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Iranian-American Journalist Detained For Nine Months In Tehran; Senator Marco Rubio Announces 2016 Presidential Candidacy; New Study Says New Dealhi Has Worst Air Quality In World; Bring Back Our Girls Campaign a Year Later; Chinese Activists Released To Be Under Strict Government Watch. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired April 14, 2015 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:08] IVAN WATSON, HOST: I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. Welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.
#BringBackourGirls: families of nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls have been now making that plea for one full year.
Plus, the Iraqi prime minister is set for his first official visit to the White House today, while ISIS commits more atrocities in his country.
And the movement to free Jason. We speak to the mother of an Iranian- American journalist held in Iran for nine long months.
We begin the program in a northern Nigerian town of Chibok where exactly one year ago Boko Haram gunmen stormed a boarding school in the middle of
the night. After shooting down soldiers guarding the campus, they made their way into dormitories and kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls.
Despite interantional outcry, more than 200 of the victims have never been found.
In the capital, protesters are taking to the streets to demand the safe return of those girls.
Nigeria's president-elect has vowed to crack down on Boko Haram. He said this, quote, "as much as I wish to, I can't promise that we can find the
girls. But my government will do everything in its power to bring them home."
Now lets go to CNN's Christian Purefoy who is in the Nigerian capital joining us now. Christian, it's been (inaudilbe). Have we seen or heard
anything from these missing girls? Do we have any indication about what their condition is in the year since they were kidnapped?
CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ivan, those in positions of authority really -- basically they say they have no idea. We spoke to one
of the main campaigners. She said she has no idea really where these girls are and what has happened to them. And even the president-elect statement,
as you just read out, he even says, you know, they don't know where these girls are.
But there are rumors, there are reports, you know, there are snatches of information. We don't know how reliable they are -- reports that they have
been sold as sex slaves to Boko Haram fighters, maybe killed in the war against Boko Haram -- they are on the front line.
But the protesters here, Ivan, say they have come again today because they -- you know, until those girls are brought back alive, until they hear
otherwise, they will come here every day. They are determined.
And we spoke to one of the main campaigners, Ivan, here's what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBIAGELI EZEKWESILI, FORMER NIGERIAN EDUCATION MINISTER: In Nigeria, our men have they never cry, but this very huge man held me during their visit
and they had to -- and said we will hope to the very end that our daughers will be brought back. Please don't give up on them.
And the (inaudible) made a promise and said we won't. We would stand with you until there is no reason to stand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PUREFOY: I think the feeling here, Ivan, can be summed up in two words, really: anger that they're sitting here one year on, the determination that
they're going to see this out until those girls are back or any other news, Ivan.
WATSON: Christian, this is such a disturbing, disturbing story. But from what I understand this is not an isolated case, that there's a larger
kidnapping problem that Nigeria is faced with these days. Can you explain it?
PUREFOY: Yeah, I mean basically these girls were not kidnapped in a vacuum. First of all, you have insurgency and a war going on against Boko
Haram. It's an absolutely brutal war. It's a chaotic region in that northeast area. You have tens of thousands of killed. UNICEF talking, you
know, about 800,000 other children displaced from the violence. Amnesty has put out a report today saying that maybe up to 2,000 other girls have
been kidnapped by Boko Haram.
And even that is not really happening in a vacuum.
You know, there are serious issues underlying all of this. And that is it is an extremely poor area, Ivan. You know, the maternal death rate is some
of the worst in the world in that region. Education of girls is sometimes nonexistant.
So, you know, if -- you know, the focus is quite rightly on the girls, but there are much larger issues, actually, also at play that have to be sorted
out by any government that comes into Nigeria next -- Ivan.
[08:05:10] WATSON: Christian, thank you for bringing us up to date on -- again, on this disturbing story.
That's CNN's Christian Purefoy reporting from the Nigerian capital.
Now, according to a new report from Amnesty International. At least 2,000 women and girls, 2,000, have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since 2014.
Those who were able to escape recall terrifying memories.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL EYRE, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Some of the women and girls we've spoken to have told us about Boko Haram fighters using rape, forcing them
into marriage and also training them for use in combat.
