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Former Chinese Security Chief Zhou Yongkang Given Life in Prison; Reddit Bans five sub-forums; Asylum-seekers Play Waiting Game in Southern Germany; Fight for Baiji Continues. Aired 8:00-9:00a ET

Aired June 11, 2015 - 8:00   ET

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


[08:00:25] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream.

Now life in prison for China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang is the highest ranking Chinese Communist Party official ever to face

corruption charges.

Plus, South Korea moves to limit the fallout from MERS on its citizens and its economy. We are live in Seoul.

And Reddit takes a tougher stance against online harassment, but is the site going far enough?

Now, we begin in China where former security chief Zhou Yongkang has been sentenced to life in prison in a secret trial.

A statement, issued by the Supreme People's Court says he pleaded guilty and will not appeal.

Now Xinhua reports that the Tianjin court sentenced Zhou to life for taking bribes, abusing power and revealing state secrets. Zhou Yongkang

seen here appearing in court on Thursday, his hair noticeably different now: a shocking white.

Now it is important to note just how powerful and how feared Zhou Yongkang was. And while there have been plenty of big names snared by the

corruption crackdown in China, no other has been on this scale.

Now Zhou's role as security chief meant that he was the country's top policeman and spy. He knew everything about everyone. He also controlled

the courts and prosecution offices across China.

Now Zhou is the highest ranking Communist Party official to ever face such serious charges. And for more on the story, let's go straight to

David McKenzie in Beijing.

And David, we have talked about Zhou Yongkang many times before. But how significant is it that Zhou has met his fate, now sentenced to life in

prison?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONENT: Well, it's extremely significant in the Chinese context. Certainly Zhou Yongkang as you

describe is the most senior Chinese Communist Party member to be taken down in the trial of this kind and in this anti-corruption drive. As we've

talked about before, Xi Jinping has talked about tigers and flies. This is the biggest tiger yet.

And he was extremely powerful, in charge of China's security apparatus, didn't have all that many friends necessarily in the Chinese

population. But certainly this, and also they've just released commentary on the People's Daily, the main mouthpiece of the party. This shows on one

level that no party member is too senior to be not taken down. But there is also potentially some politics at play -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: And why him? I mean, we know that corruption has been so pervasive in the Communist Party. Why is it that Zhou Yongkang was singled

out above others? Was it politically motivated?

MCKENZIE: Well, they do say in the court proceedings that again this was a secret trial. And you saw those dramatic shots. If you understand,

it's dramatic as you say, that Zhou Yongkang is there at trial with his white hair very drastically changed from the image you saw of him in the

standing committee in -- when -- before he disappeared from public view in late 2013.

So, why has he been targeted? Well, analysts do say that perhaps it's partly because he's widely considered to be someone who did take bribes.

And the allegations are that over several decades he took millions of dollars.

But he is also seen on some level as a power broker who competed on some level with Xi Jinping, who had ties to Bo Xilai, the Chongqing police

chief -- sorry, the Chongqing party chief who was also given a life sentence in a much more public trial.

So, I think the reason they made this secret was to avoid that kind of spectacle in China, but also you know, to show that no one's above the law

here.

LU STOUT: And now corruption we know is rampant in China. It's prevalent at all levels of society. What do the people in China make of

this greater campaign by Chinese President Xi Jingping to get rid of graft and corruption, and especially what we've learned today, the fall of Zhou

Yongkang?

MCKENZIE: Well, certainly people have found it's quite a popular campaign. People I've spoken to on the street have admired their

leadership have admired their leadership for taking on corruption.

And, you know, these -- people like Zhou Yongkang grab the headlines, but there's been scores, in fact hundreds of party officials across the

country who have been taken down in anti-corruption trials and through their internal investigation in the Communist Party.

There are some people, though, that you speak to who are a little bit more cynical about it saying that most senior leaders like Zhou Yongkang or

Bo Xilai, they were taken down because of their power and their political - - the fact that they might be seen as a threat to Xi Jinping who has consolidated his power considerably here in China in recent years --

Kristie.

[08:05:38] LU STOUT: And now we've come to this, a once untouchable tiger now sentenced to life in prison. David McKenzie reporting live from

Beijing, thank you.

Now a tenth person in South Korea has died from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS. And as the concern grows over the spread of

the virus, the country's central bank lowered the interest rate.

