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Five Chinese Women Activists Released by Government; Hillary Clinton Announces Candidacy for President; The Power of Coloring; Yazidi Family Describes ISIS Captivity; Turkey Recalled Vatican Ambassador Over Use Of Genocide Term. Aired 8:00-9:00a ET

Aired April 13, 2015 - 8:00   ET

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

[08:00:21] IVAN WATSON, HOST: I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Hitting the road to 2016: Hillary Clinton makes another presidential bid and becomes the first Democrat to throw her hat in the ring.

Plus, Pope Francis is accused of inciting hatred. The comments that angered leaders of Turkey.

And China has freed five female activists detained for more than a month.

We're going to begin with some breaking news. It's the case of five women activists who have been detained in China since last month.

Now David McKenzie, our man in Beijing, is joining us with the latest from the Chinese capital. These are five women who were detained last

month, human rights activists, feminist activists detained on the eve of International Women's Day and held without charge for nearly a month.

Can you tell us the latest? Have they in fact been released, David?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we did know, Ivan, from family sources that we've just spoken to moments ago is that

three of those activists of the five had been released, it seems. The three that had -- are released are waiting. Wei Tinting, Wang Man and

Zheng Churan, those we three of the activists who, as you say, were planning to do protests, an outreach campaign last month to try and stop or

highlight the issue of sexual harassment on public transport.

We do not know at this stage, Ivan, the fate of the other two.

Each of these individuals has a different lawyer. And the way that the system works here is that the family members are told by the Chinese

authorities, each one by one, and not directly to the lawyers, and of course not to the press.

But it is certainly good news for those three women that there have been released without charges after more than 30 days in a detention center

here in Beijing. This case sparked outrage globally with a social media campaign, pushing to release the women. Many couldn't understand how the

women who were pushing for an issue that the government itself tries to highlight were detained in the first place.

So at least at this stage we know that three have been released, unclear at this stage the fate of two of the others -- Ivan.

WATSON: So, we don't know their fate just yet.

What message do you think the Chinese authorities were trying to send, David, when they detained these women on the eve of International Women's

Day? Was this a message do you they were trying to send to women's rights activists, or to activists in general around China?

MCKENZIE: Well, it's -- they will say, the Chinese authorities will say they're just going through the process of the law.

Initially, the police picked them up on issue, or they threatened to charge them with picking quarrels. Now that is a system in the law often

used to try and crush dissent here in China. And we have seen in the last several years a tightening of the screws on civil society.

I think it's important to mention, though, when these women were picked up. It was right in the middle of the National People's Congress,

the main parliamentary sessions here in China, Ivan. And because of that, it might have been the fact that they were communicating with each other,

planning this protest, that they were ensnared during the sensitive time, and perhaps through the last month the authorities have decided that in

fact it's not worth pushing ahead.

We don't know, though, why they were released without charges. Could it have been because of the international pressure that was put on? Well,

China has said repeatedly that foreign leaders should stay out of the internal legal process as they have called it. So we don't know at this

point.

But it is good news for those activists and for human rights watches that three of them have been released. I'm sure we'll hear in the coming

hours the fate of the other two. Perhaps they have been released as well, as I said. We -- each person and each set of lawyers and families will be

told individually by the authorities. But we'll bring you latest when we have it -- Ivan.

WATSON: Great. Thank you, David, for bringing us up to date on this important story.

Three out of five feminist activists confirmed released after nearly a month of detention in China.

Now moving to U.S. politics, Hillary Clinton has announced her 2016 U.S. presidential bid. And now she's going to hit the campaign trail

running. The first stop is the U.S. state of Iowa.

The former first lady, former senator and most recently a secretary of state, she made the announcement through a YouTube video released on

Sunday.

Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:05:29] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm getting ready for a lot of things. We're moving. Just so she can belong to a better school.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton announcing her presidential campaign with a video of Middle Class

Americans.

CLINTON: I'm getting ready to do something, too. I'm running for president.

KEILAR: Clinton outlined her campaign message, a populist family based rationale for her candidacy.

