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Death Toll In Pakistani Heat Wave Tops 800; U.S., China Call for Cooperation on Cybersecurity; Reddit Turns 10; Fight to Remove Confederate Flag Gaining Traction; Surprising New Study on Sexuality of Middle Aged Japanese Men. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired June 24, 2015 - 8:00   ET

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

[08:00:27] KRISIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream.

Now temperatures soar in Pakistan and so does the death toll: a record breaking heat wave has killed some 750 people so far. We are live in

Karachi.

And fury in France: Paris responds to reports that the U.S. spied on the last three French presidents.

Plus, the U.S. and China call for cooperation on cybersecurity, but what can be done to fight off the hack attack? Hear from one expert who

did just that.

It is a battle of life and death as southern Pakistan swelters in record-breaking temperatures. Nearly 750 people have died from dehydration

and heat stroke and the morgues are filled.

Now thousands of others are fighting for their lives in hospital. And here you see a man lying in a car waiting for help.

A doctor in Karachi tells us that some patients were brought in after collapsing on the street.

And in the capital, members of parliament held a service for those who have died.

Now the government is under fire for failing to fix Pakistan's frequent power cuts that have made conditions worse.

Now let's get more now on the crisis from Saima Mohsin. She joins me live on the line from Karachi. And Saima, the death toll is on the rise.

And you came face to face with the victims of this deadly heat wave. What did you witness?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, we've just left a hospital and earlier this morning we were at a morgue. We've come

face to face with the victims, the living and the dead, the ones that simply didn't make it. And I can't begin to explain the kind of scenes

we've seen today. I'll do my best.

It is nothing short of horrific.

The morgue, the one we went to, is one of the largest ones in the city. It's on the outskirts. It's not even run by the government, it's

run by a charity. And it's completely overwhelmed.

As you walked in, just walking up to it, you could smell the bodies in (inaudible). When we went inside, the cold storage unit and it was

incredibly difficult to go anywhere near that cold storage unit where there are hundreds of bodies, 650 people brought their sense of heat wave struck

at the weekend. 650 bodies piling up in five morgues, which is struggling, Kristie, because of the power outages. That cold storage unit is actually

hot. And the smell was incredibly pungent, is nothing short of putrid.

And then we moved on to the hospital where they are struggling to try and save those people that are suffering from the majority, if we may say,

are suffering from (inaudible) illnesses. Now they've treated in one hospital alone, the major hospital in the city, up to 8,000 people over the

last four days.

We saw people on drips. We saw tiny children screaming and crying, people unable to breathe, very shallow breathing. In fact, when I landed

this morning, the heat felt quite oppressive. And it's nothing like the temperatures we've seen over the last few days. And we do struggle to

breathe in this kind of heat -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Saima, you offered such a vivid and disturbing description of hospitals, of a morgue overwhelmed power cuts not helping during this

brutal heat wave in Pakistan and a lot of anger has been directed at the government. Saima, is the government to blame here?

MOHSIN: Well, Kristie, I think the simplest way to answer that is to say, well, we don't usually see this number of deaths and this number of

patients rushing to a hospital or to being brought to morgues when we (inaudible) heat waves. Sure, people do suffer that extent of suffering

that we're witnessing that is leading to people to turn on the government.

Certainly, the doctors and the hospital were saying that most of the people came in have suffered prolonged power outages. As you mentioned the

power cuts across Pakistan. And by the way, this is not a new phenomenon, this has been going on for years. Pakistan simply doesn't generate enough

electricity to meet demand. And in fact, governments around he world, including the United States, have offered to help with power generation.

But we simply haven't seen the level of action that needs to be taken on that front.

Businesses suffer, too.

For now this heat wave has really (inaudible) and put a spotlight on how little is being done and how much more needs to be done by the

government.

It is said that it's corruption, mismanagement, (inaudible) power providers that are leading to these power cuts. And then of course the

hope is when we receive these people don't have enough equipment. They don't have enough staff. And they don't have enough supplies, which is why

today we've seen the military and paramilitary and local residents checking in to try and help to support the hospitals -- Kristie.

[08:05:59] LU STOUT: All right, Saima Mohsin reporting live on the line from Karachi, Pakistan. I'll bring up a very grim and horrific

picture of the human toll of this ongoing heat wave there.

Saima, many thanks indeed for that.

