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Uneven; Syrian Ceasefire All But Dead; Japan's First Female Opposition
Party Member. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET - Part 1>
Chance; Will Ripley, Richard Roth, Jim Acosta>
Uneven; Syrian Ceasefire All But Dead; Japan's First Female Opposition
Party Member.>
[08:00:23] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, and welcome to News Stream.
Now, it's one of the biggest cybersecurity breaches ever. Yahoo says hackers accessed data from half a billion accounts two years ago.
Air strikes rain down on Aleppo, shattering the short cease-fire in Syria.
And now Japanese women are reaching positions of political power, a sign that attitudes are changing in the country long led by men.
Yahoo users woke up to some shocking news on Thursday. Yahoo says it was hacked by state-sponsored agents and 500 million personal accounts have been compromised, only this hack happened two years ago and Yahoo is just announcing the details now.
Experts say this hack could have a ripple effect on user accounts on other sites. Now, our CNN Money technology correspondent, Samuel Burke, has been following the story. He joins us now from London. And Samuel, this was a huge hack involving a lot of Yahoo users out there. What do they need to know, what do they need to do now?
SAMUEL BURKE, CNN MONEY: In fact, Kristie, this is the biggest hack of all time if you just look at the sheer scale, the numbers. A half billion accounts, it's absolutely incredible. If you're waking up to this news, you're going to want to take the following steps, number one, I know it's terrible, nobody wants to hear it, but you have to change your password. Hard enough to remember all of them, but remember these could be passwords that you've used over and over again, making that fatal mistake that so many of us do, so you'll want to change it for Yahoo as well as other accounts.
Change security questions and answers. These were also hacked. So, what's your mother's maiden name, you can't change your mother's maiden name, but you have to change those questions and answers. And most importantly, change other accounts with this same information, because so many times they tell you don't worry, your bank information wasn't hacked, be sometimes just knowing your user name and password on one site can create a domino effect, giving hackers information and access to so many other accounts because we commit that error of repeating passwords.
LU STOUT: Some good tips there. Thank you, Samuel.
And Verizon -- this is an incredible thing -- Verizon says it only learned of the hack this week. So what does this mean for the future of Yahoo, its acquisition target?
BURKE: This is what absolutely flummoxes me, because so many people in the tech community and the hacking community, as well, if you want to call it that, heard rumblings about this possible hack months and months ago. So how could Verizon have only known a couple of days ago, why didn't Yahoo tell them about this possibility, how could Verizon not know about this possibility?
But one number that's very interesting to me is that we've seen a company that says when a corporation faces a hack like this, they often end up paying about $200 an account. Multiply that by 500 million, you get a price that's actually bigger than the value of this pending deal. So it does put a tiny question mark over it, though important to note the stock of Yahoo is only down about 1 percent. Verizon's stock has actually been up in premarket trading, so it shows the market doesn't seem that affected by this. But we've never seen a hack of this scale before. So very difficult to know.
LU STOUT: Samuel Burke reporting. As always, thank you.
Now, Yahoo did not say who it thinks is the government behind this hack, but allegations of state-sponsored hacks, that's pretty common.
Now, the U.S. accused North Korea of carrying out a hack on Sony pictures back in 2014, allegedly because of outrage over the movie The Interview. And just a few months ago U.S. officials said Russia was behind the hack of Democratic National Committee email and a congressional report out in July says the Chinese government hacked into the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 2010 to 2013.
The frequency of cyberattacks is something we discussed at a recent taping for On China.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRYCE BOLAND, ASIA-PACIFIC CTO, FIREEYE: China is not a monolith. There's an enormous amount of technical capability and cyber operations capability both within the military, within the state intelligence services, and with private companies and independent contractors.
And a country with over a billion people, it makes sense that there's going to also be a lot of criminal activity. And we certainly see China has its fair share of criminal activity taking place in the cyberspace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Bryce Boland of FireEye there.
Now, let's get more insight into the hack with Sean Sullivan. He is a security adviser for F-Secure and join us via Skype from Helsinki. And Sean, thank you for joining us.
Again, Yahoo says that state-sponsored hackers are behind this attack. Exactly which country, exactly who is Yahoo referring to here?
[08:05:12] SEAN SULLIVAN, F-SECURE: They have not provided any information that would allow anybody to really make a good attribution, but if I had to take a wild guess, or educated guess, I suppose, it would be a country who would be interested in account holders within their own country, so a country in Asia comes to mind that might want to look at accounts belonging to its citizens.
