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Connect the World
A Tribute to Steve Jobs; Court Overturns International Olympic Committee Rule; Sarah Palin Not Running for US President; Remaining Republican Candidates; Tracking Responsibility for Modern-Day Slavery; How Consumers Can Make a Difference; Worldwide Reaction to Steve Jobs' Death; Steve Jobs In His Own Word
Aired October 06, 2011 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE JOBS, CEO, APPLE: Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Tonight, how the innovations of a modern day genius helped change the world forever.
Live from London, I'm Max Foster.
Also tonight --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's appalling and, you know, it made me think twice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: From factories in Malaysia to the streets of London, how your purchases could be contributing to a life of misery.
And out of the race for the White House.
But is this the end of the political road for Sarah Palin?
First, though, mourning the man who transformed lives in literally every corner of the world. Tributes pouring in tonight for Steve Jobs, for the Apple visionary who died after a long battle with cancer. He was only 56, but his genius will affect generations to come.
Dan Simon looks at the legacy of and entrepreneur unafraid to take risks and dream big.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOBS: Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.
SIMON (voice-over): Steve Jobs was a modern-day Thomas Edison.
JOBS: You can do multi-finger gestures on it. And, boy, have we patented it.
SIMON: He didn't have a patent on his own look, but he was rarely seen without tennis shoes, Levis and a black shirt. He was legendary for his flair and showmanship.
JOBS: It's amazing. And the screen literally floats in mid-air.
SIMON: Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco. His mother, an unwed college student, put him up for adoption. He developed an early interest in computers, going to after school lectures at Hewlett-Packard.
After high school, he attended Reed College, but only for one semester. At just 20 years old, he started Apple Computer in his garage with friend, Steve Wozniak.
JOBS: We worked hard. And in 10 years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees.
SIMON: That was Jobs in 2005 giving the commencement address at Stanford University.
JOBS: You have to trust in something -- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever, because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
SIMON: In 1984, Apple introduced the machine that changed our lives forever -- the Macintosh, revolutionary because it made computers easier to use. It had a funny little thing called a mouse and allowed users to change fonts. But the Mac was expensive and sales were sluggish.
In 1985, Steve Jobs was forced out of Apple, but it turned out he was just warming up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger.
SIMON: In 1986, he bought Pixar Animation Studios, which later produced hits like "Toy Story." He also started a computer called Next.
JOBS: I hope you get a chance to look at this a little later. It's the most beautiful printed circuit board I've ever seen in my life.
SIMON: The technology was so innovative that, in a twist of fate, Apple bought Next and Steve Jobs went back to work for the company he started -- his second act considered one of the greatest CEO tenures of all time.
JOBS: It's called the iPod Touch.
SIMON: Who knew that a computer company would change how we listen to music?
Steve Jobs introduced the iconic iPod --
JOBS: Just slide it across. Boom.
SIMON: -- the iPhone and later, what some believe would be his grandest achievement, the iPad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM 2010)
JOBS: That's what it looks like. It's very thin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Apple dropped the computer from its name to reflect the company's expansion into consumer electronics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM 2010)
JOBS: Now I'm going to take this morning and talk about the iPhone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: In recent years, Jobs no longer appeared his usual self. He was noticeably thin and frail. And investors and Apple faithful grew alarmed because of Jobs' past struggle with pancreatic cancer.
In 2009, Jobs revealed he had a liver transplant after taking a six month leave of absence. But he returned to the stage with his usual vigor.
JOBS: It is our new MacBook Air and we think it's the future of notebooks.
SIMON: Eventually, though, his struggle with ill health led him to step down as CEO. In a letter to the Apple board of directors, Jobs wrote, "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I made some of the best friends of my life at Apple," he added, "and I thank you for all the many years of being able to work alongside you."
Steve Jobs' legacy can be found in his devices, long on aesthetics and attention to detail. He followed his heart and with this technology --
JOBS: We are calling it iPhone.
SIMON: -- changed the world.
Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FOSTER: Well, Steve Jobs radically changed way we work, we live and play. And yet the beauty of his creations is in their simplicity. Time and again, he took an idea that seemed impossibly complex to execute and emerged with a product that's incredibly easy to use. It wasn't long ago that the idea of digital music overtaking CDs was just a dream.
