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Fragile Peace Holding In Ukraine; Serena Williams Wins 18th Grand Slam; Small Northern Iraqi Sunni Town Under Siege; Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Expecting Second Baby; Art of Movement: NASCAR Pit Crews; U.S. President Prepares To Deliver Strategy Against ISIS; Scotland Prepares To Vote For Independence From England

Aired September 08, 2014 - 8:00   ET

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

MANISHA TANK, HOST: I'm Manisha Tank in Hong Kong. Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second child.

The U.S. President prepares to unveil his strategy for fighting the militant group ISIS.

And Kei Nishikori's date with destiny in the U.S. Open final, aiming to be the first Asian man to win a tennis Grand Slam.

Hi, good to have you with us. Well, Britain's Prince George is getting a brother or a sister.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have announced that they're expecting their second child. But so far there's been no word on the due

date.

The announcement comes almost two months after George celebrated his first birthday.

So, let's bring in our royal correspondent Max Foster now. Max, this is going to be your story for the next few months. What do we know so far?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Manisha, you give me a sense of doom.

Well, the details are that they've announced this pregnancy, the second pregnancy of course, they were forced into it early because yet

again she's suffering from this acute morning sickness she suffered quite a lot. She's actually in Kensington palace with doctors today. She's meant

to be out and about at an engagement. She had to cancel that.

And the reason that they felt they wanted to be fully open about this was that she's going to have to probably cancel some more engagements

because of this.

I'm told by a royal source that they only found out very, very recently. She's not even 12 weeks pregnant yet. They obviously don't know

whether it's a boy or a girl yet, or they're not announcing it.

But, yes, a huge amount of excitement about the fact that little Prince George could have a little brother or sister. He won't be an heir

to the throne, of course, Prince George has got that position. But it does, you know, cast a new light on this royal family, which is absolutely

reinvigorated itself since the royal wedding and since Prince George came along.

TANK: Yeah, indeed. And this on a day, of course, where a lot of people were talking about Scottish independence and whether feelings about

that might change north of the border from England certainly.

But that aside, Max, it wasn't with a sense of doom that I said it, it's great news, but you're the one who is going to be bombarded by all the

questions. I'm sure the bookies will go to town on this.

In terms of how this is going to go, what we can expect, obviously you monitored the last pregnancy. What can we expect in the coming months in

terms of announcements that sort of thing, how does it go normally?

FOSTER: Well, their terminology is they don't want to give a running commentary, but we do get occasional briefings from sources that keep us

updated because they know that the world wants to know that it's going well and it's healthy.

So once she's got through the acute morning sickness, I'm sure we'll have an update about that. But what they won't do is give formal

announcements about the latest sort of feelings in the household about how things are progressing. And so they limit the information with a knowledge

that there will be a lot of interest.

I've been told that there is a possibility that she may appear on Wednesday evening, because Prince Harry has organized the Invictus Games

here in London, this is an Olympics, if you like, for wounded servicemen and servicewomen, very, very important to Harry, his one big thing this

year. An she'll want to support him on that.

So she may appear there. And I think we will see (inaudible) appearance to see how she's progressing and just to see visual evidence,

really, that she's still well without having to give those commentaries all the time.

TANK: Yeah, well, I'm not going to try and compare myself to the princess, but I have been through morning sickness. I can say it can be

quite brutal. I do wish her well.

Max, thank you very much for that. We'll be checking in with your regularly, I'm sure.

So let's turn to our other big story this hour, the U.S. targeting ISIS fighters near a key dam in Iraq's Anbar province over the weekend.

Now the expanded U.S. Airstrikes are providing cover to Iraqi ground troops that are projecting the Haditha dam. Well, this week, President

Obama is expected to unveil a more robust strategy to defeat ISIS. Mr. Obama will lay out this newly defined battle plan in a national address on

Wednesday.

Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta takes a closer look at what the White House might be planning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)??

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): After a few fumbles on ISIS, President Obama has a new game plan he says to start going on some

offense. ??

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to systematically degrade their capabilities, we're going to shrink the

territory that they control, and ultimately we're going to defeat them. ??

ACOSTA: But in an interview on "Meet the Press" the president insisted once again U.S. combat troops won't return to Iraq. ?

OBAMA: This is not the equivalent of the Iraq war. ??

