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Elon Musk on Hyperloop, AI; 24 Migrants Drowned Crossing Mediterranean; Norway Plans Deportation of Migrants Back to Russia. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired January 28, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:17] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.

Now, as Europe struggles to cope with migrants, we look at Australia's controversial immigration policy, detention camps and tiny Pacific nations

holding people for years.

The WHO says the Zika virus is spreading explosively around the Americas, calling an emergency meeting to deal with the virus.

And...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, TESLA CEO: If AI is much smarter than person, what do we do? What job do we have?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: A warning from Elon Musk about artificial intelligence just as Google makes a massive breakthrough in machine learning.

It's a crisis worsening by the day. At least 24 migrants have died trying to make it across the Mediterranean. And ten of the victims,

children.

The EU says Greece has neglected its obligations and if it doesn't better deal with the influx of refugees, it could find its neighbors

tightening their borders.

Now, in Norway it's a life in Limbo. There were plans to send hundreds back to Russia where they had legal status, but now Moscow doesn't

want them and the refugees don't want to go.

And then there is this tiny island nation of Nauru. It's critical in Australia's tough asylum seeker policy, but for those in detention there it

is said to be a nightmare. Now, they are sent to these camps when Australia intercepts their boats.

Ivan Watson spoke exclusively with some of the children who have lived in one of those camps.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Children searched with metal detectors, just one of the security measures

imposed on scores of refugee and migrant children who were held for months and even years by the Australian government and one of their refugee

detention centers on the Pacific island of Nauru.

(on camera): How old were you when you first got to the detention center?

BOY: I was 10.

WATSON: And now?

BOY: 12.

WATSON: Now you're 12?

(voice-over): This boy is a member of Myanmar's increasingly persecuted Muslim minority, whose family tried years ago to reach Australia

by boat. They were intercepted by Australian authorities, who brought them to what she calls a prison.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: These are friends all around the camps.

WATSON (on camera): Is this is a good place for children?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. It's the worst place I have ever seen for children.

WATSON (voice-over): As of last December, there were at least 68 children out of a total of 537 detainees being held at this facility on an

island with just 21 square kilometers of territory.

The Australian government established this controversial detention center as a response to the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants who

embarked on smuggler's boats in a dangerous effort to reach Australian shores. Instead of keeping them in Australia, the authorities shipped

hundreds of migrants and refugees to this camp in an isolated, economically underdeveloped Pacific nation.

Australia's immigration minister declined CNN's request for an interview. But in a statement to CNN, a government spokesman said,

"Stopping the boats has enabled this government to return integrity to Australia's humanitarian and refugee program, and that Australia and its

partners comply with all international obligations and treaties."

(on camera): We wanted to go to Nauru to check out the camp ourselves, but it's not easy. First, the government of Nauru requires a $5,800

nonrefundable journalist visa application fee per person. And it says it does not want foreign journalists on this small island. Second, the

Australian government forbids journalists from filming or interviewing detainees at its camps so we've interviewed seven current and former camp

residents remotely about what it's like for children to live in this detention center.

SARAH HANSSON YOUNG, AUSTRALIAN LAWMAKER: I'm one of the few people who has ever really been able to go into the camp and walk around and talk

to families inside. No journalists were allowed in. There is very little information let out of the camp. And staff who work at the center are

essentially gagged.

WATSON: Sarah Hansson Young is an Australian lawmaker who has lobbied to shut the camp down.

YOUNG: There's absolutely no way that the Australian government can justify keeping families, particularly women and children, in these camps.

They can't guarantee their safety.

WATSON: Children in the Nauru camp suffer from extreme levels of emotional and psychological distress, Australian government reports

concluded. They also documented cases of sexual assault, saying that the children should be removed.

Australia says it's listening to the recommendations. In recent months, Australian and Nauru authorities have taken steps to open the camp

up.

Among the lucky few to be settled out of the Nauru camp last month, 12-year-old Nisba Ahmed (ph), who started a Facebook campaign to draw

attention to the plight of children stranded in Nauru. Dozens of children still live in the camp's moldy tents.

