Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

World Headlines; Australia's Refugee Crisis; Dorsey Speaks Out; Hugo Awards. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired August 20, 2018 - 08:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:00] KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream."

Brief reunion. Families torn apart by the Korean War nearly 70 years ago reunited for just a few hours.

"We showed no care for the little ones." Pope Francis issues an open letter responding to church abuse allegations.

And child refugees suffering on Nauru. We hear from an Australian senator who says his government has lost its compassion.

It is a rare, precious and fleeting opportunity. Dozens of families from North and South Korea are meeting relatives they haven't seen since the

Korean War. We'll be seeing video of Monday's emotional two-hour reunion, the first day of the three-day event. Fifty-seven thousand people, many of

whom have waited decades were hoping for this chance. And less than 100 families were selected this year.

Now, Pope Francis is finally responding to the latest horrific case of sex abuse by Catholic priest after a grand jury report revealed more than 1,000

children have been sexually abused by 300 priests in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. CNN's Barbie Nadeau joins me now from Rome with more on the

story.

And Barbie, the statement is out. He cites scripture in it. The pope himself finally addressing these latest accusations of sexual abuse in

Pennsylvania. What is he saying?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he's not actually specifically using the words Pennsylvania grand jury. Instead he calls it a report. This is in

response to a report. It's a long letter, and it's a letter to the people of god. And that is meant to -- it's interpreted to believe that that's all

Catholics to bring the global church together to offer prayers for guidance on how to go forward with this.

He says no one was -- some of the terms he uses, no one was watching the little ones. He talks about how the church has failed to listen, how for so

long the pain of these people was silenced. And those are going to be things that the victims, of course, want to hear. He doesn't mention in

this long letter any reference to a change in policy. He doesn't ask for any resignations.

He doesn't say that the church and the United States or elsewhere should work with local authorities, local secular authorities and those again are

some of the things that the victims so strongly want to hear. He doesn't mention the secret archives or the remaining secrets that the church may

have or keep on predatory priests.

But it is a step in the right direction and a lot of the victims groups will welcome this, especially ahead of this important trip to Ireland where

he's going to face some of these vocal people firsthand, Kristie.

LU STOUT: The pope expressing solidarity with the victims in this letter. Barbie Nadeau, on the story for us. Thank you.

Now let's take you back to the Korean Peninsula where there is deeply emotional Korean family reunions have taken place, and for some those

reunions have come too late. Let's get the very latest now. We have Paula Hancocks standing by joining us live from Seoul.

And Paula, we've been seeing the video come in today, these deeply emotional scenes with these long, I mean, decades long awaited reunions.

Tell us a little bit more about what happened today.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Kristie. They really are incredibly emotional scenes that we're seeing from North Korea,

from the Mount Kumgang resorts. We know that these families have met. They had a two-hour session talking to each other this afternoon. They were then

parted once again. They were able to have a two-hour dinner as well this evening.

So it is a highly choreographed event and it's certainly very controlled. Just 11 hours over three days these families will be able to talk to each

other. But you could see the emotion of relatives seeing each other really for the first time in many decades, some not necessarily recognizing each

other.

One lady you're seeing there, this is 92-year-old Lee Keum-seom. That is her son that she is hugging. She has not seen him since he was 4 years old.

She fled then north with her husband, her daughter and her son to try and escape the Korean War and they were parted as they were trying to get to

safety.

This is a story that we hear replicated time and time again. The Korean War really tore families apart. And since that point, many of them have not

been able to reconnect. We Don't even -- she didn't know whether or not her son was still alive. She was never completely sure until she was accepted

to go to this family reunion.

But of course these are the lucky ones. There are far more who would like to be part of these reunions -- a very emotional and highly anticipated

time for these families. Kristie?

[08:05:00] LU STOUT: Yeah, such a beautiful moment just looking at that video of the 92-year-old mother finally reunited, embracing her son who she

hadn't seen when he was just a little, little boy. And as you said, they were the lucky ones. We know the time is running out for many, many other

families who were not selected for this reunion. So, will they, too, get a chance to meet?

