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Anders Breivik Begins Testimony Today; Australia Announces Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2013; Space Shuttle Discovery Hitches Ride to New Home In D.C.; Bayern Munich Faces Real Madrid in Semifinal of Champions League

Aired April 17, 2012 - 08:00:00   ET

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


KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: Welcome to NEWS STREAM where news and technology meet. I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and we begin in Norway with a man on trial for killing 77 people takes the stand.

In five days, this country will host a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Is Bahrain ready for the race?

And the remarkable story of a man who found his biological family with Google Earth.

Yes, I would do it again. Now those were the chilling words of Anders Behring Breivik as he began testifying in his murder and terror trial in Oslo, Norway. And Breivik showed no remorse for the killing spree he has admitted committing last July, instead he boasted that he had carried out the most spectacular political attack in Europe since World War II. Eventually he was cut off by the presiding judge who suggested Breivik's opening statement had little relevance to proceedings.

Now it is the first time Breivik has spoken publicly about why he killed 77 people, but as Anders Breivik stepped into the witness box the cameras in court were turned off. And like much of the rest of this trial, Breivik's testimony will not be broadcast live. Now the judges have ruled his week long statement will not be shown to prevent Breivik from using the trial as a political platform.

Now earlier, one of five judges in the trial was dismissed following revelations that he had called for the death penalty for Breivik. Now Judge Thomas also declared -- he was declared unfit to continue and replaced because of comments he posted online the day after the rampage.

Our CNN's Diana Magnay is in Oslo following the case. She joins us now live. And Diana, what more did Breivik say in his testimony today?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, there were two parts, really. First of all, he'd asked to be allowed to give a sort of prepared speech that he'd written in prison, said that that would be just 30 minutes long. And the judge made an exception for him. Normally in court cases here you are allowed to stand as the defendant and explain your actions, but you are only allowed to have sort of notes jogging your memory. He was granted this 30 minutes to speak. It actually took him an hour and a half.

And he was consistently asked by the judge to wrap it up and also by the legal counsel representing some of the aggrieved parties, apparently she had been getting many emails from the families watching this in the 18 courthouses around the country where it is being screened by video link who'd asked that he not really be given the opportunity to carry on speaking.

Basically, what he said was pretty much what you can read in his incredibly long manifesto, political manifesto. It was a political speech detailing what he believes is wrong with Europe, the fact that you know the liberal media are in cahoots with the liberal political establishment, that both are cultural Marxists who have allowed the immigration of Muslims into Europe and that is what he is fighting for in the long-term to defend ethnic Norwegians. And that's why he said that what he did on July 22 was incredibly gruesome, but necessary, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Breivik, he also connected the massacre on July 22 to the al Qaeda terror network. What exactly did he say?

MAGNAY: Yeah, he did. He said he lifted some of really their -- for example their whole concept of martyrism, that he had lifted that from al Qaeda. Fellow nationalist militants had a lot -- sorry, militant nationalists, which he classifies himself as, have a lot to learn from al Qaeda because of the way they organize themselves, et cetera, et cetera.

He is now in the process of being cross examined by the prosecution. It's difficult to sort of work out exactly what their strategy is. They said, you know, that they'll sort of do this in three parts. First of all, find out who exactly this man is. So they've been questioning him on things like who gave you the mandate to so-called defend ethnic Norwegians by carrying out this rampage? And he has been struggling a bit, really, saying that he's associated with others, but actually that he probably overplayed.

How many others were in this so-called Knights Templar movement that he had et cetera, et cetera. You can see him struggling.

This testimony is going to go on for five days where he'll be cross examined.

But you know you mentioned the fact that it is not being televised. And that has been criticized by some in the Norwegian media. In fact, they tried to have the injunction against TV cameras in the court lifted. We spoke a little earlier to someone from the Association of Norwegian Editors. This is what he had to say about that ban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNE JENSEN, ASSN. OF NORWEGIAN EDITORS: How could this -- this guy, grown up in a -- the capital of Norway under rather normal circumstances, how could he end up doing this and then defending it afterwards? Because that's what he's doing.

So -- and that's the question everyone is asking, how could that happen. And to get an answer to that question or to try to get an answer as best as we can, I think we have to see him perform himself and his message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MAGNAY: There really is a heated debate here, Kristie, between those who think that, you know, the oxygen of publicity enables these kinds of extremist views to be diluted and those the majority of the family members, the aggrieved who for example believe that this man has had enough of a platform already and that really the less heard from him the better -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Diana Magnay on the story for us live in Oslo. Thank you Diana.