LU STOUT: Yeah. Whoever is behind this attack, could they still be inside Yahoo's networks or related networks like Tumblr?
SULLIVAN: No, I think based on the guidance that Yahoo has provided and knowing that people who have worked for Yahoo over the last two years and given the revelations that came out with the Snowden documentation, the networks of Yahoo and other Silicon Valley companies have tightened up quite a bit since 2014.
LU STOUT: Yeah, and is this happened in 2014, this major hack on Yahoo happened two years ago. Why did it take so long for it to come to light? Because we only learned of it this week.
SULLIVAN: Well, at the beginning of August there was some sales going on inthe dark market region of the internet -- you know, some dark markets where Yahoo accounts were being offered for sale. So, that was the first of rumors. And then an investigation began. And I think we're learning about it now because they've completed the forensics.
It would have been irresponsible to speculate before they had actually finished a thorough investigation.
LU STOUT: Now, the Yahoo breach, it affects hundreds of millions of users. Just a moment ago our Samuel Burke offered some concrete tips on what those users should do to reset their passwords, but how concerned should they be about their accounts, about what was stolen, about their privacy?
SULLIVAN: Well, depends if they are an active user and is it a primary account. I'm one of those affected. And I do use that Yahoo account for important things. I've had it forever. But I've had my (inaudible) authentication enabled and my password is unique. So I'm not worried about it cascading to other services.
And the passwords that were leaked or breached were encrypted, so they would have to be decrypted by brute force techniques. That would take a lot of effort on the part of those who sold the information. So I would walk, not run to go change my password and I don't worry about my account because I've already had the two-factor authentication enabled so you have to have my phone, as well, besides the password.
LU STOUT: Yeah, so phone numbers, user names, passwords, any other type of information taken in this data breach?
SULLIVAN: Well, the security questions were in plain text some of them, and so for that today I had to disable my security questions, but in that regard I had sort of nonsense questions and nonsense answers that I've stored, so I won't miss those questions.
For your primary accounts that you really need to secure, this should be the new normal.
LU STOUT: Got you.
And do you think that Yahoo has this under control now? Is it adequately protecting its users, or should users, and that includes you, consider opening another account elsewhere?
SULLIVAN: No, I think given that Bob Lorde,who used to be with Twitter and now with Yahoo and Alex Stamos who was there before him, he now works for Facebook, these guys have a pretty good idea sort of bad guys that are targeting them and I think they are on top of it.
LU STOUT: OK, got you. Sean Sullivan at F-Secure, thank you so much for joining us on the program. Take care.
SULLIVAN: Thank you.
LU STOUT: Now there's been a third night of protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, but unlike the previous demonstrations, Thursday was largely peaceful, unlike the riot we saw Wednesday.
The family of the African-American man who was shot and killed by police, they have indeed watched two police videos of the shooting. They say that you can't see what he was holding, whether it was a book or a gun.
The police chief and mayor say the same thing and don't want to release the video right now, but Charlotte protesters are demanding to see it for themselves and the family agrees.
CNN's Nick Valencia has been covering the protests. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands up.
CROWD: Don't Shoot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands up.
CROWD: Don't shoot.
VALENCIA (voice-over): A third night of protests remain largely peaceful Thursday night, despite Charlotte officials enacting a midnight curfew. A small group thanking National Guard members for their service.
Others laying down to protest the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Release the video!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Release the video!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Release the video!
VALENCIA: And demanding that police video of the incident be released to the public. Charlotte's police chief concedes the video doesn't show Scott pointing a gun at officers.
CHIEF KERR PUTNEY, CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG POLICE: The video does not give me absolute definitive visual evidence that -- that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun. When taken this the totally of all the other evidence, it support what we've heard in the version of the truth that we gave about the circumstances that happened
VALENCIA: Despite that, police are standing by their account of what happened saying Scott refused to drop his weapon.
[08:10:04] MAYOR JENNIFER ROBERTS (D), CHARLOTTE, N.C.: The gun in question is a small gun, and it was not easy to see with the way the motion was happening. So, it is ambiguous.
VALENCIA: After massive public outcry, the Scott family saw two police videos capturing the deadly encounter.
JUSTIN BAMBERG, ATTORNEY FOR SCOTT FAMILY: It was very painful. You know, not just to see him shot and killed, but to see to see the reactions on the rest of the family members' face.