ACOSTA: That tough new approach on ISIS came with an expansion of U.S. airstrikes over the weekend targeting the terror group for the first time

in western Iraq around the Haditha Dam. That air power the president hopes will tip the balance to Iraqi and Kurdish forces as well as potentially

moderate Syrian rebels battling ISIS on the ground. ??

OBAMA: We are going to be helping to put together a plan for them so that they can start retaking territory that ISIL had taken over. ??

ACOSTA: The ISIS reset was welcomed by Democrats who worried the president was being too cautious. ??

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CHAIRMAN, SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I want to congratulate the president. He is now on the offense. ??

ACOSTA: GOP critics are far from convinced. ??

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I believe this president has committed presidential malpractice in his foreign policy. ??

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, the Pentagon was going to what-if scenarios. But the president apparently wasn't, hasn't

developed a strategy. I don't know whether you can't see reality from a fairway. ??

ACOSTA: That golfing reference is not lost on the president who acknowledged he stumbled after the beheading of American journalist James

Foley. Mr. Obama admitted he sent the wrong message during his recent vacation when he recognized Foley's execution only to head to the golf

course minutes later. ??

OBAMA: After having talked to the families where it was hard for me to hold back tears listening to the pain that they were going through. After

the statement that I made, that I should have anticipated the optics. You know, that's part of the job. ??

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TANK: Well, let's get the latest now from Iraq itself. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh joins me live from the capital Baghdad. And Jomana, just about

35 miles north of Baghdad, we saw a series of explosions, I understand, today, this in a Sunni town. Explain what happened and why it seems so

remarkable.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Manisha, you know, during these ISIS advances that we've seen in the country since June, you

hear about towns with minorities or Shias under ISIS siege, this town Dhuluiya is a predominately Sunni town, as you mentioned, north of Baghdad

in Salahuddin Province. And they have been under siege by ISIS since June.

The people in this town have been fending off a continuous ISIS attack for more than 80 days now. They say what they've done is they've built a

dirt berm around their town to stop ISIS from coming in. And they say this morning it started off with a suicide attack with a suicide bomber driving

a military Humvee that they had seized and breaking that barrier opening up the road for the second suicide bomber driving another Humvee that hit the

town's center in the market there and both attacks, they say, killed at least nine people and wounded more than 70 others.

Now this town people there are telling us that they have been under the rule of ISIS's predecessor al Qaeda in Iraq back in 2006. And they

describe horrors and massacres. And they say they will not allow this group to take over their town and this is what is really making them fight

and making them stand up to ISIS trying to come into their town.

They say they're not getting any support from the Iraqi government, from the Iraqi military. They say it is the people of the town along with

the local police who have been fighting that battle. And now they're telling us they are calling for U.S. airstrikes. They need support in

defending their town, they say.

Over the past three months, Manisha, the numbers are staggering. They say there have been more than 70 attacks on their town, continuous clashes

taking place, and more than 500 mortars and artillery rounds that have hit their town.

TANK: Jomana, of course, we're waiting for this strategy from Mr. Obama to be announced this week. And we were just hearing about

possibilities, then, from Jim Acosta, but I guess if you want to come up with a new strategy on how to handle ISIS, you have to understand what ISIS

strategy might be.

Would airstrikes degrade their situation enough?

KARADSHEH: Well, the short answer is no. What these airstrikes, Manisha, have done is we have seen they did stop that momentum that we saw

ISIS had, those swift advances across parts of northern Iraq and also in the west. The airstrikes have managed to really stop that from happening.

But ISIS still controls large parts of this country. Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, is under the control of ISIS, and also in the west,

Fallujah, parts of Ramadi, the city of Tikrit in the north, too.

So major cities under their control. It is going to take much more than airstrikes.

Talking to Iraqis here, they say they want more airstrikes, but they also realize that more needs to happen here, from within, with the Sunni

community who has been key in the past as we have seen them standing up to ISIS's predecessor al Qaeda in Iraq and really at that time when the U.S.

military introduced that strategy that really changed the situation on the ground.

The Sunnis over the past few years, Manisha, have been marginalized, they say, by the sectarian policies of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and

they have been persecuted by the security forces.

So now, a new government is going to emerge. They want to see new policies, a change of policies, to try and bring in the Sunnis to do this.

