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North Korea Claims ICBM Test; Putin, Xi Jinping Meet in Moscow; Vietnam's Growing Craft Brewery Culture. 08:00-09:00a ET

Aired July 4, 2017 - 08:00:00   ET

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


[08:00:11] ANNA COREN, HOST: Hello. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Welcome to News Stream.

Well, North Korea claims to successfully launch an intercontinental ballistic missile that it says can reach anywhere on Earth.

The U.S. President condemns Pyongyang, calling on China to deal with North Korea.

And the heartbreaking story of Baby Charlie Gard. The pope's hospital offers to take on the terminally ill British infant.

We begin on the Korean peninsula this hour with South Korea urging the north not to cross the bridge of no return. It comes after the north says

it successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, claiming it could reach anywhere in the world.

But Russia says it was a medium range missile, not intercontinental.

South Korea is still assessing the capability, but most analysis so far indicates it could reach Alaska.

Well, CNN's Paula Hancocks has more details on this latest launch. Here's her report from Seoul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: North Korea has claimed a successful ICBM test. They say it was an historic event for North Korea,

this on state-run TV. This clearly is an announcement that those in the region do not want to hear it's an announcement, that the United States

doesn't want to hear either.

We've heard from South Korea's joint chiefs of staff. They say they're still trying to analyze the data and the figures. They don't accept yet

that it is an ICBM, but they have not denied that this is what North Korea has carried out earlier this morning.

Now, looking at the figures, the altitude was over 2,800 kilometers, a distance of more than 930 kilometers. And they say it flew for 39 minutes.

Different figures to what we heard from U.S. Pacific Command earlier in the day. They then said that they didn't believe it was an ICBM. That was

their initial assessment, though some experts saying given those figures it is a potential that it was an ICBM and could even hit Alaska. But these

are unofficial reports at this point. We're waiting for some definite figures from the U.S. or South Korea as to whether or not North Korea is

accurate in saying it was a successful ICBM.

They also say that they can now hit anywhere in the world with this rocket. That claim has pretty much been ignored by many of the experts.

But North Korea saying that Kim Jong-un ordered this. He was there. He signed off on it. He was at the test site itself and was very pleased with

the success of it.

Now, we've had a response from the South Korean President Moon Jae-in when he was meeting with a former prime minister David Cameron a little earlier

today saying he warned North Korea not to cross the bridge of no return saying if North Korea crosses the red line, South Korea and the U.S. do not

know what our response would be.

Now, he doesn't specify what that red line is. He does say that he was disappointed that this happened just a few days after he came back from

that summit in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump. Of course, the timing is always something that is looked at very closely when North Korea

carries out a missile test.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, the timing for this launch American Independence Day. In theory, the missile was capable of striking Alaska. U.S. President Donald

Trump on Twitter said "North Korea has just launched another missile. Does this guy have anything better to do with his life? Hard to believe that

South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all."

Well, South Korea is joining the U.S. in calling on China to play a stronger role in resolving the situation as China is North Korea's

lifeline.

CNN's Andrew Stevens joins us now from Hong Kong. And Andrew, if this is, in fact, an ICBM, it's a very alarming development for the region and the

world. Will this make China act more forcefully in dealing with North Korea?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a very good question. And looking at what's coming out from Beijing so far today,

Anna, it would appear that Beijing is not, at least at this stage, prepared to change its strategy in dealing, or containing North Korea.

Now, its first response was to urge restraint on the Korean peninsula, which is a fairly standard response.

And what looks like a response, also to that Donald Trump tweet about suggesting that China could do more.

China has been saying, and continues to say, and it said it again today, that it is relentless in dealing with the issue on the North -- on the

Korean peninsula. And it just says that "China has made relentless efforts for the settlement of the Korean peninsula nuclear issue. China's

contribution is well recognized and China's role is indispensable. I hope all relevant parties can work in the same direction to bring the issue back

to the track of peaceful settlement through dialogue and consultation."

Dialogue seems to be the key word at the moment, because this is what China has been urging for some time now while the U.S. is urging China to do more

economically. China is saying we need to talk. We need to get back to the negotiating table.

