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NEWS STREAM

Ebola Outbreak Raises Death Toll to 16 in Uganda; Navy Builds Fake Deserts and Jungles to Test Military Robots; North Korea's Kim Jong-un Enjoys New Amusement Park With British Official; Saving the Euro; Mario Draghi's Press Conference; London Olympics; Terrorists Arrested in Spain; Eight Badminton Players Disqualified from Olympic Games; Taipei Typhoon; The World Wide Web

Aired August 2, 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, CNNI: I am Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet. We begin in Syria. A rebel fighter battle for regime forces control the country's two major cities.

Plus, the ECB has just announced it will hold its fee interest rate at a record low. Will central bank head Mario Draghi do anything more?

And a black mark on badminton. How a disqualified player may leave the sport in disgrace.

But first, we are just getting details on what Spanish authorities are calling a major operation against suspected terrorists. The Interior Minister says three alleged Al Qaeda members are now under arrest. They were said to be planning an attack in Spain or other parts of Europe. As these details come in, we are making our own phone calls. CNN's terror expert Nic Robertson ahs been working on the story. He joins us live from London where, with the Olympic Games taking place, the possibility of terror has been a major concern. Nic, what have you learned about these arrests?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What we have learned so far from the Spanish Interior Minister is that two people, Al Qaeda members were arrested yesterday, one facilitator helping them arrested today. These two Al Qaeda members according to the Spanish Interior Minister were trained on weapons, experienced in making explosives and again, according to the Interior Minister there was very clear evidence of a threat of an attack in Spain or in Europe, and according to the Interior Minister documents were found with this Al Qaeda pair that indicated that they were looking at some remote controlled aircraft as potentially a means to deliver the explosives.

What we have heard in the last couple of minutes from a source that has been briefed about this by Spanish authorities is these two Al Qaeda members, and this information, we are still running down and it is coming into us, but the first indications are that these two Al Qaeda members have actually had training in Afghanistan and Pakistan, possibly affiliated with a Pakistani Jihadis group, again, this is information that is just coming in, their potential targets could have included U.S. facilities in Spain or Spanish naval base.

This is not uncommon to find Al Qaeda looking at aerial means, essentially a drones type of thing or perhaps it could have been some kind of paragliding technique or vehicle that was going to be used here, it is no uncommon to find Al Qaeda looking at this type of delivery mechanisms for explosives, one person was recently arrested, charged, convicted in the United States as planning a similar type of air borne attack in the United States. So the details are just coming in, but this is very significant, and it comes against a background of growing concerns with European Security and Intelligence authorities about Al Qaeda taking advantage of the Arab spring in North Africa to develop basis, Libya is one of them, where Al Qaeda has established at least one base, those bases would then be used to get operatives into Europe to carry out attacks. These arrests in Southern Spain, not far from Africa. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Thank you for the details. The use of remote controlled aircraft to deliver explosives. Arrests by suspected Al Qaeda made in Spain, the very latest from Nic Robertson. Thank you very much indeed, Nic.

Now, in the battle for Syria, the cities of Damascus and Aleppo are bearing the front of the latest fighting between rebels and the regime. Opposition groups say dozens of people were killed in the suburbs of the capital on Wednesday. They say some people faced execution in house to house raids by [inaudible] in the north. Activists say communications are largely out in Aleppo because of the fighting. The opposition say rebels attacked a military airport near the city on Thursday using [inaudible] from the regime.

The fighting is taking an increasingly heavy toll on the civilian population. In this video, you see people lined up for bread in [inaudible]. The U.S. says some three million Syrians will need food aid in the next year because farmers have not been able to harvest crops.

And the violence shows no sign of slowing. Syrian President Bashar al Assad told the army this, quote: "The enemy is among us and is using inside agents to destabilize the country." Now, we are learning that the U. S. president Barak Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert support for the rebels.

World Affairs reporter Elise Labott joins me now live from Washington with more. Elice, exactly how has the U.S. offered support for the rebels and how long has this been going on?

ELISE LABOTT, WORLD AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well Kristie, it is unclear exactly when the president signed this order, we believe it was in the last few months, and it provides authority for broad intelligence assistance. Have to be careful to note, this does not mean the U.S. is ready to arm the rebels; the Obama Administration has made it quite clear it is not ready to do that. But what it is doing, is helping other countries that are arming the rebels such as Saudi Arabia, providing them intelligence and information about who these rebels are, they are trying to rule out who are the good rebels that could possibly be armed and who might have associations with Jihad, if you will, because one of the main complaints is that the U.S. doesn't really know who these rebels are. So this would provide more assistance to find out who they are, and also information about troop movements and the U.S. as we know is providing communications equipment to these groups.