Another thing also, they want to see the ISIS threat, that ISIS presence in Syria also tackled. It's not going to take one element, not

airstrikes, not military operations alone, and not a political solution alone, it all has to come together in order to weaken and as U.S. officials

put it degrade and defeat ISIS.

TANK: That's -- it's often the case, it has to be a collective effort.

Jomana Karadsheh, thank you very much for that. The latest there from Baghdad in terms of what's been happening on the ground.

Well, you can get more analysis on what it will take to beat ISIS. We have complete coverage. It's all on our website, including a look at how

the U.S. State Department is trying to counter the militant's propaganda online. Find it all at CNN.com. Do check it out.

You're watching News Stream. And coming up this hour, Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels point the finger at each other after shelling

hits Eastern Ukraine over the weekend despite a ceasefire.

Also ahead, Serena Williams is a smashing success at the U.S. Open, this after a year of disappointing setbacks at the slams. We'll have more

on her knockout performance in Flushing Meadows. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TANK: Hi. You're watching News Stream. And you're looking at a visual version of the stories that we've got in the show today. And we've

already told you about the U.S. president who is planning to unveil his strategy against ISIS.

Later, we'll bring you more on the first Briton known to be a suicide bomber in Syria.

But now to Ukraine. The ink was barely dry on a truce when shelling and gunfire started again in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian government and

pro-Russia rebels signed a ceasefire on Friday. But there have been reports already of explosions in and around the cities of Donetsk and

Mariupol.

Each side accuses the other of violating the truce. The United Nations says since April, more than 2,200 people have been killed in the

fighting.

So, why it may not be clear who is launching the attacks, CNN's Diana Magnay has been getting a firsthand look at the damage. She joins us now

from Donetsk.

Diana, what have you been seeing?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Manisha, if I had spoken to you this time yesterday, I would have characterized that

ceasefire as pretty much dead in the water after a night's heavy shelling, or at least two hours around midnight Saturday into Sunday when we heard a

lot of artillery and multi-barrel rocket launch systems, what we believed to have been GRAD rockets being fired towards the eastern outskirts of

Mariupol.

And when we went down the next day, the checkpoint there, the Ukrainian held checkpoint, had remained intact, but clearly that had been

the target, and a lot of the area around it -- a petrol station, burned out military vehicles, had been damaged. That was very intense bout of

shelling. There was also shooting around that time and we filmed and saw one small civilian vehicle that had been badly shot up, people inside, a

family with children very badly injured. And we found out later that one of the women inside that car had died.

We now know that in another incident, a shooting incident in Luhansk, another civilian was killed. So that makes the tally two civilians dead

even despite this ceasefire.

But in the last 24 hours, both in Mariupol where incidentally President Poroshenko has gone to visit today, should be there right now,

and also here in Donetsk, seem to have quieted down somewhat. And there are reports of isolated violations, but they seem to be much more sporadic

in character, which is perhaps why the OSCE has characterized this ceasefire as shaky, but still holding.

Now the Ukraine's national security council has issued its daily report. And it's interesting some of the comments that it makes, because

it says that the character of the shelling has changed in the last 24 hours. What I was describing Mariupol. Overnight Saturday into Sunday has

become much more sporadic, they say. They also say that it is largely being conducted by terrorists and inverted (ph)(inaudible) it's named for

the pro-Russian rebels in this part of Ukraine and that the ration military who it claims are operating on Ukrainian soil have been taking a backseat,

not actually launching these attacks.

And it also says that it hasn't detected any cross border movement on the part of Russian troops.

But despite all that, Manisha, the European Union has decided nevertheless to go ahead and impose further sanctions on Russia today.

That was announced a short while ago. And this is just toughing the sanctions package that has already been imposed on Russia. Russia has

warned a couple of times now that it will respond with asymmetrical sanctions. And it's talking, for example, about banning EU flights, or

international flights from operating in Russian airspace.

So, the diplomatic wheels continue even as this ceasefire continues also -- Manisha.

TANK: OK, Diana, thank you for bringing us up to date on all of that and that latest news on the sanctions as well. Diana Magnay there live

from Donetsk where they've been following that shaky ceasefire that is holding.

Just ahead here on News Stream, two surprise contenders are preparing to square off in the U.S. Open tennis final -- all terribly exciting.

We'll go look at what we can expect from Flushing Meadows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TANK: A bit of the Hong Kong skyline for you.