I spoke to a 19 year old woman, Isha (ph), as she was abducted in September of 2014, taken to a Boko Haram camp in a different state in Nigeria where
she was repreatedly raped, one ocassion by six men, and she was also trained in how to shoot -- how to use explosives and actualy taken on an
operation back to her own village.
And it's not just women and girls that are suffering. We've spoken -- we've heard testimony from men who have told us that large numbers of men
were executed when Boko Haram took over towns and cities. I spoke with a man from Madagally (ph) and he was told to join Boko Haram. He refused and
was forced to watch as 27 other men were executed in front of him.
Now the knife that they were using to execute those men became blunt and so he was thrown onto a pile of corpses and the fighters just shot at him.
Luckily, he was only hit in the shoulder, and after they left he was able to escape.
So, we're still gathering testimony about what life has been like under Boko Haram control. And we're hoping that this can -- and be used to
galvanize more action to protect civilians in the northeast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Now, you can learn more about what Nigerian children face and a new UNICEF capagin to help them, that's all at CNN.com/impact.
Let's move over to Britain now where the British election is revving in to high gear. Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party has just
released its manifesto. He spoke a short time ago and stressed the importance of national security in the upcoming vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER OF BRITAIN: There are difficult choices you have to make. And I think people deserve some clarity. So when it comes
to the nuclear deterrent, you cannot take risks with this.
You need certainty that when it comes to fighting Islamist extremism that you're going to give the security and intelligence services the weapons
they need, the technology they need, the legislation they need.
Now we have in the last year legislated to help confiscate people's passports, legislated to modernize the capabilities of our intelligence
services, but more needs to be done.
And if you're asking me do I worry that the other parties will not push forward that vital agenda. Yes, I do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Now, the Green Party is also expected to unveil its manifesto. Britain's Labour Party outlined its platform on Monday. That document
spells out what the party would do if it wins the UK's national elections, which are set for May 7.
Let's check the latest UK poll of voting intention. Labour has a one point lead. But keep in mind, there's a three point -- 3 percent margin of
error.
UKIP is currently third in the poll with a clear lead over the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.
And now to Somalia where a bold attack in Somalia's capital police say has resulted in at least eight people dead and 10 wounded after gunmen attacked
the education ministry in Mogadishu.
Just before the assault, a car bomb exploded at the front gate. Somali special forces responded and were told a gunfight and siege are now over.
Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack.
In just a few few hours, Hillary clinton will hold her first campaign event as a 2016 presidential candidate. She'll host a small roundtable with
students and educators in the U.S. state of Iowa. Clinton boarded a bus bound for the state on Monday, a day after announcing her campaign with an
online ad.
Along the way, she's popped up in some pretty random places, including at a Mexican restaurant in Ohio where, get this, she stayed incognito behind
dark shades.
Meanwhile, a third Republican candidate officially entered the race, that's Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. He launched his campaign Monday with a
rally in Miami. That's where CNN's Dana Bash joins us from right now.
Dana, I understand that Senator Rubio is playing up his youth as he launches his campaign. Can you tell us more about that?
[08:10:12] DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is. I know this is certainly not what he was going for as a Democrat -- as a Republican, rather, not a
Democrat. But being in the room there yesterday, it was very clear that he was talking about hope and change sort of like a guy named Barack Obama was
back about eight years ago.
But this was very much his theme, talking about the fact that yesterday is over and it is time for a new generation of leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: 43-year-old Marco Rubio tried to turn his youth and relative inexperience, compared to older candidates, into a plus.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This election is not just about what laws we're going to pass. This election is a generational choice
about what kind of country we will be.
BASH: It's a theme the Florida Republican returned to time and again drawing a contrast with Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton.
RUBIO: Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday --
(CHEERS)
RUBIO: Began a campaign for president by promising to take us back to yesterday.
BASH: But Rubio is also drawing a contrast with a Republican name from the past, Jeb Bush, Florida's former governor and Rubio's long- time mentor.
Some mutual friends are upset Rubio isn't waiting his turn, which he addressed head on.
RUBIO: I've heard some suggests that I should step aside and wait my turn.
(CHEERS)
RUBIO: But I cannot.
BASH: In an interview with ABC News, Rubio said his candidacy should not be seen as an insult to Bush.
