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NEWS STREAM

Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy; International Envoy for Syria Travels to China for Talks; Disney Buys Lucasfilm

Aired October 31, 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, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to NEWS STREAM, where news and technology meet. And we begin with the aftermath of deadly superstorm Sandy. As we're covering cleanup begins. Some communities remain underwater.

Plus seeking support for peace. The international envoy for Syria travels to China for talks on how to stop the fighting.

And a megamerger puts Darth Vader in the House of Mouse. Disney takes over "Star Wars" with a new film in the works.

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STOUT: The northeastern U.S. is reeling. The worst of superstorm Sandy may have passed. But for many, the situation remains dire. Now right now a fire is raging in Mantoloking, New Jersey, but so far crews have been unable to reach the barrier island because of storm damage. Now there are homes in this area, but the residents, they were urged to evacuate before Sandy hit.

Now we have highlighted the area that took the brunt of this storm. At least 40 people have been killed in the U.S. and one in Canada, taking Sandy's death toll to at least 108, including 67 in the Caribbean. More than 6 million people are without power across the area.

In New Jersey, where Sandy made landfall, this is what people are waking up to. Now this was filmed in Atlantic City. Now boats are scattering the shoreline, tossed about like toys.

And meanwhile, in New York, strong winds buffeted the state for hours. And one of our iReporters submitted this video to us. At one minute, it was a normal back yard; and the next -- check it out.

Now in New York's Queens Borough, meanwhile the fire just ripped through more than 80 homes and across parts of Manhattan, buildings are waterlogged. The subways are flooded. And the city's infrastructure is largely crippled. New York's LaGuardia Airport, that remains closed. And look at the video, you can see why.

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STOUT: The runways are submerged. And the service is resuming on Wall Street, though. Trading on the New York Stock Exchange is due to kick off in about an hour and a half. And that would be for the first time this week. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq are reopening this Wednesday after Hurricane Sandy shut down Wall Street for two days.

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STOUT: And it was the first two-day weather-related shutdown for the exchange since 1888. Maribel Aber's standing by at the Nasdaq. She joins us now.

And Maribel, they're going to flip the switch very soon. Is the Nasdaq ready? And if so, what kind of trading are we going to see?

MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie. All signals signal that the Nasdaq is ready. Investors, you know, pretty much prepared for a return to business today although the markets will be back trading.

I got to tell you, Kristie, it's far from normal here in New York City two days after this big storm. Much of Lower Manhattan still without electricity. Subways still not running. And also in terms of how we're looking ahead of the open, though, right now U.S. stock futures are slightly higher.

I want to take a look back on Friday. The markets were pretty much little changed. Let's take a quick peek on Nasdaq's wall and see how we did Friday. The Dow was up about three points here, Nasdaq up almost two points. The S&P was down one.

You know, the Dow Jones industrial average, Nasdaq, the S&P 500, they're on track to end October with declines of 2 percent to 4 percent. And as of today, Kristie, what most people will be really watching for is volume. Volume is expected to be very high as traders come back from a two-day unscheduled hiatus.

So throughout much of the month an average of 3.5 billion shares have been exchanging hands each day. But experts say that could double today. And one analyst tells CNNMoney that it's hard to say which direction stocks will move. But we will probably see three days' worth of trading all in one.

Also today, being the last trading day of the month is important, Kristie. Fund managers lost two days of flexibility to start squaring up their positions in anticipation of getting to October 31st. Fund managers, of course, use that time to try to offset their capital gains with their losses to minimize the distributions paid out to shareholders.

And for some, the day also marks the last trading session of the fiscal year. So Kristie, we also can't forget: investors will be gearing up for the crucial October jobs report, which is scheduled to come out Friday.

This is going to be that final reading on the health of the job market before the presidential election next week. And while there's been some concern about the report being delayed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says it is working hard to stay on schedule.

And Kristie, one last note here, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is scheduled to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange today.

STOUT: OK, so some high-volume exchange in trading expected later today. You mentioned that U.S. jobs report; hopefully it will be out on Friday as expected, despite the fact that many federal offices are closed.

There has been some criticism, though, about why the Nasdaq and why the New York Stock Exchange decided to close. I mean, was there no backup system in place?

ABER: I definitely heard the reports of criticism. I mean, part of this, again, folks had to get to these backup facilities. You got to remember, Kristie, that the town was pretty much shut down. So and I do -- I understand from yesterday there were a lot of testing of systems happening there as well.