CLINTON: Everyday American needs a champion. And I want to be that champion.

KEILAR: Her announcement quite different than her 2007 pitch.

CLINTON: I'm not just starting a campaign, though, I'm beginning a conversation.

KEILAR: This time --

CLINTON: I'm back.

KEILAR: She tries to convince voters she's not taking her dominance in the Democratic field for granted.

CLINTON: I'm hitting the road to earn your vote.

KEILAR: When she said hitting the road she was being literal. In Pennsylvania, she stopped at a gas station. A man who met the new candidate

provided CNN these photos. Clinton is on her way to Iowa.

CLINTON: Together we will make history.

KEILAR: Where she lost big in 2008. Then it's on to another early state, New Hampshire, where she pulled out an unexpected win after this

emotional appeal.

CLINTON: I see what's happening. We have to reverse it.

KEILAR: Ultimately, of course, she lost.

CLINTON: Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in

it.

KEILAR: Republicans want to stop her from shattering that ceiling in 2016. Rand Paul's campaign launching this ad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary Clinton represents the worst of the Washington machine.

KEILAR: Jeb Bush, still undeclared, responding in advance of Clinton's video.

JEB BUSH, FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: We must do better than the Obama- Clinton foreign policy.

KEILAR: But President Obama, who brings a loyal Democratic constituency along with a potentially damaging foreign policy record, all

but endorsed Clinton during his trip to Panama.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She was an outstanding secretary of state. She is my friend. I think she would be an excellent

president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Now that was Brianna Keilar reporting. And we'll speak to her in just a moment.

But first let's take a look at Clinton's competition. Later today, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, well, he's expected to become the third

Republican to announce his candidacy. He's the son of Cuban immigrants. And Rubio would be America's first Hispanic president.

Rubio will join two other first-term senators seeking the Republican nomination -- Ted Cruz of Texas announced his candidacy back in March and

Rand Paul of Kentucky followed suit last week.

But keep in mind the race for the White House is still in an infancy. There are 575 days to go until the election.

So Brianna Keilar, she joins us now live from Washington. Brianna, good to see you.

Hillary Clinton failed famously to win the Democratic nomination in 2008. What is she going to do differently this time around?

KEILAR: She's not going to be competing against a Barack Obama. That's part of it, honestly. But 2008 was certainly humbling for Hillary

Clinton, because she actually went into the race very far ahead in the polls just as she is right now. Of course, there was a, then, very young

contender that perhaps initially her campaign didn't take as seriously as they should have. That was Barack Obama.

She had the trouble of her Iraq War vote in 2008. So now we're past that. We're eight years past that. The country, I don't think, is a

polarized by that. And that all works to Hillary Clinton's advantage.

Also, the fact that she has this experience as secretary of state, having worked with President Obama.

But what you're really seeing is a change in tone. And I think this is what's most striking. There was a sense, Ivan, that she was sort of

entitled, or that this was going to be a coronation back in 2008. And a lot of people, especially in the early caucus state of Iowa, felt that.

Well, this time she's really making it clear that she's not taking any votes for granted and that goes to this whole very down to Earth approach

that she's taking where she's roadtripping here.

WATSON: You know, Brianna, you look at her announcement video on YouTube and for a minute and a half you don't see Hillary Clinton at all.

It's kind of anecdotes from presumably American voters until suddenly she kind of makes an appearance holding, I guess, a Starbucks cup of coffee.

Who is she trying to reach out to? Who is her target here, the target voter in this newest bid?

[08:10:03] KEILAR: There's a number -- all you have to do is really look at who is starring in this video. And as we understand it, they

didn't know that it was Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign announcement that they were starring in, but you have a gay couple. There

is a focus on minorities. There is a focus on women, especially there's one anecdote in there where it's a woman talking about moving for the

school that will be better for her daughter. And you don't see dad in the picture.

So this is some single women, some college educated white women. And these are key constituencies for Democrats that are growing. This is the

coalition that President Obama was really able to deliver in 2008 and 2012. And this is a coalition that Hillary Clinton is trying to deliver at the

polls in 2016.

