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Rodrigo Duterte Expected To Be Next President Of Philippines; Facebook Accused of Liberal Bias; Damascus Residence Breath Easier as Ceasefire Holds Around City; Suit, Countersuit Over North Carolina's "Bathroom" Law. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired May 10, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:12] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.

A spectacular show from North Korea marking the end of a rare political event that strengthened Kim Jong-un's hold on power.

Controversial candidate Rodrigo Duterte is expected to be the next president of the Philippines.

And is Facebook intentionally keeping certain stories off its trending topics list?

Here's celebrations in the North Korea capital spilling well into the evening as the Workers Party wraps up a historic congress.

Now, tens of thousands of people are putting up this enormous display in Pyongyang. It follows equally extravagant parades earlier in the day

presided over the leader Kim Jong-un.

The rare congress saw him elected as party chairman, reaffirming his hold on power.

Now, the first congress in 36 years. None was called during the time of the previous leader, Kim Jong-il. The meeting lasted four days under a

veil of secrecy. Now, more than 100 international journalists were present, but most only got as close as across the street from the building

where the congress was being held.

No one was allowed inside until the very last day. Even then, only a small group, including CNN, got in. And we only had about 10 minutes there

before being whisked out.

Now, still, it was the first time any western journalists made it as far, but a BBC correspondent was kicked out of the country. Rupert Wingfield-

Hayes was expelled for what authorities called his disrespectful reporting.

Let's go live to the North Korean capital now. CNN's Will Ripley is there. He joins us now.

And Will, we know the super-sized celebration is under way. What are you seeing tonight in

Pyongyang?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The fireworks finale, it was actually happening as you were speaking, Kristie. I was having a hard time

hearing you in my earpiece because the noise from the fireworks has filled the city. But it seems as if the celebration has just wrapped up, and

state media will now go back to their regular programming.

It's interesting that they've been showing the parades and the fireworks live, but throughout the party congress, there were only brief updates

about what was actually happening inside the venue for the congress over the weekend, and some evenings they didn't have updates at all.

One thing they have been showing on a loop on state TV is a three-hour speech over the weekend from Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, this country's now

chairman. He was just elected chairman, a brand new title, of the Workers Party of Korea. That election unsurprisingly unanimous, as elections are

here in North Korea when it comes to the leadership being boosted up to new titles.

He talked about things like growing the economy, trying to mechanize factories and agriculture, trying to export more raw materials, but didn't

say how North Korea could really grow the economy considering that most raw materials exports are banned under these heightened new UN sanctions as a

result of his nuclear program that he is also touting and pushing so aggressively, because the congress also passed a resolution saying North

Korea wants to grow its arsenal, improve the quality of its nuclear weapons and keep investing these billions of dollars in nuclearizing this country,

even if it comes at the cost of more international sanctions, diplomatic isolation and economic hardship for many of the people here.

LU STOUT: And as the congress wraps there in Pyongyang, what has it achieved for North

Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un?

RIPLEY: Well, what it's achieved for the leader is that he has solidified his grip on power. Any people within the party who opposed him have now

been moved out of their positions. We reported extensively about a number of high-profile purges or suspected purges in the leader's inner circle,

including most notably the execution of his uncle after he rose to power.

Now, these new people in place gave speeches saying they're firmly behind the leader and will do whatever he says. Whatever he says is the word, the

absolute word, in this country moving forward.

As for what the people gain, they say that they feel a new sense of purpose, living here, under the leader, who has a plan. He talked about a

five-year economic plan. They say they have more hope than ever have before. These are the people here in Pyongyang, the only place we're

allowed to report and these are the only people we're allowed to speak to. We don't have a chance to travel freely around the country and see what

others in the less economically prosperous areas would have to say.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and Will, you and a small group of journalists, some 30 people, you were allowed inside the Workers Party Congress. I mean, how

rare is such access and why do you think they chose you?

[08:05:06] RIPLEY: We were chosen along with a small group of other international journalists. You know, from a number of different countries.