Here's what Jobs told me during an interview in 2007.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE FROM APRIL, 2007)
JOBS: You know, I think we all think what's next is -- is just continuing that growth in digital sales. It's been really successful so far. We want to keep it going and even accelerate its growth to where some day, the majority of music gets sold digitally over the Internet versus all of this physical stuff that we have today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, he saw the future and he helped make it happen, even faster than even he thought sometimes. Now, Jobs won over legions of fans with his knack to know just what they wanted, often before they even did. And his products have become indispensible to millions. And today, people all over the world are showing their gratitude.
This was the scene outside an Apple store here in London. It seemed appropriate that some folks captured the moment on their phones. People are paying their respects with flowers, pictures, notes, and, yes, even apples.
A similar scene in Hong Kong, where fans say Jobs' spirit will live on forever. Many people are turning to the Internet today to learn more about his fatal disease. In fact, on -- at one point, pancreatic cancer was the top search on Google.
Earlier, we got a brief explainer from our chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's hard to believe the news about Steve Jobs, but I can tell you this health history of his dates back at least eight years, back to 2003. Many people don't realize that he was diagnosed with a pancreatic abnormality at that time.
For some time after his dangerous, Steve Jobs actually attempted to treat his tumor with non-traditional therapy, these herbal medications, for example. This was a man who had traveled the world looking at health systems all over the world and decided he would attempt this. In 2004, he did a -- he did undergo and operation to try and remove this tumor.
Now, one of the things that is worth pointing out is that when they -- when the doctors saw this mass, you know, this tumor in Steve Jobs' pancreas, they assumed it was one of the worst types of tumors out there, an adenocarcinoma. The -- the survival rates for adenocarcinomas are -- are really abysmal -- 20 percent one year survival rate, 4 percent five year survival rates.
Steve Jobs tells a story about when the doctors did the biopsy and finally got the cells back to look under the microscope they were literally in tears because, in fact, Mr. Jobs did not have an adenocarcinoma but had what's known as a neuroendocrine tumor.
Now, a neuroendocrine tumor is also, obviously, a cancer, but a more favorable one. The survival rate is about 50 percent at five years.
The story of the next several years of Steve Jobs were a story of a man who really fought like crazy against this tumor, undergoing therapies and getting a liver transplant, literally by cover of night, in 2009, traveling to Switzerland for, again, non-traditional therapies, doing everything he could. You saw him essentially start to become quite gaunt, probably as a result of the tumor in his pancreas, which controls digestive enzymes, controls hormones in the body, but also just the cancer itself causing the wasting that is so often associated with tumors like this.
Steve Jobs was probably on various medications to control those hormonal changes.
But in the end, you know, eight years -- longer than most people survive with this type of tumor, despite all the therapies, despite all the treatments, despite the fight, Steve Jobs died of, likely, this neuroendocrine tumor at the age of 56 -- back to you.
FOSTER: Sanjay Gupta there.
Now from business leaders to school kids to heads of state, people around the world are offering their condolences today, many of them using devices that Jobs helped create.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised Jobs on his Facebook page, writing: "As inspired as he was inspiring, Steve Jobs will remain one of the great figures of our time."
Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev Tweeted: "People like Steve Jobs change our world."
And U.S. president, Barack Obama, called him, "brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world and talented enough to do it."
Also paying his respects today, Wael Ghonim. He is the former Google executive whose Facebook page helped spark an uprising in Egypt.
Mohammed Jamjoom reminds us now how social media and technology played a huge role in spreading a revolutionary message during the Arab spring.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even before Hosni Mubarak had stepped down from power, Egyptians were already hailing the decisive role social media had played in their uprising.
WAEL GHONIM, EGYPTIAN ACTIVIST: Definitely, this is the Internet revolution. I'm -- I have -- I will call it Revolution 2.0.
JAMJOOM: But as the Arab Spring started to take root throughout the region, Egyptians weren't the only ones utilizing sites like Facebook and Twitter to help mobilize the masses -- Tunisians, Syrians, Libyans. Online activism even reached Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, where few have access to the Internet and 50 percent of adults are illiterate.
Many activists there said one of the most important aspects of social media was that it could be used as a form of advocacy.
ATIAF ALWAZIR, YEMENI ACTIVIST: In seconds, you know, I -- someone who had posted on Twitter re-Tweeted to all these followers. And then it's like a tree with long branches and it just spreads. Information spreads around the world and in a matter of, you know, a hour.
JAMJOOM: It was a newfound freedom, using the most up to date technologies to help get the word out in countries with extremely strict media controls, where populations had grown accustomed to being heavily monitored. Some countries cut Internet or phone service at times, attempting to shut down these communications. But it was never completely effective.
Months of revolt have produced a flood of messages and images from citizen journalists constantly posting and uploading them online. Some claim to prove atrocities.