RUBIO: I'm not running against Jeb Bush and I hope he's not running against me. We are competing for the same job.
BASH: CNN is told Rubio told Bush he's running because no one else has the story to tell he does, a son of Cuban immigrants with the palpable sense of
the American dream which shapes his hawkish world view and small government low taxes conservative ideals.
RUBIO: I live in an exceptional country where the son of a bartender and a maid could have the same dreams, and the same future as those who come from
power and privilege.
BASH: Still Rubio has to overcome some GOP concerns that his government experience is similar to Barack Obama's --
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't pay much attention to the pundits claiming that I need more experience.
BASH: ...when he became president.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Now, usually when a candidate announces for president, like Rand Paul, for instance, last week, they go around the United States and
barnstorm the very early, very important primary contest to sort of meet and greet the voters face-to-face. Marco Rubio is not doing that, he's
going back to his day job in Washington to the United States Senate, because one of his calling cards, he hopes, is his world view, his
positions on foreign policy, and there is a very important hearing in the Senate foreign relations committee on which he sits on Iran and whether the
U.S. Congress should have say in whether or not this Iran deal that the U.S. and Iran and others negotiated should go through -- Ivan.
WATSON: Thank you, Dana. That's Dana Bash, CNN's Dana Bash live from Miami on a story we'll be watching. The elections are more than a year
away in the U.S.
Now, you're watching News Stream as ISIS makes key advances in Iraq, the prime minister is in Washington and he's asking for help. A live report
from Baghdad later in the hour.
Plus, Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian has been detained in Iran for nearly nine months, but we're only now hearing the charges against him.
We'll speak to his mother just ahead.
And China has released these five young female activists, but with strict conditions. Later in the hour, a look at why they're still a long way from
being free. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:15:45] 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 sad milestone in Nigeria where hundreds of schoolgirld have now been missing for one yaer.
And later we'll go live to Baghdad as Iraq's prime minister prepares to ask for Washington -- ask Washington for more help in fighting against ISIS.
But now I want to talk to you about Iranian-American Journalist Jason Rezaian. His fate appears uncertain as he remains in an Iranian prison.
The Washington Post's bureau chief in Tehran has been held in the capital now for 266 days now, 266 days. The Post says that's far longer than any
western journalist previously detained in Iran.
He was arrested in July on uspecified allegations. It was only recently that Tehran's chief justice finally announced Rezaian would be tried for
espionage.
The Post says he's accused of economic spying.
The U.S. State Department and The Washington Post both call those charges absurd. Rezaian's wife, Yeganeh Salehi, was also detained but released in
October on bail.
Earlier, I spoke with Rezaian's mother about his condition from CNN's bureau in Istanbul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY REZAIAN, MOTHER OF DETAINED JOURNALIST: Well, I haven't seen him since the 30th of December. Yeganeh is able to see him intermittently and
also to speak with him, although periodically those visits are curtailed for one reason or another.
I think his spirits are quite low, becuase he doesn't really understand why Iran, the country, that he came to love and was doing his best to try to
describe to the western world is treating him this way. He knows that he is innocent of any charges. And it's been almost nine months that he's
been separated from his wife and from the rest of the world. It's been very hard on him.
So, phyically in some ways he's doing better, although periodically new health issues come up. But emotionally it's been very, very difficult.
And both he and Yeganeh have told me that when this is finished, they will both have to have a lot of psychotherapy.
WATSON: Part of what's confusing about this case is that Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, he has gone on record calling your son a
good reporter. And hoping that he would soon be cleared in court. And yet it seems there are other factions in the Iranian government, in the Iranian
state, that are basically accusing him of being a spy.
What do you think is going on here?
REZAIAN: I think there are many different elements in Iran and in the Iranian government. And the people who arrested and have detained and will
try Jason and Yeganeh are the Revolutionary Guard. And they are quite separate from President Rouhani and his adminsitration.
So, that's -- that might explain the difference.
WATSON: And I understand you met with respresentatives from Iran's very powerful Revolutionary Guard some months ago when you went back to plea for
your son's case. Can you describe that meeting?