LU STOUT: You just said we don't really know who the rebels are; the opposition [inaudible] are notoriously divided, so how has the U.S. been able to coordinate this non lethal support for the Syrian army so far?

LABOTT: Well so far they have been directing their assistance to the Syrian National Counsel and Humanitarian Aid groups. But what the U.S. is trying to do, is call the opposition into one or two umbrella groups, so they can start dealing with one group, you know, if you remember in Libya, the Transitional National Counsel and the Libyan National Army was much more organized and the U.S. was able to deal with a set of people. Here in Syria, it is very diverse, as you know, there are a lot of different groups, and so what the U.S. is trying to do is to work with all the different groups that they know and try to get them together. There was an opposition conference in Cairo where the U.S. was trying to work with these opposition groups, to get them to start coordinating better, so not only that the U.S. could work with one but they can have a better chance against the army.

LU STOUT: Elise Labott reporting for us live from Washington. Thank you.

And as Syria descends deeper into civil war, atrocities are being committed on both sides. In the city of Aleppo, the hunted are turning into the hunters. Ivan Watson has this report and we must warn you it has graphic and disturbing content.

IVAN WATSON, REPORTER: The battle for Aleppo is turning uglier and more vicious by the day, with both sides apparently oblivious to the laws of war. On Monday, rebels and government security forces clashed around the [inaudible] police station in eastern Aleppo. Rebels told CNN they were then attacked by members of the Betty Clan, (sp) a pro government militia, at least eleven rebel fighters were killed, the next day their comrades went looking for revenge. Capturing several members of the Betty family, the rebels filmed and distributed video of their fighters kicking and beating two men.

The cameraman identifies one of them as a man he calls Zano Betty. We next see Betty bloody and almost naked in a room full of prisoners. These are the Betty [inaudible] says a voice off camera, they attacked the people of Aleppo and they killed eleven Syrian army members. The captives mumbled their names to the camera.

The next rebel video shows Zano Betty and several other prisoners being led outside. Don't shoot, nobody shoot someone says but that is not enough to stop what can only be described as a summary execution. Intense gunfire continues for almost a minute. An official with the Tawheed Brigade, a large rebel group that operates in Northern Syria claimed responsibility for these extra judicial killings. In a phone call with CNN he said the executions were carried out in retaliation for the rebels killed by the Betty Clan.

"We conducted an investigation, judged them guilty, and then took them outside and carried out the execution at approximately 12 noon on Tuesday" said the spokesman who asked only to be called Abu Ahmed.

For the last seventeen months, international organizations have denounced the Syrian Government or committing atrocities against unarmed civilians. The Syrian Army has often promised that its men will fight by the rules of war and treat prisoners humanely. But this week's rebel killings in Aleppo suggest the start of a bloody cycle of revenge. Ivan Watson, CNN, Syria.

LU STOUT: Still ahead here on News Stream, vowing to do whatever it takes. All eyes are on the European Central Bank, but just super is this Mario?

And badminton backlash, what one of China's most promising players had to say after being disqualified at the Olympics.

(COMMERCIAL)

LU STOUT: Those were some images captured by our IReporters as the Olympics continue. And as the games on Wednesday, the disqualification of eight badminton players attracted a lot of media attention and now one of the disqualified players,Yu Yang has announced that she is ending her career, accusing the sports governing body of ruining her dreams. Yu Yang and her partner Wang Xiaoli are ranked number one in the world and they were disqualified along with doubles pairs from Indonesia and Korea for appearing to deliberately try to loose their matches. A badminton world chief executive said they breached the sport's code of conduct.

THOMAS LUND, BADMINTON WORLD FEDERATION: I have not reviewed all the evidence or seen all the video materials but what I have heard is, that it was pretty obvious and so in that way, it is of course, a very serious case that was displayed for the audience. It is the responsibility of the players and the team members the entourage around the players to live up to the standards. In our regulations, the players code of conduct to go after winning every match. That is the bottom line.

Yu Yang wrote on the microblog [inaudible], "Farewell my beloved badminton." She defended herself and her partner saying they were revering from injuries. Jamie Florcruz has more from Beijing.