Now, this year's heat wave has been particularly brutal, but cooler temperatures could be on the way. Now CNN's Chad Myers is following the

forecast for us. He joins us now -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kristie Lu, it has been very hot. I mean, you talk about the heat index, temperatures -- I know we're talking

about Karachi, but a little bit farther inland they approach 58 degrees yesterday. In Fahrenheit, that's 136. That's the temperature you might

feel inside a home without electricity as the sun has been beating on these places for so long.

The heat index right now in Karachi is 42. You have to understand, it's 7:00 at night. It's starting to cool down. It will only cool down to

about 30 to 32 degrees tonight, maybe in some spots outside the city down to around 29. That would feel pretty good.

We are going to eventually get the rain here. The wind is going to shift direction. We talk about the monsoon bringing in the clouds,

bringing in the rain, bringing in the relief from this oppressive heat. But tomorrow still the heat index in Karachi will get to 46.

Your body temperature is 37. If your body can't evaporate, or can't sweat, or can't even get any of the water your splashing on to evaporate

because your temperature of your heat index is higher than 37, you're not really even cooling down.

It was 44.8 degrees on Saturday. That's not the heat index, that's the actual thermometer in the shade. And understand, we saw those people,

where were they? They were in the sun, because there was no shade from the clouds, because simply the monsoon has simply not kicked in yet.

Simi up to 57 degrees yesterday for that heat index. And it's still going to be cooler -- this is the term, we're looking at these

temperatures, it's getting better. Is it getting good enough? No, not yet. For the next few days, it is still going to be hot. It's still going

to be 40 degrees, or at least very, very close.

The normal high should be 33. It is going to be hotter than that for the rest of the week, although cooling down to a high of only 36. The

humidity is still in there. And it's still going to be very, very oppressive.

Now that you have this heat sink, every building is hot, every person is hot, and if your electricity can't be on to help cool you off a little

bit, you're going to stay hot. And that's that long-term exposure to the heat, Kristie Lu.

LU STOUT: All right, Chad Myers there with the forecast. And reporting on the oppressive heat that's taken over Pakistan and why it is

so deadly. Chad, thank you very much indeed for that.

Now let's turn to France, which has summoned the U.S. ambassador over reports of NSA spying on French President Francois Hollande as well as his

two predecessors. WikiLeaks published files detailing the secret communications of Mr. Hollande as well as former Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy

and Jacques Chirac.

Now the White House says it is not targeting Mr. Hollande's communications.

The French Defense Council released a statement saying France won't tolerate any action jeopardizing its security.

Now senior international correspondent Jim Bittermann has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, quite lively reaction from the French this morning. President Hollande convening

his defense committee and afterwards saying that this kind of thing, the kind of facts revealed by WikiLeaks, is totally unacceptable. However,

mentioning the fact that in fact they had been promised -- the French had been promised by apparently President Obama after this kind of spying on

Europeans was first revealed back in 2013, that they'd been promised that this would not go on any further. And the French government hopes that the

U.S. holds to that engagement that there wouldn't be any further spying.

Later this afternoon at around 3:00 local time, the prime minister is going to go before the national assembly to explain to Parliamentarians

what the government reaction has been. And then this evening around about 6:00 the American ambassador here, Jane Hartley is going to be summoned to

the foreign ministry apparently also to hear the kind of displeasure the French are feeling at this spying that's been going on.

In fact, there hasn't been too much revealed in the leaks that have come out so far, not too much that is really that have come out so far, not

too much that is really that surprising that Jacques Chirac didn't have confidence in his foreign minister. He wasn't alone in that regard, that

Nicolas Sarkozy thought he could save the world from the economic crisis, again something that presumably most people felt, and that Francois

Hollande after coming into office almost immediately became concerned about the Greek financial crisis.

Again, none of these things seem to be that earthshaking.

However, WikiLeaks had, through their various people have promised that in fact there will be more revelations coming -- Kristie.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Jim Bittermann there.

Now, EuroZone finance ministers are to meet again in the coming hours to crunch the numbers of the latest budget proposal from Athens. Greece

hopes to strike a deal to unlock $8 billion in new bailout loans. Without the emergency funds, Greece will almost certainly default on its debt

payment to the IMF due on June 30.

Now, a European diplomatic source tells CNN the euro group is ready to work through the night to reach a deal ahead of Thursday's summit.