HANCOCKS: Something has to change quite radically for everybody to have a chance to meet. Fifty-seven thousand people had applied to be part of this

first-round of the reunions. Eighty-nine people from South Korea were part of it. They are very small events, solely up to 100 people each time. They

are fairly rara events as well. Only five of these reunions have been held in the past decades so, it's no understatement to say that time is

certainly running out.

And a cruel example of that was there should have been four more families part of this reunion, but four had to drop out over the past few days

because of health reasons. They simply couldn't make the trip to Mount Kumgang. So, it is a case of time running out. Most of these people are in

their 80s. Twenty percent of the people there today are in their 90s.

And more than half of the people that first registered in 1988, they were around about 170,000 who first registered. More than half of those have

already passed away without being reunited with their loved ones. So, it is definitely a case that there need to be more family reunions. There need to

be bigger groups of family reunions otherwise this really is just a drop in the ocean. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Yes, such emotional and stirring scenes from earlier today, a reunion some seven decades in the making. Paula Hancocks reporting live

from Seoul. Thank you.

In Syria, there is a sense of grim resignation among the people of Idlib province. It is the last rebel-held enclave in the country and the

government offensive to retake the area seems imminent. There are nearly 3 million people in Idlib and as Arwa Damon reports, for many, there is

simply nowhere else to go.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There used to be an ice cream shop on the corner, kids playing in the street, a

sense that the violence would not strike here, at least not like this.

TEXT: Thank God my little one was spared.

DAMON (voice-over): After five days after multiple airstrikes hit this once quiet neighborhood in Idlib province, killing dozens of people,

shattering whatever illusion of safety that may have existed. For seven years now, Syria's unraveling has been documented.

What's the point in all your filming, Ibrahim Mafe (ph) wants to know -- for there is no humanity in this and the world's muted response to Syria's

heartless destruction.

TEXT: This was Nayef's, he was 3. This is part of my heart. This is Ghada's. Ghada is gone.

DAMON (voice-over): Only one of Ibrahim's five children survived. It's just memories now. The family next door displaced from elsewhere were all

killed, seven of them. Also killed was a media activist, Ahmed. Ahmed was just 20 years old, a nurse and first responder by training. A role he

played in his native Aleppo before this family was forcibly displaced to Idlib as the regime took over.

When he saw that the responders weren't there, he threw his camera aside and went to save a little girl, Ahmed's father tells us. But another strike

came in, killing them both. His parents seem stoic together, proud but in pain. But later, as his mother shows us Ahmed's clothes, she breaks down.

TEXT: My heart is on fire.

DAMON (voice-over): In the room next door, his father shows us his photos. Tears he can't cry in front of his wife.

TEXT: We were best friends.

DAMON (voice-over): They did everything together. A father/son team documenting their nation's pain, now directly a part of it. The sluggish

summer pace of life as we drive through Idlib province seems to belie the looming violence. It's the last remaining main rebel stronghold.

Turkey, Russia and Iran have been negotiating to ostensibly come to some sort of agreement to prevent a total massacre here by the Syrian regime and

its Russian backers. Turkey has military observation posts in the province and has called an assault on Idlib a red line. Its border has been closed

and instead, a senior Turkish official says his government is pouring millions of dollars into swelling refugee camps.

[08:10:00] DAMON (on-camera): Hamed is just saying that he remembers when there were just a few tents here and the rest of it was just the olive

groves and now you take a look and it just has such an aura of permanence to it all.

(voice-over): The rolling hills, a stone's throw from the Turkish border have been transformed into a sea of homes of lost souls, from Aleppo

(inaudible) and elsewhere. Idlib's population has doubled in recent years as more Syrians arrived. It's also where as other parts of the country fell

back into government control, the regime relocated residents and rebel fighters. For those here, normal and home have been irreversibly redefined.

We can't go back, ever, Mustafa (inaudible) says. He doesn't trust the Assad regime. And with nowhere left to go, many feel like they're just

waiting for their death sentence to be carried out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And Arwa Damon joins us now from Istanbul with more on her recent trip into Idlib. And Arwa, this is a densely populated area so an

attack on Idlib would mean high casualties. So how does that change the psychology of the people there? Are they losing hope at this point?