JAMIE FLORCRUZ, BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Another Olympic scandal, this time involving China's best badminton players in women's doubles. Along with three other female pairs from South Korea and Indonesia, Yu Yang and Juan Cho Lee were disqualified from the London Olympics for throwing away matches, apparently to gain tactical advantage. Win or lose, all four pairs had qualified for the next round, so they played [inaudible] to lose their matches. Some say they did so to avoid facing their own team mates or the top seeds in the next knock out round of the competition.

After they were disqualified, Chinese officials quickly accepted the punishment instead of appealing it as South Korea and Indonesia did. Chinese reaction seems conflicted. Many cry foul, saying their action broke the Olympic code, was a huge embarrassment and was disrespectful of the spectators who had paid money to watch the world's best players compete fairly and fiercely. But others blame the new competition system and sympathized with the athletes and coaches who they say were merely using smart tactics to win the finals.

The badminton stars have made a public apology.

YU YANG, ATHLETE, (VIA INTERPRETER): I apologize to all our fans because we failed to abide by the Olympic spirit and failed to present a game that should have been. I am ready to do my best in every game of my professional career in the future, to show all of my fans that I have changed.

FLORCRUZ: China is the big loser here, losing its best players who are the reining world champions and who were favorite to win the Olympic gold. Still Yu Yang, only twenty six years old, has hinted she may be retiring from badminton. I am Jamie Florcruz, CNN, Beijing.

LU STOUT: Let's go back to a happier event. The Olympic opening ceremony and there was one moment when all the dancing and parading of athletes where everything stopped and the spotlight focused on a man sitting at a computer. This man, Sir Tim Berners Lee, he is the inventor of the World Wide Web. The world's biggest sporting event paused to pay tribute to one of the world's most notable geeks with his message flashed on the stadium, quote, This is for everyone. The message was made up of pixel paddles, computer tablets 70,500 members of the audience. Mr. Tim Berners Lee joins us now live from CNN London.

Sir Tim, thank you for joining us here on News Stream. Let's talk about your role in the opening ceremony, what did it mean to you and the Web to be honored in such a way?

TIM BERNERS-LEE, WWW FOUNDATION: It was amazing to be a non-athlete to be involved in the opening ceremony, it was just an incredible honor. The whole opening ceremony is to honor the athletes who have come all that way and worked so hard. But it was an amazing show so it was also amazing, not just to be asked, but to be part of that huge piece of amateur drama with thousands and thousands of people.

LU STOUT: It looks like the tweet you posted during the ceremony. It reads, quote, "This is for everyone" and I can read into it as a sort of commitment to openness and a World Wide Web that is open and accessible but tell us in your words what you meant by that statement?

BERNERS-LEE: [INAUDIBLE], Yes, it is about the openness, it is about anybody should be able to participate in the World Wide Web it should be open in the sense that anybody can connect or have a website. If I connect, I can talk to any website. So that openness and you don't have to pay royalties for patents when you use it, it is open in that sense, and there is also of course, when you look at the stadium and four people from every country, and actually, the world wide web is only used by twenty five percent of the people in the world. There is lots of reasons why people don't actually use it. So I can say principal is for everyone, and the technology is such that it is for everyone, so the question is also there, how fast can we get the other seventy five percent a part of the information society.

LU STOUT: Yes, it is still early days to the World Wide Web and the statement that you said during the opening ceremony, it celebrates openness and freedom and yet, the Olympic organizers, they have been exhorting strict control on copyright, I mean, for example, unauthorized videos of the Games, they are immediately taken down online, taken off U-Tube, what do you make of the IOC's control of Olympic content on the web?

BERNERS-LEE: You mustn't confuse the openness of the internet with saying that everything is for free. It doesn't mean everything has to be free. There are some things that you pay for and it is really important on this issue. Musicians for example, and artists, and people who make television programs, should be recommended for their work. Sometimes the musicians queues to make their music available to anybody to download and sometimes you pay money for it.

So the World Wide Web is a place where, yes, there is a massive amount which is free, because all of the information which allows you to get around town, allows you to find where you are going, and meet people and so on, a lot of that is free, but there are some things which [inaudible[ the market, and the marketplace is also part of the web.

LU STOUT: Clear distinction there. Now, London 2012 has been called the first social media games and we have all been watching it played on Facebook, on Twitter, but also especially here from Hong Kong, our Chinese social media sites like [inaudible] and active censorship takes place there and throughout the internet and other markets like in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

As the inventor of the World Wide Web, what is your thinking about these internet censorship regimes?

