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World Headlines; Wi-fi Flaw Aired; Ophelia Tore Ireland; Wildfires in Portugal. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 17, 2017 - 08:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:00] KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: And we start with breaking news out of Raqqa and Syria, after months of fierce fighting, U.S.-backed forces

say that they wrapped up a major military operation to clear ISIS from itself declared capital.

The Syrian democratic forces say that they are now clearing the city of any remaining ISIS sleeper cells and if they exist any mines and we were

getting an exclusive look both at the city under siege as well as some of the hundreds of civilians who have been able to flee in recent days.

Our senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh recently reported from Raqqa. He joins us now live from Moscow. And Nick, is it over or are

we very close to a very symbolic and significant defeat here?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The fact they are still who really our only source of information when it comes to this fights declaring major

military operations over this and it is pretty much over.

Of course they will always be ISIS cells, those who are trying to flee from the ruins of Raqqa and those elsewhere in Syria and Iraq to continue the

fights in some ways and insurgency from the months ahead.

But it appears that fighting in the last 24 hours has focused around the main stadium in Raqqa and that was a key building process from which there

set of plots to attack against the West but now it does appear the last few hours to have been the focuses SDF as the U.S.-backed Kurdish force

onslaught.

There are some suggestions that actually the fighting there is pretty over. I would have also take the national hospital in the last 24 hours, too.

And also, you can see here in his extraordinary exclusive images we received exactly the devastation that this month`s long brutal fight has

left.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: There ones dubbed it execution square but this is now where ISIS met its end. Once known to public beheadings, now circled slowly by U.S.

supplies Humvees. The Kurdish forces who made swift progress kicking ISIS out of Raqqa, their former elf-declared capital.

But fights has been total costly, destructive beyond imagination as these exclusive drone pictures filmed Monday show. This is where ISIS used to

plot attacks on the west but now made their very final last stand, some of its foreign fighters likely dying and it`s bombed out skeleton.

ISIS late Monday lost this national hospital where a few dozen surrender. The civilian human shields they held there also rescued.

This is a place where so much smoke fills the horizon. Hospitals have not really been hospitals for months. Those who have emerged, these some of

the hundreds who fled or have their exit negotiated speak of the unspeakable.

I came out of hell she said, a gulf from hell, I came out right from under fire. Some, perhaps ISIS families, these two women scare still to even get

out of their vehicle. We may never know how many died in the intense coalition bombardon to try vice this out but some who lived, felt

abandoned.

Situation is very bad he says. You were late helping us but may God give you strength, now you have helped. The U.S.-backed fighters declared major

operations over here late Tuesday but lost time. But ISIS` name was written large over a major city. This is the end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: Now there are key questions enduring here. Of course there will be less (Inaudible), to fighting around Raqqa here. But the key question is,

what comes of the foreign fighters who were longer potentially in 100 or so just 48 hours ago.

They have been surrendering and dying it seems and they are dozens in the past 24 hours as this fight came to close but there may still be some

who`ve try to escape or even have escaped through hiding in the ruins, and those foreign fighters may be seeking to return to their home countries,

and potentially plot attacks.

[08:05:00] The second question is in that rubble you saw there. How many civilians lost their lives? Some of course been close to ISIS but still

not combatants and the question is of course because of the volume of air strikes and artillery used by the coalition to drive ISIS out has been a

very brutal fight.

Nobody disputes that. There would have been civilians who lost their lives. That is an important question that has still be answer and finally

to, what becomes Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi heard it from public just about last month or so.

And recording perhaps disputing the numerous reports from Russian`s forces often that he was in fact dead, has he escaped, is he somewhere else, can

he still be hunted, and what does he presents now as a figurehead for a movement that once had a large amount of territory in Iraq and Syria in its

way?

Now has pretty much nothing, very much down to it`s bare-bones territory, does it live on, ideologically on the internet as this began to or is there

perhaps a much more diminished faith for that terror group in the years ahead. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes, a lot have opened new questions about the faith and future of the ISIS leader about the human toll and the drive to rid Raqqa of ISIS

and of course as you mentioned, the faith and future of the militant group itself. We will leave it at that. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live for us,

thank you.