Now turning now to the war in Afghanistan, Australia has become the latest country to call for an early exit of its troops from the country. Prime Minister Julia Gillard says that most of the country's armed forces could be home by the end of next year. Now that is one year earlier than originally planned. She cites the progress of Afghan security forces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Australia's commitment in Afghanistan will look very different to that which we have today. We will have completed our training and mentoring mission with the fourth brigade. We will no longer be conducting routine, front line operations with the Afghan National Security Forces. The Australia Lead Provincial Reconstruction Team will have completed its work. And the majority of our troops will have returned home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Australia has more than 1,500 troops stationed in Afghanistan and 32 of its troops have died in the conflict.

Nick Paton-Walsh joins me now from Afghanistan with more. And Nick, what is Australia's planned exit mean for the wider mission there?

NICK PATON-WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you say a number they're not enormous. They're vital in one province called Uruzgan in the center, but as they say in the speech that they believe they have more or less got that place ready for transition to Afghan security forces. But it's more a symbolic statement today.

Australia was always meant to be one of the more robust allies of the United States and the NATO coalition here. And as recently as June last year when President Barack Obama said he'd start withdrawing the American surge of troops, Julia Gillard said quite bluntly they're not going to do that. They were going to stay until the end in 2014.

So a dramatic reversal by her for electoral reasons, many analysts say. And we're actually seeing now I think a slow change in the wind for many of America's allies here. The French, after the death of some of their soldiers, radically sped up their timetable to withdraw towards the end of next year. And we see Australia today making that change.

And also, in fact, by some ways, because this war is increasingly unpopular in Australia, France, and America we have even heard from the U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently saying that U.S. troops will transition to a non-combat role by the middle of next year.

So a speeding up of the timetable here. NATO say because Afghan security forces are ready, but many outsiders really say this is down for domestic political reasons -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Now, Australian troops, they've been mainly based in the Uruzgan region. Nick, can you tell us more about that part of Afghanistan and is it considered to be a volatile area?

PATON-WALSH: Well, when I was there in about 2007, a Romania-Dutch force operating in that valley. And at that time, it was a key transit route for arms supplies going down to the south. Now the Australians say they've significant improved matters there for now, but it still remains a vital part in the center of the country where arms can move from the east and western borders down into that vital battle region of the south.

But I would say more Australia's contribution here has been a symbolic one, because it always was the most robust ally.

Julia Gillard, they're citing massive improvements in the Afghan security forces as one justification for this sped up time table, but we saw them in action in Kabul recently where we heard President Karzai saying that they performed very well, but he had some harsh words to say about the intelligence side that allowed the attacks in Kabul at the weekend when he spoke yesterday to CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN: This is indicative (INAUDIBLE) of serious intelligence failure, especially an intelligence failure of our allies in NATO and others, because of the equipment that they have, because of the resources that they have, because of the time that they've spent in this part of the world. So this is indeed a very legitimate question, and indeed one every Afghan household is asking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PATON-WALSH: That's a lot of logic for the Afghan president saying their NATO are the resource partner here. But I should also point out that Afghan forces I've spoke to being in charge of security of the capital for quite some time, but really they're sort of trading of blame after a key attack like that in the capital does question the integrity of the alliance between Kabul and Washington and also put into question how is this transition in the months ahead, with all these NATO allies talking about an expedited exit, how is that transition going to happen in an orderly fashion with the security of Afghans at it forefront -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: That's right, there is a lot of pressure on Afghan troops to be ready to provide security for their own country when the handover takes place.

What more needs to be done for them to be up and ready for that task?

PATON-WALSH: Well, there's a huge spectrum of Afghan security forces here. I mean, I've seen their elite commandos who, by all accounts, are very good. I've seen them in training missions. But I've also seen across the country Afghan soldiers who really do lack professionalism, who disappoint their American colleagues an awful lot when they mount joint missions. So there is a lot of work to be done. There is a great push by NATO to convince media and the outside world that Afghan security forces are ready and up to the task, but I think there's still a lot of work to be done there.

A lot of funding questions for the future years. Once NATO withdraws, there's a huge cash deficit for funding this massive Afghan army that's going to have to cut its size just to be affordable in the forthcoming years.

