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North Korean Satirical Show Makes Fun of U.S. President; Aid Still Not Getting Into Aleppo; China-Russia To Conduct Joint Training Exercise; Donald Trump Softens Birther Stance. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired September 16, 2016 - 08:00:00   ET

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


[08:00:15] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, and welcome to News Stream. Now, Hillary Clinton is back on the campaign

trail and lashing out at her opponent after Donald Trump's campaign issued a statement saying he now believes President Obama was born in the

United States after all.

In Syria, aid is still not getting into the city of Aleppo days after a cease-fire took effect.

And North Korea finds a new way to criticize the U.S. striking out through a TV comedy show.

And we begin with the U.S. presidential race. Hillary Clinton is back on the campaign trail after her bout with pneumonia. And today she will

make an appearance at a Washington event.

On Thursday, she told a crowd in the keystone state of South Carolina that being forced to

stay home less than two months before the election was not easy to handle.

Now, her rival Donald Trump is laying out his ambitious new economic plan, it's been overshadowed by his campaign's announcement that he now

believes President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. after all.

Now, CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar joins me with now more on the story. And Brianna, why is the Trump campaign trying to

put this issue to rest now?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Because Donald Trump and his campaign, Kristie, want to be focused on his economic message and his

comments about this have completely eclipsed that, but it's also important to note that people around him are now pressuring him to come out and say

this, because what we're hearing from the Trump campaign, it's really nothing new. Just last week Donald Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne

Conway, asserted that Donald Trump believes President Obama was born in America, but despite being questioned about it

numerous times himself, the candidate has yet to go on the record about this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: In a statement, Donald Trump's campaign saying he now believes President Obama was born in the United States, after encouraging

false rumors for years.

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLCIAN PRESIDENTAIL CANDIDATE: Why doesn't he show his birth certificate? And you know what, I wish he would, because I think

it's a terrible pail that's hanging over him.

KEILAR: And yet again refusing to denounce the conspiracy theory in a new interview with The Washington Post, saying, quote, "I'll answer that

question at the right time, I just don't want to answer it yet."

Adding "I don't talk about it anymore. The reason I don't is because then everyone is going to be talking about it as opposed to jobs, the

military, the vets, security."

Hours after the story published, Trump's campaign releasing this statement, falsely blaming Hillary Clinton for starting the birther

speculation and crediting Trump with forcing the president to release proof of where he was born.

Mr. Trump did a great service to the president and the country by bringing closure to the issue

that Hillary Clinton and her team first raised. Inarguably, Donald J. Trump is a closer, having successfully obtained President Obama's birth

certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes President Obama was born in the United States."

Hillary Clinton denouncing Trump.

HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was asked one more time, where was president Obama born? And he still wouldn't say

Hawaii. He still wouldn't say America.

This man wants to be our next president? When will he stop this ugliness, this bigotry? We need to stand up and repudiate this divisive

rhetoric.

KEILAR: Trump's birther firestorm once again overshadowing policy. The Republican nominee laying out an ambitious economic plan on Thursday

that promises to create 25 million jobs and increase economic growth by 4 percent annually.

CINTON: Hello.

KEILAR: Meantime, Clinton back on the trail after days battling pneumonia, hitting Trump over releasing a doctor's note about his health on

a talk show.

CLINTON: I'll never be the showman my opponent is, and that's OK with me.

KEILAR: Trump gaining momentum in the polls during her absence this week. Clinton only has a two-point advantage with Trump in CNN's poll of

polls, which is an average of the last five national polls, while Trump is opening up a lead in several key swing states.

But Clinton says the race isn't over yet.

CLINTON: I've been called a lot of things, I've never been called a quitter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Well, this birther conversation, as it is called, erupting back on to the spotlight as Donald Trump makes a play for Africa-American

voters, Kristie. Actually, as many observers believe, a play for white voters who are uncomfortable with how he is not really reached out much,

especially until recently, to black voters.