BERNERS-LEE: My feeling is, censorship is generally a bad thing, a strong government is one that is able to allow the people in the country to access the - go onto the internet and see how things really are and discuss how things really are. And that makes for strong countries and it is a strong government that can do it, a more weak government is more worried that it has to control its own information from its own civilians, from its own citizens, then I think that is something which is a pity when it happens, where it happens, and I think with time we will see it go away, I think we will see that information gets around the block enough while governments realize that for the country to work economically it has got to be open.

LU STOUT: And let's ask you a question about the semantic web, is the next stage of the web's developments, been set again and again, now the regular web right now is done because web pages, they are designed to be read by humans, but the semantic web, it includes information so computers can understand them. So Tim, what does that mean for me? How will my personal web experience change with the arrival of the semantic web?

BERNERS-LEE: You personally may not know, in fact some of the websites you are going to already are using the semantic web. You load the web page and inside the web page, which is a little program, your web page is like a little computer and it goes and gets information from the web, from the web of data. The web of data is a sort of parallel web, it is out there on the web, it is data files which are used by programs so when you go and look at something like a catalog for example, when you are buying things, when you look at a map, then the program running in your web page is going out and getting all this data from the web of data. The web of data is exploding right now. IT is very exciting. One of the things that is driving it is open government data. For example, governments have started to put data about how the country is running out there on the web and people can then write websites which then pick that data up and use it to great effect.

LU STOUT: Thank you so much for joining us and talking about the semantic web, to talk about censorship, and to talk about openness on the World Wide Web, your invention. Sir Tim Berners-Lee joining us live from London. Thank you.

You are watching News Stream, still a head, a focus on the typhoon here in the region, a typhoon catastrophe. Taiwan has been hit by a massive storm and China is next in line for the severe weather.

(COMMERCIAL)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you are back watching News Stream. It has already caused scenes like this in Taiwan, flooding, powerful winds and mudslides and now Saola is closing in on China. Within the past few hours, it has been downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm, but this already caused major destruction. At least twenty three people died in the Philippines. Take a look at this. Ti is a closed circuit video from Taipei and this man, he was killed when the ground when the ground collapsed beneath him. Haunting video of the powerful destruction from the storm. Saola is not the only threat to China. Another storm, Typhoon [inaudible] is set to hit China's east coast in the next day.

James Reynolds is a storm chaser, meaning he tracks the path of severe weather such as this. He joins us on the phone now from Taipei. James, what kind of damage have you seen firsthand there?

JAMES REYNOLD, STORM CHASER: Hi Kristie, well I was on the east coast which bore the full brunt of the storm earlier this morning. It caused the damage you would expect from a storm of this velocity, trees down, power lines knocked over. And I am actually in Taipei City now which seems to have been spared the brunt of the storm, because it unexpectedly veered west and made landfall, but further south than everyone was expecting. So actually downtown Taipei dodged the bullet so to speak, Kristie?

LU STOUT: James Reynolds joining us on the line from Taipei with the very latest on the damage, thank you. Now, let's get the latest on where this storm is headed. Jenny Harrison joins us now from the World Weather Center. Jenny, it is headed towards China?

JENNY HARRISON, CNN: It is and it is probably going to make landfall Kristie, either later on today or into Friday. It is beginning to really bare down now. You can see on the satellite the last few hours, there is already evidence the outer feeder bands of course beginning to have that impact, but the storm system as you say, it is no longer a typhoon, winds about 80 to 85 kilometers an hour, but we could still see a little bit of strengthening before it comes on shore.

Once it really clears away from Taiwan and is back over these waters, these warm waters, it may just have enough fuel to, as I say, strengthen slightly, but it is all about the rain with this system, and we were talking about this yesterday and of course, one of the highest totals in one of the mountainous locations, over one and a half meters of rainfall There is still more rain to come, the winds of course, are still going to cause problems through the whole region, but they are nowhere near as strong was they were, but even so, very rough and dangerous, dangerous along the coast line. SO the rain will continue to come down in Taipei, but again, the further the storm moves inland across southern China, that is when we will begin to see some very heavy accumulations here again, the worry some mudslides and also cause flash floods, we will see quite a bit of flooding from this storm system. Still in Taiwan about another twenty five centimeters of rain further to the south and then we could be seeing the same locally across China as well We are going to continue to watch it Kristie very closely indeed.