Now, Serena Williams joined the ranks of the all-time greats by winning the U.S. Open on Sunday . So let's get more from Andy Scholes who

is cover it all for us from New York.

Andy, she was a happy lady.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Manisha, she certainly was.

You know, this was Serena's 18th career Grand Slam title, 18. You know, that ties her with the likes of Chris Everett and Martina Navratilova

on the all-time list. She now trails only Steffi Graf who has 22 Grand Slam titles.

Now this was a big win for Serena, especially after the year she's been having. You know, it has been a very disappointing season for her.

She bowed out early in the other Grand Slams, but of course all that wiped away on Sunday. She just completely dominated Caroline Wozniacki in

straight sets.

The win, it capped off an amazing couple of weeks for Serena. You know, she didn't even lose a single set in the entire tournament. She

didn't lose more than three games in all the sets that she won. You could just tell the entire time that Serena was on a mission.

After the big win, she set down with CNN's Rachel Nichols.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Congratulations.

The U.S. Open was your 18th career Grand Slam win, that ties you with Chris Everett and Martina Navratilova. Chrissy and Martina, I just want to

let that sink in.

SERENA WILLIAMS, 18-TIME GRAND SLAM WINNER: I know.

NICHOLS: What is that like?

WILLIAMS: It's really, I don't know, it just doesn't seem right. Chrissy, Martina, Serena. It's like, oh my goodness, I can officially be

there now. So it feels great, because you hear these names growing up and you don't think that one day you're going to say, oh, you know, Serena.

You don't think about yourself like that. You just think I want to work hard and do the best I can. And then you start chasing titles and you start

chasing legends and it's just a great feeling.

NICHOLS: And Chrissy and Martina surprised you on the court during the trophy presentation.

WILLIAMS: Yes, I was totally surprised. I wasn't expecting that at all.

NICHOLS: And they gave you a nice gift there, that number 18 charm bracelet. You want to hold it up there?

WILLIAMS: They gave me an 18 charm bracelet, number 18 on it.

NICHOLS: Very nice. What was that moment like?

WILLIAMS: It was great. I didn't expect it. So, I was really happy to see the two amazing, amazing women come out and support me like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: This was Serena's third straight U.S. Open title. And there's no reason to believe she's not going to be a Flushing Meadows again

next year in that final going for Grand Slam title number 19 -- Manisha.

TANK: Yeah. And speaking of finals. Ooh, it's all very exciting. So, no one expected these guys to get to a final, but it's a huge

opportunity for both of these players. And definitely people in Asia are going to be watching this one.

SCHOLES: Yeah, it's certainly right.

You know, everyone on Saturday had already penciled in a Federer- Djokovic final, you know, one versus two, but the exact opposite ended up happening. As you said, definitely going to be a great opportunity for

both Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic. Both are appearing in their first ever Grand Slam final. Nishikori getting all the headlines in Japan. He's the

first Asian-born player to ever make it to a Grand Slam final.

Yeah, if you think about this, though, at the start of the tournament both of these players extreme long shots to win the Open. Nishikori's odds

were 75-1, Cilic was 100-1. The odds of them meeting in the finals was around 1,000-1. So that's how unlikely this final matchup is going to be

on Monday night.

It's going to be the first time since 2005 we don't have a guy named Federer, Nadal or Djokovic in a Grand Slam final. So, you know, who knows

Manisha, maybe we're kind of turning the page to a new era in men's tennis.

TANK: Yeah, well, I bet you've got some fantastic tennis ahead of you. Enjoy it, Andy, great talking to you. Thanks so much.

You're watching CNN's News Stream. Coming up, we'll look at those born and raised in the west who gave up their lives for a terrorist cause

on foreign soil.

And later, there's a lot hanging in the balance, and a new opinion poll suggesting that balance may be tipping. We'll bring you the latest on

Scotland's independence drive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TANK: I'm Manisha Tank in Hong Kong. And you're watching News Stream. These are your world headlines right now.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second child. Buckingham Palace made the announcement just a few hours ago. Prince

Williams' wife Kate is believed to be suffering acute morning sickness. The couple's first child, George, was born in July last year.

Mortars and artillery shells have fallen on Donetsk and Mariupol in eastern Ukraine. Two days of sporadic explosions and gunfire are putting

Friday's ceasefire in doubt. The Ukrainian government and pro-Russia rebels are blaming each other for violating the truce, although neither

side has said the ceasefire is over.