VALENCIA: Attorneys for the family, they insist they saw no aggression in the video, issuing a statement in part, "It is impossible to discern from the video what, if anything, Mr. Scott is holding in his hands. When he was shot and killed, Mr. Scott's hands were by his side, and he was slowly walking backwards."
Two wildly different accounts as more evidence is uncovered. This photo, taken by an eyewitness, appears to show a black object on the ground, which a source close to the investigation says is the gun recovered by authorities.
EDUARDO CURRY, SCOTT FAMILY ATTORNEY (via phone): We're just not sure about that photos and other photos depicted. We did not see a gun in the video.
LYRIC SCOTT, DAUGHTER OF KEITH LAMONT SCOTT: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) My Daddy is dead!
VALENCIA: After the shooting, Scott's daughter suggested the gun was planted by the police.
SCOTT: He was sitting in the car, reading a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) book. My daddy ain't got no (EXPLETIVE DELETED) gun.
VALENCIA: But police are adamant.
PUTNEY: The preponderance of physical evidence there supports exactly what we -- what we made in our initial statement. That yes, he had a weapon. Yes, he refused to drop that weapon, and the officer fired as he perceived that imminent threat.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Nick Valencia reporting.
We are also following developments in the fatal police shooting of an African-American man in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Police Officer Betty Shelby, who shot Terence Crutcher, has been charged with manslaughter. She accused of unlawfully and unnecessarily shooting Crutcher after he did not comply with her lawful orders.
Now, the protests in Tulsa have been peaceful. And if convicted, Shelby could spend anywhere from four years to life in prison.
A fierce wave of air strikes in Aleppo has shattered a short lived cease- fire in Syria. They hit the eastern part of the city, which is held by rebels. One activist tells us the bombardment is even more intense than it was before the cease-fire. Dozens have been killed and injured.
And for more now, let's bring in Fred Pleitgen from the Syrian capital.
And Fred, the cease-fire has unraveled. Damascus has released a new offensive in Aleppo. What's the very latest you're learning, you're hearing from the city?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kristie, you know if there were any sort of questions whether or not the cease-fire was pretty much fully dead, it seems as though those questions are being answered right now in Aleppo. It seems as though there's no inkling of a cease-fire stil being around. In fact, the Syrian military has announced a new offensive in Aleppo. They also have said that that offensive involves ground forces, as well, and is, quote, a comprehensive offensive.
Now, we've already seen a big uptick in air strikes in and around the Aleppo area, especially, of course, the rebel-held eastern district of that city, as well as the Aleppo countryside.
Now, what we're hearing from the past couple of hours is that there's planes in the sky almost constantly. The opposition says that they believe those are Russian and Syrian air force planes and that many targets have been struck in the eastern district of Aleppo.
As you've noted already, dozens of people apparently have been killed and also some infrastructure have been badly damaged, as well. Like, for instance, the only water pumping station that actually serves both rebel held and government held areas in Damascus.
Now, Syria's president, Bashar al Assad, gave a comprehensive interview yesterday to the Associated Press denying that there was any siege of Aleppo going on. Of course, the opposition activists there say something very different. And he also said that Syria would be willing to commit to another cease-fire, however, at this point in time it really seems as though the cease-fire at best is on the ropes. It certainly doesn't look as though it's in place anymore at all -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yeah, dozens of people killed in Aleppo, people there just desperate for an end to the fighting, end to the shelling. They are desperate for food aid. But the bombardment is back.
What do they want from the international community now?
PLEITGEN: Well, you know, of course it really depends which part of Syria you are in. Right now we are in the -- really center of Damascus. This is the Humayad (ph) mosque, which used to be a big tourist attraction here in Syria. And, of course, you have very different needs.
People here, obviously, want the conflict to stop, but the need, of course, is much bigger in those rebel-held areas, especially in Aleppo right now. And those people, obviously, also want the fighting to stop immediately and want aid to move in, as well. That's something that was promised.
There was one Russian aid convoy, or Belarusian aid that was secured by the Russians that went into eastern Aleppo. But other than that, those people really haven't gotten anything.
And then you had the attack on that aid convoy that happened a couple of days ago for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the countryside of Aleppo and all that really makes the whole situation even more difficult because it's becoming even more dangerous for these NGOs to actually be able to deliver any aid. There's a lot of people who are suffering from a lot of shortages.
So what they want right now from the international community, no matter where they live, is the fighting to stop and aid to come in -- Kristie.