WATSON: Well, we'll certainly be watching. Brianna Keilar, great to talk to you. Thanks very much. Reporting live from Washington.

Now, if you want to learn more about the candidates, CNN has you covered. In fact, you can find out what Americans say they'd like to see

in the perfect candidate for 2016. You just have to head to CNN.com/politics.

Meanwhile, moving over to the United Kingdom where the British general election is less than a month away.

Labour Leader Ed Miliband has unveiled his party manifesto, which appears aimed at addressing Labour's perceived weaknesses in economic

policies.

He says if he's elected, he'll cut the government's budget deficit and make sure all programs will be funded without extra borrowing.

The Conservative Party under Prime Minister David Cameron has been slamming Labour's economic record, saying it drove up budget deficits when

Tony Blair was in office.

A U-Gov UK poll of voting intention taking Sunday shows a tight race between the Labour Party and the Conservatives. Labour has a slight lead,

but keep in mind it's within the margin of error.

UKIP, currently third in the poll with a clear lead over the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.

Now let's turn to China now, in particular the Chinese city of Shenzen in the southern province of Guangdong. Starting from today, residents

there can no longer cross into Hong Kong more than once a week. Previously they were allowed unlimited entry.

This comes as more people in Hong Kong are voicing frustration over parallel traders, that's what they call those people who buy goods in Hong

Kong and resell them on the Mainland for a profit. Some Hong Kong locals complain that traders are driving up the price of day-to-day items.

Earlier this year, angry protesters in Hong Kong barged into streets and shopping malls hurling insults at Mainland Chinese shoppers.

And still to come, Beijing is facing down new hacking allegations. A report out today says China has been cyber spying on its neighbors for

nearly a decade. We'll have the details later in the hour.

Plus, his controversial remarks at Sunday mass have provoked anger in Turkey. After the break, what Pope Francis said and how Turkey is

responding.

And freed ISIS prisoners speak to CNN about the month they spent in captivity. Hear one family's story of the terror they endured at the hands

of the militants.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:17] WATSON: 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.

We've already told you about the reaction to Hillary Clinton's new presidential bid. And later, we'll tell you about something being called

The Great Canon of China. Find out why experts say it's a worrisome new development in online censorship.

But now let's examine a controversial comment from the pope. He used the word genocide to refer to the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a

century ago.

Pope Francis made the comment during a mass Sunday attended by Armenia's president. Turkish officials are now outraged. Turkey has long

argued that those who died were part of a wider conflict that also killed hundreds of thousands of Turkish Muslims.

The country has now recalled its ambassador to the Vatican.

Now, senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman, he joins us live from Rome on this story. Ben, Turkey's top diplomats have called Pope

Francis's comments on the genocide unacceptable. And he had to know, he had to know that he would anger the Turks when he made these statements.

So why do you think he decided to choose now to wade into this emotional historical dispute.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think yesterday the reason was, of course, that it was the 100th anniversary of the beginning

of the massacre of ethnic Armenians in the Ottoman empire during the First World War.

Now it's interesting, because just last November, he went on a trip to Istanbul. He visited Turkey. But nonetheless, we know that something

that's very much on the mind of the pope these days is the plight of Christians in the Middle East, in Syria, in Turkey. We saw just a few

months ago 21 Egyptians murdered by ISIS in Libya.

Christians are really fleeing from the Middle East in unprecedented numbers. I was in one Christian village just north of Mosul a few weeks

ago where people were telling me they want to get out of there as quickly as possible.

So the pope, and the Vatican in general, is very concerned that the Christian presence in the Middle East, which of course goes back almost to

the birth of Christianity, is disappearing. And they really, I think, want to show that they support those Christians who remain in the Middle East.

And it comes at the cost of ruffling Turkish feathers, it appears that the pope may be willing to do so.

Now since he made that statement yesterday, there's been no followup comment from Vatican officials. Their attitude is he's put it out there

and they're going to move on.

The question is will the Turks do that as well -- Ivan.

WATSON: Well, so you're arguing that Pope Francis is trying to link the massacres of today to these dark events of a century ago.