I believe they wanted to keep the number small simply to manage the presence of international media in their most important political gathering

in 36 years. And even though we were only allowed in for ten minutes essentially to shoot video, to see people cheering for the leader, to hear

them announcing his brand new title and the elections within the party, it was still more access than we've ever gotten before, really unprecedented

for western media to be allowed inside the building where this was happening.

But we still don't know what the voting process was like, what kinds of discussions were going on, because state media usually only provided an

edited version at the end of each day.

But could this be a sign that North Korea is in its own way trying to be more transparent while still very concerned about its image and trying to

control the message? You know, we're obviously here for a reason, and we were also videotaped by North Korean state television

presumably to show the North Korean people that the international media is here covering their leader's big event and perhaps making them not feel so

isolated. A lot of people refer to this as an isolated country, people don't have the internet, they can't make phone calls, most can't make phone

calls outside of the country, aside from China.

Maybe this is an attempt to show them that the world is watching what happens here.

LU STOUT: All right. Will Ripley reporting live for us from Pyongyang. Many thanks indeed for your reporting these last few days. Take care.

Now, outside of North Korea, the party congress draws scant positive response. China's president was the only world leader who sent his regards

to Kim Jong-un, congratulating him on his new title as party chairman.

Still, according to Chinese state media, no officials from China were invited to the congress. And some view it as Kim's way to project an image

of self-reliance at a time when his nation is coping with international sanctions imposed over its missile and nuclear tests.

Now, the Philippines will soon have a new president, and its most likely going to be the

controversial candidate Rodrigo Duterte. Now, two of his closest rivals, Manuel Roxas and Grace Poe, have now conceded. And according to an

unofficial count he's carrying about 39 percent of the vote, that's with about 95 percent of the votes tallied.

Duterte recently came under fire for comments about the 1989 rape and murder of an Australian

missionary when he was mayor there. Now, those comments drew international condemnation.

Duterte is often referred to as The Punisher known for ruling the city of Davao with an iron fist. And a closer look at his policies reveals that he

intends to maintain that, promising there will be blood if that's what it takes to deal with crime.

On Saturday, he told a crowd this, quote, "if he makes it to the presidential palace, he will do just what he did as mayor. he said, you

drug pusher, hold up men, and do nothings, you better go out because as the mayor, I kill you."

The 71-year-old also has radical plans for the country's constitution. In fact, he wants to rewrite it.

Now, his proposal to overhaul the Philippines government so it looks less like a U.S.-based model and more like a parliament.

And on the international stage, diplomats are puzzled by Duterte's apparent flip-flopping in a highly contentious issue: the South China Sea. Now,

during one presidential debate he threatened to ride a jet ski to the disputed Spratly Islands occupied by China and plant a Philippines flag

there.

Now, instead he's now calling for multilateral talks.

Now, joining me now with more on the election is J.C. Gotinga with CNN Philippines He joins us live from Manila.

J.C. good to see you again. And please explain to our international viewers the appeal of Rodrigo Duterte. Why did so many people of the

Philippines vote for him?

J.C. GOTINGA, CNN PHILIPPINES: Well, Kristie, there are two things. Number one these broad, these sweeping claims and this swashbuckling image

that he projects is capitalizing on Filipino's general discontent and disillusionment with the current government. You see the Aquino

administration has made significant gains economically. Observers have called the Philippines one of

the fastest growing economies in this part of the world. However, the broad sentiment among the poorest of the poor is that those gains have not

been felt among their ranks.

In fact, over a quarter of the population still lives in poverty. And that is pretty much unchanged from when the Aquino government began.

Also, fears of security. The situation here in the Philippines, you know, it's very porous. There are a lot of violent incidents going on. Just

during the course of these elections, 11 people have died between Sunday and today as the elections were carried out. So he's promising to rid the

country of these threats and that is very appealing to many people.

Much of the conversation, Kristie, unfolded on social media, and basing on what his supporters say, many of them call him a, a miracle in the waiting,

or a ray of hope, almost a messianic, if you will, kind of image that he's built among his supporters -- Kristie.

