Return to Transcripts main page

NEWS STREAM

Prosecutor to Appeal Oscar Pistorius Release; Tianjin Residents Upset Over Lack of Communication, Transparency; Jason Day Wins PGA Championship; Battle Over Same-Sex Marriage in Australia. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired August 17, 2015 - 8:00   ET

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

[08:00:14] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Krsitie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream.

Now possible signs of debris spotted in Indonesia a day after a passenger plane goes missing.

Families of those affected by the massive blast in China demand answers as questions remain about just what sparked the explosions.

And Jason Day finally breaks through to win his first golf major and he does it while smashing a record.

It is now 7:00 p.m. in Indonesia where the search for a missing passenger plane has been called off for the day.

The Trigana air flight is believed to have crashed on Sunday in the mountainous jungles of Papua province with 54 people on board. And debris

spotted earlier by search planes is believed to be from the plane.

But bad weather has so prevented ground teams from reaching the site.

Now let's bring in Kathy Novak. She's following the story for us out of Seoul. And Kathy, with search and rescue teams up against some pretty

difficult conditions, the search effort has been suspended again.

KATHY NOVAK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For a second day in a row, Kristie, that's because it is dark now and because the weather has

just been too bad.

The focus is on getting the ground teams into the area where this debris has been spotted. Villagers report to authorities that they saw the

plane crash into the mountain. They say they have seen the wreckage and this debris has been spotted by planes when they were able to get up in the

sky. But the air search had to be called off because of bad weather and also the ground teams are now stuck. Fog rolled in and made the visibility

very bad and they are spending the night on the mountain.

What they are trying to do is get into a position where they can actually build a helipad. And that will allow helicopters to get to this

area and get the advanced teams in to try to reach these very, very remote regions in this jungle in the mountains, because there is still a very

faint hope that people may have survived this crash. Authorities are cautioning that it is very faint, that it is quite unlikely that someone

could have survived this.

But as you can imagine the families of the 54 people on board would be holding out any hope that this might be possible and waiting another night

until the morning must be excruciating, especially knowing that the morning search can only resume if the weather is good enough, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, the families, they want to find out what happened to their loved ones, they want answers right away. And we are going now into

a second night with this plane still missing.

When the search operation resumes, what resources are being deployed from the air and on the ground to find the plane and to find the people who

were on board.

NOVAK: More than 250 people on board -- involved, 11 aircraft, that includes three helicopters, military choppers and one that is on loan from

a mining company. They have the specialist material that is needed to be able to get into this very remote area. If necessary, people can come down

on ropes, repel into their region, but what they really want to do, as I have been describing, is build a helipad.

But this is very, very difficult jungle, difficult mountains, steep slopes, small runways that are difficult for flames to fly at the best of

times. And now when you're going to this region where people don't really know exactly where the biggest part of the debris is, what they're seeing

is small scattered debris, it makes it all the more difficult, Kristie, add on top of that the weather, and you can just imagine how difficult this is

for the search and rescue teams who desperately want to get out first thing in the morning if they can.

LU STOUT: Yeah, 54 people were on this flight. And the search effort will continue once the conditions improve.

Kathy Novak reporting for us on the story live. Thank you, Kathy.

Sunday's crash has once again raised concerns about the safety of Trigana Air and other Indonesian carriers as well.

Now some say the country's regulatory standards have failed to keep pace with its growing flight industry.

Anna Coren reports.

Our apologies for that technical error...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:06:39] LU STOUT: All right, coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now lets return to our top story this hour, the search for the missing Indonesian plane, the search as we were reported and as we heard from Kathy

Novak earlier it's been suspended due to the difficult terrain and due to difficult weather conditions.

And this airline disaster once again raises concerns about the air safety record of Trigana air as well as other Indonesian carriers. Anna

Coren filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Indonesia's search and rescue officials trying to pinpoint possible debris after a passenger plane

carrying 54 people disappeared Sunday in the remote and mountainous province of Papua.

The crash is Indonesia's third major aviation accident in less than a year.

In June, a military transport plane crashed minutes after takeoff in Madan (ph), killing at least 135 people.

162 died in December last year, when an AirAsia Indonesia flight from Surabaya crashed en route to Singapore.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: The accident rate of Indonesia is just far, far too great. At the rate that they are going, they have a

large accident like this every two to three months. And it's just unacceptable.

