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Blur, Hong Kong Comic Artist Team Up For Latest Album; At Least 27 Dead After Two Trains Swept Off Tracks In India; Some Calais Migrants Give Up Ever Reaching UK; Hiroshima Bombing Survivors Remembers. Aired 8:00a- 9:00p ET

Aired August 05, 2015 - 8:00   ET

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

[08:00:20] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream.

Now, two trains swept off the tracks by strong flood waters as India's deadly rains claim more victims.

One year to go as Rio faces a race to finish everything before the Olympics begin.

And she survived the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima. Now she spends her life spreading the simple message, "never again."

Torrential monsoon rains continue to trigger deadly flooding across south Asia and now the weather is being blamed for a twin trail derailment

in India overnight. 27 people were killed when flood waters swept two crowded trains off the tracks.

A rescue operation is still underway this hour. In India alone, some 200 people have died in this extreme weather. Hundreds of thousands there

have also been forced in their homes and into relief camps.

Now for the latest on the flood fallout, CNN's New Delhi bureau chief Ravi Agrawal joins me now live.

And Ravi, two trains swept from this bridge after that terrible and horrifying accident the death toll is certainly rising there.

RAVI AGRAWAL, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, it is, Kristie. The latest number we have is about 27. It may rise a little bit more than

that.

The government so far has been working overnight through all of today trying to help people to rescue people from both of these trains.

Remember, this accident took place in the middle of the night. What the railway ministry has said so far is that it was pitch dark. There was

a sudden flash flood and really it wasn't the fault of the train driver. The tracks gave way, the trains then collapsed. They fell into the water.

And that's why so many people have died.

I should ad, though, this isn't entirely unusual. India has a number of train accidents every single month. And these collectively often ad up

to hundreds of lives lost every year.

LU STOUT: Got the Prime Minister of India Nerenda Modi, he has expressed concern about the flooding disaster there. He's also offered

condolences to the people of India. But what is his government doing to mitigate this disaster and to save lives?

AGRAWAL: Well, so in central India where we've seen the train derailments, they've been mobilizing the police, the ambulances, the fire

services. The army as well trying to make sure that they can rescue as many lives as possible. So that's more of an ongoing kind of emergency

situation.

A very different scene that we're seeing in the eastern side of India in the states of West Bengal and Odisha, which were ravaged by this Cyclone

Komen over the weekend. There, the government has had to set up thousands of relief camps, because entire villages are submerged.

So, the situation there very different.

And lastly, in western India we also have a number of floods. Those floods caused not by cyclones, but by regular monsoon rainfall.

LU STOUT: These flood are hitting vast areas of India. Why are we seeing such devastation? What has made these parts of India so vulnerable

to such massive flooding?

AGRAWAL: Well, there are a few things here. On the one hand, this is a lot of rainfall. You know, a lot of rainfall coming very, very quickly

all of a sudden. That's one thing.

But I should ad that if this same amount of rainfall were to hit, say, central London or New York you wouldn't have this number of deaths. And

the reason why you're seeing these deaths in India to the extent that you are -- there are a number of reasons. I mean, number one, India is very,

very densely populated. So a lot of people.

The infrastructure in general very, very weak. So, poorly constructed roads and railway tracks. Bridges that are very weak, that can collapse.

In remote parts of India, mud homes that are easily washed away and submerged.

So, all of those factors, which are larger infrastructural issues across India, those are the reason why we're seeing so many lives lost.

LU STOUT: Weak infrastructure is leading to a greater flooding disaster there in India. Ravi Agrawal joining us live, thank you.

Now also facing deadly flooding this hour is Myanmar. The UN World Food Program says that more than 200,000 people there are in desperate need

of food. So far, it has shipped aid to more than 82,000 of them. The state newspaper reports that China has sent in a rescue team and relief

supplies for 20,000 families.

So far, we know of 47 lives lost in the flooding, but the worry is that the toll is actually much higher.

Now, Alison Rhodes is with UNICEF's Myanmar Office. She spoke to CNN earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:21] ALISON RHODES, UNICEF MYANMAR: It's very difficult to reach remote affected areas because of flooding, mudslides and collapsed

bridges. In these conditions, children can be separated from their families. There (inaudible) family training and really engaged in

(inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Wow, devastating pictures of the flooding disaster there.