Now to another fight against ISIS, this one in the southern Philippines -- the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says the city of Marawi has been

liberated from militants following a five month siege.

Much of the cities has now been reduced to rubble but this battle is not entirely over. The military is still fighting some two dozen militants who

are holding 20 people hostage. Around 350,000 residents have left the area since the violence began in May.

Militants captured government buildings, they set fire to churches and schools forcing the president to declare Martial Law across the island of

Mindanao, and the fighters have managed to hold on to the city for months despite continuous air strikes. And on Monday, authorities said that they

have killed two militant leaders.

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces are consolidating their hold in and around Kirkuk. They saidthat they have retaken the city from the Kurds. Peshmerga

commander say at least 15 Kurdish fighters have been killed, dozens wounded in the operation.

Kurds took control of the city in 2014. Baghdad always wanted that back but that became more pressing after Kurds voted overwhelmingly for

independence last month. And Ben Wedeman is in the Iraqi capital.

He joins us now live and Ben, the Iraqi government made good on his threat to blunt that Kurdish bid for independence that took place a couple of

weeks ago but this operation, it happens so quickly. I mean, how do the Iraqi forces sweep into Kirkuk with sub speed?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, it really was a shock to almost everybody on both sides of this conflict. How quickly Kirkuk fell to Iraqi

government control. It`s widely believed in support to keep in mind that there are divisions among the Kurds themselves.

On the one hand, there`s the Kurdish Democratic Party, the KDP which is based around Erbil and the patriotic Union of Kurdistan based in Soleimani

(ph) in the eastern part of the county with closer ties to Iran.

It is believed the Iranians convinced the PUK who had, some of -- many of their fighters in and around Kirkuk to pull out which left the KDP fighters

largely exposed and that`s why they pulled out of the city.

And what we`ve seen is that many of the Kurdish civilians in Kirkuk fled but there are still -- I swallowed a fly, sorry. I swallowed it whole.

Anyway -- sorry about that, Kristie. So the Kirkuk command and Arab residents of Kirkuk stayed on and many of them in fact welcomed the central

government forces. Kristie.

LU STOUT: I appreciate that. The perils of reporting live, sorry about that just now. You`ll go grab a drink of water but we do want to ask you a

couple more questions before you go.

The U.S. stance on this, you know the United States is calling for calm. We heard from Donald Trump in that press conference he gave overnight says

the U.S. isn`t going to take sides here. Why is the U.S. staying neutral for now?

WEDEMAN: Well, the Americans are unhappy with the fact that the Kurds went ahead with this referendum. They had asked repeatedly that the referendum

be canceled.

They offered to host the negotiations between the Kurds in Baghdad to work out some sort of formula, some sort of arrangement between the two but the

Kurds all went ahead and I think the American position as well. You have to live with the consequences of doing -- of going ahead with the

referendum.

[08:10:00] Now of course the problem is that one of the players in Iraq going back thousands of years is of course Iran -- Iran was opposed to the

referendum. Iran is one of the big supporters of the government here.

So oddly enough, we find yet again here in Iraq that the Americans and the Iranians even though they are rhetorical enemies, seem to be both

supporting the position of Baghdad when it comes to this Kurdish referendum. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Absolutely, and the Iran threat to these stories, one that we`re going to tackle next. We will leave that with you, Ben, thank you so much,

take care. We`ll talk again soon. Ben Wedeman reporting live from Baghdad.

Now, alongside the Iraqi forces in the Kirkuk operation were Iranian trained Shia militias. Now Fred Pleitgen joins us live from Tehran. And

Fred, tell us more about the Iranian involvement and how do these clashes in Iraq give Iran the upper hand?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Iran is certainly trying to shape the outcome of what`s going on currently in Kirkuk between the Iraqi

government and those Kurdish militias or the Kurdish regional government and it really seems as though the Iranians are their influence.

On the one hand as you have noted, you have those Shiite militia that have always been trained by the Revolutionary Guard, especially by the Quds

Force which is of course the foreign operations wing on the Revolutionary Guard.