DAMON: You know, I think it's fair to say that Syrians living in opposition-held areas lost hope a long time ago, that there was going to be

any nation or any sort of international effort that would kind of stem the bloodshed. Humanitarian organizations for quite some time now have been

warning that any sort of offensive in Idlib would end up being a blood bath, perhaps worse than any we have seen in the past.

The sense amongst the population there has shifted from one of anger and outrage that we would hear very openly expressed over the last few years to

now, today, it's much more muted. That shock is still there. The shock that the world has been watching what has been happening to Syria for the last

seven years and done very little to even try to stop the airstrikes from taking place as well as other assaults too.

There's an attitude now that is more of resignation, Kristie. A sense that no one is going to come to save these people, that they are eventually

going to be left to fend on their own and that they are left to their fate, and it's a fate over which they have very, very little control at this

stage. You can just imagine the psychology that that is doing to the entire population, the adults and then of course the children as well.

LU STOUT: Absolutely. A sense of shock and hopelessness in Idlib ahead of this final showdown. Arwa Damon, reporting for us live. Thank you, Arwa.

Now, the Taliban, they deny kidnapping more than 100 people from buses in one of Afghanistan's northern provinces. A local official accused the

Taliban of stopping the vehicles before security forces freed most of passengers, but a Taliban spokesman says its militants decided to question

the passengers after hearing that security forces were on board and says the remaining passengers will be freed once the questioning is completed.

You're watching "News Stream." And still to come, the foreign minister of Iran says the U.S. has a dangerous addiction. Mohammad Javad Zarif sits

down for an exclusive interview with CNN to talk about sanctions, diplomacy and Donald Trump.

Also ahead, the president of Venezuela calls it a magic formula to fix the country's ailing economy, but is a new currency really the answer? We'll go

live to Caracas ahead.

[08:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream." Iran's top diplomat is speaking exclusively to CNN as his country copes the

new wave of U.S. sanctions. Mohammad Javad Zarif says that he hopes Europe can persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to change his mind about the

multinational nuclear deal. Zarif tells CNN's Nick Paton Walsh that sanctions won't get the U.S. what it wants.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Would you possibly see any merit in President Rouhani and President Trump having a one-on-one

meeting and see what progress that could possibly make?

MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Not when the previous huge progress that we made is simply thrown out.

WALSH: Do you come back to that deal again because they've torn it up. You got two or six years until you get somebody else to talk to you about that.

ZARIF: It's the litmus test. The litmus test of whether we can trust the United States or not. It was not an easy political decision for the Iranian

government and for me personally and for President Rouhani to sit down with the Secretary of State.

WALSH: You took a bit of a personal hit then, didn't you?

ZARIF: Well, that's what diplomats are for. Part of our salary is to get personal hits. I believe there is a disease in the United States and that

is the addiction to sanctions.

WALSH: If you felt the U.S. was addicted to sanctions though, why did you go ahead with the deal?

ZARIF: That may have been one of the mistakes, but the problem was that we felt that the United States had learned that at least as far as Iran is

concerned, sanctions do produce economic hardship but do not produce the political outcomes that they intended them to produce. And I thought that

the Americans had learned that lesson. Unfortunately I was wrong.

WALSH: So here we go in the opposite direction. You talk about trying to revisit that nuclear deal, but it is quite clear that Donald Trump has no

interest.

ZARIF: We do not want to revisit that nuclear deal. We want the United States to implement that nuclear deal. Today, the closest U.S. allies are

resisting those sanctions. The U.S. basically arm twisting its attempt to put pressure. I don't want to use the term bullying.

WALSH: You don't want to use the term bullying.

ZARIF: But that's what it amounts to, bullying.

WALSH: Are they succumbing to it, do you think? The European allies, are they --

ZARIF: I think everybody looks at it that way.

WALSH: Is November going to hurt, just for clarity here, you're going to hit -- have another wave of U.S. sanctions and against the oil industry. Is

that going to take a toll?