So huge questions. And really the most important one how is it that after the challenge NATO, with all this technology and cash over the past 10 years its faced against the insurgency, how can they expect more poorly equipped and newer Afghan force to suddenly take up that role convincingly, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And this can be just the beginning, as we discussed yesterday, of the spring offensive.

Nick Paton-Walsh, joining us live. Thank you.

The NATO mission in Afghanistan has been beset by problems, most recently the fatal shootings of 17 Afghan civilians allegedly by an American Soldier. And the deadly incident further tested relations between Kabul and Washington.

And CNN's Christiane Amanpour question Afghan president Hamid Karzai about his response to the killings, particularly his feelings about the United States, his supposed ally.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You could image the kind of reaction it has after the, you know, spilling of so much blood, after the spending of so many hundreds of billions of dollars on Afghanistan when Americans hear you, the president of Afghanistan, calling them demons, calling the shootings in that village, as catastrophic and appalling as they were, intentional terror. What kind of effect do you think those words have for a nation that's basically been propping you up for all these years?

KARZAI: You are talking of the killing of people last month by the U.S. soldier?

AMANPOUR: Yes.

KARZAI: Well, that was terrible. That was terrible, wasn't it?

AMANPOUR: Absolutely. But my question to you was -- and it was unconscionable and we all around the world know that -- my question is when you called Americans demons after that and called it intentional terror, did you mean that or was that the emotion of the moment?

KARZAI: Demons -- I have never used the word demon in the English language. The word intentional terror, yes I did use in the English language. It was my input into the statement that we made. This was intentional. When someone walks out of a military barrack and goes to kill villagers, that's intentional, and that's terrorism.

AMANPOUR: You mean individual, right? You don't mean that it was the U.S. doing that?

KARZAI: No. I didn't say the U.S. people, I said the individual. That individual committed terror and of the most atrocious kind.

AMANPOUR: What should happen to him?

KARZAI: Justice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Don't miss "AMANPOUR." Each night she'll bring you face to face with the people shaping the news. Tune in 10:00 pm right here in Hong Kong.

Now you're watching NEWS STREAM on CNN. And coming up in Bahrain, will ongoing protests overshadow this weekend's Formula 1 race?

And a homecoming to warm your heart, Indian mothers reunited with her son after decades and oceans apart.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

An internationally brokered ceasefire in Syria, it does not appear to be holding. Opposition activists say at least 19 people have been killed so far today, some in the town of Idlib.

Now this YouTube video shows tanks in the streets. You can hear the sound of gunfire.

Activists also report shelling in the city of Homs and in the southern town of Bazar al Harir (ph). And one opposition group says 55 people were killed across the country on Monday, now that is a notable rise in the daily toll since the ceasefire took effect five days ago.

Now Bahrain will be in the international spotlight this weekend when it hosts Formula 1's Grand Prix. And the government claims the country is on the road to reform after last year's pro-democracy protests and the crackdown that followed.

But a new report by Amnesty International calls human rights reforms inadequate and says continuing violations by police are being ignored.

Now Fredrik Pleitgen reports Sunday's race could be overshadowed by continuing unrest in the kingdom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As Bahrain gears up for a controversial Formula 1 race this was the seen in Salmabad, a Shiite village just outside the capital Manama. Violent clashes, protesters lobbying Molotov cocktails, security forces responding with tear gas and batons.

Clashes erupt in Shiite villages like this one on a daily basis. Nonetheless, the government still says it's going to be able to host the race without incident.

Let's get out of here.

This demo began as a morning march for an activist killed in clashes on March 31. While the population Bahrain is predominantly Shiite, it is the Sunni minority that wields power here.

And some protesters say while they don't oppose Formula 1, they are furious the race is being held in the current climate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The people here are getting killed. But if they are -- it's the regime is still hosting the -- we feel like they are driving on our blood. They are driving on our bodies.

PLEITGEN: But the government says that the grand prix could be a unifying factor for Bahrain's society that only a small, but radical minority is actually opposed to the event.

ABDULAZIA BIN MUBARAK AL-KHALIFA, BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: There are always those who are going to try and sabotage an international event like this. But believe me, we're not going to allow them to. We have the right experts in place. We have the right measures in place.

PLEITGEN: After pro-democracy protests were violently put down by security forces here last year the government says it has initiated a series of reforms to prevent police brutality, random arrests and torture.