Let's go straight to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers for the latest. And Chad, we've been hearing the reports, seeing the pictures, vast parts of

South Asia battling the deadly floods. What's the forecast?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the forecast is for the monsoon rain to continue, but what hit here in Myanmar, which was the cyclone, of

1.2 meters of rain in a couple of days. No place on earth can handle that without flooding. And like we're talking, maybe the flooding would not

have been so deadly, but there still would have been flooding anywhere in the entire world here. And Myanmar was hit so very hard.

Now that storm, that cyclone has moved away, it's moved into parts of central India. There will probably be 300 millimeters of rain in central

India before it finally ends.

It has been a very wet season in spots. And a very dry season in others. And in fact, we are below normal for monsoon rains across India at

this hour. But in the northwest part, 108 percent above here where it has rained so hard here all the way down toward Myanmar, 55 percent above when

it comes to how much rainfall is coming down.

But if you take a look at the average, you take up here and then back down here, we are at 7 percent below average where we should be across the

entire country.

But isn't that always as it happens? It never spreads out, it always seems to coagulate in one spot and continue to rain there for days and

days.

Here's the rain with the cyclone moving eventually off to the west. Here's another low pressure center moving just to the north here of

Myanmar. Very heavy rain showers all the way down even through Thailand. And then more heavy rain with this low pressure system here. And this is

all the way down through all of Vietnam.

Heavy rainfall in Southeast Asia. It is very moist in the summer time. And we expect that kind of weather just want to spread it out once

in awhile. It doesn't look like that's going to happen, at least not right away.

Let me take you to something else that's happening here. This is a super typhoon, or at least was. It is now into cooler water, but this is a

significant typhoon that will again intensify as it makes its way back toward Taiwan.

So, as the storm gets back into warm water, we're going to see 220 kilometer per hour winds with this typhoon as it makes a run right to

Taiwan.

Now if you're not familiar with Taiwan, the coast here that's going to get hit very hard, that's not the populated coast, it's the area between

China and Taiwan where most of the villages and most of the cities are.

But it doesn't matter where you are. If you have wind gusts coming around the backside of that island at 220 kilometers of hour, there will be

significant damage. There certainly will be significant flooding. And any time Taiwan gets hit, especially on the east side and the west side of the

ridge, there are always flash floods, there are always mudslides, and it could be a devastating hit here to Taiwan and also into Mainland China as

it keeps going, Kristie Lu.

LU STOUT: All right. Chad Myers there, tracking typhoon and rising flood waters here in Asia. Thank you, Chad.

Now the weather, it means everything right now also in the U.S. state of California where two dozen wild fires are burning. A little rain

helped fire crews fighting the worst fire north of San Francisco, but drier conditions are expected today.

Now CNN's Paul Vercammen went to one community threatened by the flames yet determined to stick together.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At the Rocky Fire ion Colusa County, a test of wills. A stubborn fire, pushed by the erratic winds,

versus self- reliant rural people who live here because there are fewer folks around to tell them what to do. Wills were tested when word came for

about 13,000 of them to evacuate as the Rocky Fire exploded.

JOE WELZ, ROCKY FIRE EVACUEE: When you start seeing smoke plumes come up that are severe black you know they're in the brush and they're not that

far away, this is a problem. You look at it, it's time to go. And when you see flames, when you see flames, it's really time to leave.

VERCAMMEN: So just where did Joe Welz, resident of this back country for 27 years, go? The Moose Lodge. That's right. Often a hub for bingo and

karaoke, and now a haven to ride out a fire that has burned 65,000 acres. Lodge volunteers said 200 to 300 people sheltered here overnight. Donated

food is piled up on tables, free pie and French toast.

[08:10:18] RHIANNON GARCIA, VOLUNTEER: It's not part of Red Cross. This is all community here. This is a community at its finest.

VERCAMMEN: Rhiannon Garcia and her displaced visitors hang on weather reports.

GARCIA: You can take a breath. It's still contained and everybody is safe. It's like, finally. We need a break. They need a break and we need a

break.

VERCAMMEN: A break because the Rocky Fire is unpredictable. Jumping Highway 20 late Monday and messing up any thoughts of leaving the Moose

Lodge for home. More food arrives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked for a little help, and look at this room. This community has come together. It's beautiful.