STOUT: OK. Now the New York Stock Exchange and, of course, the Nasdaq did open later today.

Maribel Aber there, live at the Nasdaq big board, thank you very much indeed.

Now superstorm Sandy's punch has weakened. But its effects are still being felt by travelers around the world. Now battered airports are slowly reopening, though it could be days before may travelers reach their final destinations. Our Richard Quest, he has been monitoring the situation from CNN Center. He joins us now live.

Richard?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: Yes, and you look and see the actual situation at the moment. What you hear officially and what the real situation is are two very different things. We now know that Kennedy is due to open in about four hours from now; LaGuardia is remaining shut. But the airport that is open at the moment -- is officially open -- is, of course, Newark International. That has just opened.

But even though these three airports may -- or two of them, at least, may be opening, what's the reality is very different. Let's take a look at the situation for Kennedy at the moment and the planes in the sky.

What we are seeing even is that, for example, that's one of the early first flights. That's a Delta flight from London to New York. There's an Egypt Air flight from -- I think it's Egypt Air; yes, from Cairo to New York. And on this side of the Pacific, we have lots of aircraft coming across from Asia, from -- particularly from Narita now heading towards Kennedy.

And that's essential, because these planes arriving need to arrive so that they can take the passengers home again afterwards. As for whether or not your plans have been disrupted and you've been delayed and canceled, if you have had problems and you have had to either cancel or delay a trip, you're going to want to get compensation or at least get your money back.

You're going to go to your -- the website of the airline -- this is United's website. And you're going to scroll right the way down to find out if you are affected, were you traveling to or from these airports. And if so, you're going to want to then note the small print in this. Where were you traveling to? When were you traveling? And when do you now hope to travel? If the -- if the answer is tick, tick.

If you -- if you meet all the criteria you will be able to get your money back or change your plans.

And what I can tell you is we look at the current situation at the moment, and you look to see if these three airports, the three major airports, the two international airports, although they are officially open, we can expect delays and delays. And there's no flying at the moment at LaGuardia. That's the situation as it seems to be at the airports.

STOUT: All right. Thank you for the update and some very practical tips for travelers there. Richard Quest joining us live from CNN Center.

Now I want to share some of these sights and sounds of superstorm Sandy. These were sent in by our iReporters.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we're (inaudible) other places. But it is about to crest over the sidewalk here in Riverside Park. So it's definitely a much higher water level than we've seen before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had this massive tree that (inaudible) right in the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No power as of now. Went out about 4 o'clock this morning, a little after 4:00 am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you can see behind me, we have (inaudible). We're going to have the camera man pan over and show you some major damage between the houses. I don't know if the home was protected, but obviously you can see that it's fallen straight over somebody's fence. The only thing this weather's good for is making snowballs.

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STOUT: Heavy snow, high winds, flooding, the part of the U.S. is reeling. You're watching NEWS STREAM. And up next, one town in New Jersey hit hard by Sandy. Now that the destructive waters are receding, the heavy lifting begins in Toms River. We talked to residents about the night Sandy came.

And the superstorm, but it even blew the U.S. presidential race off course in the final week of campaigning. The full analysis of Hurricane Sandy's political impact -- that's next.

And two titans of golf talk about life at the top. Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, an exclusive CNN interview still to come right here on NEWS STREAM.

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STOUT: Welcome back. Now there are only six days to go until the U.S. presidential election. But as superstorm Sandy created chaos in the eastern United States, it also created an unexpected alliance.

Now President Barack Obama is to make his first public appearance since the storm joining New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to survey the damage. And Governor Christie gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention back in August and in the past has criticized Mr. Obama.

But he has praised the president's response to the disaster. It's quite an unusual situation, so close to Election Day. And CNN's political editor Paul Steinhauser joins us now live from CNN Washington with more.

And, Paul, Chris Christie, he's praising Obama, calling him outstanding and on CNN calling him incredibly supportive.

What does this moment mean for the two parties ahead of November the 6th?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, it is really fascinating this (inaudible) here, yes, as you mentioned, Chris Christie, one of the biggest supporters of Mitt Romney and here he is supporting of the president, at least or praising the president.

I think Chris Christie, what he's doing is kind of separating politics, which is very important, of course, with something that's more important, and that is the safety of his own citizens in New Jersey.

I think some things are more important that politics and Christie realizes that, that the safety of his citizens and the state and the federal government working together to get people, get their power restored and their lives saved, it trumps politics. And that's what you're seeing in play right now with Chris Christie.

