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Nigerian Police Offer Reward For Help Finding Kidnapped Schoolgirls; New Evidence Bolsters Stowaway's Case; Conflicting Reports About Control Of Eastern Ukrainian Cities; Hollywood Celebrities Boycott Dorchester Hotels; Heat Wave, Drought Spark Wildfires in U.S.; Thai Prime Minister Ousted by Constitutional Court

Aired May 7, 2014 - 8:00   ET

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


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

We hear exclusively from the parents of two of the girls kidnapped by militants in Nigeria as police offer a reward in this case.

One of the world's biggest ecommerce sites is set to go public.

And Thailand's prime minister is ousted by the court. we'll look at what's next for this country.

Nigerian police are offering a reward of about $300,000 for any credible information leading then to more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls, that as word of a second kidnapping surfaced yesterday. It happened in the village of Warabe (ph) where residents say at least eight girls between the ages of 12 and 15 were taken on Sunday night.

The area is under the influence of Boko Haram militants.

Meantime, the rescue operation continues for more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped three weeks ago. Protests across Nigeria and rallies in several cities around the world are all demanding more action from the government.

Now here's a look at how this story has unfolded. Boko Haram militants seized as many as 276 girls from their school in the town of Chibok on April 14. Some of them did manage to escape, but just over 200 are still missing.

A convoy of trucks carried the girls away. And it's believed they were taken deep into the Simbasa forest. There's speculation that militants could still be holding them there, but there are other reports that some girls may have been taken out of the country possibly to neighboring Cameroon, but Cameroon says those reports are unfounded.

In an interview exclusive to CNN, we sit down with the parents of two of the kidnapped schoolgirls. Frustration over what they see as a complete lack of progress in the investigation prompted them to speak out. Here's their conversation with our Vladimir Duthiers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I went into the school compound nobody will ever stand it. You will see their dresses cut out all over and the hostel and the dormitory, everything was burned into ashes.

So, the watchman told us that they have gone with our daughters. We couldn't believe him.

VLADIMIR DUTHIERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Describe for us what life is like living in Chibok with the threat of the Islamist insurgency there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life is very dangerous in Chibok right now. Since on 14th of April to date we don't sleep at all.

DUTHIERS: You don't sleep at home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't sleep at home. Around five, six people will disappear to the bush because there is no security. There is no security.

DUTHIERS: You sleep in the bush?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We sleep in the Bush with all our little ones. Life in Chibok, it looks like we have no hope.

DUTHIERS: Have you seen any large groups of soldiers, any kind of search and rescue operation that you can tell is meant to bring your daughter?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I'm hearing this over the media even it provokes me. That the federal government, all the rulers are playing with we parents. They are looking at us as we are fools. Had it been there is military men who went into the bush to rescue our daughters, we would have to see them.

Why can't they bring military men and ask even one of the parents, we would want to show them the place where our daughters are.

DUTHIERS: When you saw and heard the video of Abubakar Shekau yesterday and what he said on that video, what did you think?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Through Translator): When I heard the story of Shekau yesterday, most of the women, we mothers, we started crying because we have nobody to help us. Our daughters have been abducted or have been captured as slaves. Now since that day we cannot even eat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is pleading let them release these girls. They don't know probably, there is -- one of them are born a president, or a doctor, or a pastor or a lawyer who will be helpful to the country. Why would they molest these little ones? Please let him release them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: Now the Nigerian government has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks over its handling of the search effort, but in an exclusive interview with CNN's Isha Sesay, the country's information minister defends the government's response to the growing threat from Boko Haram.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This place is under a state of emergency. The government said they would crush Boko Haram. Instead what we have seen is 200-plus girls are missing. This without a doubt undermine the Nigeria government's claims that they can beat Boko Haram, does it not?

LABARAN MAKU, NIGERIAN INFORMATION MINISTER: But let me understand, you know that his soldiers Boko Haram is a very difficult operation. For example, the Americans are unable to defeat the people in Afghanistan. In Pakistan which has been in insurgency for more than 10 years, they still continue with it. In Iraq, there have been insurgency for the last 10 years. They are still bombing places in Iraq.

We are not fighting a standard army. We are not fighting an army that wears uniforms and stays on one side. We are fighting urban and rural guerrilla warfare. And listen...

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: But you'd accept you're going to have to change your strategy because it's not working. MAKU: It's not just -- no, it's not just Nigerian security forces succeeded far more than many of the areas that this has been operating. I'll give you an example, in the last one, two years we have had so many (inaudible), so many -- even yesterday we have to (inaudible) one of the bombing in Yobe state.

