Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

Empire State Building Light Display Shows Plight of Endangered Species; A Look Back at Jon Stewart's Daily Show; National Aid Arriving to Myanmar After Historic Rains; New Report Alleges Widespread Possible Doping of Runners. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired August 03, 2015 - 8:00   ET

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

[08:00:24] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream. Now aid for Myanmar as the country is ravaged

by deadly floods and have killed at least 47 people.

And the U.S. president set to unveil a major new proposal on climate change, but he's already facing opposition.

And the comedian who became a voice for a nation. We look back at Jon Stewart's greatest hits on The Daily Show.

Now we begin with two different weather disasters hitting two parts of the globe this hour. In California, the problem is too little water, the

severe drought there is helping fuel some 21 wildfires across the state. We'll have more on the fire emergency there in just a moment.

But first, South Asia, which is reeling from the opposite problem: too much water. Now heavy monsoon rains have caused flooding in India, Vietnam

and Myanmar with deadly consequences.

Now international aid is finally starting to arrive in Myanmar after weeks of Monsoon rain and widespread flooding. Anna Coren has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Myanmar is no stranger to severe flooding during the monsoon season, but this year the waters are

extraordinary. Dozens are being killed with more than 200,000 families displaced. And UN teams on the ground fear this is just the beginning of a

humanitarian disaster.

The full extent is unknown with many of the worst-hit areas cut off and inaccessible.

EAMONN MURPHY, UN MYANMAR: It's affected by landslides, it's affected by rivers choked with debris and that makes it all that much more difficult

in areas that are difficult to access in the best of conditions.

COREN: To demonstrate just how much water there is, a local news reporter filed his report from the middle of what should have been a busy

street.

Four areas in central and western Myanmar have been declared natural disaster zones by the government, which has mobilized the army to lead

rescue efforts. But torrential rain and flooding as a result of the Asian monsoon has also affected neighboring India and Bangladesh, claiming dozens

of lives.

Vietnam also hit by the worst flooding in 40 years.

While international aid is starting to arrive to some of Myanmar's desperate communities, humanitarian organizations are pleading for more

help. The government has been criticized for a slow and inadequate response, failing to learn from the natural disaster in 2008 caused by

Cyclone Nagit (ph) that left at least 140,000 people dead.

MURPHY: We've got to prevent more loss of life. We've got to get supplies to the people now that are immediately affected and then help them

in rebuilding, not just stop immediately after the first part of the crisis, but we have to help them rebuild their own lives.

COREN: And enormous challenge for an impoverished country that knows the worst isn't over.

Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: As you saw in that report, heavy rain is also causing problems in northern Vietnam, at least 17 people have been killed in

mudslides and flooding, and thousands have been displaced.

Environmentalists are also concerned about toxic water from flood hit coal mines leaking into the World Heritage listed Halong Bay. Now

thousands of people meanwhile in California have evacuated their homes as wildfires rage nearby. More than 9,000 firefighters are battling at least

21 wildfires across the state.

Now dry conditions and lightning strikes are fueling the flames. Now the largest blaze, the rocky fire, has already consumed nearly 22,000

hectares. CNN's Stephanie Elam filed this report from the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are inside the evacuation area for the Rocky Fire. And, as you can see right here, above us, that is

active fire, where it has plenty of fuel that it can burn at this point. And this is why we are seeing so many firefighters out here monitoring this

line.

We are standing along Highway 16. California 16. And what they want to do is contain this fire so it doesn't jump across the road. So, a lot of

fires, back fires being built on the opposite side. But as you take a look at this active fire here, you can see the wind is really pushing it.

And that is a big part of the problem with fires like this. When there is this much wind and such low humidity, it is the perfect environment for

a wildfire, for one that is ballooning as quickly as this one has.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:05:17] LU STOUT: OK, that was CNN's Stephanie Elam reporting live from the scene.

Now U.S. President Barack Obama is unveiling a proposal to reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions. Now the clean power plan aims to

reduce the carbon footprint of coal burning powerplants and to encourage the switch to renewable energy.

Now, Mr. Obama's new plan has revived the political debate on climate change. And CNN meteorologist Chad Myers joins me now to talk about the

scientific facts behind global warming.