You've got President Obama going up to New Jersey a few hours from now. He's going to be touring the damage in that state with Chris Christie. And that'll be a visual that'll be -- that is a big optic that is going to play on the campaign trail, Kristie.

STOUT: Now, the storm, it has also put the role of federal government in America in the spotlight ahead of next week. How do you compare Obama and Romney's views on FEMA and its role in disaster relief?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, this is fascinating. You know, Mitt Romney in a presidential debate, a CNN presidential debate a year and a half ago talked about how things would be better if emergency relief was moved maybe from the federal government to the states and the local authorities. And that has been coming to maybe haunt him, in a way.

The Democrats of the Obama campaign have really been bringing that up over the last couple days. Mitt Romney's sticking by his comments in a way, saying, you know, it's better off than for the state authorities to run things.

The federal government, of course, runs FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But when they react to big storms, like the one we have now here in the United States, they work in conjunction with the state and with the local authorities. The president, of course, doesn't have that same kind of view that the authorities should be transferred to the states, Kristie.

STOUT: All right, Paul Steinhauser there, thank you very much indeed.

Now let's go straight to New Jersey. Brian Todd joins us now from Moonachie and, Brian, across the storm zone, we've been getting reports today of gas leaks and fires breaking out even after the flooding. It seems to be a number of potential threats out there. What can you tell us?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, we just got word here, we ran down the street. This is -- we're on East Park Street in Moonachie. That's East Joseph Street right down there where you see the fire trucks. It was in a very intense house fire there.

There's a small business in that house, but the mayor, Dennis Vaccaro, we had just finished speaking to him. He told that there are people who live in that house. We have some videotape that we literally just shot and fed into CNN of this very intense house fire and the response to it. We ran down there, along with the mayor, just after we spoke to him.

And we were just swarming all around the house as the firemen responded. It was an incredibly intense fire there. They were just busting through the doors. They were busting through the top parts of the house with a little bit of a -- I guess it was a cherry picking crane that they used to pluck people out of high elevations.

But they were using that almost as a battering ram to get through the house and get inside, find out whether there was anyone there. And the mayor told me he didn't think anybody was in there at the time. But they're still assessing, just as we talk to you about this and you're seeing this video.

They're still assessing whether there's anybody in there or not or whether there was anybody in there and just what the damage is. But a very intense house fire there, and fire officials not sure exactly what caused that fire, but that -- it does illustrate the danger space (ph) in a post- flooding situation here. This entire area was engulfed in flooding yesterday at this time, 24 hours ago.

This entire section of neighborhood was under 4-6 feet of water, and there are downed power lines, downed cable lines all over the place. There's one right behind me here just kind of illustrating the danger.

A lot of these you can't even see as you're walking around. And it's just now becoming light here in this part of New Jersey, just about an hour or so ago we were walking around. You couldn't see downed power lines anywhere. You had to be very, very careful. And as we saw, just then, you know, at the end of the street, you can see some floodwaters still standing there.

Now a lot of the waters have receded. But still, a lot of danger, a lot of power lines underneath the water there. People have to be very, very careful. Officials cautioning everyone who's trying to come back to their homes today.

And there may be several thousand coming back to their homes today as the water recedes, saying to them, look, don't come back if you don't have to. Be very, very careful. When you think your house is habitable, it may not be. And that's a perfect illustration of that, Kristie.

STOUT: So the disaster really isn't over yet. I mean, we have downed power lines in the aftermath of Sandy. We also have gas leaks. We have fuel mixing with the floodwater. Could we see the scene that has just happened behind you repeat elsewhere in the disaster zone?

TODD: Absolutely. And people all over this area are vulnerable to this kind of thing. And fire officials, police officials are telling people, look, you know, you may want to wait a little while until you come back to your home. If you do come back to your home, be extremely careful. There are gas leaks, as you mentioned.

The mayor was literally just talking to me about potential gas leaks when we heard some kind of a crackling down the street; he runs down there. I run down there, our camera runs down there and the fire -- the first fire responders were getting there, just as we get down there. And it was a very intense fire.

Again, not sure if it was a gas leak, if it was a power line or something. But it was an incredibly intense fire. And all of these houses here could be subject to something like this. We're told at least 3,000 homes are damaged because of the flooding that occurred here yesterday.

And you know, this is -- again, it's a horrible situation because you have this today; yesterday, you had flooding all over the place, people having to be plucked from roofs of houses, people having to have water rescues all over this area. And now they come back to try to assess the damage and things like this happen, very, very dangerous still and this area still very vulnerable.