[08:15:23] LU STOUT: Yeah, and remind us of the human tragedy here. You were just inside Aleppo. What did it look like then before the latest wave of strikes?
PLEITGEN: Well, it looks absolutely awful. I mean, one of the really tragic things about places like Aleppo is that you have this fighting that really devastates large parts of that city, not just in the opposition held areas, but in government held areas, as well.
We were in one place called Shihan (ph), which is very close -- or was very close to the front line where houses were absolutely destroyed, as well. That also took some very heavy shelling.
And the thing is, there's barely any territorial gains for any side involved with any of that. So you have a lot of destruction, you have very little territorial gains and you have a lot of people who are killed and wounded. And that really I think describes the entire tragedy here of the Syrian civil war is that you have both sides pounding each other. You have a lot of people getting killed, but you have very little in the way of any headway being made, both diplomatically, as well as on the battlefield.
LU STOUT: Now we have this brutal new offensive under way in Aleppo. Fred Pleitgen reporting live for us in Damascus, Thank you, Fsred.
Now, investors are apparently not happy with Facebook. We're going to tell you after the break why shares are down in pre-market trade.
Also ahead, our Ivan Watson sits down for a special interview in Afghanistan. We'll introduce you to Zari (ph), who's bringing joy to the children in a country that's seen so much conflict.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: All right, coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.
And Facebook shares are down about 2 percent in pre-market trading, that after a Wall Street Journal report raised questions about how much video people watch on Facebook.
Now, Facebook has become a prime destination for many media outlets to post video, including CNN, and the Wall Street Journal found that Facebook vastly overestimated the average viewing time for video ads on its platform for two years, that means some companies may have been misled about how well their ads on Facebook are doing compared to their ads on other sites.
Now, in a statement Facebook said that there was an error with a video metric calculation, but it's now been fixed. It insists the error did not affect customers saying, quote, "it did not impact billing and we have notified our partners. This metric is one of many our partners use to assess their video campaigns."
Now a lawyer for Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud. And supporters of Xiao Lin (ph) say that the case is politically motivated. His wife suggested it is payback for a case that her husband handled two years ago. He represented an activist who supported pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. The Chinese government has been cracking down on rights activists and lawyer. More than 200 were detained in a massive roundup last year.
Now to the race for U.S. president. While the Charlotte, North Carolina protests continue over the deadly shooting of an African-American by police, Republican candidate Donald Trump is calling for racial healing, but as Jim Acosta reports, the Trump campaign is having some problems with that approach.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[08:20:38] JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After the violence in Charlotte, Donald Trump is all but blaming President Obama for the racial wounds opened up in another American city.
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our country looks bad to the world, especially when we are supposed to be the world's leader. How can we lead when we can't even control our own cities?
ACOSTA: The GOP nominee is both diagnosing what he sees as the root causes for urban unrest.
TRUMP: It just seems there's a lack of spirit between the white and the black.
ACOSTA: And prescribing a new national crime strategy, suggesting that illegal drugs were partly to blame for the rioters' actions in Charlotte.
TRUMP: and if you're not aware, drugs are a very, very big factor in what you're watching on television at night.
ACOSTA: But the Trump campaign is having a hard time preaching racial harmony after what one of its Ohio county sheriffs Kathy Miller told The Guardian newspaper.
KATHY MILLER, FRM. TRUMP CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: Now people with the guns and shooting up neighborhoods and not being responsible citizens, that's a big change, and I think that's a philosophy that Obama has perpetuated on America. I think that's all his responsibility.
And if you're black and you haven't been successful in the last 50 years, it's your own fault.
ACOSTA: Hours after her remarks surfaced, Miller resigned, saying my personal comments were inappropriate and I apologize.
And Trump is still grappling with another issue that offends African- Americans in particular, his long held belief that President Obama wasn't born in the U.S.
Now, he says, he only claimed to change his mind on the subject so he could move on politically.
TRUMP: Well, I just want to get on with, you know, we want to get on with the campaign. A lot of people were asking me questions and we want to talk about jobs, we want to talk the military, we want to talk about ISIS.
ACOSTA: The Clinton campaign's response, "Trump only gave his 36-second press statement last week to try to change the subject, and it didn't work."
Trump is facing an uphill battle with African-American voters who overwhelmingly prefer Clinton. And he may have made matters worse by endorsing stop and frisk, a controversial police tactic previously used in New York before it was found unconstitutional in federal court, which ruled it unfairly targets minorities.