This is a key democratic voting bloc and Hillary Clinton has been very quick to seize on

Donald Trump's recent missteps with this constituency.

[08:05:25] LU STOUT: All right, Brianna Keilar reporting for us live. Thank you, Brianna.

And there was also another controversy when Donald Trump joked at a campaign event in New Hampshire about leaving the press corps behind at the

airport.

CNN's Brian Stelter is covering the Trump campaign from New York. He joins us now live. Brian, so much to get through right now with you. But

first, let's talk about Trump's interesting relationship with the reporters who cover him. Again, he left his traveling press corps behind at the

airport, he bragged about it. Why is he doing this?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He's once again playing to his crowd, which has a lot of animosity and really

sometimes hostility towards the media, so Trump arrived in New Hampshire before the press corps that travels with them. They were on a separate

plane. So Trump went ahead and started his speech without the media, which arrived about a half an hour afterwards.

Because the cameras were already in place, there was also live coverage, and that's really what Trump cared about.

But this does break with precedent. Normally, the traveling press corps, which is supposed to travel with the candidate. Be with him at all

times, so this was another example of the tension between Trump and the press.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and the tension between Trump kids and the press. In the last 24 hours, Ivanka, Donald Trump Jr., they've come under a lot of

media scrutiny. How are they handling the heat on the campaign trail?

STELTER: That's right, Ivanka Trump ending an interview with Cosmopolitan very abruptly because she was asked about child care policies

and about tough comments Trump has made in the past that he now seems to be contradicting himself on.

Trump's son Donald Jr. also coming under fire. He made a comment to a Phily radio station saying that Republicans acted the way Clinton acts,

they would be, the media would put them in the gas chamber. They'd be warming up a gas chamber.

That sounded to a lot of people like a holocaust reference, Donald Jr. denied it, said he was making reference to capital punishment, actually.

But it's an example -- actually these are two examples, of why it's tricky to have your children speak out for your campaign. You know, it's one

thing for them to talk about how great their father is, it's another thing for them to take policy related questions, both of them stumbled and I

wonder if that's part of the reason why Trump is so hostile to the media today.

LU STOUT: Also on your radar, Brian, Jimmy Fallon had a sit-down with Trump on The Tonight Show and Trump's famous hair was famously tussled by

the talk show host. Let's watch it right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, THE TONIGHT SHOW: Did you say yes?

TRUMP: Go ahead.

FALLON: Yes!

Donald Trump, everybody! Donald Trump, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: You know, and I've been watching that clip over and over again and I'm

trying to decipher Trump's reaction there.

Was it an awkward moment for him or does it make him more likable as a candidate, which is what he wants?

STELTER: Yeah, this is part of what you've got to do to run for president in the United States nowadays for better or worse. I think this

was a valuable sort of chance for Donald Trump to act more personable, act more normal. You know, there is this caricature of

Trump that's being promoted by Hillary Clinton. There's attack ads running every day on television showing the worst of the offensive comments Trump has made.

So when he has a chance to be more playful, be more personable on a stage like Jimmy

Fallon's, he's definitely going to take it.

Clinton is going to be on Fallon's show on Monday. So it will be interesting to compare

and contrast the two candidates. But I thought this tape of Trump on Fallon, this is the tape Clinton needs to watch as she preps for the

debates.

Because if Donald Trump comes out and he acts as warm and fuzzy as he did on Fallon, Clinton is going to have a real challenge on her hands.

All right, Brian Stelter reporting live for us from New York, thank you so much for that, take care.

Now, we turn now to Syria, where residents trapped still inside Aleppo, they are holding out hope for emergency aid. Now Russia says the

Syrian Army has started to pull out from Costello Road, that's the main highway into the rebel-held part of the city.

And despite a cease-fire, aid convoys have been unable to pass through because it is unsafe.