COREN: A key challenge is the rapid growth of the country's aviation industry. The number of air passengers is expected to triple in the next

20 years.

Experts say Indonesia's government has had trouble keeping pace, leading to an industry with weak oversight and poor infrastructure.

Another major problem: recruiting and training thousands of new pilots.

ANDREW HERDMAN, ASSOCIATION OF ASIA PACIFIC AIRLINES: While pilots are trained through a mixture of historically government training schools,

but increasingly private sector flying training schools, those also need to be regulated to make sure they're carrying out their tasks in accordance

with international standards and that the quality that they are producing, you know, meets international standards.

COREN: The airline at the center of this latest incident, Trigana Air, had a troubling safety record.

Blacklisted by the European Union, Trigana has had 14 incidents since 1992, including four fatal crashes.

SCHIAVO: Three-fourths of this airline's previous fatal accidents were what's called CFIT, controlled flight into terrain. And that means

the pilots don't have enough training in their landing sequences. And they need more training and more oversight. And that also means they probably

don't have the best radar and aircraft instruments on board.

COREN: Indonesian authorities have pledged for years to improve the safety and security of the country's aviation system, but with the recently

lead to crashes, many say that change needs to come faster.

Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now in Tianjin, China, anger and concern as thousands of troops search for more toxic chemicals at the site of last week's

explosion. Local officials say that they have found tons of deadly sodium cyanide. And on the streets, protesters have been demanding answers and

they've been criticizing the government.

So far, 114 people are reported to have been killed, but officials say they expect to find more bodies. 50 people have been saved.

Let's head straight to the blast site in Tianjin. Will Ripley is there. He joins me now live. Will, so many questions about what happened,

the cause, the cleanup, the risk to health and the environment and angry residents there are demanding answers.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are, because they really want to know the full extent of the environmental contamination. And frankly the

government doesn't know the full extent. They're testing for the chemicals that they know were being housed in that hazardous chemical warehouse, that

that was the center of the explosion. And so they're testing the air and the water, the ground water and the sea water, the soil and they're saying

that everything is pretty much back to normal as far as normal levels.

But even here on this site today, Kristie, we noticed what neighbors told us were chemicals that fell on the day of the explosions and were

simply lying out in the open in piles, chemicals that had a very unusual reaction to water. There was some white smoke that came out of them. So

we let the government know about it and they sent in a crew and they cleaned it up from this area.

But it just underscores the fact that nobody truly knows what was propelled, which toxins were propelled from the blast site into these areas

where thousands of people live, people with children, you know, families that are concerned if it will be safe for them to go back.

So you have these homeowners protesting saying that they want the government to buy back their apartments so that they can move somewhere

else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Do you feel safe going back home?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no. Because the chemicals start with all over. I saw -- it was like a firework, you know, exploding, flying to

everywhere. Some parts might fall to our home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: You can hear in her voice just how fearful she is. And for all the families that have children, Kristie. I mean, imagine as a parent,

you know, being surrounded by this knowing that there was this toxic brew of chemicals, some of it possibly dumped in your neighborhood and you have

to go back and live there eventually.

LU STOUT: Yeah. And they're angry because they want compensation. They also want to find out if this chemical that's been propelled into the

air is going to linger in the air or even seep into the water supply. So many concerns here. And also, let's focus on the firefighters for a moment

here, Will. Many firefighters were among the victims. Many still missing. What have you learned about their plight when they rushed out to put out

these dangerous chemical fires last week?

RIPLEY: Yeah. You know, 70 people missing and the majority of them are firefighters. And the majority of those firefighters are contractors.

These are -- they fight fires just like everybody else, but they don't have military status and they don't have benefits as the official firefighters.

But they were the first wave called in. And apparently they were unaware of what they were -- where they were being sent, possibly because the

warehouse owners themselves had not fully informed the municipal government of what they were storing there.

So, these firefighters go in to save the day. And they use water on the chemical fire unaware that there would be an explosive reaction. And

then these fireballs ensued.

So, the few firefighters who did survive just tell these horrifying tales of being knocked to the ground, consumed by this heat and for, you

know, the few that did make it out OK. They know that most of their comrades didn't. That's why China's highest prosecuting authorities

promising a full investigation and criminal charges.

They're talking about potential abuse of power here, criminal negligence. And the bigger picture here in China, all of this industrial

growth that has fueled the economy for so long -- at what cost are people putting profit above lives? And was that the case here.