LU STOUT: Thank you for the warning there. Jenny Harrison joining us live. You are watching News Stream, and coming up next, many call him Super Mario. He has promised to do whatever it takes to save the Euro. The head of the European Central Bank may face his biggest test yet. That, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, ANCHOR, CNN INTERNATIONAL NEW STREAM: I'm Kristie Lu Stout. In Hong Kong, you're watching News Stream and these are your world headlines. There is breaking news coming out of Spain. Three suspected terrorists have been arrested in the past 48 hours in one of the biggest operations against al Qaeda in the country. All this is according to the Spanish Interior Minister who says that the suspects have information about remote controlled airplanes.

In Syria, violence is raging in the two major cities of Damascus and Aleppo. The opposition says at least 41 people have been killed today. This, after opposition groups said dozens of people were killed in the suburbs of the capital on Wednesday. They say many were executed by government forces.

A group of leading British musicians including members of the Who, Pulp and the Pet Shop Boys have written a public letter to Russian President, Vladimir Putin. They're urging him to give a fair hearing to musicians from the Russian Punk-Rock band called Pussy Riot. The women are on trial for performing a protest song in Moscow. Mr. Putin is in the U.K. for the Olympics.

Now Mario Draghi, as President of the European Central Bank, he has vowed to do whatever it takes to save the Euro and many have been counting on him to follow through. He is speaking right now live in Frankfurt. Let's listen in.

MARIO DRAGHI, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: The underlying pace of monetary expansion remains subdued. Inflation expectations for Euro area economy continue to be firmly anchored in line with our aim of maintaining inflation rates below, but close to, 2 percent over the medium term. At the same time, economic growth in the Euro area remains weak, with the ongoing tensions in the financial markets and heightened uncertainty weighing on confidence and sentiment. A further intensification of financial market tensions has the potential to affect the balance of risks for both growth and inflation on the downside.

The Governing Council extensively discussed the policy options to address the severe malfunctioning in the price formation process in bond markets of Euro area countries. Exceptionally high risk premia are observed in government bond prices in several countries and financial fragmentation hinders the effective working of monetary policy. Risk premia that are related to fears of the reversibility of the Euro are unacceptable, and they need to be addressed in a fundamental manner. The Euro is irreversible.

In order to create the fundamental conditions for such risks premia to disappear, policy-makers in the Euro area need to push ahead with fiscal consolidation, structural reform and European institution-building with great determination. As implementation takes time and financial markets often only adjust once success becomes clearly visible, governments must stand ready to activate the EFSF/ESM in the bond market when exceptional financial market circumstances and risks to financial stability exist - with strict and effective conditionality in line with the established guidelines.

The adherence of governments to their commitments and the fulfillment by the EFSF/ESM of their role are necessary conditions, not sufficient, necessary conditions. The Governing Council, within its mandate to maintain price stability over the medium term and in observance of its independence in determining monetary policy, may undertake outright open market operations of a size adequate to reach its objective. In this context, the concerns of private investors about seniority will be addressed.

Furthermore, the Governing Council may consider undertaking further non- standard monetary policy measures according to what is required to repair monetary policy transmission. Over the coming weeks, we will design the appropriate modalities for such policy measures.

Let me now explain our assessment in greater detail, starting with the economic analysis. On a quarterly basis, Euro area real GDP growth was flat in the first quarter of 2012, following a decline of 0.3 percent in the previous quarter.

LU STOUT: OK, and that's the ECB head, Mario Draghi. He's speaking at a live press event in Frankfurt. There's been a lot of worry that divergent (ph) Spain and Italy could be the next dominoes to fall if something isn't done soon. Now, let's get some more perspective now on the significance of today's European Central Bank feeding in Frankfurt. Nina dos Santos joins us now from London. Nina, we're still waiting to hear more concrete measures in addition to just leaving the rate unchanged, more concrete measures from the ECB. What are we expecting to hear?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we had a little bit of a strong hint there, didn't we from Mario Draghi? The key words he said there is that the ECB, in accordance with its mandate, may take outright action on some of the markets to bring down the borrowing costs for difficult countries like Spain and also Italy whose 10 year bond yield, which remember, Kristie, are the benchmark that people look at have been above that danger zone of 7 percent and fluctuating above and below that for quite some time now.

And he said over the next few months, what the ECB Governing Council is going to be doing is outlining exactly how to do this. So what it seems is though we could see, is this kind of action where the ECB reactivates what's called an SMP.