STOUT: Yes, the floodwaters may have receded but a very dangerous situation still.

Brian Todd reporting live on the scene in Moonachie, New Jersey, thank you so much for that report.

Now you're watching NEWS STREAM coming to you live from Hong Kong. And coming up, Lakhdar Brahimi is in Beijing. The U.N. Arab League special enjoy, he's in China as he continues efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria.

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STOUT: Come to you live from Hong Kong, you are back watching NEWS STREAM. And you're looking at a video rundown right here of all the stories in today's show. We're keeping a close watch on the aftermath of superstorm Sandy. But we want to turn to the crisis in Syria.

Now special U.N. Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is in Beijing, urging China to take an active role in ending the violence. And his trip comes just a day after the Qatari prime minister blasted President Bashar al-Assad's government, accusing it of waging a war of extermination against its own people.

Meanwhile, new claims are emerging that allege Iran is a close ally of Syria is supplying the regime with drones used to bomb rebel strongholds. Now with more, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us live from Beirut.

And Nick, walk us through these claims.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, actually these are drones used for surveillance which rebels say are supplied by Iran and assist them, assist the regime in targeting their positions more accurately.

We've seen a significant uptick in the number of a/strikes in the past two days, a record, say activists, on Monday or over 60, 40 yesterday. That's still double the usual 20 a day the activists report. And concerned that perhaps this high-quality surveillance supply, rebels say by Iran, may be assisting in these a/strikes.

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WALSH (voice-over): When they can hear them on skylines often rocked by explosions, rebels name these specks the wizwazi because of their hum, tiny but lethal drones. They improve the accuracy of regime shellings, say opposition activists, adding these airstrikes in record numbers in the days since their failed cease-fire were likely aided by drones.

They blame Syria's key ally, Tehran, for supplying this deadly advantage, said one commander in the besieged city of Homs.

"Of course it's Iranian," he says. "It doesn't go up that high. We can see it. Drones (inaudible) things daily. They say, "The wizwazi is out. It's a small drone that films the district of al-Qusayr. And then you think, oh, God, help al-Qusayr. It will sleep under bombs."

Rebels say they found these three drones in Aleppo which helped make their point. Manuals bearing the Ayatollah's image, very basic aircraft some analysts saying they could be simple training drones or even fakes. But the rebels are insistent lives are lost to these devices and Iran is to blame.

Iran has said it's not supplying military help to Syria but didn't comment on these claims. Activists' video shows an aircraft that defense experts told CNN resembles the Mohajer 4 Iranian drone, although he can't independently verify these images.

And a spokesman at the U.K. mission to the United Nations told CNN they are, quote ,"deeply concerned by credible information that Iran is providing military support," end quote, to the Syrian regime.

So far, despite the shells continuing to land, there's been no smoking gun of Iranian support, leaving the distant hum as perhaps the only tangible sign yet of a broader, deadlier alliance.

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WALSH: Iran says definitively it is not supplying military help, but (inaudible) these drones that rebels see in the sky, they are terrified by the accuracy they seem to give airstrikes and artillery, Kristie.

STOUT: Nick, the rebels say that Iran supplies Damascus drones, but who's supplying the rebels with aid and weapons?

WALSH: Well, it's a mixture, maybe working behind in the shadows, really, to supply weaponry. I should point out the rebels say they're not getting enough arms by any stretch of the imagination, but some Gulf states, namely Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have been reasonably open about their intention and supply of small arms, light weaponry to the rebels.

I myself saw, on the way into Aleppo over a month ago now, some crates of ammunition they said that they were being delivered to the Ministry of Aviation and Defense of Saudi Arabia, but said they were originally manufactured in Gonwall (ph) in Ukraine, the east of Ukraine, full of arms manufacturers, heavy industry, et cetera.

It doesn't mean they were supplied directly by the Saudi military, but of course it ask questions as to exactly where the munitions are coming from. And that does also inflame the more regional element of this, Kristie.

STOUT: Yes, so many interests involved in this conflict. Nick Paton Walsh, reporting for us live, thank you.

Now up next they are stranded in their homes, surrounded by rising waters. And coming up, we talk to some of the hundreds of people plucked from their homes just in the nick of time after superstorm Sandy.

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

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STOUT (voice-over): Now the death toll in the United States from superstorm Sandy has risen to 40, some 6 million are without power. And New York City's mayor says getting the transport system working again will be a mammoth task.