Yes, we still have challenges, but what you do in a vast country? What happens to these guys, you with me, go to a rural school, take children in the most rural of places, hand people that are not -- you know, in any way -- you know to defend them.

So the reality is, if you look at what we have done in the last two years since this insurgency -- and I'm saying this unfortunately, regrettably, we have had these kind of developments.

SESAY: You're saying that there have been successes.

MAKU: There have been a lot of successes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIOU: And that was the information minister speaking with our Isha Sesay.

Let's go now live to the Nigerian capital of Abuja. CNN's Vladimir Dutheries has been tracking this story ever since it broke.

Vlad, does anyone have an idea of where these girls really maybe held?

DUTHIERS: It's a great question, Pauline. A lot of people believe that these girls may have been in the Sambisa forest, it's this very thick, dense forest that borders Cameroon and Nigeria. It's a Boko Haram stronghold. The military in the past has used aerial attacks to strike at terrorist enclaves. They're not able to do that now, because clearly there are hostages and an offensive operation into this forest, into an unfamiliar terrain, could be dangerous for the girls.

Now people believe because there's been such an enormous amount of time that eclipsed since the moment these girls were taken that they may have been trafficked out of Nigeria into neighboring Cameroon. In fact, some of the family members that we've spoken to, including the ones who risked their lives to talk to us in that interview, have told us that they have seen trucks filled with young girls and militants on a road leading out of Nigeria and into Cameroon, their worst fears realized, Pauline.

CHIOU: And Vlad, on that issue of trafficking, Boko Haram has been threatening to sell the girls as slaves. Are they also holding them hostage as some sort of a negotiating tactic? And if that's the case, what exactly is Boko Haram asking for?

DUTHIERS: You know, that's not been their modus operandi in the past. In the past, they've abducted young girls to essentially serve as sex slaves or as domestic workers. In 2013, November, Human Rights Watch says that they -- during a raid by the Nigerian military, 25 young girls were discovered, many of them had been forced into marrying their captors, many of them were pregnant, and others had children. So that has been their modus operandi.

The only stated goal of Boko Haram that we know of, Pauline, is that they want to established shariah law in Nigeria. And they are brutal. They do not -- they have attacked churches, mosques, schools, they've hacked people to death. They've burned people alive. They've attacked the UN compound here in Abuja in 2011, killing 20 people. There really doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to their brutality, except that they say they want to establish shariah law across the country, Pauline.

CHIOU: It's just horrific what these girls and their parents have been going through the past three weeks.

Vlad, thank you very much. Vladimir Duthiers there live in Abuja.

The self-proclaimed leader of Boko Haram put out a video earlier this week threatening to sell more than 200 of the girls. It's raised several questions about what modern day slavery means.

CNN's Freedom Project looks at this type of injustice that affects and estimated 20 to 30 million people around the world. Just head to this website, CNN.com/freedomproject to find out more.

And let's turn now to the crisis in Ukraine. The military is conducting a major operation against pro-Russian militants in the east. And last night, the target appeared to be in Mariupol. A spokeswoman for the pro-Russian camp says five people were killed when Ukrainian forces stormed barricades near the city.

The government in Kiev claims to have control over Mariupol, but a CNN team on the ground there says pro-Russian forces are occupying the city council building and they are flying a regional flag at the moment.

Now this comes just after a surge of fighting in the flashpoint city of Slovyansk. Government officials say 30 militants were killed there.

Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh joins us live now with the latest.

Nick, what is happening there today?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've heard reports of gunfire at one of the checkpoints on the outskirts of this town, but by and large we're not seeing, as we've seen in previous days, a concerted Ukrainian military effort to try and move closer, certainly the main highway where they'd be moving down, where the major clashes happen. Pro-Russian militants here saying 10 of their own killed during that 30 injured, much less than said by the Ukrainian government. They are rebuilding barricades along that particular road, but leaving unarmed civilians mostly to check the cars as they come in.

The key question, though, exactly where does this go next? People are concerned about the potential for a proper Ukrainian military move into the city. A lot of the violence has galvanized local residents here, many may not have been entirely happy about the unrest here, but I think lots more are furious because of the deaths.

We've seen funerals here today. And I understand four in total people buried at the central church. But real anger there expressed against the United States, some by pensioners, some just broader fury for the situation in general.

And we've also just heard from Ukrainian government that Ukraine's prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has in fact visited the anti-terrorist operation, as they refer to it, camp on the outskirts of Slovyansk. And they will be up the highway where we've been earlier on today.