Those are the questions that people want answers to.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and just horrifying to hear these stories of these people just overwhelmed by these chemical blazes and under-prepared for

them as well.

Will Ripley reporting live from the blast site there in Tianjin, China. Thank you, Will.

Now to an unusual voice of criticism in China, the state-run newspaper Global Times challenged local official's public response to the Tianjin

disaster in an editorial today. It says information was too scarce and no high level officials addressed the public until four days after the deadly

incident. It also added this, quote, officials at grass roots level are not willing, or not good, at facing the public voice. Perhaps it is time

for the country to make great efforts to resolve the issue once and for all.

Now to South Africa. Now the prosecution says it is filing an appeal of the verdict in the Oscar Pistorius trial. The famous Bladerunner is to

be freed from prison on Friday. South Africa's parole board decided Pistorius can go into House arrest after serving 10 months of his five year

jail sentence. He was convicted of killing his girlfriend two years ago on Valentine's Day.

And the prosecution is determined to put Pistorius back behind bars. Let's turn now to David McKenzie in Johannesburg, and David, first, a lot

of our viewers are probably wondering just 10 months into his five year jail sentence Pistorius will be released. Why so soon?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, so soon is partly because of South African law. And certainly there has been,

Kristie, outrage here in South Africa due to the short nature, less than a year for a culpable homicide verdict, having shot Reeve Steenkamp through a

locked bathroom door, shooting through it four times, convicted and yet he's out after one-sixth of his sentence.

But, you know, experts say that Oscar Pistorius, the famous Bladerunner Olympian and then disgraced trial really is for him not the end

of the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: A landmark trial broadcast to the world.

OSCAR PISTORIUS, OLYMPIAN: She wasn't breathing.

MCKENZIE: Oscar Pistorius, South Africa's golden boy Olympian, accused of murdering his up and coming model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

THOKOZILE MASIPA, JUDGE: Mr. Pistorius, please stand up.

MCKENZIE: After nearly 50 days inside a Pretoria courtroom, stretched over seven months, the judge made her decision.

MASIPA: The accused is found not guilty and is discharged, instead he's found guilty of culpable homicide.

MCKENZIE: Pistorius, guilty of culpable homicide, not murder, sentenced to five years in prison. 10 months later, Pistorius is set to

walk out.

Many people here are shocked that Oscar Pistorius will spend just one- sixth of his culpable homicide sentence here in Kgosi Mapuru prison for killing his girlfriend.

Most likely, Pistorius will be released to his uncle's house in an up market suburb of Pretoria under a form of house arrest. The parole board

recommended he be released into correctional supervision.

Details of the probation are not yet public, but experts say none of this is unusual in South Africa.

STEPHEN TERBLANCHE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA: Our prisons are over- crowded. they don't want to keep anybody there that they don't need to have in prison in order to protect society. So they will release anybody

who qualifies for such release as soon as is feasible.

MCKENZIE: And Pistorius's legal battles aren't over yet. On Monday, the state submits its argument to the supreme court in Bloemfontein in

preparation for its scheduled appeal in November.

Here, South Africa's best legal minds will deliberate whether the judge got it wrong.

GERRIE NEL, PROSECUTOR: You made a mistake.

PISTORIUS: That's correct...

NEL: You killed a person. That's what you did, isn't it?

PISTORIUS: I made a mistake, my lady.

NEL: You killed Reeva Steenkamp, that's what you did.

MCKENZIE: Pistorius could still face a murder charge. And that could mean a trip back to prison.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKENZIE: Of course, the outrage is very personal for Reeva Steenkamp's parents, Kristie. They put out a statement and asked the

parole board not to release him this soon saying that 10 months for taking a life is just not nearly enough -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: But as you point out in your piece, the state appeal against his acquittal on murder charges, that is still going forward. And

back to his early release set for this Friday, Oscar Pistorius will have conditions for that release, so what's next for him? And could he possibly

compete again?

MCKENZIE: Well, it's feasible, technically, that he could compete again. But, you know, the International Olympic Committee and others have

said he has to finish his entire sentence. And on Friday, he's not exactly being released as a free man, it's just in essence moving his sentence from

a prison into initially house arrest. There will be strict conditions. We don't exactly know what those conditions are. But he certainly at least in

the first few weeks, maybe even months, will be very much confined to his uncle's house in that suburb of Pretoria.