REZAIAN: Basically, I told them that this whole process was taking way too long. And they needed to speed things up. Obviously they didn't, because
that was December and here we are in April and things have not been -- gone to trial yet.
WATSON: This is not the first time that a journalist has been arrested in Iran. You used to live in Tehran, I believe with your son, did you all
ever discuss the possibility that you could get in trouble for committing journalism in the Islamic Republic?
REZAIAN: Well, he always pointed out that the other journalists had made certain mistakes and he was being very careful that he would not make those
same mistakes. And so he was confident that this was not going to happen to him. And I believed him when he said that. And so I can't say that I
really had a lot of concern for him.
But this has gone way beyond anything that previous journalists have had to contend with. The fact that he is a dual national. His time there is
twice the length of time of any other journalists that have been held in Iran.
To watch Iran and America and the various relationships that we've had -- but it has been very difficult. As you know, I live in Istanbul. I have a
close support system here. My older son lives in California. He's been working non-stop for his brother's release.
I have a lot of people around me who pray daily and are supporting us.
But it has been difficult and all of us have had our lives on hold for this entire nine month period.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[08:20:40] WATSON: Now a website has been created to share updates on Jason and Yeganeh's case and to explain how you can help. There are also
links to global petitions that you can sign to show your support.
To learn more, head to FreeJasonandYegi.com.
Meanwhile, Iran is weighing in on the escalating violence in Yemen. Foreign minister Mohamed Javad Zarif is proposing a four point plan he says
will resolve the conflict. It includes a ceasefire between the warring sides and a new broad-based government.
Iran says Saudi-led airstrikes are destroying civilian infrastructure rather than military targets. Saudi Arabia and others accuse Iran of
backing the Houthi rebels.
This comes as a draft resolution goes before the UN security council today targeting the Houthis rebels. If passed, the resolution would lead to
sanctions and an arms embargo against the group.
The Houthis now control most of Yemen. It's unclear whether Russia will exercise its veto power in order to derail any sanctions.
Now, their case sparked international outrage and now these five young activists have been released on bail. But their legal troubles are just
beginning. We'll tell you more after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:25:39] WATSON: Well, welcome back. I hope you enjoy that stunning view of Hong Kong's harbor and skyline. I certainly do.
Now I want to update you on the case of the five feminists who were detained in China. All five women have now been released on bail, but as
David McKenzie reports, they're still a long way from being free of Chinese authorities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're leading feminists in China, five young trailblazers detained for 37 days. Now one of their
lawyers tells CNN that the five have been released under strict bail conditions their every movement monitored for a year.
The activists were picked up last month just before International Women's Day where they planned to do outreach like this, campaigning against sexual
harrassment on publis transport.
They were swiftly put into detention.
The five activists were brought here to the notorious Haijian (ph) detention center outside Beijing. They languished without charge for more
than a month.
As much performance arists as activists, they campaigned to stop domestic violence, for more public toilets for women. They were even praised by
state media.
So Wei Tingting's lawyer says she'd thought they were safe.
"She was totally unprepared for their detention," he says. "And when I saw her last Friday she was shocked."
Outrage spread on social media with a #freethefive hashtag campaign. (inaudible) inexcusable.
The Chinese government says it's judicial sovereignty should be respected, saying China is a country ruled by law.
"Of course people will feel afraid," he says, "becuase women's rights is among the most politically correct issues in China. Now even those who
took that up ended up in jail."
Now, out of jail but not free from the grip of the Communist Party.
David McKenzie, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: Now, we told you about China's Great Cannon in Monday's addition of News Stream. It's the cyber tool that targets content marked by Chinese
censors and paralyzes the site by overwhelming it with redistributed traffic.
The Great Cannon attacks sites, including Great Fire. That's a group that fights online censorship in China.
And now the organization is speaking out against this powerful cyber tool.
We spoke to a representative of Great Fire who wished to keep his identity hidden using a fake name and a digital voice to explain what was going on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
"CHARLIE," GREATFIRE.ORG: We hope that before the authorities decide to launch another attack they step back and look at what damage this freedom
of access to information has actually caused. Access to information has only served to make Chinese more informed about many issues. It has not
caused a Jasmine Revolution, as the authorities have feared.