[08:10:12] LU STOUT: Now, Duterte also ran a campaign fighting corruption saying that

he, if elected, would sweep away corrupt officials. But did he provide policy details on how he plans to do that?

GOTINGA: Well, as you said awhile ago, Kristie, he says there would be blood.

In one of the recent debates -- presidential debates that have happened in the country, he was

confronted with that question, how exactly does he propose to carry out his plan of ridding the country of corruption? And, well, to be frank, his

details were kind of scant, but he does promise that he will leave his post if he is unable to deliver on his promise -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, J.C. Gotinga reporting live for us from Manila. Thank you, J.C.

Now, in one district in the Philippines voters have created history electing this woman into

congress. Now, Geraldine Roman the nation's first transgender politician to win a seat. And it appears that she scored a landslide victory with the

unofficial count showing Roman with almost two-thirds of the vote.

The 49-year-old ran for the seat last held by her mother.

Now, in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, the United States is trying to send a message. It sailed a guided missile destroyer close to a

man-made island that China claims as its own.

A senior military official tells CNN the move was a deliberate act to underscore the U.S. considers the waters to be international.

Now, this is the third pass of its kind by the U.S. and Beijing has responded sharply claiming it is a threat to China's sovereignty.

Now, back in March, Russia said it would pull many of its troops from Syria, but CNN is getting a much different picture on the ground there.

Now, our senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the Russian intervention the world has come to know. But Russia's footprint in

Syria seems to be far bigger than just combat jets. There are thousands of troops stationed at its main air base, disciplined and highly motivated.

We caught up with this first lieutenant during his boxing practice. "I'm glad to serve my country here," he says. "And I'm not afraid. What is there

to be afraid of in Syria?"

The west has criticized Syria, saying its air strike target mostly moderate anti-Assad rebels. The Russians is claiming they bomb only ISIS and other

terror groups.

But while Moscow says it's withdrawn most forces from Syria, on an imbed we saw what appeared to be several bases in Western and central Syria with a

variety of attack helicopters. Also, a brand-new base in Palmyra for its demining crews, with dozens of fighting vehicles and even anti-aircraft

missile systems.

On top of its own asset, the military spokesman says his forces closely cooperate with Bashar al-Assad's troops.

"We receive a great deal of information from the Syrian general staff," he says. "They're on the ground and close to the rebels. As for the military

technical corporation, of course, we help them as well."

None of this seems to indicate a full Russian withdrawal from Syria any time soon. And for many in the government-held part of Damascus, that's

just fine.

The people here in the government-held part of Damascus seem to be very well aware of the extent to which Russia's military has helped Bashar al-

Assad's forces.

But they also say that if there is going to be a solution to the Syrian crisis, it has to come from Syrians themselves and not from outside powers.

Violence still rages in most of the country. Reconciliation seems nowhere in sight. And neither is an end to Russia's involvement in the conflict.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And Fred joins me live now from Damascus.

And Fred, as we saw in your report, the Russian footprint there in Syria, much, much bigger than initially publicized, and also we have the truce

appears to still be holding in Syria. So what does it feel like there in Damascus today?

PLEITGEN: Well, it certainly feels quite remarkable, Kristie. It feels very different than it has over the past couple years we've been coming

here. What you see here in Damascus, with a truce probably holding better than anywhere else in the country is that there's more people out in the

streets. And one thing that really sticks out is the fact that many people are also bringing their children out now as well.

There are people in cafes, there are people in restaurants, many of them telling us, look, we've

been keeping our kids inside for the better part of the last five years and we're really happy just to be able to venture outside for the very first

time.

Now, none of these people really believe, or the majority, don't believe that this is something

that could last. They think this is a truce that could fall apart again, because they don't see any political momentum, they don't see any momentum

at the negotiating table, but they say at this point in time it's something that they'll enjoy and they'll take.