They were originally put in place in 2014 to combat ISIS but have since taken on a major role in the Iraqi security forces. So Iran wealds a lot

of influence there but on the other hand, also has influence among the Kurds as, Ben, was just saying.

What we see in the past couple of days is one of the groups that has now apparently cited with the Iraqi government and with that also Iran, senior

Iranian diplomat were there and visited some of those official just recently including the head Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard.

So certainly, the outcome that you`re seeing right now in Kirkuk does appear to have Iran`s handwriting all over it, something that the Kurds

were reaching -- Kurdish regional government is saying and certainly something that we are seeing here as well. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes and as you mentioned just a moment ago, Donald Trump says that he`s not taking sides in the classed in Kirkuk even after he disavowed

the nuclear deal with Iran, even after he`s called for more sanctions. Is that inconsistency raising eyebrows their Iran?

PLEITGEN: Well, I think it is certainly raising eyebrows but I think it also shows especially some of the hardliner were seems to show they believe

some of the hardliners that the threats made by President Trump in their eyes are toothless.

That there is not going to be much of a reaction and keep in that one of the things that he also set aside from possibly killing the nuclear

agreement that he also said he was going to combat any sort of foreign influence by Iran`s Revolutionary Guard.

Take a tougher stance against them. Try to curb Iranian influence in both Syria and Iraq as well but look who the major player is on the ground right

now in Iraq especially in this conflict, it is the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

And certainly at this point in time, it doesn`t seem as though the U.S. is doing anything to try and curb the influence. In fact it`s looking on and

there is certainly a lot of criticism if you look for instance on social media.

But you look also from the Kurdish side as well towards that stance of the United States. So it will be that Iran were feeling the heat of the Trump

administration of the Revolutionary Guard, we`re feeling the heat of the Trump administration.

It certainly aren`t showing. They seem to be operating the act will and try to push through Iran`s agenda in Iraq which has always been to try and

stabilize Iraq, make sure that has a government, that is in favor of Iran at the same time try to keep Iraqi territorial integrity in place.

They have also told the Kurds as, Ben, said that they did not want this independence referendum to happen and that there would be backlash and

that`s exactly what you`re seeing right now. Iran has also closed the border with Iraqi Kurdistan. It is also seemingly taken both his military

and political measures as well. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Fred Pleitgen reporting live for us from Tehran, thank you. Now the U.S. secretary of state has said that he will keep pursuing diplomacy

with North Korea but it appears that Pyongyang may not be so keen on that idea.

Coming up, we have got the latest on the standoff and there is plenty of rain in Puerto Rico. But why isn`t there enough water? We have the latest

on the complications with the recovery effort one month after hurricane Maria.

[08:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. This is News Stream. Now Donald Trump says he is looking to visiting the Korean

demilitarize zone during his trip to Asia next month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: This comes as the U.S. faces a setback in its search for a diplomatic solution to the stand off with Pyongyang. A North Korean

official tells CNN that Pyongyang has no interest in diplomacy until it developed a ballistic missile that can reach Eastern U.S. And just days

ago, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told CNN that diplomatic efforts will continue as long as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Well, let`s bring in Will Ripley from Tokyo who has reported extensively from inside North Korea. He joins us now live from Tokyo and

Will, North Korea is basically saying, no thanks, no talks, what does this rejection of diplomacy mean?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a message that we have been hearing pretty consistently from the beginning with North Korea`s foreign

minister who is quoted in Russian state media saying that now is simply not the time for diplomacy given the heated escalating tensions.

And what North Korea views are hostile threats from the very top of the U.S. administration from President Trump. I also heard this repeatedly

when I was in Pyongyang. Officials are saying now not the time for talk.

But what this official told me yesterday, Kristie, is that North Korea at this moment is not interested in diplomacy until they can send a very clear

message to the Trump administration that they have a reliable intercontinental ballistic missile.

That could deliver nuclear warhead as you mention to the East Coast of the United States and in order to get to that point, to prove to the U.S. that

they have this effective nuclear deterrence and defensive, and also offensive of capability.