Anna, though, China has an enormous economic leverage on North Korea. Almost 90 percent of North Korea's foreign trade operations are actually

with China. China supplies its fuel needs. It's a lifeline, it really is, to North Korea.

China, though, will say we have obeyed all UN Security Council sanctions. We are a signatory, as a member of the Security Council. We have carried

them out. We've also banned coal imports from North Korea, so we are doing our bit. It is time for talking, not for further economic action.

[08:06:17] COREN: Yeah, Andrew, I thought it was very interesting how they said their role was indispensable in dealing with North Korea. But as we

know, China is under enormous pressure just not from the United States, but also the international community to reign in North Korea. Realistically,

what can China do?

STEVENS: Well, China could turn the oil taps off tomorrow, which would cripple the economy of North Korea. But by doing that, and this is what

China fears, is that it could destablize North Korea to the point where you could get actually an implosion in that country. And that's a country of

25 million people we're talking about. And that's something that China does not want to see. A consequence of that could also be that the U.S.

military would move closer to China, which again, China doesn't want to see.

It's interesting, because what China has been saying, and it's being joined by Russia on this, Anna, is that the U.S. should take steps to stop setting

up this missile system, known as THAAD, which is a high-altitude missile system, set up, the Americans say, to shoot down North Korean missiles.

China says it's just a way of spying on China. And Russia agrees with that.

And the Chinese are saying stop that and stop the exercises, the joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S., which North Korea so

objects to, if you stop those, then North Korea -- we can push North Korea into curtailing their nuclear operations.

So, that is one suggestion. It hasn't had any traction. It's been around for awhile. It hasn't had any traction so far, but again that was before

what looks like an ICBM missile was launched.

COREN: Andrew, we certainly appreciate your insight. Andrew Stevens there, joining us from Hong Kong.

So, did this missile actually have an intercontinental range? Well, David Wright is a well-known expert on nuclear weapons policy and missile defense

systems. He is now co-director and senior scientist at the global security program with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He joins us now from

Cambridge, Massachusetts.

And, David, thanks for joining us.

There is a bit of conjecture about whether or not North Korea actually launched an ICBM. The U.S. Pacific Command, the State Department and the

Russians came out saying it was an intermediate range. Can you shed any light?

DAVID WRIGHT, UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS: Yeah, I don't understand those claims. If you do the calculations, which I've done, it puts the

range well over the limit to be considered an intercontinental range missile. Now, that limit is a little bit funny. It's basically defined as

anything greater than 5,500 kilometers. This appears to be about 1,000 kilometers longer than that. So, technically that is an ICBM. It doesn't

mean, of course, it has the capability to reach the lower 48 states, which is sort of 8,000 to 9,000 kilometers.

But, still, it has done what North Korea claimed to have done, which is, as far as I can tell launch an ICBM.

COREN: Well, there have been reports in the last few hours that based on the data, North Korea now has a missile that can reach Alaska. How

accurate is that?

WRIGHT: According to my calculations, they can reach all Alaska. They cannot reach the lower 48 states or the large Hawaiian islands, but they

have the ability to reach Alaska.

COREN: So, you consider this a major development?

WRIGHT: Well, it certainly, you know, disturbing once they have the ability to reach U.S. territory. From the point of view of the technology,

it's sort of the next step on what we've been seeing them do. I mean, they -- mid-May launched something with a range about 2,000 kilometers less

than this, but it was clear that they were stepping in the direction of increasing the range. So, it's unfortunate, it's somewhat of a surprise,

but having watched the technology develop, I would have to say it's not a shock.

COREN: Well, let's talk a little bit more about that technology, because there's no denying that Kim Jong-un is hell bent on developing North

Korea's nuclear missile program. In the past year, he's launched more missiles than his father did during his 17-year reign. Is it fair to say

that all this testing, and then obviously today's launch, would suggest real progress?

WRIGHT: Well, I think it is. And one other thing that's interesting watching from a technical point of view is that it has eight or nine

different missiles in development, in parallel. So, the missile that was launched yesterday from the pictures, appears to be a different missile

than was launched back in May. And so, they're making progress and they have a lot of things in the workshop that they're putting together.

