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World Cup Fever Begins To Spread On Opening Day; A Look At E3 Expo 2014; Iraq Asks U.S. For Help To Defeat ISIS; GOP Still Reeling Over Eric Cantor's Defeat

Aired June 12, 2014 - 8:00   ET

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

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

A volatile situation in Iraq as the army fights back against militants.

Plus, football fans are ready for the World Cup to kick off, but some in Brazil are still protesting the tournament.

And we'll look at the highlights from this year's electronic entertainment expo.

OK, but first an apology to our viewers in Asia for a temporary outage. If you have lost our signal, we're working on it. It's caused by

a problem with a satellite transmitting to the region here.

Now let's begin with the situation in Iraq. The country's under siege. It is looking for help from the United States. It wants U.S. air

strikes against Islamist militants who have swept into the country's north and set half a million people fleeing from their lives.

Now the White House says it's looking at a range of options. Now state-run media reports that the Iraqi government has now regained control

of the city of Tikrit from fighters belonging to the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

Now the militants still control Iraq's second largest city Mosul. And an audio recording, it's said to be from ISIS, threatens to take the fight

to the capital Baghdad.

Now Iraq's foreign minister warns that time is running out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOSHYAR ZEBARI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: I hope this incident really will lead all Iraqi leaders to come together to face this serious mortal

threat to the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now ISIS, it aims to establish a new Islamist state based on its own interpretation of the faith. The group is taking advantage of

rising sectarian tensions in Iraq that have only increased since U.S. troops pulled out more than two years ago.

Now ISIS fighters have clashed with other Islamist groups inside Syria, which is engulfed in a three year civil war.

And it's not just Syria and Iraq that are under pressure from ISIS, so is Turkey. Now the militants raided the Turkish consulate in Mosul on

Wednesday. They're holding 48 people hostage, including diplomats. And Turkeys warns any harm done to its citizens will not go unanswered.

Now CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is now in Iraq. She's in Urbil (Ph). She joins me now live from there. And Arwa, I know

that you just touched down there in Iraq, what is the latest understand of the situation in Tikrit?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's (inaudible) what the central Iraqi government is saying, the Iraqi army has managed to

regain control of Tikrit, bearing in mind, though, that when the ISIS militants did storm into the city, Saddam Hussein's hometown, very much a

historic Sunni stronghold, they did not take over massive amounts of territory the same way that they did in Mosul. There, the Iraqi security

forces, it would seem, able to push them out and regain control.

But in Mosul, an entirely different story where when only a few hundred, a few -- 800, 1,000 ISIS militants stormed into that city, Iraq's

second largest city, they managed to see at least two brigades of the Iraqi army basically abandon their post and flee allowing ISIS militants to gain

full control over that city, a very vital strategic location for them.

When it comes to Kirkuk, also another significant city because it so oil rich. That was at one point seeing some parts of it falling to ISIS.

However, the Peshmerga, that is the Kurdish fighting force has managed to gain control over that city, deploying additional forces from the

autonomous region of Kurdistan after the Iraqi army also abandoning -- so it's still a very tenuous and very difficult situation, Kristie.

LU STOUT: No Arwa, Iraqi is now urging the United States for support, asking for air strikes. Is that enough? I mean, what should the U.S. do?

DAMON: Well, the U.S. has been saying -- and this is according to several officials, that the situation is at this stage incredibly urgent.

The U.S. has in the past provided Iraqis significant amount of military equipment to include Hellfire missiles, weapons. At this stage, it does

not seem as if the U.S. is going to be considering, or at least not publicly saying that it would be conducting air strikes.

What we have been hearing is that Iraqis have indicated a willingness for the U.S. military to provide them with some sort of aerial support at

this stage. Now this is not something that has come about because of the most recent ISIS takeover, this is something that Iraqis, we're hearing,

have been asking the U.S. for ever since ISIS really began emerging in force in the Sunni heartland of al Anbar Province, Kristie.

LU STOUT: You know, how much momentum is behind ISIS? We know it's up against Baghdad, and pretty soon it sounds like the United States. It's

up against Damascus and the rebels in Syria. So can ISIS continue to expand and move forward?

DAMON: You know, it can. And that is because it is the type of organization that is very adept at capitalizing on security vacuums and on

capitalizing on disgruntled populations, as we have been seeing taking place in Iraq. Part of the reasons why ISIS, which is basically the

rebranding of al Qaeda in Iraq, was able to gain so much quick momentum in these various Sunni areas in the country where it did launch this recent

operation. And that is because the predominately Shia government of Nouri al-Maliki's policies have been incredibly polarizing. The Sunni community

feeling as if they have been marginalized.