The U.S. and Russia are to work out a solution and the UN. Has called on Syria to allow the aid

in. Now, let's bring in Fred Pleitgen from phone inside Aleppo. And Fred, what is being done to end the hold up and to start the delivery of this

much-needed aid?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNAITONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kristie. Yeah, one of the things the regime is saying that it's doing is that it's

pulling out of those areas Costello Road.

I was around there just yesterday. And really didn't see much in the way of a regime presence.

Now, the Russians are saying that's happening, but of course there are still a lot of negotiations going on to see whether or not the opposition

forces are also withdrawing and to see if the regime forces have left other -- another presence behind over there.

So, the negotiations involve trying to get permission what they're trying to go through, but also of course trying to get guarantees of safe

passage, not just for the regime-controlled areas, but also for the areas controlled by the opposition forces as well, specifically around the

Turkish border.

Meanwhile, we are seeing what that aid is, of course, badly needed here in Aleppo, a lot of a district very destroyed.

Here's what we saw when we were there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: More than five years of civil war have scarred large parts of Aleppo, neighborhoods like this one controlled by the government in

ruins.

Now, finally with the cease-fire, some respite and seemingly little things become special.

For the first time in months, 9-year-old Abdul Majid (ph) and his friends can go out, collect firewood for their families.

"We need this wood to cook dinner, because we have nothing else," he says.

The Shihan (ph) neighborhood was right on the front line until recently. Rebels shelled this district from a nearby hill, laying waste to

many of the buildings. Meanwhile, government forces used air power to bomb the opposition areas.

Amid the destruction, families continue to live in the ruins. Ahmed Yazgi (ph) has been here for three years and stayed even after the rebels

fired makeshift rockets into the flat next door, blowing away the wall separating the two apartments.

"It was very dangerous," he says, "we were too afraid to go out because there was also a sniper covering the street and we couldn't even go

into this living room."

Now he stays here with his wife and eight children, the kids trying to rest in the badly damaged flat.

By all accounts, the situation is even worse in the rebel-held parts of Aleppo. Russia and the U.S. trying to ensure safe passage for UN aid

into the besieged areas.

If the agreement holds and Syrian forces withdraw from this area, then this road, the Costello Road, will be the main entrance way for aid into

eastern Aleppo. This is the road the UN trucks are going to use.

The cease-fire has brought much need calm for the residents of this once so beautiful, now so

battered city. While many of them cherish the calm, few are convinced that it can truly last.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And then just another example of how fragile the cease-fire really is, Kristie, we are now getting reports that there have been further

breaches of the cease-fire around other districts called Zobar (ph) where there apparently was some shelling that was going on there. We're also

hearing reports of clashes between regime and rebel forces in and around the Aleppo area, having been here in Aleppo late last night when all of

that took place, we did hear a considerable amount of firing going on, especially what appeared to be the southwestern part of the city.

So so far the cease-fire is holding, but there certainly do appear to be some breaches going on, as well, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and the cease-fire has to hold for the negotiations to go on, to get the aid delivery through, and if and when the aid gets

through to Aleppo, do we know what will be on those trucks, on those convoys, and how the aid onboard will help the people of Aleppo?

PLEITGEN: Well, I mean, it certainly will be a big help to the people of Aleppo because they've been under siege for a while now and the rebels

were able to break through the government ring of siege for a couple of days but really weren't able to bring any aid in when that was going on.

Now, what the UN says is they have some 40 trucks that are waiting there on the border with Turkey ready

to go into Syrian territory.

They see the first of those 20 trucks are packed with nothing but food, because they say food aid is usually something that is quite easy

doesn't require a lot of checking by government forces, also by rebel forces, as well. Medical supplies can be different. They usually get held

up a lot longer. Then, for instance food stock.

For the first amount, the first batch of trucks that's set to go through, the UN says, it's going to be carrying only food, and then try to

get those medical supplies in, as well.

If and when that happens, that'sstill very much up in the air. We've been talking about those

negotiations to try and turn back Costello Road into something like an international corridor with perhaps even the Russian securing part of that

corridor, but given the timeframe on that, in this complex battlefield that you have here with all these various factions that are on the ground there

-- very, very difficult at this point in time, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And Fred, is there a fear that if that initially delivery of food aid doesn't get through soon, that the various factions involved

will get impatient and all-out fighting could begin again?