And Chad, President Obama, he's addressing a very real problem. Walk us through the climate change threat.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The climate change threat it that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases hold in heat. Those gases get,

some of them, absorbed into the ocean, some into CO2 through evapotranporation and the chlorophyll process and those trees put the

carbon back in the Earth, but not in enough.

So, we are still enhancing, we are increasing the amount of carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere and, therefore, warming the Earth. As

that warms, Kristie Lu, we run the risk of melting the permafrost in the northern part of the world.

If that permafrost melts, there's a tremendous amount of methane below that permafrost and that will enhance and increase the rate of global

warming globally very, very quickly.

So, the real threat here is that we're going to have heat waves. Sure, we know that's going to happen. We're going to have coastal

flooding, because if you have warmer air you're going to melt some ice, the ice is going to go up.

A lot of people say, wait, it's already floating, it's not going to go up, ice doesn't go up. If you melt ice in floating water, it doesn't go up

-- yes, but we're going to melt a lot of ice that's not floating.

So, there's so many things out there that can be debunked. So many bad theories out there.

Heavy rainfall going to come back. And also drought going to come by.

Here's another problem, people are saying well you can't have heavy rain and drought at the same time, but in fact you can. Because you can

always have this drought like we're having in California where the wildfires that you just saw. And then all of a sudden El Nino could switch

on. And if it does, like it's already coming on, there could be massive flooding in that area.

So, it goes one -- it's a matter of what we're doing to the atmosphere gets the jetstream stuck. So you get very hot for a long time, then you

can get very cold. And when it's very cold, the people say how can it be global warming if it's so cold? Because it's warm somewhere else. If the

jetstream is up one place, it's down someplace else, and that's what we're dealing with right now, Kristie Lu.

LU STOUT: Chad, it is the warmer air that leads to these extreme weather conditions, but still there are many people out there in the United

States and around the world just can't accept that climate change is real or that climate change is a problem.

So, what do you say to them to convince them otherwise?

MYERS: Well, let's go over here. And this really convinced me. And 10 years ago, I didn't believe that we were going to have an issue. I --

10 years ago, I honestly believed that volcanoes can be doing this, other things can be doing this. As a scientists you have to prove it to me three

times before I even believe it.

Well, here's where we were. We were down in the 380s. And before the industrial revolution we were down in the 280 parts per million of carbon

dioxide .

Now if you take a look at numbers, we are above 400. And we've been above 400 for the last four summers pretty much as we start to look at this

Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa area in Hawaii. That's the highest place looking at this.

So, if you take this carbon dioxide and you pump it into the atmosphere, you're going to warm the atmosphere.

What we need as a globe is someone to figure out how to capture this carbon dioxide that's in the air.

The graphic behind me, all the way -- this is two years worth of fossil fuel burning across the globe. What would happen if we start with

zero and we let it burn and we do it for two years. This is the output from China here, the red spots here. Here's the output from America here,

from Europe -- northern Europe here.

So, there's carbon dioxide getting pumped into the atmosphere, but there's no one really taking it out.

Sir Richard Branson, back in 2007, said I will give you $25 million if you guys can figure out -- anyone -- can figure out a way to scrub this CO2

out of the atmosphere. So far, we're not doing that. Everyone is just complaining that, well, we're not going to do it. We're not going to stop

carbon dioxide emissions because you're not going to do it.

Globally, we just have to get on the same page.

LU STOUT: And that's why the United States, at least through President Obama, with this new plane is trying to take a leadership

position in addressing the issue of global warming.

Chad Myers, many thanks indeed for that and take care.

Now, the Greek stock market is back open. It's unsurprisingly back to double digit losses.

Now the index plunged by 23 percent within the first few minutes of trade. Leading this session's crash, the nation's top lenders.

Now shares in the country's big banks fell about 30 percent.

And the Greek bailout crisis saw authorities suspend trade at the end of June to try to prevent a financial meltdown.

You're watching News Stream. Still to come on on the program, leaked documents allege years of doping among Olympic track athletes, but so far

the focus is on how the test results were released. We'll look at these alarming new reports.