AL-KHALIFA: What we have now are checks and balances for procedures that will make Bahrain a much better place to live in in terms of questioning and detention, independent investigative units within the attorney general's office.

PLEITGEN: But human rights groups call the measures halfhearted and say abuses continue almost un-diminshed. Protesters have vowed to step up demonstrations in the week leading up to the race, while teams and drivers arrive in Bahrain and the country's leadership insists it is determined to make this event a success.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Manama, Bahrain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And let's have a closer look at where all this is happening. Now Fred filed his report on the protest from Salmabad as roughly between the capital Manama and the circuits where Sunday's race will take place.

Now coming up next here on NEWS STREAM, an amazing family reunion. He was lost as a boy. And now more than two decades later one man uses Google Earth to track down his biological family.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. You're back watching NEWS STREAM.

Now we all know that Google Earth can bring the whole world to your fingertips through satellite images of countries around the globe, but now it has helped one man reconnect with his family more than 20 years after he was lost as a young boy.

Now Sara Sidner has this incredible story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fatima Bi Munshi's story begins with heartbreak.

FATIMA BI MUNSHI, MOTHER OF LOST BOY (through translator): With no clothes to wear, no bed to sleep on I raised my children in extreme poverty. And then some evil eye (ph) struck and I lost my son.

SIDNER: This is where Mother Fatima's nightmare began, because this is where two of your young boys came and hopped a train just like this one and disappeared.

MUNSHI: I wanted the Earth to swallow me up. My life became worthless. I'd lost my world.

SIDNER: Her eight-year-old Virdoo (ph) would hop trains to make money by sweeping under seats. His younger brother, five-year-old Saroo idolized him and decided to go with him one evening.

SAROO BRIERLEY: My brother got off, I got off. And I decided that I couldn't walk anymore and I sat down on a chair that was just a couple of meters from the side of the train station. And I just fell asleep.

SIDNER: When Saroo woke up, he was alone.

He decided he'd hop trains to find his brother or his home.

BRIERLEY: I did this for days and days. And until it came to the point where I thought, you know, if I keep on doing this, I'll start going crazy.

SIDNER: He got off in Calcutta, a gritty, crowded, busy city with throngs of poor children.

BRIERLY: I did freak out at times. And, you know, I cried a lot. I cried a lot. And I kind of, you know, called out for my mother and -- but it never got me anywhere.

SIDNER: Instead, he says, he was approached by men who nearly sucked him into a life of child labor or worse. He ran away, eventually ending up in a state orphanage, adopted by a couple who called him Saroo and took him to Australia.

But for two decades, Saroo wondered about the family he had searched for, but could never find.

One day, he decided to search one last time. Using Google Earth and a bit of math to calculate how far he had traveled from home, he zoomed into a spot that brought back memories.

BRIERLY: The first landmark that I noticed was the waterfall where I used to bath. And I thought, oh my god, this just looks exactly the way that it's -- that's in my head, in my memories.

SIDNER: It turns out, it was the place. And he eventually walked back in to his old life and saw his biological mother. He learned that the brother he once idolized had died while hopping trains a month after they got separated. But Saroo was reunited with his other brother and sister.

How often did you think about your sons when they disappeared?

MUNSHI (through translator): I couldn't sleep at night. And my mind was just wonder in madness. I didn't feel like eating. I kept looking out for him on the streets asking people about his whereabouts. I found him nowhere. It was a very difficult time.

SIDNER: Though she suffered many years of sorrow at the loss of her sons, Fatima's sorrow is now mixed with gratitude to the people who gave one of her sons a home and a life she never could have.

Sara Sidner, CNN, Congewai (ph), India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Great Story.

Now coming up here on NEWS STREAM, the Space Shuttle Discovery hitches a ride as it takes one last trip to the skies. We're live at the Kennedy Space Center just ahead.

And a physicist in San Diego is riding high after using a very unusual argument to get out of a fine for failing to stop at a stop sign. How he did it next on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching NEWS STREAM and these are your world headlines.

Now Anders Breivik, the Norwegian on trial for killing 77 people in a rampage last July said today that he would do it again. Now Breivik took the stand for the first time earlier today in testimony expected to last about a week. His trial for murder and terrorism is said to last 10 weeks.

Now Australian forces in Afghanistan could be home a year earlier than anticipated. Now Prime Minister Julia Gillard expects the transition of security duties to Afghan forces to be completed within 18 months. She says more than 1,500 Australian troops could be withdrawn by the end of next year.

