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Ikea Apologizes For Airbrushing Women Out Of Saudi Catalog; 38 People Killed In Ferry Collision In Hong Kong; Polls Show U.S. Presidential Race Tightening; European Ryder Cup Captain Steps Down

Aired October 2, 2012 - 8:00   ET


PAULINE CHIOU, HOST: I'm Pauline Chiou. Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

We begin here in Hong Kong where 38 people have been confirmed dead after the collision of two passenger boats. Six crew members have been arrested.

Also ahead, Syria's government finally speaks out at the United Nations General Assembly as a dissident spokesman says the military is waging a systematic killing spree.

And the special one opens up. Why he says it's not always easy being Jose Mourinho.

Here in Hong Kong a holiday week had turned tragic. Rescuers are still hard at work after the territory's worst ferry accident in four decades. At least 38 people on this Hong Kong Electric Company boat were killed after a collision with this public ferry on Monday.

The Hong Kong Electric boat was filled with employees and their families on their way to watch National Day fireworks. Five children are among the dead.

More than 100 people are injured, and two remain in critical condition. It's unclear how many people are still missing.

Investigators are speaking to survivors to figure out exactly who was on board.

Now ferries are a common form of transportation here in Hong Kong. According to government figures they carry more than 135,000 passengers every day.

Now the territory is made up of more than 200 outlying islands. And if you've ever flown into Hong Kong, then you landed on Lantau Island there.

Now most ferry routes run from Central Ferry Pier on Hong Kong Island. The ferries go across Victoria Harbor to the Kowloon side or to the outlying islands.

Now Lamma is the third largest of those islands. It's just over 13 square kilometers. Around 8,000 people live on Lamma which has no cars.

Now Lamma is also known for this power station. It's own by HK Electric. And the boat that capsized was one of HK Electric private ferries.

It is now being towed to shore. And our own Remy Inocencio is live for us from Lamma Island. Remy, it's been a very long day. It's been almost 24 hours since the accident occurred. What is happening now?

REMY INOCENCIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Pauline, that's right. I am on Lamma Island. And basically overlooking the Ferry crash site just to my left here. And what we're looking at, in the last few hours the ferry, the boat, has actually been towed from deeper waters right next to the harbor where we're at. And it was towed by two huge barges with cranes. Basically they sandwiched the boat and they basically brought it to shore.

But you know as you said it has been about 24 hours since this disaster first struck. Take a look at what we learned throughout today.


INOCENCIO: A night of celebration turned to tragedy as water rushed in through the boat's hull.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The boat was completely standing straight up in the water. It was chaotic. All the tables and chairs were everywhere. It was like a slide. Everything was sliding down.

INOCENCIO: This is Hong Kong's worst maritime disaster in more than four decades. Dozens of people died after two boats collided. The boat that sank had more than 120 passengers, many of them employees and families of a local company gathered to watch annual fireworks to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic of China. Many of those treated in hospital were under 12 years old, other children never made it to the hospital and are among the dead.

A surviving passenger described panic as the boat went down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My leg was stuck and I couldn't get it out. I thought I won't be able to get it out and I was going to die. The water was suffocating me. My friend tugged with all her might and got my leg out.

INOCENCIO: And this is the scene of the collision. You can see the boat half submerged right behind me. Search and rescue operations are still underway. Boats are patrolling the area looking for survivors. There's also a helicopter circling overhead.

But in what could be Hong Kong's most fatal ferry accident, investigators are now wondering what exactly happened.

Hong Kong's chief executive has promised a full investigation.

C.Y. LEUNG, HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE (through translator): As we continue search and rescue efforts, we will also investigate this incident. We need to understand what caused this.

INOCENCIO: Rescue officials added that low visibility may have contributed to the disaster. Hong Kong has more than 200 outlying islands. Ferry service is a normal and usually safe part of daily life until now.


INOCENCIO: And looking ahead, the Hong Kong government is in full emergency response mode, basically the first thing that's going to happen is that the Hong Kong government has said that the search and rescue is going to go ahead for at least the next two days. They've also declared a mourning period for the next three days.

And interestingly, right behind me is the headquarters of the Hong Kong Electric Company for the city. And earlier today we did see people coming to pay their respects, bringing incense, bringing offerings of food and also burning money in respect to the dead -- Pauline.

CHIOU: Remy, just a few hours ago, we learned that there had been six arrests. What more can you tell us about these arrests, and also the investigation?