What about the Turks in this dispute? What is their version of what happened in those final dark days of the Ottoman Empire in 1915?

WEDEMAN: Their attitude is that in World War I, Turkey of course was allied with Germany. They were fighting the British. They were fighting

the Italians. They were fighting the allied forces. And it was a struggle for survival, that yes it was a messy conflict in which the western powers

in Russia were courting here the Christian minorities of the Ottoman empire in an attempt to undermine the administration and therefore harsh measures

had to be taken.

But they insist that it was not along the lines, for instance, of Nazi Germany, it was not a specific planned, engineered -- rather campaign of

genocide, that people were killed in intercommunal violence, but it was not state policy -- Ivan.

WATSON: That's Ben Wedeman reporting live from Rome. Thanks very much, Ben.

Now, to the UN. The UN's nuclear watch dog says it's going to sit down with an Iranian delegation this week.

The International Atomic Energy Agency will hold a technical meeting in Tehran to talk about Iran's progress toward their framework of

cooperation. That agreement is part of the agency's own investigation into Iran's nuclear program.

This meeting is in addition to Iran's negotiations with six world powers to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

Now, one year after Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of Nigerian school girls, many of them remain missing. Coming up, CNN talks to one girl who

was lucky enough to escape. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:24:00] WATSON: Welcome back.

Let's take a minute to remember that it is one year ago this week that Boko Haram militants abducted almost 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria. The

kidnapping sparked the worldwide "bring back our girls" movement. And as you can see here, the protesters continue to pressure the government to

find them. Only 21 girls were able to get away. And one of them told CNN that she lives in fear to this very day.

Nima Elbagir interviewed her exclusively last year. And we are reairing her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: By an absolute miracle, some of those girls managed to escape on that horrifying night.

But even for them, this nightmare isn't yet over. One of them has agreed to speak to us, but she's asked that we don't identify her in any way, that we

don't give away her name, her family house, anything that could bring about what she fears the most, that the kidnappers could come back for her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said go and enter this car.

[08:25:03] ELBAGIR: What kind of cars?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A big Lorry.

ELBAGIR: Was it one or more?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seven.

ELBAGIR: Seven Lorries?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR: And this was at 10:00 at night?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR: And this was at 10:00 at night? So did that make you feel like they had come to get you, the girls?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR: That's when you knew that they had come to kidnap you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say OK, enter this Lorry, we go. I will drop down.

ELBAGIR: That was really brave of you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and we would rather die than go. We run in the Bush.

ELBAGIR: And what happened then?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We ran and ran and we were gone

ELBAGIR: Can you describe the men that took you? Were they wearing civilian clothing? Military uniforms? What were they wearing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't understand.

ELBAGIR: What was their dress? What were they wearing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel afraid.

ELBAGIR: Did they look like soldiers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we are a little afraid.

ELBAGIR: You're afraid?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ELBAGIR: You don't want to talk about what they look like. I understand. I'm sorry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: That's a report a year later by CNN's Nima Elbagir.

Now they were held hostage by ISIS for months, and now they're free and talking to CNN. After the break, former captives share their harrowing

accounts of survival.

Plus, China's latest cyber tool can do a whole lot more than censor foreign Internet sites. Researchers are calling it the great cannon.

Details coming up after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATSON: Welcome back to the show. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. And you're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

Family sources have confirmed to CNN that China has released at least three of the five feminist activists who had been detained for over a

month. The status of the two others is still unclear. The women were arrested last month right before they were about to stage a protest on

International Women's Day.

U.S. Presidential Hopeful Hillary Clinton is on her way to the state of Iowa for her first official campaign stop. Sunday, she became the first

Democrat to enter the race for the White House. On the Republican side, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida is expected to announce his candidacy

(inaudible).

...with anger after Pope Francis referred to the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide. The term is a major point of

contention when talking about the killings that happened 100 years ago. Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the Vatican for consultation over the

comments.

Foreign ministers from Germany, France and Spain gathered at Barcelona's airport earlier to remember the victims of Germanwings flight

9525. All 150 people on board the plane were killed when it crashed into the French Alps last month. A memorial service will be held on Friday at

Cologne Cathedral.