So, certainly a sense, I think, of the potential for a proper siege or a bid to move into this city growing here.

CHIOU: And Nick, in less than three weeks from now we're supposed to see Ukraine's presidential elections take place. Can these elections actually go forward with the backdrop of all this violence?

WALSH: Well, they can go forward in the center and west of the country, that's fine. But then in the east, well, no. I mean, because it's obviously much of the administrative buildings in towns in Donetsk, certainly and increasingly in Luhansk are under pro-Russian militant and protester control.

The people aren't looking forward to May 25 here. I think that's in the back of their minds a different date, May 11, that's when pro-Russian protesters and militants here have said they want a referendum on the status of Donetsk. That will most likely, I think it's fair to say, given the conditions here and the absence of any real proper electoral debate beforehand, that will more or less endorse the decision to move closer to Russia, if not entirely become part of Russia.

The question really is once the Ukrainian military moves ahead of that key day, do they try and insert themselves into the city to stop the referendum from happening? Or does it pass and then where the Russian troops move, they're still across the border and increasingly Moscow furious for what it says is a violation of its compatriots' rights here in eastern Ukraine.

I have to tell you, things have moved so much in the last week. Before, you got the feeling that potentially people here may have seen their lives still potentially in Ukraine if a peaceful solution was found. I think the violence here has turned a lot of the population. And a lot of people we speak to say it's pretty hard to reverse that sense of hatred that's been I think fostered by the Ukrainian moves, certainly amongst those people we speak to in this town here.

CHIOU: All right, Nick, thank you very much for giving us a feel of what's going on there in eastern Ukraine.

You are watching News Stream. Still ahead, Chinese ecommerce giant Ali Baba looks to make a splash on Wall Street. And analysts think it could be the biggest tech IPO ever.

Ousted from office, a Thai court that does what months of street protests and an election could not. But what happens right now?

Plus, a stowaway story sparked widespread skepticism last month, but now new video seems to support his death defying claim. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: One of the world's largest ecommerce companies is going public. Alibaba filed to raise $1 billion in New York, but that figure is seen as just a placeholder. Analysts think Alibaba could raise even more than Facebook's $16 billion.

To say Alibaba dominates China's ecommerce market would be an understatement. Its estimated that for every $5 spent online in China, $4 are spent on Alibaba.

The value of goods sold on Alibaba's site last year was estimated at $240 billion.

Now Alibaba has often been described as a cross between Amazon and eBay, but it's much more than that, it also has its own payment solution like PayPal, a group buying site like GroupOn and even a stake in an online video site, which is very similar to YouTube.

That's not to say that Alibaba is a copy of any of those companies, its unique, because it combines features of all of them in just one place. And by listing in the U.S., some think it could be looking to expand there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL MOZUR, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: They've been very cautious thus far. They've made some tentative investments in the U.S., nothing really in the face of the guys like Amazon and eBay, but it's definitely something they're looking to do. They've set up shop in Silicon Valley. They're looking at investments there. And I think it's only a matter of time before we see a more aggressive investment in the U.S. But that could still be a few years off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIOU: But Alibaba is not without problems. There are concerns about the amount of counterfeit goods sold by its users online. And some worry about whether Alibaba can manage the shift away from desktop computing to mobile. But for now, all eyes are on just how big its IPO really will be.

Now let's turn to Thailand and the politics there. The constitutional court has removed Yingluck Shinawatra from office. It says she abused her position as prime minister when she reassigned a senior security official back in 2011.

Her opponents cheered the court's recent ruling. They have been demonstrating against her for the last six months. Remember, much of their anger is directed at Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister. The protesters want to remove the Shinawatra family from politics.

Now in the wake of the court's decision Yingluck says her government did nothing wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YINGLUCK SHINAWATRA, FORMER THAI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I insisted that we have used honesty to administer the country. And we never did anything that conveys any dishonest actions as accused.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHIOU: Well, nine of Yinguck's cabinet minister were also removed by the court. The remaining ones have nominated the commerce minister to fill the prime minister's post. Elections are currently planned for July 20.

Now let's bring in Thai political analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak. And he joins us from Bangkok via Skype.

Thank you very much for joining us.

Now once the prime minister steps down, there's still political deadlock. So who is really in power here?

THITINAN PONGSUDHIRAK, THAI POLITICAL ANALYST: It's the same as before. There's a struggle between two sides. So the Yingluck ouster today has not really resolved the crisis. The two sides are between the Thaksin side and the other side, his opponents and enemies. They have been at it for almost 10 years now. And it has caused some damage to Thailand more than we anticipated.