U.S. Airstrikes have been expanded to include ISIS positions in Iraq's Anbar Province on Sunday. Air raids provided cover for Iraqi ground forces

protecting the Haditha dam, the country's second largest. ISIS has attacked the dam several times, but has yet to seize it.

Now, UK authorities say hundreds of British born Muslims have flown to Iraq and Syria to fight with ISIS and other militants groups. The first

known Breton to have blown himself up in a suicide mission in Syria came from a town just outside London. CNN's Karl Penhaul met his relatives and

friends to find out what motivated this 41-year-old father of three to head to battle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tears for a son who never came home -- happier times, British-born Abdul Wahid Majid with his

bicycle in the 1970s. Fast forward to February, posing with jihadi fighters moments before his suicide mission in Syria.

He'd phone his brother Hafeaz back in England a week before.

HAFEEZ MAJID, BROTHER: He said he loved us all very, very much. And he said I know you know that you're looking after the family and you're

doing a very, very, very good job. And that, you know, if I've done any wrongs in my life that I hope maybe you can forgive me for those wrongs.

PENHAUL: Majid was born just outside London, Pakistani parents with what appears to be a normal British childhood -- family snaps, awkward

school uniforms, the new car and relatives who fought in the British army.

Here, in his hometown Crawley (ph) media investigations link Majid to a Muslim hate preacher and Muslim radical convicted of a terror plot. But

he was never accused of any crime.

MAJID: He wasn't as other, for speculation say, a jihadist, a man who was born to fight, a man who wanted to commit terror on the street.

PENHAUL: Last summer, Majid, who drive a highway maintenance truck for a living, went to Syria on this aid convoy organized by a British

Muslim charity. His wife and three children stayed home. Friend Raheed Mahmood went with him.

RAHEED MAHMOOD, FRIEND: He just raised the issue. You know, he asked me how I felt about it. And I just said turn around and said, yeah, let's

just do it.

PENHAUL: Photos show Majid volunteering in refugee camps.

So just why would the man in the Minnie Mouse ears become a suicide bomber?

MAJID: The horrors that he may have seen out there, the stories he would have heard out there, I think that would have gave him the courage

and the strength to actually to do his best to help as many people as he can.

PENHAUL: Mahmood says they met Syrian rebels, including ISIS and al Qaeda affiliated radicals in the camps.

MAHMOOD: ISIS would help -- you would, you know, you would hear of people swapping from group to group unsure of what -- you know, who to

fight with.

PENHAUL: But Mahmood says he had no idea Majid had been recruited.

His suicide mission was commanded by Chechens who had recently defected from ISIS to al Nusra, the al Qaeda faction.

MAHMOOD: He was obviously at peace, he'd obviously -- the idea wasn't troubling him in any way. And I can only put that down to faith, really,

an idea of where, you know, he's going.

PENHAUL: This is the video of Majid's attack on Aleppo prison where President Assad's brutal regime was reportedly torturing hundreds of

prisoners.

MAJID: We feel no shame whatsoever of whatever he did. His intentions were bonafide and they were true to the heart.

PENHAUL: But the UK government did not share that view.

MAJID: As soon as we took one breath the police are knocking on the door with their search warrant, which is under the prevention of terrorism

act.

PENHAUL: A complex portrait of how a British boy became a suicide bomber and a mother who just can't believe her son is gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. Only god (inaudible). I don't know.

PENHAUL: Karl Penhaul, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TANK: The British government is offering to give Scotland more power over its finances more quickly. This after a new poll by UGov shows Scots

are leaning toward independence. The polls show the Yes campaign has taken the lead for the first time with 51 percent; those who want Scotland to

remain in the UK 49 percent. Those figures don't include undecided voters.

The official referendum is just 10 days away. So things are really heating up now.

Let's get more from our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson who joins us from Dundee in Scotland.

What are people there making of this poll then, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's certainly got people talking. They undoubtedly, though, it's going to be an

absolutely huge turnout. People on either side of the divide here know that their vote will really count, because essentially at the moment it's

just too close to call. The Yes camp really see this -- see their vote surging at the moment and this is giving them new confidence.