VERCAMMEN: In a wicked fire, a bingo hall can look like the Taj Mahal.

(on camera): The weather took a turn for the better in fire-ravaged California, especially here on the Rocky Fire in Colusa County.

Some other news, also out in Modoc County, that's where David Rule, from the Black Hills National Forest, was scouting a fire last week when he

perished. An autopsy has revealed he died of carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation.

Now, on the Rocky Fire, very little activity for firefighters in terms of an intense firefight. They were basically continuing to watch the

perimeter of this blaze.

And perhaps an omen from Mother Nature, you could see some elk grazing, looking for food between the burn areas.

Reporting from Colusa County, I'm Paul Vercammen. Now back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Thank you, Paul.

Now it is one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history. Now we may be closer to getting some answers.

A team of international investigators is meeting now near Toulouse, France to examine the contents of his sealed box of debris and a piece of

plane wing found on Reunion Island last week. They know the plane part called a flaperon is from a Boeing 777, but hard to determine if it's part

of a missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. It disappeared some 17 months ago on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Now still to come right here on News Stream, Athletes planning to compete in the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio, may face an unexpected

challenge, competing in sewage. We'll explain.

Plus, the migrant situation is becoming even more difficult in the French city of Calais as thousands settle in.

And it has been 70 years since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A survivor shares her story. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, let's go to Zimbabwe where the man accused of organizing the hunt that killed Cecil the Lion has appeared in court.

Now Theo Broncourse (ph) faces poaching charges for the expedition. And he told CNN's David McKenzie the whole thing is frivolous and that

charges against him are wrong.

His trial has been delayed until September.

Now a major blow for the U.S. and its program to train rebels to combat ISIS in Syria. Now five of them are captured by a group affiliated

with al Qaeda. And CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:15:07] BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In northern Syria, at least five of the initial 54 U.S.-trained Syrian rebels

now captured by an al Qaeda affiliate known as al Nusra. It's near disaster for the U.S. plan to train a rebel force that is supposed to be the boots

on the ground in the fight against ISIS.

MARK TONER, DEPUTY U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: That's the main focus of our efforts. But you know, we also want to protect them from other

possible attacks.

STARR: The rebels captured after fleeing their compound in the wake of being attacked by al Nusra. The Pentagon now scrambling to figure out what

to do next.

DOUGLAS OLLIVANT, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: There is no military logic to put that small a force in the field. One, they are incredibly vulnerable

and, two, they certainly are not going to attack anyone with 40 or 50 people out there.

STARR: Senior officials finally admit that the decision to put the small group of rebels in this area of Syria was a major intelligence

failure. The U.S. did not think that al Qaeda would attack. They only thought ISIS would.

Just a few weeks ago, Defense Secretary Ash Carter did not seem to think this would happen. Is that a fair estimate?

SEN. JACK REED, (D), RHODE ISLAND: My presumption would be we would assist them from defending themselves from attack.

ASHTON CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I think we have an obligation to do so. You're right. I don't expect that occasion to arise any time soon.

STARR: In Iraq, slow going, more Iraqi troops undergoing training...

(GUNFIRE)

STARR: ...but little sign they are ready to begin the all-important battle to retake Ramadi from ISIS. It is a must-win.

OLLIVANT: If we don't have an Iraqi success in the next couple months then we have to start questioning the strategy.

STARR (on camera): The Pentagon now looking at what options, what obligations it has to try and help move the remaining rebels to safety

inside Syria.

Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now we are exactly one year away from the opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Now the clock is ticking for the

city to address two key issues: security and hygiene.

Now there are reports that some competitions are going to be held on water that is so polluted it's equivalent to raw sewage. Now police also

face allegations that they committed 1,500 homicides in the past five years.

Now, pre-games concerned over the readiness of Olympic host cities are not unusual. I mean, just a year ago, the Sochi winter Olympics in Russia

was mocked over unfinished hotel rooms. We have pictures taken just a few days ahead of the opening ceremony show barely furnished rooms with reports

of missing TVs and chairs.

Now, let's bring in Shasta Darlington. She joins us live from Rio de Janeiro. And she's been following the city's Olympic game preparation.