Despite her long incarceration, Nisba (ph) says her family still dreams of one day reaching the country that imprisoned her.

NISBA AHMED (ph), LIVES AT NAURU CAMP: We just want to go to Australia and make our future very bright.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:06:11] LU STOUT: And joining me now for more on the story is CNN's Ivan Watson who joins me in the studio.

Ivan, we've seen the situation in Europe where governments there are increasingly taking this hard-line stance against migrants.

Australia has been doing this for years, with these devastating effect as we're seeing these children imprisoned on the island of Nauru.

But in the eyes of Australian officials, is their hard-line policy working?

WATSON: Well, they have certainly been defending this very controversial measure saying,

hey, look, we've had some success at stemming the flow of people making this perilous voyage across the ocean.

And they have even said in their agreement with Nauru, which was signed in 2013, to open this

detention center that they wanted to provide a visible deterrent to people smugglers and irregular migration.

But on the flip side, what they have done is they're probably in contravention of the international convention on the rights of the child,

which says you're not supposed to keep children in detention for long periods. They are supposed to be a western, liberal democracy, and this

has done great harm to Australia's moral standing.

And let's just add the personal case of this little girl, Nizwa Ahmed (ph), 12 years old from Myanmar. In March, she's going to celebrate her

13th birthday. She says it will be her second birthday on Nauru and her third birthday in detention since her boat was intercepted by Australian

authorities.

LU STOUT: These children are being treated like prisoners in detention for months, for years

at a time. It's a very disturbing situation. The world needs to know about it. But the information has been slow to come out.

Why is that?

WATSON: It does appear that the Australian and Nauru governments do not want the world to see this detention center. So in addition to the

fact that the Nauru government has basically outright said we don't want foreign journalists on our island, which only has a population of 10,000

people and very strict visa rules for visiting journalists, in addition to that the

residents, the detainees of the camps, are banned, have been banned from having smartphones, from having cameras where they can document the

conditions in the camps.

The charity Save the Children was working in the camps, working with the children, and

they were removed from the camp last year and now a for-profit company has come in to purportedly fill in the role.

So you're removing independent observers from the operation of this camp.

And on top of that, Australia has criminalized the leaking of information by any camp employees. They can face two years in prison for

simply talking to you or me about the conditions there, all part of an effort, I would contend, to stop dissemination of

information about what's happening in this camp.

LU STOUT: Ivan Watson there.

Now, a search and rescue operation is under way off the coast of Greece and Turkey. The Coast Guard is looking for 11 migrants still

missing after their boat sank. Now, 24 people have drowned and 10 have been rescued.

Researchers warn it could become the next major pandemic. Now the World Health Organization is to hold an emergency meeting on the Zika

virus. We have got more on the outbreak, next.

And a presidential plane ride creates waves in the disputed South China Sea and beyond.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:11:18] LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, the World Health Organization now says the Zika virus is spreading explosively around the Americas and that the alarm and the level

of alarm is extremely high.

The organization says it will hold an emergency meeting on the virus on Monday.

Now, this is the scope of the outbreak right now. These countries in red have reported active transmission of the disease. Meanwhile, the

countries in yellow have reported cases of the Zika virus, but all were from travelers returning from infected areas.

Now, this mosquito-borne disease has been linked to microcephaly. It causes brain damage.

Now, thousands of babies are born with this debilitating condition in Brazil, the ground zero of the Zika outbreak.

And Shasta Darlington met with some of the mothers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She was so excited, but the birth of her second child left this woman more

alone than she could have imagined.

At three months, Louise has a big appetite like her first baby, but he was born with a small head and brain damage. Microcephaly.

"People here react like he has some contagious disease," she says. "People look at him when they're on the street."

There was no warning. Doctors only detected the disorder after he was born.

"What gives me strength is the love I feel for him," she says.

Luis will need to be cared for his entire life.

(on camera): So, she's doing this three times a week right now, taking her son to physical therapy. And yet, she goes back to work in March. It's

not clear how she's going to do this. And she's the only person in her family who has a job.