COREN: Despite this progress, experts say that North Korea has a long way to go in miniaturizing nuclear warheads for ICBMs. What timeframe, in your

opinion, are we looking at?

WRIGHT: Well, speculating on timeframe is always difficult. I think there's a growing consensus that North Korea has the ability to build a

warhead that works. I mean, we've seen that with underground tests. There's speculation about how big it is, but other countries at sort of

this stage in their development have been able to build relatively lightweight warheads.

So, I think the big question is whether or not they can build something that's both small enough and rugged enough to withstand the flight of a

long range missile. You know, that could be a year or so. It's hard to tell. But it's clear that unless something changes, that they're on their

way to both a long range missile and a warhead to put on it.

And I would argue that that's exactly why the United States needs to be finding a way to talk to North Korea, to basically put a cap on this

program.

COREN: David, in your opinion, is there room for dialogue, considering what is unfolding?

WRIGHT: Well, I think there's not only room for dialogue, I think it's the only way out of this. The Trump administration, just like other

administrations, has come to the conclusion that there are no good military options. Not only do we not know where everything we'd like to hit in

North Korea is, but it's also clear that if there were an attack on North Korea that with conventional artillery, for example, North Korea could

destroy large parts of Seoul in South Korea.

You can put sanctions on, which the U.S. is doing, but we've seen in the past that adds pressure but solve the problem.

That basically leaves you with trying to instigate talks, that has, in fact, worked in the past. It hasn't worked perfectly. But I don't see any

other way of keeping this from getting worse.

COREN: David Wright, great to talk to you. Many thanks.

WRIGHT: Nice to be here.

COREN: Well, ahead on News Stream, the U.S. president preps for the high stakes G20 summit where he'll meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the

very first time.

And right now in the Russian capital, Mr. Putin is meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. We'll go live to Moscow for a breakdown of those

talks. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:35] COREN: Welcome back.

North Korea is celebrating a milestone, saying it has successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile timed to coincide with American

Independence Day.

South Korea says it's working to determine if North Korea did, indeed, launch an ICBM, but most analysis indicates it had the capability of

reaching Alaska.

The fear is that North Korea will one day develop technology to put a nuclear warhead on a long range missile that will reach the United States.

Well, North Korea is sure to feature on the agenda at the G20 summit, which kicks off in Germany later this week. There is a lot a stake for the U.S.

president. And all eyes will be on his first face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Well, international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, joins us now from Abu Dhabi with a preview of the week ahead. And, Nic, we always knew that

North Korea was on the agenda, but you would have to assume after today's launch that is now a top priority.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It has to be. And we always knew it was going to be a very, very tough series of meetings at the

G20 for President Trump, whether it's that one-on-one with Vladimir Putin, and we heard from the spokesman at the Kremlin just yesterday saying

they're running out of patience over the diplomatic compounds the U.S. seized at the end of last year under President Obama's leadership. There's

a suggestion, therefore, that they could actually do the tit-for-tat, perhaps diplomatic expulsions that happened at that time.

So, that's sort of looming in the background. We knew they were meeting. We didn't know that was coming.

There's the obvious tensions with so many of the people at the table there. Angela Merkel has put on the agenda both climate change and trade. She's a

proponent -- and many of the others at the table -- are proponents of free trade.

There's a real concern that President Trump is about to launch into protectionism. His last overseas trip at the G7, he rejected and refused

to have the United States back the Paris climate change accord -- well, he actually deferred the decision until he left the meeting. But really that

set, you know, a sort of rancorous feeling there.

So, yes, North Korea is going to be a very big issue. He's going to need China to help on that. He's indicated that in his tweets, yet in the past

week the tensions have ratcheted up with China on a number of issues, trade being one, selling weapons to Taiwan being another. You know, the list

there goes on quite long.

So, he is -- always was planning to have a trilateral meeting with the -- with Japan and South Korea on the margins of the G20. But as you see --

this is a sort of a long exlanation, but in reality there are many, many threads that are pulling and making the tensions here. North Korea is one

part of it. But the ground that you would expect there to be sort of, if you will, some compromise and coming together of minds it's not -- the

meeting is not predisposed towards that right now.