PLEITGEN: Well, you know, I think that it's not really dependent on whether the aid gets

through or not. In any case, there is a fear that these factions are getting impatient and there are skirmishes. And something that we saw

late night here when we were out in the town after midnight, all of a sudden you did hear more shelling than you would have before. That were

all of a sudden planes also in the skies, unclear whether they were coalition planes, Russian planes, or whether they were Syrian air force

planes.

Then you heard about the shelling that went on today in Damascus. That seems to be a pretty significant breach of the cease-fire. So

generally there is a big fear here that the cease-fire won't necessarily hold. People here say every day that it's calm or fairly calm in places

like Aleppo and other areas of Syria, as well, see something that's, obviously, great for the

folks here. But that doesn't mean that they necessarily believe that it's going to hold, because they know that while there is a cease-fire in place,

it's not like the main differences between all these sides have (inaudible). It's not like they've come to any sort of agreement

politically to try and move things forward. So it's very, very tentative cease-fire, and certainly the people here are very aware of that.

[08:16:02] LU STOUT: All right, Fred Pleitgen reporting from inside Aleppo. Thank you, Fred.

Now, Libyan forces say that they are making significant gains in the ISIS stronghold of Sirte. Now, the battle for the port city is considered

something of a litmus test for the U.S.-led fight against ISIS. Nic Robertson explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Explosion by explosion, ISIS's stronghold in Libya is shrinking, aided by the U.S. air

force, government-backed militias are advancing through Sirte.

But deadly IEDs left by the terror group are hampering efforts and suicide car bomb attacks and snipers in this sprawling Mediterranean town

are slowing progress, too.

DR. NABAEL AQOUB, SIRTE DOCTOR: The snipers attack usually prefer the spine here. They choose the spine because brain injury and heart injury if

he survived he is going to fight again.

ROBERTSON: Once the hometown of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Sirte became a holdout for ISIS more than a year ago. The base of operations,

none at the country's fractious militias dared tackle alone.

The tide turned about a month ago. ISIS's defenses were breached, the UN brokered government of national accord, or GNA, got international help

to stop ISIS growing to Syria-like strength.

ASH CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Does GNA-aligned forces have now cornered ISIL in one small section of the city of Sirte, and I expect that

they'll eliminate any remaining opposition shortly.

ROBERTSON: Libyans, too, say they want this war done, tired of battles and the cost they

cause.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of us, we hope to finish today much better than yesterday, because we get tired from war from 2011, war after war. If

the patient dies, it's OK, the problem is the handicapped people. And most of them teenagers, young, active people in

the war, active people in our community.

ROBERTSON: But the end of ISIS in Sirte will not be the end of Libya's wars. Many of the terror group's fighters have slipped away and

the country is still so divided. The battle for Sirte may yet seem like a side show.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And coming up, a shocking suicide in Italy has raised questions over online harassment and a person's

right to be forgotten. We'll have a report on Tiziana Cantone's tragic death next.

And serious allegations are being leveled at the president of The Philippines. A former self-styled hit man says he was once part of a death

squad controlled by Rodrigo Duterte.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:15] LU STOUT: Coming live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream. A shocking suicide over a viral sex tape has shaken Italy.

This was the funeral for Tiziana Cantone. She killed herself a year after a former boyfriend posted a sex tape that she had sent him and three other

men. The video went viral and Cantone spent a year trying to escape the resulting harassment. And now Italian prosecutors are investigating the

four men.

Now, Ben Wedeman is in Rome and he joins us now with more on the story. And Ben, a funeral happened earlier today, an investigation has

been launched into her death. What exactly are investigators trying to uncover?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they are trying to uncover is exactly who it was who put that video on the internet. And I should correct you, we don't know at this point if it was, indeed,

her ex-boyfriend who did it.

