Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

World Leaders Weigh Response To Suspected Chemical Attack; Comey Tells All In Explosive New Book; Trump Considers Rejoining Trans-Pacific Partnership; China Display Military Military Might In South China Sea; Duterte To Shut Boracay To Tourists For Six Months World Headlines; Conflict in Syria; Sperm Whale Killed By Plastic; U.N. Debates Killer Robots. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 13, 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: Weighing a response, U.S. President Donald Trump will receive an intelligence briefing on Syria. This warning as the U.N. Security Council

holds an emergency meeting of the crisis again in the few hours.

Trade U-turn, Donald Trump suggests he may be willing to rejoin the Trans- Pacific partnership. And rise of the robots, the U.N. meets in Geneva about lethal autonomous weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: The world's most powerful countries talk Syria. The U.S. Security Council is set to meet again in about two hours from now, and

response to an allege chemical attack near Damascus. So far, U.S. President Donald Trump has given mix messages over what America's response

could look like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll look in very, very seriously, very closely at that whole situation, and we will see what

happens, folks, we will see what happens. It's too bad that the world puts us in a position like that.

But, you know, as I said this morning, we have done a great job with ISIS. We have just absolutely decimated ISIS. But now we have to make some

further decisions. So they will be made fairly simple.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now he spoke with British Prime Mister Theresa May on Thursday after British ministers agreed that action needs to be taken. Thee U.K.

now says it is highly likely, Syria used chemical weapons. And on Friday, Germany said it also believes there is serious evidence of such an attack.

Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis says he believes chemical weapons were used, but wants hard proof. French president Emmanuel Macron

claims France already has it. This has become a truly international story.

CNN has correspondents coming in from all angles from London to Paris, Beirut to Moscow. But let's start in the country at the center of it all.

Nick Paton Walsh is on the ground in northern Syria, and he joins us now live. And, Nick, as the threats of the strike in Syria intensifies, we

know that the U.N. body, the OPCW is moving in with its own fact-finding mission. What's the latest?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A certainly complicated matter here, they say that they will be on the ground investigating from Saturday. You

know, it's not quite known exactly where they are.

The Syrian envoy to the United Nations suggest that there were two teams that might expedited visas, and one them was essentially already in

Lebanon.

That potentially tallies on what the OPCW have said to them, but once those investigators are on the ground, and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey

Lavrov was suggesting, they should be whisked towards Douma reasonably fast.

Once they're on the ground, I have to say that does complicates the notion that the U.S. and its allies could begin military strike while that

investigation is underway, so I would say a slight disrespect for that part of the process.

And also to complicating and narrowing the window in which imminently, a kind of military action could be launched. They have a Security Council

meeting at 11:00 eastern coast time to discuss this issue.

So despite the growing sense of rhetoric, frankly, from the United Kingdom who said this will be met with a response from France who's forced having

proof, from Germany who says there is serious evidence, but they're not going to be involved in military action.

This growing sense of the need for a response is a tightening window to when you could argue this could be taken, and not necessarily look like

they are running roughshod (ph) over the U.N.'s own inspection process here.

After that, we're potentially into the weeds here, while that inspection carries out as to the test. Importantly though now, the focus is on the

chain of evidence. What exactly was used in those attacks in Douma, there have been suggestions that maybe a nerve agent was mixed with chlorine.

I have to say now we've been learning from medical sources, and activists that some of the sample perhaps involved in providing this evidence were

smuggled out amongst some of the evacuated people taken away from the Douma area after that horrific attack.

On Saturday, they made -- those have samples ended up in Turkey, but it isn't quite clear where exactly they went to after that particular point.

But now I think the focus comes upon the evidence.

I'm sure those around Donald Trump who hoped he would act more instinctively about this potential notion of exactly what's in the focus on

the details or the track, that's some of the instinctive impulse he had back in April of last year, where 48 hours later after seeing the pictures

of the gas attack, he launched yields 59 tomahawk missiles.

But potentially into a longer game here of Donald Trump's own meeting, frankly, by telegraphing his moves by the international cameras growing as

sadly to Russian responses suggesting that suggesting that much of this is a false flag operation by a foreign special service agency here, or back

and forth there is growing.