And this has grown and morphed into much more of an existential battle between Sunni and Shias. And it's a battle that did not really have any

defined front lines.

We saw ISIS in its evolution go from being an entity that was initially called the Islamic State in Iraq, operating solely in Iraq,

moving into Syria, branding itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, gaining significant territory in Syria and now it would seem is a lot

closer to achieving its goal of trying to establish an Islamic caliphate that if ISIS is able to have its way would extend from Iraq all the way

into Syria.

It's quite remarkable, Kristie, that three years after the U.S. military withdrew from Iraq after having publicly stated as they were

withdrawing that they believed that the Iraqi security forces could move on through the security gains that at this stage we're seeing an entity that

is even more menacing, more brutal, more merciless than al Qaeda ever was gaining this much power and control.

LU STOUT: That entity is ISIS. Arwa Damon reporting from inside Iraq. Many thanks indeed for that update.

Now suspected U.S. drone strikes have killed at least 12 militants in northwestern Pakistan, that's according to local officials there. The

North Waziristan region is considered a stronghold for members of the al Qaeda linked Haqqani Network. The drone strikes, they come just days after

attacks on country's largest airport in Karachi and a nearby security forces academy. Now Pakistani Taliban and Uzbek fighters claimed

responsibility for the weekend assault on the airport that left at least 36 people dead.

Now the countdown to the World Cup kickoff is on. And despite all the criticism, Brazil says it is ready.

Now the center of the action today will be Sao Paulo where the opening ceremony gets underway and the host country takes on Croatia in the first

match.

Now Sao Paulo has also been the site of big protests in recent weeks. Metro workers there, they voted to suspend their strike yesterday. But the

protests and strikes, they are planned across the country's 12 host cities. And some airport workers in Rio de Janeiro staged a partial walkout today.

Let's head straight to Sao Paulo now for more on what we can expect as the games get underway. Shasta Darlington is there, joins me now live with

the latest. And Shasta, you've been reporting alongside protesters there in Sao Paulo. What is the scene? What do they want?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, I'm right here at the meeting point where we're going to see thousands of

protesters conceivably within an hour. You can see the police are already getting ready. This is about 11 kilometers from the stadium. The idea is

that protesters who were angry that the government has spent so much money on stadiums and not enough on schools and hospitals, they want to meet here

and get as close to the stadium as they can.

Now police have said they're going to have checkpoints about 5 kilometers from the stadium, so that's still a good 6 kilometers that

they'll be able to march. And they're even going to have supporters of the metro strike. Although the metro strike was called off, a lot of people

say they're going to come out in support of those workers.

They say that obviously the government should be spending more money on things like higher salaries, better public transportation and not on

these big global events with 600,000 foreigners coming into the country. They say they should be focused on the domestic problems.

Now the good news, again, for those foreigners and those fans who did come in is that the subways are running, one of the main forms of

transportation to get into the stadium. The game kicks off this evening. And they, of course, will have a lot easier time getting as far as the

subway is concerned. What we don't know is how disruptive these protests will be yet, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, security concerns, transport concerns, high as we await the opening match. Thank you very much. Shasta Darlington

reporting live from Sao Paulo, take care.

Now what about the matches themselves? All hopes are high that Brazil can win the tournament for a sixth time.

And still ahead, we'll take you back to Sao Paulo where the host country will kick off its quest for another cup in just a matter of hours.

Also ahead, Angelina Jolie is appealing to the world to end some of the most brutal atrocities of war. She's standing up for the victims of

sexual violence as she hosts a meeting in London. We'll take you there.

And U.S. Republicans are still licking their wounds after Eric Cantor's unprecedented ouster. Was it a fluke or sign of things to come?

That is what the GOP is wrestling with this day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching News Stream. And you're looking at a visual version of all the stories we've got in the show today.

Now we've already told you about the Iraqi army's battle to reclaim cities from ISIS control.

And later, we'll preview the first match for the World Cup in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

But now, to London where a global summit is trying to put an end to rape as a weapon of war. Now the actress and UN envoy Angelina Jolie and

the British foreign secretary William Hague, they are co-chairing the event that is now in its third day.

And this international gathering, it involves more than 145 governments. It is the biggest summit of its kind.

Now let's get straight to London now where the summit still underway. Bineta Diop is the African Union's special envoy for women, peace and

security. She joins me now live. Bineta, thank you for joining us here on CNN.

And there at the summit in London, I know there is consensus. Everyone agrees that sexual violence is a crime. But how will that message

be taken to all of Africa? And will it be accepted there?

BINETA DIOP, AFRICAN UNION SPEC. ENVOY FOR WOMEN, PEACE & SECURITY: Yeah, I think that we are here to say that no more violence against women,

no more rape. We are here to make sure that we connect the dots globally. And I think the African Union, coming with the excellence (inaudible) of

the chairperson, myself, to say this needs to an end, putting justice system, making sure that the troops, our boys that we are sending on the

ground are trained.