It's programmed to buy bonds in the secondary market but this could also come as part of a two prong attack on the bond market whereby we would see the permanent Eurozone bail out fund also be buying bonds in these troubled countries to try and bring down the cost of borrowing each time these countries issue new bonds to finance themselves and to eventually keep them solvent and to keep them from getting access to the bond market. That's what we seem to be hearing from the President of the ECB but no final details as of yet.

LU STOUT: You know he may be called Super Mario but Mario Draghi has had a reputation or a history of -- of disappointment. But so far, how are the markets reacting? Are you seeing green arrows all around?

DOS SANTOS: I'm afraid I can't log into my computer at the moment so let's have a look at the ones that we have on the screen at the moment. As you can see, the markets reacting very, very positively to what we're seeing here from the ECB President, Mario Draghi. Let me tell you about how they started the day.

They started the day on a very, very cautious mixed note, particularly the ones to look for are the Xetra Dax and also the CAC 40. Those are the two key Eurozone markets. They started the day in the red volumes are very, very light in anticipation of what Mario Draghi might say especially given the fact that of course, Kristie, that we had a little bit of disappointment in the markets yesterday because we had the Federal Reserve coming out and deciding to stand pat on interest rates and stand pat on quantitative easing.

There's a few other options Mario Draghi could entertain at this stage. He could also consider some kind of big bazooka effect like, say, money printing, quantitative easing for the Eurozone -- that has traditionally been viewed as a very, very dicey by the main paymasters of the Eurozone, which is of course, Germany. They don't want to see any more money printing because it could spur inflation. That's their main fear.

But they're also concerned about these potential plans, if we do see them, to have a two-pronged attack on the bond market by using the Eurozone bail out fund to buy bonds in tandem with the ECB buying bonds because they say that would remove the impetus of some peripheral Eurozone nations to undertake key reforms that they just have to do, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Nina Dos Santos there. Thank you very much indeed. Let's bring in Frederik Pleitgen. He's a modern developments from Berlin. And Fred, the ECB, it announced that it will hold its key interest rate of record low. We're also hearing comments from Mario Draghi. He said governments must stand ready to activate the bail out funds in the bond markets. Reaction from Berlin?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT, BERLIN: Well, certainly this is something that the Germans have also been very averse to especially activating that permanent bail out from the ECM to then buy bonds of ailing Eurozone countries. That's been something the Germans have heavily criticized even the idea of for two reasons, Kristie.

On the one hand, they believe that it's actually against European contracts, against all these European Treaties, which actually forbid countries of standing in for the debt of other countries and financing the debts of other countries and the Germans believe that this is something that would cross the line.

And then there's the thing that Nina was talking about and something that's really central to Germany's policy in trying to solve the Euro-zone crisis is that they want to keep the pressure off -- on governments like Italy, on governments like the one in Spain to keep implementing the tough reforms that are needed to solve this crisis in the long term. And it's something that Draghi actually just talked about in his press conference as well.

He said if the EFSF and the permanent stability mechanism, the ESM, the permanent bail out funds are used to buy bonds on the primary market to try and get down the barring rates for countries like Spain and Italy. Then these countries still have to implement those very tough reforms, stay on track with those reforms to make sure that this crisis is solved in the long term. And he was referencing that.

He was saying only through real reforms can these countries get on track in the long term and it's only in the short term for when they borrow money that things like the ESM buying bonds is an option to try and bring down borrowing costs. It's something the Germans don't want to do because they feel it takes the pressure off these countries.

They feel it's against European treaties but it does seem as though this is something that Mario Draghi is calling for here and certainly then also saying that he would bring the ECB into play to also purchase bonds on the secondary market. Kristie?

LU STOUT: A call for real reform from Mario Draghi. The reaction there in Germany. Fred Pleitgen reporting. Thank you. Now, it is Day six of the London Olympics so let's check in with Amanda Davies who joins us live from Olympic Park in the British capital with more on today's big highlights. Amanda?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT, BRITISH SPORTS: Hi, Kristie. Eighteen gold medals up for grabs. The main focus later on will be at the Aquatic Centre where it will be that historic final meeting between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in the four and the 200 individual medley. Of course, the last time these two will meet before Michael Phelps retires. He's going -- historic -- well, it would be very historic. Three consecutive golds in the same event, no man has ever done that before.