U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to join New Jersey Governor Chris Christie today on a tour of areas devastated by superstorm Sandy. On Tuesday, the president visited the Red Cross office in Washington and praised the work of local and state governments. And he also said the federal government will do all it can to get the resources necessary to help the victims.

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq is due to kick off less than an hour from now for the first time this week. Superstorm Sandy, it shut down Wall Street for two days. It was the first two-day weather-related shutdown for the exchange since 1888.

And (inaudible) the Eurozone has reached a new record high. The rate, it rose to 11.6 percent in September. That's up from 11.5 percent the previous month. Spain and Greece are the hardest hit in the Eurozone with around one out of four people out of work.

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STOUT: Let's return to our top story. The massive devastation caused by superstorm Sandy. Parts of New Jersey remain underwater at this hour. In Bergen County, towns along the Hackensack River were inundated by the storm's surge. Countless people have lost nearly everything -- homes and belonging. And with the cleanup only just beginning, they're simply dazed by the scale of it all.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) I've never seen anything like this ever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you describe what happened when the water came in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were sleeping, my daughter and I. (Inaudible) the water came in like a river.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) the second floor, so my kitchen so full. So and then my living room is so full. So I lost everything. My sofa, my kitchen, everything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you've ever seen the aftermath of a flood it's all the debris that's left behind. It's people who are in misery because they didn't expect it. It was not something that anyone ever had been through and anybody alive today.

So it was totally unexpected and scary and it was 1 o'clock in the morning, and it was raining and high winds all day long. It had just been through a terrible ordeal.

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STOUT: Misery after the storm. Now the governor of New Jersey calls the devastation across parts of his state "unthinkable."

Michael Holmes has a look at the damage and talks to some who feel fortunate enough to have escaped with their lives.

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): New Jersey's barrier islands on Tuesday, hours after the fury of Sandy turned an idyllic beach setting into something locals wouldn't recognize, dozens, hundreds of houses trashed, sand pushed hundreds of yards inland as the ocean crashed on through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

HOLMES (voice-over): And on the mainland, relief (inaudible) those who thought they'd ride out the storm on those islands. They and dozens of others before them rescued after a night of sheer terror.

CHRIS RAIA, TOMS RIVER POLICE: (Inaudible) breach over there. I don't think there was an area over there last night at all that was not covered by water.

HOLMES: And it looks like it's covered by sand as well.

RAIA: There's a lot of sand. There's some sand dunes that are actually on Route 35. There's a house over on Route 35 that just flooded right over. There's cars everywhere.

STEVE RUSSELL, PATROLMAN: I've never seen it before. I mean, we actually watched dunes get wiped out, and they just went -- watched the ocean come right down the street. And then pretty soon, it went from, you know, a couple inches high to 3 feet to 4 feet and pretty soon it was impassable.

HOLMES (voice-over): As the islands hold out (inaudible) Toms River, the city had problems of its own. The tempest that was Sandy had downed hundreds of trees and floodwaters trapped scores in their homes.

One group at a time, they were brought to higher ground, leaving sodden homes but bringing memories of a savage night. Late into the day, the rescues continued for man and beast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a long night. We got lucky. We didn't get any water in the house. And we just kind of held out till morning.

HOLMES: Did you think it would be like this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

HOLMES (voice-over): Monday night's landfall left Toms River awash, cars in water and boats on land.

HOLMES: The picture much clearer today, although the water has dropped at least two, perhaps three feet since we were here in the middle of last night. The boat's still on the road, and you see here more clearly the cars as well. If we zoom down that Range Rover at the end, we spoke to the owner of that car, who had a dramatic near-miss.

ESTHER SARABELLA, SURVIVOR: You don't know, because there's nobody around. You don't know where to go. You're trying to get out of a window. You know, you're up to your neck in water. It's freezing. The wind is blowing. I got a dog. I got my mother. You don't know what's going to happen, really. You see your life pass.

HOLMES (voice-over): Hours after her ordeal, Esther still visibly shaken.

SARABELLA: You're in shock. Everybody's in shock. We never thought it was going to be this bad, ever.

HOLMES (voice-over): The cleanup in Toms River will take weeks, if not months. The barrier islands much, much longer -- Michael Holmes, CNN, Toms River, New Jersey.

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STOUT: And, again, millions of people are still without power across the northeastern United States. And many of them enduring icy temperatures. And if you'd like to help, you can find a list of organizations that are working to get relief to those in need. You can find it at CNN.com/impact.

