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Death toll rises to 21 in anti-government protests in Iran; Pakistan summons U.S. ambassador over Trump tweet; south Korea proposes talks after North's overture; New Israeli law makes it harder to divide Jerusalem; CNN reporting on slavery in Libya sparked action. Aired at 8-9a ET

Aired January 2, 2018 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Day six of protests in Iran, the death toll is rising and hundreds are detained. Protests in Pakistan after Donald Trump's tweet

that the White House is still withholding billions of aid. And two countries technically at war but proposing talks. We have the latest on

North and South Korea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And we begin in Iran where deadly anti-government protests are now in their sixth day. At least 21 people have been killed since the

demonstrations began on Thursday. This spread swiftly to cities, as you can see, across the country.

Four hundred and fifty people have been arrested in the past three days. On Monday, six people were killed in the apparent attack on a police

station.

The Iranian media reports the clashes began when demonstrators tried to steal guns and for the first time, Iran's supreme leader addressed the

crisis, saying the country's enemies are to blame for stirring the unrest.

Now CNN's Nic Paton Walsh joins us now with more in the story, live from London. And, Nic, Iran's supreme leader -- he has finally weighed in, who

are these enemies he is blaming for, for the unrest?

NIC PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, traditionally, you always find the supreme leader pointing the finger to the United States, when referring

to the enemy.

But bear in mind, given the intense regional rivalry and adversity currently Iran has reached a peaked with Saudi Arabia at the moment, I

think we can throw them into the mix as well.

His statement if full says, the enemy is waiting for an opportunity for all, through which they can enter. He goes on to blame those with the

money, politics weapons and intelligence, I paraphrase there fermenting the unrest.

Now, this, of course, comes at a key time. You said yourself that you know, we have seen the death toll nearly double overnight. From Monday,

much of that concentrated in one instance, it seems, in the province and another desert in that area, too, as well.

But certainly I think we're at a point now where Iran's more hard line security forces have begun to make clear that maybe, more traditionally

repressive tactics might put into place soon, as certainly a statement later on Monday night from the ministry of intelligence said they are be

targeting those behind the protests with resolute and targeted operations very soon.

So a suggestion may be that the roughly measured response we've seen from the authorities so far, from what is the worst outbreak of unrest at least

eight years or so in Iran may potentially be coming to some sort of end.

But at the same time, through the protests aren't necessarily spreading or growing in intensity, they are just sustained now it seems into their sixth

day. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Waiting to see the government's response, whether a crackdown is next. Meanwhile, is tweeting, earlier he said, now is the time for change

in Iran.

Earlier this morning, U.S. time, just three minutes ago, he said, basically the U.S. is watching. He is through his tweets, ratcheting up the

pressure. But, Nic, is this going to have any impact on the dynamics inside the country?

WALSH: It's extraordinary hard to tell, and we should point out the broader context here that these protesters, themselves were largely

unanticipated. Yes, there has been a backdrop of the economic and political discontent, particularly economy.

Many expecting the nuclear deal to provide a relief in sanctions, whenever we came through in the wake that many had anticipated, but American

intervention in Iran is often counterproductive.

And certainly the Obama administration during the '09 protest stood back and said let's be relatively quiet. We don't want those on the streets to

be considered quote, to be the agents of the White House.

Now, of course, that's not really something that appears to have concerned Donald Trump. He hasn't seen this morning after morning, made it quite

clear that they stand with the Iranian people on the streets there.

And of course now that comes a time when the Supreme Leader himself, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and security officials, too, appointing an external

force, fermenting this unrest.

Donald Trump, in fact says, the people of Iran are finally acting against a brutal and corrupt regime. He goes on to say, they have little food, big

inflation and no human rights, that's a slightly exaggeration on how much food is available to them.

But there is long-term economic grief there. The moderate government of President Rouhani accepts that protestors on the streets have some degree,

a point.

But he also said, there is difference between protests and rioting through a spokesperson, it's a very volatile situation here, it gone on longer than

many expected.