Queen Elizabeth is on a state visit to Germany. The 89 year old British monarch met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. And

she laid a wreath at the city's central memorial for victims of war and is to be honored with a state dinner hosted by the president of Germany.

Now Queen Elizabeth also visits Frankfurt and tours a former Nazi concentration camp liberated by British forces 70 years ago.

Now this is the queen's fifth state visit Germany, but her first since 2004. And CNN's Max Foster is covering her trip and joins us now live from

Berlin.

And Max, the queen's visit, it comes at a politically delicate time for Germany, Britain and the EU. So, how is she representing the UK during

this critical moment?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what she does is really show that there's a partnership between the two countries and there

are lots of references back to the war, which in the past would have been very sensitive, but that sort of reconciliation as developed over time.

And this visit really plays into that. So that visit to the war memorial today where she laid a wreath, you referred also to the concentration camp

site that she's going to go to as well on Friday. But also we've seen some video of the meeting that she had with Chancellor Merkel, and that

conversation was also entirely about the war and how things have moved on since then, and Chancellor Merkel was showing the queen where the dividing

line was in Berlin between east and west.

So, this is part of moving on the relationship between the two countries.

But as you sort of intimate there, there's a current sort of crisis between the two countries which is that David Cameron, the British prime

minister, wants to renegotiate Britain's role within the European Union and Angela Merkel is the senior member of that body, really, and he has to get

her on side if he wants that to happen.

So he's flying in later on to join the state banquet, which he wouldn't normally do on a royal tour, so he can get some face time with

Angela Merkel.

The queen doesn't get involved in any politics or those conversations in any way, but she does sort of set the tone of good will and

collaboration that David Cameron can then slip in on and get the politics done, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, Max Foster reporting live from Berlin. Many thanks indeed for that.

And you're watching News Stream. And still to come, as the U.S.-China summit winds down in Washington, we'll take a look at some of the key

issues at play.

And life after ISIS. We return to northern Syria for another exclusive report on how residents in one town are trying to recover, but

the dangers remain.

Plus, taking a stand against the Confederate flag. Increasingly, southern states and several companies speak out about a symbol many now

acknowledge is offensive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:35] LU STOUT: ...version of all the stories we've got in the show today.

We've already told you about the deadly heat wave gripping Pakistan where officials fear that more people will die before temperatures cool.

And later the shift in the American south to ban the controversial Confederate flag is picking up momentum after that deadly shooting in South

Carolina.

But now, I want to take you back to the northern Syrian town of Tal Abyad. All this week, Arwa Damon has been sharing stories from residents

who lived under ISIS until recently.

Now the evidence of their brutal oppression is everywhere in Tal Abyad. And the danger from ISIS lingers. Here is Arwa's exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: ISIS may have been driven out of Tal Abyad for now, but they still remain a military force

that is quite formidable. And during our trip to the town, we were able to see some of what they had at their disposal.

This was an ISIS bomb-making facility. Bags filled with a sticky white powder, low grade explosives, which as we are shown, is highly

flammable.

The YPG, the Kurdish fighting force in control of Tal Abyad is busy clearing it out. Half the bed of a truck already filled with mortar rounds

that they collected here at the rear of a mosque named after al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

Tal Abyad is a minefield of booby traps.

Come take a look through here, see what they found in there?

It's hard to see through the grate, but stacked along the wall makeshift bombs, strands of detonation cord snaking out.

This was a park where children used to play. The local YPG commander says something did not feel right. They put a warning on the gate and a

resident told them ISIS had booby trapped it.

You see the (inaudible) thing, you see a cable coming out of it. OK, don't touch the door.

ISIS no longer controls Tal Abyad, but their terror lurks in every corner. And the town is still cloaked in fear, a certain unease emanates

from the adults, anger evident in their voices, their answers short and sharp.

Ahmed Darwi (ph) says ISIS forced him to purchase from them black clothing for his little girls. The three say they were sometimes scared.

Now they are just enjoying being outside without head scarves and they want to go back to school.

"We went for a month and then they closed it," the girls tell us. "They made it a base for the state," meaning for ISIS.

That was two years ago. Now, they say, they are happy.

In an environment like this, one can only hope it stays that way.

That particular family had fled to Tal Abyad from Aleppo before ISIS took over the town. But when the terrorist organization arrived, the

girls' father said he quite simply could not afford to move his family anywhere else.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Arwa Damon reporting.