COREN: Nic, there's obviously a great deal of anticipation in the lead-up to that Trump/Putin meeting. But despite the hype there's a very good

chance that one of the most pressing issues, that being Russian interference in the U.S. elections, won't even be discussed.

ROBERTSON: Yeah, and that's because President Trump, we're told, by H.R. McMaster, his national security adviser, is sort of going to go in with a

preformed plan, if you will. It's up to him what he -- what issues he raises. We're told Ukraine and Syria will come up. They're sort of

obvious ones, if you will.

But really for so many people in the United States, the really obvious one is the fact that Russia is believed to have meddled in the United States

diplomatic process. And so there's a real sense of how could that not come up in this first meeting of these two leaders.

You know, I think the narrative has always been behind the scenes until now. You know, if you go back a few months at least there was a hope by

both Putin and Trump that their relation -- they could build and grow a relationship. That's been forestalled by many issues, the hacking is just

one of them. And so what will we actually find out about what actually gets discussed. It's going to be -- you know, we may not get a full read

out of all the details, but I think left of the two men they would try to push ahead and find a way to increase their dialogue over time.

COREN: Certainly going to be fascinating.

Nic Robertson from Abu Dhabi, thank you.

Ahead of the G20, Mr. Putin is meeting today with Chinese President Xi Jinping. They are discussing trade, among other issues.

Now, Matthew Chance joins us from Moscow. And Matthew, let's start with the trade deals. What's on the table?

[08:20:15] MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's lots of deals on the table. In fact, $10 billion worth of trade pacts and

commercial deals have been signed now over the course of the past few minutes. In fact, the two leaders are now on state television giving their

sort of address to the various state television journalists that have gathered to hear them speak.

They'll be taking questions shortly, as well, we understand $10 billion worth of trade deals, which is just a drop in the ocean, really, compared

to the hundreds of billions of dollars of commercial contracts that have been signed over the past couple of years between Russia and China. Russia

has pivoted very much towards Asia, towards China, particularly, particularly since the sanctions from the western powers, from the United

States and Europe were imposed on the Russian economy following its annexation in 2014 of Crimea in Ukraine and with its continued involvement

in the conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

Russia almost sort of saying, look, you might try to isolate us in the west, but we can turn to other powerful nations in the east. And that's

exactly what they've done. And that commercial relationship it's just one part of the burgeoning relationship between Russia and China. They're are

also diplomatic allies in many aspects and military allies as well in terms of the supply of arms to each other and to joint military exercises.

They've also spoken out at a dinner last night about the crisis on the Korean peninsula, basically calling on the United States to stop

escalation. They believe the deployment by the United States of its anti- missile defense system, this THAAD missile defense system, as it's called, to the South Korean area of the peninsula, as being kind of provocative and

forcing the North Koreans into even more escalating provocative military action of their own.

There hasn't been a comment from the Kremlin yet, or from the Chinese, as far as I'm aware, about the launch of the latest missile by the North

Koreans. So that there has been a statement from the Russian defense ministry about that. They're playing down the suggestion this was an

intercontinental ballistic missile. They're saying the range was just not far enough from their analysis. They're calling it an intermediate range

ballistic missile, which is significant, obviously, because it's the distance that those missiles can reach which determines the level of

concern and anxiety amongst many in international community about North Korea's missile program.

But we are expecting to hear some more comments from the two leaders of the Russian and the Chinese leaders about the crisis on the Korean peninsula

very shortly.

COREN: Matthew, the symbolism of Xi and Putin's meeting really cannot be understated ahead of the G20. It's a show of force, a partnership that

really must irk the United States. What are you hearing out of Moscow?

CHANCE: Yeah, I think that's probably true. As I mentioned, you know, one of the reasons Russia is moved so closely to China is to show the west that

it does have -- it's not isolated internationally, that it does have options, and China, of course, is a very powerful option.

