Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

China's Xinjiang Class Experiment; Feathering Mechanism Activated Early On Virgin Galactic Spacecraft; Art of Movement: Living Paintings; Female Make-up Artists Look To Break Into Bollywood; British Investment Banker Charged With Double Homicide In Hong Kong; East Germany's Iconic Trabant

Aired November 3, 2014 - 8:00   ET

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


KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Now a British banker charged with murder shown here leaving court in Hong Kong, is the case that is gripping one of the world's safest big

cities.

We get an exclusive look at an education experiment in China bringing Uyghur children from restive Xinjiang to study in some of the country's

richest cities.

And new details emerge about the Virgin Galactic accident. And we'll explain how SpaceShipTwo's special wings are supposed to work.

In a case that is gripping Hong Kong, a British investment banker has been charged with the gruesome murders of two women.

Now appearing in court today, 29-year-old Rurik Jutting said he understood the charges against him, but he did not enter a plea.

Now the victims, both said to be Indonesian, were found early Saturday morning after police say Jutting called them to his apartment.

Now Hong Kong is viewed as one of the world's safest big cities. The number of homicides has hovered around a few dozen each year in a city that

has more than 7 million people.

Now New York is only a little larger than Hong Kong, but it had more than 300 homicides last year alone.

And for more on the latest right here in Hong Kong, CNN's Anna Coren joins us now live. And Anna, a banker has been charged or this grisly

double murder. Could you walk us through what was found at the crime scene?

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, the crime scene is just behind me. This is Jay Residents (ph), the apartment

building of Rurik Jutting, the 29-year-old British investment banker.

As you say, he calls police just before 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, telling officers to come over to his flat and investigate.

Well, when they arrived on the scene it was nothing short of gruesome and grisly. They found the body of young Indonesian woman on the floor,

her throat slashed. It was several hours later that they discovered a second body of another Indonesian woman, this time the body was stuffed

into a suitcase and left on the balcony.

Now what we know of Jutting, he's been here in Hong Kong since mid last year. Until recently, he was working for Bank of America Merrill

Lynch. They acknowledge this. They refuse, however, to comment any further on the case.

But, you know, this is a man who was educated at Cambridge University. He worked at Barclay's Bank after graduation 2008 and then joined Bank of

America Merrill Lynch in 2010 in the London office before moving out here to Hong Kong last year.

But certainly it has just shocked people in Hong Kong, certainly you know amongst the banking community, the banking industry here in Hong Kong.

Speaking to some of his colleagues today, they just describe him as a normal, smart guy who was good at his job, so they are completely floored

to learn that he has been charged with this double murder, Kristie.

LU STOUT: You learn more details about the suspect. What about the victims. These are two young women who were brutally killed. Who were

they?

COREN: Yeah, two young women who the Indonesian consulate have confirmed are nationals of that country. Their names, Kristie, are Sumarti

Ningsih as well as Mulaya Sih (ph).

Now we don't have ages. They are yet to be confirmed from the consulate. But from what we are hearing from local reports and from people

we are speaking to here in Wan Chai, which as we know is the red light district of Hong Kong, these women were both seen frequenting bars along a

certain strip, the red light district of Hong Kong. We spoke to some of the women, other women who worked in that area, in that strip, and they

said that they knew these girls. That they were kind, that they were friendly.

They didn't go into too many other details, but certainly they were known in this area and they are deeply saddened by what has taken place.

LU STOUT: Anna Coren reporting on this very gruesome murder case. Thank you very much indeed or that Anna.

Now Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement gets a fresh dose of support across the Taiwan Strait. In an interview with the New York Times, Taiwan's

President Ma Ying-jeou says if Mainland China can practice democracy in Hong Kong or if Mainland China can become more democratic, then we can

shorten the psychological distance between peoples from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Now Chinese media, though, have repeatedly condemned the Hong Kong protests.

Now China's Communist Party stresses the need for national unity, but the rest of the region of Xinjiang has been plagued by ethnic unrest. It

is home to the predominately Muslim Uyghur minority.

Now thousands of students from that western province are being sent to schools in China's richest cities as part of a government education

program. And David McKenzie has this exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In this classroom in China, one student stands out. Unlike his mostly Han Chinese classmates,

Abdurrahman Mamat is Uyghur, a Muslim minority in China. He's thousands of miles away from his home in Xinjiang.

This is the first time the Chinese government has granted access to foreign media to what it calls the Xinjiang class, an extraordinary

Communist Party experiment in ethnic integration.