They came to some degree and anticipate almost from nowhere, and how do you really, Kristie -- this is the big question, how do you really negotiate a

peaceful resolution for something like this, the street round, it's a ground swell.

[08:05:00] It has no figurehead or key leader, no manifesto apart from a broader change, just interesting in Iran's political climate, but itself

could make life complicated. There are some parts also say now, we may be seeing perhaps a slowing down to some degree, incredibly hard to tell

though. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes, absolutely. Given the extremely violent situation -- it's getting increasingly violent as you point out. It's really hard to imagine

how this is going to dial down. Nic Paton Walsh, reporting live for us, thank you.

Now, let's get the view from inside Iran. Mohammad Marandi is a professor from Tehran University. He joins us now live via Skype from Tehran. Thank

you so much for joining us here on the program.

MOHAMMAD MARANDI, PROFESSOR, TEHRAN UNIVERSITY: Thank you.

LU STOUT: First, those comments from the supreme leader, how are you, how are the people of Iran reacting to his comments, blaming enemies of Iran

for these protests?

MARANDI: Well, President Rouhani, three days ago, said basically the same thing and the leader was reflecting the same views. President Rouhani said

the United States is involved in this, based on intelligence and client regimes associated with the United States.

And the implication is Israel and Saudi Arabia are probably involved as well, although that hasn't been explicitly said. There is evidence,

though, that there is influence from the outside.

We have to make a distinguished distinction between protests, which were about economic issues for the most part and the riots that we haven't seen

in the last few days.

The riots have been instigated from broad, social platforms are being used by groups in the west to tell people to attack police stations. They're

teaching people how to make Molotov cocktails and to use them and these are groups that are based in western countries.

On the other hand, we do see that, how that's like the DOA (ph) and BBC Persian are creating narrative of fear in Iran or trying to intent to fuel

the fires in the opinion of many people here. But we have to keep in mind that Iran doesn't have the ability that western countries have in certain

respects.

For example, in 2009, during the London riots, the British prime minister said they should shut down social media, and even in England and the United

States, social media cooperates with the government when there are violent riots, but in the case of Iran, western countries will not cooperate

whatsoever, and they allow them to instigate violence.

LU STOUT: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been down playing the protest, saying that you know, this is nothing. We just heard from the

supreme leader, blaming enemies of Iran for these protests.

You point out that these protests started because of concerns that people in Iran had about the economy, but six days in, this has morphed into

something much bigger, much greater, hasn't it?

MARANDI: Well, not really, I think that as I said, a sharp distinction has to be made between the protests about the economy, especially because they

were about two or three financial institutions that collapsed and people lost their money.

Then this -- the riots are a distinct issue and what the president and what the leader were alluding to are the riots. The riot, themselves are not

popular.

We do see that they are growing smaller in number, last night was fewer than the night before. And the night before was fewer than the night

before that.

Three nights ago, that was the height of it. But it is becoming increasingly violent. They are -- they have attacked police stations,

police officers have been killed and they stole a fire engine.

And pushed it down a hill, it hit car, killing a family. The rioters have cause the deaths of those civilians and the police. So it is a situation

which -- since people are becoming more and more upset with the rioters, they are growing increasingly isolated.

LU STOUT: It is getting increasingly violent just given the death toll, and as the protesters who were still involved in this movement, get more

determined with their action, will there be a crackdown? Look at in next officially.

MARANDI: Well, it depends what we mean by a crackdown, if it is a crackdown on those who are investigating violence, then I think that in any

country, that would be the case. When you attack a police station, then there is going to be resistance.

One of the things that is happening, for example, is the terrorist organization, the Mujahideen-e Khalq, which is during the 1980s

assassinated hundreds of Iranians and exploded numerous bombs across the country.

I know people who dies as a result and they went into Iraq, and fought for Saddam Hussein against Iran. They are now based in western countries, and

they are also deeply involved in this.

