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Russian Ceasefire Timeline Draws Criticism; Living with Zika; Markets Continue to Tumble of Uncertainty. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired February 11, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. Welcome to News Stream.

A proposed cease-fire in Syria's horrific civil war. We'll have the very latest on new talks and the ballooning humanitarian crisis.

A sell-off across European and Asian markets. And the U.S. looks set to follow. What's spooking investors ahead.

And living with Zika. News Stream speaks to a reporter who caught the virus while covering the outbreak.

The Syrian conflict is escalating on two fronts this hour.

Major world powers have converged on Munich to talk over a Russian proposed cease-fire in Syria.

In the meantime, on the ground in Syria, the government offensive, undercover of Kremlin air power, continues to push in on the city of

Aleppo. Russian media report that this week alone, the military has launched some 500 air strikes. But rebels are gaining some ground near the

Turkish border. In the last few hours they have taken a military airport.

But the violence is driving thousands to the Turkish border and threatening peace talks.

The U.S. secretary of state is in Munich this hour where those talks are to begin over Russia's proposed cease-fire set for March 1.

But the U.s. is asking why wait? International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson is in Munich right now.

So, Nic, we have the Russian military air power working with Syrian government forces pushing forward on the ground, and also proposing a

cease-fire weeks from now. What kind of leverage do the U.S. and its allies and the rebels have at these negotiating talks?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATINOAL CORRESPONDENT: Very little leverage. And that certainly had been borne out by the peace talks that were under

way, then put on pause in Geneva last week. There's very little that the international community is ready, willing or able, or the Syrian opposition

on the ground is capable of doing to stop Russia when it decides it wants to go on an air campaign bombing in support of the Syrian government's

troops on the ground that want to make strategic gains around the northern important city of Aleppo.

There's very little that can be done. But there is still hope here that at the meeting later today where you have the 18 different countries

and the EU and the Arab League as well all represented around the table.

All of them with the partners that came together in Vienna late last year to help get the UN security council resolution that got these peace

talks up and running just a couple of weeks ago.

The hope is that at that meeting, enough pressure can be put on Russia to say, as the opposition is saying today, if you're going to have a cease-

fire, and you're serious about it -- to Russia -- then let's do it now, if you're serious. And the concern from others who are at that table as well

is that if you don't have a cease-fire now, then over the next couple of weeks the situation could escalate, anything could happen. The opposition

groups that have come together to get into the peace talks, they're going to find it harder and harder to justify being part of the peace process if

they're in pitched battles on the ground.

So these are the stakes.

But as you rightly ask, the reality is, who really has the leverage over Russia? It seems at the moment that it's based on good will around

the negotiating table here.

WATSON: All right, that's Nic Robertson live from Munich. And you'll be clearly following closely the negotiations as they continue there.

Thank you very, very much, Nic.

As leaders try to hammer out a diplomatic end to the conflict, the Red Cross says the assault on the city of Aleppo by government and Russian

forces have displaced some 50,000 people. For those who have left, they are caught between a closed border and air strikes. Senior international

correspondent Arwa Damon has their story. But we must warn you, the report contains graphic video.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(EXPLOSION)

[08:05:14] ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Air strikes are relentless. This is happening just a 15-minute drive from Turkey's border as Russia jets soften targets for regime forces and

their allies to move in on the ground.

In this graphic video, posted to YouTube by activists, it shows what they say the air strikes left behind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMON: People tried to coax this little girl to talk. Her name is Mesa (ph). The voice on the video sarcastically thanks the leaders of Turkey and

Saudi Arabia, supposed allies of the Syrian opposition. But that friendship, like that of the U.S., is described as a farce.

Colonel Mohammad al Ahmed (ph), spokesman for the al Shamia Front (ph) says, they are preparing for the worst.

COL. MOHAMMAD AL AHMED (ph), SPOKESMAN, AL SHAMIA FRONT (ph) (through translation): The support was very limited to begin with. We always

calculate that it's going to end. We compare the support. The regime gets from its friends and what we get from our friends. And it's a massive stark

contrast.

DAMON: The regime's friends go from Russian air power to a bolstered ground force.