Now the Bank of Korea cut its key rate by 25 basis points to 1.5 percent. What was unexpected was a statement that fear surrounding the

MERS outbreak could dampen growth in spending.

Now two hospitals have been shut with staff, patients and visitors sent into quarantine.

Now 14 new cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of infections to 122. Kathy Novak joins me now live from

Seoul with more.

And Kathy, we've got more cases of MERS confirmed in South Korea, including a pregnant woman. How are authorities managing the outbreak?

KATHY NOVAK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they're trying to do, Kristie, is just do everything to prevent any further spread.

Basically, this has gone through hospitals. We still have not seen it spread into the public, but that of course is the fear. This was not

locked down quickly enough. It's been more than three weeks now since this has been spreading among patients, visitors, medical staff within

hospitals.

I actually visited one of the hospitals affected yesterday and saw firsthand the kind of measure they're not putting in place to make sure

that they keep the spread contained. And that involves keeping anyone who has been confirmed to have a case of MERS in a completely separate building

within that building in a negative pressure room between -- behind layers and layers of glass. And the people who are handling them, the nurses and

doctors, are in full biohazard suits so that they are protected.

And for the general public, because of course they will still need to come and use the rest of the hospital, they are checked before they come

in. They are given temperature checks. There are thermal screening processes. And if anyone has a fever or symptoms that resemble MERS, which

are similar to the common cold and the flu, they're given further testing.

They are tested for MERS. They are kept in isolation. So it's all about keeping people away from anyone at all who could possibly have been

exposed, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Kathy, there is growing fear and concern about the outbreak in South Korea across east Asia, including here in Hong Kong, but put it in

context for us. I mean, how great is the danger of MERS spreading to other countries?

NOVAK: Well, as we know, Hong Kong and Macau have raised their travel advice, asking their citizens to not travel here to South Korea unless it

is absolutely necessary.

And traveling around, you definitely do see a drop in tourist numbers, but as I say, so far the virus has been contained within hospitals. And

what medical experts are telling us is that right now there's not a danger that it will spread into the public.

But it seems that Hong Kong authorities, at least, disagree as part of the reasons that they gave for why they have raised their travel advice to

a red alert is there is a significantly increased risk, according to them, of the virus spreading into the public. So that certainly has people

worried and is keeping tourists away.

LU STOUT: All right. Kathy Novak reporting. Thank you very much indeed for that.

Now there are no confirmed cases of MERS here in Hong Kong, but it is not stopping the city from taking every precaution to prevent an outbreak.

Hong Kong knows the devastating impact an epidemic can have as memories of SARS still linger more than a decade on.

Andrew Stevens has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In February of 2003, a professor from southern China checked into room 911 at this hotel, then

known as the Metropol. He was noticeable, the guests said later, because he kept coughing and splattering.

Two weeks later, he was dead from SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome. His one night stay here had infected more than a dozen others.

And some of them traveled on to other countries.

In those two weeks, this city became the center of an outbreak of a deadly, but unknown virus, which went on to infect 8,100 people worldwide,

killing 744 of them, including 300 here in Hong Kong.

For almost three months in 2003, I watched and reported from a city on edge. Many families, including friends of mine who could leave did leave.

Children sent to relatives and friends all over the world just escaping from what was happening in Hong Kong.

Travel bans were imposed, airlines canceled flights by the score, hotels suffered alongside the airlines. Occupancy rates at one stage

plunging to about 10 percent. The bars and restaurants in this city, where eating out is a way of life, were virtually empty.

Fake rumors spread like wildfire online. The territory was going to be quarantine, the Hong Kong government was going to step down. People

read them and then rushed out to super markets to stock up on supplies.

And one of the first things you did every morning before you went to work was make sure you had one of these: a face mask. In fact, you would

take a face mask with you anywhere you went where you were likely to come into contact with a lot of people.

The SARS virus was actually identified quite early on, but the fears remained driven by unknowns: just how contagious was it? Could I catch it

if I pressed a lift button? And if I did catch it, what were the chances of survival?

There are similarities between SARS and MERS, but there are important differences as well. MERS in South Korea, for now at least, remains

confined to hospitals and a key point, it's much more difficult to catch than SARS.