And Trump continued that tough law and order message at a rally here in Pennsylvania. He said the problem in the country is there aren't enough police officers. He's considering a trip to Charlotte next week.
Jim Acosta, CNN, Chester, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: And as Trump attempts to attract black voters, Hillary Clinton is trying it to appeal to the youth vote. The Democrta's nominee appeared on a web comedy show called Between Two Ferns, and she had to handle some awkward questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZACH GALIFIANAKIS, COMEDIAN: What happens if you become pregnant? Are we going to be stuck with Tim Kaine for nine months? How does this work?
HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can send you pamphlets that might help you understand.
GALIFIANAKIS: First you supported Obama's Tans-Pacific Partnership deal, and then you were against it. I think that people deserve to know, are you down with TPP?
CLINTON: I'm not down with TPP.
GALIFIANAKIS: No, you're supposed to say, "yeah, you know me." Like the hip hop group...
CLINTON: Don't tell me what to say.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Now, there won't be much laughing on Monday either when Clinton and Trump face off in their first U.S. presidential debate.
Now, Sesame Street that has brought joy to children all over the world, including Afghanistan. The country has its own version, it's called Sesame Garden. And the show is getting a new unique puppet. And Ivan Watson paid her a visit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Meet Zari.
ELMO, PUPPET: Welcome to the street.
ZARI, PUPPET: Thank you, Elmo.
WATSON: She is the newest resident of Bachi Sim Sim (ph), or Sesame Garden. It's the Afghan version of a popular children's television show Sesame Street.
Zari is the first and only Afghan Muppet on the program. And I got a chance to meet her.
Hello.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
So this is Zari. I'm going to ask her how old she is.
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
6 years old. You're 6.
Who is Zari?
[08:25:10] SIMA SULTANI, PUPPETEER: Zari is a naughty, intelligent, and so cute girl.
WATSON: 18-year-old Sima Sultani and 23-year-old Mansoora Shirzad are the puppeteers who bring Zari to life.
Do you think it's important Zari is a little girl?
MANSOORA SHIRZAD, PUPETEER: Yeah. It's lots of rules for a girl here, lots of challenges. We want to show people that it's not impossible for a girl to do anything that she wants.
WATSON: How do the children react when Zari comes into a school?
SULTANI: They are looking so happy.
SHIRZAD: They want to touch Zari, they want to hug, mostly they want to kiss Zari.
WATSON: That's beautiful.
SHIRZAD: Yeah.
WATSON: There's a whole team that puts together Bachi Sim Sim (ph), including Zubair Ahmad Katarr, the Afghan voice of characters like Grover and Cookie Monster.
How does cookie monster sound in Afghanistan?
ZUBAIR AHMAD KATARR, VOICE ARTIST: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WATSON: It's not easy to make children's television here in the studio while facing the very real dangers of the war outside. Last January, a Taliban suicide bomber killed an editor of Bachi Sim Sim (ph), Said Jawad Husseini, along with at least six others in an attack targeting one of the TV station's buses.
The producers avoid references to the conflict. They say the TV show provides a safe escape for children.
SHIRZAD: We want to give this idea for the children that say it's not just about war in our country, and we want to make them happy and make them to laugh.
WATSON: There is magic to how these talented Afghans bring Zari to life, and the proof is on the faces of the children.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Kabul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Absolutely adorable scenes there.
Now day four of the UN General Assembly debate, that is about to begin. And Russia's foreign minister is set to speak later today. We're going to take you live to New York for a preview of that.
Also ahead, breaking down gender barriers in Japan. Why this lawmaker thinks she represents the country's political future.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
[08:30:56] LU STOUT: Now, world leaders are gathered or day four of the UN general assembly's annual debate and there is a lot on the agenda this year. Now, CNN senior UN correspondent Richard Roth joins us live now from UN headquarters. And Richard, leaders, representatives from a number of nations will be speaking again today. What are you going to be looking out for?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As usual with these United Nations General Assembly high level meetings, I forgot which day we're on, and it all gets lost. And I'm not alone, thousands of diplomats always feel Tuesday is Friday.
In terms of the speakers, there are always some interesting countries on the agenda. North Korea, a pariah here at the United Nations, will be speaking later this morning. The North Koreans recently detonated their fifth nuclear strike. A high level minister, foreign affairs minister seen here by CNN on the escalator at the UN, he will be speaking.