And through social media, they are being allowed by western governments to speak to people, their followers in Iran to carry out violent acts.

So one of the problems in Iran is that the -- there is a double standard here. Trump, himself, who is not defending African-Americans when they're

being shot on the streets of the United States, in Charlottesville when people are killed, when a person is killed, he takes that sort of position.

[08:10:07] And then, he supports Saudi Arabia in destroying Yemen and starving the country. For someone like him to speak about the Iranian

people and human rights, I think for many people in Iran is extraordinary.

LU STOUT: Got it. So when Donald Trump says it's time for change in Iran, that is a message that you and perhaps many others in Iran simply don't

want to hear right now. Professor, we're going to have to leave it that.

(CROSSTALK)

MARANDI: The United States must change.

LU STOUT: Professor, Marandi, thank you for joining us here on the program. We appreciate your views, until next time, take care. Turning

now to the backlash in Pakistan over Donald Trump's another tweet -- his first tweet of 2018, in fact, said that Pakistan had taken billions of

dollars, but given the U.S. nothing but quote, lies and deceit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Right here, let's bring up the video, you can see people holding sign, some depicting Mr. Trump saying, dump Trump. The White House said,

it will continue to withhold $255 million in military aide to Pakistan over its handling of terrorists.

Now since that tweet by Mr. Trump, Pakistan has summoned the U.S. ambassador. CNN producer Sophia Saifi is in the capital of Islamabad. She

joins us now live. Sophia, Trump again, he has accused Pakistan of lies and deceit, and Pakistan not quite liking that.

SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: No, not at all. I mean, yes, the timing of that tweet was quite surprising, late night here, the 1st of January.

We saw the foreign minister immediately respond on Twitter saying that there will be a statement sent out by the Pakistani establishment and that

it will separate facts from fiction.

Now as we are speak for the past hour and a bit, there has been a meeting with the prime minister and the national security counsel job minister,

they are also attending and we can expect a response from the combination of that meeting.

With regards to protests, you just said, that protests happening in Karachi, is all organic. And when it comes to the kind of sentiment that's

there on the ground, it's always been, you know slightly anti-American.

And the most recent protest that we saw on a wide scale against America was when Trump -- President Trump's administration moved the embassy from

Jerusalem, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. So we had that. But with regards to this issue and a proper statement from the government, we're not

expecting anything until at least late tonight. Kristie.

LU STOUT: You know, not long ago, about a month ago, we were talking live on this program about that visit by the U.S. Secretary of Defense James

Mattis. He was there in Pakistan and he said he wanted to find common ground with officials there in Islamabad, what happened to that? Where

does the relationship stand now?

SAIFI: Well, yes, I mean the month of December started off -- but you know, I mean, back in August, you saw a lot of heated exchange between the

two countries but then things have begun to kind of cool down with the Defense Secretary Mattis' visit to Pakistan.

But then again, you had Vice President Pence make that unexpected to -- that unannounced visit to Afghanistan. We also -- in his speech, he

criticized Pakistan umpping up that rhetoric against the country.

We have also seen, you know, Secretary Tillerson right in op-ed in the American media. You know, also criticizing Pakistan, talking about the

Haqqani Network. And that has been regurgitated a lot.

It's all about the Haqqani Network. It's all about the Taliban being given sanctuary in Pakistan. And it all comes down to aid. Now this $225

million that the Trump administration is considering to withhold from Pakistan, Pakistani -- I mean, even the figure that President Trump tweeted

out last night, $33 billion, even that is being debated here in Pakistan.

But some Palestinian officials saying that that's not in fact aid at all, that's a part of the coalition support fund, a considerable chunk of money

that's been given to Pakistan is just repayment for their assistance in the war in Afghanistan.

So there is a lot of debate. There is a lot of speculation. And we're just going to have to see how strongly worded this statement is going to be

after this meeting that's ongoing here in the capital. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Absolutely. Thank you. Sophia Saifi, reporting live from Islamabad, thank you. Now, turning now to the Korean Peninsula, it looks

like next month's Winter Olympics, it could be a catalyst for new talks between the North and South.