But perhaps it's not surprising that Hong Kong was so quick to issue a red alert travel warning to south Korea. It may be 12 years ago now, but

for millions of Hong Kongers, the memory of the SARS outbreak is still very fresh.

Andrew Stevens, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:11:38] LU STOUT: Now a vivid report on the lessons learned from SARS.

Now, let's turn our attention now to Nepal where fears about potential mudslides after April's devastating earthquake have now become reality. At

least 13 people are dead in six eastern villages that have been inundated with torrential rain, that's according to a local official who says 19

people are missing.

Now dozens of families have been taken to safer areas while rescue crews search for survivors.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, the battle for the Iraqi city of Baiji and its critical oil refinery.

And making a new life in a foreign land, we visit a migrant hostel in a small town in Germany.

And a report that Chinese hackers may have stolen the identities of those in China with a connection to Americans who could now be in danger of

blackmail or retaliation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now new video from ISIS has surfaced that it says captures the battle for Baiji as Iraqi forces fight to retake the city and its critical oil

refinery.

Now, despite Iraq first claiming that Baiji was free from the terror group, commanders say ISIS appears to control about half of the city.

Now CNN's Ben Wedeman has been getting a sense of how the fight is going and what commanders say they need to turn the tide against ISIS.

He's just back from a dangerous trip near Baiji and he joins me now live from Baghdad.

And Ben, we know that Iraqi forces, they've been struggling to recapture this key town. What's the latest?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really hard to say. We went up there yesterday, but we couldn't really get close to

the center of town. We've been hearing for several days now from Iraqi officials here in Baghdad that most of the city is under control, but the

closer you get to Baiji, the more you realize that that battle is far from over.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:15:15] WEDEMAN: The crew of this Iraqi army 155 millimeter self- propelled Howitzer prepares to fire. The target is the ISIS-held town of Siniyeh (ph) west of Baiji where the battle rages on.

The Howitzer and its ammunition are American made.

The United States says it's going to send an additional 400 troops in the effort to train the Iraqi army, but when you speak to Iraqi military

officers, they say that that's just a drop in the bucket of what they actually need.

Iraqi forces, a combination of government troops and members of the Shia-led paramilitary group Hashd al-Shaabi have been battling to retake

Baiji and the nearby refinery from ISIS.

Iraqi officials in Baghdad told CNN most of the town is in pro- government hands, but when we got near it, through the haze, it didn't seem so secure.

"You can hear gunfire," says local Sunni commander Khalid Awaa (ph). "Until now there are skirmishes with the remnants of ISIS while others are

fleeing toward Mosul."

Field commanders say ISIS, while on the defensive, still holds 50 percent of Baiji.

Major General Jamaa Aned (ph) has been in the Iraqi army for 37 years. He says what Iraq needs urgently is weapons, not training. And he insists

the American response to ISIS has been at best halfhearted.

"When the United States wants to do something it does it," he says. "We fought them twice, in 1991 and 2003. They have incredible

capabilities. If they were serious, they could crush ISIS."

An opinion shared by Abu Mehdi Mohandis (ph), the powerful commander of the Hashd al-Shaabi, which is partially armed and trained by Iran.

"It's clear," he tells me, "the international coalition isn't serious in its operations. That's why Ramadi fell."

U.S. officials suggest it was the shortcomings of an overstretched Iraqi army that were behind the fall.

Whatever the case, after more than a year of battling ISIS, Iraq can ill-afford more defeats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And of course the importance of Baiji is that just outside of it is Iraq's largest oil refinery. And if -- and it's on the road

between Baghdad and Mosul, so Iraqi forces hope to retake that strategic northern city now under ISIS control for more than a year, they'll have to

control Baiji -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: And now we've learned that the United States is sending in troops to train local forces as well as weapons to Kurdish Peshmerga

fighters and also to arm Sunni tribes. I want to focus on that angle. I mean, do you think that arming and advising Sunni fighters, could that

succeed in crippling ISIS?

WEDEMAN: Well, it certainly has succeeded on a much larger scale during the surge in 2006, 2007 when it was Sunni tribesmen armed and

trained by the United States who were key to crushing al Qaeda in Iraq.

But of course, what we've seen under the previous Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki, and to a lesser extent under Haider al-Abadi, the current

prime minister, is there a good deal of hesitation to give Sunni tribesmen weapons and training, because the worry is that they'll receive both of

those and then go over to ISIS -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: And, Ben, we have to talk about Mosul, because this week it marks one year after Mosul fell to ISIS. It's Iraq's second largest city.