Now Syria's ceasefire is edging closer to collapse. Activists say 19 people have been killed so far today one day after some six UN observers arrive. Now more than 50 deaths were reported on Monday. U.S. ambassador to the UN says the Syrian regime has been lying to the international community.

Now the businessman, the former party chief, his wife, and their assistant: now each plays a part in China's biggest political scandal in years. Now the country's social networks and corridors of power are still buzzing after the arrest of the wife of Bo Xilai, a former high flier in the ruling Communist Party.

Now Gu Kaili is a suspect in the murder of British executive Neil Haywood with many in China now suggesting that he died of cyanide poisoning. Jaime Florcruz has the latest from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAIME FLORCRUZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's spring in Beijing and the flowers are in bloom. Also in bloom are rumors of purges and in-fighting at the top of China's Communist Party leadership as it prepares for a major reshuffle later this year.

The past few weeks, China has been gripped by one of the most sensational political scandals in years. At the center of the scandal, Bo Xilai, a populist and polarizing politician from a privileged family who was expected to move up in the Beijing leadership. Instead, Bo has been removed from his top post in the Communist Party. He has now vanished from the scene under house arrest.

Also vanished, Bo wife Gu Kaili, arrested on suspicion on criminal complicity in the mysterious death of Neil Haywood, a British businessman and long time friend of the Bo family.

The Chinese government says Haywood and Bo's wife had economic conflicts. What kind of conflicts and why it would have led to murder are unclear. Media reports claim Gu Kaili and Haywood quarreled over how much share he would get for allegedly moving a huge amount of Bo's money out of China.

There are many other rumors and speculations, mostly unsubstantiated. One source close to Gu Kaili's family tells CNN Gu's family and friends believe Haywood was in fact a British spy. They wonder if he had tried to blackmail Gu Kaili.

There are more questions than answers. And so far the government has been unable to provide official explanations.

In London, Prime Minster David Cameron is expected to raise the issue of Haywood's death when he meets the visiting Chinese official.

Everyone here is waiting to find out the real story, but without credible information in China's official controlled media, people here continue to seize on rumors and speculation passed on by word of mouth and on the internet.

Jaime Florcruz, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now Space Shuttle Discovery is in the air right now over the eastern United States. NASA's oldest remaining orbiter clocked more than 238 million kilometers in its career, but it's now hitching a ride to its new home.

You can see the shuttle here. It's mounted on a modified Boeing 747. And Discovery's final flight, it takes it from the Kennedy Space Center down there in Florida to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. It's expected to arrive at the airport there in about two hours time.

Now Discovery made one final pass around Kennedy Space Center before leaving for good. John Zarrella, he's been there all morning. And he joins us now live.

And John, the site, it's incredible that the space shuttle mounted on top of a 747. Can you tell us more about what you saw and its final flight?

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, it's amazing and I guess incredible is certainly a good word to use, Kristie. It's one of those things, you know, once in a lifetime moment about an hour-and-a-half ago. As Discovery lifted off here from Kennedy Space Center, heading to Washington to Dulles, before it actually left the area it flew down the beach, then back over launchpad 39a, which it had of course taken off from so many times in its history, flying 39 missions, more than any other space shuttle. Then it made one more pass over the crowd here. Many NASA employees gathered to watch Discovery lift off and headed straight north under a cloudless blue sky, just spectacular.

And of course the six astronauts who 14 months ago flew Discovery on its very last flight were here to watch it take off as well. And I'm joined by Alvin Drew, one of those six astronauts. And that had to be in some ways pretty tough to watch as it just headed north.

ALVIN DREW, NASA ASTRONAUT: Very mixed emotions watching it, John, to be honest with you. In one aspect, it seemed like, you know, a fallen hero being carried off on a funeral barrage, on another part it was good to see Discovery back in the sky again. Those shuttles belong in the sky, in the air. And to see Discovery make that final departure with air beneath its wings was at least somewhat satisfying.

ZARRELLA: Now you know we move into the future now. This is certainly the exclamation point on the end of the shuttle program when you see this In the future, do you foresee -- and you're working in the office that is talking about sending people to Mars and to asteroids, do you see those things being accomplished with international cooperation as perhaps the only way to do it?