She sent this video, actually, six separate videos of her engaged in sexual acts to four so-called virtual friends, in other words, online

friends, in addition to her ex-boyfriend. But the mother is accusing the ex-boyfriend of posting those videos, but the police are still

investigating. They haven't figured out exactly who did it.

But the point is, that once that video went online, it went completely viral. She tried through the courts to have it taken down from various

websites, including Facebook, but it just spread like a virus, and it was virtually impossible to stop.

Now, as a result, she left her native Naples, moved to Tuscany in the north of Italy. She tried to change her name. She was engaged in all

these legal battles to make sure that she had this right to be forgotten. In other words, that she was wiped from the internet. But it

was virtually impossible.

Now, what sort of added injury to insult was that the courts ordered her to pay 20,000 euros, about $22,500 in legal fees, something that she

simply couldn't handle, and so she left her native city tormented, threatened with bankruptcy. So Tuesday evening she hung herself

-- Kristie.

LU STOUT: And Ms. Cantone, she really struggled. She really fought to get that video taken off the internet. Just the discussion about her

suicide and what happened here, I mean, her death we know has kicked off a debate about the issues you just brought up, including the right to be

forgotten, and online privacy. Do you feel that's going to lead to action in Italy to take online privacy more seriously there?

WEDEMAN: Well, this week the Italian parliament is debating a draft law on cyber bullying. It is a serious issue here, and the parliament and

the courts are trying to deal with it, and this latest horrific incident has added fuel to that effort, but the wheels of justice in Italy grind

very slowly, and for some woman like this, Tiziana, who 31 year old, she was struggling in the court, struggling as she wanted the right to be

forgotten, to be wiped from the internet, but once things are out on the internet, regardless of the laws and the efforts of the courts or the

police or the parliament, it's virtually impossible to stop them from spreading.

LU STOUT: Yeah, they say it's like an oil spill, virtually impossible to clean up. Ben Wedeman reporting for us live from Rome, thank you.

Now, the Swedish court of appeals has decided to maintain a European arrest warrant for

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He faces extradition to Sweden over allegations of sexual

assault. And Assange is concerned could lead to extradition to Sweden could lead to extradition to the United States and there he could face the

death penalty if he's charged and convicted of publishing government secrets on WikiLeaks.

He took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London four years ago.

Now, shocking allegations against Philippine Presient Rodrigo Duterte, a man who claims that he was a hit man says that Duterte controlled a death

squad when he was the mayor of Davao City, and ordered the killings of criminal suspects and others. But his testimony in the Philippines senate

is being rejected by Duterte's office, Duterte's son, and also the family of one of the alleged death squad victims.

Ivan Watson has more on the allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a senate inquiry, an eyewitness gave astounding accusations implicating the current president of

the Philippines in the killings of a death squad when Rodrigo Duterte was mayor of the city of

Davao.

Edgar Matobato claims that he was a hitman. He claims that he killed at least 50 people and that he was under the direct orders of Rodrigo

Duterte during the quarter century that Duterte was mayor of Davao City.

In one case, he described feeding a victim to a crocodile.

EDGAR MATOBATO, SENATE WITNESS (through translator): It was at night. We just pushed him in the water.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): He was pushed into the water?

MATOBATO (through translator): Then he was eaten by a crocodile.

WATSON: A presidential spokesman denied that Rodrigo Duterte ordered killings.

UNIDENITIFIED MALE: I think the president is capable of giving such directive?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do I think he's capable? No, I don't think he's capable of giving a directive like that.

WATSON: CNN cannot independently verify the allegations made in this eyewitness testimony, but the human rights organization Human Rights Watch

is now calling for an independent inquiry into the allegations, arguing that President Duterte cannot be expected to investigate himself.

BRAD ADAMS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: I do think this was a big day in The Pihilippines. This was a testimony in the Philippines

Senate under oath by a man who said that he personally was involved in 50 killings, that he heard Duterte and saw Duterte give orders to kill people,

he saw Duterte kill people with his own eyes and he came across as credible.