He may be allowed out for church. He may to get a job, do community service, but essentially he is not getting parole in the U.S. or in some

cases European sense, he will be still doing that sentence, which is at least in this case five years.

So that puts him potentially out of the running for the next Olympics. After Rio, he'll be in his mid-30s by then.

But certainly, at least in the immediate term, he will not be able to compete -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right. David McKenzie reporting live from Johannesburg for us. Thank you, David.

Now, he has been the nearly man of golf, but Jason Day, he finally broke through to win his first major championship in recordbreaking style.

Day won with a score that no one in the history of the game has ever achieved, even greats like Arnold Palmer or Tiger Woods. He finished the

72 hole tournament at 20 under par, the lowest score ever in a major championship.

Now his Early years were full of difficulties. Day's father passed away when he was only 12. And his family struggled to make ends meet.

And taking up golf turned his life around. He's come close to winning a title before. And what Day has endured came pouring out as he neared the

finish line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:20:09] JASON DAY, GOLFER: Well, I walking up to the green, reading my first -- I started shedding some tears. And to be able to go

through a lot at a young age and go through some hard times, you know, that I really started crying and I felt like a baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: This is a conversation you don't want to miss. You can watch more of Don Riddell's interview with Jason Day on World Sport a

little later this hour.

Now you're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program, it is full steam ahead for the U.S. presidency, but with Clinton and Trump

taking a big lead early on, I'll tell you why everyone else should stay in the race.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now Hillary Clinton continues to be dogged by questions regarding her email when she was U.S. Secretary of State. Now the democratic front-

runner dismissed suggestions that she is taking the issue too lightly and says partisan politics fueling the controversy that has plagued her

campaign.

Now Republican candidate Carly Fiorina appeared on ABC's This Week and had some blunt words for her political rival.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, 2016 PRESIDENTAIL CANDIDATE: You know, in the debate last week I made the statement that Hillary Clinton has lied. She's lied

about Benghazi, she's lied about her server and she's lied about her emails. And there were some in the media that found that language harsh,

although the majority of Americans agree with me. And the more this story goes on, the more it becomes clear that she has lied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:26] LU STOUT: And Clinton says people coming to her campaign events have not even brought the issue up.

Now over on the Republican side, Donald Trump has been at the top of a crowded field, but with more than a year to go until the election, there is

no guarantee that he will stay on top. Brian Stelter shows us how early favorites don't always go all the way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Right now, there are 448 days before Americans vote for the next president.

Already, most of us in the media are framing the election as a horse race, using polls to drive narratives like this. Number one, frontrunner

Donald Trump is leading the GOP pack. Number two, Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders is surging in the polls.

But let's put this horse race into perspective. Let's try to find some collective memory and look back four years ago this week, because that's

when Michele Bachmann emerged as a second tier candidate and became her party's front runner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michele Bachmann is taking Iowa by storm. Once considered a fringe candidate, Bachmann starts as the front runner in first

of the nation caucus state Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winner of the 2011 Iowa straw poll is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michele Bachmann won. That certainly cements her position as a serious player in this race.

BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN: What about Michele Bachmann?

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: She is my hero.

MAHER: She's your hero?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really?

MATTHEWS: She is going all the way. She is going to win this thing. I predict she beats Romney.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Surprises in the latest poll which shows Herman Cain is now leading the Republican pack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Herman Cain has come from nowhere to establish himself as one of the frontrunners.

STELTER: Thankfully, the Internet at least has a good memory, because we can find those clips and remind us all about all that commentary.

You know the saying. The race to the White House isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. If you follow the polls back in 2011, if you look back at the

records, it was more of a relay race. Bachmann ended her front runner status and handed it off to Rick Perry, who would rise and fall to Herman

Cain and handed it off to Newt Gingrich. But it was Mitt Romney who would eventually become the GOP nominee.

This issue is not new. You guys know it's not. Go back eight years. The media was enthralled with another candidate who would never become

president.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, NBC NEWS: In the Republican Party, the party trying to hang on to the White House for a third straight term, there is evidence

that, while there are behind the Democrats in the polls, a Republican leader has emerged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rudy Giuliani is the frontrunner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you about Rudy Giuliani. We just had a little joust off camera -- I'm always told don't waste off camera -- I

believe he is not only running, I think he's going to win this whole thing the way things look right now.