But it's Ryan Lochte who's had the momentum heading into this one here, of course, emerged victorious from their meeting in the 400 and he was the one who finished fastest in the semifinal last night. But Phelps feels he's got the point to prove so a lot of focus on that. There's also the quarter finals of the tennis going on at Wimbledon and the final of the women's all around individual competition. High hopes for the U.S. team after their event or their success in team events.

And then the action gets underway in the velodrome today as well and the British hoped to be focused on Chris Hoy in the team sprint, particularly after the success of the other Brits yesterday. Finally team GB off the m ark in terms of their gold medals here with Helen Glover and Heather Scanning who put team GB's first gold of the games in rowing. And then Bradley Wiggins, winner of the Tour de France's nine days ago followed that up with gold in the Olympic time trial on the road.

And we've got some front pages here. There's frankly, one story that dominates and that is the long awaited gold medal -- Day five of the games to get those underway. This is the front page of The Guardian and that simply says "Phew" with a big picture of Bradley Wiggins celebrating that success. This is the front page of The Sun again, focusing on what is being described as the Gold Rush. Maybe a slight exaggeration there, just two gold medals, King Wiggo and Row (inaudible) our first golds. "Gold" is what that says. I think you could probably see that for yourself though. And The Daily Mirror says exactly the same thing, Gold Rush and with that Bradley Wiggins souvenir Olympic editions on most of the front pages.

So it's ten medals now for Britain, the host nation. Of course, so many people talking about the importance of the host nation doing well in the Olympics so to keep the momentum going. And Wiggo mania has really spread. The people are saying they're now the most famous sideburns since Elvis Presley. So somebody's got quite a long way to overtake that I think.

LU STOUT: Yes, definitely very famous sideburns. Amanda Davies joining us live from London. Thank you so much for that and we will check the forecast for the games straight ahead. You're watching News Stream.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST, CNN NEWS STREAM: Welcome back. It is day six of the London Olympics and how much sunshine will appear to the clouds this weekend?

Well, let's get the answer, Jenny Harrison, she joins us now live from the World Weather Center. Jenny.

JENNY HARRISON, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey Kristie. So many bad days this Thursday, it has to be said there's not enough sunshine around over there in London it's being squinting quite a bit and all that sunshine.

So, it's the usual warm weather really, which is to say scattered showers and some sunny found, but this is the (INAUDIBLE), you see that curly cloud, that area of low pressure is just sitting there.

Just anchored-off the coast of the island. So, it is just beating in all of this tide and of course with the cloud, comes the showers. You can see in the last few hours, there they go.

But they're fairly fast moving there coming into a bit of a heavy across to here, across the south-west but it should actually just slide to the north of London right now.

As they form, mix of cloud and sunshine, London 20 degrees Celsius and the wind is coming in from the south-west. So, another cold direction and generally across the U.K.

Temperature is not bad really there, in the high teen Celsius, London, Coventry as well, it's feeling pretty mild. But the winds are certainly quite strong, in fact Weymouth.

And this is good of course because we've got so many sailing events for this Thursday but also through the next few days. Approximately, it's quite good for the rain which is also taking place.

But generally, the winds are fairly brisk along that cloud coast but what it does of course is strong winds like this, they tend to push these showers through very quickly.

So, this is the forecast as we go through the rest of Thursday into Friday and Saturday. And you can see a little bundle of showers go through there.

But in fact, for most of Friday, there's the time up there, into Saturday, we've got sort of a mix of cloud and some sunny as well. And so there's still the chance of showers but always there's really.

But to Friday, is probably the best day of the next couple, Friday and Saturday. But then when we look at the Olympic outlook for what is remaining, I can't believe we're nearly at the end of the first week.

But you can see that is Friday and then look at that, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday for now, very low chance of rain. So, that should take -- it'll be much more in the way the sun shines. Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, I love how you describe this, a bundle of showers, Jenny Harrison there, thank you, take care.

Now, let's go to Africa next. And in Uganda, the death toll from the ebola outbreak now stands at 16, and officials are taking an aggressive approach to contain the deadly virus.

David McKenzie is the only reporter at the hospital in Kagadi in Uganda where new ebola patients are being admitted.

And he joins us now live, and David, tell us more about how officials are trying to contain this outbreak?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm actually going to step out of the shadow a little bit and (INAUDIBLE) can push in. But we're looking at now actually, two men who are being admitted.

You can see at this gate where the man is standing, just sprayed the patient suspected of ebola. The man with the motorbike picked them up and he brought them in.

