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Up To 950 Aboard, Say Boat Surivors; Three Die Off Coast Of Rhodes, Greece; American Citizens In Yemen Question Government's Inaction; Are Wearables Really Next Essential Thing?; India's Cotton Farmer Suicide Epidemic. Aired 8:00-9:00a ET

Aired April 20, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:17] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream where news and technology meet.

Now another dramatic rescue in the Mediterranean as desperate migrants attempt the risky sea crossing to a better life.

Plus, where is Washington? American families trapped in Yemen ask why their government has not come to help them.

And a closer look at wearable technology. What companies are doing to put their gadgets on your body.

And we begin with two search and recovery missions for migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. The bodies of at least 24 victims have

arrived in Malta along with some survivors. Maltese officials say about 50 passengers have been rescued. One survivor says that there were almost

1,000 people on that boat and smugglers locked passengers inside, leaving them trapped on the sinking ship.

Now meanwhile at least three people have died in another migrant ship disaster off the Greek island of Rhodes. And Greek officials say that the

ship was carrying at least 83 people when it sank.

Now 57 passengers have been saved. And rescue crews, they continue their search.

European officials say the boat that sank 100 kilometers north of Libya could be the worst migrant disaster in the Mediterranean in years.

Now John Ray from ITN has more from the Sicilian port of Palermo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN RAY, ITV NEWS: It is a desperate search that becomes more futile as each hour passes. Hundreds are feared lost to the sea. This is less a

rescue and more like an operation to recover bodies.

A boat packed with what is thought more than 700 migrants overturned 60 miles from the Libyan coast. Those on board reportedly rushed to one

side to draw the attention of a passing merchant ship, causing it to capsize.

Better weather has brought an upsurge in numbers making the hazardous crossing. Earlier this week, 400 migrants were feared to have drowned when

their boat sank. More than 13,500 have already been rescued in the past week alone.

Italy's prime minister called for concerted international efforts and asked for an emergency meeting of European leaders to discuss the crisis.

And the pope prayed that the victims and urged the world to respond.

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): They are men and women like us, our brothers seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded,

exploited, victims of war. They were looking for a better life. They were in search of happiness.

RAY: The deaths have prompted fresh demands for Europe to reinstate fullscale search and rescue operations as the human cost continues to grow,

Europe's leaders are once again facing calls for urgent action.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was ITN's John Ray reporting from Sicily.

Now for more on the story, let's go straight to Rome and journalist Barbie Nadeau joins me now.

And Barbie, we have right now at least two rescue and recovery efforts taking place in the Mediterranean Sea. What's the latest?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the victims of the disaster Saturday night have been taken to Malta. 24 bodies were taken there. And

the survivors, 27 of the 28 survivors are on their way to Sicily to the -- we're not sure quite where, likely the port of Catania.

At this point, one survivor was airlifted. And he gave a lot of information about that boat, including that there may have been as many as

950 people, he says, on that ship and many of them were locked in the lower hauls of the ship and lower compartments to balance the weight to try to

avoid people moving around the ship too much.

Then of course we've got this situation off the coast of Greece where a ship has -- was very close, hit rocks and sank.

And then AFP is reporting that the IOM office here in Rome received a call that as many as three boats are in trouble right now, one with 300

people, we understand, could be sinking as we speak right now. So this problem is just chaos in the Mediterranean right now. It's just both are

obviously still coming, both are in distress and the authorities are just trying to rescue as many people as possible at this time.

[08:05:00] LU STOUT: They're trying to rescue as many people as possible, but still too many lives have been lost at sea. This year alone,

at least 900 migrant lives have been lost. We know that officials in the Eurozone, they're going to meet soon to discuss these migrant deaths at

sea. What are officials, especially where you are right now in Italy, what are they doing now to save the lives of migrants trying to cross the

Mediterranean to Italy? And are they doing enough?

NADEAU: Well, that is the big question. Today, the prime minister of Malta is here in Rome meeting with prime minister Matteo Renzi to try to

discuss what they need to ask from the European Union in terms of assistance and help.

We understand, as well, that Frontex may be bringing in more vessels to try to help with the search and rescue operation. But really I think

everyone agrees that what they need to do is stop the human traffickers and they need to stop people from leaving the port in Libya and try to just

offer some sort of safe corridor, some sort of other alternative for these people who are fleeing such desperate situations.