But also, if injustice is perpetrated we bring them back home, but also we brought them to justice.

So we are putting steps. Myself, I -- last week in Kakuma Camps (ph) talking to the victims, because this is the voice that we need to hear, as

we say it they are the survivors and they are standing. And Africa needs those voices.

So I am here to add my voice, but we are taking concrete steps to make sure that no more rape in conflict zone in Africa. It has to be...

LU STOUT: And you mentioned just then a number of concrete steps that are being discussed there -- training the soldiers, providing support and

emotional support for the victims. I know that there in the conference, Angelina Jolie said that prosecutions can prevent future sexual violence in

conflict.

But the question is this, do countries in Africa have the legal infrastructure to prosecute?

DIOP: You know, I think that we are working on this. Africa, for example, right now the African Union have put in place a commission of

inquiry on South Sudan. That's the first time in the history of Africa. And in that commission, what the chairperson, Madam Zouma (ph), said you

special envoy go with the specialist and make the investigation. That's why I was in Juba, make sure that we meet the women.

But also, we are going to look into accountability. We are going to name them. We are going to put a pause what kind of justice.

The first tribe we know that we seen in Africa, of course, international tribunal like Rwanda, but also we see in Senegal there is the

(inaudible) brigades, which is, you know, bringing those who perpetrate it to justice. We need to continue that.

But Angelina Jolie is right, we need all of us to come together and make sure that the justice system, the justice reform in each country of

Africa has been achieved somewhere, somehow.

LU STOUT: There needs to be accountability and also there needs to be more support for the victims.

In her opening address Angelina Jolie, she talked about the survivors. She said, quote, that there was no disgrace in being a victim.

And I wanted to ask you, what kind of support are you offering, what kind of support is the African Union offering for the victims of these type

of crimes?

DIOP: I think that Angelina Jolie was quite right, the chairperson of the African Union made an announcement, important announcement today. In

Central African Republican -- I was there two weeks ago with Fmzele (ph) of the (inaudible) of UN women, both of us. So we are launching together, a

psychological support for women that have been victims on both sides.

But also we are saying it's not repairing the body and the mental of the women is important. But also what kind of economic engagement we can

have to make them restore the dignity of those women.

So UN women and the African Union are working very hard to empower the women. For example, a good case Central African Republic.

LU STOUT: Indeed, the time to act is now. Bineta Diop, envoy with the African Union, thank you so much for joining us. And I wish you and

your team the very best as we work to empower the women of Africa and to prevent this type of sexual violence. Thank you and take care.

Now India is one country that has made headlines because of a series of horrific rapes there.

Now the country's newly installed prime minister, Narendra Modi, is breaking his silence on several recent attacks that shock the nation and

much of the world. In his first address to parliament on Wednesday, he made his stance clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA (through translator): Respecting and protecting women should be a priority of the 1.25 billion

people in this country. We have to be concerned about women's respect and security. All these incidents should make us introspect. The government

will have to act. The country won't wait and the people won't forget.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now the new Egyptian president has also added his voice to those demanding change after several women were viciously assaulted during

celebrations for his inauguration. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vowed to prevent another incident like it happening ever again. And with a bouquet of red

roses in hand, he visited one of the victims in the hospital on Wednesday. His office also announced that he was forming a committee to address sex

crimes.

Now you're watching News Stream. Still ahead on the program, we take a look at the newest lineup of offerings from a big conference underway in

Los Angeles. We're talking about the E3. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong you're back watching News Stream.

And video game industry insiders, they are descending on Los Angeles this week for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3. They just relish

the opportunity to get their hands on the year's latest videogames and to give them a try.

Now this year, as always, there are a few surprises. Like the return of a very old school Pac Man in one game and speculation over what the

Legend of Zelda features a female heroine for the very first time.

And because the convention is only open to those who work in the industry, there is no shortage of opinions from the crowd. And we ask Kyle

Bosman from GameTrailers.com for his top pick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLE BOSMAN, CREATIVE PRODUCER, GAMETRAILERS.COM: The most impressive game at E3 to me is No Man Sky. That is a game where you start on a planet

with nothing. You build a spaceship and then you fly out in space. And all the planets are real and everyone has their own home world. Just the

possibilities of that game are crazy. And it's surprising to me to just see that's a real game that people are -- that people can play. That's

crazy to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: I saw the clips of that game earlier there are stunning.

Now for more analysis, let's bring in Evan Narcisse. He is a writer with the gaming news website Kotaku.com. And he joins us now live from New

York.