And Shasta, the water issue. I mean, the water in Brazil's Olympic venues said to be, quote, dangerously contaminated. What are you seeing there?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, as you can see it looks stunning. But the problem is really the smell. This

is a rowing test event right here behind me at this lake that will be used for the rowing and canoeing events during the Olympics. And it's just

clogged with raw sewage.

In fact, sometimes it's so bad that you'll find dead fish coating the surface of the lake.

And it's a similar situation in Guanabara Bay, which will be hosting the sailing events during the Olympics.

Basically, only 49 percent of homes here in Rio are connected to a sewage system, the rest of it flows into these different waterways. So, in

the end, you're going to end up splashing some of this stuff on you any way you look at it, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Shasta, you're saying the water pollution there at the Olympic venue is so bad you can smell the stench of the sewage. And

apparently, this is a problem all too common in Brazil. So what does it mean for the foreign athletes and also for the tourists if all this is not

cleaned up in time?

DARLINGTON: Well, it really depends who you talk to, but there is one recent study that was commissioned by the Associated Press and their

conclusions are that there is so much human feces in these Olympic waterways, in these Olympic venues, that athletes really do run the risk of

becoming violently ill.

We talked to our own expert and he said if you fell into Guanabara Bay while sailing, for example, you could risk contracting anything from

conjunctivitis, if you swallowed it an intestinal disorder, or even hepatitis A.

Now, on the other hand, we've talked to the mayor or Rio, Eduardo Paes. He said there is zero health risks. But he admits it's true, they

haven't been able to clean it up. And that the smell could and will be unpleasant for tourists who are walking around it, for the athletes who

have to row and sail in it, Kristie.

LU STOUT: They need to clean it up for the 2016 Olympic games, they also need to clean it up for the long-term. In fact, in its Olympic bid,

Rio officials said that the games would, quote, regenerate Rio's magnificent waterways. Can they do it?

[08:20:11] DARLINGTON: Absolutely, not, Kristie. And they've actually admitted it. Both state officials and the Rio city officials have

said they will not meet their target of connecting about 80 percent of homes to the sewage lines. Now they're hoping to get 60 percent.

But it is interesting. I think the Rio mayor Eduardo Paes has an interesting take on it. He says this isn't something we were doing for the

Olympics, we were always using the Olympics as an excuse to sort of get our own house in order. And that he says it's a missed opportunity for the

people of Rio. And he does wish they had been able to meet those targets.

He says it won't happen, but that doesn't mean that athletes will run any risks, Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right. And Shasta, from hygiene to security, we've got to talk about that new Amnesty International report fixing a spotlight on

killings by Brazilian police.

Walk us through this report, and how are officials responding to it?

DARLINGTON: It's a really damning report. It comes out, of course, a year before the Olympics. And according to Amnesty International the police

here in the state of Rio de Janeiro are using not only excessive, but illegal force against their own citizens. And so over almost a decade

they've killed more than 5,000 people in the city of Rio, and most of them are the vast majority of them are young and black.

Now, it -- this doesn't come as a surprise to Brazilians who are used to seeing basically warfare in the very precarious neighborhoods here known

as favelas, but the Rio state government condemned the report, calling it reckless, saying that it's unfair.

They say that in fact homicide rates have declined and so have police killings since they sent police and soldiers in to these favelas to try and

wrest control from the drug lords who controlled them for decades.

They say that since then the homicide rate has been steadily dropping, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, nonetheless a damning and deeply alarming report. Shasta Darlington reporting live from Rio, an Olympic rowing venue where

she says she can smell the stench of the sewage in the water.

Shasta, thank you.

Now, don't forget once the games begin, the problems don't end. Take a look at this. This used to be the aquatic center for the 2004 Summer

games in Greece. Many venues sit unused and abandoned across Athens, mounting criticism that they were a waste of money.

Now, London's Olympic Stadium also faced a very different fight over its feature. The stadium was originally set to be converted into an

athletics arena after the games, instead it is currently being turned into a football stadium at great expense.

Now, a flash lit up the sky and five square miles of the city was gone. It has been 70 years since the first atomic bomb was dropped on

Hiroshima. When we come back, a survivor describes how she vividly remembers it all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:41] LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you are back watching News Stream.

Thursday will mark 70 years since the U.S. unleashed an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Tens of thousands were killed instantly, and many more

died from the radioactive fallout. And despite the passage of so many years, many who lived through it say that they remember the moment it

happened in excruciating detail.