Now on the ground, we have seen devastating pictures of the aftermath of Sandy. But what has happened to the storm itself? Let's go to Mari Ramos now. She joins us from the World Weather Center. Mari?

MARI RAMOS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, Kristie, I heard it being called a remnant (ph) low. It sounds almost like nothing, right, compared to what we were talking about before, a superstorm, a hurricane. Well, now, a remnant (ph) low. That's what's left of Sandy right now. Do you know what, there's so much still going on, I want to start you off with these pictures, and we can keep talking about this.

This is East 38th Street in -- there in Manhattan. Those are the cars that you see, the taillights of a few cars going down the road. But everything else is still pitch black here. And that's a concern. So every aspect of this rescue of this cleanup effort, of reestablishing electricity, of water supply, pumping out water, clearing debris, all of those things are still dependent on the weather.

So there's still, of course, a lot of focus as to what's happening right now. Now first of all, (inaudible) circulation, the numbers that you see on here are the current winds. So much lighter today in New York than they were yesterday, picking up a little bit in Boston.

The strongest winds still have remained here across the Great Lakes and we had some pretty amazing pictures from Lake Michigan. Take a look at this.

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RAMOS (voice-over): This is from New York, Chicago and (inaudible) tell you about this. You got to remember this is a lake. So, yes, this is similar to the storm surge that we see --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remnants of Hurricane Sandy --

RAMOS (voice-over): -- from the ocean, the water, the wind blows the water up against the shoreline for a consistent period of time, and you begin to see not only very large waves, but also some persistent flooding and we've had that along the Great Lakes region and including some homes and some businesses. So this is widespread damage that we're seeing from this storm.

The other thing, of course, has been the snow. Come back over to the weather map over here, take a look at this. All of this snowfall that's coming up on the radar here, that is going to continue. The snowmaking machine will slowly be rising a little bit farther to the north.

And some of these rainfall totals have been tremendous as well, more than in New York and in New Jersey, places around Delaware and Virginia and Maryland, over 300 millimeters of rain as the storm was pulling through.

And then the snowfall totals, also have been pretty incredible, 74 centimeters in Redhouse, Maryland, just to give you an example of some of this stuff. So whatever's left, the upper level circulation, see, kind of a fancy name again, this will continue lifting a little bit farther to the north, going over the eastern Great Lakes and then kind of settling in here across northeastern Canada.

As the storm moves away, the weather, the snow, the rain, the wind will begin to kind of dissipate from areas that were damaged by the storm. It'll start improving somewhat. But it will still remain a bit gusty over the Great Lakes. So that will still continue to be a concern. We'll continue monitoring, of course, what happens there.

Let's go ahead and move on, because I do want to talk to you about another tropical cyclone. This one making its way now into India, peninsular parts of India, but at first, let's say Sri Lanka. This is a picture from earlier today in Colombo, visibility near zero. It's still raining. The wind is still going.

Other areas have gotten tremendously heavy rainfall in the last 24 hours. (Inaudible) had 76 millimeters of rain. Now this is what the storm looks like on satellite. You can see very well-defined here, expecting flooding rains to continue affecting this entire region right in here, Sri Lanka still picking up some of that moisture.

The flow of moisture itself will continue moving right along this area within the storm system, moving just north of Bangalore and into central portions of peninsular India. The rainfall totals could be, again, in excess of 8-15 centimeters of additional rainfall over some of these areas for flooding, mudslides and, of course, flight delays.

I'm going to leave you with this from Europe. We have one weather system coming in here on the west, another very vigorous weather system coming in here across central parts of Europe. This is giving you aqua alta, the high water again in Venice. It's up to 110 centimeters earlier today, similar to what we saw on Sunday.

Tonight, though, with the next high tide, we could see 140 centimeters of high tide water here in Venice. That would mean about 60 percent of the city could be underwater. We'll take a break right here on NEWS STREAM. Don't go away.

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STOUT: Welcome back. Now our series, "Leading Women," introduces you to remarkable women at the top of their game.

And this week, we bring back two professionals we profiled earlier in the series. Becky Anderson meets Zaha Hadid, a bold visionary who pushes the limits of design.

And I profile the brand builder extraordinary, Mercedes Erra.

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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Britain's Zaha Hadid is one of the most accomplished architects in the world and she has the body of work and accolades to prove it. On this day, we're in London, touring the construction site of the new wing she designed for the Serpentine Gallery.

ANDERSON (on camera): That will become a gallery. What will this become?

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ZAHA HADID, ARCHITECT: This is a kind of social space --

ANDERSON: Right.