The role of technology in social media during the Arab Spring took on another dimension when news of Steve Jobs' death broke. Activists across the region tweeted tributes to the man whose Apple products made it easier for them to spread their revolutionary message.
(on camera): Many expressed gratitude for gadgets like this iPhone -- a device that allowed regional revolutionaries to, among other things, film demonstrations, post videos online, text message their colleagues, phone their contacts -- all from the palm of their hands.
Via Twitter, one Egyptian wrote, "So you got Steve Jobs, who made millions happy and you got someone like Mubarak, who made millions sad."
Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FOSTER: Well, our next guest agrees that Apple products played a key role in the Arab spring.
Dalia Ziada is an Egyptian blogger and human rights activist.
She's also regional director of the American Islamic Congress.
Thank you so much for joining us, Dalia.
Why, in particular --
DALIA ZIADA, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, AMERICAN ISLAMIC CONGRESS: Thank you.
FOSTER: -- Apple products instead of, say, the BlackBerry?
Why did they play such a crucial role in the Arab spring?
ZIADA: Actually, as Jamjoom such -- just mentioned, the information technology in general played a very important role in our revolution, in Egypt and the whole Arab world.
The fact that people started to use Apple products intensively over the past few years can tell you why it was very easy for us in the revolutions -- different revolutions all over the Arab region in 2011. It made our life much easier by making it possible to easily use certain applications that you can't use with the same quality and the same speed on other mobile devices. Throw your iPhone. That's -- that's what makes it very special to have an iPhone or an iPad with you.
Speaking about the iPad, for example, it was very easy for us to get connected through a 3G connection, through a SIM card, rather than waiting to find a wireless connection. So just in the middle of the square, you can use your iPhone, you can use your iPad. So it made it much easier.
FOSTER: A lot of people hadn't really heard of Apple products, had they, before the Arab spring?
ZIADA: Actually, it's not only in Egypt, but in the whole Arab region. Apple products were not that common for so long. Only through the past two or three years, people have started to be aware of the iPhones, the MacBook 2. And so thanks to the fact that the young people living in the Arab world, especially the cyber activists who have had the chance to travel abroad to the Western world, especially to the U.S., where they -- such products, Apple products, are intensively used.
So they started to use it, and, accordingly, got addicted.
In my case, for example, if you asked me two years ago for -- two years ago from now to use a MacBook, I was going to say no, I will never do that.
But now, after using it for a year-and-a-half, I am like an addict to all Apple products.
FOSTER: Would you say, I mean maybe we're taking it too far now, but has Steve Jobs played a role in the Arab spring?
Has he helped it come about?
ZIADA: I think he played an indirect role by being so innovative about what he is producing through the Apple products, by making it much easier. And ask Apple by anyone, you don't -- you don't need to be an expert to use it. And, actually, that's what make -- what made everyone in the Arab world use the information technology so easy -- easy to use devices or friendly devices like the Apple products.
So you can say indirectly he does that. And at the same time, Steve Jobs personally, he was an inspiration to so many young people in the Arab region. He is that entrepreneur who was able to change the world through his -- his dream, to -- to produce some device. And this device happened to be used by millions of people all over the world. And he's -- he's also -- he was also an inspiration for being so smart in marketing for his product.
So, actually, this -- he himself was an inspiration. And, at the same time, his products was also -- were also an inspiration.
FOSTER: Dalia Ziada, thank you so much for giving you -- for giving us your perspective on this Steve Jobs story, which really has affected the whole world.
Twitter and other social media sites are overflowing with tributes tonight. Later in the program, we'll show you how the death of Steve Jobs triggered the biggest online reaction in recent history.
Now, there's much more to come on CONNECT THE WORLD tonight, including a series warning from the American president, as he pushes to get his jobs bill through Congress.
Why some disgraced athletes will be allowed to compete at next year's Olympics.
And we look at who's responsible for the trial or the trail of suffering in Southeast Asia's bonded labor industry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster in London.
You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD.
Here's a look at other stories we're following for you this hour.
The European Central Bank rushed to play down -- play firefighter today whilst the region's debt crisis rages on. At his final meeting as president of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet says the central bank will offer loans of up to 13 months to cash-strapped banks. Trichet and Company held off cutting interest rates.
In the U.K., the Bank of England moved to bolster Britain's flagging economy. It, took, left interest rates on hold. But the BOE'S big move was injecting $115 billion into the U.K. economy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MERVYN KING, GOVERNOR, BANK OF ENGLAND: We did that because the news from the rest of the world in the past few months has been very poor. The world economy has slowed. America has slowed. China has slowed. And, of course, particularly the European economy has slowed.