And later in the hour, speculation that part of the missing Boeing 777 has been found. We take a look at the toll its disappearance has taken on

the loved ones left behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:12:16] LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now a leak of thousands of blood test results is casting suspicion on the winners of several Olympic events. German and British media claim the

link shows a third of medals awarded from 2001-2012 were given to athletes who had questionable test results. Most of the athletes were endurance

runners.

Now, the world anti-doping agency says it is investigating.

Let's go straight to Amanda Davies in London for more on this story. And Amanda, reports of widespread doping at the very top level of sport. I

mean, just walk us through these stunning allegations.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kristie. And there are a lot of allegations being made here that the scale, the numbers

that we're talking about is perhaps the most shocking thing.

What we're talking about is an investigation carried out by a German television broadcaster ARD along with a British newspaper the Sunday Times

based upon data that was given to them by a whistleblower, but data that we understand to have come from the IAAF, the international governing body of

athletics, which covers 12,000 blood samples from 5,000 different athletes over a period of time of 11 years, from 2001 to 2012.

What these blood samples appear to have shown were that 800 athletes produced abnormal test results. This was results that were looked at by

two scientists, two preeminent individuals looking into blood doping. And they say that, quote -- from one of them, Robin Parisotto, never have I

seen before such an alarmingly abnormal set of results.

There is no guarantee, Kristie, that an abnormal blood test does mean that somebody was doping, but the suggestion is that there was some

wrongdoing, certainly, with that these scientists have seen from the results.

So, numbers that we're talking about, they're saying over a third of athletes who won medals at the world championships and the Olympics, two of

athletics biggest, most flagship events, between this period of 11 years, 146 athletes showed signs of abnormal test results, 55 of them were gold

medal winners.

So, the questions that are now being asked is if these blood samples came from the IAAF themselves, if the IAAF had this information, why did

they not act? Was it something that they were trying to hide? Or was there just a fault in the system that they didn't see what was happening.

One of the other investigators taking part in this, Michael Ashendon (ph), he said he sees it as a shameful betrayal of the IAAF's primary duty

to police their sport and protect clean athletes.

But as you would expect, athletics governing body has strongly reacted to these comments saying that the source of the material for them is open

to question. And that idea that they haven't been taking the issue of doping in their sport seriously is laughable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARNINE DIACK, PRESIENT, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ATHLETICS FEDERTION (through translator): There are allegations made, but no

evidence. we want to look into them serious, because to say that in athletic between 2001 and 2012 that we did not do a serious job tests is

laughable.

THOMAS BACH, PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE: There should be cases involving results that Olympic Games, the IOC will act with zero

tolerance in -- with our usual policy, but at this time, we have nothing more than allegations and we have to respect to the presumption of

innocence for the athletes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:16:18] DAVIES: That was Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee.

The independent drugs body, the World Anti-Doping Authority, WADA, have opened an investigation into this. And we await what they uncover

themselves.

LU STOUT: And Russia is alleged to be among those leading the way in these dubious reports. How are Russian officials responding?

DAVIES: Well, as you would expect, the Russian standpoint is one very much of denial of these allegations.

Russia, of course, is a country that at the moment have very much put sport front and center of its path to international recognition, of its

efforts to change perceptions of itself as a country. We had the winter Olympics hosted in Sochi last year, we've got Russia 2018, the football

World Cup coming up.

But this is not the first time that it has been brought in to doping allegations. Another broadcaster uncovered what they saw as wrongdoing in

Russian athletics in December. And this latest investigation showed Russia to be allegedly four times worse than any other country in terms of the

number of tests with the number of abnormal results from the sample that they had.

The allegations are that there were 415 abnormal blood samples from Russian athletes over the period of 11 years, and that 80 percent of

Russian medal winners over that period saw abnormal results in their tests.

But the Russian response has been very much that this is not one that is their problem. They are saying that they have a very stringent blood

testing drugs program within the country. They say that they have been caught up here in a political battle between the internal machinations of

athletics.

And Vitaly Mutko who is the Russian sports minister, somebody you will have seen speaking out very publicly in terms of the Russian 2018 World

Cup. He now has this other issue to deal with. And he says Russian athletes are checked for doping as much as athletes from other countries.