[08:05:00] And rhetoric for an attack is also, perhaps, mounting as well, and the timetable for it is, you might argue, shrinking. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Nick Paton Walsh leading on coverage from northern Syria, thank you. Now let's stay with this. Let's get the view from some of the major

international players in Syria right now. We've got Erin McLaughlin who is in London for us.

Jim Bittermann is in Paris, but let's go the first to our International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson in Moscow. And, Nic, at the U.N., there

was a stern warning from the Russian Ambassador, tell us more about what he said.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, well, we might look at President Trump, and see what he's saying as you said at the

beginning of the program here that he tends to go one way, and then lean the other way, and no one was quite clear what was happening.

I think the narrative that is emerging from the Russian side, and Nick just mentioned this as well. Again, the Russians are saying that this was a

false flag operation, that this was something done by terrorists on the ground, and made to look like it was the Syrian government.

The have said that, and may also continue to say there is no evidence of a gas attack found, which are two contradictory stories, but these lines from

Russia, while President Trump may seem to go one way or the other, the lines coming from Russia remain the same.

We also heard from the parliamentarian today who said that how can Russian deal with implication being the United States, when you don't know which

way -- you know, we know what the leaders can say when he gets up in the morning.

The whole world, he said, depends on this, and how can the world be dealing with it. But going back to what was said in United Nations last night by

Russia's Ambassador there, again what we have heard him say over the last few days, which is, we don't want to strike, the stakes are high, we hope

that there is a way out of it. This is how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VASILY NEBENZYA, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: We cannot exclude any possibilities unfortunately because we saw messages that are coming from

Washington. They were very bellicose. They know we are there, I hope -- I wish there was dialect, and sought proper channels on this to avert any

dangerous -- any dangerous developments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And there was talk here today, as well, by some parliamentarians of a debate that will begin in Parliament here next week

about what sort of sanctions to reciprocate on the United States.

But what's described as its boorish behavior, that would be to reply to the sanctions of the U.S. that were replied a week ago today, and also

implications of its -- of the United States' behavior at the moment, talking about imports, stopping imports on tobacco, on alcohol, on

agricultural project, and products in the United States.

And also talking about dealing between international borders on nuclear issues, on missile issues, that's a key -- that's the key thing on aircraft

issues, so that all again for the setting of stage here in Russia for how they intend to push back in the bigger overall picture here.

LU STOUT: Got it. Nic Robertson reporting live for us from Moscow. Now, let us bring Erin McLaughlin, who is standing by, live for us in London.

And, Erin, Prime Minister Theresa May, she has spoken to U.S. President Donald Trump. Are they firmly on the same page when it comes to what's

going to happen next with Syria?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, it seems that way, Kristie, according to the readout provided by Downing Street over that

telephone call, which took place yesterday evening. Let me just read out for you what it says.

According to Downing Street, they agreed that the Assad regime had established a pattern of dangerous behavior in relation to the use of

chemical weapon.

They agreed it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged, and on the need to deter the further use of chemical weapons

by the Assad regime. And notably, absent from that readout, though, any sort of agreement on the nature of that deterrent.

And the phone call followed a cabinet meeting which Theresa May chaired at Downing Street. Out of that cabinet meeting, Downing Street releasing a

statement saying that the cabinet agreed that it is highly likely that Assad's regime carried out Saturday's deadly attack.

And that they also agreed on the need to take action, but again, noticeably absent from that readout, from cabinet meeting, and he mentioned of

military action, which was seen as a -- for politically contentious topics here in the United Kingdom, and members of the opposition reminding Theresa

May that she is operating in a politically fragile environment that she has.

And the minority government, urging her to recall Parliament, which is currently on recess until Monday, no signs of her intention, right now, to

do that. It is possible, and within our purview to act alone, and go ahead with the potential military strike with the backing of her cabinet.

Kristie.

LU STOUT: Erin McLaughlin reporting live for us from London, thank you. Let's bring in Jim Bittermann who is joining us from Paris.

And, Jim, you know, this coalition of western nation is forming to respond to what happened in Douma.

