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Two Australians Set To Be Executed in Indonesia; Ukraine Reports Hundreds of Ceasefire Violations; The Kurdish Gun Repairman Keeping Peshmerga Working; Leading Women: Ann Cairns
Aired February 24, 2015 - 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 Hon Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.
Now will it be a winter World Cup in 2022? Well, a FIFA task force says yes, making the unprecedented move more likely.
Plus, Ukraine reports hundreds of ceasefire violations in less than a week raising the specter of war. We'll hear what Russia's president has to
say.
And secret security memos exposed: claims that Israel's prime minister exaggerated Iran's nuclear threat.
A FIFA task force has recommended moving the 2022 World Cup to winter. Now the World Cup is normally held in June and July, but the searing heat
in Qatar means it will now probably be held in November and December.
Now it might seem obvious that it's too hot to host a sporting event in the desert during the middle of the summer. So why did it take so long
to arrive at this recommendation?
Well, FIFA itself outlined the dangers all the back in 2010. Their evaluation report on Qatar's bid said holding the World Cup during the
hottest month of the year, quote, "has to be considered as a potential health risk for players."
Now Qatar promised that cooling technology would provide a solution to this problem. And five years on, the FIFA task force has instead
recommended moving the tournament to winter, setting up a clash with European club football, which would need to move plenty of matches normally
scheduled in November and December.
Now CNN's Becky Anderson, she knows the ins and outs of this controversy. She joins us now live from Abu Dhabi with more.
And Becky, a recommendation has been made for a winter World Cup. Walk us through this decision. And what will happen next?
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Yeah, right from the outset, there has been an awful lot of controversy over this Qatar World Cup, hasn't it, over the
fact that you can't physically play a high intensity game like football during the summer months in this part of the world.
So, there is little surprise that the dates, to be quite frank, have changed.
Here is what the head of the task force had to say earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALMAN BIN EBRAHIM AL-KHALIFA, PRESIDENT, ASIAN FOOTBALL CONFEDERATION: I think the recommendations towards November/December, but
again obviously there's an option of others as well. Some people have some sense. But whatever decision we're going to take, I think people will have
some, you know, question about it. But I think we have to decide (inaudible) the overall benefit of everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, there you go.
These proposals, of course, they still have to be confirmed by the FIFA (inaudible) as we've been reporting.
They meet mid-March in Zurich.
But undoubtedly in Doha, a sense of -- let's describe it as mild relief today. Qatar can now press ahead with the multi-billion dollar
infrastructure plans for the stadia, transport systems, hotels that will facilitate this competition. By most estimates, I have to tell you, as
much as $200 billion could be invested over what is the decade ahead of kickoff. 400,000 potential fans will take some accommodating.
I do have to point out, though, that the organizers will be hoping that the weather gods are with them nearly eight years from now. While it
is a I'd say coolish 30ish degrees Celsius, or around 90 degrees Fahrenheit around that time of year, particularly in November, this region can suffer
sand storms in that month, particularly in November.
Be that as it may, in this region fans are delighted. This has been sold not just as a small Gulf nation's competition, but this region's World
Cup. And they, the Muslim world's World Cup.
So this is important to this people -- to this region. It'll come, though, as no surprise to any fan of football that moving the show piece
event to what is the European winter is likely to be met, in a word, with disapproval by the continent's top club teams.
December, as you know, is one of the busiest months, for example, for English Premier League fixtures, for example. And there will be painful
effects over other major leagues in Spain, in Germany, in Italy and in France, for example.
Though the controversy will continue, too all intents and purposes. But I think we sort of get into the end of what has been a very difficult
period, both for Doha itself and for FIFA as a whole.
LU STOUT: And, Becky, there have been so many controversies. The summer, it was just one reason why people opposed to having a World Cup in
Qatar.
There's also the issue of worker's rights. What progress has been made on that?
ANDERSON: Yeah, there have been promises made for legislation on worker's rights. I mean, this has been on the back of a number of human
rights organizations who have been particularly concerned about the conditions that many workers working on infrastructure projects in Qatar
and indeed around this Gulf region endure -- you know, the 50 degrees Celsius in the summer, for example. And people have died on these
projects. So there has -- or have been promises of legislation.