We are amidst such a period of life. There is no proper governance at the IAAF. It is the International Olympic Committee that should also bring

things into order. Now, all this looks like chaos.

You'll remember, there is the presidential election at the IAAF coming up when Lord Sebastian Coe is standing up against Sergei Bubka for the

right to run the IAAF in what is undoubtedly one of its most turbulent periods, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And they have a lot to answer to. I mean, just the scale and scope of this new doping scandal truly shocking.

Amanda Davies there reporting from CNN London, thank you.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come, the curtains are drawing to a close on one of America's best known comedians. We look back

at 16 years of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:23:07] LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now the American comedian Jon Stewart is heading into his final week as host of The Daily Show. Now Jake Tapper takes a look at the highlights

of the past 16 years of controversy and satire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": Craig Kilborn is on assignment in Kuala Lumpur. I'm Jon Stewart.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Sixteen years ago, when Jon Stewart took the helm of "The Daily Show," it would have been difficult to

predict the stature he and this show would achieve -- the location where candidates would come during a tough primary season.

STEWART: Tomorrow is perhaps one of the most important days of your life. And yet you have chosen to spend the night before talking to me.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: Senator, as a host, I'm delighted; as a citizen, frightened.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: Your response?

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: It is pretty pathetic.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER (voice-over): Or to declare a candidacy.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS: I am on your show to announce that I am a candidate for President of the United States.

TAPPER (voice-over): That he would hold a well-attended rally on the National Mall.

STEWART: Are you ready to restore sanity?

TAPPER (voice-over): Or that he would be perceived as so influential, especially among young voters, that the President of the United States,

whom he obviously greatly admired, would privately chide him to not feed cynicism.

Stewart's influence grew quickly with the election of President George W. Bush, when Stewart's politics found ripe targets.

STEWART: "I spread democracy. I'm a pusher, not a user."

TAPPER (voice-over): And Democrats, hungry for anyone to challenge the Bush administration, turned to him.

SAMANTHA BEE, THE DAILY SHOW: Jon, when the waters from Katrina began to rise, it would have been easy to rush back to Washington. This president

stuck it out for two more vacation days.

What do you call that?

STEWART: What do I call that? An abdication of...

BEE: Oh, yes, I agree, dedication.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): He's the one "Daily Show" reporter that makes the others look like a bunch of (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

TAPPER (voice-over): Long-time correspondent Samantha Bee tells us that Stewart was an even-keeled captain of their ship, with a clear eye on

where they were headed.

[08:25:12] BEE: His editorial point of view was always so sharp and so -- we always went out into the field with a really clear point of view and

we would just hit that point of view again and again and again and again.

TAPPER (voice-over): The media, especially CNN, we were frequent targets.

STEWART: The truth of what a reporter's saying is all in the direction they're face is turned. News story, war story. Trust me on this, (EXPLETIVE

DELETED).

TAPPER (voice-over): But his influence was great and his researchers quick and able to find clips exposing politicians.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have said in the past that it was, quote, "pretty well confirmed."

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I never said that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I think that is.

CHENEY: That's absolutely not.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: He absolutely never said that. Hmm.

CHENEY: It's been pretty well confirmed --

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER (voice-over): Also with a genuine eye for talent.

STEVE CARELL, THE DAILY SHOW: How do you reconcile the fact that you were one of the most vocal critics of pork barrel politics and yet while

you were chairman of the Commerce Committee, that committee set a record for unauthorized appropriations?

I'm just kidding.

(LAUGHTER)

CARELL: Well, I don't even know what that means.

TAPPER (voice-over): Some critics thought the show lost its edge with the election of President Obama, who appeared on the show seven times, for

usually friendly chats.

STEWART: How many times a week does Biden show up in a wet bathing suit to a meeting?

TAPPER (voice-over): Though other times the Stewart knife could cut.

STEWART: It wouldn't be, "Yes, we can," given certain conditions.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.

TAPPER (voice-over): And his skewering of the botched healthcare.gov website was something of a tipping point.