Evan, first though, let's go through the games starting with Legend of Zelda. The question is this will the hero, Link, actually be a girl?

EVAN NARCISSE, KOTAKU.COM: So, interesting thing, Kristie, with the Legend of Zelda it's a series that has had many entries over its 20 or some

odd year history. And traditionally, the lead character has been named Link and has been a boy.

But the way the mythology of the series folds out is that there have been different Links in different eras. So this one was just revealed at

E3 this week. It's coming out for the Wii U. It's probably a year out, if not more. And based on the way the character looks, people are speculating

whether this could be a girl in the role of Link for the first time.

The series name gets -- is named after a female character named Zelda, but you play Zelda in some other games, but if Link is a girl here, that

would be a big change for the series.

LU STOUT: Yeah, big change indeed.

Now another blast from the past from Zelda to Pac Man in the game Smash Brothers. Is Pac Man going old school in this one?

NARCISSE: Well, you know, it's funny. I think this is very shrewd move by Nintendo and Namco, the company that owns Pac Man, because you

know, you say the name Pac Man and generations of video game players, whether they're still playing video games are not, know that name.

So it could be something that could draw a parent to picking up a game for their kid, right. You see Pac Mac, it's like, oh I played Pac Man when

I was your age or when I was younger.

And the interesting thing about Smash Brothers is that it looks like a mess of punching and kicking on the screen, but there's a lot of strategy

there. You could actually use this game to show parents how much video game design has evolved in the decades that they -- since they may have

last played.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and I think we saw it in the clip, but really it was just for a nanosecond like Pac Man turns into his old 2D form.

Now up next, another game we have to talk about Assassins Creed Unity. And it's truly showing off the power of this new generation of games. It's

this huge, massive virtual Paris, the city of Paris. Could you describe it for us?

NARCISSE: Yeah, so Assassins Creed is a huge blockbuster series from French publisher Ubisoft. This one is set during the French Revolution.

And it's being tailored specifically for the PS4 and the Xbox One. And it really shows off the increased processing power of both these machines.

There's literally hundreds of people in these crowds. And they're all unique animations and some of them have artificial intelligence driving

their behaviors. It's really, really impressive work.

LU STOUT: Yeah, very impressive, very stunning.

Let's talk about the hardware. Sony has a new Playstation TV microconsole. What do you make of it?

NARCISSE: Yeah, so Playstation TV is interesting. It came out in Japan as the Vita TV last year. And it's got a bunch of functionality that

is -- looks to expand the Playstation ecosystem. You can play games on a little SD cards for the Vita on it, but you can also stream games from a

PS4 if you have one in your home. And you can also stream them from the Internet.

It'll work with the Playstation Now subscription service that Sony is going to start testing in July.

So, it's interesting. If you don't feel like shelling out a whole $400 for a PS4, you can do this at a reduced price point and sample some of

the games, more interesting games, smaller games that they're putting online and on the Vita.

LU STOUT: Yeah, this microconsole sounds like it does a lot for just like, what, $99.

And finally I have to ask you, your thoughts on this game that everyone is talking about, No Man's Sky. I saw the gameplay video on

YouTube. It looks and it sounds amazing. What's your take?

NARCISSE: The thing about No Man's Sky that's really got me excited is that the worlds are what we call procedurally generated, which means

there's a bunch of automated randomized processes that populate them with different life forms, different plants, you know, the sky and the trees can

look different on every planet, which really kind of mimics the idea of space exploration, right? You go out there into the cosmos, you don't know

what you're going to find. You land on a planet. Somebody could have gotten there before you and named some things, or you could be the first

person there to plant your flag.

It's really interesting. And it's -- you know, in an era where like space exploration seems like a thing that seems like less untenable, the

fact that a video game is going to basically give you the cosmos is really, really super attractive.

LU STOUT: Well, Evan I've got to say, thank you. I feel like I've been fully briefed on the near future of video gaming and what's happening

in E3. Thank you so much and take care. Evan Narcisse of Kotaku.com.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, they are fleeing for their lives as cities fall into the hands

of Islamic militants. We'll give you the latest from there.

Also, the planets b iggest football match, it is just hours away from kickoff from a preview of the opening game to how astronauts are gearing up

for the cup. We have it all covered right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now Iraq's foreign minister tells CNN the takeover of the city of Mosul by Islamist militants is a major security setback. He says the

Iraqi army there basically collapsed. He also tells CNN that the U.S. can and has helped and can help more by providing equipment, munitions and

counterintelligence training.

Now former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf could be allowed to leave Pakistan under a new court ruling lifting a travel ban. But the

government can still appeal over the next 15 days.

Now Musharraf was charged with high treason in March.