INOCENCIO: Right. Well, Pauline, not too much, actually about those arrests. Basically they have been arrested on suspicion of endangering people's lives, but beyond that the investigation is still ongoing. We will, of course, get more updates as soon as we know them from the Hong Kong government when they make their next press release.

CHIOU: It's been such a tragic day here. All right, Remy, thank you very much for the update.

Well, Hong Kong has been shocked by this tragedy. And the government has announced three days of mourning for the victims. That will begin on Thursday. Flags will fly at half staff.

Officials say mourning sites will be set up around the city, but those locations have not been announced yet.

Still ahead on News Stream, more shelling in Syria. The relentless violence is fueling an exodus to neighboring Turkey which is (inaudible) more details.

Plus, it's just 35 days until the U.S. presidential election. And one more day until the first big debate. And we'll bring you the latest polls.

And he's colorful, charismatic, and at times controversial. A one on one interview with Real Madrid's football manager coming up.

Stay with News Stream.


CHIOU: Now to the conflict in Syria. News agency Interfacts is reporting that Russia's deputy foreign minister warns NATO not to intervene in Syria. Russia and China have blocked UN resolutions against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad once again saying the conflict should be resolved by the Syrians themselves.

Well, meanwhile, inside Syria, intense shelling by regime forces in Douma has sent residents fleeing for safety. Opposition groups are reporting at least 17 people have been killed across Syria so far on Tuesday.

With the latest on what's going on there in Syria Mohammed Jamjoom joins me now covering the story from Beirut.

Mohammed, what are we seeing today inside Syria?

MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pauline, it's another very violent day, according to the opposition activist that we've been speaking with in Syria. Now one town in particular to mention Zabadani. Opposition activists saying that that town has come under intense shelling by regime forces.

There is amateur video online purporting to show the aftermath of some of that shelling. You see a huge cloud of smoke there on the skyline in the city covering many buildings. And you hear what sounds like mortars being dropped on different areas of that town, very loud explosions there in the background.

Now also we need to talk about Douma. We've heard that there are -- there is a lot of activity going on in Douma today, that the town has been shelled, that military forces have gone in. There is an amateur video that purports to show a military tank there in the streets of Douma.

But I want to also try to bring our viewers' attention to something that really shows the human cost of what's going on there. Here's an amateur video that purports to show tens of cars loaded with people and their families. The activists say that this video shows these people. They are fleeing the town because of the violence there, because of the shelling trying to get out of that city trying to go to neighboring districts, neighboring towns, fleeing the violence there. And this is really one of those videos that shows the human cost of what's going on in Syria.

Now we've also heard today about intense clashes still going on in the Syrian capital of Damascus. And also that the fight for Aleppo, that that battle that's been going on for so long now, for so many days is still going on with clashes only intensifying between regime forces and rebel Free Syrian Army members -- Pauline.

CHIOU: Mohammed, let's talk about what happened at the UN. Syria's foreign minister spoke to the UN General Assembly yesterday. And once again he blamed the media and western countries for the uprising there in Syria. What has the response been since he spoke there?

JAMJOOM: That's right, Pauline. What we heard from Walid Moellem yesterday was certainly no surprise. The same kind of rhetoric that we've heard from the Syrian regime since the beginning of the uprising there. And at one point, Walid Moellem called for political dialogue, for national dialogue, for parties to come together, for the opposition to speak with (inaudible).

But the Syrian National Council, the main umbrella oppositoin group in Syria rejects those calls. It says that the government is now serious about sitting down with any members of the opposition. They say they will not do so. George Sabra, the spokesperson for the SNC told CNN, _Walid Moellem knows that he is asking the impossible. No Syrian is willing to sit down with any of these killers in the Syrian government who have been responsible for every single drop of blood that has been shed in Syria.O

Now also yesterday you heard Walid Moellem going on about how the Syrian government believes that foreign interference is to blame for the majority of the violence in Syria. This is also something that we've heard repeatedly from President Bashar al-Assad and other members of his regime. Walid Moellem also went on to say that Jihadi fighters that are there are causing so much turmoil and that's the big problem in Syria.

The SNC spokesperson George Sabra also responded to those comments telling CNN that this is absolutely false. The Syrian government fails to recognize what's going on in that country. And the SNC says that the revolution that's going on in Syria by the people of Syria for the people of Syria -- Pauline.

CHIOU: Mohammed, thank you very much. And we do apologize to our viewers for some of that garbling that you heard there as Mohammed was speaking.

Well, that was Mohammed Jamjoom there reporting from Beirut.