ZARIF: The U.S. sanctions have always hurt. What is hurting, though, is people who want to buy medicine, people who want to buy food. The economic

upheaval that you see right now in Iran is because of the measures that needed to be taken to be prepared for those days. So, we are prepared for

the worst case scenario.

WALSH: Could you ever get a deal with Donald Trump?

WALSH: Well, it depends on President Trump whether he wants to make us believe that he is a reliable partner. Now, if he spent time with him and

he signs another agreement, how long would it last? Until the end of his administration? Until he departs from the place where he puts his signature

on the agreement?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Riveting stuff, a lot of ground covered in that interview. Nick Paton Walsh joins me now live from Tehran. And Nick, foreign minister of

Iran told you that the people of Iran can weather the pain of these U.S. sanctions, but while reporting there inside the country, you have seen

firsthand how even the middle class is feeling the pinch. So, your thoughts on that. Could these sanctions from the U.S. ultimately force Iran's hand?

WALSH: To some degree I think the message from Mr. Zarif was, look, sanctions have been a threat against the Iranian economy essentially for

decades. Prior to the nuclear agreement, they were in force (ph) much more globally, much more consistently than they are now with just the U.S.

renewing those (inaudible) in place prior to the nuclear agreement.

[08:20:05] So his message was, look, we're practiced. We know the ways around this. We know how to push through and he insisted that the recent

and current hardships that the people have been experiencing here because of preventive measures put in place by the government because they knew the

worst is coming in November when the oil-based sanctions the U.S. kicked finally back in.

Now, separate to that, of course, is the U.S. perspective and those are critics of the Iranian government here will say economic mismanagement and

corruption is behind a lot of the price rises we've seen here. Middle class families we spoke to reporting eggs doubling in price, food and vegetables

the same as well and the local currency having slid remarkably.

A year ago from where I'm standing now, you had to spend only a third as many rials to buy one dollar. That's really impacted a vast amount of life

here, but the American calculus is you increase the economic pressure, you force political change. Mr. Zarif's message is you've tried that frankly

and how he said to me, America has tried everything against Iran with the exception of one thing and that's respect.

You try, he says, to pressure the economy here, you Don't get political change. And I'd say one important take away from this, was he's a force of

moderation, Mr. Zarif. He, you know, tried to persuade the government here that has more conservative elements to go for this diplomatic deal. He

succeeded then. Donald Trump tore it apart.

And I got the impression really from speaking to him that that may have been a slight blow for forces of moderation here. There is a concern

amongst Iran observers that that slide slightly more in a conservative direction. It remains to be seen. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes. Political cost inside Iran as a result of Trump's actions. Nick Paton Walsh, reporting live from Tehran. We thank you for bringing us

that exclusive interview.

Now, the U.S. president is now trying to down play any signs of turmoil inside his administration after reports of White House counsel Don McGahn's

extensive cooperation with the Russia probe. McGahn spoke with the special counsel for some 30 hours. And what the White House doesn't know could mean

trouble for Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New questions about White House counsel Don McGahn's cooperation with special counsel

Robert Mueller, with the source telling CNN that McGahn's attorney did not provide the president's lawyers with a full accounting of McGahn's three

interviews with investigators.

Still, a source insisting that McGahn did not provide incriminating information about President Trump, a message echoed by the president's

attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did.

CHUCK TODD, MSNBC SHOW HOST: Yeah.

GIULIANI: Is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president and John Dowd told you that when he said he was a strong

witness for the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS (voice-over): But according to "The New York Times," their reporting that McGahn provide Mueller detailed accounts of episodes at the heart of a

potential obstruction of justice case, has prompted concern among the president's advisers and Mr. Trump who is shaken by the notion that he did

not know what McGahn told investigators.

This frustration on display Sunday with the president comparing the Mueller investigation to McCarthyism and targeting former White House counsel John

Dean who testified against Nixon during the Watergate investigation, tweeting that "McGahn isn't a John Dean-type rat."