JOHN MCINTYRE: The ABC/"Washington Post" poll says a lot of people favor Rudy Giuliani, because of his electability in the general election.

TIM RUSSERT: The two frontrunners, Rudy Giuliani versus Hillary Clinton, and look at this race.

WILLIAMS: We have one more year to go before the first vote --

RUSSERT: It's extraordinary.

STELTER: And speaking of Hillary Clinton, most of us have forgotten all of these predictions about her from the summer of 2007.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Hillary Clinton has long been the front runner in a crowded Democratic field. Earlier this year some questioned her

ability to go the distance. But today, a new poll shows she is widening her lead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you have to say, that Senator Clinton is in the middle of a pretty good stretch right now. That fundamental question, can

she be denied?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you looked at Hillary Clinton in the last debate, she was very strong there. She is definitely distancing herself

from the other two candidates. And I would say that door is almost closed. You know, it's almost inevitable now that Hillary Clinton would be the

nominee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is gaining momentum. I would have to say at this point Hillary, you know, she's it in the bag.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She will crush Barack Obama. Barack, just sit it out. It's going to be ugly. I promise you. You heard it here first.

STELTER: You heard it here last! I mean, do you remember that? Once you see all of that, it sure puts this summer's cable news commentary into

some perspective, doesn't it?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Brian Stelter there. Thank you.

Now, he was putting the past and present -- U.S. presidential races into perspective for us in that very fine report.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come on the program. Iraq's parliament is calling for the former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki

to face legal action blaming him and other top Iraqi officials for the fall of Mosul to ISIS.

Also ahead, the debate over same-sex marriage in Australia. Support may be gaining on the streets, but hitting a road block with the country's

leader. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Now search and rescue efforts have been called off for the day for a missing passenger plane in Indonesia. Now, search planes have spotted

debris believed to be from the flight, but ground crews have yet to reach the site. Villagers say the Trigana air passenger plane crashed into a

mountain on Sunday. 54 people were on board.

And thousands of Chinese troops are searching for toxic chemicals at the site of last week's warehouse explosions in Tianjin. At least 114

people were killed and 70 are still missing.

Workers are trying to neutralize any remaining chemical before rain falls, which could create toxic gas.

The Italian navy says at least 40 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this weekend. Some 300 have been rescued.

Now according to the international organization for Migration, this year, more than 2,300 migrants have died, making the dangerous journey, but

98 percent of them make it.

An Iraqi lawmaker tells CNN that Iraq's parliament has voted to press for legal action against former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other

top Iraqi officials. They are being blamed for the fall of Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, to ISIS last year. Our senior international

correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in Beirut. He has more on this story. And Nick, what happens next year. How will al-Maliki and other senior

officials be held accountable for the fall of Mosul?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, now this has got some sense of parliamentary ramification behind it. It could well be

referred to the courts, that was a suggestion we were hearing in media reports yesterday. But I think you have to bear in mind here, there's

process which in a country facing as many difficulties governmental and societal as Iraq may be flawed, may not see its final end.

But will we really see if there's a decision against Nouri al-Maliki, him face some sort of retribution? That's probably unlikely given how

power is distributed in that society. But, Kristie, what this really tells you is where Iraq is right now. And there is a number of different reasons

why I think this kind of autopsy and the fall of Mosul is happening so precipitously.

Quite frankly, the country you would have thought, would be focusing its resources and efforts into trying to get that key city back from ISIS.

Remember, we've been talking for months about the possibility of a large counter offensive by Iraqi security forces to retake Mosul, and indeed

Ramadi, which they lost in almost similar circumstances in only May of this year. And those operations simply haven't materialized in a kind of

effective way.

What's really happening behind the scenes here is Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is facing a lot of pressure on the Iraqi streets from

normal Iraqis, particularly in Baghdad, furious at the corruption, the inefficiency of their government, the inability for basic infrastructure to

provide electricity all day so they can run refrigeration units, air conditioning. Protests on the street against the government's ineptitude,

causing Haider al-Abadi to cut his cabinet posts by a third, reduce other governmental posts. Actually Nouri al-Maliki's vice presidency, which he

got after stepping down as prime minister potentially in the cross hairs of ones to be eliminated. He actually sounded like he was OK with that when

the idea was first floated previously.

Plus, a large security details officials have as well may well be cut back to. That is a bid by the current government to try and have a clean

slate with its electorate with Iraqis. And part of that, too, is pointing the finger for recent military failures.