And of course this is by no means the first time that these two leaders have met. Vladimir Putin may be preparing for his first meeting with

Donald Trump on the sidelines of the G20 later this week, but this is the 20th time that he's had a face-to-face meeting with Xi Jinping. And so in

terms of relationships between international leaders, between heads of state, the relationship between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping is

exceptionally close. And it's certainly a lot closer than that between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The two men, of course, have never met

before. And there's all sorts of toxic poisonous political atmospheres going on in the United States that really will prevent them, I expect, from

getting much closer.

COREN: Matthew Chance in Moscow. Thank you for that perspective.

Well, turning now to the battle against ISIS underway right now in both Iraq and Syria. The terror group is losing critical ground. In Mosul,

Iraqi forces are close to driving ISIS out of the city. They are said to be battling for the last several hundred meters of the old city.

While in Raqqa, we're learning that Syrian democratic forces backed by the United States have made significance gains. U.S. central command says the

forces have breached a strategic wall surrounding Raqqa's old city.

Well, U.S. airstrikes have been instrumental in their campaign against ISIS in Raqqa, Muhammad Lila had exclusive access to the USS George H.W. Bush

when it was on operation in the Gulf back in May and got insight into the air and sea war in Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're the unseen faces in the war on ISIS. America's fighter pilots 30,000 feet in

the sky, providing critical condition air support to troops down below.

We were given exclusive access to the USS George H.W. Bush, home to a strike force of more than 40 F-18 fighter jets and the pilots who fly them.

[08:25:09] (on camera): We're walking on the air deck right now. Take a look around. You can see the massive firepower that's all around us. This

is the most advanced ship in the entire U.S. fleet. In fact, just from this runway to my side, they launch anywhere from 12 to 20 airstrikes against

ISIS targets every single day.

SCOTT WELLS, U.S. NAVY: It's a pretty unique experience for sure. LILA (voice-over): Scott Wells spoke to us down below in the ship's hangar bay,

with engineers working around the clock. For him, the hardest part of the job isn't actually the job, it's being away from his wife and two young

daughters for seven months straight.

(on camera): How do you stay in touch?

WELLS: Via e-mail, pictures, occasional phone calls. But while we're underway, there's no Skype, chat, Facetime, anything like that. So, it's

very challenging.

LILA (voice-over): The ship runs like a small town powered by twin nuclear reactors. With a crew of 5,000 on board, there's always activity, with

launches during the day and with infrared lighting at night. By the time the deployment is over, the military says the pilots on boards will have

dropped more than a million pounds of bombs in Iraq and Syria.

JAMES MCCALL, COMMANDER AIR GROUP: At the end of the day, we need to make sure we're putting bombs in correct positions to take out ISIS.

LILA: But that hasn't always happened. The Pentagon has been dogged by accusations that its air strikes have killed hundreds of innocent civilian

since the campaign began three years ago. One monitoring group says that number is well over a thousand. The U.S. military maintains that it takes,

quote, extra ordinary measures to mitigate the loss of civilian life.

REAR ADMIRAL. KENNETH WHITESELL, U.S. NAVY: Thank you --

LILA: Kenneth Whitesell is a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. He spoke to us while F-18s were taking off below.

WHITESELL: The war is very -- not a clean business. Some of the times, you know, a motorcycle or a car can come into an area where the weapons fall.

LILA: Most air strikes are planned days, even weeks in advance. But right up until the last second, a pilot can abort the mission if they see unusual

activity on the ground.

MCCALL: When something comes up and they see someone who they haven't identified on the ground, they know we're not going to drop that bomb. That

bomb can wait maybe an hour, maybe another day, maybe another week.

LILA: For the pilots on board, it's a responsibility weighing heavily on their shoulders, knowing their decisions can mean life and death.

Muhammad Lila, CNN, on board the USS George H.W. Bush.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: So, with us more on our breaking news coverage of the North Korean missile launch. How Pyongyang is directly testing the patience of the

U.S., South Korea, and others. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:18] COREN: Well, let's return now to the breaking news we are following: North Korea's claim it successfully launched an intercontinental

ballistic missile.