Now South Korea has proposed high level talks with the North to take place a week from now on January 9th. This comes after a rare overture from Kim

Jong-un, who said he might send delegation to the Winter games in South Korea.

Now for more, let's go to Paula Hancocks. She is live for us from Seoul. And, Paula, South Korea has well offered these talks with the North to take

place next week. In practical terms, how could this meeting take place?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, if both sides want it to take place, it could very easily take place.

[08:15:00] The suggestion from the South Korean's side is that it will be held at the DMZ, at the Panmunjom border village, which is half in North

Korea, half in South Korea.

They've suggested the peace house, which is in the southern part, they said next Tuesday is the date that could happen. They haven't had a response

from North Korea yet.

But they said the reason they're trying to rush this through and the reason they think these talks should be high level from the outset is because

there is only a month left to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

There isn't much time to try and hammer out any details, and South Korea wants North Korea at these Olympics. The president, Moon Jae-in has billed

them as the Peace Olympics. He has consistently said he wants North Korea involved.

And he is certainly welcoming these overtures saying that if there are talks, then inevitably it will end up resulting in talking about nuclear

talks, about the nuclear program. And certainly he is holding out hopes that this could go well. We are hearing a lot of positive statements

coming from South Korea at the moment. Kristie.

LU STOUT: One can imagine. And there has been criticism leveled as well. The question of whether this move drives a wedge, between the president of

South Korea and U.S. President Donald Trump, your thoughts on that. Could these talks force a break from Donald Trump's more hard line approach when

it comes to North Korea?

HANCOCKS: Well, I mean the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea is far beyond two men, is far beyond two leaders. I don't think there is any

credible fears that there could be a wedge between the two countries when it comes to the alliance itself.

When it comes to the president, they have long disagreed really, fundamentally on how to deal with North Korea. Moon Jae-in came to power

on a bill of a ticket of negotiating with North Korea, on more engagement, more dialogue.

And you saw that quite quickly, the U.S. president, Donald Trump turning against his ideas of talking to Kim Jong-un. He has leveled very personal

attacks against the North Korea leader.

And what we have seen South Korea agree with the pressure and sanctions, policy of the United States, I think it's something that most people have

know that President Moon Jae-in, himself, does want dialogue, he does want this engagement.

And this is the opportunity South Korea sees as trying to secure that and this is why they are really bending over backwards to try and make it work,

saying if next Tuesday doesn't work for you, we can change the date, we can change the time, we can change the venue. They are trying to make this

happen. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes, they are saying, any time, anywhere, these proposed talks for the reasons you just mentioned, not coming as a surprise, but being

very welcome news there in South Korea. Paula Hancocks, reporting live, thank you.

You are watching News Stream. And still to come, Israel is striking a hard stance on the issue of Jerusalem. We will have more on a new amendment

that could make reaching a two-state solution much, much harder.

[08:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: All right, coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. This is News Stream. Israeli lawmakers just took action that would make a

two-state solution more difficult. They passed legislation that would make it harder to negotiate any part of Jerusalem.

The Holy City was claimed as the capital of Israel and of a future Palestinian state. This new development comes after U.S. President Donald

Trump recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

Now Oren Liebermann has more on this story. He joins us from Jerusalem. Oren, what does this bill mean for Jerusalem and hopes for a two-state

solution?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So emboldened by President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israeli. Israel's right

wing government has pushed forward this law, not only as a law but as an amendment to basic law which essentially gives it more political weighing.

And it has two separate angle, first it says if Israel wants to see any part of Jerusalem move forward, it requires many more members of the

Knesset, Israel's parliament to vote for it.

It used to be 61, now it requires 80. Of course foreign entity would be the Palestinians in any negotiations. So it makes Jerusalem much harder to

negotiate from anyone trying to hold a peace process.

For example of course, President Donald Trump who insists he is still moving forward with his plans. But it also has a second part to this law.