And on the one hand, we always have to say that in Damascus right now things are really OK. However, in many other parts of the country they're

not, especially if you look around Aleppo to the north of country where there is still fighting going on, where there is still shelling going on as

well, Kristie.

[08:15:12] LU STOUT: All right, a very, very revealing reporting on Russia's appearance in Syria. Fred Pleitgen reporting live for us from

Damascus. Thank you, Fred.

Now, a man was killed and three people were wounded in a knife attack at a German train station. Now, it happened east of Munich during the morning

commute. And police say that they have arrested a 27-year-old man near the scene.

Now Munich state prosecutor tells CNN a political motive cannot be ruled out.

You're watching News Stream. Still ahead on the program, a wildfire in Canada has left parts of Fort McMurray in scorched ruins. We'll take a

closer look at the devastation.

Plus, voters in West Virginia head to the polls, but while Democrats are facing a heated contest, Donald Trump has his eye on a very different

hurdle.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now, in Canada, a wildfire that forced some 90,000 people from their homes has now moved away from the city of Fort McMurray giving us a better look

at the destruction it has left behind. Officials say 10 percent of the buildings there have been reduced to ashes and twisted metal. Dan Simon

got a firsthand look at devastation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have covered a lot of wildfires, and this ranks up there with some of the worst destruction I have ever seen. The

first neighborhood I went to is called Beacon Hill. Sort of your typical middle class neighborhood with dozens, if not hundreds of homes.

I didn't see a single home left standing. The same thing at the second neighborhood I went to, homes burned down to their foundation. A lot of

twisted metal and wreckage, burned out cars, things of that nature. Another thing that sort of stood out as I was driving around town is the burned out

landscape.

Alberta is a very pretty place, very lush this time of year. And it became clear immediately that it's going to take a long time for those trees to

come back.

Meanwhile, you have a lot of residents, and some 90,000 people who are not at home. And it's not clear when they'll be able to come back because right

now the town lacks essential services. Gas, clean water, and power.

And we spoke to one woman who is having a really difficult time.

[08:20:56] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you don't know when you can go back. And you don't know when you're going to see your kids again. It's tough.

You just try to do the best you can. Just try to stay positive and just tell them that everything is going to be OK. But really, you don't know if

everything is going to be OK. It's emotional for sure.

SIMON: Thirty two-year-old Melissa Glant (ph) is a single mother of two and she is battling cancer. Authorities say they feel for people like her. They

feel for everyone who can't go home. But they say they're not going let anyone back in until they feel that area is safe.

Dan Simon, CNN, near Fort McMurray, Canada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Wow, the heartbreaking toll of this fire.

Let's straight to our CNN meteorologist Chad Myers for more. And Chad, we've learned that the fires have moved away from Fort McMurray, but how

much of it has yet to be contained?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, there's very little containment in the -- the size of the fire. And, you know, when you have a fire the size

of a soccer field, you have less than a mile of fire line. When that grows to two times, all of a sudden your fire line grows significantly. Well,

now we're talking about 2,000 square kilometers. So a real fire line, a real mess. They're picking it up. They are getting some of the hots pots

around, but there are so many hot spots now in that boreal forest that it's going to take a very long time.

It will take mother nature to get it truly out.

So, we are three times now the size of Seoul, the city of Seoul. Think about three times of size of that sprawling city. That's how much has

burned in Alberta.

So it's going to get better, because the wind isn't moving very much. It is a fire-fighting kind of week, but we don't have the wind at 60

kilometers per hour like we had last week.

But if you see so many, Kristie, so many hot spots around. Here's the original fire. Because of the wind direction, those spot fires have gone

all the way south of the city. That's why you mention that it's not really burning in the Fort McMurray area, but all it would take is for these

active fires to get a southeast wind and all of a sudden that wind is blowing the embers back on the areas that have yet to burn.

Now, there's a lot already burned. I get that. But there are still most of the city is still there. And so you don't want that fire to restart

even though it's going to warm back up. It doesn't get back up to 32 degrees like it was that day of the worst part of the fire.