I think you ought to expect to see more on that going forward pretty quickly. I mean, the Qatar 2022 committee itself have really been part and
parcel of the talks within Doha about what's to be done for migrant workers with a view to making sure that companies aren't taking away their
passports, for example. And there's a whole visa sort of requirement out here, which necessitates that, or certainly there are suggestions that it
necessitates that. But that is actually illegal.
So, you should expect to see more, because there will continue to be pressure on that front.
And also remember with the oil price as it is, many of these Gulf nations are beginning to look at what their infrastructure budgets are.
So, again, you know, Qatar will be hoping that by 2022 the oil price is higher again so that they can physically afford to pull off these projects,
to facilitate these fans -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: All right, Becky Anderson covering all angles of the story for us, many thanks indeed for that, Becky.
Now turning now to the fight against ISIS and its efforts to recruit in Europe and elsewhere, authorities in Spain have arrested four people
suspected of using social media to find and to indoctrinate potential militants.
Now two suspects were arrested in a Spanish enclave on Morocco's north coast. Two others were taken into custody in northern Spain.
Now the interior ministry says that they used ISIS propaganda videos and the internet to enlist new recruits.
In just a few hours from now, the British Prime Minister David Cameron is to go before a committee of lawmakers to answer questions on the
country's response to terror. It comes as Britain is being criticized for not telling Turkey that three teenage girls were on their way to join ISIS
traveling through Istanbul.
Now Atika Shubert joins us now live from London with the details. And Atika, just how much pressure is Mr. Cameron under over his response to
ISIS?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's under increasing pressure, and not just because of this most recent case of the
schoolgirls, but remember there is a number of issues, which Britain has with ISIS, one of them, for example, is that the jihadi militant we've seen
in those ISIS propaganda beheading videos is somebody with a British accent. He's known here in the tabloid press as Jihadi John.
So there's a lot of pressure on the government to find out why isn't more being done to counter the narrative of ISIS that we apparently seen so
many young British men and women traveling into Syria to join the militant group?
We now have, of course, these three schoolgirls, two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old who apparently left last week for Turkey with the intention
of crossing over to Syria. Their parents and the police have put out an appeal hoping that that will stop them from crossing the border.
But we do not know yet if they're still in Turkey, or if they've already crossed. But certainly one of the questions that the prime
minister will be facing now is whether more could have been done to stop those girls from leaving in the first place.
LU STOUT: And Atika, Turkey is accusing the UK or just leaving it too late to inform them of these three missing girls. Exactly what happened
here and why?
SHUBERT: Well, the deputy prime minister in Turkey is saying that it took Britain three days to tell them that the girls basically had left from
London's Gatwick airport to arrive in Istanbul. And then of course in those three days it's quite easily -- easy to head down to the border with
Syria.
But what British police are now saying is that in fact they informed them as soon as they realize the girls had gone missing. They informed
them on a Wednesday.
So there's a bit of a blame game going on here diplomatically.
But the reality is British and Turkish authorities are working together to try and locate the girls. And that is the key, whether or not
they have crossed the border. It's very difficult to tell, because it's a very porous border.
Now Turkey says it's doing its best. It has already stopped thousands, it says, of European would-be jihadis from crossing the border,
but it does need more help and more information to make sure it's stopping the right people.
LU STOUT: All right, CNN's Atika Shubert there. Thank you.
Now the head of the National Security Agency in the United States tells CNN that terrorists are changing their tactics. He says it's because
of intelligence leaks made by former national security contractor Edward Snowden. And he says that Snowden's leaks are making it more difficult to
prevent attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL MICHAEL ROGERS, DIR, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY: I would say that it has had a material impact on our ability to generate insights
into what counterterrorism -- what terrorist groups around the world are doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have new blind spots that you didn't have prior to the revelation?
ROGERS: Have I lost capability that we had prior to the revelations? Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much does that concern you?
ROGERS: It concerns me a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Now the film exploring Snowden's story took home the best documentary award at the Oscars on Sunday. And after the big win, Snowden
himself took part in a Reddit AMA, a worldwide ask me anything forum. And when asked if he would do it all over again he said he would have come
forward sooner. He said this, quote, "had I come forward a little bit sooner, these programs would have been a little less entrenched."
And then he went on to say, quote, "once you grant the government some new power or authority, it becomes exponentially more difficult to roll it
back."