Brazil is welcoming all 32 World Cup nations with a colorful light show, the iconic Christ the Redemer statue in Rio was lit up in colors for

each team on Wednesday night. Now the statue will stay Yellow and Green, of course the colors of Brazil's national team, for its opener against

Croatia later today.

Now Iraq's foreign minister tells CNN that nobody has asked for U.S. troops to come back into Iraq despite the recent surge of militant attacks

in the country's north. Now we spoke with Becky Anderson about the growing crisis. And he said his country is just the first line of defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOSHYAR ZEBARI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER: Definitely. This is a serious situation. And this is what we in Iraq have all along warned

everybody, the ward, our neighborhood, the Arab countries that this conflict in Syria you cannot contain it. We will suffer in Iraq as the

first country from the spillover. And we are seeing over the last couple of days what we meant in stating those statements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And you can see Becky Anderson's entire interview with Iraqi foreign minister on Connect the World right here on CNN 11:00 p.m.

Hong Kong time.

Now the crisis in Iraq is stoking tensions across the region. And CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in Amman, Jordan.

He joins me now live. And Nic, inside Iraq, it's a very, very fluid situation. ISIS is gaining and losing territory across the country.

What's the latest?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the latest is that the government was supposed to meet to vote on a state of emergency.

Several, or rather many MPs boycotted, enough to make it impossible to hold the vote. There wasn't a quorum. The indication there is that the

parliament and the -- or rather the government is so divided still that it cannot even agree to get itself together to vote on a state of emergency,

that is a very damning indictment of the political situation, which underscores the rapid gains that ISIS have made.

Now on state television today, the Iraqi government is saying that it has retaken the town of Tikrit, which ISIS forces took barely 24 hours ago.

There has been no proof of this in so much as there's been no video or still pictures on state television to back up what is being said.

What is happening, however, is that ISIS is threatening to take the fight to Baghdad. They are saying to their fighters that the fight has

barely begun. They shouldn't even cede barely a hand's width of territory, that they should fight, you know -- they should only see ground over their

dead bodies, that really there are a lot of scores to settle in Baghdad they're saying. But really, we have seen nothing yet. This is what the

commander of ISIS said in a 17 minute video speech -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: And Nic, the momentum behind ISIS. It affects not only Iraq and of course Syria, but is affecting other countries in the region as

well, including Jordan.

ROBERTSON: It does. And it affects the countries beyond Jordan as well. As long as there's the war in Syria, as long as groups like ISIS are

able to take advantage of it and destabilize Iraq, they force refugees out of Iraq, out of Syria, they contribute to that at least. It destabilize

countries like Jordan, which -- whose economies are relatively fragile, who already house hundreds of thousands of refugees from Iraq, hundreds of

thousands, close to a million from Syria already. These countries like Jordan here are already stretched coping with the crisis.

What this threatens, what we are seeing in Iraq, threatens to make that much worse. And of course it raises tensions, the oil town of Baiji

could potentially be affected. It could affect oil exports from Iraq. That could affect global oil markets potentially down the line.

And ISIS, too, attracts so many foreign fighters, thousands from Europe, so it's not just this region it's beyond here. Some of those

foreign fighters, it's -- there is concern in foreign -- in western intelligence agencies will go back and export the violence back into

Europe. We saw one example of that allegedly, according to a French prosecutor three weeks ago when a gunman went into a Jewish museum in

Brussels gunning down four people there.

According to a French prosecutor, he alleged that this gunman had been to Syria, spent time there, got Jihadist training and had gone back to --

gone back to Belgium.

So those are the concerns, not just here in this region, but beyond, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Now, ISIS is on the move across Iraq. And this is a development that affects the entire world. Nic Robertson joining me live

from Amman, thank you.

You can get more of Nic's analysis on our website. You can just find it at CNN.com.

Now the wait is nearly over. After $11 billion of public money spent, sparring among FIFA's top leadership, subway workers going on and then off

strike. We are finally just mere hours away from kickoff at the first match of this year's World Cup. And the opener pits the home team of

Brazil against Croatia at the newly renovated Arena de Sao Paulo.

Now tens of thousands of football fans are expected to be filling those seats, some of which were just installed and have never been tested.

Now CNN's Alex Thomas is live at the arena where it all begins later today. Alex, the eyes of the world are on Sao Paulo. Set the scene for

us.

ALEX THOMAS, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning from Sao Paulo, Kristie. Hello to all our CNN viewers.

Certainly the eyes of the entire planet on us here. More than 100 million viewers will tune in to the opening match between Brazil and

Croatia. And when we get to this four-and-a-half week tournament, that global TV audience is estimated to stretch into more than 3 billion.