They would need to do two things as official says, one actually fire an ICBM at full range that would be a very long range missile test, perhaps

the most provocative missile test North Korea has ever conducted.

And then this is even more really controversial and potentially dangerous, this would be North Korea detonating a nuclear device above ground.

The Foreign Minister of North Korea -- I mentioned after President Trump`s United Nations speech when he said that the U.S. could totally destroy

North Korea that the response might actually be the detonation of an unprecedented size hydrogen bomb, in his words over the Pacific Ocean.

If that were to happen, Kristie, it would be the first time that the world has seen an aboveground nuclear test in nearly 40 years since China

conducted one back in 1980.

LU STOUT: So North Korea won`t agree to any talks until it reaches its own missile and Arsenal goals. Meanwhile, we have learned that Donald Trump

will visit Seoul next month. Is he going to go to the DMZ between North and South Korea?

RIPLEY: According to the White House and President Trump himself, they are still assessing whether a visit by the president to the demilitarized zone

would be a good idea.

Now every U.S. president since the Korean War has visited the demilitarized zone, Vice President Mike Pence visited the DMZ earlier this year and so,

you know, from one point of view from the United States to project strength at the U.S. president could go there in military garb with binoculars.

The concern though among many people in the region here is what President Trump would say at this highly sensitive area, the demilitarized zone, the

38th parallel that divides North and South Korea. There is so much heavy weaponry pointed on either side.

[08:20:00] And any provocative words or threats or insults from the U.S. president, if you were you to revive his nickname for North Korea`s Supreme

Leader Kim Jong-un and call him little rocket man for example, that especially in the setting of the demilitarized zone could be particularly

infuriating.

And could really tipped the situation passed, you know even higher levels of escalation of what we`ve seen as it laid and things are gotten pretty

hot lately.

LU STOUT: Yes, absolutely. Will Ripley reporting live for us, thank you, Will. The U.S. president says he is on the same page with his party`s

congressional leaders but he`s not completely backing away from supporters who say that those leaders are part of the problem.

And Mr. Trump held a wide-ranging press conference on Monday and our senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns joins us now live with more on that.

And, Joe, in that press conference, Trump really attempted to portray this united front with his own party. So how did he do?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the significance of this, Kristie, really especially for our international audience is that this

president despite all of his bluster and the rhetoric that tends to go around the world is having a very difficult time getting his agenda through

the Congress.

And he is now trying to appeal to competing factions within his own party. The Republican Party on the one side has been trying to clear the air with

the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, while at the same time trying her to keep the pace with his former Chief Strategist Steve Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well probably now I think as at least as far I`m concerned closer than ever before. We were fighting

for the same thing.

JOHNS: President Trump trying attempting to put up a united front with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell despite lobbing this criticism just

hours before at the Senate McConnell leads.

TRUMP: I`m not going to blame myself. I will be honest. They are not getting the job done.

JOHNS: The president attempting to appease both the GOP leaders he needs to get his agenda passed and the anti-establishment wing of the party

spearheaded by his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon.

STEVE BANNON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: This is not my war. This is our war. Mitch, the donors -- the donors are not happy. They have

all left you. We`ve cut your oxygen off, Mitch.

JOHNS: Mr. Trump backing Bannon`s anti-establishment attacks during a cabinet meeting Monday morning.

TRUMP: Steve is very committed. He`s a friend of mine. You had a few people that really disappointed us. They really, really disappointed us,

so I can understand fully how Steve Bannon feels.

JOHNS: Before vowing to pressure Bannon to back down in his effort to unseat a number of Republican incumbents.

TRUMP: Steve is doing what Steve thinks is the right thing. Some of the people that he may be looking at, I`m going to see if to talk him out of

that, because, frankly, they are great people.

JOHNS: Senator John McCain making a passionate plea against the nationalist worldview championed by Mr. Trump and Bannon while accepting

the Liberty Medal.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: To abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and

our duty to remain the last, best hope of earth for the sake of some half- baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems...

(APPLAUSE)

MCCAIN: ... is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash cheap -- ash heap of history.