DREW: I don't see us going back into space ever again without international partnerships. The programs that we are undertaking are very complex, they are very expensive. There are more resources than any one single nation, even super power can manage. And so like our current international space station is I think the template for how we're going to go into space everywhere in the future. All the programs, all things I'm looking at going out to asteroids, to the space beyond the moon, to even trips out to Mars, virtually all of them involve plans to cooperate with other space agencies out there around the planet.

ZARRELLA: Al, thanks so much. I know this again pretty -- we use that word bittersweet, maybe overused sometimes, but you know you certainly can't overuse the word when it comes, Kristie, to the final flight of the Discovery.

And real quickly, Enterprise will -- which is in the Smithsonian -- is going to actually go up to New York next week. They'll put it up there. It's going to end up in the Air and -- the Intrepid Air and Space Museum.

Endeavor goes out to California in the fall. And Atlantis will actually stay here and be retired here at the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Good excuse to book a trip there to Washington, D.C.

John Zarrella, thank you.

And our own Mari Ramos, she has been to the Kennedy Space Center there in Florida to watch a shuttle take to the orbit. But what are her thoughts right now about this final flight to the Smithsonian?

Now Mari, she joins us now. Mari, what are you thinking right now?

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: You know what, it really is bittersweet when you see this. I mean, it's such an amazing spacecraft. You know, I've been a fan of the space shuttle for a long time, ever since I was a little kid, and I did have, Kristie -- I did see Space Shuttle Discovery take off. And that's what I was thinking about. And it was a very emotional moment for everyone there. And of course -- you know, if you've never seen a space shuttle launch, it was incredible.

I want to go ahead and share those pictures with you right now. Take a look.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one, zero. Booster ignition. And liftoff of Discovery, blazing a trail...

RAMOS: This was back on April 5, 2010. I was there with my entire family. It was incredible. It was a nighttime launch. It was actually just after 6:20 in the morning, so it was still dark outside. And we were about four miles away from -- maybe six miles -- away from Launchpad A. And you could feel -- first you see the lights and then all of sudden you start to hear some of the noise and you begin to feel the rumbling of the earth right at your feet as the space shuttle starts to take off.

It was really quite amazing. And that was also Discovery's -- that was the last nighttime launch that they had for the space shuttles, any of the space shuttles. And it was Discovery's longest mission.

But that was then and this is now. And I want to share some of the pictures that are coming in from iReports. This is by one of our producers, Kim Segal, who is there at the Kennedy Space Center with John. She took these amazing pictures -- bye-bye -- after takeoff there.

One other cool thing I want to tell you, they have been watching the weather very closely, but it does not appear that it will be getting in the way, so to speak. We've had some strong storms developing here across the southeastern United States, all of these will be continuing to trail toward the east. But Washington, D.C. still looking good. I think we might begin to see a little bit more in the way of cloud cover.

Now what we're expecting to happen is, like you said in maybe about an hour-and-a-half to two hours, as the shuttle gets closer to the Washington, D.C. area what they're going to do is they're going to do a low altitude flyby. So basically people on the ground will be able to look up and spot the shuttle. And that's actually what the hashtag on Twitter that you should be using if you are there, of course, or if you want to see what's going on, it's #spottheshuttle.

And this is a map, a Google Map from NASA. And these dots that you see here is what they are saying are the best locations to actually be able to spot the shuttle as it flies at about 1,500 feet, which is pretty incredible. It's going to be flying near the National Mall and near the river. It's going to go by the Smithsonian.

So they're saying take your pictures. It's a moment in history for the space program. And they want to share with the world.

So #spottheshuttle, be tweeting about it of course throughout the day. And there's lots of coverage happening here on CNN. Kristie, back to you.

LU STOUT: All right. Mari Ramos, thank you very much indeed.

And now over the last two days, we have seen pictures of the parades and pageantry as North Korea celebrated the 100th birthday of founder Kim il-Song. But we have a new picture that might put into perspective just how remarkable the celebrations were.

Now this is a satellite photo of Pyongyang, it was taken by Digital Globe. And just here, you can see the military vehicles on parade, but it's the part in red that's amazing, because that is not a sign, now that is a mass of people holding up a message.

Now let me show you another angle of the same image. As you can see, it's clear that they were aiming for maximum impact.

Now coming up here on NEWS STREAM as part of our Leading Women series, we catch up with Google executive Marisa Mayer, find out how she landed the job at the internet search engine more than a decade ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now this week as part of our Leading Women series we continue our profiles of Google executive Marisa Mayer and French Anne-Sophie Pic. And we find out how these women launched their amazing careers.