So somehow we have to return to the electoral system going forward, otherwise we will have more crisis and confrontation.

CHIOU: And this political uncertainty has really done damage to Thailand and its economy. And in the past six months as we've seen this caretaker government try to perform it, it really can't unlock funds for major economic development projects in Thaiand, projects like a power plant development and infrastructure.

So how damaging is all of this political uncertainty for Thailand as a country?

PONGSUDHIRAK: Thailand has been on autopilot. The fundamentals of the macroeconomy here are very strong. The shock absorbers here are good.

But the back stop, you know, the way that things work here are no longer accepted by all sides. So we will see more damage, I'm afraid. But the system has withstood a lot. We have gone through bloodshed year after year of protests and turmoil, including a military coup in 2006. It's been a decade now.

But the question now becomes, you know, how long will this last? How much longer? And how bad will it get?

I suspect that we'll see the worst to come. I think things will become worse before they get better. Today's verdict against Yingluck is just one manifestation of this struggle between the Thaksin side and his opponents and enemies. But somehow they have to find a way to compromise.

And we see some small openings here. The constitutional court today, they did not go all the way, they went halfway. They got rid of Yingluck, they got rid of some cabinet members, but they left some behind so that these cabinet members were left behind, they can still continue in a caretaker role. And if they can proceed to election day, if we can all return to the electoral system, to the constitutional framework, then we can maybe perhaps find a way out of this quagmire, otherwise if we have a solution from outside the system, from outside the constitutional frame, then there will be no end to it. There will be all kinds of risks for Thailand.

CHIOU: Thitinan, you mentioned small openings. Do you think there are any openings as we lead up to the elections you just mentioned, because the snap elections that we saw in February were inconclusive, because the opposition boycotted. We've got the elections coming up in July. Do you think there are openings for some sort of agreement so at least both sides will show up at the polls?

PONGSUDHIRAK: Yes. We have elections in February, on February 2. That election has been nullified. So now we have a new election planned for July 20th. If this election is abided by, it was followed by all sides. The street demonstrators and that the people democratic reform committee they're in the streets of Bangkok, the Democrat Party of the opposition, if they join the electoral process then we can find a way forward.

The ruling Pheu Thai Party, of course, they will join the electoral process because they think that they will win.

So somehow, for all the people in Thailand who see Thaksin as corrupt, who see all his drawbacks, his conflicts of interest and nepotism and cronyism the best way to beat Thaksin is at the polls. And it can be done.

The danger is that the opposition has boycotted now twice, two elections in the last four, and the last one being -- after being in power for two-and-a-half years. So my fear is that they will now boycott again, because they know that they cannot win.

So we have to look at replacing the leadership of the opposition Democrat Party, because we need a Democrat Party that can win elections in Thailand. This will put a stop to the crisis in Thailand, otherwise if the Thaksin party wins again, we have more protests, more turmoil, somehow we have to be able to beat Thaksin at the polls, otherwise he will keep coming back and we will never have peace and stability in Thailand.

CHIOU: Thitinan, thank you very much for breaking down this really complicated situation there in Thailand. Thitinan Pongsudhirak there joining us via Skype.

Well, Yingluck's Party has condemned this court ruling, no surprise calling it part of a, quote, relentless conspiracy and likening it to a virtual coup.

Remember, Yingluck's brother, Thaksin, was ousted by the military back in 2006. His allies have won every national election since.

The pro-Thaksin People's Power Party won the following election in 2007. Samak Sundaravei became prime minister, but he was forced to resign in September of 2008.

Now Thailand's constitutional court ruled his TV cooking show was a conflict of interest back then.

Lawmakers then elected Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat as prime minister, but a court decision dissolved the PPP in December and Somchai was banned from politics.

So there you have it, it's a very complicated political situation.

And you're watching News Stream. Still to come, a California teenager claimed he survived a five hour flight hiding underneath a jet liner. And now new footage seems to be supporting his story. That's coming up next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: He claims to have flown from California to Hawaii by hiding in the wheel well of a jetliner. We told you this story last month about a teenager found wondering on the tarmac of a Maui airport. He gave authorities an incredible story of what happened. And now, new evidence indicates the boy was indeed telling the truth.

Dan Simon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This newly released airport surveillance video clearly shows someone emerging from the rear of the plane. Authorities say the 15-year-old California stowaway coming out of the wheel well of the Boeing 767 that landed in Hawaii. Moments later, it appears the young man is dazed as he walks on the tarmac.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: You can see he's obviously affected by 5-1/2 hours well above 35,000 feet and he staggers around. He's clearly affected.