Plus, we don't get the wind out of the southeast to blow those embers back towards Fort Mcmurray. That's the good news. It still, though, may take

weeks for this to finally go way.

The humidity is slightly higher today and that's helpful. It's not going to put the fire out. When people talk about, oh, we need the humidity to

go up, all the humidity going up does is make the fire slow down, it just stops the fire from being explosive, there's still a very high danger,

though, of fire for the next four days.

It's not extreme, but where the line between extreme and very high? I don't know that. We have a very dry forest and it can burn with a little

bit of wind.

LU STOUT: Yeah. And that's why this fire has been so brutal causing so much destruction. As you said, it will take weeks before the fire dies

down and weeks until families can return to their homes, or what's left of their homes.

Any new information on what caused these fires? Any any new intel on that?

MYERS: You know, I find it curious that we still don't know. That means that they haven't ruled out anything, whether it could be a lightning

strike, and that's possible, a spark from a downed power line, or something possibly man-made. But I have not seen anything on paper that says this is

it. All i've seen on paper is, we are still searching.

LU STOUT: Chad Myers reporting for us. Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You bet.

LU STOUT: Now, West Virginia and Nebraska, they are holding the next contest in the U.S. race for president. Polls opened for the Republican

primary in Nebraska that will take place in about half an hour from now. That race is pretty much over with Donald Trump the last remaining

Republican candidate in the race.

In West Virginia voters are already casting their ballots in Republican and Democratic primaries and Bernie Sanders could be poised for another win

over front-runner Hillary Clinton following his upset victory in Indiana.

Now, Clinton actually won West Virginia. She faced off against Barack Obama back in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. But her recent

comment about putting coal miners out of business is not going over well with voters there.

West Virginia is heavily reliant on that industry.

Now, as for Donald Trump, he is facing his own set of conflicts. Newly elected London mayor Sadiq Khan slammed Trump over the Republican

candidate's plan to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. Now, previously telling TIME magazine he'll plan to visit the U.S. before next

January in case Trump wins the presidency.

Now, after Khan won election as London's first ever Muslim leader last week, Trump said he would make an exception for him.

But in a statement to CNN, Khan rejected that offer. He said, quote, it isn't just about me, it's about my friends, my family, and everyone who

comes from a background similar to mine anywhere in the world.

Now, Trump is also facing what could be a contentious meeting with a U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday. Now, the two have been at odds since

Ryan said last week on CNN that he is not ready to support the presumptive Republican nominee.

Now, Ryan is offering to step aside as chairman of the Republican national convention in July if

that's what Trump wants.

Wall Street is dismissing some of Trump's fiscal proposals, including one that involves a U.S. debt buyback scheme, but there was one CEO who says he

supports the presumptive Republican nominee.

Now, we will have that coming up on CNN Money with Maggie Lake.

Now, this is News Stream. And coming up, Facebook has been accused of bias. And we'll tell

you how the company is responding to allegations its promoting a liberal agenda, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:30:17] LU STOUT: In the southeast state of North Carolina a fight over transgender rights. Now, a new stay law bans people from using public

bathrooms that don't correspond to their gender at birth. CNN's Martin Savidge reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An escalating legal battle in North Carolina over the state's controversial so-called bathroom law. North

Carolina and the Justice Department filing dueling lawsuits within hours of each other, trading accusations of civil rights violations and government

overreach.

LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The legislatures and the governor placed North Carolina in direct opposition to federal laws prohibiting

discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity. They created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals.

SAVIDGE: The state's governor responding to a Justice Department demand to drop the

law or amend it with a lawsuit of his own.

GOV. PAT MCCRORY, (R) NORTH CAROLINA: We believe a court rather than a federal agency should tell our state, our nation and employers across the

country what the law requires.

SAVIDGE: The most controversial provision bans transgender people from using public bathrooms that do not correspond with the sex listed on their

birth certificate.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch, a North Carolina native, comparing the law to segregation.

LYNCH: It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had other signs above restrooms, water fountains and on public

accommodations keeping people out based on a distinction without a difference.