A strange mix of partying and protests as far as the atmosphere here is concerned. You heard about the protests earlier in your show, Kristie.

But as far as the partying is concerned, we've been hearing firecrackers and fireworks go off here.

We've been up here broadcasting live all morning, but I know from social media tweets from our colleagues in the media, there are people out

on the streets. We've seen more Brazil flags here. Despite a muted buildup, finally the carnival atmosphere we expected Brazil to have seems

to have come to fruition. Lots of delays to construction here, worries about cost of this tournament, Kristie.

I think Brazil, though, is just about ready to put that to one side and enjoy a bit of a football party here.

LU STOUT: Yeah, Brazil is just about ready. The host nation will be facing off with Croatia in the opening match. Alex, give us a preview.

THOMAS: Brazil will be definitely be the favorites for this one. They are five-time World Champions. They've won this tournament more times

than anyone else. And they also won the Confederation's Cup, the traditional pre-World Cup warmup tournament 12 months ago, beating the

reigning world champions Spain in the final.

Croatia, are no mugs (ph), but Brazil now have their coach Luis Felipe Scolari, in charge. He was the one that guided the country to their last

World Cup title back in 2002. And Brazil's poster boy will be Neymar, who says although there's lots of pressure on him, it's all about the side

themselves winning the title.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEYMAR, BRAZILIAN FOOTBALLER (through translator): For me, I don't want to be the best player of the World Cup or the best goal scorer in the

World Cup, I only want the title. I have always dreamed of it. What I most care for today is the World Cup title.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS: So with players like Neymar providing a bit of a creative spark up front and lots of very capable defenders at the back to prevent

Brazil conceding goals, Croatia have a tough task.

And you get the feeling, Kristie, if Brazil win in style here, scoring lots of goals, all those problems surrounding this tournament will quickly

disappear and suddenly we're going to be talking more and more about the football as opposed to the external political matters.

LU STOUT: Yeah, it would definitely lift the mood, wouldn't it. But we still have to talk about FIFA and Sepp Blatter in particular. I mean,

he's been fighting back, especially against UEFA who want him to stand down. What does Sepp Blatter say while there in Sao Paulo?

THOMAS; Well, he's confirmed at FIFA's congress that were at yesterday that he will stand for a fifth term as president. He's been in

charge of world football's governing body since 1998. Many want him to stand aside, because they believe he represents the past of FIFA, which has

all sorts of allegations of corruption surrounding it. And of course from top FIFA officials over the last 10 years have been forced to step down.

There are question marks right now about possible unethical behavior over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts. But Blatter has the chance to

stand again in next year's presidential vote, because FIFA's congress rejected the idea to limit age or the number of terms served by FIFA

officials. And that means that Blatter will stand.

Jerome Champagne, a Frechman, is going to stand against him. We spoke to him yesterday as well. There has been a controversial buildup, but it

feels now here on World Cup kickoff day, Kristie, as if that's all been quickly forgotten, but we've yet to wait and see. We've got four-and-a-

half weeks. There's bound to be more controversy to go alongside the football to come.

LU STOUT: That's right, enjoy the sport, enjoy the sport. Alex Thomas joining us live from Sao Paulo, thank you.

Now again that opening match is just hours away. Let's get your World Cup forecast with Mari Ramos. She joins us from the world weather center -

- Mari.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kristie. You know what, so far the weather has actually been pretty good. When we look at all of

the different venues across the region -- you know, let me go ahead and move out of the way so you can see this beautiful map that we've created

here for you.

These are the current conditions across the many cities across Brazil that will be hosting the games in the days to come. But of course I know

you want to know what's going to happen in Sao Paulo later today.

I've got to show you the satellite, though, because it actually looks pretty clear for this time of year. Of course, this time of day you

normally don't get the rain and the thunderstorms, especially in areas to the north. But even there I think it's supposed to stay pretty dry at

least for today.

I want to show you Sao Paulo. The weather actually pretty nice, 21 the temperatures expected by game time.

This southeastern area of Brazil here, including the state of Sao Paulo and the city, have actually -- are under the influence of a cold

front that came through a couple of days ago. So temperatures are actually relatively nice for now, very mild for the Brazil versus Croatia. And of

course for the opening ceremonies that will happen just about two hours before that. It will be humid, though, about 61 percent. And really no

problems expected here with the weather. Even the winds are expected to be nice.

But as we head north tomorrow for the Mexico-Cameroon fight -- fight - - match, excuse me, in Natal, that's where we're going to see the potential for some rain starting to move in and even some gusty winds.

We'll have to see if lightning becomes a problem, because I know that's when they actually do have to stop the matches for just a little

while waiting for the lightning, because that would the dangerous part. But I think if it rains, I'm pretty sure they keep on playing.