Every year the Chinese government selects 10,000 Xinjiang students and puts them in Han schools across the country. They say it's a way to get an

equal education.

Students like Mamat, often from poor families, take a strict exam to get in.

"Eastern China is more developed than Xinjiang. We get to enjoy better educational resources here," he says. "Closely watched by our

minders."

Uyghurs are mostly Muslims. Their culture and language separates them from Han Chinese.

For years, the Communist Party has struggled with ethnic tension in Xinjiang and blame deadly terror attacks on Uyghur separatists.

For China's much touted harmonious society, images like these are deeply embarrassing.

And the Xinjiang class is as much about learning as it is about politics.

ZHENCHONG, DEAN, XINJIANG CLASS (through translator): When we teach these students we are not just educating them, we are cultivating their

feeling of love for their country.

MCKENZIE: Chinese government documents go further saying minority students should be trained to, quote, "safeguard national security and

defend the unity of China."

But some experts say the party is failing.

JAMES LEIBOLD, LA TROBE UNIVERSITY: On the sort of political and ideological front it hasn't succeeded. I mean, what we've seen is actually

students who participate and then graduate out of these programs tend to feel more Uyghur than they do Chinese when they come out of it.

MCKENZIE: At this high school, minority students eat at Halal cafeterias separated from Han Chinese. They bond together on the sports

field, and according to long-term studies forge religious identity in adversity.

ZHENCHONG (through translator): We have to strictly manage them. We are a school. We are not a mosque. We do not allow the students to pray

in our school.

MCKENZIE: But students like Mamat say the program gives him the only chance at a good education.

It could take decades to find out how the Xinjiang Class will shape China.

David McKenzie, CNN, Xinjiang, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. Coming up next, in the aftermath of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo disaster, questions are being

raised about the future of commercial spaceflight.

And millions of Americans go to the polls this week in midterm elections. President Barack Obama has been campaigning for some Democrats.

And we'll explain why this vote is so important for the White House.

And a very disturbing look at ISIS and what it's doing to indoctrinate young children.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

You're watching News Stream. And you're looking at a visual version of all the stories we've got in the show today.

Now we've already told you about the court appearance of a British banker in Hong Kong charged with murder.

Now later in the program, we'll have more on the death of a right to die activist in the U.S.

But now new details about Friday's Virgin Galactic space plane disaster.

Now the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says a co-pilot may have triggered a system too early second before the ship broke apart.

Now the spacecraft disintegrated just two minutes after separating from its carrier. But investigators warn that it could be months before

they determine exactly what went wrong.

Now Friday's disaster over the Mojave Desert killed one pilot and injured the other. The surviving co-pilot, Peter Siebold, is said to be

alert and speaking. The NTSB is waiting to interview him.

Now let's take a moment to explain how SpaceShipTwo is supposed to operate.

Now it's carried up by a jet powered aircraft and then released. And then it uses its rocket motor to ascend into space. After it reaches

maximum altitude, the craft turns off propulsion and deploys its feathers.

Now the two pieces on the back lift up perpendicular to the spaceship and the feathering process stabilizes and slows the vehicle as it glides

down to Earth.

Now Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson has called the feather mechanism, quote, "the key innovation that enabled us to get into the space

program in the first place."

Again, it is not known whether pilot error, mechanical problems or host of other possibilities caused the spacecraft to break apart.

Now here is CNN's space analyst Miles O'Brien.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was going on in that cockpit at the time? Was there something happening to the craft? Was there some

instability problem that might have precipitated some action on the part of the pilot? We just don't know enough yet.

We do know this, the device, the feathering device -- this craft kind of -- can fold like a beach chair on its way down to increase drag and

stability, but you don't want that folding mechanism to be prematurely deployed, of course, while you're trying to fly with the rocket motor and

get into flying up to Mach 3 or beyond.

And so you want to have that capability going down, but not going up.

So was there some reason that it was unlocked early? Was there some structural issue, we don't know just yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was space analyst Miles O'Brien talking about that feathering process.

Now we are just one day away from midterm elections in the United States. And voters head to the polls tomorrow won't be picking a

president, but their decision could shift the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

Jonathan Mann explains what is at stake in this election.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN MANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How angry are Americans at Barack Obama and the rest of the men and women they've put into government? Or to

put another way, how good do they feel about the men they've put into government?