(voice-over): Here we've seen the heartache and financial burden this is putting on families. More than 4,000 cases of newborn Microcephaly have

been reported in Brazil since Zika was detected less than a year ago. A third of them are here, where babies and moms face endless jabs and tests.

Doctor Angela Rocha, one of the first to make the link between Zika and Microcephaly.

"These babies have brain damage to differing degrees, which means inserting this generation into society is going to be very complicated,"

she says.

Research continues to establish a cause and effect with the Zika Virus, spread by the same mosquitoes that transmit yellow fever and dengue.

There's no vaccine or no cure, which means the mosquito is public enemy number one.

JAILSON DE BARROS CORREIA, RECIFE HEALTH SECRETARY: All the effort is being put on prevention, by having the population of mosquitoes under

control.

DARLINGTON: 200,000 troops now going door to door, eliminating the stagnant water that serves as the mosquitoes' breeding ground and educating

families.

The health ministry admits it's been losing the war against the mosquitoes, and mothers-to-be across Brazil see their moment of hope turned

into moments of unbelievable anguish.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: A heart-breaking report there.

Now, Shasta joins us now with more on the Zika outbreak. And Shasta, are authorities there doing enough to stop the spread of the virus?

DARLINGTON: You know, that's still to be seen, Kristie, it's a really valid question. I think the big problem here is while they have committed

all of these soldiers to working with health workers going door to door, they -- so far they have failed when it comes to fighting the mosquito that

transmits the virus. We know that because it's the same mosquito that transmits dengue fever. And that is endemic here. Last year Brazil saw a

record number of cases.

What they're doing on the treatment side, we're here at Ozvaldo Cruz Hospital (ph) here in Recife, the hospital that has seen more babies with

microcephaly, it's where they really established the doctors here say a link between the Zika virus and these babies with birth

defects.

What they are trying to do in these really hard-hit areas is set up emergency centers, triage

centers where they determine quickly who really does have microcephaly, they give them vision tests, eye tests, they provide psychological

counseling for the parents, they have neurologists. They are trying to set up as quickly as they can and under pretty difficult circumstances,

considering that Brazil is in a recession and they have been slashing their budget.

So they are doing what they can, but I think as far as combating the mosquito, so far even the

health minister himself says it, they failed.

[08:15:57] LU STOUT: So given what we're hearing from health officials there, what they're up against, the fact that this outbreak is

spreading quickly across Brazil and beyond, do you think tourists should think twice about traveling there?

DARLINGTON: I -- you know, it's a tough question. If I were a pregnant woman and I had tickets to a country where the Zika virus had been

detected, I would certainly postpone my travel.

At this point the risk appears to be for pregnant women, so that's something to take into consideration. Obviously, the risk is even bigger

for the local populations, for the people here, but I think no doubt we've got the Olympics just six months away, the officials were hoping to see

about half a million visitors.

Rio de Janeiro has come out saying, listen, we're going to minimize risks. We're going to inspect the Olympic venues on a daily basis, make

sure there's no standing water. They also point out that Rio de Janeiro, at least the incidents of Zika and microcephaly has been very small, only 3

percent of the cases, and on top of that, the Olympics will actually be in August, which is the winter down here in the southern hemisphere when it's

drier, it's cooler and the mosquito population naturally tends to shrink.

But again, if you ask me that and I were a pregnant woman, I would certainly reconsider it.

LU STOUT: Yeah, there is no cure, there is no treatment, a lot of legitimate fear and concern about this outbreak.

Shasta Darlington reporting, thank you.

Now, new satellite imagery is raising concerns that North Korea may be preparing to launch a rocket. A U.S. spy satellites are keeping an eye on

the Sohae satellite launching station after a U.S. official says there is increased activity there.

Paula Hancocks has more from Seoul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is North Korea preparing for another rocket launch? U.S. spy satellites have been

focusing on Sohae satellite launching station and say that they have noticed in recent days a movement of personnel, of rocket-related equipment

and of fuel into the facility.

Back in September of last year, senior North Korean officials told CNN that rocket launches

and launching of multiple satellites was imminent and that they were in the final preparations of this.