And that says that Israel or the Knesset can redraw the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem and redraw the borders of the Holy City.

And that allows Israel to move forward from its greater Jerusalem plan is. Part of that plan is removing two Palestinian neighborhoods from the city

to Jerusalem to ensure that the city retains a large Jewish majority.

That is why Palestinian authority, President Mahmoud Abbas slammed this new law saying the Palestinians will take important steps -- legal steps to the

New Year to hold Israel accountable for what he called a grave violation of international law.

LU STOUT: Oren Liebermann, reporting live for us from Jerusalem. Many thanks, indeed, for that update. Now, while the U.S. President grapples

with a host of international issues, he also faces challenges on the home front like that possible trade war with China, a government spending fight,

debate over immigration and bring his party together on an infrastructure deal. Suzanne Malveaux has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Everyone's got the New Year's resolutions, but for President Trump and the Republican Congress, the first

order of business is to make sure that they are the same ones.

Trump is all about pushing an infrastructure package at least $200 billion worth of projects over 10 years with the hopes of adding $800 billion from

state and local funding.

Now, according to Trump's top legislative aide, the president is going to sit down with his team, hash out the details and present it to Senate

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan at Camp David this coming weekend.

We are told that the president will provide the principles of the plan and allow members of Congress to actually craft the legislation. Well, the

first problem, however, of course, is getting the Republicans united over this.

House Republicans led by Ryan have their sights on entitlement reform, going after cuts to welfare, food stamps and overhauling Medicare.

McConnell has made it clear that the Senate has no appetite for that, and he has noted that with Republican the one-seat majority on the Senate side,

they've got to go after things they can work with Democrats on, like a broad agreement on government spending and bipartisan legislation

overhauling immigration, and what to do with the young undocumented immigrants when DACA expires in March.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Quite a to-do list there. Suzanne Malveaux, reporting. Now it may be a new year, a new start, but U.S. politicians are still grappling

with the fall-out from last year's sexual harassment scandals.

Democratic Senator Al Franken is expected to leave the Senate in a few hours from now. Now multiple women have accused him of touching them

inappropriately.

And Franken has apologized for some of them but said other allegations were not true. A special election will be held in November to complete the

remaining two years of Franken's term.

In 2017, CNN's report on a modern slave auction in Libya sparked fiery protests in Paris and calls for action from

around the world.

That report uncovered a modern slave auction in Libya that sold people, it sold migrants trying to reach Europe. CNN's Nima Elbagir is the

correspondent who brought that report to light. And while several investigations are now ongoing, she tells us more desperately needs to be

done.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a story that we actually had been working on for quite some time. About a year ago, it became obvious

to us that the traffickers were looking around and seeing these warehouses full of migrants and deciding, well, how can I make money off them?

And the answer was, selling them. When we received that first video that depicted people being auctioned off, it depicted men being auctioned off.

[08:25:00] It just seemed so inexplicable that this could be slavery in 2017, that we could be witnessing human beings being auctioned off. And we

spoke to a number of legal experts, and we asked, is this exploitation? And it actually took one expert to go, this is slavery. This is slavery.

It's been really incredible to see that there has been such a human, really visceral reaction to this. You've had President Obama, you've had Emmanuel

Macron in France, but it's not just been across the political spectrum.

In the entertainment spheres, Rihanna, Gigi Hadid, T.I., LL Cool J, Naomi Campbell. It has been every day average people on the streets protesting

and making sure that global leaders understand that this is something that people don't want to stand for.

I don't know how to feel, honestly. You know, there have been real tangible results. There has been a huge leap in terms of the migrants that

have been stuck in Libya and their repatriation to their home countries, but more needs to be done.

We need to remind those kids trying to chase their dreams in Europe, that their dreams are worthwhile and they are worthwhile and that the world

cares. And I don't know that we're there yet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now incredible world wide reaction generated by, Nima's, report. But now, we are waiting for meaningful action to be taken, you are watching

News Stream right here on CNN.