Now the film's director Laura Poitras, she also weighed in. She said that she plans to release footage of Snowden and the WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange sooner. Now she also talked about the role that encryption tools played in the film's production. And she urged people to head to
this website showing people how to donate to some free software encryption apps.
Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program, defending their homeland against ISIS. The Kurdish Peshmerga are giving it
all they've got. And we go live to Iraq for the very latest on the frontline.
Also ahead, a country on edge, and a ceasefire in question. Russian president Vladimir Putin weighs in on the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
And two Australians facing execution in Indonesia after yet another legal challenge is rejected. We'll have the latest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching News Stream.
And you're looking at a visual version of all the news we're reporting today.
We've already told you about FIFA's potential break with tradition as a task force recommends the Qatar World Cup move to winter.
And later, we'll bring you a report from the front line of the battle against ISIS in Iraq.
But now let's turn to the shaky ceasefire in Ukraine. Now foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met in Paris to try to
get the peace process back on track.
Now separatists in Donetsk have revived an old Russian tradition. It's a rally that honors fighters. And it dates back to the Soviet era.
Now Diana Magnay has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rebel soldiers listen out for their names, a role call of men honored for their service in
battle.
Today in Donetsk it's a public holiday, Defender of the Fatherland Day, borrowed from Russia.
Light entertainment for the troops, even a wedding ceremony. I ask one woman beaming in the winter sunshine why she has a flag of Stalin.
"Stalin was also fighting against fascism and he won," she says. "We also want to have a victory like he did."
Stalin also brought catastrophic hunger to eastern Ukraine, but that's forgotten now in a city where Russia can do no wrong.
This is all about meeting the people's needs, their most basic needs - - food, putting on a show for them, also a chance for the rebels to really drive home their agenda.
Which seems to have a very clear message.
ALEKSANDER MOZGOVOY, DONETSK RESIDENT: You see, all people here, they think that Ukraine is between Russia and USA.
MAGNAY: In amongst the hugs and good cheer, there's also a sense this war is not done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There is no way back. We will fight to the last. We must finish what we started.
MAGNAY: A little girl, mini rebel in the making, recites the poetry her grandma taught her, an anthem to Novo Rocia (Ph).
"I ask god for the rebel's victory," she says. "They will kick out the fascist filth. How many people must suffer? How many children? How
many old people?"
She speaks the rebel's language, wants to fight on their side when she's old enough to carry a real gun.
Diana Magnay, CNN, Donetsk.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Now tensions continue to simmer in Ukraine's eastern region, as foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany meet
in Paris to get peace talks back on track. And Vladimir Putin is also speaking out about the unrest.
For the very latest, CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now live from Moscow. And Fred, foreign ministers, they just wrapped up that meeting in
Paris a short time ago. So what came out of it?
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATINOAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far we're still waiting for the statement from the foreign ministers to come out. It
was really a meeting that was scheduled a very long time ago, was something that regularly happens, because of course the Normandy group, as they call
themselves, which is the countries of France, Germany, as well as Russia and Ukraine have decided to meet on a regular basis to try and move the
ceasefire forward.
But of course, Kristie, the next big step in that ceasefire is supposed to be for the heavy weapons to be withdrawn from both sides of the
front lines.
The separatists for their part are saying that it's something that they've already started. The Ukrainians most recent message have been that
they are not going to start it as long as there are ceasefire infringements, which of course are still taking place, the Ukrainians say,
on a regular basis.
The OSCE, which is supposed to monitor all of this say that they can't monitor it because first of all they don't have an inventory of which heavy
weapons are on the front line and second of all they're still having a lot of trouble getting access to many areas.
But you're absolutely right, Vladimir Putin spoke out on the issue of eastern Ukraine yesterday in a televised interview. One of the interesting
things that he said is that he doesn't believe that there's going to be a wider war of Ukraine. He said that a war over Ukraine would be, quote,
'apocalyptic." And he said that he doesn't think that it will come to that.
The other interesting thing was that he also said that for the time being Russia is not going to consider the territories in the east of
Ukraine as breakaway republics. He said he still considers them as being part of Ukraine.