And it is clear from what we've seen that the residents of Tal Abyad are committed to reclaiming their future, but the story of the city does

not end there, and neither does our coverage. Visit our website for images that you did not see in Arwa's reports. You can find that an more at

CNN.com.

Now the tunnel that runs under the English channel between England and France has reopened. And Reuters reports that the British prime minister

says he may take steps to ensure that the chaos that closed it won't happen again. Train service resumed after this seen in the port city of Calais.

Now ferry workers on strike burned tires and blocked roads to protest anticipated job losses. And thousands of migrants took advantage of the

stopped traffic, jumping on board trucks to try to get into England.

Reuters quotes the British Prime Minister David Cameron as saying his government may reinforce the UK border with France in that area.

You're watching News Stream. And after the break, Japan is known for its liberal attitudes towards sex, but revelations from a new study about

sexuality among middle aged men may surprise you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:23:40] LU STOUT: The cruiseliner on the move in Victoria Harbor, coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Japan and its aging population is a well known problem, but you might have considered one contributing factor. Now Will Ripley tells us about

the surprisingly high number of men who are still virgins in middle age.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tokyo's famous red light district, Kabukicho, caters to pretty much every sexual desire, the kind of place

that could make you think most of Japan is obsessed with sex, until you meet people like Takashi Sakai (ph), who asked us to hide his face and

change his name.

You're 41 years old, have a good job, but you've never had sex.

Approaching middle age, he's never had a relationship or even been kissed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you a virgin? Are you a virgin?

RIPLEY: A real life version of Steve Carell's character the 40-year- old Virgin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I was a little surprised they made a movie about someone like me.

RIPLEY: Sakai (ph) is not alone. A Japanese government study says one in four Japanese men in their 30s who have never been married are

virgins.

While some prefer it that way, others would like their fortunes to change. Their difficulty blamed on everything from a stagnant economy, to

Japanese manga fans favoring fantasy over reality.

For some of these mostly middle-aged men, this nude art class is the closest they've ever been to an actual naked woman.

Classes like this try to help people feel more comfortable with their sexuality. There's even this textbook specifically for virgins to help

them break down their barriers to sex.

Class organizers know the apparent disconnect is leading to fewer relationships, record low birth rates, and a shrinking population, a crisis

threatening the world's third largest economy.

"By solving the virgin problem, I think we can solve many other social problems related to sex," says Shingo Sakatume (ph).

His nonprofit offers sex education and assistance.

"In Japanese society, we have so much entertainment," he says. "Why do we need to choose love or sex?"

Sakai (ph) is a mountain climbing 41 year old who appears to lead a normal life, hiding his virginity from family and friends.

Do you have hope that you're going to meet someone hopefully soon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I always have hope. I keep having hope.

RIPLEY: Hope to fall in love, get married, start a family, hope that some day he'll have more than a sketch to call his own.

Will Ripley, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And may they find love and fulfillment.

Now, NASA is trying to solve yet another mystery on the dwarf planet Ceres. Now the Dawn space probe spotted a towering structure rising some 5

kilometers above the surface. Check it out.

Now NASA calls it a mountain with steep slopes, others say it looks conspicuously like a pyramid.

Now back in February, Dawn photographed these bright spots on the surface of Ceres. And scientists say they're not sure what these spots

are.

Now, delegates from the US. and China, they still have one day of meetings. But judging from some of the comments we've heard so far, not

everything has been cordial in Washington.

Also ahead on the program, controversy over the Confederate flag heats up in the U.S. And we'll look at the growing movement to have it removed

from prominent places and beyond.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now almost 750 people have died in sweltering temperatures in southern Pakistan. Hospitals are struggling to treat patients for heat stroke. The

morgues are filled, and frequent power cuts are making conditions even worse.

France has summoned the U.S. ambassador over claims that Washington spied on French President Francois Hollande and two of his predecessors.

Now the president of France's national assembly says Mr. Hollande is expected to discuss the allegations with U.S. President Barack Obama.

WikiLeaks released what it says are files detailing secret communications intercepted by the NSA.

NATO defense ministers are meeting in Brussels this hour. They'll be discussing the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine. Russia's threats to

expand its nuclear arsenal will also top the agenda. Just last week, the Kremlin announced plans to add 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles to

its stockpile.