And that's affecting our ability to engineer a recovery here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Well, U.S. President Barack Obama held a press conference today where he urged the American Congress to pass his jobs bill and kick start that economy. And Mr. Obama warned that without the bill, the U.S. could be headed for another economic downturn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is not a game. This is not the time for the usual political gridlock.
The problems Europe is having today could have a very real effect on our economy at a time when it's already fragile. But this jobs bill can help guard against another downturn if the situation in Europe gets any worse.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
FOSTER: To Pakistan now, where a doctor is in big trouble for allegedly helping the U.S. in its deadly raid on Osama bin Laden. Shakil Afridi is accused of treason. He allegedly ran a fake vaccination campaign to get hold of bin Laden's DNA for American intelligence.
U.S. Special Forces killed the al Qaeda leader in May.
And the Nobel Prize for literature has been awarded to Swedish poet, Tomas Transtomer. The account -- the academy gives the prize said it chose him because he, quote, "gives us fresh access to reality."
This is the third time in the past four years that the prize has been given to an obscure European writer.
The Nobel Prize for Peace will be announced tomorrow.
Now, up next, are authorities sending the right message to
We head to the 2012 Olympics. We'll be looking at a court ruling which clears the way for some disgraced athletes to compete.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Now, athletes who have served suspicions for doping will not be banned from the London 2012 Olympics after a ruling by the highest court for international sport. The court overturned an International Olympic Committee rule which said that drug cheats with suspensions of six months or more would be barred from the next Olympics. That was even if their suspension had been served.
The court said the rule was invalid and unenforceable. The ruling clears the way for more athletes to compete in London next year.
Pedro joins me for more on this.
So which athletes are we talking about and how are their careers going to be affected?
ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, several athletes are affected by this, in a positive way if you ask them, and the most high profile is LaShawn Merritt. And he was actually the athlete -- the defending Olympic 400 meters champion. And he was the one who took this court to case.
Because basically what's going on, Max, is that there is this discrepancy between the rule from the International Olympic Committee, which is banning all the athletes who have served the suspension to compete in the games and then the World Anti-Doping Agency, whose the entity that rules all doping charges and conducts and rules. And they basically say that you can't have a ban longer than two years. And LaShawn Merritt would have already served two years before the Olympics.
So it's this loophole that he and his lawyers were able to find. And that is why he has now been cleared to compete.
Another athlete that could appeal his ban currently is Dwain Chambers, the British sprinter, also a cyclist from Great Britain, David Miller, and many other athletes who have served suspensions.
This is good news for a lot of the athletes, not good news for the International Olympic Committee, according to Jacques Rogge, the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACQUES ROGGE, IOC PRESIDENT: Well, we are disappointed, of course, because the rule was meant to protect the clean athletes. And we are also surprised, because we had asked in an advisory opinion for the court of arbitration and the response was positive.
Now, another panel invalidated that. So we are a little bit surprised, disappointed.
However, we are going to move for a change in the wider anti-doping court at the revision in 2013 to establish a rule that would have the same effect as the one that has been invalidated now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: It does, though, Pedro, doesn't it, raise the question about how seriously the Olympics are taking drugs, because it makes it look a -- them look a bit slacker on it.
THOMAS: I know what you mean. It seems that you guys doped before, you knew you wouldn't be able to compete in the next Olympics and now you will. It sends out the wrong message.
But I can guarantee you that it's just a technicality on this rule and they made -- made the most of it.
The only thing that's going to happen now is, like Rogge said, is they need to make sure that the code for doping suspensions is the same by the IOC as it is for the World Anti-Doping Agency and then we won't have this issue next time around.
But I think everyone is very serious about making sure that drug cheats don't have an advantage to -- to clean athletes at all.
FOSTER: OK, Pedro, thank you very much, indeed.
You are with CONNECT THE WORLD.
I'm Max Foster.
Just ahead, she can draw the crowds, now she's drawing the line -- Sarah Palin on her decision not to seek the White House.
And in 10 minutes, a report that could shock you. Find out if you're unwittingly helping slave labor prosper.
Then, remembering a legend -- the world pays tribute to the mind behind Apple. That's in 20.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: You're back with CONNECT THE WORLD on CNN, the world's news leader. Let's get a check of the headlines this hour.