Well, as we reported earlier, Syrians are fleeing the violence in their country. And many are seeking refuge in neighboring Turkey, but as Ivan Watson found out some say they are being made to feel like unwelcome guests there.


IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Syrian government forces shell a Syrian village, mortars crashing less than a stone's throw away from the border with Turkey. The Syrian conflict threatens to spill across borders. It's also becoming an increasingly divisive political issue inside Turkey.

Since the uprising erupted a year-and-a-half ago, Turkey has hosted more than 93,000 Syrian refugees in camps like this, more than any other neighboring country. And as the Syrian conflict grinds on, the refugee population in Turkey just keeps growing.

Turkish government officials estimate there are another 40 to 50,000 unofficial Syrian refugees, many of whom have taken up residence here in the border city of Antakia where they've rented homes. Some of those refugees are telling us they're not longer feeling welcome here.

Syrian refugees living outside the camps tell us Turkish police have been going house to house issuing ultimatums, either move in to refugee camps, or go back to Syria.

So you're all living with your families in different homes in Antakia ?


WATSON: And have all of you gotten visits from the Turkish police?

"The first time the police looked at my passport and said I could stay here legally for three months," says Abu Ahmed . "Then 20 days later they came back and said we have to leave the house within four days."

The government appears to be bowing to growing domestic pressure from some Turks who are fed up with the Syrian refugees and angry at Turkish government support for the Syrian rebels.

At a protest in Antakia last month, demonstrators accused the government of allowing foreign jihadi fighters to transit Turkey to join the rebel movement in Syria. Police eventually responded with tear gas.

At a party rally on Sunday, Turkey's prime minister vowed to continue supporting the Syrian opposition. But Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to be back peddling on his pledge to keep an open border to fleeing Syrians. Thousands of refugees have been stuck for weeks in squalid conditions at a Turkish border fence, begging to be let in.

Some were adopting desperate measures. Under cover of darkness, a family tries to sneak across the border, watching meager belongings they rush to the fence but are eventually caught and turned back by angry Turkish border guards. For now, there will be no escape from Syria.

Ivan Watson, CNN, along the Turkish-Syrian border.


CHIOU: Coming up next on News Stream, countdown to the debate showdown. U.S. President Barack Obama says he's doing his homework to prepare. And his challenger Mitt Romney says the American people have the chance to decide what kind of America they want. We'll have a live report from Washington coming up next.


CHIOU: In Georgia, it was the battle between the president and the billionaire. The president Mikhail Saakashvili has conceded that his party lost the country's parliamentary election. A coalition headed by businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili won a majority of seats.

Now remember, Mr. Saakashvili came to power after the bloodless Rose Revolution nine years ago. His term ends next year, that's when the country is set to usher in important constitutional changes. Analysts say they will shift power from the president to prime minister which will be picked by parliament.

U.S. politics now and the countdown to the U.S. presidential election in November. There are 35 days left until Americans head to the polls and there's just one more day remaining until President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney face off in the first of their three scheduled debates. Now both candidates are devoting most of the remaining hours to preparing for their verbal duel. It's a key opportunity to sway voters who may still be undecided.

A new CNN poll shows the race between Mr. Obama and Romney is actually tightening up. So let's go straight to CNN political editors Paul Steinhauser in New York for more details.

Paul, what have you gleaned from these poll numbers?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Let's take a look at them. There have been five polls, Pauline, over the last 24 hours here in the United States of likely voters nationwide. And they basically show the same thing, a very close contest between the president and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Look at ours specifically, this is from CNN/ORC. And national poll 50 percent of likely voters saying they support the president. They would vote for him if the election were held right now. 47 percent for Mitt Romney. That three point margin, or advantage for the president, or edge, whatever you want to call it, within the sampling error of the server Pauline. So basically tied up.

What's interesting, too, when you look at our poll and you dig a little deeper on the economy, which still remains the top issue for Americans, Americans are kind of divided on which candidate they think would do a better job. They're basically split between Romney and President Obama. The economy, Pauline, will be a big factor in Wednesday night's debate, the first showdown between the two gentlemen, because it's going to be a debate focusing on domestic issues and the economy remains the top issue on the minds of Americans, Pauline.

CHIOU: Yeah, of course, no surprise there.

Now with the poll numbers showing that it is so tight, any edge will count. So how are both Obama and Romney preparing for this debate?

STEINHAUSER: Well, they are basically in lockdown, I guess you could say. Both gentlemen behind closed doors all day today Tuesday and probably most of Wednesday before they face off in the debate. They're doing their final preparations.

Mitt Romney at a campaign event in Denver, Colorado Monday night talked about the debate. Take a listen.


MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People want to know who is going to win? Who is going to score the punches? And who is going to make the biggest difference in the arguments they make and there's going to be all the scoring of winning and losing. You know, in my view it's not so much winning and losing or even the people themselves, the president and myself, it's about something bigger than that.


STEINHAUSER: While Mitt Romney is in Colorado, President Obama is in Nevada, another state that is a battleground state. He is also in lockdown, I guess you could say. But he took a little time out on Monday to deliver pizzas to a local Obama campaign office. And he talked about -- he talked about how he was getting ready for the debate. Take a listen.


BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Basically they're keeping indoors all the time. It's a drag.


OBAMA: I -- they're making me do my homework.


STEINHAUSER: A little lighter moment there from the president. But in all seriousness there is at lot at stake for both candidates, especially Mitt Romney, because he trails in the polls by a little bit. So I guess you can say a little bit more is on the line.

Pauline, this is the first of three debates, the second one will be a town hall forum. And the third and final presidential debate will focus on foreign policy. There's also one debate between the vice presidential candidates.

CHIOU: I'm looking forward to all those debates.

And before you go, Paul, you did mention the economy, of course, will be the number one issue. And we've been talking about that day after day, jobs, jobs, jobs, the housing market, that kind of thing. How will each candidate make the case that they're the better captain to guide the ship?

STEINHAUSER: We've heard a lot of these arguments already. The president says that he was dealt a very tough hand when he became -- when he took office four years ago. And he says his actions, his policies he's implemented over the last four-and-a-half years have brought around a slow recovery.

Mitt Romney's argument is this, the president is not doing a good job creating jobs. And Mitt Romney touts his private industry experience and says he could do a better job.

You know, it's going to be up to the American voters, obviously, to decide who they want to run the U.S. economy over the next four years.

CHIOU: OK. And we will be watching this debate as it comes in less than 24 hours. Paul Steinhauser there live in New York. Thanks so much, Paul.

And what questions would you like to ask Romney and Obama? And what are the big issues that you hope they address at Wednesday's debate? Go to where you can join our online discussion.

Well, Heathrow Airport is buzzing right now as some of the victorious European Ryder Cup team step back on home soil after this historic victory in that amazing comeback. Here's Amanda Davies with more details.

Hello again Amanda.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Pauline, yeah it's been some fantastic scenes just across London. But the big news that's come out of the press conference that's been held is that the European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal has said he doesn't want to be captain again. The Spaniard and some of the members of his winning team have been arriving back in London, as you said, still very much celebrating that historic comeback against the USA in Chicago over the weekend.

Olazabal along with Italy's Francesco Molinari and Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts flew in earlier on Tuesday. They came back, of course, at Medinah from 10-6 down to take victory by 14-and-a-half points to 13-and-a- half. Molinari heading to this week's Donhill Links at St. Andrews now along with his teammates Martin Kaymer and Paul Lawrie. Well, Lee Westwood has decided not to take part this week.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy on the other hand are heading to Turkey for the inaugural world golf finals.

Olazabal, though, as I said he said his time in charge is now over.


JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL, TEAM EUROPE CAPTAIN: I can assure you that that's going to be a no, period. You know, I think nowadays -- first of all it's a lot of work. I mean, it takes a lot of you during this -- during this stretch of time that you're named captain to the actually playing of the Ryder Cup, so -- and on top of that there is a lot of players that should have the opportunity to be in my spot. And there is only -- you know, the Ryder Cup is played every -- once every two years. It's a big number of players that have the chance to be in my position. So clearly I won't do it again.


DAVIES: Well, there needs to be change in the U.S. ranks as well. We'll be looking ahead to the next Ryder Cup in the next addition of World Sport in just a few hours time.

But the European Champions League is back on the agenda this week as well with Chelsea, Barcelona, and Manchester United all in action on Tuesday. Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid are in Holland, though, to face Ajax on Wednesday. And the Portuguese manager has been catching up with CNN's very own Pedro Pinto.

He's admitted that despite the trappings of life as a top level football manager and all the good things, things aren't always easy.


PINTO: Do you feel people have the wrong idea of you? I don't have to be the one to tell you that many times, people have quite a negative view of you, an aggressive view of you, a tough view of you.

MOURINHO: I know. I know.


MOURINHO: I think it's quite normal, because people -- people think they know me, but they don't. People know the manager, especially the manager during 90 minutes. If I could be a manger, a football manager, and the moment I leave the club or the moment the match finishes, if I could switch off a light and become a person that nobody knows, I would do it.