SIMON: The boy continues walking until he gets past the stairs of the jetway. Eventually you see him talking with an airport worker wearing a yellow vest. If there were any lingering doubts about this young man's story, this video should put that skepticism to rest.

EMANUEL GOLLA, CLASSMATE: From what I know of he was a really shy person. You know, he didn't really talk a lot. He mostly kept to himself.

SIMON: The reserved high school sophomore identified as Yahya Abdi told investigators he was trying to get to Somalia to see his mother and had no clue where the plane was headed. It's believed that he hoped a fence at the San Jose Airport shortly after 1:00 a.m. on April 20th and stayed on the grounds for nearly seven hours before the plane took off. Medical experts say the lack of oxygen and subzero temperatures at high altitude put the boy in a state of hibernation.

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Because of the hibernation he may not have needed as much oxygen and that may be how he survived.

SIMON: He's now back in California and in the custody of child welfare officials. Local police want to conduct another round of interviews. They tell us they haven't ruled out charges. If it's anything, it would be trespassing. Though as some have noted his disorienting journey would have been punishment enough.

Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: What an astounding story.

Well, coming up next, as Boko Haram militants threaten to sell hundreds of missing schoolgirls, we take a look at the rising rate of this insurgency group and how it may soon be even gaining more traction.

Plus, hours into a truce between the Syrian army rebels, an evacuation from one of the civil war's hardest hit cities. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: I'm Pauline Chiou in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

Thailand's constitutional court has dismissed Yingluck Shinawatra from her post as prime minister for abuse of power. Her party likens the court order to a virtual coup. Anti-government protesters celebrated the ruling. They've been demanding her resignation for the last six months.

In Ukraine, the government has issued a statement saying it is in control of the eastern city of Mariupol, but a CNN team on the ground there disputes that saying pro-Russian militants are still in control of the city council building and flying a regional flag. A spokeswoman for the pro- Russian camp says five activists were killed when security forces stormed barricades near Mariupol overnight.

Nigerian police are offering a reward of about $300,000 for any credible information leading them to more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped three weeks ago. And in the village of Warabe (ph), residents there say at least eight more girls were taken by armed men over the weekend. The region is under the influence of Boko Haram militants, though the group has not claimed responsibility.

Nigeria's struggle to defend the nation against attacks by Boko Haram militants is raising concerns about the threat of insurgency groups all throughout Africa. Radical al Qaeda affiliates are operating not just in Nigeria, but in other parts of the continent as well. And as CNN's Barbara Starr reports, it appears they may be joining forces.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even as the world watches horrified, Boko Haram continues its terror -- kidnapping eight more girls. It's just the latest vicious attack inflicted on Africa's most vulnerable by rising extremist groups. But there is also growing worry Africa's al Qaeda are joining forces on bomb making and assassinations and threatening attacks on Western interests.

Boko Haram, which has killed hundreds of Nigerians, is stepping up its capabilities.

SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: They have directly threatened the United States, the United States' interest in Western and Northern Africa, and have vowed that they could conduct attacks again U.S. embassies in the region.

STARR: The U.S. believes Boko Haram's leader had contacts with Osama bin Laden. Most worrying, it currently has close ties to another affiliate in Africa which was behind last year's attack on an Algerian natural gas plant that killed 40 hostages. The two groups may now have trained together.

A third al Qaeda affiliate, Al-Shabab, has also stepped up its operations, even after the attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi. Just this weekend, suspected militants attacked two buses in Kenya, killing and injuring civilians.

A growing worry -- senior Al-Shabab operatives have continuing contacts with Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen, who has vowed to attack the US.

Washington Monday announced it signed another 10 year lease to occupy a base in Djibouti, a major hub for U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism operations in Africa. The U.S. now hopes to send a team to Nigeria to help find the schoolgirls.

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It would include U.S. military personnel, law enforcement officials with expertise in investigations and hostice -- hostage negotiations.

STARR: And then there is al Qaeda in Yemen. A source with access to the latest intelligence says the group has recent stepped up its active plotting against the United States.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: Let's take you back to Ukraine now, which is facing a crisis with escalating violence. In just the last five days, we have seen surges of fighting in these three cities, the latest being in Mariupol. Activists say five militants were killed in an assault by Ukrainian forces overnight. Kiev issued a statement earlier today saying it was in control of the city. But a CNN team there in Mariupol says the city council building is still in the hands of pro-Russian activists.

Let's go live to Ukraine right now for more on this story. CNN's Atika Shubert is in Odessa.