HADID: -- for events, maybe a cafe. It's open to the public all the time.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Hadid is also the architect behind the aquatic center where Olympians recently enthralled world audiences. And there's the Evelyn Grace Academy, also in London. But she'd like to see more of her work in this city.

ANDERSON (on camera): Has being a woman stood in your way, do you think, really?

HADID: Well, I couldn't be anything else. Because you're not a stereotype, they don't know -- they let you get away with things which they would not let someone else get away with.

But on the other hand, because you're a woman, or not a European guy, there are certain territories, no matter what you do, you cannot enter. I will never be a part of the brotherhood; I cannot go golfing with these guys or on a boat trip. I mean, you know, it's not going to happen.

ANDERSON (voice-over): She has some 300 employees working on her various projects, and there's also her exhibition space.

HADID: You can try it.

ANDERSON (on camera): Can I? Can I sit down?

The seed amongst the flowers.

HADID: Yes, it's nice.

ANDERSON: It's very nice.

ANDERSON (voice-over): And Hadid sounds like she has much more to create and remains passionate about her work.

HADID: I've totally focused on the projects. Nothing matters. It is the most rewarding experience.

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STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout. The passion for architecture and design continues with French advertising executive Mercedes Erra. You can see her talents in the beautiful layout of her home.

MERCEDES ERRA, FOUNDER, BETC EURO RSCG: I love order. For me, order and beauty have a relation.

STOUT (voice-over): Mercedes Erra enjoys the things she works hard for and loves sharing them with family, a family that didn't have very much when she was growing up.

ERRA: My mother and my father have not much money, and when I have a little money, I -- first I bought a house for my mother and for my father, we bought a house for my brother, after for my sister, because for me, it's very important to have the capacity to share. And I don't think my children need too much money.

STOUT: Erra has five sons with her husband, Jean-Paul, who is a stay- at-home father.

JEAN-PAUL VALZ, ERRA'S HUSBAND: It's a real good job, because it's a job to stay at home and to be with the kids. But they really love her.

ERRA: Sometimes people think it's my husband who is in charge. I do many things at home. And I think it's good.

STOUT (voice-over): Mercedes was born near Barcelona, Spain, and moved to France when she was 6. After graduating from HEC, a prestigious business school in France, she began her career as an intern at Saatchi & Saatchi, where she eventually became managing director. Now, she is co- founder of her own agency, BETC, a leader in French advertising.

ERRA: My job is a difficult job. To move people is not easy. Advertising is very important. It's a true leverage for the brands.

STOUT (voice-over): She's a powerhouse, respected by colleagues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She doesn't try to make you work too much on your weaknesses. You know? Some managers do that. She's not of this kind. Work on your qualities.

STOUT (voice-over): Outspoken for women's rights, Erra was awarded the French Legion of Honor for her efforts to ensure women take on executive roles.

ERRA: I am very good at changing the world. It's because I respect women and men. I am sure about this.

STOUT (voice-over): And standing up for what she believes in is something very admired at home.

VALZ: It's the reason why I'm so proud to be with her and she helps me to grow all the time.

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STOUT: Next month, we introduce you to two new leading women, the woman dubbed India's richest self-made woman and Argentina's talk show queen. And don't forget, you can log on to CNN.com/leadingwomen for more.

You're watching NEWS STREAM. And up next, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, two of the biggest names in golf.

And coming up, we'll hear from them, side by side.

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STOUT: Welcome back. Now throughout the hour, we've been keeping you on top of the latest regarding the aftermath of superstorm Sandy. And it turns out the storm may have an impact on one annual sporting event.

Amanda Davies joins us now with the status of the New York City Marathon.

And, Amanda, is it going to happen?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a big question, Kristie, because it is one of the flagship events on the running calendar, isn't it, and organizers are saying that the race is still on for now. But it very much is a race to clean up ahead of Sunday.

There are up to 20,000 international runners entered for the marathon, who could be affected by flight cancellations or delays. There are also concerns, race organizers have to deal with many of the local competitors who use the subway, for example, to get to the start line and then back home. Of course, many of the subway stations have been flooded.

The race starts in Staten Island and heads towards Brooklyn, which, in many areas, is still littered with fallen trees and branches. And of course, then passes through Queens and into Manhattan. And parts of that area were closed off after the waters of the East River rose because of this storm surge.

The race is, of course, finished in Central Park, where many large trees have fallen. So there is very much a race against time. But as things stand, the race is still on in some form at least.