Ivan Watson spoke with one survivor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She may look frail but don't be fooled. 87-year old Chisako Takeoka is a survivor who lived to

tell the tale of the world's first atomic bomb. She was in Hiroshima, not far from ground zero when an atomic flash lit up the sky.

"I was three kilometers away," she says.

The shockwave knocked her out.

She says she woke up in time to see the mushroom cloud.

On the morning of August 6th 1945, a U.S. Bomber dropped the weapon nick-named Little Boy over the city of Hiroshima. About 80,000 died

immediately. By U.S. estimates, the five-year death toll from radiation poison and cancer about 200,000.

Takeoka was only seventeen years old and had just finished a night shift making torpedoes at a military factory. After the blast, she says she

saw horrors by the river.

CHISAKO TAKEOKA, HIROSHIMA SURVIVOR (through translator): I still remember that day very well, because this was a river filled with dead

bodies. People were burned and they jumped into the river.

Takeoka survived the ordeal. She eventually went on to become an outspoken activist campaigning around the world against war and nuclear

proliferation. Hiroshima was rebuilt along with a peace park to honor the victims. The museum there chronicles the devastating effects of the a-bomb leaving some

American visitors grappling with very difficult questions.

SCOTT BAKER, U.S. BOY SCOUT: In America, a lot of the text books talk about how necessary it was to release the bomb. And have all of these

innocent civilians die. But when you really look at it from a moral standpoint it's like, was this really necessary? Did we have to do this?

WATSON: Baker traveled there from northern California. He and his fellow boy scouts, say they are shocked by what they learned here.

RYAN TAGAWA, U.S. BOY SCOUT: When I came here, I didn't really know what to expect. But then when I saw all the images and stuff, I kind of got

a little sick.

NATHANIEL WIGLFER, U.S. BOY SCOUT: I feel it's necessary to walk through and see what happened. And just to go through history and see that

this can be repeated if we make the wrong mistakes.

WATSON: That's an observation a-bomb survivor Chisako Takeoka is relieved to hear. Two years after the bomb, her first son died 18 days

after birth from what doctors told her was a-bomb syndrome. Today, she works with her daughter to pass on her eyewitness account of the bomb's

devastation in Hiroshima to future generations.

Her message on this grim anniversary, never again.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hiroshima, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Such moving testimony there.

Now after the break, we'll bring you into the heart of the Calais jungle, a shanty town adjacent the EuroTunnel has become home to migrants.

And some say they don't plan to leave.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:40] LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream. And these are your world headlines.

In Central India, 27 people have been killed after flood waters swept two trains off the tracks. Torrential rain and widespread flooding are

affecting an estimated 10 million people across the country. Government officials say some 200 have been killed.

Now wetter conditions helped firefighters get 20 percent containment on the most severe wildfire burning in the U.S. state of California, but

the rocky fire is still a threat to several thousand people north of San Francisco, and drier weather is expected today.

International experts are set to examine a piece of plane debris in France. Now they're hoping to determine if the piece of wing is part of

missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Now the wreckage was found on the island of Reunion last week and has been confirmed as coming from a Boeing

777.

The hunting guide charged over the killing of Cecil the Lion has appeared in a Zimbabwe court. Theo Bronkwurst (ph) is accused of failing

to prevent an illegal hunt. He and another received $50,000 from an American to organize the hunt.

Now, the number of migrants settling in Calais, France is now in the thousands, but many are trying to sneak across the channel to Britain as

police try to stem the flow of illegal migrants. British media report that fines for those caught carrying stowaways have been increased.

Now the reports say truck drivers can now be forced to pay 3,100 dollars on the spot for every illegal migrant found in their vehicle at any

British port.

Now faced with tightened security and an uncertain future, some migrants have given up on the hope of getting to the UK, instead they've

chosen to make Calais their home.

Kelly Morgan takes us through the so-called Jungle of Calais.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY MORGAN, JOURNALIST: Just before midnight, a group of men race down train tracks that lead to the EuroTunnel to England.

We watch more than 20 migrants take this route in just minutes. French police arrive, and searching by torchlight, find two more men who

failed to get through the razor wire fences. They're steered away by a police convoy.

These are the scenes we've become accustomed to when we think of Calais: migrants taking desperate measures to get to the United Kingdom,

driven by the belief Britain offers them a better life.