[08:10:00] But why is the French President also leading the charge to strike Syria?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in fact, the French President said yesterday that France has the proof, but he hasn't been able to stand

that up, and at least we haven't been able to get anybody within the French government to stand that up in any way, why do they have the proof, how do

they got this proof.

One of the interesting things, and very highly unusual thing that has happened here just in the last few hours, Kristie, is that the Foreign

Ministry throughout his website, and the Foreign Ministry on his personal Twitter account has put out a video in both English and in French

suggesting first quoting President Macron, and say we have the proof.

And secondly saying that France is ready to shoulder its responsibilities for any kind of response to the use of Chemical weapons, very unusual, it's

seems to almost (Inaudible) for some kind of action.

Perhaps in response to this kind of (Inaudible) we see in Washington, one of the thing that have been happening here that's been crippling in to the

headlines in a question mark, basically a question mark after the expression in fact that Trump is planning to act.

Is Washington going to add question mark. So obviously, there are some doubts here about what the American intention really are, and whether this

is all going remembering of course that the plans were led this down this path, (Inaudible) in 2013, when they again wanted to add in Syria, and

others didn't. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Jim Bittermann reporting live from Paris as the pressure continues build for this anticipated strike against Syria. Jim, thank you.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron has said, any French strike would specifically target chemical facilities in Syria.

And that is one of the ways in which any possible military action would likely be both specific, and sophisticated in its nature. Michael Holmes

walks us through this potential battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well it is unclear, just when and how the strikes again Syria will unfold. But the U.S. and its allies, they

have a range of hardware at sea and air bases throughout the region.

Have a look at the map. The U.S. has two destroyers in the area, and submarines probably as well, almost certainly, French warships there in

this Mediterranean, and a British official told CNN the U.K. is preparing for possible action against Syria.

British media reports say submarines have been deployed to the region already. The U.K. has military jets at its base in Cypress. French Rafale

jets are based in Jordan and in the United Arab Emirates. And of course, the U.S. has a vast air base over here in Qatar.

Now as for possible targets, we can really only guess at what the allies might be aiming for. But we have got a map here that will give you an

idea. It shows Syrian air bases, marked by these, black planes.

But also, the Russian and Iranian positions in Syria, Iranian in yellow, Russian in green. Now all of the allies of course are going to be anxious

to avoid Russian casualties.

And the fallout that that would bring as the U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said on Thursday, there are plenty of Syrian bases, military and

also airfields right across the country.

Western analysts think that perhaps the mere base, and you can see that down here, may have been the one from where the most recent, gas attack was

launched.

But the Syrian military, they have almost certainly take measures to protect their planes perhaps by moving some down to the Damascus

International Airport or to the Russia base at Hmeimim (ph).

Now it is more difficult of course to know that chemical weapons facilities, but analyst say the center for scientific study and research

near Damascus is the main research establishment.

Now one big unknown is will Russians activate their powerful S-400 anti- aircraft missile system which is deployed to protect those Syrian bases. You can see here the range, some 400 kilometers.

Now of course, we are working with open source information. The governments involved, will have classified intelligence of course on where

Syria has moved its planes, and hidden its chemical weapons program. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Michael Holmes there. Up next, breaking his silence, former FBI Director James Comey blasts Donald Trump in an explosive new tell-all book

that spares no country. How will the U.S. President react? Well, we've got the reaction.

Also, Donald Trump has his advisers taking another look at the Trans- Pacific partnership. The deal he immediately pulled out and (Inaudible), but how would a renegotiation work now that 11 other countries have moved

on without him? Stay with us.

[08:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. This is News Stream. Now the White House is hitting back this morning at a devastating

new tell-all book by James Comey.

In it, a former FBI Director slams U.S. President Donald Trump as a clueless liar, unconcerned about Russia's assault on America's democracy,

and that is not all.

Now CNN White House Correspondent Abby Phillip joins us live from the White House. She has got the explosive details. And, Abby, Trump is also

hitting back this morning, U.S. time, on Twitter. What did he just tweet?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning. There was anger at James Comey before this moment, and it has really been amplified even more.

Let's start with the fact that James Comey just this morning, some of his clip from his interview with ABC have just aired.