The last time that North Korea carried out a satellite launch was December, 2012, at this Sohae site. They say it is for peaceful purposes.

But the U.S., South Korea, othercountries don't believe that. They believe that it is a cover-up for the testing of an intercontinental

ballistic missile.

Now that time around back in 2012 Pyongyang warned of the launch a couple of weeks before, they warned of a no-navigation zone which is

required under international law when you're carrying out this kind of launch but there is no kind of guarantee that they will warned this time

around. They didn't warn of their nuclear test on January the 6, that took all intelligence agencies by surprise.and this all comes at a time when the

international community is trying to hammer out an agreement on international sanctions against North Korea for that fourth nuclear test.

But a recent trip by the U.S. Secretary of State to China to meet his counterpart shows that

there is still not a consensus.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, Taiwan's president has defied a key ally with a trip to a disputed island in the South China Sea.

As CNN's Matt Rivers reports, the visit received a warning from Washington, but tacit support

from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, President Ma Ying-jeou took an early morning military transport plane from the Island of Taiwan to the

island of Ita Abu (ph), also known in Taiwan and here in Mainland China as Taiping (ph) Island.

The president's office tells CNN that the official reason for the trip was to wish the residents of Taiping Island (ph) or Ita Abu Island (ph) a

happy lunar New Year. Most of the residents on the island are members of the Taiwanese coast guard as well as a sprinkling of environmental

scientists.

But this visit is certainly about much more than that. This island is smack dab in the middle of the Spratley Island chain, or known here in

Mainland China as well in Taiwan as the Nancha (ph) island chain. That is an island chain that is hotly contested, it's over territorial claims from

several different countries in the South China Sea region, many different countries arguing that parts of that island chain actually are within their

sovereign territory.

And so this visit by President Ma certainly a very public display of Taiwan's territorial claims, and because of the controversy surrounding

this issue, as you might imagine, Kristie, several parties involved came out expressing displeasure over this trip. The United States, a major ally

of Taiwan, saying that it would only serve to heighten tensions in the region. And the Filipino government actually came out as well expressing

concern over this trip.

Now, as for China, we went to the press conference, the daily press briefing at the ministry of foreign affairs today and they actually were in

favor of this trip, in part because of how China views Taiwan. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and so any territorial claims that are made

by Taiwan would in essence be a territorial claim by Mainland China itself.

And so really not much controversy there.

But as you know, Kristie, this is a very complicated topic. We've been talking about it for several years now. And this is just the latest

issue to come up. It's certainly not going away any time soon -- Kristie.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Matt Rivers there. You're watching News Stream. And up next, we offer you a look at what's behind Donald Trump's high-profile feud

with Fox News.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:23] LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News

Stream. Now, the U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump is digging in, refusing to participate in the

last debate before the first vote. Now, his anger with Fox News is apparently to blame and ironically that network is a favorite among

Republicans.

Now, CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter looks at the feud and the strong personalities involved.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hamilton and Burr, The Hatfields and the McCoys, to the list of history's most famous feuds add Donald Trump

and Fox News?

It could have been a match in media heaven. Trump and Fox News boss Roger Ailes are old

friend, both are successful, conservative businessmen who know how to put on a show.

DONALD TRUMP, 2016 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of

Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters.

STELTER: But their relationship is tortured and now at a breaking point with Trump boycotting Fox's debate.

This fight, unprecedented for a TV news network.

TRUMP: I don't know what games Roger Ailes is playing.

STELTER: For years he helped build Trump up and Trump brought Ailes big ratings.

But now the two men are at loggerheads? With some even comparing this to a monster movie, Trump as Frankenstein.

Megyn Kelly is caught in the controversy as she preps to moderate a Trump-free debate.

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: I'll be there. The debate will go on with or without Mr. Trump.

STELTER: She famously clashed with Trump at the first debate of the season causing Trump to threaten a Fox boycott and insult Kelly personally.

TRUMP: She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions and you can see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood

coming out of her -- wherever.