Officials in Washington now say that the U.S. government is changing its hostage policy. Now families will be allowed to try to ransom for the

release of their relatives without the threat of U.S. prosecution. These are images of just some of the Americans who have died while being held

hostage by terrorists. Now the policy change comes amid sharp criticism from the families of U.S. captives.

Now in Washington, it is the final day of talks between the U.S. and China. The annual dialogue comes at a tenuous time for the world's two

leading economies. And among the issues fueling mistrust cybersecurity. The U.S. Treasury secretary used the form to raise concern over cyber

theft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:31:14] JACOB LEW, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: On cyberspace in particular, we remain deeply concerned about Chinese government sponsored

cyber enabled theft of confidential business information and proprietary technology from U.S. companies. Such activity falls outside of the bounds

of acceptable state behavior in cyberspace. A more open, secure and inter- operable and reliable cyberspace is critical to free and fair commerce. And we look forward to discussing these matters further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: China has denied accusations of government endorsed hacking activities, but Beijing does agree that the two countries need to work

together on the issue.

Now this is what the Chinese foreign minister had to say in an interview with the Los Angeles Times on the eve of the talks, quote, "the

United States is a mature, major cyber power, while China is also emerging fast as a major cyber country. We hope that cyberspace will become an area

of further cooperation between our two countries instead of a source of friction."

Now, not on the bilateral meeting agenda this week, the cyber breach that compromised the personnel files of at least 18 million federal

workers. U.S. officials believe that China is behind the hack. And Katherine Archuleta, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, is

back on Capitol Hill in just a few hours to field more questions about the attack.

So, what can be done to fight hack attacks? Well, I spoke with Jared Myers, principle researchers with RSA, a cyber security firm, and he was

part of a team that monitored suspected Chinese hackers and eventually repelled them mid-assault.

I started by asking him what they witnessed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JARED MYERS, RSA: What you see is kind of after this initial attack on the network, whether it be through some type of spear phishing or

they're breaching the perimeter somehow, the attackers are very aggressive the first couple of days. And they know that this is a very vulnerable

stage for them, and they're trying to get in additional tools, additional malware, map out the network and gain access to the credentials and the

access to move kind of laterally throughout the network.

From there, it's -- you know, once they feel that they kind of have their foothold, they go back to a much more relaxed pace that can be

carried out for months on end. And they really go through mapping out all the different network assets that they can touch, what credentials they

need to get to those. And sometimes it can take, you know, longer than others depending on what type of hurdles or blocks that you know the IT

security teams have put in place.

Once they do that, they kind of start locating, you know, this mission critical data, the actual data, you know, that they're after. And then

they have to start kind of taking out this mass inventory of all this information.

LU STOUT: Are they backed by the Chinese government?

MYERS: There have been lots of researchers that have publicly stated that Deep Panda, who we call Shell Crew (ph) at RSA, is if not backed by

the Chinese government, is allowed to operate with inside their borders.

LU STOUT: And from what you know about Deep Panda, or what you call Shell Crew (ph), this group of Chinese hackers, what are the concrete steps

that U.S. government and other targets must do to better defend themselves?

MYERS: Defending themselves, there's a lot of you know walls and barriers that are put in place, kind of the old school mentality is, you

know, let's just build a much larger wall and then hope that they can't get past that wall. And sometimes once they get in through those walls it's

kind of game over.

And what we need to do, organizations, the government, everyone, is actually continue to hunt more proactively behind that.

LU STOUT: Inside the cyber security community, is there a sense of astonishment about the scope and scale of this cyber breach?

[08:35:01] MYERS: No. I mean, I think to a lot of people that don't do this day in, day out it seems like a massive, you know, breach and

attack. I mean, these things occur.

I would imagine there was a lot of work that went into this. This wasn't just you know one day they decided, hey, we should you know try to

get into the OPM and then they went after it. I mean, these are missions that take months, possibly years worth of planning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Key insight there from Jared Myers of RSA.

Now the so-called Shell Crew (ph) is one of the suspects in the breach of the U.S. government computer system.

Now if you've ever sent an email you later regretted, you've got to listen up, Google has just made it easier to take that hasty email back.

Google officially added its undo send feature to the web based version of Gmail. It was previously in an experimental addon.