And also very importantly, he said that he believes that there is at least a little more trust now within the Normandy group, within those
countries, in dealing with one another. Let's have a listen in to that sound bite from Vladimir Putin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I have an impression that we understand each other and trust each other in general,
although of course some elements of mistrust remain. But I have formed an impression that our partners still rather trust us than not and anyway
believe in our sincerity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: Of course we know, Kristie, that there has been some very heated exchanges there in the Normandy group, especially when that Minsk
agreement, the second Minsk agreement was reached in those negotiations there, especially of course between Pedro Poroshenko, the president of
Ukraine as well as Vladimir Putin.
Now Putin is saying he believes that the atmosphere has gotten a little better. We'll wait and see those statements from the foreign
ministers of the Normandy group to see whether or not they've made any headway in the negotiations they had today, Kristie.
LU STOUT: All right, CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting there. Many thanks indeed, Fred.
Now Greece has submitted its economic reform plan to Europe and a bid for a four month bailout extension. Now EuroZone ministers are holding a
conference call this hour to talk about the Greek proposal. The plan includes collecting more taxes and fighting tax fraud as well as reviewing
government spending. But time is of the essence here, even if the proposal is approved.
Lawmakers and creditor nations, including Germany, still need to vote on the extended bailout before Saturday.
Now for more details, do stay tuned in the next hour for World Business Today.
Now, there is a big change coming for small icons: Apple is introducing multi-cultural emoji, a new software beta has revealed Apple's
plans to offer most of their emoji in six different skin tones in a future update. It also has a wider selection of same-sex couples and country
flags.
There was an outcry last year over the limited options for people of color. A few celebrities even joined an online petition.
Now a Mauritius based startup actually beat Apple to it, releasing the ever Afro-emoticon soon after the outcry erupted.
Now you're watching News Stream, and coming up, several reports say top secret Israeli documents challenge what the country's president said
about Iran's nuclear capability. We've got the details next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: And if we cut through all the fog, yes that is indeed Hong Kong out there coming to you live from the territory. You're back watching
News Stream.
Now two Australians convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia could soon face execution. According to several reports an Indonesian court has
rejected their latest bid to avoid the death penalty.
Now Stan Grant from Sky News, Australia has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Andrew Chan and Myron Sukumara (ph), convicted of drug smuggling have been on death row for 10 years in a prison in Bali,
Indonesia. Now it seems that those executions are likely to take place after yet another legal appeal has been exhausted.
The pair had appealed for clemency, clemency denied by the Indonesian President Joko Widodo. They were challenging that decision. They went
through the administrative court. The administrative court said it does not have the authority to overturn the president's ruling. That seems to
exhaust all of the legal avenues.
From here the pair will be taken from their prison in Bali, to an island prison where they will be executed.
Officials in Indonesia are saying that that could happen as soon as this week.
Now the Australian government has been lobbying hard to try to have a stay of execution, appealing directly to President Widodo. So far, it has
had little effect.
Indeed, there's been some tense moments in the relationship between Australia and Indonesia over this. It seems that the likelihood now is
that this execution will take place. The president, Joko Widodo has made a particular point of getting tough on drug smugglers. And it is something
that is proving very popular in Indonesia regardless of the risks it may pose to the Australia-Indonesia relationship.
Stan Grant, Sky News, Australia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Now the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the county's intelligence agency may have disagreed on Iran's nuclear
capability. And that's according to reports by The Guardian newspaper and al Jazeera citing confidential spy cables.
Now let's bring in senior international correspondent Nic Robertson for more on this. And Nic, is there an actual disagreement here between
Mr. Netanyahu and Mossad?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERANTIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that certainly is what al Jazeera and The Guardian are saying. They quote, they're saying
that al Jazeera received hundreds of documents that range from confidential to top secret and that one of these documents they say is a Mossad document
indicating Mossad's assessment of Iran's nuclear capability and the speed with which it's trying to produce nuclear weapons.
And this is, if you will, different from that assessment given by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just a month earlier at the
United Nations September 2000, 2012.
So, the document that al Jazeera presents seems to be a document written up by the South African intelligence services after a briefing by
Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. And that that writeup says that Israel -- rather Iran does not appear to be trying to make weapons at this
time. The Israeli prime minister at the UN giving the impression that Iran, if you will, was full speed ahead. Israeli authorities are saying
there's actually no daylight between these two positions and statements.