So, the Mosul reports from the parliamentary committee for security and defense seems to be pointing the finger at former Prime Minister Nouri

al-Maliki, but also at Saadoun al-Dulaimi, the former minister of defense, and other key officials in that area as well.

And that is perhaps a bid to deflect blame on the government for not reclaiming those areas, but it plays more broadly to -- into the power

politics of that country. Nouri al-Maliki still an eminence grise in that society, still pulling a lot of strings, still the man many blame for

increasing sectarianism in the military and government and making perhaps said less will amongst the Shia officials to fight back the Sunni areas

like particularly Anbar and Ramadi.

A lot going on here, but this fingerpointing is perhaps what we're seeing a tip of the ice berg, really, as perhaps the divisions that

underlie the Iraqi elite right now, Kristie.

LU STOUT: And it comes on the back of this widespread protest against the government against corruption. Nick Paton Walsh reporting for us, many

thanks indeed for that.

Now this just in to us here at CNN. News Agencies, they've been reporting a large explosion has rocked Bangkok's commercial hub. There

have been casualties. And Reuters is reporting that the blast was caused by a bomb, citing the Thai national police chief. We'll bring you more

details as they come into us right here at CNN.

Now you're watching News Stream. We'll be back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: All right, this just in, news agencies report that a large explosion has rocked Bangkok's commercial hub. The reports say that the

blast appears to have taken place near the Erawan Shrine. that's near the central world shopping mall. And, there have been casualties. Reuters is

reporting that the blast was caused by a bomb, citing the Thai national police chief.

Now this is a very fluid situation. We'll bring you more details as they come into us.

Now a political showdown over marriage is taking place in Australia. Prime Minister Tony Abbott is against legalizing same-sex marriage during

his term, but many others, including his own sister, hope that will change soon.

Anna Coren reports.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's an issue that has been gaining momentum and support throughout Australia.

(SHOUTING)

COREN: Even more so, with the recent developments in Ireland and the United States, now part of the 22 countries around the world that have

legalized same-sex marriage.

But while recent polls show a majority of Australian support marriage equality, the government seems hell bent on stopping what many believe is

inevitable.

Among the wave of supporters is the prime minister's sister, Christine Foster, proudly gay and a vocal advocate for marriage equality.

[08:40:09] CHRISTINE FOSTER, SISTER OF PRIME MINISTER TONY ABBOTT: At a personal level, it is disappointing because I'm engaged to get married to

my partner, Virginia, and I would like to be able to do that here in Australia. And I'd like to do it sooner than later.

COREN: As a member of her brother's own party she says this has been a tough and emotional journey.

FOSTER: If I could influence him, I would.

(LAUGHTER)

As I said, we have a respectful disagreement and difference of opinion.

COREN: Pressure has been building on the prime minister, who strongly opposed same-sex marriage, to allow his members of parliament to vote

freely on the issue. Last week, that was denied. Instead, Mr. Abbott said it is no longer up to parliament but to the people, announcing a vote will

be held after the next election next year.

TONY ABBOTT, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: If the people want to change, fine. If the people decide to support the existing definition of a marriage

between a man and a woman, obviously I'd be pleased and I think everyone else should accept that.

COREN: But critics say it is a delay tactic and the opposing Labour Party, which is pushing hard for same-sex marriage, has declared this will

be an election issue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You either have Mr. Abbott or you have marriage equality but you can't have both.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A man willing to tear his party apart to get his way. It is one of the things that people will weigh up when they decide who

to cast a vote for. It's not something that is going to go away. It can't be slipped under the carpet any more.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Marriage is a beautiful thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is my son not equal?

COREN: While Australia continues drags its heels on what many in the country consider a fundamental human right...

(SHOUTING)

COREN: ...supporters for same-sex marriage say they won't stop fighting until their love and commitment can be recognized under the law.

Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And before we go, a quick recap of our breaking news. It's coming out of Thailand. News agencies reporting that a large explosion has

rocked Bangkok's commercial hub. The reports say that the blast appears to have taken place near the Erawan Shrine that's located near the central

world shopping mall in Bangkok. And there are reports that say that there have been casualties.

Now, Reuters is reporting that the blast was caused by a bomb quoting the Thai national police chief. Details very fuzzy at this moment, but

when we get more details we'll bring it to you right here on CNN.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. And World Sport with Christina Macfarlane is next.

END