Now, it has to be said, these are just allegations, but they need to be investigated.

WATSON: The reason that the senate inquiry is underway is because of the enormous number of police killings that have taken place during

Rodridgo Duterte's first less than three months in office. He launched a war on drugs and has repeatedly ordered the police to shoot to kill if any

suspected drug criminal resists arrest.

According to official police statistics, more than 1,000 suspects have been killed in less than three months.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: North Korea goes after Barack Obama in an unusual form. A skit mocking the U.S. president airs in a North Korean satirical show.

We'll have more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:32:00] LU STOUT: Japan is preparing to exert more influence in the South China Sea as tensions rise over the contested territory. Defense

Minister Tomomi Inada says there will be joint training patrols with the U.S., as well as naval exercises with regional countries.

The U.S. plans to allocate 60 percent of its navy and air force assets to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.

Now, another twist to the ongoing tension in the South China Sea, Russia is participating in joint exercises with China.

Now, China and Russia are not formal allies, so why is this taking place now? Evelyn Farkus, a defense expert in the U.S., gave us her take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVELYN FARKUS, FRM. U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: They are not allies, no. They don't have any kind of treaty obligation to one another. Again, this

is kind of a convenient relationship where they can signal to the world that they have a relationship with one another. I think it's as much to

show the United States and other countries that Russia is a global power. And China, you know, I don't know how much they gain from it, but

certainly they get a little bit of political cover in as much as people look at where they are exercising and interpret that as Russian support for

the Chinese position on the South China Sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, they may not be allies, but Russia and China have steadily increased their military cooperation and political contact in

recent years. In fact, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have met more than a dozen times since 2013.

Now, military talk is a mainstay for North Korean TV. What you don't expect to see, however, is political satire. But as Will Ripley now

reports, that has changed now because of one show.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Live from Pyongyang, it's not Saturday night.

But many say it is the SNL of North Korea.

This 80-minute comedy show, which aired this summer on state TV, features jokes about U.S.

President Barack Obama.

"I smacked my head on the bathroom floor," says this bandaged actor playing the president. "I was so shocked by North Korea's hydrogen bomb

detonation."

This sketch and others boast about North Korea's fast growing nuclear program. Last week, Pyongyang announced its fifth nuclear test since 2006,

the second this year alone, drawing strong condemnation from the U.S. and its allies.

The North Korean comedy show took aim at those allies, calling South Korea's president a granny and its special envoy a dog, Japan's special

envoy is called a monkey, a word North Korean propaganda also used in 2014 to describe President Obama.

While the U.S. president has long been a target of the Pyongyang press, analysts for

NK News say this political satire is a first for North Korean TV.

Saturday Night Live has featured plenty of jokes about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

UNIDETIFIED MALE: I am the one and only shining sun. I am your marshal.

RIPLEY: But the American show mostly makes fun of its own elected officials, something you'd never see in North Korea, where only praise of

the leadership is allowed.

In Pyongyang, even political satire has its limits.

Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:35:25] LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And still to come, Instagraming food

is something of a norm now. And while some of us may prefer eating our food to taking a

picture of it, we'll tell you why the food grams are actually changing the food industry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: It is a big day for Apple fans. The new iPhone 7 is out. Apple stores were packed with excited customers waiting to be the first to

get their new phones. And if you wanted the jet black iPhone 7, but didn't preorder, Apple says, sorry, but you are out of luck for now. That

particular model is sold out already.

Now, one woman in China was relieved that she managed to get her hands on one before stocks ran out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NA NA, APPLE CUSTOMER (through translator): I'm expecting it to be really good because everyone is looking forward to the double lens on the

iPhone Plus and the jet black color, because ever since the iPhone 5, there hasn't been a jet black color model, so everyone is also looking forward to

the Steve Jobs style jet black. The anticipation is like when the iPhone 4 came out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Some people say that they are disappointed that the new phones don't have a headphone jack, but that hasn't stopped crowds from

lining up to get the new phone.