Right now their only way out is by sea. And especially the officials here in Italy and those in Malta want them to stop in Libya and perhaps

provide, you know, a way for people to get to Europe safely, because this just isn't working as an escape route from these destitute areas, Kristie.

LU STOUT: OK. And also for those migrants who do survive the harrowing journey, when they touch ground, when they reach Italy, how are

they treated, how are they being looked after?

NADEAU: Well, the big problem right now is where to put the migrants. People are distributed all the way up to the north of Italy right now. And

the Italians would really like other countries within the European Union to volunteer to take some of these migrants. Many of them don't have any

intention of staying here in Italy. A lot of them join family in France and in Germany and would love to go up to the UK or go to some of the

Scandinavian countries.

But for the present time they are in camps in Italy. And these camps are overcrowded.

Many of them are divided up by regions from where they came. Many are divided -- families are put together, men are put together, some people

find jobs, you know, with the harvest in the fields in Sicily and things like that. But there's just not enough work to support the people while

they try to rebuild their lives.

And there's a lot of movement.

And it's a difficult situation for the Italians because there's an economic crisis here as well. There's high unemployment here for the

Italians. They don't want to give up their jobs to the migrants who are coming.

LU STOUT: Barbie Nadeau reporting on the ongoing migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean. Many thanks indeed for your reporting.

The latest migrant ship disasters, they are just a few in a long string of tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea. The International

organization for migration says that more than 900 migrants have died trying to make that treacherous, dangerous journey so far this year. But

that figure is now higher, because it came out before these latest shipwrecks.

The United Nations says 219,000 people made the journey across the Mediterranean last year, but 3,500 did not survive.

Now turning now to a new and disturbing video released by ISIS. It appears to show the militants slaughtering Ethiopian Christians in Libya.

Now one group of victims is beheaded and the second group appears to be killed by gunfire.

Now this video raises concerns that ISIS may be expanding its presence in Libya as CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has

details. He joins me now.

And Nic, in this new video, the brutality of ISIS again on full display. But this footage, it was shot in Libya. So what does it say?

What does it reveal about ISIS and its operations there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a multi- layered message. The principle message of this 39 minute video is that Christians can live under ISIS control as long as they subjugate themselves

to ISIS, pay a non-Muslim tax, convert to Islam. And if they don't do that, then they'll be killed. And that's the bloody and barbaric part of

this message here. You have those group of 15 men who ISIS say are Ethiopian Christians. They're beheaded on the Mediterranean beach in the

north of Libya.

Meanwhile, the other 15 Ethiopian Christians are gunned down hundreds of miles away -- this is what ISIS says -- on the southern borders of

Libya.

The indication that ISIS is trying to create here is that they are spread all across Libya. That is not the case. That's what the -- that's

the impression that they're trying to create.

And the other layer to this sort of multi-layered propaganda message is because ISIS here in Libya has used the same media group that ISIS in

Libya -- ISIS in Syria and Iraq uses, they're trying to promote the idea here that they are much stronger, bigger, that they're expanding across the

Middle East. It's all part of the same group, all part of the same branding.

So, it's a multi-layered message from ISIS, Kristie.

[08:10:01] LU STOUT: Now, what is the situation inside Libya right now. How vulnerable is Libya to ISIS taking route? We know that they're

able to shoot and produce videos from Libya, but will they be able to take route and to expand in a meaningful way their operations there?

ROBERTSON: They are. They have been. And they are expanding. And this is what we've seen over the past few months. It's been quite a rapid

expansion. They sort of supplanted to a greater degree al Qaeda in the eastern city of Dernah, which was known to be somewhere where al Qaeda at

least could relatively easily and quickly put down roots.

ISIS has expanded beyond there. They put down a foothold inside Sirte, which is on the Mediterranean coast that they're able to conduct

attacks on the outskirts of the capital Tripoli, even claiming that attack right in the -- on the hotel in the center of Tripoli just within the past

few months.

So, what we have seen from them in Libya is an expansion of the number of attacks and things that they do, an increase of their propaganda from

there. And at the same time, you have this sort of -- the Islamist-based government in Tripoli, the capital, and the internationally recognized more

secular government in the east of the country trying to -- or at least the UN would like them to get together, bury their differences, and rule the

country together, run the country together, to stop groups like ISIS growing.