Because I hate my social life. I hate my social life. I hate not to be a normal father that goes with his son to the son's football match and being there with the other 20 fathers watching the match.

I am in a football match of kids of 10, 12 years old, and I have to be there. The people have to come for photos, the people have to come for autographs, the people have to come to insult me, the people have to go behind the goal of my kids and insult the kid of 12 years old.

So, I would love to be in the street with my family as a normal person, and I can't. So, I am a completely different person in my private life.


DAVIES: It really is a fascinating interview, but that's just a very small part of it. On Friday, you can see more of our exclusive chat with the Special One. The Mourinho master class airs at 11:30 am Eastern time, that's 5:30 pm Central European.

A really interesting one that, Pauline. A lot of people are saying, you know what, yes, Jose Mourinho is complaining, but he's just got to deal with it because there are so many perks to his job you can't have it all.

CHIOU: Yeah, I can -- yeah, yeah, it just comes with the job. He's quite revealing there. So looking forward to hearing more of that.

Thanks so much Amanda.

Well, coming up next on News Stream, Abu Hamza al-Masri is back in court. The radical Muslim cleric makes a last ditch bid to avoid extradition from Britain to the U.S. to face terrorism charges. We'll have the very latest from his appeal hearing at London's high court live just ahead on News Stream.


CHIOU: I'm Pauline Chiou in Hong Kong. And you're watching News Stream. Here are your world headlines. Six crew members from two passenger boats that collided in waters off of Hong Kong have been arrested. They're being held on suspicion on endangering the passengers. Authorities say at least 38 people are now confirmed dead following the accident on Monday night.

And Syrian opposition group says residents are fleeing the Damascus suburb of Douma as violence escalates there. Meanwhile, an opposition group says rebel fighters raided a Douma medical building being used by the military killing at least six soldiers. At the UN General Assembly on Monday, Syria's foreign minister defended his country's fight against what he calls terrorists.

French prosecutors say they have dropped a rape inquiry involving the former managing director of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The prosecutor in Lille says the alleged victim is not pressing charges saying their encounter was consensual. Strauss-Kan has always denied wrongdoing.

Lawyers for a radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri are fighting to prevent him from being extradited from Britain to the United States. He faces 11 terror related charges. They include conspiring to establish an Islamist jihad training camp in the U.S. state of Oregon. And if convicted, al-Masri could face life in prison.

His appeal follows a ruling from the European Human Rights Court last week that he and four other suspects could be sent to the U.S.

Now at today's hearing in London judges must decide if there's a compelling reason to halt that process.

Well, Dan Rivers has been following today's developments at London's high court, let's go to him live right now. Dan, has the court indicated which way it may decide?

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERANTIOANL CORRESPONDENT: No, not at the moment. And this is all taking a little longer, I think, than the two judges were hoping it would take. It was listed for two days. I have a feeling it may take a little longer than that. So far they've only really dealt with one of the five men who are wanted for extradition to the U.S. This man is Khalid al Fawaz. Now he along with another man, Abel Abdel Bary are alleged to be -- to have been aid to Osama bin Laden in London, his sort of -- one of his European lieutenants if you like.

Now his defense lawyers here were trying to put the argument that there was new evidence that meant that these men should not be extradited to the U.S., namely that the evidence -- a debriefing document to MI6, the secret intelligence service of an al Qaeda whistleblower, or sort of super graft if you like, Houssain Kirchdu who plead guilty in 2000 to his involvement in the East African bombings in 1998, in that 800 word document, al-Fawaz is not mentioned at all. And the lawyers were trying to put the argument that basically that should incidate that he was not, as the Americans claim, intimately involved with the East African bombings with the conspiracy to cause those explosions, which left 265 people dead at embassies in Tanzania and in Kenya.

There was some arguments that were put forward as well, for example that WikiLeaks cables that had been leaked showed that the Americans were considering de-listing Fawaz from UN sanctions, that again was put as an argument that this just undermines the case against him.

Well, the lawyer that was representing the U.S. government here, James Lewis, first of all was saying this is just an abusive process, they've taken too long. This whole thing has gone on for 13 odd years. And it's time -- you know, they should have put these arguments much earlier. The time for these last minute appeals is over. These men should be extradited. And also that there is even irrespective of those points that were made, very strong evidence that al-Fawaz was intimately linked to Osama bin Laden and the East African bombings, for example a claim of responsibility that was found in a flat that al-Fawaz used here in London had his fingerprints on it. The claim of responsibility was drawn up before the bombs went off in 1998 and that it was argued proved that he must have known that those bombs were being planned, that they were being planted, in other words, that he was a part of the conspiracy to kill those 265 people.