ISIS says its forces have now taken control of part of a Beiji oil refinery in Iraq. Less than two weeks after the militant group was driven

out of the nearby city of Tikrit.

This video, posted online, is said to show the assault on Iraq's largest refinery. Reuters says local officials witnessed ISIS militants

breaching the security perimeter, but added that they were later repelled by Iraqi security forces and coalition airstrikes. Iraqi government

officials have also insisted that they are still in full control of the facility.

Meanwhile, in northern Iraq just 30 kilometers from the front line with ISIS, thousands of displaced Yazidis now call a makeshift refugee camp

home. Among its residents, about 200 newly freed ISIS captives. They were recently released without explanation. And our Arwa Damon has one family's

story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:31:59] ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A suffocating fear has chased most of these Yazidi refugees into Iraqi Kurdistan, fear

not just for themselves, but for their loved ones still captive with ISIS. Those we spoke to ask that we conceal their identities.

Mahmoud was not home when ISIS arrived in Sinjar last August. The fighters took his wife Ahlan (ph), three children, the youngest just a

month old at the time, and his parents.

"They forced us at gunpoint and two big trailer trucks," Ahlan (ph) recalled. "They wrote everyone's name down and asked who wants to work as

a farmer, cleaner or herder."

Family chose (inaudible) and put to work.

"At the start, there were a lot of tears and fear, but then we got used to it," Ahlan (ph) says.

Two men who tried to escape were beaten and dragged to death behind a car. The village was their prison.

For two months, Mahmoud (ph) did not know if his family was dead or alive. Then Ahlan (ph) found a cellphone left in the house and called him.

She said, "we are alive, but we are prisoners."

One day ISIS fighters appeared and took her in-laws.

"We didn't know where they were taking them," she tells us. "We thought we would be next. So we decided this is it. We survive or we

don't."

She fled with her children, part of a group of 31, under cover of darkness walking, they could only hope, towards freedom.

"When the sun started to come up I thought that's it we are going to get caught. And what am I going to do with the kids," she remembers asking

herself. "I can't carry all three of them and run."

Luckily, she never had to.

The couple can't find the words to describe the moment they were reunited, but the fate of Mahmoud's parents remained unknown. Two days

later, that question was answered.

ISIS released 217 Yazidis, many of them elderly. Exactly why, they don't know.

ISIS moved them around for six terrifying days before setting them free. Among them were Mahmoud's (ph) parents.

"We didn't know if they were going to slaughter us or what they were going to do with us," his father says.

"Of course I was so happy. I couldn't believe that I was in the home of the enemy facing death and then got away,"" his mother adds."

Ahlan's (ph) own parents are still held by ISIS. She cannot escape the haunting memories of all she witnessed and went through.

Ahlan (ph) was saying that the hardest moment for her in all of this was when the ISIS fighters began taking away the little girls, the young

women, to be used as sex slaves. And they would at times tear these girls away from their mothers, dragging them off by their hair as they were

screaming and shouting.

She was spared.

"I would hide, or I would stay dirty. And I was breastfeeding," she says.

That is what ultimately saved her. We're told that ISIS slavery rules prohibit the use of women who are beastfeeding for sex.

The thought of those that are is what torments her most.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Shari refugee camp, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:35:32] WATSON: U.S. cyber security company FireEye says a hacking group backed by the Chinese state has been spying on countries in southeast

Asia and India for at least a decade. According to FireEye's report, the cyber espionage is aimed at governments and militaries in the region.

Corporations and journalists interested in China were also targeted, the report says.

Last month, we told you about a denial of service attack targeting Great Fire, an organization that fights online censorship in China. And

now we've learned what's behind it. Researchers say Beijing is using a cyber tool dubbed The Great Cannon to target content it doesn't like,

redirecting traffic to overwhelming the targeted site.

The report comes from Citizen Lab, which is part of the University of Toronto. Lead Author Bill Marczak says China could also use the so-called

Great Cannon to spy on and attack individual users inside and outside China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MARCZAK, CITIZEN LAB: Request into China that your computer generates could be hijacked and used to spy on you.