Our Paula Hancocks is in Seoul. And, Paula, if this launch is, in fact, an ICBM, it certainly represents a huge milestone for North Korea in its aim

to build nuclear weapons capable of hitting the United States, its ultimate aim.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely, Anna. We remember back on January 1, Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader he was

close to test launching an ICBM, an intercontinental ballistic missile. Now at that point, there was a lot of speculation as to how close it could

be, whether they were even close to that kind of capability, and now today you see Kim Jong-un front and center right at the test site. He is the one

that signed the test order, you see that on North Korean state-run television as well. And looking clearly delighted after the test launch,

which he claims was a grand success.

And it's been called a historic event in North Korea. They say that they can now hit anywhere in the world. Now, of course, most experts do not

believe that to be true, but they are looking at these figures with a lot of interest, some saying that they believe that it could actually have the

range of an ICBM, it could have the range of potentially hitting Alaska and you have the joint chiefs of staff here in South Korea saying right now the

U.S. and South Korea are analyzing the data to figure out if their claim of an ICBM is true.

So, they are not denying at this point that it' an ICBM. We heard from the JCS actually saying that today's launch was an improved range compared to

the May 14 launch. Now, that's significant, Anna, because on May 14, after that launch, many experts said that that was the most significant

improvement in North Korea's nuclear weapons program to date. So, if this is an improved range, then it's very significant -- Anna.

COREN: And, Paula, South Korea's president, Moon Jae-un, has indicated in the past the he wants dialogue with North Korea in the hope of bringing

them back to the table. He's always adopted that more softly, softly approach. But does today's launch change that?

HANCOCKS: Potentially, it could. Obviously, it's not going to change the man. Just a few days ago was standing next to U.S. President Donald Trump.

President Moon still said I want North Korea to come back to the negotiating table.

Now clearly you can see what North Korea thought of that statement by today's launch.

But we heard from President Moon saying that he did warn North Korea not to cross the bridge of no return. And also said that if North Korea does

cross a red line, then the South Korea and the U.S. -- you don't know what their response would be.

He didn't specify, though, what the red line was, whether that's an ICBM, whether it's a sixth nuclear test. It's really unclear. So, I think there

will be a lot of meetings behind the scenes to try and figure out what kind of response that they should actually have to this, but President Moon is a

pro-dialogue, a pro-engagement president. He does favor engagement with North Korea.

Now,whether or not that's feasible at this point is unclear. But there are still many experts that are saying it's actually the only option when you

think about it, but there has to be dialogue, otherwise North Korea will just continue in the way it has been. And that's how it's got this far --

Anna.

COREN: Paula Hancocks joining us from Seoul following those developments. Good to see you. Thank you.

Well, President Trump has joined the pope in offering support to a couple in the UK. They're waging a legal battle over their terminally ill infant

son. Well, despite their efforts, British and European courts have ruled that doctors can take the baby off life support. Diana Magnay has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:35:10] DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Max, such a painful story. This is pitching the U.K.'s top pediatrician against two desperate parents, all

of whom have Charlie's best interests at heart, but who want to go about protecting them in fundamentally different ways.

(voice-over): The tubes that keep him alive will be turned off soon. His parents' last hope, to take him to the States for highly experimental

medical treatment, blocked by the British and European courts. Their last wish refused -- to take him home to die.

CHRIS GARD, CHARLIE GARD'S FATHER: He's a true fighter, he's a soldier. He will fight. He will fight to the very end. He's still fighting.

But we're not allowed to fight for him anymore. Our parental rights have been stripped away. We can't even take our own son home to die. We've been

denied that, do you not think we've been through enough.

MAGNAY: Little Charlie Gard was born healthy but diagnosed the following month with a rare genetic disorder, a form of mitochondrial disease which

has left him, doctors say, with irreversible brain damage.

CROWD: We're still fighting! We're still fighting! Save Charlie Gard! Save Charlie Gard!

MAGNAY: At the weekend, protests in London against the decision to turn off life support. And after the pope sent a message to the parents from the

Vatican saying he was praying for them in the hope that their desire to accompany and care for their own child until the end will be respected, now

Donald Trump has weighed in, too.

If we can help little Charlie Gard as per our friends in the U.K. and the pope, we would be delighted to do so.