AHMED (ph) (through translation): Iraqi militia are a high number. There are Iranian commanders and their fighters, some Afghan militia,

Lebanese Hezbollah. Each militia has areas of operations. But it's Iranian command and Russian air power. DAMON: All of which has allowed the regime

to take control of the land it has not stepped foot in two years, splitting opposition- controlled territory to the north of Aleppo in two, cutting off

a vital supply line, and is now expanding to besiege the city.

AHMED (ph) (through translation): The danger is not a possibility. It's imminent because the regime is advancing towards the South to get the

last route in.

DAMON: Tens of thousands from the Aleppo countryside have already fled. Hundreds of thousands of civilians are potentially in danger.

(on camera): Turkey's open-door policy, as you can see, still remains closed. The strikes in the last 24 hours were so close that one man we

spoke to on the other side said that he counted at least 16. And that is absolutely terrifying for the masses that just want to reach safety because

they are only fully aware of how vulnerable they continue to be to the violence.

(voice-over): But no one seems to be listening to the pleas for help, whether it's military support for the rebels or mercy for those who are

trying to flee.

Arwa Damon, CNN, on the Turkey/Syria border.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: And we have news now on Thursday that Kurdish fighters have captured a key airbase from the western Turkish Saudi-backed rebels here

between Aleppo and the Turkish border airbase. That will be a major setback for those rebel fighters.

Now, Syria's civil war is complicated and it has rapidly deteriorated in the past few years. There are many groups fighting each other, but few

are negotiating peace. So let's take a look at the four main factions here.

First, you have the Syrian Arab army. It is fiercely loyal to President Bashar al Assad and also financed by Russia and Iran.

His force maintains a stranglehold on Damascus, the capital. Then you have the opposition, or

Free Syrian Army, as it is sometimes known. These rebels want to topple Mr. Assad. They are funded by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

In the northeast, you have the Kurds or the YPG, an ethnic minority wanting autonomy. They've proven critical in the fight against ISIS, but

they've been sidelined largely by Turkey at the recent peace talks.

And then you have ISIS, firmly entrenched in eastern Syria. Raqqa is the capital of its self-proclaimed caliphate and its tentacles reach into

Iraq and to the Turkish border.

Government, opposition and Kurdish fighters, they're all battling ISIS, but what makes the civil war so complex is they're also all fighting

each other simultaneously backed by rival nations.

It is a deadly, tragic, bloody mess.

Now let's look to another growing mess that's developing on the financial markets around the world. First, taking a turn to the stock

markets where it's been a volatile week so far. European shares are falling sharply with major indices all in the red.

In Asia, Hong Kong stocks took a dive on the first trading day after Lunar New Year holidays. The Hang Seng, it closed down nearly 4 percent.

So let's talk about what's driving these sell-offs. Nina Dos Santos is monitoring this in London and joins me now.

Now Nina, what is scaring investors right now? What has them so frightened?

[08:10:11] NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it's really the unknown. It's a huge question, $1 trillion question at the moment, Ivan,

because more than $1 trillion seems to have been wiped off of these markets over their recent spate of volatility.

European markets where I am are on the eighth out of nine days worth of slides. So you can imagine how nervous people are getting.

A lot of this has to do with the falling oil price. That's after you look at oil, the demand for oil is a proxy for growth. Well, we've seen

the demand for oil fall off a cliff and also the amount of oil coming online just exacerbating the current glut, because of course we now have

Iranian oil to contend with here in a very over supplied market.

Crude, as you can see there, down below $27 a barrel. That will be worrying for many investors, Ivan, because they thought that crude had

probably hit a floor at around $27.30 and it has been going in the opposite direction since then. But that has been an about turn.

And then you have the issue of central banks here sending very different signals. Let's start out with the big move of today. Sweden, 1

of 4 countries around the world that has interest rates that are in negative territory. So that means that if you park money with the central

bank, the safest option, well, they penalize you. They financially charge you for doing that. Sweden decided to cut rates yet again further into

negative territory, another sign that they're just trying to stop people from plowing their money into their own currency.

At the same time, we've had Janet Yellen of the federal reserve just yesterday commented to U.S. lawmakers that the U.S. economy and other

economies that feed into the global perspective here just aren't strong enough to cope with more interest rate rises that people had been expecting the fed to engage in later on this year. Markets are

predicting that the fed could raise rates another two to three times from here. But based on what she said yesterday, it seems as though the U.S.

economy, the world economy, just isn't strong enough to cope with that. What she did rule

out, though, which is positive for investors, is no negative rates for the United States.