And in it, he described some of the most salacious details from that briefing that he had with specialist on Trump Tower just before the

inauguration last year, and how that briefing went. Listen to a little bit of that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: I started to tell him about the allegation was that he had been involved with prostitutes in a hotel in

Moscow in 2013 during a visit for the Miss Universe pageant, and that the Russians had filmed the episode.

And he interrupted very defensively, and started talking about it. You know, do I look like a guy who needs hookers, and I assumed he was asking

that rhetorically.

I didn't answer that. Then I just moved on and explained, sir, I'm not saying that we credit this, I'm not saying we believe it. We just thought

it important that you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: So Comey describes the President who appeared upset with these allegations, have appeared obsessed with the idea of the FBI potentially

furthering them on through. And now this morning, as we are speaking here, President Trump is responding to James Comey at length.

So here is his first tweet, James Comey is a proven leaker and liar, virtually everyone is Washington thought he should be fired for the

terrible job he did, until he was in fact fired. He leaks classified information for which he should be prosecuted.

He lied to Congress under oath, he has leaked, and untruthful. And this is his second tweet, he says, he is a weak, and untruthful slime ball who was,

as time has proven, a terrible Director of the FBI, and his handling of the crooked Hillary Clinton case, and the events surrounding it will go down as

one of the worst botched jobs in history.

It was my great honor to fire James Comey. So there you have it from the President himself responding angrily to some of these personal descriptions

of him by James Comey in this book, and he is defending his firing of James Comey, which by the way, we also know is part of an ongoing investigation

into potential obstruction of justice.

[08:20:08] This weekend is nowhere near over. James Comey still has a long sit down interview with ABC that's set to air, the book has not even been

released yet. We have only -- several news organizations including CNN have obtained copies of it.

But there is much more to come on this. The President is clearly not content with the Republican national committee and his staff taking the

lead on responding, he is doing it himself, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes, much more to come, more interview from James Comey, more angry tweets likely from the U.S. President. Abby Phillip is covering it

all for us from the White House, thank you.

President Trump is also making this apparent shift on trade. He is considering reentering the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The very

deal he told the U.S. out of, during his first week in office.

The White House says Mr. Trump has asked his top advisers to look into it. The U.S. signed the agreement in 2016, along with 11 other countries,

following five years in negotiations. At the time, it represented about 40 percent of the world's economy.

Now, the 11 countries still involved in the global trade pack, and have moved on without the United States. Let us talk more about this. We've

got Anna Stewart in Tokyo.

But first, let's turn to CNN Money's Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans in New York. Christine, thank you so much for joining us, and,

Anna, to you as well.

But the first question to you, Christine, I mean, what is behind this major turnaround by Donald Trump. Now, he is telling his advisors, let's look

into rejoining the TPP, why?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One word, China. The United States has found itself embroiled in a trade dispute with China, and remember, the

TPP was designed to be the leverage, to be the trading block to blunt China's impact in the region, to really be a counterweight to China.

That is the misselling point, and the design of TPP all along. That is why the United States had spent five years working with those partners, trying

to develop a trade pack, a trade regime that would be advantageous to these players that you see on your screen here, against a rising China.

Instead, in campaigning, the President cast this as some sort of terrible deal for the average American worker, and pulled out of the TPP, these

other countries laying ahead (Inaudible). So there are 11 nations that are -- the TPP 11 nations, and they are moving forward.

The tricky thing here will be, A, the President now stick to this new -- this new idea, and actually tried to join the TPP, and how would that

happened because this has already been negotiated, it already is in fact active, the United States can just sort of sign its name on it.

There would have to be some renegotiations, some sort of restructuring here. But certainly it shows you there is campaigning, Kristie, and there

is governing.

And in governing, the President's top lieutenant are going to try to figure out if there is a way the TPP could help the United States in its current

troubles with China vis-a-vis trade.

LU STOUT: Yes, and as you point out the task of actually rejoining the TPP at this stage, a very tricky one indeed, from Christine Romans in New York,

let's go to Anna Stewart is standing by in Tokyo.

And, Anna, what's the official reaction there in Japan, and also reaction from other officials across the region to this idea of the United States

under Donald Trump potentially rejoining the TPP?