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JOHN DEAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL TO NIXON: He doesn't like the truth to come out. He doesn't know what McGahn has or has not said. And I think

the proof will obviously be as this thing further unravels and I think we will look back on this story as pretty significant.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

JOHNS (voice-over): The revelation about McGahn's testimony prompting fresh debate over the president's initial legal strategy to cooperate with

the probe, including deciding not to invoke executive privilege over interactions with McGahn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Once you waive that privilege and turn over all those documents, Don McGahn has no choice then but to go

in and answer everything. It's bad legal advice, bad lawyering and this is the result of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS (voice-over): "The New York Times" reports that McGahn and his lawyer feared that Mr. Trump was setting up Mr. McGahn to take the blame

for any possible wrong doing, so they embraced the opening to cooperate fully with Mueller. The revelation about McGahn's cooperation coming amid

ongoing negotiations between the president's lawyers and the special counsel over a potential interview with Mr. Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANI: I'm not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury. And when you tell me that, you know, he should

testify because he's going to tell the truth and you shouldn't worry. Well that's so silly because it's somebody's version of the truth. Not the

truth. He didn't have a conversation --

TODD: Truth is truth. I don't mean to go like --

GIULIANO: No, it isn't truth. Truth isn't truth. The president of the United States says I didn't --

TODD: Truth is a truth. Mr. Mayor, do you realize what --

GIULIANI: No, no, no.

TODD: This is going to become a bad meme.

GIULIANI: Don't do this to me. Trump said I didn't tell him and the other guy says that he did say it. Which is the truth?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:25:00] LU STOUT: Wow. Truth isn't truth, the quote of the day and that was CNN'S Joe Johns reporting from Washington.

Now, let's go to Venezuela next, as that country's economic crisis deepens. The government is taking in an unorthodox approach to soothe concerns. It's

unveiling a new currency. The bolivar soberano, it was supposed to be in circulation today except that a bank holiday was declared at the last

minute leaving many to wonder when they will actually be able to obtain it.

Let's go now to the capital city of Caracas. That's were we find Stefano Pozzebon. Stefano, thank you for joining us once again. This is a currency

apparently pegged to a cryptocurrency. It was supposed to be in circulation today. That's not happening for reasons just mentioned -- all of this very

unusual. Do people believe that this can help stabilize the economy in Venezuela?

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Kristie, unusual is a very small term. When we think of a cryptocurrency pegged -- when we think of a national currency

pegged to cryptocurrency and the cryptocurrency being backed by a central bank, this is even more unorthodox stand than one could ever imagine.

For normal people here in Caracas, uncertainty is the feeling. This morning I was -- I walked around Caracs. Most of the shop as you said are closed

down. I went to a 24-hour pharmacy and I saw the staff that were pegging the new labels with new prices with five zeros lesser than the prices we

had yesterday because these actually new currency is nothing else than just taking five zeros out of the previous currency.

And this is a move to fight the hyperinflation that is tackled by the Venezuelan economy. According to the latest estimate by the International

Monetary Fund, hyperinflation will climb up to 1 million percent, Kristie, here in Caracas.

And there is little analysts and the normal people inside think that there is little that the government can do to try and stabilize these economy.

And this latest bet by the Maduro government is yet to be proved, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Well, you know, inflation rates just reaching a million percent as the country is really suffering here economically, teeters on the brink

of economic collapse. Are many people choosing to leave Venezuela entirely?

POZZEBON: Yes, exactly, Kristie. The latest was months have seen a massive rise in the number of Venezuelans leaving their country. This is called --

in Spanish it's called the diaspora. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans are crossing to borders every day to Colombia and then down the Andes

Mountain range to Ecuador, Chile and on the other side to Brazil across the Amazon.

And this has already have repercussion across the region. The United States ambassador at the United Nation had an hour (ph) towards the Colombian-

Venezuelan border a few days ago to express solidarity with the Colombian government who is dealing with this massive influx of Venezuelans --

migrants arriving into Colombia.

And then from Colombia, they are leaving down towards Ecuador and Peru and we have seen over the past weekend scenes of chaos at the Colombian-

Ecuadorian border because the Ecuadorian are putting new restrictions into the numbers of Venezuelans who can get into the country.