WATSON: And I understand that this sell-off is expected to spread to the U.S. when the trading day begins, Nina. Can you tell me, what are the

sectors, the economic sectors, that are taking the hardest hits in the markets right now?

DOS SANTOS: Well, there is one common theme here and it is the banking sector. You are right to point that out, Ivan. That is the sector

that's being affected the most.

Obviously the oil sector has been affected by some -- for some time by those low prices that we've seen. We've seen thousands of jobs that have

been lost in the oil sector, but there's nothing similarly new in that trend that has been going on ever since the oil prices started tumbling

back in sort of November a year or so ago.

What we have is the banking sector also having to reassure investors that these banks can

take the hit on their equity portfolios. Remember, a number of these banks are listed. And each time the stock market falls, well, they have to take

into account the lower value of those shares that they hold on their books, the lower value of their own shares because they are listed on exchanges.

Today we had another European bank, this time (inaudible) the French bank, coming out with a disappointing set of earnings. A couple of days

ago, Deutsche Bank, the biggest bank in Germany, two or three reprises having to reassure the investment community that they have enough cash in

their coffers to cover all of their positions. These aren't great statements, even if we're not heading back to 2008.

It doesn't exactly inspire confidence when some of the biggest banks on the street are having to reassure investors that they've got enough

money.

A lot of people saying it sounds like 2008 all over again. Hopefully not, but that is why people are getting worried. The futures are pointing

towards a pretty low start to the day when Wall Street gets trading in an hour from now.

WATSON: That's certainly pretty serious if people are starting to talk about echoes of 2008.

Nina Dos Santos, monitoring events in London. Thank you very much, Nina.

Coming up after the break, some say it is Kim Jong-un's latest attempt to tighten his grip on power. We'll have details on the dramatic purge of

a high-ranking North Korean military leader.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:23] WATSON: Welcome back to the program.

A source tells CNN a high-ranking member of the North Korean military has been executed. It's the latest in a string of killings involving

officials who were once close to the supreme leader.

Paula Hancocks has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Cheung Sung-tak, de facto number two and the North Korean leader's uncle executed for treason.

Hyon Yung-chol (ph, defense minister believed publicly executed for treason.

General Rhee Young-hoo (ph), chief of staff, dismissed, status unknown.

And now General Rhee Young-kil (ph), another chief of staff, believed executed for misuse of authority and treason.

Promoted to military chief in August 2013, Rhee accompanied Kim Jong- un to military drills. He was last mentioned in state-run media in the early part of January.

But what does this latest purge tell us of Kim's control?

DAVID KANG, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: In the larger context it is

more about -- I see it as more strength. He's now into his fourth year of rule. He clearly is in charge and he's getting rid of a lot of these guys.

HANCOCKS: Kim Kwang-jin (ph), a North Korean defector formerly handling the finances of the late leader Kim Jong-il questions whether the

young leader is in charge.

KIM KWANG-JIN, INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY: Kim Jong-un still didn't gain good control of the military and still he has to kill the

top generals of the military. That means he has no confidence in the military and there is suspicions and he has no confidence in his command

and authority.

HANCOCKS: There is agreement, however, on the high number of executions Kim Jong-un has ordered.

As of April last year, South Korean intelligence estimated more than 80 top officials had been killed on the young leader's orders.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Paula Hancocks joins us now from Seoul. Great to see you, Paula.

First of all, in addition to the news of this execution, we also have news of the closure of the

Kaesong Industrial Complex, which is often described as a bellwether for relations between -- very difficult relations between the North and the

south of Korea. What more can you tell us about that?

HANCOCKS: Well, Ivan, we know that last night, the South Koreans said that they wanted to

suspend activities. North Korea went one step further and said that they were expelling all South Koreans from this joint economic zone. And we

know that just in the past few minutes the government has confirmed that all South Koreans have now left that industrial zone.

So, very bad news economically for both sides. Both sides made a lot of money out of it. And of course it is also the last symbol of inter-

Korean reconciliation. So really the tensions are pretty high between the two at this point when you see that Kaesong Industrial Complex closing

down, Ivan.