(on camera): Charlie's case is extremely complicated. The treatment that the U.S. is offering is called nuclear side bypass therapy. It's never been

tested on a strain of the disease as rare as Charlie's is. And even the U.S. specialist is offering it says he thinks it's unlikely to reverse

Charlie's brain damage.

And that's why the British courts ruled the way they did. They said they didn't want Charlie to be the subject of medical experimentation if there

was no chance of him getting better, that his rights to die with dignity must come first.

(voice-over): But that's not the way his parents see it. Sadly for them, the pleas of a pope and a president already too late.

(on camera): Of course, from the parents' point of view, any chance of improvement in Charlie's condition they will jump at, however small that

might be. But in this country, if doctors and parents conflict over the care of a child, it goes to the courts. So, however, comforting these words

from Donald Trump may be, he doesn't have authority over the British courts. This has gone all the way up through the high court system, to the

court of appeal, to the supreme court and European Court of Justice, all of whom have sided with the doctors that it is in Charlie's best interests to

turn the life support switched off.

Diana Magnay, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: And an update to share with you on this story. The pope's pediatric hospital in Rome has offered to take Charlie Gard into its care

in an effort prevent London's Great Ormond Street Hospital from shutting off his life support.

The Vatican-owned hospital said it would let Charlie's parents make any final decisions.

News Stream will return after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:06] COREN: Welcome back.

You'll be interested to know that beer is big business in Vietnam. And now it appears craft breweries are on the rise. Krsitie Lu Stout has this

report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's Monday night in Ho Chi Minh City and friends are meeting for beer. The post-work

activity is a national pastime in Vietnam. Last year the Vietnamese downed almost 3.8 --

(voice-over): -- billion liters of beer, making Vietnam the biggest market for the beverage in Southeast Asia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's so much more to beer culture in Vietnam now than just that particular image. The story about craft beer has really taken off

in the last couple of years.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Today, the streets of Saigon are buzzing with IPAs, ghosis (ph) and other small batch brews from brands like Heart of Darkness

and Winking Seal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As Vietnam has continued to experience income growth, that's where craft beer has really come in. The taste and the preferences

of Vietnamese consumers are changing and evolving. And there are lots of people trying to rush to that market.

LU STOUT (voice-over): More than two years, John Reid, an America, bet that Vietnam's fondness for beer could extend to craft.

JOHN REID, BEER ENTREPRENEUR: We wanted to create something in Vietnam for them to have a local craft beer brand but not an American brand. We wanted

a Vietnamese brand that we started here. And everything was local and it was created from Vietnam.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Picking up international awards and recognition Pastor Street (ph) Brewing Company is available nationwide in Vietnam as

well as in Malaysia and Thailand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a lot of fun stuff in the tanks right now.

LU STOUT (voice-over): This year, the company started exporting to the U.S. market.

REID: About a year into it, about 10, 15 breweries started opening up and we didn't see any decrease in sales for our taproom or our distribution. It

just all grew. So it just showed that all these breweries are opening up, all helping to build the culture together.

LU STOUT (voice-over): State-produced beer and multinational brewers still fill the glasses of most Vietnamese. But craft breweries hope that better

quality and taste can lure customers despite the higher cost.

For Loc Truong, founder of East West Brewing Company, one sip is all it takes.

LOC TRUONG, EAST WEST BREWING COMPANY: A lot of people, they didn't know that there's so many different flavors in beer out there. Once they tried

craft, they never went back.

LU STOUT (voice-over): In a move to educate the public, this taproom's beers are made onsite.

TRUONG: We cannot really show what craft beer is when you don't have a craft brewery to really guide them through.

LU STOUT (voice-over): This year, the Southeast Asia Brewing Conference is being hosted for the first time in Ho Chi Minh City, a toast of sorts to

the growing influence of Vietnam's microbreweries

TRUONG: I think aside from maybe owner of Ferrari, owning a beer company is the next best thing. The market is still so open and the possibilities of

what you want to do, how you want to shape the market, it really depends on yourself.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.

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COREN: Well, that is News Stream. I'm Anna Coren. Thanks so much for your company. World Sport with Alex Thomas is coming up next.

END