Now, some users may be most excited about the iPhone 7's upgraded camera and for Instagram stars, getting that perfect shot of their food is

the key to their success. And believe it or not, Instagraming food is actually a very serious business.

Clare Sebastian shows us why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, we've got our lunch, but we can't eat it yet, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can't eat it yet. No, we have to style the table.

SEBASTIAN: If you want to practice self control, just have lunch with one of New York's top

Instagram foodies.

UNIDENITIFIED FEMALE: If the place is right, I'll stand on the chair.

SEBASTIAN: At 24, Alexa Merabin (ph) is what's known as an Instagram influencer. Her account Eating NYC, has more than 200,000 followers

clamoring for her latest #foodporn.

So much so that restaurants are now clamoring for her attention.

UNIDENTENTIFIED FEMALE: So, a bunch of restaurants invite me and see we have a new menu or rhey really want me to come in, try the food, and

share the photo with my followers, because exposure for them is really great.

SEBASTIAN: While Alexa's (ph) day job is now running PR for this restaurant chain...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roasted pork.

SEBASTIAN: She's also made close to $50,000 through Instagram, creating sponsored content for brands including Oreos and Kelloggs.

At our next stop, for ice cream, naturally, Instagram is about more than just exposure.

UNIDENIFIED MALE: It's great to see how our customers are interacting with what we do, how they respond to the flavors that we put on the menu.

We adjust the menu based on things people like more or less.

SEBASTIAN: This is the trickiest of all, I think. It's dripping down my hand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Yeah, this is like a shower.

SEBASTIAN: The end result in Alexa's case, at least, perfect.

UNIDENITIFIED FEMALE: So excited.

[08:40:02] SEBASTIAN: Instagram has helped create cults out of baked goods. First, there was the cronut and now this.

UNIDENITIFIED FEMALE: I feel I want to put this closer to the light so you can see the colors. It's a croissant, but it's kind of taken to a

new level. And it's super trendy.

SEBATSIAN: New York's Instagram influencers are a close knit community, and eating dinner

with them, well, it's nothing short of extraordinary.

Does this always happen to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is what happens.

I think that restaurants are definitely more aware of having photogenic dishes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People care more about food right now than they ever have.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Instagram is an outlet that's allowed kind of that passion for food to explode.

SEBASTIAN: And after the day we've had, that's not the only thing about to explode.

Clare Sebastian, CNN Money, New York.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great. That was fun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: But how did it taste? That's the question.

Now, commuters in London, they've got a nice and rather fuzzy surprise on their way to work this week, that's because one of the tube stations is

suddenly overrun by cat ads. Now, instead of the usual posters selling food or clothes, you get dozens of rescued cats staring back at you. This

is not a joke, either.

The campaign group, they're called glimpse, says it bought out the ad space and they put the cats there to make the public feel good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES TURNER, FOUNDER, GLIMPSE: We got together as a group of friends back in February this year. And we tried to imagine a world where public

spaces made you feel good, where they reminded you that the most valuable things in your life are your friends and your family and

the experiences you have and not necessarily the things you can buy in the shops.

So from there we had the idea of crowd funding to replace a bunch of adverts with something different and we thought what could that be, maybe

some beautiful forests or a picture of a family camping, but then we realized, well, we want this to be big on the internet. We want people to

talk about it. And from there the answer was pretty obvious and that was cats.

If one thing people take from this is they realize that even things that seem really fixed and hard to change, things like advertising, a small

group of friends that Kickstart a campaign, we've actually managed to change, yeah, a very small corner of London and the reaction to that has

been great. It feels empowering and people feel like they are taking a space back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Understood, but let's do dogs for the next series, okay? That was James Turner, the founder of the campaign group Glimpse.

Now, the group says it raised enough money to keep the cats there for the next two weeks.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. Don't go anywhere. World Sport with Amanda Davies is next.

END