Well, in other sports news, Miami Heat got the defense of their NBA title off to a winning start from the opening day of the season. They beat the Boston Celtics 120-107, but only after the traditional presentation of the championship rings, LeBron James and (inaudible) seemed to enjoy their moment prematch. But they didn't let the celebrations get in the way of their job in hand.

LeBron was very much back in business once the game began. (Inaudible) trademark slam. A new acquisition, (inaudible) good showing against his former team as well, getting a layup for (inaudible) 19 points. It was Miami in control later on and (inaudible) before going in for the uncontested dunk to make that 15 (ph) point lead.

Chris Bosh got in on the fun as well. He drove past his defender and finished with a two-handed slam, (inaudible) Miami won 120-107 and they avoided that chairmanship hangover.

And after the game, LeBron reflected on his memorable night.

LEBRON JAMES, MIAMI HEAT FORWARD: It's a great moment, you know, it was a dream of mine. I put a lot of hard work into it and to be able to see it tonight in front of these fans, it was a great opportunity and a great moment.

DAVIES (voice-over): It was (inaudible) for New York Lakers (inaudible) they were beaten by the Dallas Mavericks 99-91. (Inaudible) first shot in his first regular season game. And the Laker Dwight Howard went on to tour 19 points in his gold shirt. Dallas had the upper hand.

Rodrigue Beaubois here (inaudible) second quarter (inaudible) basket for the layup. (Inaudible) despite playing on an injured foot was trying his best to keep the Lakers in the game. He had 22 points to his name for the night. But Dallas really started to pull away as halftime approached. Darren Collison scored 17 points.

Brandan Wright added 14. Pau Gasol, who was the leading scorer, was 23 points. The Mavericks beat the Lakers at home in their season opener.

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DAVIES: Now Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are great rivals on the golf course but what about off it? Well, CNN has, for the first time, got the pair to sit down for an exclusive interview together. And here's a snippet of what they had to say about their relationship.

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TIGER WOODS, PRO GOLFER: I talked to Jack about it, and Jack and Arnold didn't like each other at the very get -- at the very get-go. They just didn't see eye to eye. But also now they're the best of friends. So that does happen. Mutual respect over time and getting to know someone.

RORY MCILROY, PRO GOLFER: But sometimes life on tour can get a little bit lonely at times, and you know, you want to have guys that you can go out for dinner with and you can have a laugh with in the locker room. And you know you're right there for 25 weeks a year. So you might as well make it fun.

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DAVIES (voice-over): And you can see more of Shane O'Donoghue's exclusive interview with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on "LIVING GOLF." That's next Thursday, only on CNN. It is worth waiting for, Kristie.

That's it for me for now. Back to you.

STOUT: All right. Amanda Davies there, thank you.

Now let's go over here.

What do these iconic characters have in common? Well, they are all owned by Disney. And "Star Wars" villain Darth Vader is the newest addition to the family. Disney agreed on Tuesday to buy Lucasfilm, the company headed by "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" creator George Lucas.

And it gives Disney the reins over his very successful film franchises. And Lucas had this to say about the buyout, quote, "I have always believed that 'Star Wars' could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."

So, "Star Wars" fans, mark your calendars for 2015. That is when "Star Wars" episode 7 is set to be released, with Disney planning more sequels to continue the film saga.

Now let's take a look at the Disney portfolio. Before the deal, Disney already owned some big names, like Marvel, Pixar, ESPN and ABC-TV. And after the big buy, it didn't just get Lucasfilm. The company, it has an array of divisions, including Industrial Light and Magic, one of the most influential special-effects companies of all time.

It did the special effects in "Star Wars," of course, and for a few other films you may remember, like "Harry Potter," "Jurassic Park," "Back to the Future" and "Mission: Impossible," just to name a few.

Now if you're not into sci-fi, maybe scary movies are more appealing. And it turns out that slasher flicks could kill calories.

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STOUT (voice-over): Never forget that scene. Just watching just even a few seconds of "The Shining," it won't guarantee you'll drop a dress size, but if you sit through the entire movie, you will burn about 184 calories.

(Inaudible) according to research from England's university, Westminster, reported in -- I'm getting the goose bumps now -- this is reported in several newspapers and it's perhaps no surprise that this study found horror movies will get your heart racing, boosting your metabolic rate.

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STOUT: You're probably experiencing it right now.

So this may be the perfect trick to burn off all those Halloween treats. And that is NEWS STREAM. But the news continues at CNN. "WORLD BUSINESS TODAY" is next.

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