We've heard a very brief bit of evidence about the other man, Abdel Bary, but now they've broken for lunch. We haven't even got on toe Abu Hamza yet. But some fascinating details about -- about the American and British governments' attempts to extradite these men and some of the evidence that they feel that they've uncovered that justify it.

CHIOU: Dan, you talked about the timeline for some of these other cases, but let's focus on Abu Hamza al-Masri. He's been fighting extradition for the past eight years. Why is this process taking so long?

RIVERS: Well, because they have used every single avenue of appeal in this case. His case went all the way up to the House of Lords, which is effectively the highest court in Britain. It then went to the European Court of Human Rights. It went to their grand chamber who denied a right to appeal further. And so that you know all of this different stages of legal appeal just takes years and years and years.

But you definitely got the sense here today that the two judges hearing this, Sir John Thompson. He's president of the Queen's Bench Division and Mr. Justice Ozzly were both making the point repeatedly that this has taken too long, that justice delay can be seen as justice denied and it's time that this was wrapped up, that they have to make the arguments quickly. They want to get this wrapped up in a couple of days and then they will make their decision about whether these men can be extradited.

CHIOU: Dan, thank you very much for the update on these five cases. Dan Rivers there live in London.

Well, you are watching News Stream. And here's a visual rundown of some of the stories that we're covering today. We've told you already about the Hong Kong ferry disaster and we have also heard from football manager Jose Mourinho in a CNN interview.

And now let's turn to Italy where sniffer dogs are being used for a surprising purpose. They have been enlisted to help stop smuggling, not of drugs, but of cash, actually, as growing financial uncertainty in Italy has lead some people to take desperate measures to protect their savings.

Ben Wedeman has more on this story.


BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Stella is on the lookout not for drugs or explosives, but rather cash. This two-year-old Labrador retriever has been trained to sniff out large quantities of bills, euro, dollars, pounds and rubles at Naples' airport.

Stella is a cash dog, the latest weapon unleashed by Italy's Guardia di Financo , or Finance Police, in their effort to crackdown on that very Italian of traditions: tax evasion, a tradition which by some estimates deprives the government by as much as $340 billion a year.

And in this era of austerity with government scrounging for every last penny, a dog with a nose for money has its day.

Stella has earned her keep. Since the beginning of the year she's helped the authorities here find more than 3 million euro, around $4 million in illicit cash.

Stella's partner, Sergeant Alfredo Giuseppe proudly recalls her biggest find was 300,000 euro in the handbag of a Chinese traveler. The law allows you to travel with up to 10,000 euro, about $13,000 in cash. Beyond that, you must declare it to the authorities.

And it's not just about tax evasion, the money smuggled out of the country is frequently put to no good.

"The undeclared money," says Lieutenant Mikeli Tosci , "is often illicitly earned here and is used to buy either narcotics or counterfeit goods in other countries."

On this day, Stella didn't sniff out anything out of the ordinary among those departing and arriving.


UNIDENTIED MALE: How much? 15.

WEDEMAN: So the Guardia di Financa showed us how Stella would find large quantities of cash. In this case, plastic bags full of shredded euro bills carried by one of their own officers. Her reward, she gets to play with a plastic ball, a simple pleasure for the tax man's best friend.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Naples.


CHIOU: Coming up next on News Stream, we step inside the traditionally male dominated world of investment banking and introduce you to our latest Leading Woman, Jennifer Taylor. She tells us how she stays on top of her game.


CHIOU: This week on Leading Women, we introduce you to an executive who is at the top of her game in the often male dominated world of banking. Jennifer Taylor is the Asia-Pacific chief operating officer at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She helps them manage the day to day running of the bank's business across Asia.

Our Kristie Lu Stout steps inside the bank's Asian-Pacific headquarters to talk to her.


KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bank of America Merrill Lynch, this is the global side of one of the world's largest financial institutions, operating in more than 40 countries helping customers of everything from trading to investment advice to entering capital markets.

Step inside the Asia-Pacific headquarters, though, to see a more individual side of the global business.

JENNIFER TAYLOR, BANK OF AMERICA ASIA-PAC COO: Do you want to set the stage for what we're hoping to try and achieve today?

LU STOUT: It's not hard to spot executive Jennifer Taylor with her blonde hair and her Irish accent, she stands out in a sea of suits. And in this global teleconference concerning the changing regulatory environment, she is the one in charge.