And up next, Germany is taking its fight against hate speech and fake news online. Why new rules could cost social media platforms a fortune.

Also ahead, time's up. Some of Hollywood's elite have launched a campaign to fight sexual harassment in the work place. How they are calling

attention to the cause, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You are watching News Stream. And these are the world headlines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now Iran's supreme leader says the country's enemies are to blame for the ongoing unrest. At least 21 people have been killed since

the anti-government protests began on Thursday.

And many are angry over stalled economy, allege corruption and high unemployment. We are seeing picture of a sizable protest in Karachi. The

protest comes after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that Islamabad has taken billions of dollars but given the U.S. nothing but lies and deceit.

The White House says it will continue to withhold $255 billion in military aid to Pakistan over the country's handling of terrorists. Now South Korea

says it is willing to have talks with the North any time, anywhere. And proposes January 9th, that's next week, as a possible date. The South

Korean president also calls for swift measures to help North Korea take part in the Winter Olympics. This comes after Kim Jong-un offered to have a

dialogue with the South.

Germany kicks off 2018 with new internet laws. Facebook, Twitter, and other major social media companies can now be fined up to $60 million if they

don't quickly remove content deemed to be hate speech or fake news. For more on the story, journalist Chris Burns joins us now live from Berlin.

Chris, thank you so much for joining us. Interesting development here. Just walk us through this new law and why Germany is doing this.

CHRIS BURNS, JOURNALIST: Well, Kristie, this is called the network enforcement law or NetzDG in German terms. What it is is enforcing laws

already on the books against any kind of hate speech. This has really focused on the social media sector. It's any kind of social media that has

more than two million followers is subject to this the law.

The law says that within 24 hours, if you are a social media company, you got to take down any kind of hate speech. You have a maximum of one week,

if it is seen as illegal but not obviously illegal, if they have to look at it a little bit more closely. But in any case, this is going to affect a

lot of social media companies.

Facebook already pulled down an anti-semitic video last month under terms of this law that actually came into effect in October, but the companies

were given three months to comply, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes. In this era of fake news and rampant online hate speech, Germany is really taking a cyber leadership role here, but is there push

back? Is there push back in Germany to the new law? Is it raising concerns that it could hurt free speech?

BURNS: Well, you know, it's an intense debate, Kristie, because in Germany, you do have of course the Nazi past. You have people very, very

upset about the fact that there is a far-right party. The alternative for Germany, they got more than 10 percent of the vote in the last election in

the fall. And they actually profited from this social media very much.

And because of that, that's one reason why this law passed. In fact, at the moment, there is a case against the one of the leaders of the alternative

for Germany who is Beatrix von Storch. She is actually a granddaughter of a finance minister under Adolph Hitler. And she had tweeted some anti-Muslim

tweets around new year. She is now under investigation under terms of that law.

LU STOUT: Yes. In this law the onus really is on social media companies to find and to remove fake news, hate speech, illegal materials, et cetera.

BURNS: That's right.

LU STOUT: What are major platforms saying about this? Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, et cetera. Are they prepared to police all their content?

BURNS: Well, you know, the social media are under the gun on a number of different laws in Europe. In fact, they're considering more. There is going

to be a data protection law that comes out in the spring. And Facebook is mobilizing hundreds of extras. They are hiring hundreds of extra staff to

actually carry this out and watch their massive social media.

In Germany, it's about 40 percent of population that is connected to Facebook. So that's a very big job they have. It is going to be very

expensive to do, but of course, even more expensive not to comply, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes, absolutely. Chris Burns reporting. Thank you so much for that.

Now, Logan Paul is a YouTube star. He has more than 15 million subscribers. He has apologized after he posted a disturbing video. The video shows what

appears to be a body hanging from a tree in a Japanese forest that is known for suicides.

Now, it was viewed more than six million times on YouTube before it was taken down. Commenters called it sickening. They asked him, why he would

leave such a video when he has such a young fan base? Paul's apology, he gave his apology on Twitter, says that he had been, quote, misguided by

shock and awe.