The head of the Scottish National Party here, Alex Salmond has said that the No camp is in disarray. This is what he said about these new

figures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX SALMOND, SCOTTSH NATIONAL PARTY LEADER: Well, it's very positive. And we're very encouraged. But we're not basing our campaign on

any opinion poll, however positive, we're basing it on what's happening in the towns, villages, cities of Scotland, it's happening in communities, and

that's people are moving towards the Yes campaign, because inspired by a vision that we should take Scotland's future into Scotland's hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Well, it's not just the people of Scotland that are being inspired, this is really inspiring and galvanizing the Conservative Party

at the moment, the chance for the exchequer George Osborn announcing over the weekend that he will look and make announcements, along with other

senior party officials, over what they can offer to the No camp, if you will, to try and build those figures back up. And this will be to sort of

answer some of the economic concerns that Scotland really doesn't get a fair shake at the economy in Britain as a whole.

These were some of the points that he said he would be addressing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE OSBORN, BRITISH FINANCE MINISTER: Much greater power to control tax rates, more control over public expenditure, more control over

welfare rates, and a host of other changes all of which I think satisfy a Scottish demands that decisions that affect Scotland are taken in Scotland

without the risks of separation. And I think that is the best of both worlds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: And I've been traveling around a bit here over the weekend. And everywhere you go you see the blue Yes Vote campaign posters

around and the purple No Vote campaign posters around. They're popping up all over the countryside here on farms, on houses in the city, it doesn't

matter where you go, you're going to see them.

The latest polling indicates it's close, and that really has people here absolutely talking about it more than they have done, although some --

it's such a contentious issue in some places you find that people don't want to talk about it with their neighbors too publicly, Manisha.

TANK: Well, you know what, these issues -- certainly issues over democracy and who you vote for can be very personal choices. And you've

sort of done the rounds, as it were, you've been traveling around, you've been speaking to people. I don't know, this might be a very silly

question, Nic, but we've got this news from the palace today about the royal baby. Do things like that change the mood amongst people, make them

feel they want to be part of the union?

ROBERTSON: You know, there's no doubt the last royal baby was this huge sort of plus feel good factor for the country. And we've seen in some

of the headlines in newspapers this weekend, denied by Buckingham Palace, but because the queen is staying out of this vote that, you know, concern

from the royal family that there will be a breakup of the union.

People who would be pro-staying part of the union, perhaps, more, you know, happier about another royal baby. All -- the whole future of the

royal family will be bound up to some degree in this vote.

Will that baby make a difference? I think really -- I mean, having talked to people here, yes, there will be interest in another royal baby.

But people having to make a serious decision, the No -- the people who sort of haven't made their minds up yet have been telling me, look, I know that

I'm voting for the future. I'm voting for the future of my children. I want them to have a better economic future, better stability, and they're

just not sure about which way to go.

The Yes camp, it's, you know, if at the moment London is making a mess of our economy, well, give it to us and if we make a mess of it on our own

then that's our own fault. And of course the No camp is of the opinion we're better united, better bigger, better stronger. Still happy to be

Scottish, still feel their Scottishness, that hasn't changed at all.

So it's a very, very important vote for people here. They really recognize that this could damage the economy, or those who aspire to

something better believe this is her change, 370 years since they were last independent from England.

So, the royal baby, yes, that will get in the debate. I don't think it's going to sway which way people vote, certainly high turnout can be

expected, Manisha.

TANK: Yeah, 10 days to go, everything to play for, which is something of a huge economic debate as well. Nic, we'll leave it there. Thank you

so much for that. The latest live from Dundee.

Still to come here on News Stream, the roar of the crowd, the screech of the tires, and the smell of exhaust and burned rubber -- we're talking

NASCAR and the fine line between taking the checkered flag and being left at the starting line.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TANK: Now, they say every second counts, but when it comes to NASCAR, every millisecond counts. Drivers race at breathtaking speeds, but so

often the races are won not on a straight or a bend, but actually during the pit stop. In this week's Art of Movement, Max Foster looks at the

choreographed chaos of a few key seconds in the pit and the tiny margins between success and failure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Their focus is intense, anticipation builds as the moment gets closer. Every fraction of a second counts for this crew. And even

though this is just a dress rehearsal, they understand their speed, coordination and accuracy will determine the teams success.

These are the members of Hendrick Motorsports 48 pit crew, part of the team that helped one of NASCAR's most successful drivers, Jimmy Johnson,

win six championships.