SAVIDGE: North Carolina countering saying the Obama administration is attempting to rewrite the law for public and private employers across the

country.

MCCORY: This is not just a North Carolina issue, this is now a national issue. I think it's time for the U.S. Congress to bring clarity to our

national anti-discrimination provisions under title 7 and title 9.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Martin Savidge reporting.

Now, Facebook is in a cloud of controversy over allegations that it censors its trending topics. Now, Gizmodo quotes an anonymous former Facebook

worker who says Facebook staff deliberately block conservative topics from appearing in the high profile section.

Now, trending topics are chosen by an algorithm and they're reviewed by staff to weed our spam. Now, issues that Facebook users talk about the

most make it into the section.

The Gizmodo source alleges that staff bias would stop news about conservative figures like Ted

Cruz or Glenn Beck from trending on Facebook.

Now, Facebook insists the allegation is false and has that it has strict guidelines in place to prevent suppress of political views.

Now, CNN Money senior media correspondent Brian Stelter joins me now live from New

York for more on this story. And Brian, you raised the question in your report for CNN Money. Did Facebook suppress conservative views?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The answer is not on an institutional basis, but

possibly from time to time, occasionally, by individual workers. This is, I think, an example of the difference, of course, as we all know, between

humans and algorithms. Humans have hearts, humans make decisions day by day or minute by minute and sometimes even unconscience biases can seep

into people's work.

This is something the news media has faced for decades, but Facebook as a publisher has to now deal with this as well.

You know, social media giants like Facebook have increasingly sought to be the home for news

and for other kind of content information. And when they do that, and when they have humans involved and not just computers, you can sometimes have

biases come into play.

By the way, all kinds of biases, not just political bias.

But in this case, these allegations are taking on a life of their own and even though Facebook is now strongly denying them, the perception is going

to be a problem for Facebook going forward. Some prominent conservatives here in the U.S. have believed for awhile that there are examples of this

sort of infection of liberal bias across the technology world and this is the most recent example they're pointing to.

LU STOUT: And how much political bias is there with the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Has he expressed a left-leaning bias?

STELTER: That's part of the story here as well. I remember recently the FA conference last month, Zuckerberg took the stage, spoke about the

importance of immigration in remarks that were really interpreted to be a slam against Donald Trump.

He never invoked Trump's name directly. But it was widely interpreted as a criticism of Trump. And so that is part of this conversation as well.

You know, whether these Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Twitter and others, you know, have a culture that encourages and supports liberals,

but may hurt, may impede conservatives.

Certainly, lots of folks in Silicon Valley have liberal politics, others have libertarian politics, but when it comes to the issue of the Facebook

news feed and the trending topics, it seems this involves individual contractors that were hired by Facebook to run this little box in the

corner of the screen.

Of course, this is a really powerful box, though, right? We're talking about something that

hundreds of millions of people see every day. And so if some of those workers were avoiding stories about conservatives, that's a problem for

Facebook.

However, some of our sources have said they didn't see this problem personally. These are former workers of the company who have said they

didn't see this personally, they think it's possible that a couple of employees may have acted against Facebook guidelines, but they say it was

not an institutional problem.

[11:35:41] LU STOUT: Yeah, and trending topics, you pointed out. It is very influential and it's just one component of Facebook.

So, how influential is the overall platform today? Because just a couple weeks ago we saw

that viral video of Mark Zuckerberg from 10 years ago sitting on the couch saying, oh, this is a online directory for colleges. But today, Brian, you

know that it is much, much more than that, isn't it?

STELTER: Yeah, I think for both conservative web publishers and for liberal web publishers and for web publishers who don't don't care about

politics at all, Facebook is hugely, hugely important, in many cases Facebook the entire internet for some users.

And that's why this story ultimately matters so much. This is about the power Facebook has, the way it can tilt things in one direction or another

by simple changes either to its algorithm or changing by its human curators.

Facebook says it tries to be very, very transparent, tries to do only what's best for the user, but this is a reminder about the incredible power

of Facebook and how that can be used in both positive and negative ways.