WATSON: Now Paula, we're still covering the fallout from from North Korea's controversial rocket launch. One of the perhaps unexpected

consequences seems to be a realignment of sorts along military lines between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan. Can you explain a little more

about that?

HANCOCKS: Yes. We know that earlier in Hawaii, the three joint chiefs of staff from those three countries actually had a meeting and they

discussed what they could do about North Korea, how they could resolve the situation with both the nuclear and the missiles threat.

And effectively, the three sides have agreed on further information sharing so they are starting to come together a lot more in trying to

figure out how exactly they can counter this threat that they are seeing from North Korea because neither of those three have any kind of power

within North Korea itself. They can't persuade Pyongyang to do anything they want to they feel that they are coming together in order to try and do

that.

Also with the sanctions that are going through the United Nations at the moment that countries want to talk about Beijing because it fears that

North Korea that collapses and millions of refugees coming across the border into China is reticent to push for strong sanctions.

So, what these three countries are now doing is having bilateral, multi-lateral sanctions outside

of the United Nations and that's something that we've seen from Japan. They've started new sanctions. You can see today in South Korea they

wanted to close down Kaesong. And then also the U.S. Senate has overwhelmingly approved new sanctions. It still has to go through the

House.

But this is what each of these three countries are doing to try and counter this threat -- Ivan.

[08:20:00] WATSON: All right, Paula, thank you very much for explaining that. That's Paula Hancocks live in Seoul.

Moving on now to a very disturbing story, an atrocity the likes of which I've never had to report on before. Officials in northern Nigeria

say two female suicide bombers, two female suicide bombers, have killed at least 58 people and wounded dozens more. And it happened at a camp for

Nigerians fleeing the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

And third would-be bomber reportedly refused to blow herself up when she finally realized that her family was there.

Suicide bombers targeting a refugee camp.

Moving on, you're watching News Stream. Still to come, what it is like to report on a disease when you're suffering from it yourself. We

talk to a journalist who caught the Zika virus. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATSON: Welcome back to News Stream, broadcasting live from Hong Kong where as you can see it's a very foggy day over Victoria Harbor.

All right. Now, Australian officials have confirmed the second case of Zika virus in the Queensland State this year. The patient had just

returned from being overseas.

International health agencies are extremely concerned over the rapid spread of Zika. You can see here, at least 30 countries now have

transmission of the mosquito-borne disease. The Zika virus has been linked to microcephaly, a neurological birth defect.

And one journalist who was infected with Zika while covering the virus outbreak, we're going to talk to him now. It's Jonathan M. Katz. He is a

former AP correspondent in Haiti and author of the big truck that went by, it's a book about surviving the 2010 earthquake there. And he joins us now

from North Carolina. Glad to see you there, Jonathan.

First of all, can you tell me about the symptoms? How did you know that you got Zika in the first place?

JONATHAN KATZ, JOURNALIST: Well, the first clue was that my wife had it right before I

did and she had a blood test to confirm it. But I had the same symptoms that she did. There is kind of a low-grade fever and then you're covered

with a rash on your face and chest and then eventually the rest of your body. Your eyes get a little red. At least in my case, you get a little

bit of pink eye. And that's basically it. You're kind of tired and run down. You feel like you're sick.

WATSON: And where did you contract the virus?

KATZ: In Haiti. I had gotten there in early January and was actually a couple days before the first cases were confirmed in Port-au-Prince.

There are a lot of things going on in Haiti, political unrest and stuff like that so I wasn't aware that I was going to be covering an

epidemic, although the risk is always there, I suppose.

And it seemed to be just very quick a matter days, we heard that there was this new disease

and there were some cases confirmed in the capital, then my wife got sick, and then the next domino fell and I got sick while I was trying to figure

out what else was going on.

WATSON: So what's your reaction at that point? On the one hand you are a patient with this new disease you may never have heard of. On the

other hand, you're a journalist who's supposed to be reporting on it. How did you deal with it?

KATZ: Well, yeah. It was definitely kind of an interesting meta sort of experience. To tell you the truth, since we had just first heard of it

a couple days before and the information about possible links to birth defects was only starting to dribble out. And of course I'm neither a

woman nor pregnant so I wasn't worried about it from that angle. You know, I wasn't happy because I was sick and you never know where a disease is

going to go, especially a disease that you've never heard of before.