Well, we are about to find out. Millions of Americans will be going to the polls November 4 for what are `s called midterm elections, midterm

because these elections fall halfway through the president's own term. Barack Obama`s name will not be on the ballot.

Instead, we are talking about state and local officials and lawmakers at the federal level in Washington, the Congress. 471 members are going to

be seeking election or re-election. And I'll explain how.

The entire House of Representatives will be seeking election or re- election, 435 members who serve two-year terms. Those terms are up. In the Senate, it's a little more complicated. There are 100 Senators, but

only a third of them seek reelection at every two years. This year, because of vacancies, we're talking about 36 Senate seats.

What's going to happen? Well, for the most part most of the officials who are already in power are going to stay there. What we're expecting in

the House of Representatives, where the Republicans enjoy a majority, is another Republican majority.

What we're expecting in the senate where the Democrats have control is potentially the biggest change. The Republicans hope to pick up a few

seats, enough to take control away from the Democrats. What will that mean? A Republicans House of Representatives, a Republican Senate and a

Democrat still in the White House, divided government once again.

Probably the biggest problem for American politics has been paralysis because the two parties don't like to work together. Well, Americans are

going to polls. That's one thing that probably won't change even after the ballots are cast and counted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Jonathan Mann there.

And tune in this Tuesday night for complete coverage of the U.S. midterm elections. Join Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper and CNN's entire

political team for results and analysis. CNN's election night in America begins 5:00 p.m. eastern time and midnight Wednesday in London.

Now in the U.S. an advocate for a patient's right to die has ended her life. Now according to the group she worked with, Brittany Maynard died

surrounded by her family. Amara Walker has more on Maynard's decision to die with dignity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: It's a heartbreaking story, Brittany Maynard, 29 years old, and married for just over a year when she found out she had brain cancer.

BRITTANY MAYNARD, RIGHT TO DIE ACTIVIST: I was diagnosed this past year. So we went away to the wine country for kind of a New Year's Eve

celebration and I (inaudible), the following day I was diagnosed with cancer and told I was terminally ill.

LU STOUT: Doctors told Maynard in April she had an aggressive brain tumor and gave her six months to live. Maynard quickly decided she did not

want her family to watch her dying in pain, so she and her husband moved from California to Oregon to take advantage of the state's death with

dignity law.

Oregon is one of only five states with legal protection for terminally ill patients.

MAYNARD: It's in a safe spot. And I know that it's there when I need it.

LU STOUT: Maynard qualified for physician assisted suicide in Oregon.

MAYNARD: I will die upstairs in my bedroom that I share with my husband with my mother and my husband by my side and pass peacefully with

some music that I like in the background.

I can't even tell you the amount of relief that it provides me to know that I don't have to die the way that it's been described to me that my

brain tumor would take me on its own.

LU STOUT: Amara Walker, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now hers is a powerful story. And Maynard wrote about the reasons for terminating her life on her own terms. On CNN.com she said

this, quote, "who has the right to tell me that I don't deserve this choice?"

But to have that choice, Maynard had to move from California to Oregon. As you've heard, it's one of five U.S. states where death with

dignity is allowed. We've highlighted them here on the map in red.

Now assisted suicide is legal in only four other countries: Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Now Belgium

recently abolished age limits and extends the right to euthanasia for terminally ill children.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, we take a look at an alarming new campaign to turn children into jihadi killers. Find out how

ISIS is turning innocent minds after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now in Syria's embattled border town of Kobani Iraqi Kurdish fighters are using heavy weaponry to push back ISIS militants in the eastern part of

the city, that according to a senior spokesman for the city's Kurdish defenders.

Now meanwhile, to the west, Syrian rebel fighters and Syrian Kurds are taking on ISIS. This comes after the U.S. and coalition forces continued

airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria over the weekend.

Now according to CENTCOM, in Syria airstrikes hit ISIS targets near Kobani and Deir Ezzor. In Iraq, further strikes hit targets near Baiji and

Fallujah.

And there's been another disturbing development from the front line. This one involving a sensitive target -- the minds of children.

A senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has more on the disturbing indoctrination campaign by ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The dark they sit in makes the light from the projector all the more

captivating. Children in Deir Asul (ph) gathered. This is movie night. But it's an ISIS production and comes with a pep talk.

"So don't be afraid. We're your brothers," he says. "If anyone assaults you, a top chief or unimportant soldier, just complain about him,

and your rights will be restored to you by Allah's will."