The Chinese authorities have everything to gain if they drop censorship controls today. And they have everything to lose if they continue to
deploy the Great Cannon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: Great Fire said in spite of the cyber attacks, they will continue to deliver uncensored information to the Chinese public.
Still to come on News Stream, Iraq's prime minister is in the U.S. to ask for more help in the fight against ISIS, but is Washington willing to
provide that extra military support? We're live in Baghdad with more.
Plus, a new study says the city you see right here has the worst air pollution on Earth. Which city is it? The answer may surprise you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:31:51] WATSON: Welcome back to the show. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. And you're watching News Stream. These are your world headlines.
Marchers take to the streets of Nigeria to show support for the more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram exactly one year ago today. Their
abductions sparked international outrage and a global effort on social media aimed at bringing them home safely. But the girls still have not
been found.
Schools in Sierra Leone are reopening today for the first time in nine months. They were closed last year as the Ebola outbreak devastated the
country. Some 3,400 people there died in the epidemic.
An Alaska Airlines jet was forced to turn around in mid-flight after the pilot and passengers heard unusual banging from under the plane. When they
landed, a baggage loader came out from the front cargo hold and said he'd fallen asleep. He was sent to the hospital, passed a drug test and was
later discharged. No word yet, however, on the state of his career with the airline.
We'll bring you up to date on that.
Switching gears to Iraq. Iraq's prime minister meets U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in the coming hours. It'll be his first official
visit to Washington. He's seeking more U.S. help for the fight against ISIS.
For the latest on this, we now go to CNN's Arwa Damon. She's live in Baghdad.
Now, Arwa, presumably Prime Minister Abadi will be asking for more help from the U.S. on the battlefield. Do you think there's any indication that
Washington is willing to provide this additional help?
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that was the key point that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was making to the press corps right
before he departed to Washington yesterday. Now only is he asking for more help in terms of more coalition air strikes, but he also wants more
weapons, more military equipment, the type of equipment that the United States can provide should it choose to do so.
But in all of this, the U.S. has been to a certain degree fairly reluctant to up the ante, if you will, when it comes to providing more direct
assistance to the Iraqi security forces, mostly because of the Iran effect. The reality that Iran has, up until now, played a very vital role in Iraq's
war against ISIS.
But it is putting the U.S. in an uncomfortable position, becuase it is effectively sharing the battlefield with a nation with whom it does not
have very close ties, to say the least.
The U.S. has long been wanting certain guarantees from the Iraqi government that Iran's influence on the battlefield will not be so signficiant as to
potentially threaten the U.S. involvement here, but also to potentially threaten, perhaps, the political impact that it does have over Iraqi
politics.
So, the U.S. definitely going to want certain guarantees from the prime minister. He himself is aware of that and had a fairly straightforward
response to it, that the U.S. should put aside the issues that it has with Iran elsewhere when it comes to how it approach Iraq.
So, it'll be interesting to see how all these dynamics play out, Ivan.
[08:35:05] WATSON: It is a very tricky geopolitical situation there.
Meanwhile, it's been months now that Iraqi forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga backed by these airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition and Iran, that
they've all been battling against ISIS. Have they been making progress?
DAMON: Well, you know, you look at what happened in Tikrit -- the Iraqi government most certainly declaring it a victory. ISIS has been pushed out
of that key strategic city. But since then, we've been seeing the terrorist organization striking back and very hard.
Over the weekend, they managed to breach the defenses at the country's largest oil refinery in Baiji. This was an installation that had ben under
Iraqi government control for months. Currently, there are still clashes taking place, we are hearing. There are also airstrikes both U.S.
coalition-led and Iraqi on the outskirts of the refinery trying to cut off the logistical supply routes to the ISIS fighters inside.
But also over the weekend, ISIS managing to advance on a number of key fronts in al Anbar Province, taking over an additional three villages.
And all of thise really goes to underscore, as the prime minister was saying, why it is so vital at this stage to get that additional support
from the United States, as Iraq is gearing up for arguably even bigger battles than what we saw in Tikrit when it comes to trying to defeat ISIS
in al Anbar Province, not to even mention beginning to try to tackle the issue of how to drive them out of Mosul.