Mourners are creating makeshift memorials outside Apple stores across the world today. People are paying their respects to Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple whose products helped revolutionize personal computing. Jobs died on Wednesday after battling cancer.
The European Central Bank is moving swiftly to give troubled lenders more help. At the ECB's regular meeting, departing chief Jean-Claude Trichet said the Central Bank will offer loans of 12 or 13 months to stricken euro zone banks. The ECB also held interest rates steady.
A Pakistan doctor is accused of treason for allegedly helping the US kill Osama bin Laden. Pakistan's government says Dr. Shakeel Afridi helped the CIA gather DNA from people in the al Qaeda leader's Abbottabad compound. US special forces killed bin Laden in a May raid.
An audio message allegedly recorded by Moammar Gadhafi is being broadcast on Libyan television. It challenges the legitimacy of the National Transitional Council and urges citizens to protest against it in the streets.
Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer has been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. This is the third time in the past four years that the prize has been given to an obscure European writer. The Nobel Prize for Peace will be announced tomorrow.
It's the right decision. That's the declaration from Sarah Palin after she announced she won't be running for the US presidency in 2012.
The former governor of Alaska admits she feels some sadness about her decision, but she told Fox News, where she's a paid contributor, she can still make a difference to the Republican race for the White House without the title of candidate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: I know that I can join others and be effective in helping change what's going on in our country and helping wake up Americans to what is going on in our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Now, Sarah Palin knows she can still draw crowds, but courting credibility proved more elusive the last time she hit the campaign trail, as CNN's Jonathan Mann shows us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), FORMER CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The next vice president of the United States, Governor Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska!
(CROWED CHEERS)
JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She burst onto the world stage in August 2008 as the candidate for vice president on the Republican ticket, initially embraced by the conservative base.
PALIN: I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.
(CROWD CHEERS)
MANN: Her star power began to fade, though, after a series of interviews on national television in which she appeared unprepared.
CHARLES GIBSON, CORRESPONDENT, ABC NEWS: Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?
PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?
GIBSON: The Bush -- well, what do you interpret it to be?
PALIN: His worldview.
As Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska, it's just right over the border.
MANN: Late night television took aim.
TINA FEY AS SARAH PALIN, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Are we not doing the talent portion?
(LAUGHTER)
MANN: But Palin got in on the joke, appearing on "Saturday Night Live" herself before the election.
PALIN: Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!
MANN: Even before she and Senator John McCain lost the election to Barack Obama, speculation was growing that she would run again.
FEY AS PALIN: Available now, we got a bunch of these Sarah Palin T- shirts --
(LAUGHTER)
MANN: And despite resigning as governor of Alaska just nine months later --
PALIN: Well, the best thing for Alaska is for me not to run again.
MANN: -- her popularity has soared, with two bestselling books and a summer bus tour that looked curiously like a campaign.
PALIN: We need a pro-growth agenda.
MANN: But despite her ability to draw crowds, she has lost support among Republicans as new faces Rick Perry and Herman Cain have gained steam. Her announcement Wednesday keeps her out of contention for 2012, but 2016 is still anyone's guess.
Jonathan Mann, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, you can expect to be hearing more from Rick Perry and Herman Cain, as Jonathan just reported, there. Not to mention other presidential hopefuls, Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney. Here's a quick look at what the bring to the GOP table.
Rick Perry is the longest-serving governor of Texas. He took office after George W. Bush resigned to become US president in 2000.
Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts. He ran for president in 2008, but lost the Republican nomination to John McCain.
Businessman Herman Cain is the former president of Godfather's Pizza and former chairman of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Missouri.
Michele Bachmann is a US congresswoman from Minnesota. She's also part of America's Tea Party Caucus.
Now, coming up next, CNN's Dan Rivers on the trail of human trafficking in Malaysia and uncovering evidence that you may be supporting companies that use bonded labor even without knowing it. His exclusive report up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: CNN is pouring its global resources into investigating the dark world of modern-day slavery, giving the victims a voice, exposing the perpetrators, and fighting to end the trade in human life.
This week, we're bringing you a series of exclusive reports form Southeast Asia, where CNN's Dan Rivers has been trying to unravel a tale of bonded labor that you may be supporting without even knowing it.
On Tuesday, we brought you part one of Dan's report, where he visited an employment agency that allegedly forces people to work as bonded laborers.
On Wednesday, it was part two, where Dan tracked down some of the victims at a factory in Malaysia.
Tonight, he's looking for answers, though. Who's responsible for this trail of suffering? With the final installment of his exclusive report, here is Dan Rivers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Our investigation started in Cambodia, where a mother pleaded with us to help find her daughter, Chanary, trapped in a factory far from home.