So this dramatic crisis that is originating in Venezuela because of economic reasons is already perpetrating around the region and transforming

into one of the biggest migration crisis that Latin America has ever seen, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes, many, many desperate people leaving the country as it has to do with this traumatic crisis, this currency crisis and economic crisis.

Stefano, we'll leave it at that. Thank you so much for your reporting and take care.

You're watching "News Stream," and keep it here because still to come on the program, there is new outrage over Australia's policy of forcibly

detain these refugees in the pacific as doctors warn that the health of several children is deteriorating. I'm going to be speaking with an

Australian politician who is very critical of his government's response.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

We are seeing video of bittersweet family reunions taking place in North Korea. Dozens of families from north and south of the border have the brief

opportunity to meet relatives separated during the Korean War nearly 70 years ago. Monday's meeting lasted a mere two hours. Around 57,000 people

were hoping to participate this year.

Pope Francis is finally responding to the latest horrific case of sex abuse by Catholic priests. A grand jury report revealed more than a thousand

children had been sexually abused by 300 priests in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. In a letter released by the Vatican, the pontiff admits the

church abandoned the little ones. It goes on to say that the community must acknowledge and condemn the atrocities by those in power.

The Indonesian island of Lombok has been hit by two new earthquakes. The most powerful one on Sunday measured magnitude 6.9. No damage or injuries

have been reported. The island is still recovering from a devastating quake two weeks ago which killed more than 430 people.

The deteriorating health of a 12-year-old boy is renewing outrage over Australia's forced detention of refugees. Now the boy has been living on a

tiny pacific island of Nauru and has refused to eat for at least two weeks. Doctors say he is seriously ill and needs to be sent to the mainland for

treatment.

Since the island opened in 2012, there have been regular reports of children attempting suicide and engaging in self-immolation and self-harm.

Some 119 children are still living there. Now, this little girl, she is two years old. Her name is Rose. World Vision says that she is sociable. She

likes to play outside, but there is no place for children to play in Nauru.

Five-year-old George likes to write and play with his toy car. He has never known anywhere else. His family had been on the island for five years.

Australia bans asylum seekers who arrive by boat from sailing on the mainland, saying that the policy is needed to avoid deaths at sea at the

hands of people smugglers. And while the government insists the children are no longer in detention, they and their parents are not allowed to

leave.

Nick McKim is an Australian senator representing Tasmania. He is a vocal critic of the Turnbull administration's handling of the refugee crisis. He

joins us now from Canberra. Thank you so much, sir, for joining us here on the program. We know that there are reports of this 12-year-old boy on

Nauru. We understand that he is at imminent risk of dying. What is getting in the way of saving this boy's life?

NICK MCKIM, AUSTRALIAN GREENS SENATOR FOR TASMANIA: The doctors advice to the Australian government is to immediately medevac him back to Australia

for the treatment he so desperately needs. The problem that we have is that the boy is refusing to travel without a family member.

And remember, this is a 12-year-old boy, and the Australian government is refusing to allow any of the boy's family to accompany him back to

Australia when the boy comes for treatment.

[08:34:55] So this is a problem of the Australian government's own making and it's a problem that could be solved with the stroke of a pen by

Australia's immigration minister, but tragically that hasn't happened and the boy's life clearly is now at risk.

LU STOUT: And again, this is a child. Why did this 12-year-old feel so compelled to starve himself on Nauru?

MCKIM: Well, we have tragically in Australia been exiling men, women and children to Nauru and to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea for five years

now. So, there are 119 children still on Nauru. Many of those children have been imprisoned there for five years and some 40 of that 119 children were

actually born into detention on Nauru, so they've never known freedom.

So this is part of Australia's border control framework, but it is inhumane. It is creating a humanitarian crisis. Twelve people have died in

Manus Island or Nauru since Australia's offshore detention regime began in 2013, about five years ago. And it's not only in breach of our moral and

humanitarian obligations, we are clearly in breach of international law by taking this action.