WATSON: Arwa, you've been reporting just yesterday on some of the atrocities ISIS is accused of. As they're battling these furious battles
on the front lines, do you get a sense of what kind of system of government, of what kind of a state they're establishing behind the front
lines in cities like Mosul, cities that they've controlled for many months now?
DAMON: You know, whatever small insight we're able to get into that, Ivan, is always quite fascinating. We were just up in Iraqi Kurdistan speaking
with a number of Yazidis that had been enslaved by ISIS. And they were describing how when ISIS was rounding them up, they were separating the
young women, the girls. They were to be sold on as sex slaves, makes one's hair rise just to even think and speak about that.
The others were being split into groups and they were being asked what kind of jobs they wanted to take on. They were given the choice of farming or
goat herding or working as maids, cleaning homes. And it does seem as if they were being put to certain tasks that would then be supplying
livelihood and sustainence to the ISIS fighters.
You look at what's happening inside Mosul. And, yes, ISIS has set up a de facto system of governance within Mosul and the other areas that they do
have firm control over.
It very much is a government that they have undertaken. They are implementing their misguided interpretation of Islam, but there is a system
-- a judicial system in place. There are Sharia courts. There are people that are out patrolling. They are distributing salaries to a certain
degree.
So, away from the front lines, yes, this is an entity that is establishing its own state, as it did declare, its own Islamic state. And uprooting
that from Iraq and from Syria is going to be I think a bigger challenge than anyone here really accepts or appreciates just how large it's going to
potentially be.
WATSON: CNN's Arwa Damon bringing us the view from Baghdad. Thanks a lot, Arwa. Thank you very much.
Now you're watching News Stream. Still to come on the show, this Asian city is home to the world's most toxic air. Look at that. Find out which
national capital is taking this dubious title. And here's a clue, it is not Beijing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:40:39] WATSON: In India, pollution is making headlines. New research shows that the capital city of New Dehli is home to the dirtiest air in the
world. Sumnima Udas has this dirty story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Early morning barely visible in the smog, Delhi's iconic India gates. For years, most people in
the sprawling city of 23 million never questioned the quality of the air -- just a mix of desert dust and winter fog was the urban myth. But a 2014
World Health Organization study of 1,600 cities found India's capital has the most toxic air in the world, largely due to the highest concentrations
of microscopic particles known as PM2.5.
We go on a rickshaw ride with American scientist Joshua Apte to test the air for ourselves. He's been monitoring Delhi's pollution since 2007.
JOSHUA APTE, SCIENTIST; We are looking at levels of PM2.5 right now that are around 250 to 300 micrograms per cubic meter. So 25 to 30 times higher
than that long-term standard that we might care about.
UDAS: But everyone keeps talking about how bad it is in Beijing, but not so much in Delhi.
APTE: I think that's really just a function of awareness. Levels in Delhi are about 45 or 50 percent higher than those levels in Beijing. So, the
standard from the World Health Organization is 10. Typical levels in Bejing are just about 100 precisely. And in Delhi over the past few years
the average has been more like 150.
UDAS: Apte says to the naked eye, Delhi may not appear as bad as Beijing, because PM2.5 are practically invisible, but they're most most damaging to
the lungs.
BARUN AGGARWAL, ENTREPRENEUR: Our children are falling sick, our elders are falling sick.
UDAS: To help residents cope with the bad air, entrepreneur Barun Aggarwal has develop and air purification tecnique combining filters and plants.
Ever since Delhi's pollution problems started making headlines, his sales have taken off.
AGGARWAL: Every year, the problem is only getting worse, it's not getting better at all, becuase we're adding 1,400 cars to our streets every single
day in just the city of Delhi. The quality of our fuel is very, very poor. We're still at Euro 3 and Euro 4 fuel in India.
And we are burning a lot of biomass during the wintertime for people to stay war in the winter.
UDAS: But India makes economic development a priority. Pollution levels are only set to increase. Studies show some 660 million lose about three
years of their lives because of the air they breathe.
But for change to happen, experts say India's policymakers need to first catch wind of a problem they can no longer ignore.
Sumnima Udas, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: And that is News Stream. I'm Ivan Watson. Please don't go anywhere, World Sport is next.
END