She runs the back bone of the business in Asia-Pacific, everything from the technology that supports the traders to the policies that insure compliance with international regulations

How would you describe your job to a general audience?

TAYLOR: Well, my role is called chief operating officer of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. And what that essentially means is I help manage the day-to-day running of the business across all 12 countries in Asia.

LU STOUT: This multitasking, multi-passioned executive is Jennifer Taylor.

Hong Kong is a city of skyscrapers in downtown finance rules. The lofty towers packed with Asian headquarters of the world largest banks. Jennifer Taylor arrives most mornings for work at 7:00 am, walking through the web of skyscrapers to reach her office on the 15th floor.

The early mornings let her get a head start on her inbox. She reads every single email she gets. And it takes some time to think about the day before her conference calls and meetings begin.

TAYLOR: I think the ability to handle a lot of issues at one time and knowing when you need to get into the detail on an issue is really, really important.

LU STOUT: After that, it's time for meetings. The way this busy executive stays on top of the broad range of issues and offices she oversees.

TAYLOR: How are you. I don't know whether to say good morning or good evening, because I can't remember what it is in San Francisco.

I think my role a lot of the time is as a facilitator. So I bring a lot of groups together. So a number of the meetings that I chair or hold are getting groups cross line of business, cross support functions to come together to make a decision not to take action and move on.

And Kristie , how are the clients?

Logic going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are -- I'm finalizing to finally getting the revenue data.

LU STOUT: And so goes the day of a top banking executive: discussion, decision making, and distilling lots of information into action.

TAYLOR: I think that that's what I bring. I can take large volumes of information, summarize them into the key facts and then encourage and help people to make the right decisions.

LU STOUT: Taylor joined Merrill Lynch in London in 1997 armed with a law degree. She has risen up the ranks, eventually becoming general council and now serving as Asia-Pacific COO for five years.

How would you describe you own leadership style?

TAYLOR: I think my leadership style is I try to build consensus, but if a decision needs to be made I'm very willing to take the risk and make the decision.

LU STOUT: As a female leader, she's in good company at Bank of America. More than 30 percent of the company's managers are women, but it's not that way everywhere in finance.

Banking is a very male dominated industry. How long is it going to remain that way?

TAYLOR: I think we've made a lot of progress over the last 20 years. I think it's no longer as much the absolute preserve of men as it once was, but I think we still have a long way to go.

LU STOUT: If there were more women on boards of major banks, would it have made a difference?

TAYLOR: I'm not sure that it would. I think there were some truly extraordinary circumstances that surrounded the global financial crisis that that may not have been a big differentiating factor.

LU STOUT: But do you think having more female representation on banking boards will change the diversity of thinking? Leadership styles?

TAYLOR: I think we need to have a more inclusive approach in general, not just of boards. So I think if we're truly going to make change both in the financial services industry and more broadly, we have to have more women in all parts of the company not just the board.

LU STOUT: And the cynical question, why do we need more women in all parts of the company?

TAYLOR: I think the -- an inclusive environment where there's a difference in approach and a difference in how to deal with issues ultimately leads you to making better decisions.

I myself went to university in Ireland(tm)

LU STOUT: In the coming weeks, find out why Taylor thinks mentorship is key to bringing more women into the business and how such a busy executive still finds time for family dinners.

TAYLOR: I think the secret is learning how to prioritize and knowing what call or meeting is really important. One of the things I do every weekend is go into my calendar and take four meetings out the following week. And it works.


CHIOU: Well, next week we feature October's other leading woman, the co-chairman of Universal Pictures Donna Langely. The Bourne Ultimatum and Momma Mia are just two of the blockbusters that she has overseen during her tenure at the movie studio. You can also go online at to find out more about all of our leading women.

Well, let's turn our attention to one of our previous leading women, Marissa Mayer, the chief executive of Yahoo has given birth to a baby boy. Mayer says she'll return to work after a few weeks of maternity leave. Now she announced her pregnancy back in July when she took the top job at Yahoo. In an interview with Fortune Magazine, she praised Yahoo's board for their, quote, "evolved thinking."

Just ahead on News Stream, two identical Ikea catalogs with one major difference. Find out why the Swedish furniture giant is speaking out about its advertisements in Saudi Arabia.


CHIOU: We're just getting information right now about an attack at a university in Nigeria. A Nigerian official confirms that gunmen opened fire at a student facility at the Federal Polytechnic University in the northeastern city of Mubi. There are several casualties and we will keep you updated as soon as we get more information.