JOHNS: Mr. Trump also breaking his silence about the deaths of four U.S. servicemen in Niger nearly two weeks ago.

TRUMP: I have written them personal letters. They have been sent or they`re going out tonight.

JOHNS: The president immediately growing defensive, making this false claim about his predecessors.

TRUMP: If you look at President Obama or other presidents, most of them didn`t make calls.

JOHNS: Former White House photographer Pete Souza responding with this image showing President Obama comforting a gold star family as multiple

aides to the former president recall specific times Obama consoled the families of fallen soldiers.

Obama`s former deputy chief of staff lashing out at Mr. Trump on Twitter, Mr. Trump also boasting about his administration`s response to hurricane-

ravaged Puerto Rico again, placing blame on local officials.

TRUMP: It was in really bad shape before. We have done, I will say this...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People don`t have drinking water.

TRUMP: Well, we delivered tremendous amounts of water, then what you have to do is you have to have distribution of the water by the people on the

island.

JOHNS: A new CNN polls shows the president`s approval rating for his response to recent hurricanes has dropped 20 points since September as a

majority of the island remains in the dark one month after the storm.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: For the second day in a row here, the president is expected to take questions from reporters this time at a news conference with the prime

minister of Greece this evening here in Washington.

[08:25:00] The president is also expected to address the conservative Heritage Foundation that audience will certainly want to hear his plans for

tax cuts and healthcare, so far neither which has gone through the Congress. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Joe Johns reporting live for us in the White House. Thank you, Joe. As President Trump confirm during that news conference, they are

having problems distributing food and water in Puerto Rico.

Plus, there has been more bad weather and the infrastructure there devastated. Bill Weir looks at how people are coping nearly one month on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aside from one cluster of power line contractors working gamely in the rain, it`s hard to see any signs of

improvement in the highlands just outside of San Juan.

The roads still littered with Maria`s debris are all the more treacherous at steady tropical downpour, as weeks worth of cleanup work can be undone

in minutes.

This literally just happened, within the last hour, a wall, fallen trees and pipes, and cars came rushing down the hillside. And that mudslide made

life all the more difficult for the people here because it took out this bridge. This bridge had been certified as safe recently. They had cleared

this road.

But now, the families that live on that side are completely cut off. They either have to hike over the mountain in this kind of weather for food and

supplies, or ford this raging river.

What was it like watching it happen, were you afraid? Everything I`ve been struggling for all my life, all of a sudden is gone, Efrain tells me.

He restores Corvettes for a living, but now, his parched trailer is tossed, a few of his cars totaled by that wall of muddy water. He and his wife Luz

have been surviving in a house without power, burning their savings on generator fuel, to keep her insulin from spoiling. Life was stressful

enough, but then their trickle of a creek brought the highest water they`ve ever seen.

UNIDETIFIED MALE (through a translator): My son was picking up the most important things as the water was coming up, just in case we needed to

leave, he says.

WEIR: Really, really. Oh, that must have been terrifying. This is the blue collar section of upscale Guaynabo, the same municipality where

President Trump tossed those paper towels, as Mayor Angel Perez stood by. How would you describe the response of FEMA?

MAYOR ANGEL PEREZ, GUAYNABO, PUERTO RICO: It`s been slowly, but it`s there. You know, they have given us water, food, tarps. So, now, they

have changed a little. They`re going to assign a couple persons directly to each municipality. I think that`s the right direction.

WEIR: Yes.

PEREZ: So, help is coming.

WEIR: With over 1,000 homes in his town damaged, he says the biggest needs are tarps for shelter and drinking water, those plumes of fuel pouring into

the creek, a reminder of the health hazards of drinking off the land. And he expresses hopes the Army Corps of Engineers can somehow replace his

bridges. Now, you are brand new in this job.

PEREZ: Forty days.

WEIR: Forty days? What a baptism by fire. I know you were appointed by the governor after a scandal with the previous mayor. Tell me about the

politics, do you wish you could scream and beg for more help from the federal government, or do you have to be careful about how you ask?

PEREZ: No, we want more help. And I know from my experience is FEMA has given us a lot of help. We want more -- we need more help and as I have

meetings with other mayors, I see the desperation.