But at the moment, those two different governments are not doing that. And ISIS is fully taking advantage, just the same way we've seen it do in

Syria and Iraq. It knows it can put down roots and grow while the rest of the country is in chaos.

LU STOUT: Nic Robertson on the story for us. Many thanks indeed for that, Nic.

And now to Somalia where the militant group al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing on a United Nations van. Authorities

say that six people were killed, most of them UN workers. UNICEF says four of its staff were among the dead and four others were wounded and are in

serious condition.

Now the blast hit a vehicle carrying UN workers in northern Somalia. The al Qaeda affiliated al Shabaab killed some 150 people when it attacked

a Kenyan university earlier this month.

Now, Americans are part of the exodus from Yemen, but some who have gotten out wonder why didn't Washington help us?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to ask my president, Mr. Obama, how come we are a third -- third class citizens? How come our country did not come

and rescue us?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Still ahead right here on News Stream, the extreme measures that one American resorted to, to free her family from the war zone in

Yemen.

Also ahead, a business man's suicide note sends a chill through the highest levels of South Korean politics.

And whether it's a FitBit or an Apple Watch, more of today's gadgets can be only worn and not just carried around. We ask our resident tech

expert if wearable technology is something we should all buy into.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

We've already told you about the latest rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea as the European Union discusses ways to respond to the

wave of migrants making this perilous journey.

And later in the program, we'll bring you another exclusive report from Yemen where Americans are waiting for their government to rescue them

from fierce fighting.

But now, an alleged corruption scandal that has created a political firestorm in South Korea where a suicide note left by a prominent

businessman accuses several top politicians of accepting bribes.

Now the politicians are trying to clear their names as prosecutors investigate. Paula Hancocks has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A South Korean businessman was found hanging from this tree. Police say he was hanging by

his necktie in this forest in northern Seoul, an apparent suicide.

Sung Wan-jong was under investigation for fraud and bribery. Before he died, he pointed the finger of blame at the top levels of South Korea's

political world.

A handwritten note apparently found on his body giving names and amounts of cash allegedly given to top officials, according to local media.

Seen here just hours before his death, a local newspaper says Sung gave an interview claiming he gave political funds to close aides of

president Park Geun-hye, including $27,000 to her prime minister.

A political finance saw states you cannot anonymously donate more than $100 at a time.

But Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo has denied the accusations amid rising calls for his resignation.

"If any evidence is found against me," he says, "I will give up my life."

President Park says she is taking the accusations very seriously, saying she will not forgive anyone who is responsible for corruption or

wrongdoing.

As Sung was laid to rest, prosecutors are assessing the credibility of the allegations he left behind, which have created a political firestorm.

President Park was elected on an anti-corruption ticket back in 2012, pledging to root out financial scandals, which have plagued this country

for years.

But this latest scandal implicates not only her prime minister, but also her current and former chiefs of staff, all of whom deny any

wrongdoing.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now turning now to Pakistan. And China's latest move to boost its economic influence.

Now Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Islamabad ready with $46 billion of investment.

Now the aim here is to fund a series of projects bridging China's western region of Xinjiang and Pakistan's southern port of Gwadar. Now

Mr. Xi says in an op-ed, it is part of his goal to forge what's been called a new Silk Road, a trade link between east and west.

In India, a tragic crisis is hitting the country. Now driven to hopelessness, cotton farmers are taking their lives across Western India

leaving behind heartbroken families and crippling debt. Mallika Kapur filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Baby Kenheya (ph) looks at pictures of his father and cries out for him.

"It hurts," she says. "These photos are all that's left," says his mother.

Her husband, a cotton farmer committed suicide in December.

He consumed poison, pesticides?

Her answer: "yes."

Why do you think he did that?

"he was so much in debt," she says. "He wasn't getting any money from cotton."

Eight years ago, her father-in-law, also a cotton farmer, took his own life too.

A record surplus of cotton in the global market means farmers are getting less money for their crop.

Murali Dhidicar, a cotton farmer, says, "I'm getting around $50 a quintal. A year ago, it was double that.

Dhidicar says over the last year the cost of everything else has gone up -- seeds, fertilizers, pesticides cost more -- so farmers, including

himself, have to keep taking loans. They are steeped in debt.

Iman Giderba (ph), India's cotton growing belt, where cotton cultivation is the only source of income for most farmers, and when that

doesn't work out the consequences are dire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The farmers are killing themselves.