And so they have to spray Kristie, these suspected cases. Someone was brought in and in fact with a mattress, they sprayed the mattress and they sprayed the guy who's on that mattress, he's in a very bad way.

And then hold him into the hospital. Now, health officials I've being speaking to including those with doctors without borders, say they have to work very quickly because of the global health implications.

Let's take a listen to one of the chief operators here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIMPIA DE LA ROSA, MSF EMERGENCY COORDINATOR, UGANDA: Right now, there's no treatment for ebola. So the most effective measure we can take is to contain the spread of the disease.

And that is why we need to start immediately working or there's certainly need to be rapidly identified because containment is what kind of stops.

We have no treatment so we have to contain the outbreak, so there are no more cases.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Well, Kristie, so, there you have it there. Basically, setting up the series of isolation wards here at the hospital.

There're some 30 patients inside, only three of them confirmed of having ebola virus, the deadly virus.

But at least here, several people come in and just the last hours -- and obviously, just as I was speaking there.

So, the issue is, in the next few days they'll be going out into villages around here, trying to secure anyone with the symptoms, which are very broad symptoms then bring them into this hospital over here.

A chance, I have to say but part of the reason they bring people in here is to keep them in here in isolation to just cramp down on the outbreak before it spreads wider.

LU STOUT: David McKenzie reporting, and just a little note there, very alarming to see the man in the suit who brought in the suspected ebola patient on the motorcycle.

He saw just them live in that and now here with him McKenzie was not wearing a face mask, no protection whatsoever, Dave McKenzie reporting live for us, from Uganda.

You're watching NEWS STREAM and still ahead, in the line of fire, even robots are not exempt from tough army drills in the U.S. or boot camp. We got the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now being on the frontline of the U.S. military demands strength, dedication and a lot of training. And there are no exceptions, not even for robots, as Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to robot boot camp.

ALAN SCHULTZ, NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY: So this is a desert high bay, on the floor we have sand, it's about two and a half feet deep.

LAWRENCE: Where robots dig for bombs in bone-dry deserts or endure the heat of a humid rain forest.

SCHULTZ: There are places where you'll sink into the mud three or four feet.

LAWRENCE: They learn to block-out battle fields sounds.

SCHULTZ: It's coming from all around you?

LAWRENCE: Yes. We got fire there, we got fire there.

SCHULTZ: That's right --

LAWRENCE: Or dive under water to detect mines, all under one roof in the nation's capital. In other words, what looks in, honestly feels like a humid dense rain forest, somewhere deep in south-east Asia.

It's really just the other side of an air condition lab right here in Washington D.C. Remember Navy Seals aren't built in air condition labs, so why should this robots get a pass.

At the Naval research labs newest center, they can tweak the temperature from nearly 400 degrees to 50 below.

GREG TRAFTON, COGNITIVE SCIENTIST: Computers have perfect memories, people do not.

LAWRENCE: So, they're starting to develop robots that can respond to real troops. The kind that get exhausted or anxious and make mistakes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire is in the center on the floor.

LAWRENCE: Pitt Lucas who's training to fight fires on board a Navy ship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Lucas.

PITT LUCAS, ROBOT: Hello.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fire in compartment three has being contained.

LAWRENCE: He tells Lucas there is a fire in compartment five.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wait for Laura then follow me there.

LUCAS: OK.

LAWRENCE: But look what happens when Laura gets mixed-up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's head to compartment three.

LUCAS: There must be a misunderstanding, you think that compartment three is not under control but it has being contained.

TRAFTON: We want the robot to understand that people can make those mistakes.

LAWRENCE: The military wants robots that don't have to be commanded every step of the way.

LUCAS: Fire extinguished.

LAWRENCE: That can take at least some initiative in battle.

SCHULTZ: I used to joke around that if a robot were a 100 percent autonomous, it would be in Miami sipping motor oil on the beach.

LAWRENCE: Maybe 50 percent autonomous is plenty. Chris Lawrence, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, it's no secret that North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un likes amusement park rides. Here he is, enjoying one of the parks in Pyongyang.

But, what caught people's attention is this guy, the westerner sitting in the row in front of the leader, now this photo went viral.

And many people wondering just how did he get into Mr. Kim's inner circle. Well, according to mother Jones, he's being identified as a junior diplomat at the British Embassy in Pyongyang.

Other magazines says embassy staff had being invited to the opening of the park and from the look on everyone's face, a fun time was apparently had by all.

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

END