WEIR: Off camera, Luz tells the mayor, I voted for your party and you forgot about us. We need water. Have you seen FEMA? Have you seen any

aid from the federal government? They haven`t brought food or water here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no.

WEIR: Bill Weir, CNN, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Incredible. One month on still widespread devastation, widespread need for just basic supplies. You are watching News Stream and

coming up next, a new high-tech security alert. You may want to be careful when you`re using public Wi-Fi at the airports or coffee shops worldwide.

Now supposedly secure wireless networks may not be so secure. More on a major security flaw, next.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN NEWS STREAM SHOW HOST: I`m Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You`re watching "News Stream." These are your world headlines.

U.S.-backed forces in Syria say that they have ramped-up major military operations to clear ISIS from its self-declared capital Raqqa. The Syrian

Democratic Forces say that they are now clearing the city of any remaining ISIS sleeper cells and mines.

The Philippine president says his troops have retaken the city of Marawi from ISIS-linked militants. Marawi had been under siege since May, forcing

some 350,000 residents to leave. The military says it is still fighting a handful of militants holdup in the city.

A Northern Iraq troops have seized the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, ending years of Kurdish control. Peshmerga commanders say at least 15 Kurdish

fighters have been killed and dozens wounded in the operation. The Kurds secured the strategic (ph) city in 2014.

Wi-fi is everywhere, the standard part of the modern world that helps enable our digital lives. Now, a major flaw in wi-fi is threatening the

security of millions of devices and to get an idea of how widespread this can be, just think about all the things that you use wi-fi. Smart phones,

laptops, game consoles, TVs, even the devices that form the internet of things like internet-enabled speakers or thermostats. All of them use wi-fi

to communicate.

Ironically, the security flaw is in wi-fi`s own security protocol. Researches found a hole that could allow a hacker to steal and manipulate

your data. Let`s get a more in-depth look at this wi-fi vulnerability and just how serious it is.

Alex Hern is a tech reporter for The Guardian. He joins us now live from London. Alex, welcome to the program. Thanks for joining us. We know that

our wi-fi networks are vulnerable. So, what`s the threat here? What could happen to us? Are we open to eavesdropping or wireless attacks?

ALEX HERN, TECHNOLOGY REPORTER, THE GUARDIAN: So, the big thing we`re looking out for most people is eavesdropping. What this flaw does is it

lets an attacker remove the encryption on a secure network. So, your home or office network which you use a password to join, an attacker who abuses

this flaw could read the information you sent around that network without a password.

Obviously we (INAUDIBLE). Most people don`t send information (INAUDIBLE) an attacker driving to your house, sitting outside, pulling out a laptop

and reading the things you sent. But that doesn`t mean there aren`t risks. For one thing, businesses may present more tempting target and as you

mentioned, the internet things can provide sort of way of abusing it for something that has more tangible results.

A horror story up I`ve been telling for the last 24 hours or is supposed you have a cheap home security system with wireless cameras all the walls.

This flaw means that until those cameras are updated by the manufacturers, a would be burglar could go sit outside your house

[08:35:00] and use their laptop to monitor whether you are home, waiting until you left, or just to watch which room you`re in and go in a different

room. There`s real problem with this. It is something that people need to get fixed.

LU STOUT: Real problems here in a very scary scenario that you (INAUDIBLE). As you mentioned because of the internet of things, more and more of our

devices or appliances support wi-fi. So given this vulnerability, should we think twice about wi-fi do this for ability to think twice about wi-fi-

enabled appliances like that home security network you mentioned?

HERN: So the big thing I`d say is if you are buying one of these internet things devices and these are often hardware that you don`t want to replace

that often, you don`t have to strip out your light fixings or change your door lock, you know, once every two years like you might your phone, if you

are focused on a reputable manufacturer who has tried and tested history of updating their products of new software, someone like Google-owned nest for

instance, you make small thermostats and small smoke detectors, they already promised that they`re going to be updating their software to fix

this.