We tried approaching the employment agency that spirited her abroad, only to be briefly locked up ourselves.
But in Malaysia, we found Chanary, who told us she's unable to leave until she pays off a supposed debt.
CHANARY, BONDED LABORER (through translator): And I want to go home, but I don't have any money.
RIVERS: Now, I'm keen to find out how this is allowed to happen in modern-day Malaysia. I've come to speak to a labor expert who doesn't pull his punches.
P. RAMASAMY, PROFESSOR, LABOR EXPERT: This is a modern, re- indenturing labor.
RIVERS (on camera): Slavery?
RAMASAMY: It's -- you can say modern forms of slavery, you know? And technically, these things are not allowed. But then in -- in actual reality, these things, they are widespread.
We do not have the kind of powers to actually -- to stop certain things, and that power actually belongs to the federal government.
RIVERS (voice-over): Malaysia's government declined to be interviewed, but a local opposition politician did agree to speak and was candid about who he believes is to blame.
LIM GUAN ENG, CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG: For example, when you talk about the passports, which are falsified, she is not 21, but she is below 18, but how can the country issue a passport with false information? So, it's just not the private recruiting agency in Cambodia, but also the Cambodian authorities.
RIVERS: It's not clear where the false passport came from or if anyone from the Cambodian government was involved. The government refused an interview, but we were determined to follow the supply chain to find someone who would take action.
JCY supplies components to a number of big companies, including Western Digital, whose hard drives can be found on shop shelves in the West.
So, Chanary and her friends are part of a complex chain, first recruited in Cambodia by the Ung Rithy agency, which in turn passed them to a middle man at this factory, which provided labor to JCY, which in turn makes components for Western Digital. Their products are sold on High Streets around the world. It's this supply chain which keeps Chanary shackled to her job.
So, I've traveled back to London to follow the trail to the consumers.
RIVERS (on camera): We've come to the heart of London's retail electronics business to find out if people care about the conditions of the workers who make the products that are sold in shops up and down High Streets across Britain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's appalling, and it make me think twice. But unfortunately, when you go into a shop, you're talking to a salesperson who, understandably, they've got a job to do, and they're probably not going to be able to answer those question. I mean, it is appalling.
RIVERS (voice-over): I checked in one shop, and the man behind the counter knew nothing about where or how the hard drives were made.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm paid to sell, basically.
RIVERS (on camera): Yes, yes. But so, most people don't really ask questions about how it's manufactured or where or --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, not as far as I --
RIVERS: -- the ethical dimensions of it, really? They're not that bothered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not really.
RIVERS: No.
RIVERS (voice-over): We showed our investigation to Harriet Lamb, the executive director of Fairtrade, which endorses ethically made products.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: We saw a number of young women. I tried to talk to one, wondering if these were workers about to leave for jobs abroad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: Do you think one day that kind of scheme could be implemented for the electronics industry? Do you think there's potential that -- I mean, I'm not saying necessarily you, but a similar organization could do something similar in electronics, saying yes, this is ethically manufactured.
HARRIET LAMB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FAIRTRADE: Absolutely. And I'm afraid the kind of abuses that your film has exposed show the need for that.
And actually, if companies can't be trusted, then we're going to have to have some kind of scheme where the public can go in and see, yes, the companies really have taken responsibility. They haven't said, "Oh, well, it's someone else, it's someone else, it's someone else."
Sorry, that's not good enough. That they have actually taken responsibility and it's been independently checked.
Now, the Fairtrade movement started in food, but there's actually no reason why those principles can't apply to any sector of the economy.
RIVERS (voice-over): Western Digital also declined an interview but said in an e-mail they're an industry leader on a labor standards code called the Electronics Industry Citizenship Coalition and demand all their suppliers adhere to it. But they add --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN's recent inquiry accelerated our scheduled audit of a second JCY facility, which was completed last week. We reviewed our findings with JCY management and we are partnering with them to put corrective actions in place.
Absent effective and sustained improvement, other actions would be taken, up to and including discontinuing our relationship with that supplier.
RIVERS: Their supplier, JCY, told CNN they try to resolve workers' grievances fairly and employees are free to leave their company at any time.
Chanary tells us sine Western Digital's "corrective actions," her pay has increased significantly, and her working conditions have also improved, including proper breaks during her shifts.
But she is still trying to pay off her debt to the agency and is still unable to get home.