KAPUR: According to a farmer lobby group, one farmer kills himself every eight hours in this area.

Kishur Diwari (ph) says Narenda Modi has been speaking about India shining, but he isn't ready to see India dying.

Diwari (ph) says Prime Minister Modi broke an election promise of ensuring farmers a 50 percent profit over production costs.

Though the local state government compensates families of suicide victims with a relief package, this mother says it's not enough, and it'll

barely cover her medical costs.

And you are pregnant, eight months.

Once the baby is born, she says she'll look for work. She has debt to pay, two children to raise. It's not the future she imagined for her

family. She hoped it would have looked more like this.

Mallika Kapur, CNN, Giderba (ph), Western India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:20:33] LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And still to come come on the program, we have a CNN exclusive report, on board a ship to war

torn Yemen, hear why one Ameican fleeing the country says she feels abandoned by her government.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now Apple is due to deliver its highly anticipated watch on Friday. And all this week, we are examining the state of wearable technology as

companies battle to place gadgets on us, is it something that we consumers really need?

Now joining me now is CNN contributor Nick Thompson. He is also the editor of the New Yorker.com. And he joins me now from New York, of

course. Nick, good to see you. We're kicking off our week focusing on wearables with you. We're squeezing more functionality into smaller

devices that we can wear. Do you think this is the natural next step for our personal technology?

NICK THOMPSON, NEW YORKER.COM: Absolutely. I think we are going to have as sensors get smaller, as screens get better, as we get more

comfortable with it. As we figure out privacy concerns, absolutely. We're going to have lots of wearable technology. There's going to be chips built

into things.

But it's not coming quite as fast as some people think. You know there is going to be a lot of competition. There is a lot that needs to be

worked out.

LU STOUT: And the existential question here, why go wearable? Why should I even use a smartwatch? I mean, what's the advantage here?

THOMPSON: Well, OK. So the way I like to think about it is, is there something that the device you are wearing or you put on your body, is there

something that it does better than your phone, right? The phone is the essential thing that all of these compete with. The phone is this

incredible super computer that is inside of your pocket that has the best chips, that has the best memory, that will have the best screens and where

lots of innovation is happening.

So for a wearable device to be worth it, it has to be better than your phone at something, right.

So a watch. It'll a little easier to see. So does that advantage make up for the smaller screen size, for the lower battery life and all of

that? That's the competition. You have to see what features will be guilt into it.

For something you put on your face like glasses or something you put in your ski goggles or your swimming goggles, then again it's much easier

to see. It's right in your line of sight, but then you have a whole host of other problems that come with it.

So there is this sort constant competition not just whether the wearable makes you able to do something -- do something that you couldn't

do before, but whether the wearable helps you do something that your phone can't also help you do.

[08:25:29] LU STOUT: Now you put it in a very simple, but powerful way. Wearable has to beat our smartphones either through convenience or

functionality.

But the problem with wearables as you have rightly pointed out, the problem with wearables is you have to wear them. So is the ideal wearable

something that is really stylish and cool and is perceived to be expensive or something invisible?

THOMPSON: I think it has to be one or the other. It has to be beautiful or it has to be invisible.

If it's beautiful you'll wear it as a status symbol, as something cool, the same reason we wear everything. If it's invisible nobody else

will notice and that's fine.

The problem is that tech companies aren't fashion companies. And most of the wearables that have come out have not looked that good. I mean

Google Glass, an amazing device, an incredible idea. It would be wonderful to have all this information in front of your eyes, but put a computer on

your face? That's not a great idea.

So, that is the push and pull that happens in this industry.

LU STOUT: Yeah. And we know what's happened to Google Glass. It now has to be reinterpreted, reinvented by Google. Apple Watch coming out later

this week.

Right now the smartphone really is our central personal tech hub. Do you think that's going to change to wearables in the next year or so? I

mean, when will our much anticipated wearable future actually become the now, the present tense?

THOMPSON: I actually think the smartphone is going to continue to be the hub for quite some time, just because that's where all the innovation

happens. You can imagine a watch getting a lot better in the next two years. It will add all these features and become much more convenient.

But in the same two years, there are a lot more people building apps for smartphones. There's a lot more people manufacturing smartphones. The

competition over the software inside of smartphones is very fierce.

So smartphones will continue to get faster, faster, faster. So the wearable technology, that's the main thing I think that's going to slow

down. It's actually the improvements that constantly happen in this hub that we have in our pocket.