During a NASCAR race, drivers do hundreds of laps at speeds of more than 300 kilometers per hour. But the seconds spent during a pit stop when

the tires are changed and the cars have refueled, maybe the most crucial moments of any race.

DOUG MORIN, PIT CREW: It is safe to say that if you don't have a well performing pit crew that does execute well on pit row you're going to

affect the overall outcome of the race in a potentially hugely negative manner.

Our goal is to hit a 12 second pit stop, get five lug nuts off, five lug nuts on, get it full of fuel and trip it down pit road.

FOSTER: To achieve their goal, crew members train and practice daily. It takes years before many are ready for the main stage.

CAM WAUGH, FRONT-TIRE CHANGER: When I first got here, I didn't know anything about changing tires. And it took a good two, two-and-a-half

years to even get comfortable just you know knowing how to use the gun, knowing what it's going to do when you hit. You have to have a lot of core

strength and a lot of hand strength. And I just think really repetition is the only thing that really helps guys get any better at it.

MORIN: Pit Crew consists of a front tire changer, a front tire carrier, jack man, rear tire changers, rear tire carrier and a fueler.

These guys have come from football, come from baseball, come from wrestling, so they have that coachability, they have that team mentality,

but they're also able to block everything out and focus on their specific task at hand.

FOSTER: The task at hand for the tire changers, like Cam Waugh, maybe the most challenging. While using a powerful impact wrench that spins up

to 15,000 revolutions per minute, they're expected to be precise every time.

Even a minor mistake can cause a major setback for the team.

WAUGH: You know, you have 20 chances, 20 lug nuts you have to hit every pit stop. And if you miss one, three-tenths, half a second is the

difference between coming out first and coming out fifth.

FOSTER: But the tire changers can't reach perfection unless they're in sync with the rest of the pit crew.

RYAN PATTON, REAR TIRE CARRIER: Picture guys we all look at each other like brothers, you know. We spend six days a week together.

Also feeding into that, you know, we compete. You see us on the field and in a way when we're trying to out lift each other, trying to finish a

drill first and stuff like that. So it's constantly -- that competition makes our team better and elevates our game and makes us better on Sunday.

FOSTER: The pit stop is a short scene of choreographed chaos. And if all the movements are right, the driver has a better chance of ending up in

the winner's circle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TANK: In life, Joan Rivers was neither quiet nor understated. And after the break, we'll show you how her funeral was a sendoff in her own

unique style. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TANK: Well, it's exactly six months to the day since the Malaysia airlines flight MH 370 vanished en route form Kuala Lumpur to Beijing

carrying 239 people on board and still no sign of the plane.

Australia's deputy prime minister says the plane could be further south in the Indian ocean than they original thought based on a failed

satellite phone call made from the plane the morning that flight 370 disappeared. A new deep water search involving three ships is also

expected to start later this month.

Of course, families of missing MH370 passengers say they're not satisfied. And they continue to demand answers. But as David McKenzie

reports, those speaking out in China say they're facing fierce government intimidation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For week and now for months all they've had to cling onto was hope. Their loved ones seemingly

vanished. Dai Xiu Tin (ph) lost three generations of her family on flight MH370. Jiang Li Xue (ph) lost his beloved sister.

After all this time, he's still searching.

"I can't give up looking for her until the truth comes out," he says. "There's nothing else I live for."

But now the victims of this tragedy say they've become targets of a sustained campaign of intimidation by the Chinese authorities.

"They've been detaining people over and over," says Dai (ph).

And details are just emerging of one of the worst incidents. Family members say that they came to this part of Beijing to get assistance from

Malaysian Airlines. They said when the office closed they stayed, but police swooped in and used uncompromising violence.

"A few dozen police came," says Jiang (ph). "They say we weren't aloud to say anything. They threatened us, including young children. They

took 18 of us away to interrogate us."

He shows us where the police kicked him repeatedly leaving deep scars. They detained him for four hours and die for a full day, she says, for

violating the law.

But the local police and Malaysian Airlines refused to comment on the incident. Malaysian Airlines and the Chinese government have repeatedly

said they will do anything they can to help the families.

Earlier this year, the Communist Party encouraged protest by the families against the Malaysian embassy. Now, when they have questions,

family members say they were told to keep quiet. And family leaders say they've been silenced.