Now Felicia Taylor starts us off inside Google headquarters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARISA MAYER, GOOGLE EXECUTIVE: And then if you took one of like the (INAUDIBLE) and made that the owl, or you just hang it.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Google VP and tech powerhouse Marisa Mayer was the first female engineer at Google. Her maverick nature goes back to when she studied symbolic systems and artificial intelligence at California's renowned Stanford University.

MAYER: What it is, is it's this idea of cognitive psychology, how do people learn, philosophy, how do they reason, linguistic, and computer science. Can you create a computer that can learn, reason, express itself?

TAYLOR: She graduated with honors in 1999, but the summer before that, Mayer went to Zurich, Switzerland to work in a research lab. She says that period taught her to push beyond her fears.

MAYER: I didn't think I could spend the summer living in summer not speaking the language. What was I thinking? Why did I think this was going to work? Why did I think this was going to be a good idea? And, you know, that summer was just amazing. I worked in a research lab with 30 people from all over the world. You know, we spend the summer working really hard actually on the research that led me ultimately to Google.

TAYLOR: And it's at Google that her journey to becoming the top women in technology began.

MAYER: Well, it was 1999. It was the height of the first -- the first internet bubble. And I was graduating from Standord with a Masters in Computer Science. And I wanted to work at Google for a lot of reasons I could express -- I felt like the smartest people were there. I felt like it was a risk and I felt like I was something I wasn't really prepared to do.

TAYLOR: Taking chances in life is a motto Mayer believes in.

MAYER: I think that's how you grow. There's that moment of fear of, wow, I really don't know how to do this. And I find that when you push through those moments, that's when you really have a breakthrough.

TAYLOR: Mayer enjoys sports with her husband Zach Vogue (ph) whom she married in 2009. They are committed to charitable causes, including attending this bowling event to raise awareness for a local organization fighting poverty.

Next week, we'll learn more about Mayer's rise at Google and hear about the life lessons she's learned over the years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERANTIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Becky Anderson.

For French chef Anne-Sophie Pic, a key life lesson she learned over the past decade came after losing her father in 1992.

ANNE-SOPHIE PIC, CHEF: It was like a total shock, you know. Sometimes I think if my father didn't pass away, probably I was not so much involved perhaps in learning my job and giving all my feelings and my emotions.

ANDERSON: The job she speaks of is really more of a calling, a raison d'etre in gastronomy. It's in the Pic family blood line. Pic's great- grandmother, also named Sophie, started the culinary dynasty more than 120 years ago. Her grandfather Andre and father Jacques were both three star Michelin chef, a coveted rating which Pic herself achieved in 2007.

Your family history is steeped in food. Tell me about that.

PIC: Since I can remember, I always been someone in the family working in the kitchen. We cook. So it's a part of my universe. It's in me, myself.

ANDERSON: In a small French town, Vallance, where Pic runs her restaurant Maison Pic and other businesses, the Pic name is legendary. But in the beginning Pic did not want to follow in her family's footsteps, only after leaving home for business studies in Paris and work in Japan and the U.S. did Pic realize her calling to return to her father's kitchen and learn how to cook.

PIC: I discovered a new -- new cultures and new way of eating (ph). I discovered Japanese cuisine. And it was beautiful.

ANDERSON: Jacques Pic died three months after his daughter returned home.

PIC: It's like how to do now? How to (INAUDIBLE)?

ANDERSON: In 1995, after a few years working on the business side of the Maison Pic empire, she brazenly took over the Pic restaurant kitchen as an untrained chef.

PIC: So you see we are (INAUDIBLE) vinegar, you know. The only thing I have (INAUDIBLE) from my father, that most beautiful thing he gave me.

ANDERSON: Along with building a business together, Pic and husband David are raising a young son. And Pic is not slowing down any time soon. The couple has planned to expand their family ground with another restaurant opening soon in Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now one of the most high profile women in business now admits that she gets out of the office by 5:30 pm every day. Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg recently told an interviewer that she leaves work at that time so she could be home with her kids for dinner. Now Sandberg's family friendly hours has sparked the debate in the tech world about when to leave the office, especially in a competitive sector where the work is never truly over. You can find the article all about her on CNN.com/tech has attracted more than 1,800 comments and more than 10,000 recommendations on Facebook.