LU STOUT: Yeah, always love talking to you about really like the user experience, user perspective of new consumer technologies, because there's

so much hype out there about this anticipated Apple Watch, thank you for cutting through all of that for us.

Nick Thompson joining us live. Thank you and take care.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program, a mother's desperate attempt to flee Yemen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We ran out of money. We ran out of food. We ran out of shelter. We were just living there waiting for someone to come

and say, OK, where's the Americans. Let's pick them up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Americans trapped in Yemen slam Washington for not doing enough to help.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:21] LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

Now the international organization for migration says it is learning of three migrant boats in distress in international waters. It comes as

people are being rescued off the Greek island of Rhodes. Now a Greek official say a ship was carrying at least 83 people when it sank. 57 have

been saved. And rescue crews continue their search.

Now meanwhile, the search for survivors of another migrant shipwreck is underway. Hundreds have been missing since their boat capsized on

Saturday. A survivor tells investigators almost 1,000 people were on board the boat when it sank.

In South Africa, the Zulu king has denied allegations that he fueled the recent spate of anti-immigrant violence in Durban and Johannesburg by

calling on foreign nationals to leave the country. The Zulu king says his speech was taken out of context by the media. He says that he instead

urged all Zulus to protect foreign nationals.

Now Saudi-led airstrikes hit a missile depot in the Yemeni capital, setting off a huge explosion. Now this footage was captured by witnesses

near the rebel base in Sanaa. Reuters reports seven civilians were killed, dozens were wounded.

The violence in Yemen has thousands of people struggling to flee the country. And many Americans say their government has done nothing to help

them get out.

Our senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir went into the besieged city of Aden recently. And she spoke exclusively with some

Americans who have been stranded there. And she joins us now from Djibouti.

And Nima, how is it that American citizens have been trapped in the chaos in Yemen?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the question, Kristie, that many people are asking themselves. They find it really

incomprehensible that their government could have, as they put it to us, abandoned them in this kind of situation as it continues to deteriorate.

Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: On our way out of Aden, Yemen's second largest city is too dangerous to overnight in. On the journey in, we've been warned we must

leave before dark.

We weren't the only ones trying to get out.

For these people desperate to leave this besieged city, our ship was an unexpected lifeline. Too scared to sleep at home, many of them were

living on the streets outside the port.

MUNA MUNASER, U.S. CITIZEN: It was just bombs all the time, gunshots, people are running down the streets.

ELBAGIR: Mona Monasad (ph) is from Buffalo in upstate New York. She was visiting her sick father when the war erupted around her.

MUNASER: I called the Riyadh embassy. I asked them to help us, that there was about 75 families that were waiting at Damina (ph). My family

has been here...

ELBAGIR: At the port.

MUNASER: At the port.

My family has been living there for two weeks. We ran out money. We ran out of food. We ran out shelter. We were just sitting there waiting

for someone to come and say, OK, where's the Americans, let's pick them up.

ELBAGIR: But that didn't happen. And Muna and her family had to pay $3,000 to port officials just to be allowed to leave Aden. She gave them

everything she had.

MUNASER: And I want to ask my president Mr. Obama, how come we are a third class citizens. How come our country did not come and rescue us?

ELBAGIR: Muna says there are 75 more American families still stranded in Aden, uncertain whether they will make it out alive.

The U.S. government isn't evacuating its citizens at this time.

After a day-and-a-half at sea, we reach DJibouti port. For those on board, it's been a grueling journey, but finally they are safe.

For Muna and the other Americans, it's time to show their dark blue passports.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you get off this bus, you're going to look for us next to the American flag.

ELBAGIR: We've seen other governments go in and get their nationals, why has the U.S. not been able to do this?

CHRISTINA HIGGINS, DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION, U.S. EMB ASSY IN DJIBOUTI: As you see, it's a very difficult situation. You've just returned from

Yemen. It's very fluid. We have one of the branches of al Qaeda, that's especially active. There's the Houthis. Neither of these two groups

friendly to U.S. citizens.

We've had to weigh very, very carefully what is the safest way, the best way for us to help them.

For many U.S. citizens that's going to mean sheltering in place, for other U.S. citizens we are very actively working at getting information to

them on different avenues for travel out of Yemen. And then of course when they reach places like Djibouti, we're here right away at the port meeting

them when they get off the boat to provide immediate assistance, food, water, an help them get their papers processed to travel home.