And if you read deeper into the document and look at the context of what was happening at that time, there seems to be very little difference
between what the Israeli prime minister and what the intelligence service was saying.
What we do know, however, and this is well documented and has been going on for some time, that there are differences between Israel's top
politicians and the intelligence services and the military at times and certainly over Iran, over how to proceed, how to interpret information that
have been well documented, disagreements in the past.
So this doesn't appear to be anything particularly new at the moment, Kristie.
LU STOUT: All right, thanks for parsing through the latest spy cables leak. Appreciate it. Nic Robertson there joining us live from CNN London.
Now we just want to reiterate here, CNN cannot verify the authenticity of the documents, nor whether there were actual differences between
Netanyahu and Mossad.
Now Israeli officials say that there is no discrepancy.
Now, Kurdish fighters, they hold off an ISIS advance in northern Iraq and what they say they need to win the fight against the terror group.
That is straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.
Now a FIFA task force has recommended moving the 2022 World Cup to winter. Now the tournament has traditionally been held in June and July,
but concerns over scorching temperatures in the desert nation of Qatar means it might be played in November and December. A final decision on
dates will be made next month.
Now two Australians convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia could soon face execution. A last ditch attempt to stop the sentence being
carried out failed when a court rejected their latest legal bid. Myron Sukumara and Andrew Chan were sentenced to death in 2006 for drug
smuggling.
Russia's president says an all-out war between his country and Ukraine is, quote, unlikely. Now as tensions simmer in eastern Ukraine, foreign
ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany met in Paris to try to get peace talks back on track. Now the Russian foreign minister Sergey
Lavrov called it, quote, a useful meeting
Spanish authorities have arrested four people suspected of recruiting for ISIS. Now two of the suspects were taken into custody in the Spanish
enclave of Morocco's north coast. Now the others were arrested in northeastern Spain.
Authorities say they used ISIS propaganda videos and social media to attract recruits from around the world.
Now deep inside a basement in Iraq's northern city of Irbil, you'll find the Kurdish Peshmerga's secret weapon against ISIS: it's a man with a
unique skill, he can repair broken weapons that the Kurds can then turn and use on the militants.
As senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman shows us, business is brisk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sparks fly in Bakhtiar Aziz's subterranean workshop in Irbil's old city. He's busy repairing a
battle battled AK-47 assault rifle.
All day and well into the night, this 36-year-old gun repairman fixes the aging weapons the Peshmerga, the Kurdish military force in northern
Iraq, use to fight ISIS.
This Soviet era machine gun is older than he is, he explains, and is jamming after four or five bullets.
He's been at the job since he was a child. This picture taken when he worked in his father's workshop back in 1990.
In the more than 25 years Bakhtiar has been in this business, he's never met a weapon he couldn't fix.
47-year-old Peshmerga fighter Natif (ph) has come the front lines near Kirkuk.
"Easy things we can fix ourselves," he says. "Bigger problems we bring here."
Bakhtiar makes house, or rather trench calls regularly traveling to the front line to repair free of charge damaged or malfunctioning guns.
Business picked up dramatically last summer when ISIS seized nearby Mosul and threatened Irbil and hasn't let up since.
Before I was working every day from 9 to 4, he says. I finished early every single day.
No more. Now the workshop echoes with the clatter of gun repair, that is when he's not peering down the barrel of machine guns and pistols to
check their sights.
His hardest task today is repairing a shrapnel-pocked U.S. made M-16, which tells a story in itself. He says it belonged to the Iraqi army, then
fell into the hands of ISIS fighters when the army fled Mosul. It was damaged and its last owner killed in a coalition air strike. Soon it will
be working again, this time aimed at ISIS.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Now, CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman, he's been on the front line of the battle and he joins us now on the line
from Guere (ph) in northern Iraq.
And Ben, what have you seen there at the front line?
WEDEMAN: (inaudible) a hilltop Kurdish Peshmerga provision overlooking just about a kilometer away where ISIS controls territory all
the way to the city of Mosul. And there has been almost steady outgoing fire from the Kurdish position. They're firing mortars, rockets, heavy
machine guns, light machine guns and only once has actually ISIS fired back with a mortar that was a bout 400 meters from our current position.