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kristie, we reached out to many of the government involved in TPP, and all the message were sure, if you want

to come back to table, you can do that. It would be still open. But, if you thing you are going to add a little here, and change a little there,

well, that is going to be quite so easy.

As Christine said, this has been signed. This deal is done, and it's in the process, process of being rectified, now the Australian government came

up today and said, yes, sure. You know, welcome back.

But we need to focus right now on getting this deal that is done now into effect, and that there is no huge appetite for a big renegotiation.

Japan, I think the comments are very similarly saying you can't just take out bits from this deal, and renegotiate, that is far too difficult.

But then, when you look at it, and you think well, the U.S. joining TPP would be a huge (Inaudible) for these members, because without the U.S.,

this block would represent 14 percent of global trade, with the U.S., it represents 40 percent of global trade.

So, it would give a much more powerful clutch really. Now, next week, Donald Trump will be meeting with Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister.

They will likely to get a lot more on what he wants, and what they are willing to giver next week.

LU STOUT: Absolutely. Anna Stewart live for us from Tokyo, thank you. Now as tensions continue to rise between Washington and Beijing over trade,

China's President Xi Jinping has conducted this massive show of force on another front, military drills in the South China Sea. At least 10,000

personnel took part, along with the country's only aircraft carrier.

[08:25:00] The location of the drills, hugely controversial, China of course claims parts of the South China Sea, which were also claimed by the

Philippines, Vietnam, and other nations. On one side, is China, the other side the Philippines.

The Spratly Island are the main area of dispute between these countries in the South China Sea. I spoke yesterday to the Philippine Foreign Secretary

who said they are not going to give up one inch of their land, but they want to the move forward, and continue improving relations with China.

In part two of that interview, I asked Alan Peter Cayetano about how China ended up with projects to rebuild Marawi. And that is an area and another

part of the Philippines that has been devastated by fighting with ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN PETER CAYETANO, PHILIPPINE FOREIGN SECRETARY: We have beading process, so it's on going, so it is open to everyone, but so many

countries, Korea, Australia, Japan, the ASEAN countries, E.U., you know, are interested, they have been giving.

We don't dictate. The building also stops future attacks, when beaded it out or having a procurement process, it just so happened that I think

majority, or many of the companies were Chinese.

LU STOUT: How do think the people of Marawi feel that the Chinese are coming in, and getting paid to rebuild their own city. Did they welcome

that?

CAYETANO: Well, any building is welcome. So after the destruction, of course, everyone wants to rebuild, but everyone wants to rebuild in their

own way. The President has to think about the future, and actually it is not one nation over the other that is helping.

You know, Japan granted such a big package. Also, the U.S. has been helping -- is helping. China is helping. The Russians have told us time

and time again, the willingness and had sent some help.

LU STOUT: Boracay was recently declared (Inaudible) by President Duterte because of the overbuilding, because of pollution, et cetera. This tourist

destination will be shut down for six months, which is a long period of time for the people who rely on tourists, for the livelihood, why six

months? That seems pretty extreme.

CAYETANO: The truth is, that Boracay, you know, there was impunity over the last 20 to 30 years, the President wants to use Boracay, want to fix it

directly. Secondly, as an example to all other tourist destinations setting on, let's get our act together.

LU STOUT: I was just speaking to my colleague Alexandra Field, who was just in Boracay, filing a story on this. And she said, it's not

(Inaudible), and Boracay is still beautiful. And it begs the question, I shot it down for six months.

CAYETANO: It's beautiful, but what is (Inaudible)? I can give you the data found where the waste is going, and if your colleague would swim

there, I will -- the President say it's a total mess. But it is going there.

LU STOUT: Will the government supports the community there?

CAYETANO: First let me emphasize, the President has always promised tough action and swift action. So, you know, there is no in between. So those

will be gravely affected -- you know, the workers need to put 2 billion pesos, we have computed how much 34,000 people, half our residents, half

workless would need for six months. Now for the businesses, you know, it is a question of, do they want to lose money for six months, but have

Borocay for eternity?