STEWART: We're going to do a challenge. I'm going to try and download every movie ever made and you're going to try and sign up for ObamaCare and

we'll see which happens first.

TAPPER (voice-over): Perhaps the most powerful moments were when Stewart realized his influence and used it, such as when he shamed Congress

for stalling the passage of health care legislation for 9/11 first responders.

STEWART: But before I rush in, you got to promise me, McCluskey, you got to promise me and my family that this will not affect the Swiss

pharmaceutical companies' offshore tax status. You got to promise me that.

(APPLAUSE)

STEWART: Or I'm not going in there.

You're an (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

TAPPER (voice-over): He's now credited with its eventual passage.

BEE: We don't claim that victory for ourselves. People have been in the trenches working on that for years and years and years and they've been

laying all this really heavy-duty groundwork. And sometimes it just takes that little tiny extra push to get it over the hump.

TAPPER (voice-over): Stewart's fans will miss him and so will the public square.

STEPHEN COLBERT, COMEDIAN: You're making no sense.

STEWART: Zero sense.

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: We're done.

TAPPER (voice-over): Jake Tapper, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. Just after the break, we've got a report from Beijing where families are desperate for news on what

could be the first physical trace of Malaysia Airlines flight 370.

And later in the hour, one of the most prominent fixtures of the New York skyline pays tribute to the lion who suffered a slow and painful

death. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:03] LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

The UN says at least 47 people have been killed in flooding in Myanmar. Rakine State is one of the hardest hit areas. More than 200,000

people have been displaced. Heavy monsoon rain is sweeping across the region affecting Vietnam and India as well.

The stock exchange in Athens is on a major slide on its first day of trading in five weeks. Shares plunged 23 percent at the Open. Especially

hard hit, stocks in Greek banks. They've tanked 30 percent. The crisis over the Greek bailout saw authorities suspend trading at the end of June.

German and British media claim thousands of blood tests results were leaked from an international association of athletic federation's database.

The report, it shows a third of medals in major track and field events over a decade were won by athletes who had suspicious doping results.

On Wednesday, a lab in Toulouse, France will begin analyzing plane debris found on a beach on reunion island. Now the wing part comes from a

Boeing 777, but officials have yet to confirm whether or not it's from Malaysia Airlines 370, which vanished nearly 17 months ago.

Now the disappearance of MH370 is one of aviation's greatest mysteries. And for the families of those who were on board, it has been an

agonizing wait. Will Ripley reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anger is growing for the families of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 demanding this meeting with Chinese

transport officials.

"You just say whatever you want", she says. More than 500 days on, they're tired of crying, tired of waiting, waiting that's not over. Even if

debris suspected to be from the missing plane offers new clues.

STEVE WANG, SON OF MHE70 PASSENGER: Just that -- it is from MH370, but it doesn't mean it's anything more. You know, it still cannot help you to

find the plane and it still cannot help you find the truth about what happened and why.

RIPLEY: Steve Wang hasn't spoken his mother's name since the day she and 238 others disappeared. Wang keeps her photo private along with her

last message asking him to bring her coat to the airport.

Do you still listen to the voice mail she left you?

WANG: Sometimes, sometimes.

RIPLEY: when did you listen to it last?

WANG: Wednesday evening.

RIPLEY: You listened to it on Wednesday when you heard about the debris.

WANG: Yes.

RIPLEY: New evidence washing ashore on Reunion Island forces families to face a new wave of agony.

"I feel so sorry for my two grandsons. What have they done wrong", asks this woman Jong Mei Ling? China's one child policy allowed Jong and

her husband just one daughter who was flying home with their only son-in- law.

"Not a minute has passed without me thinking of them," she says. Jong says she once tried getting information at the Malaysian Airlines office.

Police detained her for eight hours.

More than 150 Chinese were on MH370. China's Communist Party discourages families from gathering and protesting as they did after the

plane vanished. The assistance center in Beijing closed.

What do you need?

WANG: The truth.

RIPLEY: Wang says the discovery of suspect the MH370 debris doesn't bring closure.

WANG: I think the only closure will come at the time when they find the plane, find everybody, and find the truth.