Now this is a capability that we know other governments and other intelligence agencies have. For example, the Edward Snowden documents

showed us that the NSA and the British PCHQ have the capability to exploit people just as they're browsing the Internet without them having to open

any special links or attachments.

So the Great Cannon also gives China this capability to target specific users, maybe specific companies, individuals, organizations, and

send them malicious spyware to infect their computer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: That was Citizen Lab researcher Bill Marczak.

Now to find out more about why China is targeting some websites, head to our show page at CNN.com/NewsStream.

Now, from cyber attacks to online piracy. Winter is coming and the latest season of game of thrones is just getting underway, but some

episodes of the widely popular show have already made their way online. We'll have more after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATSON: Welcome back. I'm Ivan Watson. This is a story I care a lot about: the highly anticipated fifth season of Game of Thrones was just

launched. But already the first four episodes are all over piracy sites.

HBO, which is also owned by CNN parent company Time Warner suggested they might have been leaked by a critic with an advance copy.

The popular series is the world's most pirated show. And anti-piracy company says it's been illegally downloaded, get this, 7 million times in

the past two months alone.

Or, maybe coloring books are more your thing. They're no longer just for school children. One Scottish artist has two sold out coloring books

on the top of Amazon's best seller list. Clare Sebastian checks out why the coloring craze is so popular.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carly Herbst knows how to pick just the right color.

CARLY HERBST, BEAUTY BLOGGER: The blues are my favorites.

SEBASTIAN: This 29-year-old New York beauty blogger spends her days reviewing lipsticks and nail polish. In her free time, she's discovered a

different kind of coloring.

[08:40:05] HERBST: I can color in a couple of flowers or a couple of trees and just kind of shut my brain off after a busy day and not be

looking at phone or my iPad.

This is my dragonfly that I did.

SEBASTIAN: For an old fashion hobby, it's right on trend.

HERBST: My friends who are writers, who are CPAs, who are lawyers, who are nutritionists, and they're all interested in it.

SEBASTIAN: The author of these coloring books, 31-year-old Scottis artist Johanna Basford, could never have imagined such success.

JOHANNA BASFORD, COLORING BOOK ARTIST: Nobody of course (inaudible).

SEBASTIAN: Her two titles have now sold over a million copies worldwide, topping the Amazon best seller list.

BASFORD: I just wanted to make a book that (inaudible) feel the same. It never crossed my mind that they would be this whole community online

that would (inaudible).

SEBASTIAN: Business is blossoming. She's having to print more copies of her first two books. And she's already working on three and four.

BASFORD: You don't see very many stressed out 7 or 10 year olds. You know, there is proof that play, you know, does help you relax and be more

productive.

SEBASTIAN: We wanted to fill in the blanks of this series, so we brought one of the books and some pencils to mid-town Manhattan. It's a

weekday lunchtime. There should be plenty of stressed office workers in need of relaxation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel better. I feel more pleasant and positive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A coloring book for adults? Yeah, no.

SEBASTIAN: Do you want to give it a go?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. I'm OK. Thanks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think everybody who comes to New York needs a coloring book.

SEBASTIAN: It's a craze that goes beyond one author. Several other titles are also selling out online.

HERBST: It takes you back to childhood, but on a grownup level. Like you feel like you can do it with a glass of wine instead of a glass of

milk.

SEBASTIAN: Clare Sebastian, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Welcome back.

Before we go, we want to take you over there -- Over and Out There with some special Australian air travelers. Four koalas are getting a

taste of the high life on Qantas Airlines with hot towels and eucalyptus leaves as they make their way to Singapore.

The Australian government is sending the bears to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties with Singapore. A nice present.

They're on loan to the Singapore zoo for six months. Australia says the gift will be made permanent after the zoo can support a koala colony.

Despite the photos, we have to point out that the koalas actually traveled in specially designed crates for their safety.

And that is News Stream. I'm Ivan Watson. But don't go anywhere, World Sport with Christiana Macfarlane is up next.

END