RIVERS (on camera): This hard drive has come literally halfway around the world from a factory in Malaysia to an electronics store here in London.
But despite our investigation, Chanary and her friends remain stuck in that factory, unable to leave until they've paid off their debt, and unable to get back home to their village in Cambodia and their families.
RIVERS (voice-over): I wonder how many other young people will end up like Chanary, forced to work for years away from home, surrendering their freedom.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, Dan's here now. Dan, give us something positive from all of this.
RIVERS: Well, I think the main thing I've taken away from this is that things can change in these situations.
We saw with this case that when we shone the spotlight on this, Western Digital were very quick to come up and say, "Actually, we've looked into this and we've taken corrective measures and if -- " you know, basically saying if JCY don't get their act together, potentially they could do something else, i.e. they might pull the contract.
FOSTER: So you've highlighted a problem to them, and that in itself has created some progress.
RIVERS: Yes, and for Chanary herself, she says her wages have now increased, she's better. She's still stuck in the factory trying to pay off her debt, but at least she's earning a bit more than she was before.
But ultimately, as Fairtrade acknowledged there, the real power is with the consumers, and if consumers like you and I can see on an electronics packet that it's stamped and it is certified as being ethically produced, then surely that's the solution to ensure that people like Chanary don't get stuck.
FOSTER: Is that what you would say, that a badging scheme of some sort is the answer?
RIVERS: I mean, it's -- Fairtrade pretty much acknowledged it there that that is something that they could get into or someone similar to them could get into, and that if companies can't be trusted to ensure that there is no slavery in their production lines, even if it's not them directly producing it, then someone independent needs to come along and verify that.
And if they don't meet the standard, then they don't get the stamp.
FOSTER: And as you illustrated in that chain, it's all this series of links, and there's a problem all the way along the chain, and there isn't anyone responsible for the whole system, really. So, it can only be the consumer.
RIVERS: Exactly, because there are so many levels of sub-contracting and of different suppliers and agencies. It's got to be the consumers that have the real power in this.
FOSTER: OK, Dan, thank you very much, indeed.
Well, Dan's reports have caught the attention of the US State Department, no less. A short time ago, I spoke with the US human trafficking czar and asked him what we can learn from these stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUIS CDEBACA, US OFFICE TO MONITOR AND COMBAT TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS: The report that Dan Rivers did is, I think, critically important because his journey from the village, the woman looking for her daughter, going to the factory, but then going back to London and talking to consumers is the exact kind of journey that we all need to take as we look at our own contributions to modern slavery.
He's really tracing it back to where it matters, and that's the point of sale.
FOSTER: It seems that once you see all three reports, there are problems all the way through the process, and that makes it such a big problem to deal with, doesn't it?
CDEBACA: Well, I think we'd all like to say that this is a problem of some corrupt official or, in the case of Cambodia, an official's wife, or that it's the problem of some factory owner who's taking people's passports and locking them in.
But at the end of the day, it all is responding to the demand of us in developed countries, as well, for these cheap goods.
So, I think that it shows that there's a lot of work to do at each step of the chain, really. At the end of the day, this is a supply chain that reaches all the way back into these villages and to people's houses.
FOSTER: So, if we consider the consumer's role in this, how actually do we resolve this, because any consumer told that the product they're buying was created thanks to slave labor wouldn't buy the product. I think most people wouldn't, at least, even if it was cheap.
So, how do you inform them apart from doing programs like this? Because there needs to be a bigger drive towards some sort of solution on the consumer side.
CDEBACA: Well, on the consumer side, one of the things that we've found, much as Dan Rivers did when he was asking people on the street in London, is that when people find out about this, they're appalled and they want to do something about it.
And so, that's one of the reasons why we've funded a project recently, Slavery Footprint.org, which we know that the Freedom Project has featured, which is an opportunity for people to go in and calculate their own, for lack of a better word, slavery footprint, kind of like we do with carbon footprint.
What is the impact that I'm making with my consumption patterns and with what I have in my house and my daily life to this global problem of forced labor, this global problem of modern slavery.
FOSTER: And that's a --
CDEBACA: And --
FOSTER: Sorry. That's a great solution on the face of it, isn't it? But when you have the company that isn't fully aware of the slave labor- related product in its product, how do consumers get the information that they need and make the judgment?
CDEBACA: I think that's, to me, the best thing about Slavery Footprint. It's not just a one-time, take the test and get your slavery number as far as how many slaves around the world are you impacting.
It then has this notion of what are the offsets. And those offsets are making sure that the companies know, I'm in your store, I'm thinking about slavery.