Now, the "Me Too" movement is getting renewed intensity. Thanks to a new initiative. It is called "Time's Up." Hundreds of prominent actresses and

Hollywood execs promise to help expand the fight against sexual harassment in the work place. They published an open letter in The New York Times and

Spanish language newspaper to bring attention to their cause. They are also asking actresses to wear black to Sunday's Golden Globes.

Alyssa Milano, who was accredited for being the first Hollywood star to support the "Me Too" campaign

[08:35:00] said this, quote, we stand with you. We support you. Time's up. The initiative includes a legal defense fund and legislation to strengthen

laws against sexual harassment. Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon is a key player behind "Time's Up" and helps spread the word on social media.

In fact, she tweeted this, quote, I stand with all women across every industry to say time's up on abuse, harassment, marginalization and under

representation.

Now, China is starting the new year by putting an end to a really sickening thriving business. Will the country's ban on ivory help save the world's

elephant population? We are going to examine that. It's an important story, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: All right, coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. This is "News Stream."

Now, China, the world's largest consumer of elephant tusks is banning all ivory sales. Before this, the country has allowed what is considered old

ivory to be sold. Those were stocks that were already on the market before an international ban went into effect in 1989. China is outlawing that kind

of trade as well.

Now, Pope Francis is pleading with world leaders to do more to help migrants and refugees, calling them the weakest and most-needy people

anywhere. The pope marked the church's world day of peace on Monday. He also talked about the horrors of war. CNN senior Vatican analyst, John

Allen, has more from Rome and a warning, some images in this report are disturbing.

(START VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: From the beginning, some five years ago, Pope Francis has aspired to be a peace pope, working hard to end

what he has described as a third world war being fought in peace meal fashion around the globe today and that was definitely the peace pope that

we saw on new year's day, 2018, here in Rome.

January 1st is marked on the Catholic calendar as the world day of peace. Pope Francis has already issued a written message for the day, identifying

migrants and refugees, many of whom these days are fleeing conflict situations, as an object of special concern.

Today on new year, Pope Francis speaking from the window of the papal apartment overlooking St. Francis Square, insisted that the world must not

extinguish the hope of migrants and refugees, must not suffocate their expectations of peace.

This holiday season, Pope Francis has found a way to move the ball on his peace message not merely through words but also with pictures, taking the

unusual step of having printed and distributed here at the Vatican a card with a picture of a young boy immediately after the Nagasaki atomic bomb

blast, who has his younger brother on his shoulder standing in line at a crematorium.

Under heading, the fruit of war, written in Francis's own hand. On the back side of the card, you see an explanation that this shot was taken by an

American marine photographer and that the only sign of anguish on the boy's face and it's hard to see is that he's biting his lips and you can see

blood oozing from them.

[08:40:00] Obviously, 2017 was a year in which there were fears of a nuclear conflict centered on the Korean Peninsula. Pope Francis clearly

felt that in that context, this message was more timely than ever, so the verdict on new year's day would be that in 2018, this peace pope is not

taking his foot off the gas in his quest to try to end the conflict.

For CNN in Rome, I'm John Allen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: So much heartbreak here on planet earth. Perhaps let's take a moment to look at the celestial heavens. Here is a look which is called a

supermoon. Really a magnificent sight. It is lighting up the night on the first day of 2018.

It is a full moon that occurs at the same time as the moon coming closest to earth. A supermoon in January is sometimes called the wolf moon for the

wolves, yes, the wolves that howled at it. Look at it. It's like those wolf t-shirts.

If you miss it, don't worry, there is going to be another supermoon that is coming up on January 31, and it features a lunar eclipse. That one is known

as a blue moon. It's an additional full moon that occurs rarely as in, yes, the saying once in a blue moon. It will be visible from western North

America to East Asia. That's stunning sight there.

That is "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Alex Thomas is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

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