Now Alex Thomas will be here with all the latest in sports as two of Europe's top clubs clash in the Champion's League semifinal. Stick around for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now I wanted to bring you some news just into CNN. The UK's home office has confirmed the arrest of radical cleric Abu Qatada. And officials say that they intend to deport him to Jordan. Now the preacher is accused of spreading extremist views. He was released on bail in February after a total of almost nine years in detention. And the news of his arrest, it comes exactly a week after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that another radical cleric, Abu Hamza, could be extradited from the UK to the U.S. on terror charges.

Now the British Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to make an announcement to parliament later.

Now the world's most prestigious club football competition takes center stage again later with the first of the Champion's League semifinals. And Alex Thomas is here to look ahead to those games and the other top sports stories -- Alex.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, hi Kristie. Just one round stands between Real Madrid and the prospect of an all-Spanish Champion's League final. But for that to happen, the most successful team in European Cup history must overcome a significant hurdle in the shape of Bayern Munich. They may only have four triumphs in this competition compared to Real's record of nine, but the Bundisliga club has won all of its home games in the tournament this season, scoring 19 goals and conceding just 3.

Tonight's venue is the Allianz Arena, which will also host the finals. And that's an extra motivation for Bayern who haven't been crowned European champions since 2001. And Real Madrid have to go back to 2002 for their last Champion's League title.

Coach Jose Mourinho bidding to become the first to guide three different teams to European football's biggest club prize. His opposite number (INAUDIBLE) was actually in charge of Los Blancos when they won the competition back in 1998.

And no other side have a European Cup history so intertwined. Real and Bayern meeting a record 18 times in the knockout stages down the years. The Germans have won 10 of those games, including the most recent five years ago. The contested four previous semifinals with the team from Munich winning three and losing just once. Bayern can also post a record of 13 victories from 14 home games in the Champion's League. And they've never lost any of their nine games against Real on German soil. More on that later in World Sport, of course.

But for NBA news now. And the Los Angeles Clippers have become the latest team to clinch a playoff place in the Western Conference. On Monday night they were hosting Kevin Durant from the Northwest Division winning Oklahoma City Thunder.

The visitors on top in the first half. Here's Durant taking the foul from Blake Griffin, but still laying it in to the basketball. 24 points for the Oklahoma Star, but only two of those came in the second half. That's when the Clippers came alive and Nick Young led the way for L.A. downing a three here as the top scorer for his side with 19 points.

Onto the fourth quarter, and Moe Williams loses the ball, but regains it before shooting a pass to Griffin who muscles inside and slams it.

The Clippers' next position, it was Williams and Griffin teaming up again. Another dunk, a monster one from Blake who had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

L.A.'s lead kept on growing in the dying minutes. Chris Paul drives the lane, feeds it to Randy Foye for the three. The Clippers going on to win by a comfortable 92-77.

And we'll have more NBA action as well for you in World Sport in around three hours time. Kristie, back to you.

LU STOUT: All right, good stuff. Alex Thomas, thank you.

Now some people will do just about anything to get out of a traffic ticket, but most probably next turn to math for help. Well, one man in California, he wrote this four page paper to argue his case. As you may have guessed Dmitri Krioukov is a physicist. So let's take you through it.

Now he starts by establishing the three conditions that made it look like he failed to stop at a stop sign. He includes charts and formulas to explain the difference between linear and angular speed. But here's where it gets interesting. Now this diagram, it shows a second car pulled in front of the police officer. And the officer's position is in purple. And Krioukov's car is shown in blue here. And the gray area behind car number two is the area of poor visibility for the officer.

Now the paper concludes in the final diagram of Krioukov's speed and the policeman's perception.

Now we simplified it a bit. This is mathematical way of saying basically, yes officer I did stop back there. And it got Krioukov off the hook.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMITRI KRIOUKOV, PHYSICIST, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA: (INAUDIBLE) what he saw was exactly of what he told. And what he told the court and myself that he saw me sailing through the intersection. And that was proven in the paper that that indeed what people supposed (INAUDIBLE) reported that. But then in the paper I was showing that what he saw was not an adequate reflection of reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Though if you want to use the law of physics as defense in the court of law, well Krioukov recommends that you remember what you learned in high school, or you can just look up this paper online. It's called the proof of innocence.

And that is NEWS STREAM, but the news continues at CNN. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is next.

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