Atika, let's first start with what's happening in Mariupol. What are you hearing about the situation there?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it still seems to be very fluid. The interior ministry in Kiev has been saying that they have control of the area and city hall and that police simply moved out of the building to search other buildings and take down barricades. But what we're hearing from our team on the ground is in fact that pro-Russian groups have taken control of city hall again, have raised the Russian flag and that police seem to have left the area.

So it's not clearly exactly who is in control of the building or what is happening in Mariupol, but it does seem that the Ukrainian government attempts to regain control of the city is at this moment perhaps still underway, but certainly not complete. And so things could change very quickly and they change from minute to minute.

CHIOU: So that's happening to the east of where you are, Atika. You're in Odessa, which is in the southern part of Ukraine which had been relatively calm compared to the eastern part of the country until this past week. So what has triggered this sudden change in Odessa?

SHUBERT: Yeah, one of the concerns is that Odessa is quite far from the Russian border. I mean, just to give you a sense, Mariupol is about 500 kilometers to the east. Both are port cities. We're sitting on the Black Sea here. But, it was thought that Odessa was relatively immune to that violence until a few days ago. And that's when pro-Russian groups began to camp out in front of the trade union building. Pro-Ukrainian groups, then, got out in force on the streets. When the two groups clashed, that's really when the violence (inaudible) groups ended up inside the trade union building.

A fire began. Nobody knows exactly at this point how the fire started, but what it means was that dozens of people were trapped inside, many of them from the pro-Russian groups and they died.

And it's been now unfortunately a lingering sense of anger and (inaudible) becuase of those deaths. And so the fear is that it could bubble up again. It could again erupt.

And so at the moment when we've talked to pro-Ukrainian groups, they said they've tried to keep the tensions down for now. They're not planning any rallies. The big concern, of course, is Friday, Victory Day, when there are expected to be big pro-Russian rallies out in the streets. And we'll have to see then whether or not violence erupts again.

CHIOU: And we also know that Odessa where you are strategically important. It's a port city and also Ukraine wants to set up a new naval base there as well.

Atika, thank you very much for the latest in Odessa, as well as in Mariupol.

And you are watching News Stream. And still to come, calls for a boycott in Beverly Hills. Many celebrities are shunning hotels owned by Brunei as a stand against the country's new shariah law.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: Some high profile celebrities are protesting Brunei's government over the adoption of shariah law in the small southeast Asian nation. And they are hoping to put pressure on the sultan all the way from Beverly Hills California.

Kyung Lah explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He is a sultan worth more than $20 billion, the absolute ruler of Brunei, a small southeast Asian country, but one of the richest nations per capita in the world. And he's courted by America's most powerful leaders.

HASSANAL BOLKIAH, SULTAN OF BRUNEI: This visit gives me a good opportunity to renew the long-standing and warm friendship.

LAH: That friendship is being strained as Brunei installs a new Islamic shariah law that punishes adultery, abortions, and same-sex relationships with flogging and stoning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nobody is going to set foot in that damn hotel until he is out of it.

LAH: He is the sultan. And Hollywood protesters like Jay Leno want the Sultan's money out of the storied Beverly Hills Hotel. The Hotel chain, called the Dorchester Collection, is partially owned by a Brunei investment agency -- hurt the investment, hurt the sultan.

Richard Branson tweeted, "no Virgin employee will stay at Dorchester Hotels until the Sultan abides by basic human rights."

JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: It's people being stoned to death. Hello. It's all economic, you know. How big an economic impact will it have? Let's find out and see.

It's just a matter of doing the right thing.

LAH: The hotel says a boycott is the wrong thing, hurting not Brunei, but the locals.

CHRISTOPHER COWDRAY, CEO, DORCHESTER COLLECTION: It's going to hurt our employees. And they have -- this has nothing to do with them, you know, whatsoever.

LAH: But the boycott, and the celebrity power, is bringing attention to the sultan's new law, a law that surprises Jillian Lauren who says she knows the sultan like few others. She details in her book, "Some Girls: My Life in a Harem" that at 18 she was the mistress of the sultan's brother for a year-in-a-half in Brunei. One night, Lauren says in her book she was gifted to the sultan who, she says, broke his own shariah laws.

JILLIAN LAUREN, AUTHOR: I am a witness to the fact that, you know, the sultan was drinking, was committing adultery, was you know not exactly living on the straight and narrow.

LAH: For them to then pass this harsh law...

LAUREN: Right.

LAH: How do you view this?

LAUREN: It's maybe indicative of the way that a lot of people in power behave, which is it's one rule for them and another rule for the rest of the people who don't have so much money and don't have so much power. And that's why I felt compelled to tell my story.