Similar situation as we head into Salvador, 26 -- a little bit warmer there -- for the Spain-Netherlands match on Friday.

Kristie, pretty exciting. Back to you.

LU STOUT: Exciting stuff indeed. Mari Ramos with the World Cup weather, thank you.

And World Cup fans are everywhere. They're even above the earth.

Mari will appreciate this. Two American astronauts and a German will be cheering on their respective squads from the international space

station. Those nations will play each other in two weeks during the group phase of the tournament. And the crews have a special good luck message to

all the players and the teams.

Now CNN is your home for all things World Cup. And do check out our Facebook pulse where we bring you what's making waves on social media.

It's a digital dashboard that brings the World Cup debate to you in real- time. You can find at CNN.com/Facebookpulse.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program, in U.S. politics, a David versus Goliath upset has been rocking the GOP this

week. And we'll have more on the aftershocks from the defeat of Eric Cantor.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Now the stunning election defeat of this man, the U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, is more than just a personal setback.

Republicans across Capitol Hill are still recovering from the shock of losing their House leader.

Athena Jones has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP ERIC CANTOR (R), VIRGINIA: While I intend to serve out my term as a member of Congress in the 7th District of Virginia, effective July 31st,

I will be stepping down as majority leader.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The stunning defeat of Majority Leader Eric Cantor has left the GOP reeling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm like everybody else, I was shocked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're all heartbroken. He's heartbroken.

JONES: The number two Republican in the House lost to Dave Brat, a Tea Party backed economics professor who painted the seven-term congressman as

out of touch and pro- immigration reform.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will you tell us...

JONES: After dodging reporters' questions for hours, House Speaker John Boehner, shared this praise for his good friend. Democrats said

Cantor's defeat was another sign of sharp divisions within the GOP.

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MARYLAND: I think we have seen on display over the last three years a party that is deeply divided and dysfunctional. I

think that last night was evidence of that.

JONES: Brat is the latest Tea Party candidate to defeat a so-called mainstream Republican. Tea Party darling Ted Cruz beat Texas establishment-

backed lieutenant governor, David Dewhurst, in a primary in 2012 and went on to win. Senator Cruz said Cantor's loss shows voters are frustrated with

Washington.

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: It is the power of the people to remind every elected official that we work for the American people and not the

other way around.

JONES: Just hours after Cantor's defeat the jockeying to replace him is in full swing. Number three Republican, Kevin McCarthy, the House

majority whip, is just one of several lawmakers eyeing the number two post.

CANTOR: If my dear friend and colleague, Kevin McCarthy does decide to run I think he would make an outstanding majority leader and I will be

backing him with my full support.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was Athena Jones reporting.

House Republicans will select a replacement for Cantor a week from now in a secret ballot.

Now we are learning more about Tuesday's fatal school shooting in the U.S. state of Oregon.

Now police have no identified the gunman as 15-year-old freshman Jared Padgett who killed himself after opening fire at the school. Investigators

believe that he had no link to his victim 14-year-old Emilio Hoffman was shot and killed in the boy's locker room. And Hoffman's mother says her

son loved his friends and they loved him.

Now the 2012 massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, it brought a big push for gun control legislation, but very little came of

that campaign in the end. And CNN has taken a closer look at the statistics on school violence provided by the group Every Town for Gun

Safety.

And since the Newtown tragedy, there have been 15 school shootings where a gunman has attempted to kill students or staff, not including the

latest incident in Oregon. That is an average of one such incident nearly every five weeks.

You're watching News Stream. Still to come, torrential rains turned the streets of southern China into rivers. And we'll see where this storm

is headed next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now the North Korean weather forecasters, they have been told -- or rather ordered, to refocus their eyes in the sky. Leader Kim Jong un is

apparently angry over what he says are incorrect weather forecasts. Now the photos published in a state newspaper, they show Kim Jong un lecturing

weather forecasting staff in North Korea.

Now state media reported the country is suffering from its worst spring drought in 30 years.

So what does our own in-house forecaster make of the story. Let's go straight to Mari Ramos at the world weather center. And Mari, just look at

those photos of the weather forecasters, the meteorologists in North Korea being lectured at. You've got to feel sorry for them.

RAMOS: It's a thankless job, I tell you.

Let's -- it's pretty serious stuff. And I think a lot of the things that come with better forecasting -- the responsibility, of course, to try

to give accurate information is that, you know, sometimes the forecasts are wrong. I don't know what their forecast was, but I can tell you it's not

the meteorologists fault that there's a drought going on.

And it is a pretty serious drought. When we look at the numbers here -- there's the scale for you. Moderate all the way down to exceptional.