RIPLEY: His biggest fear, the search will slow. The spotlight will fade and the families of 239 people will be left as they are today, still

waiting.

Will Ripley, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: So many heartbreaking stories there.

Now, we turn now to northern France where it was another busy night for those who police the Channel Tunnel. Now there are reports as many as

1,700 migrants try to sneak into the UK. While many attempt the crossing in small groups, over the weekend there was a concerted effort to break

through police barriers.

Now the French and British ministers have announced new measures to contain the crisis. They say more than $10 million is being committed for

new fences and more police.

Journalists and activists gathered in Mexico on Sunday to mourn the death of photojournalist Rubin Espinoza. He was among five people found

shot to death in a Mexico City apartment on Friday. Now a press freedom advocacy group says that there were signs of severe blows to the

journalist's face.

Espinoza fled the coastal state of Vera Cruz last month, because he felt threatened. Instead, seeking refuge in the capital. And in his last

recorded interview, he spoke out against the violence facing journalists there.

In the past five years, 13 journalists are known to have been killed in Vera Cruz. Espinoza's death is now under investigation.

You're watching News Stream. And up next, Cecil the Lion is gone, but projects like this one could help people focus on the plight of endangered

animals the world over. That story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Now some of the planet's most endangered animals have just gotten a spotlight like no other in the world. Now they made an appearance

in midtown Manhattan after dark on Saturday. And if you were in that area, you couldn't help but notice.

CNN's George Howell has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the facade of New York's iconic Empire State Building, the faces of animals facing mass extinction took

center stage in the concrete jungle. Hundreds of vivid images projected on one of the world's tallest buildings. Organizers say this art show is

meant to bring attention to a big problem that can no longer be ignored.

TRAVIS THRELKEL, OBSCURE DIGITAL: We're presenting art as activism. My company, Obscure Digital, we do these kinds of installations all around

the world. This particular one is something where the severity of the issue is about -- it's 1,000 times greater than the natural background rate

of extinction that naturally happens.

Extinction is a natural process. But the acceleration that we're in currently is at minimum, conservatively, 1,000 times higher than what's

natural. And this is entirely caused by us.

HOWELL: There was even a tribute to Cecil the Lion in full display. The lion most recently killed in an illegal hunt in Zimbabwe, according to

government officials, even though the American dentist who admits to killing him says he thought it was a legal hunt, the case has sparked

global outrage.

THRELKEL: To see the outrage and how -- the big hearts that we all have together. We just don't want this, you know, this is -- the public

outrage about this -- this was just an unnecessary killing of this incredibly beautiful lion. And this was just a beloved creature.

And for me, when -- in preparation for announcing mass extinction and talking about the loss of life on our planet, it gives me great hope to

understand that people care this much.

HOWELL: Travis Threlkel, who is the chief creative officer and co- founder of obscure digital, is also promoting a documentary with the nighttime display called Racing to Extinction. The goal, he says, is to

simply make people stop for a moment and recognize the beautiful animals they see on display are dwindling fast day by day.

[08:40:12] THRELKEL: We're trying to break what we think is the biggest story on the planet. And that we feel very few are aware of that

this is happening. And that is the beginning of the sixth mass extinction where mankind in this case is the cause of.

CROWD: We're your buddy all your life. We will never compromise.

HOWELL: The more people know about what's truly happening, activists believe, more can be done to try to stop this tragic trend.

George Howell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Beautiful pictures there.

Now ultimate Frisbee is flying high today. The International Olympic Committee has officially recognized the World Flying Disc Federation. And

that paves the way for IOC funding of ultimate Frisbee, as well as possible inclusion one day in Olympic competition.

So, just how competitive is Frisbee? Well, ultimate Frisbee is an intense, non-combat mixed team game. It's like a mixture of football and

net ball.

Now two teams of seven, they play on a rectangular field with end zones. Goals are scored when players catch the disc in the opposite team's

end zone, but they can't run with it. So players, they just have to keep throwing the Frisbee.

And one more thing, there are no referees in ultimate Frisbee, even in world championships. Players are expected to respect the game and enforce

the rules themselves in the true spirit of fair competition.

One can expect that will go off without a hitch.

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

END