And activist secretly filmed these pictures as the main event gets underway. An ISIS execution video, running in their underwear in their last

moments. Some of 250 Syrian regime soldiers executed by ISIS in August. They keep watching.

What's the first movie you remember? We don't know if they were shown the moment of death. But this is how that propaganda video continued.

A Syrian psychologist specializing in the impact of war and ISIS on children examined this footage.

"What we see in these videos," he says, is ISIS taking steps to make it normal for their children to see such things. They hope that all, or at

least some, will go on to do the same things. Not just be silent or accept it, but do it. Of course, when a child is growing up, it's a special time

in his life when you can work on planting specific ideas in their minds that result in attitudes in the future."

Indoctrination comes with pageantry and study. This is a graduation ceremony for the ISIS Cubs. They're not playing masked superheroes, but

real life jihadi.

After years of sectarian bloodshed hear what they have these children sing.

CHILDREN (through translator): Oh, Alawi Shia police who live to slaughter, we will come to slaughter you without you even knowing.

WALSH: Minds molded to their fit. Schooled to remember huge texts by rote. Yet, there is nothing staged about the vigor in these eyes as they

chant: "God is our leader and backer. America is their leader."

They talk about a lost generation in Syria's war. Here, the dogma and horror, it is lost, too.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Gaziantep.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Very disturbing introduction to violence there.

You're watching News Stream. We'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines

In Hong Kong, a British banker appeared in court today to face double murder charges. Police say 29-year-old Rurik Jutting them to his apartment

in the early hours of Saturday. There, they found the bodies of two women. One body was hidden inside a suitcase.

New clues have emerged about Friday's deadly Virgin Galactic disaster. Now U.S. investigators say a system on SpaceShipTwo was deployed early. It

is supposed to slow the craft as it descends to Earth. Police say it could be months before they find the cause of the tragedy.

And a search and rescue mission is underway in Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait after a boat carrying suspected illegal immigrants capsized. Now

Turkish media say 24 bodies were pulled from the water by crews responding to an emergency call. Now Turkish officials say seven people were rescued.

And a search is on for at least 12 more.

Iraqi-Kurdish fighters are now using heavy weaponry to push back ISIS in the eastern part of Kobani, Syria, that's according to a senior

spokesman for the city's Kurdish defenders. That same official tells us that Syrian rebel fighters and Syrian Kurds are battling ISIS fighters to

the west.

Now the now iconic Trabant. It's a car you may have not heard of before, but for Berliners living in East Germany it was all they had before

the Berlin wall came down. And as Fred Pleitgen now reports the car may have been tough to drive and prone to breaking down, but it still managed

to play a roll in the country's revolution. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When the Berlin Wall came down 25 years ago, a tiny Communist car, almost instantly became

iconic: the Trabant.

So, naturally for CNN's coverage of the anniversary of the fall of the wall, we had to get one of our own.

Now, I have no idea how to drive this thing, but luckily we have our camerawomen Claudia here who is in a loving former Trabant owner. And

she's going to show me how to do it.

So...

CLAUDIA, TRABANT OWNER: OK, Please.

PLEITGEN: Please get in. That's the first problem, getting in to one of these things when you're as tall as me is quite difficult. I kind of

have to go around here.

So, we're in.

First try. First try.

CLAUDIA: The first gear is down. The second gear is up. The third gear is t you and the fourth gear is up again.

PLEITGEN: All right, here we go.

I think...

CLAUDIA: Let go.

(LAUGHTER)

PLEITGEN: Driving it is pretty difficult.

Trabants often break down. They don't meet emission standards and offer almost no comfort. But they were one of the few cars people could

get in Communist East Germany.

Most waited for 10 years for their ordered car to arrive.

When Communism collapsed, many were turned into works of art. That's exactly what will happen to ours.

And what we're going to do now is we're going to take our little Trabant car and we're going to turn it into a CNN car. And right here, we

have -- come over here -- we have the artist Martin who has volunteered to turn this into a CNN Berlin mobile.

And we're looking forward to it. We gave Martin three themes -- Berlin, The Wall and CNN.

After three days of hard work, ta da, the CNN Trabant.

I have to say, Martin, you did an absolutely amazing job. Thank you very, very much. Did you have fun doing it?

MARTIN, ARTIST: Yeah, it was nice.

PLEITGEN: I love the themes. I love the wall theme right here. The people looking over the wall. The roof looks great. The front looks great

with the go there. You have the iconic broadcast tower on the front.