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Beverly Hills, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: Brunei's sultan says the country's strict new laws are going to be implemented in phases. May 1 marks the enforcement of shariah law phase 1. Citizens can now be fined or jailed for offenses like unmarried pregnancies, indecent behavior, or not performing Friday prayers.

Phases 2 and 3 will be introduced in the next few years. In phase 2, crimes like robbery, theft or alcohol consumption may be punished with flogging or amputation.

And in phase 3, Brunei citizens could be sentenced to death for offenses, including sodomy, adultery, and insulting the Koran.

Let's move to to the weather forecast right now. Extreme heat is raising the risk of more wildfires in the U.S. Samantha Moore is live at the world weather center with the very latest.

Hello, Samantha.

SAMANTHA MOORE, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Pauline.

Yes, it's a combination of that intense heat, the dry conditions, the gusty winds. I mean, take a look how hot the temperatures were yesterday across much of the south central plains in the United States here in Kansas. 37 degrees in Wichita. The average is 23. So temperatures soaring well above average from Texas, Oklahoma into Kansas. And that is really the trouble zone right now.

And it's been very dry here, too. The last half year we've had the second driest 180 days on record across this region. So tinder dry conditions with the gusty winds, multiple fires across the region.

And you can see the smoke here on the high resolution satellite picture coming from these fires. And some of those north -- about 50 kilometers north of Oklahoma City here in the town of Guthrie, or near the town of Guthrie. And here's the way the flames looked as they were raging for awhile out of control, just a lot of forest land was consumed by these flames. Hundreds of structures were burned. Some of those structures were homes. And over 1,000 people evacuated.

Over 100 firefighters had to be treated for heat related illnesses, just because it is so hot and then you add the intensity of being so near the fire.

So a dangerous situation.

It is mostly contained right now, thank goodness. But we still have high fire danger to worry about. In fact, we can see the pink here on the map. That is a red flag warning that is in place all the way from the Big Bend region of Texas into the central plain states, including eastern Colorado just southeast of Denver.

So it's very hot, winds in excess of 60 kilometers per hour and extremely dry. So all the ingredients we need for wildfires.

And the flames are being fanned by gusty winds as this front pushes in. We have a trough of low pressure moving in, eventually that will bring in cooler temperatures. But in the meanwhile, it's whipping up the winds and causing problems with fire danger and warming up the eastern half of the nation as well.

Then, once we end up getting all of these ingredients together, we could end up seeing severe weather as we head towards the end of the week.

So we have a real concern for possible severe weather from Texas stretching on up into the Chicago area as we head into Thursday and Friday.

So the big concern here, as we head towards the end of the week, is large hail and then gusty damaging winds where you see the yellow here on the map, so primarily Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas. And then in the northern plains too, including the Twin Cities -- Minneapolis, St. Paul.

So those temperatures will continue to stay well above average as we head into the next few days across much of the region, stretching over into Atlanta as well. Temperatures many degrees above average for this time of year.

In Europe, they're also seeing the threat for severe weather as well across much of France and stretching into eastern Europe, heavy rain, large hail and tornadoes, a risk there as well as we head through the rest of today and into the beginning of tomorrow.

So we'll continue to watch for that threat as we head through the middle of the week, Pauline.

CHIOU: All right. A lot to look out for if you're traveling through parts of Europe and the U.S. Samantha, thank you very much.

Stay with weather now, yesterday we told you about a new White House report on the effects on climate change. The Obama administration says the effects are being felt in every part of the United States.

Brian Todd has more on the implications of this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The forecast is dire, more torrential rain, like Pensacola's record deluge that washes out streets and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. The threat of climate change is already in our backyards, according to a new report commissioned by the White House, and it's not just a distant warning about the future of polar bears.

DONALD WUEBBLES, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: Climate change in the U.S. is happening now. It's not somewhere in the future.

TODD: Donald Wuebbles and the team of climate scientists behind the report are calling for urgent action. They warn of the dangers Americans are facing directly as a result of climate change in each region, in the heavily populated Northeast, more coastal storm surges, heavier-than-ever down pours.

WUEBBLES: That leads to more flooding, more concerns about flooding. At the same time, sea level rising, more in the Northeast than most of the rest of the country, actually.

TODD: That means railways submerged, other big transportation disruptions. In the Southeast, especially in coastal areas, rising sea levels.

WUEBBLES: And then the other big concern is the increased intensity of hurricanes.

TODD: In the Midwest and Plains states, flooding in some areas, water shortages caused by too little rain in others, and in the West, more crippling drought. Experts say we're already in the third straight year of drought in that region, and it has a dangerous by-product.