LU STOUT: There was a horrible case in Kuwait of the abuse Filipino worker, whose body was found stuffed in a freezer of her employers home.

Duterte acted swiftly, ordered the ban on all Filipino workers from working Kuwait. What else needs to be done to protect the dignity, the human

rights, and the safety of these workers overseas?

CAYETANO: So, so much, you know, 10 million Filipinos abroad is telling that they too much. You know, Filipinos, just like other human beings, but

mostly Asians are very clannish. Everything is about family, everything is about being together.

You know, but if you can't -- if you see your children not studying, or not being able to afford medicine, you'll leave, and even if people say that

there is this chance they will be abused, they say, better -- you know, the opportunity to get money and feed my family than being safe at home, but

not doing it.

So even in war-torn areas around the world, Filipinos have refused to come home, saying that if they do come home, their family will surely starve.

But if they are there, they are in danger, but at least their family will continue to eat. So, bottom line for Filipinos is really to have a better

Philippines, to build our economy, to have jobs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: The Philippine Foreign Secretary there, speaking to me earlier. The West considers military action in Syria as more countries say it looks

like Assad regime gassed its own people. And meanwhile, the Syrian President warns the West to stay out. We are on top of all the

developments after the break.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and these are your world headlines.

In his upcoming book, fired FBI Director James Comey blasts President Donald Trump, saying he is unethical and untethered to the truth. Mr. Trump

has just responded on Twitter, calling Comey a weak and untruthful slime ball who was a terrible director of the FBI.

The White House says President Trump is taking another look at the Trans- Pacific Partnership. He pulled the U.S. out of the trade deal his first week in office. Mr. Trump announces he will only join the TPP if the deal

is essentially better than the one offered to President Obama.

The U.N. Security Council is set to meet on Syria crisis in about an hour and a half. The U.K. and Germany say they now believe it is highly likely

the Syria used chemical weapons on its own people and France says it has proof.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Vladimir Putin by phone on Friday telling the Russian president he regretted the Russian veto at the Security

Council. The Russia's ambassador to the U.N. warns of a wider war with Russia if the west takes military action. The impact of any potential

military action from the west will have major ramifications globally at least in the Middle East.

Ben Wedeman has a view from Beirut. He joins us now. Ben, how is this building and ratcheting of attention being felt there across the region?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Certainly the people are feeling it. I had people come up to me this morning asking me, should

we stay, should we leave Lebanon, because of course Lebanon is very much right on the doorstep of Syria and of course you have groups like Hezbollah

here very closely aligned to the government in Damascus.

But we did see there is an interview with the number two in Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, who spoke to (INAUDIBLE), who said that he does not

believe that there will be a larger regional war at this point. He did, however, add a caveat and that is unless Trump and Netanyahu don't go

completely insane.

Now, the situation in Damascus is even more tense, of course, because the people, they are aware of this erratic tweets coming out of the White

House, one day saying the missiles are coming, the next maybe they won't be coming immediately. And the question is, of course, if there is some sort

of a U.S.-led military action against Syria.

[08:35:00] They would obviously not just perhaps be hitting air fields and things like that. They will also be targeting commanding control centers,

many of them are in or just outside of Damascus as well. So that raises the possibility of civilian casualties, so people are concerned.

Obviously the Syrians have plenty of time now since they got that tip off from President Trump that perhaps an attack is coming, so it is believed

that much of the Syria's hardware of the Syrian Air Force, for instance, has been moved to Russian-controlled bases on the assumption that the U.S.-

led attack would not target the Russians.

But to sum it up, people are indeed very nervous, Kristie, and there are no clear signals at this point to whether United States and its allies will

take military action or won't. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Ben Wedeman with the view from Lebanon and across the region. Ben, we thank you for your reporting.

You're watching "News Stream" and still to come right here on the program, reported chemical attacks in Syrian have been making headlines but another

type of weapon is also raising concerns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong on a Friday night. Welcome back. This is "News Stream."

Now, a sad story for you. A five and a half ton sperm whale that washed up on the shores of Spain has become a grim reminder of how much our plastic

addiction is literally killing the oceans. This whale washed up in late February. Scientists noticed that it was young and unusually skinny.