Many, though, having failed again and again and again in the face of increased security and even injury, have given up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This roof, I just build it.

MORGAN: And you built this yourself, yeah?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

MORGAN: Alpha, as he prefers to be called, left his home country in Africa a decade ago. He's been in Calais for eight months. And since then

has tried 20 times to get to the UK. He's among those now choosing to stay in France.

He build his own little piece of England in a migrant camp dubbed The Jungle, calling his home The David Beckham House.

What do you love about England so much?

ALPHA, AFRICAN MIGRANT: The first there you come in England, they put you in a hotel, two, three days, or one week they find you home. After

then, in two weeks, no two months you will know if they accept you or they reject you. It's not like here in France. France you take more than one

year.

MORGAN: It's a common belief here in the Jungle that many like Alpha are coming to realize they stand a better chance of settling and surviving

here, thanks largely to local volunteers.

Fabrice, a Calais resident, often delivers used building materials to The Jungle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I see them as lost travelers. They don't have any home. And they don't have any family.

MORGAN: This generosity has helped Alpha set up a free mobile phone charging service. But more broadly, it's providing the migrants with a

home away from home, complete with shops, churches and even a school.

These students are now learning French, a necessity if they're to be granted asylum in France.

Many, though, still dream of Britain.

LINDA AUBRY, SCHOOL PRINCIPAL: We said to the migrants it's better for them to stay here, but large part, the belief that UK is always

(inaudible).

MORGAN: Here, there are food donations. And this is where migrants want for access to showers and their one hot meal a day funded by the

French government. But it's barely enough. These people live in squallor.

MAYA KONFORTI: You live under plastic. You live inside broken tents. There no garbage pick up.

MORGAN: Still, Alpha remains optimistic outside his jungle home a French sign reads, "even with all the difficulties, we still keep a smile

on our face."

Kelly Morgan, CNN, Calais, France.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now the world's top free diver is feared dead after she went missing off the coast of Spain on Sunday. Now 53-year-old Russian

native Natalia Molchanova, seen here in this file footage, was on a recreational dive in the Balearic Sea when she failed to surface.

She was diving at around 30 to 40 meters when it's feared she was swept away in a strong underwater current. Molchanova held 41 world

records for free diving and 23 world champion titles.

You're watching News Stream. Now still to come, ding ding trams and a panda super hero: a British band takes inspiration from Hong Kong for more

than just the music.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now Netflix just announced unlimited paid parental leave for its employees. It applies to the first year after a child is born or adopted.

Now during that time, both parents can take as much time as they want off work and still get full salary and benefits.

Now this is a huge move even among companies of progressive policies. Federal law guarantees only 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave at companies

with 50 or more employees.

Now, Blur is on tour for the new album. It's called the magic whip. The British bands first album in 16 years was partly recorded here in Hong

Kong where team members got their inspiration.

Now it was not just the music. Blur hired a Hong Kong artist to create a special comic book to go with the album.

Now CNN went inside the studio of Kong Qi (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Kong Qi (ph). I'm Hong Kong comics artist. And I'm just finished a project with Blur.

This is the story of Blur getting their new album started in Hong Kong. At the very beginning, they have no idea, no direction, no

inspiration until they find the panda man. And the panda man gives the magic whip. So they get the power to see things differently.

And they always think Hong Kong is a very futuristic city. At night, in some space, just like a space station. Even I'm living here, I have a

strong feeling with Blur that Hong Kong is a place that is far away.

When I keep listening to the album, I have this feeling just like I'm a traveler.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: A lot of beloved, familiar sights in there.

Now Kong Qi (ph) showcased a mix of old Hong Kong and new Hong Kong. And part of the Blur comic book shows pro-democracy protesters camping out

in the highway during the umbrella movement. We find out more on CNN.com/style.

Now, Back to the Future fans eat your heart out. Lexus is bringing hover boards from the big screen to the real world. They used semi-

conductors and magnets that work against gravity to keep them floating just above the ground.

Now liquid nitrogen is used to cool the superconductors, and that creates the appearance of steam on the sides.

And you can't just use this hoverboard anywhere, this skating course has a layer of metal underneath for the hoverboard to rise above. But,

unlike the movie, these hoverboards work on water.

A very key difference there.

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

END