But it wasn't really until I started tuning in to the way that it was being covered back home in the United States that I realized that there was

sort of this general level of freak-out, that people were really, really terrified about this disease moving through the hemisphere which then sort

of made me wonder why the main thing that I was feeling was tired.

WATSON: So, let me ask another question. You're experienced with major disease outbreaks. You covered basically the deadly cholera outbreak

in Haiti after the earthquake in 2010 where 9,000 people were estimated to have died.

What lessons have you learned from your experience firsthand with Zika? And issues like that

cholera outbreak, or other mosquito-borne diseases in general?

KATZ: Well, first of all, to put it in perspective, Zika, at least what we know about it right now, is far less bad than a lot of those other

epidemics that we're talking about, you know, other mosquito-borne epidemics like malaria. Malaria infects half a billion people a year, it

kills 2.7 million around the world. Dengue can be a very deadly disease. Chikungunya is another

mosquito-borne illness that can be very painful.

Compared to cholera which is a very deadly disease, Zika tends to be very rarely fatal. But the thing that it has in common with those others

is that the main thing that you need to do to prevent it is to have serious investment in sanitation and public health ahead of time so that once this

disease -- once any of these diseases show up, it can be much easier to contain them.

If you don't have the investment beforehand, then that's when these diseases become really deadly which is why they tend to affect places like

Haiti which is of course a very impoverished country that has very little investment in public. That's why it tends to affect it so badly.

WATSON: So once again, the poorest countries are the most vulnerable to diseases like this.

Let me ask you a more personal question now. I mean, you said you basically had minor flu-like symptoms. But there are concerns that Zika

could have impacts on people when there are pregnancies down the road. How much of that is a concern for you and your wife if you are ever thinking

about having a family down the road?

KATZ: Well, so our understanding at the moment -- when I say "ours," I sort of mean the global community -- is that once the virus has left your

system, that there isn't a risk in terms of pregnancy down the road.

But of course, it's a disease that's little understood. It's been known for about 70 years or so but it's new to this hemisphere.

And so there are a lot of things that we don't know about it.

But frankly, one of the things that we don't know about it is whether there really is this connection between microcephaly, the birth defect

where babies are born with underdeveloped heads and brains, and the disease. Some researchers say there is, some researchers say there is not.

I definitely think it is a good idea to err on the side of caution. I am very grateful that neither my wife, nor I were pregnant when we contracted

the disease. But at the some...

WATSON: Okay. I'm afraid we seem to have lost our guest there, Jonathan M. Katz, a writer who contracted the Zika virus while reporting on

the epidemic in Haiti. And he had some very important points there about the vulnerability of the third world countries, of the poorest of people,

who don't have the protection of air conditioning particularly from the mosquitoes that spread Zika and other deadly diseases. So thank you very

much, Jonathan M. Katz from Durham, North Carolina.

Now the spreading of Zika poses a challenge to the Catholic church doctrine in aprts of Latin America. And we've told you how evidence

suggests the virus can be spread sexually.

Our Nick Paton Walsh spoke to Rio de Janeiro's top cardinal to see if Brazil's Catholic leadership will change its view prohibiting contraception

if it's proven that the virus can, in fact, be sexually transmitted.

You can find out what he learned. Tune in to the International Desk with Robyn Curnow and that starts at 11:00 p.m. here in Hong Kong, midnight

in Tokyo right here on CNN.

The dust has settled in New Hampshire. And now it is off to South Carolina. And we'll have the latest from the campaign trail as White House

hopefuls gear up for the next contest. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:35:03] WATSON: All right, now the U.S. presidential campaign trail is traveling through South Carolina. The Republican pool is thinning

out. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina have both suspended their campaigns after disappointing results in New Hampshire.

However, Senator Marco Rubio is undeterred by his drop in momentum in the Granite State. He's already talking up his chances in South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) FLORIDA: It's a conservative state with a conservative closed

Republican primary. I'm as conservative as anyone in this field, but I'm the conservative that can win, the conservative that can unite the

Republican Party, grow the conservative movement, and the one Hillary Clinton doesn't want to run. That's why she attacks me more than they

attack any other Republican.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now for the Democrats, Bernie Sanders, he's on a roll. The senator from Vermont

celebrated a decisive victory in New Hampshire over his rival, Hillary Clinton. Now his campaign is hoping that the momentum can carry forward in

the next contest in South Carolina. Our senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bernie Sanders raising over $6 million in the 24 hours after polls closed in New Hampshire. Gaining momentum

before tonight's crucial PBS Democratic presidential debate, descending on New York City in a victory lap, celebrating his sweeping win in Tuesday's

primary, bringing his antiestablishment message to the "Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

SANDERS: Our campaign finance system, our election system, and our economy is essentially owned and controlled by a relatively small number of

people, whose greed in my view is really wreaking havoc with the middle class of this country.