And notice how a big part -- actually all of North Korea is covered in some type of drought. And then you have these areas that are in exceptional

drought. That's pretty significant.

Now managing droughts is a government's responsibility of how they manage the drought so that the people can have water, so farms can have

irrigation so that they can continue to grow. And infrastructure, of course, is a key element of that. And of course as we know across this

part of the world, unfortunately, in North Korea infrastructure is very poor and any changes to their weather will have huge impacts on their food

production and it becomes very, very serious, of course, for the people in that country.

I want to show you in Pyongyang their average rainfall. Notice as how we get into July and August, we really have a spike in the rain. The first

months of the year tend to be very dry. And normally they get about 100 millimeters of rain between January and May. They've only had about 20

millimeters of rain. So that's pretty significant down spike right there.

But hopefully as we head into these next few months we'll start to see a spike in the rain. It will help fill those reservoirs and bring water.

This kind of coincides with the east Asia rainy season. So, you know, it's not a lot of guess work going on here. This is what normally happens.

We get these plum rains, that's what they call them, or the Mei-Yu Baiu Front. And this is a semi-permanent front that kind of lingers across this

area. And depending on where kind of waves farther to the north or farther to the south, that's when you're going to see the heaviest rains.

And it doesn't only affect the Korean Peninsula, it affects Japan, Taiwan, and also many areas of China when extremely heavy rainfall is

possible like what we've had over the last couple of weeks across this area of southern China.

Right now the rain in that front has moved farther to the south so the heaviest downpours are across southeast Asia through the Philippines and

then all the way back out here into the Pacific Ocean.

Kristie, back to you.

LU STOUT: All right, Mari Ramos there, many thanks indeed. And very well put back to that North Korea story. You know, saying that number one,

the meteorologists, they are not at fault here. And it is the government's responsibility to manage the drought. Mari Ramos, thank you.

Now we showed you earlier how video game companies, they're showcasing their new toys right now at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles. And one new

product aiming to shift the industry is the Oculus Rift VR gaming headset. And we spoke to Oculus founder Palmer Luckey about the future of virtual

reality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PALMER LUCKEY, CO-FOUNDER, OCULUS VR: The Oculus Rift is a high performance, low cost virtual reality headset designed for gaming. It

makes you feel like you're inside of the game. You can think of it as a pair of ski goggles, except that instead of seeing the real world through

the ski goggles, you see the inside of a computer game.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, how am I supposed to find one of these guys?

LUCKEY: Well, right now we're just trying to target it mostly to game developers. You know, E3 is a trade show. It's -- you know, a lot of

consumer press here, but it's not a lot of consumers at the show.

So we're not trying to get in on consumer's heads right now, because it's not the right time for them to buy a product.

For the foreseeable future, the games industry is what's going to drive the Rift, because game companies are the only ones that are equipped

to make immersive high performance 3D worlds right now.

Virtual reality has been part of science fiction since before I was born, so it wasn't like I grew up and I saw one thing and that inspired me,

it was just -- this constant sense of, you know, virtual reality is a powerful technology.

Look at all of this fiction, you know, written around how much it can change the world.

I mean, already virtual reality has been used for years or even decades for military training and for situations that are too dangerous or

too costly to simulate, or things that you just don't want to actually recreate. That's going to continue as virtual reality gets better and

better.

You can imagine the same thing for emergency responders like firefighters or EMTs. There's a lot of medical applications like using the

rift to visualize 3D models of organs where you can visualize them in a much more real way than you can on a screen, you can see them at proper

depth at proper size and actually examine them from multiple angles. We've never had a technology that made that accessible.

The VR is going to get better and better and it's going to get slimmer and lighter. You know, maybe this is too bulky for some people to want to

wear and play. I don't think it is. I think a lot of people will be willing to use it, especially because it's going to get so much slimmer and

lighter.

But eventually this is going to be like a pair of glasses. It's -- I think that in 10 years a lot of the criticism of, oh, who would want to

wear this silly, bulky glasses it's going to sound like the people who were like, who would want to carry around a phone in their car. Think of how

much space that's going to take up in your car. Who would want to do that.

And who is going to want to carry around this brick and walk around like this -- yeah, you're going to walk around like this all day.

Of course not. Technology has evolved and people weren't using brick phones back then outside of a very narrow set of users. But as the tech

got better and higher performance and smaller and lighter and cheaper, more and more people used it. And now it's to the point where everybody has

their own phone in their pocket and, you know, phones that sit around big bricks, nobody even uses them anymore. I think VR is going to end up being

the same way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now Palmer Luckey, he also told us the Oculus have other big hardware projects in the works, but he did not give any hints about

what exactly they're working on.

And that is News Stream. But the news continues at CNN. World Business Today is next.

END