It does seem that definitely, at least in this area, that ISIS is on the defensive, but from where I'm standing here I can see a string of these
hilltop emplacements stretching to the north of here. So it definitely doesn't look like ISIS is -- you've got a chance at moving forward in this
area.
Of course, I do complain, as always, that they don't have the kind of weaponry they had -- basically all their equipment is just old AK-47s, some
heavy machine guns, but they don't have, for instance, binoculars, they don't have nightvision equipment. And this, despite the fact, Kristie,
that this was the location where the last two days there was a major attack by ISIS on their position here. They say they killed at least 60 ISIS
fighters, and in fact showed us a lot of the video of the dead bodies of the ISIS fighters in this location.
So this is definitely one very hot part of this 1,000 kilometer front between the Kurds and ISIS in northern Iraq -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: And Ben, earlier this week, we saw that ISIS propaganda clip, you know, showing Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers in cages. Has that
undermined the morale among the Peshmerga fighters? What has been the reaction there to the video?
WEDEMAN: They don't seem to have been phased by it. Of course, they're up here at the front lines. (inaudible) access and Kurdish
television has not broadcast those pictures.
But they realize that this is a fight where losing is not just losing territory or control of your life, it can mean losing your life and the
life of your family. And therefore they don't seem to be, as I said, phased by this propaganda video that was posted on YouTube the other day.
They seem determined to stand firm and hold the line and stop ISIS from advancing.
If anything, they're talking about the possibility some time down the line, they don't want to say exactly when, of actually moving forward and
retaking some of the territory that ISIS seized several months ago -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: All right, Ben Wedeman reporting live on the live from Guere (ph), northern Iraq. Many thanks indeed for that.
You're watching News Stream. We'll be right back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Welcome back.
Now one of the top executives at MasterCard says women can have it all despite what you may hear out there. Ann Cairns spoke to CNN's Poppy
Harlow about success and her biggest career challenge to date.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANN CAIRNS, MASTERCARD: My father, he said to all of us, you know, do what you love and never let anyone tell you that you can't try something.
He just wanted us to be happy and to achieve.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For Ann Cairns, doing what she loves means never getting too far away from numbers. She the
president of international markets for credit card giant MasterCard. She manages all operations for the company outside of North America.
She credits her parents with giving her the freedom to explore her dreams.
CAIRNS: They both left school at 14. So they weren't educated beyond that. But they were both very intelligent people and very ambitious for
their kids.
HARLOW: So, you have a degree in pure mathematics. And you've said that for you, looking at tables is like looking at a painting.
CAIRNS: Well, you know, when you're a mathematician you can just see patterns in things. And I think that's something that's very helpful in
the business world, because you can quickly assimilate whether the information that someone is giving you is the right information.
HARLOW: But Cairns says there is an important skill in leading a global business that she's learned over time.
What is the biggest challenge that you've faced?
CAIRNS: It's really responding to change quickly and creating an environment where people can feel creative. If you put people in a high
stress situation, they're not creative.
HARLOW: Cairns says diversity also drives creativity, which is why she makes it a point to support a women's leadership network within
MasterCard.
So let's talk about working in the UK, right, as a leading woman in business versus working in the U.S.
CAIRNS: Having worked in both continents, in Europe you're starting to see women rise up the ranks, but they're not having to give up being,
you know, moms, they're not having to have incredibly short maternity leaves in order to get right back into the job.
HARLOW: In fact, Cairns was promoted while she was on maternity leave.
CAIRNS: It was absolutely fantastic feeling.
I think having a child does impact your career maybe in a positive way, because I think once you have a child of your own, you start to
develop a lot more empathy with people around you. You become a good time manager, because your time becomes really valuable.
HARLOW: What do you hope your daughters learn from you?
CAIRNS: I hope that she's learned happiness and success are bound together, that you can't separate your business life from your family life.
You know, you can have a fantastic global job and you can have a family. You can make the right decision and it works out for everyone.
I guess I'm saying I think that you can have it all, despite what you're reading in all the magazines that you can't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LU STOUT: Now at the Oscars on Sunday, the actress Patricia Arquette, she used her award acceptance speech to call for gender equality and for
equal pay. Now the problem is certainly not limited to Hollywood. You can find that and more at CNN.com/leadingwomen.
And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Alex Thomas is up next with more on the proposed changes
to the Qatar World Cup.
END