When will the coalition, when will local Iraqi forces direct their focus and attention to retake Mosul?

WEDEMAN: Well, at the moment they've got their hands very full. On May 17, Ramadi, the second provincial capital to fall to ISIS, the first

one of course was Mosul last year. And of course they're busy with Baiji as well.

Now there is an Iraqi division that's being trained and armed in preparation for an eventual move against Mosul, but given the difficulties

they've had in retaking places like Tikrit, in Baiji, with IEDs and booby traps and snipers and whatnot, a city of Mosul, which on the best of days

had a population of 2 million people, is going to be a much greater challenge than anything they've seen before.

So, Iraqi officials want to be ready before they move on Mosul and not go about this hastily -- Kristie.

[08:20:22] LU STOUT: All right, CNN's Ben Wedeman reporting live from Baghdad. Thank you, Ben.

Now turning to another key battleground against ISIS: the Internet. Now, delegates of dozens of countries sitting down with executives from

Google, from Facebook and Twitter, and they are looking for ways to stop ISIS from radicalizing people online. The terror group uses social media

to spread its violent message and to recruit new fighters. And the conference host, Australia, says the 100 of its own citizens are fighting

in Syria and Iraq, many in response to the lure of ISIS, also known as DAESh.

Now the foreign minister of Australia, Julie Bishop, says it is critical to fight the appeal of the group.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE BISHOP, AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I think it's vital that we remove any romanticism or idealism about the motives of groups like DAESH

who are not freedom fighters, not religious warriors, they are criminals, gangs that extort money, murder innocent people and commit crimes,

including the rape of women and children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop there.

Now she also says that one in every five foreign fighters joining ISIS is a woman.

Now there has been a big break in a cyber hacking case that exposed some Hollywood celebrities. And up next, what led the FBI to zero in on a

home in Chicago in its quest to find whoever put all those nude photos online.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now Washington investigators fear that Chinese hackers may have stolen the names of Chinese people with ties to the U.S. government, that's

according to a New York Times report.

Hackers in China are accused of raiding the databases of the U.S. government office of personal management. And according to The Times, U.S.

federal employees who handle national security information are required to list their foreign contacts. It's believed the hackers got hold of those

lists.

As a result, the paper says it is feared that the Chinese relatives, friends and associates of American diplomats could be in danger of

blackmail or retaliation.

China has called allegations that it was behind the hack attack irresponsible.

U.S. law enforcement has carried out raids in connection with last summer's hack targeting Hollywood celebrities. Now the hackers stole nude

photos and posted them online. Pamela Brown has more on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:25:30] PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New developments today in the hacking and leaking of stolen female celebrities

private photos and videos, pictures of stars such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Anna Kendrick posted online last summer.

According to newly unsealed court documents, federal agents served this Chicago home last fall, looking for evidence linked to the case. The

FBI says it tracked a source of the hacking to an IP address linked to 30- year-old Emilio Herrera, just a month after graphic celebrity pictures were leaked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This looks like a fairly straight path to the offender. There's ways of masking IP addresses and essentially anonymizing

yourself so that you can carry out the attack in an easier manner and get away with it. That did not happen here.

BROWN: According to the search warrant, Herrera's IP address was used to access 572 individual iCloud accounts and those accounts were accessed

more than 3,200 times from his IP address over the course of more than a year.

Agents say they seized several computers, cell phones and storage drives from Herrera's homes. Law enforcement officials tell CNN they

believe Herrera is part of a network of people who trade the pictures online.

RON HOSKO, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: Tabloids will pay for this sort of salacious information if somebody can procure it, or that the

victim may pay for it not to go public and that they may be later extorted to prevent it from going public.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was Pamela Brown reporting. And one other note, Herrera is 30 years old and lives with his parents in that Chicago home.

And CNN tried phoning a number associated with that address for comment. No one answered.

You're watching News Stream. Still to come on the program, we focus on one website where pictures of that celebrity photo hack were posted last

year. Reddit says it is cracking down on Internet harassment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now China's former security chief Zhou Yongkang has been sentenced to life in prison. The 72-year-old appeared at a secret trial where Xinhua

says he pleaded guilty to taking bribes and revealing state secrets. Now Zhou is the highest ranking Communist Party official to ever face

corruption charges.