This car will be the star of CNN's coverage of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: It's a good look.

Now a decade's old tradition is putting Bollywood in the legal spotlight. Now all the makeup artists on the film sets have been men. But

that could soon change.

As our Mallika Kapur reports, one prominent female makeup artist took the issue to India's Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: An actor, fashionista and style icon. Bollywood star Sonam Kapoor says a lot of the credit for

her glamorous looks goes to someone else.

SONAM KAPOOR, BOLLYWOOD ACTOR: I think it's wrong to say that I work with female makeup artists. I think it's correct to say that I work with

the best.

KAPUR: Meet Namrata Soni, one of Bollywood's highly sought after makeup artists who isn't allowed to work on a film set, because the makeup

union established in 1955 says it's against its rules.

The same union says men can't become hairstylists, only women can.

MANRATA SONI, MAKE-UP ARTIST: I want to see where this rule is written. Every time I've asked them show me this book or show me this

paper, just ask me to leave. They like that's the door. Please leave.

KAPUR: We asked the vice president of this union, made up of 3,000 male make-up artists, why they don't let women do the same job?

"We are scared that our existing make-up artists, but those who want to become make-up artists, their jobs will be affected. This is 100

percent."

So it's about job protection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is about the job protection.

KAPUR: It's an argument few people buy.

KAPOOR: If you're so scared, then maybe you shouldn't be working at all, that women are going to take over your jobs. What kind of men are

you?

KAPUR: If directors hire female make-up artists they're often threatened as Farah Khan) was when she used Soni in her first movie.

FARAH KHAN, FILM DIRECTOR: Yes, there are a few trouble makers who will come and they will protest and then the production guy will say, oh,

please hire the women make-up artists.

KAPUR: In a country where women are now asserting their rights more than they ever have, a determined make-up artist has taken this old rule to

India's supreme court.

CHARU KHURANA, MAKE-UP ARTIST: In the 21st Century where we talk about equality, we treat men and women, women empowerment, it's such a

weird rule where this woman will not be allowed to do make-up.

KAPUR: Determined voices in a country where women's empowerment is not just left to the activists, it's now everyone's fight. Mallika Kapur,

CNN, Mumbai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Well, fight on.

Now, you're watching News Stream. And still ahead, we talk to an artist who is on the cutting edge of performance art. After the break,

find out how he has created his very own living paintings.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now an Argentine born artist is using more than just a canvas for his paintings, he is fusing different styles and visual media to bring life to

his art work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AEROSYN-LEX MESTROVIC, ARTIST: A lot of the work that I do deals with sort of controlling the uncontrollable.

I think in that sense, the respect of the materiality, the respect of the process allows for certain new and unexpected things to happen.

LU STOUT: When artist Aerosyn-Lex Mestrovic steps in front of a blank canvas, the results truly are unexpected. The movements and gestures he

puts into his works seem to give them a life of their own. He exhibits his style in an art form he calls living paintings.

MESTROVIC: A living painting is many things. It's something that deconstructs the idea of what a painting can be and shows the viewer every

step of the process along the way. And I think that, to me, brings it to life.

LU STOUT: Mestrovic came up with the process while developing his first short film, Scriptura Vitae. It is a movie that fuses Japanese

performance art with his style of painting, a style influenced by a discipline he has studied for years calligraphy.

MESTROVIC: In calligraphy, I think there has to be a certain level of confidence and assuredness in the stroke. It's something directly tied to

the movement of the person creating it.

LU STOUT: When creating a living painting, high resolution cameras and lighting are set up to capture every stroke without revealing the hands

or the brush. Mestrovic uses a wet canvas so the paint flows until it dries in its final form.

MESTROVIC: It's exciting to be able to share something as it (inaudible) coming to life. Using the mediums of like paper, water,

pigments, inks, the brushes, that is the environment. And the gestures and the movements become the vehicle. But I think the story is told by the

materials to where the painting is enacted by me, but still takes on its own life and ends up somewhere that I couldn't predict or expect.

LU STOUT: Originally from Argentina, Mestrovic has exhibited his living paintings of venues such as the New York Museum of Modern Art. He's

even created an interactive exhibit where a viewer can become part of the artwork. He says it's just the start of his quest to find ways to bring

life to his paintings, truly creating art out of movement with every stroke.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: It's painting as performance art.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport is up next with a record breaking weekend for Louis Hamilton.

END