Right now, there's not very many companies out there that have anti- slavery policies, but the ones that do, especially, for instance, the Body Shop, which is very forward-leading on this, you can go into their store and ask the store manager, "What are you doing on this issue?"
If more people do that in more locales, whether it's retail or otherwise, I think we're going to see corporations responding to that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Well, you can find a link to Slavery Footprint.org on CNN's Freedom Project website. All three of Dan's exclusive reports are also on there, along with many more facts on forced labor and trafficking.
You can also find out what you can do to help. Just ahead -- just go ahead to cnn.com/freedom for all the details.
Now, up next, reaction across the globe to the death of Steve Jobs. We're all familiar with the image of him onstage introducing the latest Apple product. But on our Facebook page, you can get a glimpse of his presentations offstage showing his slick creations to the world's movers and shakers.
Here's just a few of the photos.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE JOBS, CO-FOUNDER, APPLE: I've got a pocket. Right here. Now, this pocket's been the one that your iPod's gone in, traditionally. The iPod and the iPod mini fit great in there.
You ever wonder what this pocket's for?
(LAUGHTER)
JOBS: I've always wondered that. Well, now we know. Because this --
AUDIENCE: Ooh!
JOBS: -- is the new iPod Nano.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: He really was a genius in those presentations, wasn't he? Well, the death of Steve Jobs has provoked the biggest online reaction in recent history, with fans using technology that he created to share their tributes.
This map shows where the news has been trending the most, and as you can see, the US is almost entirely blacked out. Tweets about the Apple visionary reached 10,000 per second today, and around the world, people spoke of the legacy that Jobs has left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TEXT: New York
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything I use, my computer at work, my computer at home, my iPhone, my iPad, my iPod. I mean, I don't think there's anybody out there who doesn't touch an Apple product on a daily basis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some small children were on a field trip inside learning how to -- doing a computer course. They came outside, took these yellow pages, and started to write their own little messages to Steve Jobs.
And that in a nutshell, I think, really symbolizes why he is considered the business genius that he is.
TEXT: Hong Kong
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Every single student at this school has a computer, 98 percent of them owns an Apple Mac or certainly, as these girls say, they can't live without them.
How important are these computers to you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's pretty much my life. I spend every living minute on my computer. Especially Apple, I just love any Apple computer I've purchased I love my Apple.
TEXT: Nairobi
DAVID MACKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's really here on the street where you can see the impact of Apple products, because it's not so much the Apple products themselves and Steve Jobs' direct innovation, but it's the way their competitors have imitated, have pushed the boundaries of SmartPhones.
TEXT: Tokyo
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here in a country that's very technology-focused but very design-oriented, the Japanese consumers have looked at this and found something that they really enjoy, and they -- they really appreciated it.
And I think that the crowds that you see here today and the people that you see here today are a reflection of that respect.
TEXT: Berlin
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the old days, if you're a tourist and you're stranded in Berlin, you'd have to do a lot of research beforehand.
Nowadays, you have wonderful devices like this one. And this really shows how much the iPhone has influenced the way that we travel, the way that we operate also when we're in places that we've never been to before.
TEXT: Beijing
EUNICE YOON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This country has a huge following of Apple fans. The stores see tens of thousands of people every single day, and the largest store in Asia, which was opened in Shanghai, attracted over 100,000 people on its opening weekend.
Apple generated sales of almost $9 billion in greater China so far this year, up six times from a year ago, because consumers here love the American company's design.
TEXT: Los Angeles
MELISSA FALZI: Steve Jobs is an extraordinary man. He changed my life and the way that I see, hear, and touch the world. And he changed the lives of millions.
TEXT: Johannesburg
NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Even those who can afford an Apple lifestyle have limitations. The high cost of internet connectivity here can make using something like an iPad pretty expensive. And South Africans cannot purchase music on iTunes because of ownership rights.
But there are those who consider Steve Jobs' innovations a way of life, and they, like the rest of the world, are mourning his passing.
TEXT: London
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Judging by some of the messages that we've seen out here today, saying things like "You're an inspiration and a visionary," it really has impacted many people -- many people's lives because they use the products all the time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: I'm Max Foster. Thank you so much for being with us. We leave you, though, with Steve Jobs in his own words as he spoke to the Stanford University graduating class of 2005. The world headlines and "BackStory" are up next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOBS: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.
(LAUGHTER)
JOBS: And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.
Right now, the new is you. But some day not too long from now, you will gradually become the old, and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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END