The issue comes if you`re tempted to save a few pounds and buy a much cheaper system from the manufacturer who has a history of ignoring their

products once they`re released. For those people, for those manufacturers, it doesn`t look like there`s likely to be much of a fix and they`re going

to be facing the problem of either they throw out that technology (INAUDIBLE) money on or they have insecure device sitting on their home

potentially for years.

LU STOUT: Got it. So it really is a case of buyer beware. You have to be just aware of not just the physical product that you`re buying but the

quality of the wi-fi and its security as well. This weakness that has a code name Krack, short for hey re-installation attack, is there a way to

crack-proof our wi-fi networks?

HERN: So, there`s nothing we can do at home. This is a problem baked right into the core of wi-fi itself. It`s as though if you buy a piece of

(INAUDIBLE) furniture and put it together wrongly, that`s your fault, your desk is broken. But if the instructions are bad, every single version of

that desk is going to have the same problem.

That`s what we got here. The instructions that manufacturers have used to put wi-fi into their products were bad. So, every single product with wi-fi

has this problem. What we are waiting on now is manufacturers to get a new version of these instructions, update their own products, and ship software

updates to you. It should generally be fixable with a software update. So that means next time your phone rings (ph) and says, do you want to install

new security updates? It`s really what I think a yes.

LU STOUT: All right. Alex, we`ll leave it up. Thank you so much for reporting and also your guidance on how to deal with this wi-fi

vulnerability. Alex Hern of the The Guardian reporting for us, joining us from London. Thank you. Hopefully, we`ll talk again soon.

HERN: Thank you for having me.

LU STOUT: People living in Ireland and parts of U.K., they`re just starting to clean up after the storm named Ophelia tore through the region. The

winds also fueling another disaster. We`ll get more on that after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. Now, the storm that was Hurricane Ophelia is turning through the British isles this hour. At least three people were

killed in Ireland. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power.

[08:40:00] Dozens of flights were canceled although Ireland`s two main airports have now reopened. Schools remain closed for another day. Now,

Ophelia is the strongest storm that the region has seen in decades. Winds and warm air from Ophelia also fueled those deadly wildfires across Spain

and Portugal.

At least 39 people were killed, most of them in Portugal. Authorities there say the fires have now been put out, helped by overnight rain. Erin

McLaughlin takes a look at the devastation.

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ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what`s left of Ventosa, a Portuguese village turned apocalyptic landscape.

Residents (INAUDIBLE)of the smoldering ruins. Jose Marayas (ph) is one of them. He says the fire hit an incredible speed.

JOSE MARAYAS (ph), RESIDENT OF VENTOSA (through translator): I have never seen anything like this. Really it felt like the end of the world. It

passed really quickly. Everyone fled. And I found myself alone here.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Marayas (ph) is one of the lucky one. At least 36 lost their lives. The flames spread from Portugal into the (INAUDIBLE)

region of Spain. Authorities say arson may be to blame. Also, recent weather conditions haven`t helped. Low humidity and high temperatures, all

contributing to what one resident described as a hurricane of flames.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are no words to describe it. No words. It was so strong. The houses burned. The animals are dead. The

farming machinery has been destroyed as well.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Another villager describes panic. The fire arrived in the middle of the night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was asleep. All of a sudden, I was woken up by an enormous noise. (INAUDIBLE) carried everything in its

path. (INAUDIBLE) nothing but fire and flames everywhere. I was frightened. I went to fetch water buckets. I looked to my left and there was fire. It

was the same to the right.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): Scene of horror all too familiar in Portugal. In June, 62 people lost their lives. Now, the country takes three more days to

mourn the dead. Erin McLaughlin, CNN.

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LU STOUT: And this is the heartbreaking scene that is greeting many California fire evacuees when they finally returned to their burnt-out

homes. Firefighters are finally gaining the edge in controlling these places that have torn through (INAUDIBLE) one country over the past week.

At least 41 people have been killed. Entire neighborhoods incinerated.

Only one very welcome development. Rain is indeed in the forecast for later this week.

That is "News Stream." I`m Kristie Lu Stout, but don`t go anywhere, "World Sport" with Alex Thomas is next.

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