STELTER: Ailes was furious. And Fox said Trump doesn't seem to grasp that candidates telling journalists what to ask is not how the media works

in this country.

Later, Ailes and Trump struck a tenuous truce, then broke it, then got back together again. And maybe they'll make up this time too, but right

now feelings are raw and Trump is the butt of jokes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the first gorgeous blonde that he can't wrap around his finger.

STELTER: People are now choosing sides with influential conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh siding with Trump, saying Fox is acting jilted.

RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO SHOW HOST: Donald Trump knows that my not showing up he's owning the entire event, some guy not even present will end

up owning the entire event.

STELTER: So who needs who more, Fox or Trump?

Thursday's ratings might start to answer that key question.

Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Still to come right here on News Stream we have more on my week-long exclusive interview series with Elon Musk. The entrepreneur

talks about his vision for mass transport, and artificial intelligence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:18] LU STOUT: A search and rescue operation is under way off the coast of Greece and Turkey. The Coast Guard is looking for 11 migrants

missing after their boat sank.

24 people drowned, 10 have been rescued. Now, our senior international correspondent Arwa Damon has been following the story. She

is on the island of Lesbos in Greece. She joins us now live.

And Arwa, 24 migrants have died, the rescue operation is still under way. What's the latest?

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, among those 24 who died were also ten children, Kristie. The Greek authorities were alerted

to the accident when a man was discovered washed up on the coast of the island declaring that he was with other people on a boat that had sank and

that's what then launched this rescue operation.

The Turkish authorities also saying that they rescued dozens of people.

And the sad reality at this point is that as reporters were almost hoarse from saying the same thing all over again, you have the

humanitarian organizations, you have various different governments that time and time again keep repeating this message that something has to be

done to try to genuinely, seriously address this migrant and refugee crisis.

The desperation that continues to drive people to make this treacherous journey, the smugglers on both sides that have a very intricate

network in place that exploits these people in their most desperate of moments, putting them in shoddy rubber dinghies, oftentimes packing more

people than the dinghy can safely carry, strapping on motors that at times stop working partially through the journey or the dinghies end up taking on

water and then resulting in the types of catastrophes and devastating deaths like the ones that we are seeing today, Kristie.

And often when you speak to those who do actually make it to the Greek islands, they will tell

you stories about how their dinghies were taking in water. Oftentimes, you actually hear stories of people being in one dinghy that sank, then they

got rescued and then they go out and they try over and over again.

We were just in Sweden, Kristie, and I met a mother there who was traveling with her two young children and she was telling us that on one of

their attempts to cross, their boat sank and her daughter actually disappeared under the water.

She thought that she had lost her forever. But luckily they were rescued.

You also have cases where people again exploiting these migrants and refugees, are selling them

life jackets that don't even have proper flotation devices. So you have this horrendous scenario where desperate people are continuously being

exploited, being forced to make these very difficult decisions that are resulting in death and these boats capsizing and nothing really being done

to address the court, issues that are driving them from their homes and no real solutions being put into place to try to even begin to address this

massive flood of humanity that is trying to make its way to Europe.

LU STOUT: Another tragedy at sea today. Human smugglers partly to blame. And as you report this is a scenario that just repeats itself again

and again and again.

Arwa Damon reporting live for us. Thank you, arwa.

Now, it is only January, but monitoring groups say that tens of thousands of migrants have already crossed the Mediterranean into Europe,

all in search of a better life. And if you want to help, we have links on our website to organizations working on the issue on the ground. You can

find it at cnn.com/impact.

Now, all this week right here on News Stream we have been bringing you my exclusive

interview with Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur. And today we're going to focus on his bold idea about mass transportation, I'm talking

about Hyperloop.

Now, the plan is to build tubes that carry passengers inside futuristic pods that travel at

super high speeds, and Musk has been inviting others to work on a prototype.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:35:19] LU STOUT: A couple quick questions about Hyperloop. It's an idea that you came up with. You gave it away because you had no time to

deal with it. A number of companies are taking it on. There is traction. It's gaining momentum. If it does roll out successfully in California, do

you see other applications around the world?