Now users now have the option of setting a time delay of five to 30 seconds before an email is sent.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program, South Carolina lawmakers, they are closer to removing the Confederate Flag. And

now other southern states are taking notice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

And we have this just in to CNN, the death toll in Pakistan has risen to 838 people, that's according to the chairman of Pakistan's national

disaster management agency. Southern Pakistan is sweltering in record- breaking temperatures, and people have died from dehydration as well as heat stroke. And the morgues there are filled.

Now frequent power outages are just making the situation worse.

Now form upstate New York, we've got new details about how former prison worker Joyce Mitchell may have helped two convicted killers escape.

Now a law enforcement source says that Mitchell brought baked goods to guards as away to win favors for inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat.

Now the source tells us that Mitchell also admits hiding hacksaw blades inside frozen hamburger meat and asked a guard to deliver it to

Matt.

And the source says she even asked prison officials to move the inmates' cells next to each other.

In the U.S. state of South Carolina, lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to open up debate on a bill to remove the Confederate flag

from the state capitol grounds. It all come sin the aftermath of the church massacre in Charleston and pictures that show the accused killer

holding the flag.

Some say the flag represents southern heritage, but others see it as a symbol of racism.

U.S. President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of lawmakers will attend the funeral on Friday for a pastor and state senator killed in the

Charleston shootings. Mr. Obama will deliver his eulogy.

Now South Carolina's actions to address the Confederate flag are gaining traction across other parts of the south. CNN's Ana Cabrera has

more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hundreds of protesters demanded the Confederate flag be removed Tuesday in the wake of the vicious

murders at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.

SEN. PAUL THURMOND (R), CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA STATE LEGISLATURE: Our ancestors were literally fighting to continue to keep human beings as

slaves.

CABRERA: Inside, South Carolina lawmakers overwhelmingly voting to allow a debate on a bill to do just that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Bennett?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aye.

CABRERA: All except ten lawmakers, digging in their heels, voting against it. And 10 who did not vote.

[08:40:05] CABRERA: State Representative William Chumley says we shouldn't let hate groups dictate how we feel.

REP. WILLIAM CHUMLEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE LEGISLATURE: We're focusing on the wrong thing here. We need to be focusing on the nine

families.

CABRERA: Confederate flag images, still prominent in a few states across the country, may soon be no more.

REP. EARL BANKS (D), MISSISSIPPI: People use the flag as a symbol of hatred.

CABRERA: In Mississippi, where the Confederate battle flag is a part of the official state flag, the speaker of Mississippi's statehouse is

calling for it to be removed.

Georgia now weighing a redesign of state-sponsored Sons of Confederate Veterans license plates featuring the flag. But governors in Tennessee,

North Carolina and Virginia are already saying they'll support pulling the plates from production entirely.

GOV. TERRY MCAULIFFE (D), VIRGINIA: Today, I'm calling for actions to be taken for the removal of the Confederate flag.

CABRERA: This, as eBay, Amazon and Wal-Mart, among other big-name retailers, are banning the flag from their shelves.

DOUG MCMILON, CEO, WALMART: We just don't want to sell products that makes anyone feel uncomfortable. And we felt like that was the case.

This was the right thing to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Ana Cabrera reporting.

Now in addition to the major U.S. retailers we mentioned, some popular online shopping sites are also getting on board with the Confederate flag

ban. Etsy is one of them.

Now the company says its policies prohibit listings that promote or glorify hatred. And it is working to remove items like these, things like

this Confederate flag treasure box, a trailer hitch cover and poster.

The Chinese ecommerce giant, meanwhile, Alibaba is doing the same, saying that the company prohibits ethnically or racially offensive

materials across all its platforms.

And finally, I want to mark a milestone Reddit. Now the social metwork site is turning 10.

Now Reddit is a massive collection of forums called sub-Reddits ranging from topics like cats to current events.

And here is a sense of how huge the user base is. They have nearly 230 million unique multi-visitors. And if Reddit is a country, they'll

have the eighth largest population on Earth. That makes it an important online platform.

Now President Obama is ask me anything is the second most viewed post on Reddit. And Bill Gates is a regular participate of Reddit's Secret

Santa gift exchange.

Many see Reddit as a place to discuss sensitive topics. And the site it did come under recent controversy for taking action against online

harassment and banning sub-Reddits like Fat People Hate.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout.

END