In South Korea, a tenth person has died from Middle East respiratory syndrome. The 65-year-old man had lung cancer and caught the virus while

in hospital. Now 14 new cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours. And two South Korean hospitals have now closed.

Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met Chinese President Xi Jinping. She is on a four day visit to China. Now activists want the

Nobel Peace Prize winner to speak out about her host country's human rights record and crack down on dissent.

FIFA handed over computer data to Swiss authorities who are investigating the bidding process for two upcoming World Cups. It is not

clear whose records were provided.

Meanwhile, the European parliament says FIFA President Sepp Blatter should step down immediately and not wait until a successor is chosen

months from now.

And we have just gotten word that Walter De Gregorio is resigning as FIFA's director of communications. And World Sport will have more on these

developments in about 15 minutes from now.

There is a crush of refugees along the border between Syria and Turkey. Turkey says it took in thousands of people no Wednesday. And here

you can see them waiting to make the border crossing.

Many say that they are leaving Syria because of the fighting in a nearby town between ISIS and opposition forces.

The UN refugee agency says almost 4 million people have fled the violence in Syria.

Now the UN refugee agency says that more than 100,000 migrants have arrived in Europe this year. And they made the dangerous journey across

the Mediterranean, landing in Italy or Greece. But many of them keep traveling, and some to Germany.

Now Karl Penhaul has more on the new life they find far from home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:32:00] KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Beneath the church clock, the inscription "time goes and death comes," yet killing time

is all these asylum seekers can do as they live and wait for word on their future.

So al Shabaab killed your brother? Dead?

HODAN AHMED, SOMALI REFUGEE: Yes. It's by al Shabaab, dead.

PENHAUL: The golden star guest house has long since faded. It's now a tattered migrant hostel deep in southern Germany.

Hodan Ahmed's baby is named Lucky. She was born shortly after her mom landed in Italy after days adrift in the Mediterranean.

AHMED: Seven days (inaudible).

PENHAUL: Seven days on the water?

AHMED: Yes.

PENHAUL: And how was the boat?

AHMED: It was small, plastic.

PENHAUL: 29 people, seven different nationalities, live at the hostel. Some, like Albanians Mario and Dana Sadiko are requesting asylum,

even though they came in search of jobs, not fleeing war or persecution.

DANA SADIKO, ALBANIAN MIGRANT: My dream is to make better life, to work together for my son I need a good life.

The whole life is like this, go, come, go, come.

PENHAUL: Only about a quarter of migrants who seek asylum in Germany are successful, but that's still more than anywhere else in Europe.

MARIO SADIKO, ALBANIAN MIGRANT: Life is bingo.

PENHAUL: For now, though, the children keep busy, heading to free school classes each morning, a chance to learn German and make new friends.

The villagers here are chocolate box pretty. Gingerbread houses and god fearing Lutheran values.

But it may not all be quite as peaceful as it looks. There are signs that under the surface. Some hostility may be brewing.

One night in December, this soon to be opened migrant hostel was set ablaze. A wanted poster for the arsonist hangs outside the town hall.

Yet, a pastor says most residents welcome the migrants.

"It's perhaps because of our war-time past, but also we in Germany realize we live well in peace and freedom and want to give others part of

that," he says.

But until Germany decides on their fate and if they can stay for good, these asylum seekers just wait and listen to the clock chime as time goes

and death comes.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Vonner (ph), Germany.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:36:34] LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now the social network Reddit is saying no to harassment. It has shut down five community forums known as sub-Reddits. One of them called Fat

People Hate. I posts pictures of overweight people for ridicule.

Now the other four sub-Reddits have names that are so offensive we decided not to air them.

Now some controversial ones still exist, like one dedicated to sharing photos of dead bodies that we are not going to show you. Reddit has said

it is, quote, "banning behavior, not ideas."

Now is Reddit doing enough to fight online harassment? Now for that and more, we're joined now by Kent German, senior managing editor of CNET.

Kent, thank you so much for joining us here on News Stream.

This is Reddits' biggest crackdown yet on hate speech. You know, it is a significant step, but does it go far enough?

KENT GERMAN, SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR, CNET: Well, it is a step in a long line of what Reddit has been doing.