Last week, they revealed the results of the autopsy. The whale stomach was stuffed full of plastic. Twenty-nine kilograms of plastic. And all that

trash caused its digestive system to rupture. The city of Murcia is now watching a campaign to clean up Spanish beaches.

The reported chemical attack in Syria is grabbing the world's attention but the United Nations is holding a meeting in Geneva about a different kind of

weapons threat. Autonomous weapons known as killer robots. This just a week after 50 artificial intelligence scientists boycotted a South Korean

university for launching an AI project (ph) with the leading defense company.

Boycott organizer Toby Walsh says, if developed, autonomous weapons will be the third revolution in warfare. They will permit war to be fought faster

and at a scale greater than ever before.

Now, the president from the South Korean university, KAIST, responded within hours, saying, quote, I would like to reaffirm that KAIST does not

have any intention to engage in development of lethal autonomous weapon systems and killer robots. The boycott ended after the South Korean

university agreed not to develop these killer robots.

Toby Walsh is at a U.N. meeting in Geneva to discuss autonomous robots, autonomous weaponry, and he joins us now. Thank you, sir, so much for

joining us here in the program. You want to ban on these killer robots but there is an argument out there that they can be engineered or hardwired to

be ethical to follow instructions, to protect us humans.

[08:40:01] Isn't that possible?

TOBY WALSH, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES: It is an interesting argument. (INAUDIBLE) in two ways. First, we don't have to do that. We will

work out to do that eventually but the sorts of weapons that will be developed by the military in the next five years won't be ethical.

And the second, when we can (ph), there are no computer programs that we know that can't be hacked, so any ethical safeguards we pushed in will be

removed, and they will be the perfect weapons for terrorists, rogue states to use against civilian populations.

LU STOUT: At the U.N., you're there discussing the issue of autonomous robots and weapons. We know that United Nations is a very slow-moving body.

Do you fear that there is not enough time to act?

WALSH: It is true the U.N. does move rather slowly on these issues. It took a long time to ban nuclear weapons. It is going to take it seems quite

a while to get them into this issue. But we don't have too much time.

These (INAUDIBLE) are being developed very rapidly and it's going to much easier to prohibit them before they use by the military than after.

LU STOUT: Toby, just to clarify here, what you are advocating is not just the end of advancing artificial intelligence. You're not (INAUDIBLE) here.

There is a difference between good AI and evil AI that could potentially bring about the end of the world as we know it.

WALSH: Exactly. There are plenty of good things that AI is going to do. They are going to be actually very useful to the military manual (ph)

settings. (INAUDIBLE) risk of life (INAUDIBLE). Perfect job for robot. Equally, autonomous cars, many have aspects of AI that can invade our life

and make our lives much better.

But we do get to choose whether (INAUDIBLE) don't get used to make life worse. And this will be running (ph). It would make more terrible. These

will be weapons of mass destruction.

LU STOUT: You and other high-profile thinkers like Elon Musk, you want a ban on AI weapons. If there is no ban on autonomous weaponry, what could

happen? I mean what kind of future are we looking at?

WALSH: I'm afraid it will be a very disturbing future. Actually, Hollywood has given us a pretty good prediction of what it would look like. But we

don't have to go down that way. We could decide like some technologists, like chemical weapons, like biological weapons, that it will be better not

to use them for warfare. It is better to use them for good purposes.

LU STOUT: We don't want to see AI being weaponized. But for the people out there who are still not quite believing what you are saying right now, they

are just saying, look, this is the stuff of "Black Mirror," of "Terminator." This is a stuff of sci-fi. It is not a real threat. What do

you have to say to them?

WALSH: We are very near to actually having (INAUDIBLE). I'm very sorry to say, we have the beginnings of this technology. The prototypes of these

weapons are under development today by many of the military, by the U.S., by the Chinese, by the Russians.

You can see YouTube videos of the prototype weapons that will be fueled (ph) within the next decade. So we don't have long to act.

LU STOUT: Toby Walsh, thank you for joining us.

WALSH: My pleasure.

LU STOUT: The AI for this is very real. And that is "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout. But don't go anywhere. We got "World Sport" with Don

Riddell next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

END