MUSK: The only thing that I'm involved in actually with respect to Hyperloop is we're building a little test track and funding an annual

student competition, which is really just to encourage thinking in new modes of transportation.

It seem to have gotten a fair bit of momentum at the college level, kids are pretty excited about it, so it's basically -- the only part that

I'm involved in is just trying to get kids excited about new transport technology.

LU STOUT: You quite famously gave the idea away because you had no time for it. Do you have other ideas that you have no time for?

MUSK: Well, I do think it's possible to create something very exciting in electric aircraft. And I think there's probably going to be a

lot that happens in genetics and in human machine/brain interface, like essentially a cyborg brain interface.

I think there's some..

LU STOUT: The so-called singularity.

MUSK: Singularity -- well, that's sort more relating to deep AI, something I think we should be concerned about is that may or may not turn

out well.

LU STOUT: You've expressed your reservations about AI and your fears about that.

MUSK: Yeah, I think it's -- the singularity is probably the right word because we just don't know what's going to happen once there's

intelligence substantially greater than that of a human brain.

LU STOUT: And do you think -- I mean, because there's been a lot of sci-fi about AI, series like Humans, you know, et cetera, it's entering the

mainstream, entering the public discourse, that people are understanding the ethical dangers and I guess the physical dangers that AI could

potentially pose?

MUSK: Most of the movies and TV featuring AI, they don't describe it in quite the way it's likely to actually take place. But I think you just

have to consider like even in the benign scenario where AI -- if AI is much smarter than a person, what do we do? What is our -- what job do we have?

LU STOUT: Believe in a benevolent AI force and cross our fingers?

MUSK: Yeah, just like even -- but that's the benign scenario. Benign scenario, the AI can do

any job that a human can but better, that's the benign scenario.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And if you think the future that Musk fears is far off, it might come sooner than you think. Google researchers say a program they

designed has just made a major breakthrough in machine learning. Now, the program became the first to defeat a professional human player in the board

game go. They say it crushed the current European champion, winning 5-0.

What's more impressive is how the AI became so good. It repeatedly played games of Go and learned how to get better.

Now, the ancient game was once thought to be too complex for computers to master. One expert says that the number of possible configurations of

the board is more than the number of atoms in the universe.

Now, at the opening move in chess, there are 20 possible moves. In go, the first player has 361 possible moves.

In Japan, men are entitled to a year off work after the birth of a child, but some say it's still a big taboo. We hear from one Japanese

lawmaker who's facing fierce criticism over his decision to go on paternity leave.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:47] LU STOUT: Now, Kensuke Miyazaki is to become Japan's first lawmaker to go on paternity leave when his wife gives birth to their first

child. And both he and his wife are members of parliament, but only one of them is facing criticism.

Now, Miyazaki tells CNN he is dealing with a backlash from both traditionalists and some members of his own party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENSUKE MIYAZAKI, JAPANESE MP (through translator): There is a buzz word, Ikuman, which means men who take part in child rearing. And the

people call me the Ikuman MP.

I'm Kensuke Miyazaki. I'm a member of the House of Representatives. I decided to take paternity leave because I thought men taking part in

child-rearing is indispensable in solving the declining birth rate and promoting the role of women in Japan's future.

My supporters say an MP should take the lead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): One of the jobs that a politician has is to adapt

policies to improve people's lives.

MIYAZAKI: But those against it say that as a member of parliament, I shouldplace national matters over private ones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I don't think he should take paternity leave ahead of regular people.

MIYAZAKI (through translator): The idea of paternity leave does not suit people with conservative policies.

For children's happiness, it's very important and meaningful for their father or mother to spend time with them directly. There's an enormous

difference between the previous generation on how to raise children.

The older generation tell me the man makes a lot of money outside the home and the woman takes care of the children at home. That's how I did

it.

This controversy made people think about whether or not they are supporting the system and why they think that way. It's given them the

chance to think about it seriously and deeply, so one of my goals is to stir up the water by throwing a stone in it. In that sense, it has been

achieved.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUY STOUT: It's a good cause, and I wish him luck.

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

END