Like many, all Jiang wants is closure and to move on but now, he says, he feels twice damned.

David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TANK: Right now we're going to get a weather update for you and check in with Mari Ramos who is standing by at our world weather center.

Mari, just last week we were talking about those floods in India and Pakistan, the death toll in both those places rising amid all this monsoon

rain.

MARI RAMOS, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and there was just an update just a few minutes ago from Pakistani authorities saying that the

death toll there unfortunately continues to rise.

The rainfall is some of the heaviest that they've had since they've been keeping records across northern parts of Pakistan.

In Islamabad, for example, they've had three times their monthly rainfall and it happened in just a matter of three days.

Lahore was another one of the hard hit areas. You can see the city right here.

I want to show you this picture. This is from the 23 of August. And so we're looking at this image from space. This is a NASA image. And

there is the Indus River. This is where most of the flooding happened a few years ago, remember, the more than 2,000 people were killed with that

flooding along the Indus River in Pakistan. Well, this time around the heavy rain has been farther to the east. Eventually this water will make

it into the Indus River and that's a concern later on in the week.

But I want to show you the Jhelum River and the Chenab River in particular. And then back over here toward Lahore as well.

This is the after. It's amazing the amount of flooding that you see and how large these rivers have grown in just a matter of weeks. Most of

it happening in the last few days. So there is major flooding there.

As far as the rainfall totals across this region, like I said, Islamabad had over three times its normal rainfall for the entire month of

September and a similar situation here, even worse, I should say, as we headed toward Lahore.

This is a picture from Pakistan. And it kind of paints a picture of what people are having to come back to now that the water is receding in

some of those upper reaches of those rivers. In many cases, everything is destroyed. There are thousands of people that have been left stranded like

the ones that you see here. This is in neighboring India and rivers that have completely engulfed entire communities.

Let's roll the pictures that we have from this area.

As I was telling you, authorities just updating the death toll. More than 335 people total across India and Pakistan have been killed, 150 in

India, the rest in Pakistan. Very serious situation, because even now when the waters are receding people have very little to come back to, as you can

see there. There are entire communities that are stranded and authorities are trying to pluck them off the hillsides or near these destroyed villages

by helicopter, by boat, by any means that they can. The weather has been cooperating lately, because it has been much drier than it had been before,

so that makes it a huge difference for these areas.

As far as the forecast, I can show you this, come back over to the weather map. We still have some scattered rain showers in the area, but

nothing like what we had before, expecting drier weather. And the thing to watch across this region is going to be farther downstream those barrages,

or those dams farther downstream will start reaching some of those peak levels probably to the later part of this week and beginning of next.

Switching gears, I want to take you to Central America. I want to take you to Nicaragua, because people were scared when they heard a very

loud bang. Take a look at these pictures. They think it was a meteor. And this what was left. People that live nearby -- this is near the

capital Managua, just on the outskirts.

Locals are saying there was a huge bang. You had a very foul odor that came out, a lot of dust came into the air. They even heard what they

think was a sonic boom. Authorities in Nicaragua are saying, yes, this was a meteor.

They haven't been able to find anything actually on the ground. So they are still waiting for confirmation on that. And they're asking for

help from the international community, from experts, to help them pinpoint, Manisha, if this was a meteor indeed.

So pretty telling there. They said nothing to do with a meteor that bypassed Earth safely near New Zealand -- I should say, just, what 40,000

kilometers away from Earth.

Back to you.

TANK: All right, Mari, thank you very much. Mari Ramos there at the World Weather Center.

Comedienne Joan Rivers made some people cringe. She also shocked others, but made millions laugh. Her family, friends and fans bid her

goodbye at her funeral in New York, a lavish sendoff that had people talking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERALDO RIVERA, TV JOURNALIST: It was exactly the show Joan wanted. It was hilarious, irreverent, lot of reminiscence, a lot of heartfelt, you

know, remembrances of this fabulous woman. It was exactly the show she wanted. I have no doubt that when the bagpipers came out Joan Rivers would

have been saying Yahoo, look at me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TANK: And the New York health department is still investigating the clinic where Rivers suffered cardiac arrest during a medical procedure.

She was hospitalized and died a week later. Joan Rivers was 81.

And that's it from News Stream for now, but the news does continue here at CNN. World Business Today is next. So don't away.

END