WUEBBLES: Drier temperatures, the drier soils, all help lead to more wildfires and we have been seeing that.

TODD: Officials say to illustrate how climate change is impacting conditions on the ground in the West, President Obama was shown these two sharply contrasting satellite photos. They show the snowpack along California's border with Nevada on January 13, 2013, and the same place, same day, one year later.

The report's authors say you might escape some weather hazards in your region, but there's one phenomenon every American will feel.

WUEBBLES: Every American is already seeing more days coming as extreme hot days and that trend is likely to continue in the future.

TODD: With more extended heat waves, he says, especially in the West.

Donald Wuebbles says we can all mitigate this if Americans and everyone placed more emphasize on conserving energy, keep figuring out ways to trap carbon dioxide before it's sent into the atmosphere. But he says the climate will also keep changing no matter what we do because of what we have already put into the atmosphere. And he says we need to adapt.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: News Stream, the most famous White House intern speaks out about her affair with President Bill Clinton and the backlash that still haunts her.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHIOU: There's a new poll that will make students attending pricey universities cringe. It says a costly education doesn't necessarily buy you happiness after graduation. After surveying 30,000 college graduates in the U.S., the report found that where you went to school is not as important as the experience you had there. It suggests other factors lead to overall job satisfaction, such as nurturing teachers at an emotional attachment to the school. The poll did not look at how post-graduation salaries affect overall happiness.

There's more fallout from the racism controversy that has rocked pro basketball's Los Angeles Clippers. The team's president Andy Rozier has announced he's taking an indefinite leave of absence. Analysts say that should make it easier for the league to install new management and force the owner Donald Sterling to sell.

Sterling was banned from the sport for life last week after a recording surfaced of him making racist comments to his ex-girlfriend.

Well, it has been about 16 years since people around the world first heard the name Monica Lewinsky. Her affair with Bill Clinton nearly derailed his presidency. At the time, Lewinsky was a 22-year-old White House intern. Now she's breaking her silence on the scandal and writing about it for the first time. Randi Kaye has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: From the arms of the president to the pages of "Vanity Fair" magazine, it's been a long road for Monica Lewinsky, but she's found her voice and she has plenty to say.

In her tell-all essay for the magazine, she writes, "It's time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress," the world's most famous intern, opening up to "Vanity Fair" about her affair with President Clinton, the scandal it created in 1998 and what she calls the global humiliation.

Now 40, she is determined to have a different ending to her story, and hoping to give a purpose to her past.

Lewinsky says she was inspired to speak out by Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers University student who jumped to his death in 2010. He was humiliated as after being caught on a Web camera kissing another man in his dorm room, telling "Vanity Fair" his story brought her to tears.

After her affair, she had strong suicidal temptations. She's hoping to help others in their darkest moments.

In her essay, Lewinsky dishes on the affair and the ugly aftermath. "I, myself, deeply regret what happened between me and President Clinton," adding, it was a consensual relationship, that she was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position.

At the time, the president tried to protect himself, too.

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON, 42ND PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I did not have sexual relationships with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.

KAYE: But seven months later, President Clinton spoke to the American people again, this time, a different story.

CLINTON: Indeed, I did have a relationship with miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong.

KAYE: Monica Lewinsky spoke with ABC's Barbara Walters about that.

MONICA LEWINSKY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN: I felt like a piece of trash. I felt dirty and I felt used and I was disappointed.

KAYE: We haven't heard much from Lewinsky since then. This interview with Larry King on CNN in 2002 was one of her last.

LARRY KING, FORMER CNN HOST: Was there a little, like, you know, flirtatious thing going on?

LEWINSKY: Sure. There had been this flirtation and that really was where it began and that's where it started, and from there it's sort of the --

KING: Took off?

LEWINSKY: The match lit.

KAYE: Silent for more than a decade, she's quick to note in her essay that the Clintons did not pay her off to keep her quiet.

Though she's done little professionally over the years besides promote her own handbag line, it wasn't for lack of trying. In fact, she can't even get a job. After getting her masters degree at the London School of Economics, she told the magazine, because of what potential employers so tactfully referred to as my history, I was never quite right for the position.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHIOU: And Lewinsky writes in Vanity Fair that her current goal is to get involved with efforts on behalf of victims of online humiliation and harassment. Why does she feel so passionate about cyberbullying? Well, she says that, quote, "thanks to the Drudge Report I was also possibly the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet."

And that is News Stream. But the news continues right here at CNN. World Business Today is coming up next.

END