But for now, we're going to turn our attention to the weather forecast in this area in the Asia-Pacific region. And we're seeing a tropical storm forming in the South China Sea which is putting the region on alert. Mari Ramos has more details at the world weather center -- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hey, yeah, Pauline, this is a -- this storm I was starting to tell you about yesterday. It was just an area of low pressure, but now we have a full-fledged tropical storm. Now I want to talk to you about this, in particular, because of course we're talking about the South China Sea, an area surrounded by land, so whenever we see a storm form in this part of the world we know someone is going to be impacted.

And in this case, at least for now, it looks like the storm will remain over the water for the next few days. However, as it stays over the water and it meanders around here and possibly gains strength, we're going to see the rain affecting portions of the Philippines and also as we head back over here into Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, even Hainan. High waves will also be a concern as we move forward in time toward the middle portion of the week and even as we head toward the end of the week.

The storm itself, as you can see right over here, it's just expected to maybe meander a little to the south and then start taking a little track a bit more to the west.

Winds right now close to 74, 75 kilometers per hour, gusting to near 90. It's a threat primarily for shipping in this area, very busy shipping lanes of course across the South China Sea.

The storm when we look at the forecast over here, this is pretty interesting, because you see that movement in the forecast models of the storm kind of heading a little bit more to the south. However, because of the circulation that's happening here, expect some significant moisture for you here across southern parts of Luzon, the central Philippines. Manila, you will get some heavy rain associated with this weather system. And then on the flip side, also more heavy rain here back over toward Vietnam.

As far as the rainfall totals with this, pretty interesting. Notice that it'll be more toward the Philippines than it will be toward Vietnam, but at least or now, and that will begin to change as the storm meanders back over a bit more toward the west.

Now, other areas in Southeast Asia that have also kind of looking at this. I know you guys in Thailand are a little bit worried about this storm. This storm, I don't think, will be impacting you directly any time soon. But when the streets of Bangkok already look like this, take a look at these pictures, already there's so much water on the ground, there is a concern that across some of these areas we could see some problems with flooding, not because of this storm in particular, but just because the water levels are already so high.

City authorities are trying to clear the canals and any of the block sewers in preparation for more rain and for rising water.

How much more rain can we get? Well, widespread areas, three to five centimeters not out of the question. And what happened, what I've been told what people from -- that live in Bangkok is that the water will go up when it rains and then it will quickly go back down, but of course it does create some problems there for you traffic wise. Never fun.

Let's go ahead and check out other cities now around the world.

Well, look at that, Pauline, surf is up. This is in Hangzhou, China. And this is way, way inland, far away from the sea. This titled where that happened just one time you get one wave and that's it. And surfers from around the world gathered to be able to take a ride on what is known as the silver dragon in the region. That wave, yearly wave rolls around the Qitang River and through the city of Hangzhou. And this is in Zhejiang Province. This is what one surfer had to say.


MARY OSBOURNE, SURFER: The ocean has many waves. So you can go out there and you wait and you just keep getting wave after wave whereas here in China on the silver dragon there's one wave. And it's once a year, so you really have to be ready and have your team be ready and go with the flow and you just hope you get a little bit of the Silver Dragon.


RAMOS: So pretty cool stuff.

You know, this happens during the full moon closer to the equinox. And even though you get smaller tidal bores in this area, or tidal -- coming in several times, this is the big one. And this is the one that people plan for.

Come back over to the weather map. Let me update you on one more other thing I want to talk to you about as far as the tropics are concerned. That would be this storm right over here. This is that new tropical storm that has formed near Guam. This is one is a threat for the islands in this area, but after this, Pauline, tropical storm Malinski is expected to continue traveling to the north and could, and I say could, have an impact later on maybe toward Japan. Right now we're expecting that it should pass safely to the east.

Back to you.

CHIOU: OK. We're keeping our eye on all of that. And I'm still impressed with that one surfer who just kept on going on that wave. Pretty impressive. All right. Thank you, Mari.

OK. See if you can spot the difference between these two images. Now look very closely. Here's the first one. It's a page from Ikea's catalog in Sweden. It shows what looks like a mother and a son in their bathroom brushing their teeth.

OK, take a look at this one. Here's the version that appeared in Saudi Arabia. Do you notice something different? Mom is missing.

Well, here's the full spread from the online Saudi catalog. In fact, we couldn't find women in any of the 328 pages, though there are a few girls. So apparently there was some airbrushing that was going on there.

Ikea has released a statement saying excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalog is in conflict with company values. And it says that it does not accept any kind of discrimination.