LU STOUT: Do you fear that the government in Australia has a compassion deficit in regards to the plight of refugees on these island detention

centers?

MCKIM: Oh, yes. I don't fear it, I know it, Kristie. They absolutely have a compassion deficit. I visited Manus Island, the other offshore detention

location for Australia many times. I was there when the Australian government ordered the cutting off of drinking water and food to over 600

men that they imprisoned there for nearly five years.

This was in November last year. They cut off, as I said, drinking water, food, crucial medications including psychotropic medications that refugees

were taking for understandable depression after being there for five years.

This is a regime based on cruelty and inhumanity and it's a dark, dark chapter in Australia's history. It's a period of time that we will look

back on in years to come and wonder how we came to this place as a country. And I am just lost for words at how cruel and inhumane this policy regime

is.

LU STOUT: Nick McKim, we thank you for joining us.

You're watching "News Stream." Up next, much of the political talk on Twitter is toxic. Up next, CNN is sitting down with the CEO of Twitter,

Jack Dorsey, to talk about the challenges that come with tackling hate speech.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. Now with the U.S. so politically divided, social media is often flooded with false information and hate speech. And now big

tech companies have been looking for ways to stop it. Brian Stelter, he spoke with CEO Jack Dorsey about how Twitter is facing the challenge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, yes. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is talking about being more open, being more transparent, and

trying to explain Twitter's policies to the public. That's one of the reasons why he says he sat down with me for this interview. You know, he

also wanted to acknowledge some mistakes in the past, some regrets in Twitter's past.

[08:39:58] And he says now he's willing to rethink pretty much everything about the platform, even the fundamentals like the follower account and the

like button.

It's obviously a moment of reckoning for Silicon Valley, for all these big tech companies that are under increasing public pressure to figure out how

to stamp out misinformation, hate speech, harassment, trolling, while at the same time providing a platform and a public square for the entire

world.

Here is a part of what Dorsey told me about recognizing the pressure big tech is under and the fear that many members of the public feel about his

company.

JACK DORSEY, CEO, TWITTER: There's a lot of emphasis today on politics Twitter and politics Twitter tends to be pretty divisive and it tends to be

pretty contentious. And you see a lot of outrage and you see a lot of -- a lot of unhealthy debate that you probably want to walk away from tangibly.

If you go to other twitters like NBA Twitter or K-pop Twitter, you see the complete opposite. You see a lot of empowering conversation. You see a lot

of aspects that want to keep you in the conversation and have you engage in the conversation. So, we do have a lot of focus right now on some of the

negative things given the current environment.

And I believe it's important to see those. I believe it's important to see the dark areas of society so that we can acknowledge and we can address

them. I think the only way to address them is through conversation but it is hard especially when it feels toxic and you want to walk away from it.

STELTER: Dorsey is under pressure from multiple directions. There's been a controversy recently about the far-right hate monger Alex Jones and whether

his Twitter accounts should be suspended or deleted. Right now, Jones is in a one-week time-out. Twitter has been criticized for not explaining those

policies clearly.

At the same time, people like President Trump are criticizing the site for allegedly discriminating against conservative points of view. Dorsey denied

that allegation, said the company does not make decisions based on ideology or viewpoint but instead on behavior.

If the user is engaging in harassing behavior, then the account might be suspended or blocked. These are all really complicated questions for CEOs

not just of Twitter but of Facebook and Google and other companies as well. What we see are a handful of men in Silicon Valley trying to figure out

what the rules of the digital age are going to be and making some mistakes along the way.

What I found from Dorsey is that he was asking the right questions, addressing the right problems, but not yet able to provide all of the

solutions, all of the answers. That's something that perhaps he'll provide in the weeks, months and years to come.

Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And finally, congratulations are in order for author N.K. Jemisin. She is the winner of this year's Best Novel Hugo Award for "The

Stone Sky." With that win, she has accomplished an amazing feat. Never before has an author won the top award for each novel in a trilogy. The

Hugo Award has the most prestigious prizes in science fiction and they were first presented back in 1953.

And that is it for "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout. Don't go anywhere. "World Sport" with Christina Macfarlane is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

END