You know, they started about a year ago when they were really criticized for not doing enough, for basically saying we're not -- they

actually said -- the then-CEO said he's not going to end any sub-Reddits at all.

So about a month ago, they came out and they said, well, we're going to start policing a little more. We're going to ban users. We're going to

remove stuff that's already there, or content that's already there. And this is the first time they've come out and taken a step this big, of just

removing them completely.

You know, it's something that needs to happen. Every other -- a lot of other social media networks are doing this. Facebook is doing this.

Twitter is starting to take further steps. So, Reddit really had to catch up in a way and join some of its, you know, competing companies to do this.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and they finally did.

But no doubt you've seen the backlash on Reddit. A number of vocal Redditers, as they're known, not taking or accepting the changes well at

all, calling it censorship, calling it a violation of free speech. What will happen to this community? Do you think they'll stay in Reddit? Or

will they just move on and troll another site?

GERMAN: Well, every time you have something like this, you know, you have people that complain. And the difference with Reddit is, you know,

something other than Twitter is Reddit was really built on, and has long promoted itself as just an open forum for discussing what ever you like.

And the step here is is interesting, because you know these are sub- Reddits that are dedicated to a particular thing. I mean, it isn't just someone is going on and they are in maybe a sub-Reddit about food or just

obesity and then they're just going on and fat shaming. This was something that is a forum specifically dedicated to that.

So, I understand why they went in and took this step. People aren't going to like it. And there has been a backlash. They said, you know,

we're going to shut it down. We're going to move on. We're going to do something else. There's always that. But we'll have to see if that

actually happens.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and it is such a significant move, as you point out. It's kind of a free-wheeling anything goes community. Now they're trying

to make a more safer, more respectful community with this ban on harassment, or harassing sub-Reddits.

And your thoughts on the greater impact of this. As you point out, Reddit was a little bit late to the game here. Twitter and other social

platforms were first in cracking down on trolling and hate speech. But the fact that Reddit is finally on board and starting this, do you think this

is going to inspire or pressure other online communities or social platforms to fight online hate speech as well?

GERMAN: Sure. I mean, this is a developing story that -- you know, it started with -- started with things like Gamergate, you know, which is a

big backlash in the gaming community. And it's really gained steam since then. And these big networks like Reddit have had to take steps to please

their users, because -- you know, their current CEO when they announced new steps about a month ago said, you know, we are about freedom of expression,

but actually these steps are necessary because people are actually removing themselves from expressing themselves on Reddit because of this harassment

and what's going on.

So they believe their taking the steps are necessary, because people are actually removing themselves from expressing themselves on Reddit,

because of this harassment and what's going on. So, they believe they're taking the steps to actually build on that mission that they've always had.

We're going to see a lot more of this. It's going to continue. I think the big question will be when are users, even users who are in favor

of these steps, going to say actually this is too much. You're coming in and you're actually preventing me from saying something that's completely

innocuous and it's just being picked out by somebody else.

LU STOUT: And the notion -- and the vision of a truly troll-free Internet. I mean, is it possible? Can a massive online community clean up

and be a safe community for all?

GERMAN: You know, it's a nice -- it's a really nice vision. I'm personally not confident that we're ever going to reach a place where

trolling is not going to happen completely, because as you mentioned, I mean, we're hearing of that backlash to this. People might move on. They

might go to another site, or they might just take on new behavior that currently isn't against a policy. And then the question becomes, well,

what is a new policy? How do we adapt the policy to combat behavior that has grown and changed?

So, these steps help a lot. I think users expect them. And Reddit has to get on this and show that it is doing something.

But banning it completely, I think that's a stretch at the moment.

LU STOUT: Kent German of CNET joining me talking about cracking about online hate speech and the future of trolling. It sounds like it's still

going to happen. Thank you so much for joining us here on News Stream. And take care.

Now, three astronauts from the International Space Station, they are preparing to enter the Earth's atmosphere for their final descent to

Kazakhstan. They're expected to land in about an hour from now. The astronauts have spent the past 199 days in space. They've been carrying

out scientific research and tech demonstrations.

Mission Commander Terry Virts used his last days and hours aboard the International Space Station to take some incredible photos like this one.

He tweeted out earlier after his final mission.

Also, this stunning image of Earth, it's no wonder why he's going to miss that view.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. But don't go anywhere. World Sport with Amanda Davies is next.

END