LU STOUT: Yeah, Facebook is definitely a force in media news and as such will fall under increasing scrutiny.

Brian Stelter...

STELTER: Yeah, if you're a web publisher and Facebook's algorithm stops linking to you, you're in deep trouble. And so, that's one of the issues

here.

LU STOUT: Yeah, absolutely. Brian Stelter there. Thank you, we'll talk again next time.

Now, this story just in to us here at CNN. We have received word that the U.S. President Barack Obama will become the first sitting U.S. president to

visit Hiroshima, Japan. Now that, of course, is the site where tens of thousands of japanese were killed in a U.S. atomic bomb attack at the

end of World War II. Now, the visit is set for later this month.

Now, the White House says the U.S. does not owe Japan a formal apology for targeting the city, but officials say the visit will serve as a reminder of

the terrible destruction that nuclear weapons can inflict.

Now, what does it take to recover from the worst moment in your career? We'll hear from the former CEO of Twitter, who was forced out of the

company, the company he co-founded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, imagine that you co-founded one of the most talked about start-up companies in technology only to be pushed out of your own company. Now,

that's what happened to former Twitter CEO Ed Williams. Now, he spoke to our Laurie Segall about what that was

like and how he bounced back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY: When people look at you they think success. I think like the phrase is like killing it, whatever they say.

ED WILLIAMS, CO-FOUNDER, TWITTER: Crushing it.

SEGALL: That's it. I'm clearly not an entrepreneur, not crushing it. But it's so much more than that. And entrepreneurship is really, really hard.

And you like take us to one of your darkest moments just like make everyone feel better and say even Ed Williams has dark moments.

[11:40:01] WILLIAMS: Well, early dark moments before I had any success included, I remember in my, my first internet company we just called it an

internet company in Nebraska in the 90s. I remember searching, literally searching in the couch for change, because I had stayed up all night

working by myself, and I needed some coffee and I had no money at all. And so I was looking around the office, and searching the couch for change to

buy some coffee.

That was many years ago, but as recently as a few years ago I got fired from being the CEO of

Twitter, which was incredibly hard and devastating, and, you know, it's a roller coaster.

SEGALL: When you're in the public eye and this is all happening what is that like?

WILLIAMS: Oh, it was excruciating. It was definitely the hardest thing that's ever happened to me. And it was confusing, and emotionally, just,

the hardest thing I've ever been through, by far.

SEGALL: How are you different now?

WILLIAMS: Well, when I was running Twitter, certainly I was in over my head. By the end I had never really seen a company run that was even

hundreds of people at that level. I'd worked at Google for a little while, but not near the top.

So -- I've also become a more -- a calmer and more confident leader, I think, in that, and more able to take the long view.

SEGALL: But it's easy to tell the narrative now, right? And then went on to create

Medium. Now, we're sitting on CNN talking about it. So, I guess everything has some kind of

cycle, right?

WILLIAMS: Yeah. Yeah. I had a mentor tell me after that experience, when people have crises, then one of two things happen. They -- they don't

recover, or they do recover, and they get better. So they don't stay the same. It effects them. And he told me probably just to make me feel

better at the time, that you'll definitely be better because of this, even if don't feel it now. I'm finally feeling like that might be true.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Great story there. That was former Twitter CEO Ed Williams. Of course, he is not the first person to be forced out of a tech company he

co-founded. Famously, Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple in the 1980s before returning to the company in 1997.

And finally, star gazers have gotten a rare treat -- a glimpse of the planet Mercury moving across the face of the sun. On Earth, it appeared in

telescopes as a tiny black speck during its 7.5 hour trip. Mercury is the solar system's inner most planet, only a little bigger than the Earth's

moon.

Now, NASA's slightly more powerful tool, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, captured this time lapse. And scientists are using the opportunity to

study the tiny planet's atmosphere. The rest of us, we just got a chance to just stand and watch in awe.

And that's News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Amanda Davies is next.

END