINA, MOSCOW RESIDENT (through translator): It felt as if the whole world was about to collapse. We wondered what was going to happen to us. We thought of Stalin as our father who would always look after us.

BRANAGH: Stalin died without naming a successor. A collective leadership emerged, led by Georgy Malenkov, Lavrenty Beria, Vyacheslav Molotov and Nikita Khrushchev. Millions of Russians grieved for their dead leader, even though his rule had been ruthless and their own welfare neglected.

Stalin had transformed the Soviet Union into a superpower. But at his death, relations with America and the West had seldom been worse.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And tune in this Saturday for the next episode of CNN's landmark series Cold War Saturday 6:00 pm here in Hong Kong.

Now it has been nine years since YouTube came into our lives, bringing us hours of entertainment and a lot of excuses to procrastinate from those sneezing pandas to musical cats, some of the greatest videos and clips are cute animals.

Jeanne Moos takes a look back at the site's launch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are looking at the very first video ever uploaded on YouTube. It was 9 years ago that one of YouTube's founders, Jawed Karim...

JAWED KARIM, YOUTUBE CO-FOUNDER: Here we are, one of the elephants.

MOOS: Uploaded "Me at the Zoo".

KARIM: Really, really long...

KARIM: It was a really, really, really unremarkable video lasting 18 seconds.

Happy Birthday YouTube. And with that first boring zoo video you ushered in what many consider to be the greatest genre of YouTube video -- the animal video.

From a lion wishing he could eat a kid dressed in a zebra costume, to a camel wrapping his jaws around a little girl's head.

How time flies, even 9 years, when you're watching animal videos.

From keyboard cat to...

(MUSIC)

MOOS: We've passed lord knows how much time watching a sneezing panda or a sneezing goat. And if it isn't a goat sneezing, it's goats screaming like humans. We're wide awake watching a sleepwalking dog.

But when it comes to the most watched video on YouTube in the first 9 years, the winner isn't some cute animal video...

(MUSIC)

MOOS: It's racked up more than 1.9 billion -- with a b -- views.

YouTube itself isn't celebrating. "Don't light those birthday candles just yet! We'll celebrate Youtube's 9th anniversary in May when YouTube.com became public."

But most of the web is paying homage to that first upload in April.

KARIM: And that's pretty much all there is to say.

MOOS: But there's plenty to say about a German Shepherd eating Jiff out of a jar.

One poster spoke for us all when he said "I'm watching a dog in a suit eating peanut butter. What am I doing with my life?"

You're watching finger licking good animal videos.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: OK. Now the pop star Justin Bieber, he may be known for singing "Baby Baby Baby," but lately he's been saying sorry, sorry, sorry. His most recent apology comes after visiting a controversial shrine in Tokyo. The Yasakuni shrine is regarded by China, North Korea and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's imperial military past. It includes the names of 14 people found guilty of war crimes in 1945. Japan says the shrine was built in 1869 to honor people who devoted their lives to the country. And Justin Bieber has since taken down his Instagram photo of the shrine replacing it with this. And he writes, to anyone I've offended, I am extremely sorry. I love you China. And I love you Japan.

And that is News Stream, but the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.

END