[08:25:21] ELBAGIR: For Muna and her daughters, at least the ordeal is now over. For those left behind, it's unclear when and if help will be

on its way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ELBAGIR: We don't have any definitive numbers for how many Americans are still trapped inside Yemen, but we know they are still there. And we

know they're desperate to get out, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Of course.

In your report, we learned that the people who managed to flee Yemen, they were too scared to sleep at home because of the airstrikes. In fact,

they had to sleep outside. So I'm trying to understand from the perspective of the scores of civilians who remained in Aden, when there's

an airstrike what happens? Are there any safe places, any safe zones at all for them?

ELBAGIR: Unfortunately there is nowhere to go. You just have to trust, as one person told us, that the airstrikes will hit their target.

But of course it's not just the airstrikes -- it's the airstrikes, it's the shelling, it's the snipers. There were so many streets in Aden

down which we couldn't drive. You could see they were completely deserted.

When we had to go down one of them, we had to speed up and just hope as we heard those pops of sniper fire going off that it wouldn't hit --

imagine having to live with that.

The reality is that the fighting in Aden in the whole of Yemen, it is street by street. It is right in there with the civilian population. And

that is what is pushing up the death toll, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Powerful reporting on the reality of war inside Yemen. Nima Elbagir reporting live for us. Thank you, Nima.

Now from scoring 11 holes in one in golf to driving at the age of three, like most nations North Korea likes to tout the accomplishments of

its leader. We'll tell you what's its praising Jim Jong-un now after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now Iran and six of the world's most powerful countries are set to resume talks this week on Tehran's nuclear program. But in a televised

address, Iran's supreme leader says it is not his country that people should be worried about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translator): The myth of Iranian nuclear weapons was created by the Americans with the

Europeans and others with the purpose of showing Iran as a threat. No, America is itself the threat. The American regime is the greatest threat

to the world today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Despite his views, the Iran supreme leader has supported the nuclear talks. Negotiations are aimed at reaching a deal by the end of

June.

And make sure to tune in to CNN for a special edition of Amanpour hosted in Tehran. It starts at 7:00 tonight, if you're watching in London,

that's 8:00 p.m. in Berlin only here on CNN.

Now today is April 20, or 420. In the United States it's become sort of an unofficial holiday for pot smokers. There's no denying that the push

to legalize marijuana has momentum in the United States. CNN Money brings us up to speed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:40:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a high point for the marijuana movement. One survey found that for the first time ever, a majority of

Americans support legalization. Yet, recreational pot is legal in just four states, plus the nation's capital. That number is sure to grow.

In 2016, California, Massachusetts, Maine, Arizona and Nevada are all expected to introduce ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana, putting the

issue in the hands of the voters.

But why until then? In at least 15 states, lawmakers are considering bypassing the complex ballot process entirely by introducing bills in their

state legislatures.

And then there's the presidential election. Contenders have been reluctant to take ap olicy position on Marijuana in the past, but with the

legalization movement gaining steam, a pro-pot platform might get a candidate to the highest office.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now CNN's chief medical correspondent is throwing his weight behind the push to legalize medical marijuana, and not just state by

state, but nationally. Now he was part of a new CNN documentary on marijuana that aired on Sunday called "Weed 3: The Marijuana Revolution."

Now CNN.com, he says there is now promising research into the use of marijuana that could impact tens of thousands of children and adults,

including treatment for cancer, epilepsy and Alzheimers.

And finally, North Korea says its leader Kim Jong-un has accomplished quite a feat to honor his father. It claims that he climbed the country's

highest mountain.

Now Kim didn't mince any words about the experience. In fact, he is quoted as saying the experience was more powerful than, quote, "any kind of

nuclear weapon" unquote.

Now the volcanic Paektu Mountain, it straddles Chinese -- the Chinese and North Korean border. And it's considered a sacred place in Korean folk

lore. In fact, legend says that the mountain was where Korea was founded.

North Korea claims Kim Jong-il had a Mount Paektu bloodline, although most historians believe that he was born in Russia.

And it's probably no accident that the image of the late leader looks familiar: the mountain is a key landmark in the propaganda surrounding the

Kim Dynasty. And this new photo of Kim Jong-un, it seems to reinforce the continuity of the family regime.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Christina Macfarlane is up next.

END