JOHNS: And the daytime-talker, "The View."

SANDERS: This country is supposed to be a nation of fairness and we're not seeing that fairness.

JOHNS: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton laying comparatively low after her crushing defeat. No longer the undisputed Democratic frontrunner, tonight's

critical debate could help her get her campaign back on track. The former secretary of state already making changes, promising a more aggressive

edge. The challenge for Sanders going forward will be capturing the African-American vote. A key piece of the Democratic electorate and the

pivotal South Carolina primary later this month.

Courting the African-American vote Sanders took his campaign to Harlem Tuesday meeting with civil rights leader Al Sharpton.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: That's Joe Johns reporting there.

And a reminder, you can watch the PBS NewsHour democratic presidential debate right here on CNN. And it airs Friday at 8:00 p.m. here in Hong

Kong.

OK, so now offensive tweets by a Facebook board member have drawn the wrath of the company's big boss. We'll explain how Facebook is looking to

mend ties after some controversial comments about India's government. Stay tuned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATSON: Welcome back to News Stream. Broadcasting live from Hong Kong.

Mark Zuckerberg has cleared the air regarding comments by one of his board members about India. On Tuesday, venture capitalist Mark Andreson

posted a series of tweets over a ruling that effectively killed Facebook's free basics program, that provides limited free internet access and it was

rejected.

So he intimated that colonialism had been good for India. Look at this.

"anti-colonialism has been economically catastrophic for the Indian people for decades. Why stop now?"

The comment, understandably, drew outrage and Andreson later deleted the tweet.

Another social media giant, Twitter, is now facing some new trouble. The company revealed it lost 2 million active users in the final three

months of last year. The announcement sent Twitter shares tumbling in after hours trading. Twitter had about 305 million active users at the end

of 2015, compared to Facebook's much larger 1.6 billion.

Now let's move to a very different story. A World War II veteran is about to have a Valentine's Day like no other. The American man traveled

thousands of kilometers to reunite with his wartime sweetheart in Australia. Their heartfelt reunion comes more than 70 years

after the two first parted. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NORWOOD THOMAS, VETERAN: I'm going to give her a squeeze.

WATSON: Norwood Thomas never stopped thinking about Joyce Morris. The pair first met in 1944. She a 17-year-old British girl living in

London, he a 21-year-old paratrooper for the U.S. forces. Young love blossomed.

JOYCE MORRIS: We snogged, as you call it, you know, when ti was dark, you know, because...

WATSON: But their romance was interrupted when Thomas was deployed to Normandy to

fight in World War II.

After the war, he retuend to the U.S. and invited Morris to join him, but she misunderstood his

letter and thought he was already married so she refused his invitation and they went their separate ways.

They married other people. Thomas eventually became a widower, Morris got divorced. Last year one of her sons found Thomas online and they

reconnected on Skype after more than 70 years.

MORRIS: Picture frame on my bureau and I say good morning to you every morning.

THOMAS: And I will say good morning back to you.

MORRIS: Because I missed you...

THOMAS: And I will say good morning back to you.

You broke my heart.

MORRIS: I don't believe that for a moment.

THOMAS: What would you do if i could give you a squeeze?

MORRIS: Oh, it would be lovely.

WATSON: A crowd funding campaign raised enough money to make that actually happen.

This week Thomas made the journey from Virginia to Adelaide.

MORRIS: Well you're still vertical. Hello.

THOMAS: Let me give you a squeeze.

WATSON: a couple that met just before D-Day reuniting seven decades later just in time for "V," or Valentine's Day.

THOMAS: That's the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me.

MORRIS: Yeah, good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: That is so darn sweet.

Happy early Valentine's Day, everybody.

And that is News Stream. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. World Sport is up next.

END