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The Explosive Growth of eSports; Hundreds of Migrants Feared Dead in Mediterranean; Battle for Fallujah Enters Critical Phase; In Brazil, Calls for the Interim President to Go. Aired 8:00a-9:00a ET

Aired May 30, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:25] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.

Retaking Fallujah: Iraq's army begins storming the ISIS-held city and already there were signs of victory.

More tragedies at sea: hundreds of migrants feared dead in just the past week trying to reach Europe.

And far more than a game: we take you inside the world of esports, where the best players are idolized and the prizes are worth a fortune.

Now, the battle for Fallujah is entering a critical phase after a week of fierce fighting there. Iraqi forces say that they are finally ready to

enter the city and take out ISIS.

Now, on the march to Fallujah, the Iraqis have retaken towns and villages along the way, but now, inside the city they're looking at a very

different kind of warfare. They're looking at urban combat. They will have to fight ISIS militants while trying to protect thousands of families

believed to be still trapped there.

Now, for more let's bring in our senior international correspondent Fred

Pleitgen. He's reporting live for us from London.

And Fred, we know that Iraqi troops are there. They are closing in on Fallujah. How tough is this battle going to be?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly is going to be very tough. And I don't think anybody is under any sort of

illusion that this will be in any way, shape or form easy going into Fallujah.

The latest that we've gotten is that the Iraqi forces that are trying to push into Fallujah itself, that they are apparently around 1 kilometer

away from the city itself. But as you said, once they try and enter into Fallujah, which they call the third phase of the operation that they're

conducting to try to win back that city, it certainly is going to be very difficult, with the urban combat setting that you have there.

You have a lot of ISIS fighters that are still inside that town that have been holding out there for a very long time. And one of the

experiences that the Iraqi forces, but also, for instance, the Kurds fighting in other places have made, which they try to enter into places

that are held by ISIS, a lot of those places usually are boobytrapped with car bombs, with improvised explosive devices inside houses. And then on

top of that, as you mentioned, and this is very important, you still have a lot of civilians trapped in there as well.

So, they're trying to retake the city. They have ISIS fighters hiding among the population. And they're obviously trying to make headway as

well. It is going to be a very dangerous and very difficult operation.

At the same time, we have also heard that the Iraqis are saying that they have made headway in the past couple hours retaking villages outside

of Fallujah, which is also very important in doing what they call shaping the

battlefield, trying to get the city ready for making that major push into the city to try and win it back -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, a lot of concern about the fate of civilians inside the city of Fallujah. These are people who are trapped, unable to leave,

and d also a lot of concern about the safety and security of civilians in the Iraqi capital

Baghdad. Why is that?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: Yeah, you're absolutely right. Then there was another suicide attack inside the Iraqi

capital, an explosion in Baghdad as well. And of course, one of the things that happens as the coalition, as Iraqi forces, but also Kurdish forces,

for instance, are -- continue to infringe on the territory that ISIS holds is that we're seeing a lot of these

retribution attacks inside places like Baghdad to try and sew fear in those places.

And so, it is a situation where the people there are having to cope with these attacks. But of course at the same time, you talk to

organizations like the United Nations. Right now, they say their biggest concern is for the

civilians inside Fallujah.

There's a couple of hundred who managed to get out that city in the past couple of days, but they say there are still tens of thousands who are

inside. And they are obviously right now subject to that combat that's going on there.

But over the past couple of weeks that city has been under siege as well. So, they've had very little food and water, also very little medical

supplies. So, these are people who are already most probably are in a dire situation, are probably hungry, are probably weak and now have to deal with

the fact that there is a major battle that seems to be on the horizon in their town very imminently.

LU STOUT: Yeah, for Iraqi forces, this is a delicate operation. This is a tough battle ahead. And if ISIS loses Fallujah, what would that mean

for ISIS? What would it mean for its hold of territory of Iraq and its so- called caliphate?

PLEITGEN: It would certainly be a big blow to ISIS. Fallujah is one of those places that IIS overran really very early in the offensive that

started in parts of Iraq in 2014. It is a place that is very important to them, but it also is part of a pattern where both in Iraq and in Syria

you've seen ISIS lose a lot of territory over the past couple of months as the Russians and th Syrian military on the one hand, but then also the U.S.

and its allies have stepping up their operations on various fronts towards -- towards the centers of ISIS's power that they have in Iraq, and Syria.

Of course, the big thing that the U.S. wants to achieve in Iiraq is they want to try and take Mosul away from ISIS. That's going to be the big

thing. It is one of the largest cities in Iraq. It is one of their big power bases.

But this is certainly something that could well be a very important milestone on the, the U.S.'s and Iraq's efforts to try and bring back that

territory away from ISIS militants.

[08:05:57] LU STOUT: Yeah, without a doubt.

Fred Pleitgen reporting live for us. Thank you, Fred.

Now, north of Fallujah, we have that other battle raging just outside Mosul, another key city under ISIS control. Kurdish forces say that they have taken back several villages, but are trying to move into the city

itself, more than 5,000 Peshmerga fighters are all taking part in this offensive. And they backed by coalition air support.

Now ISIS may be losing ground in Iraq, but in Libya it is trying to capture new territory. As our Nick Paton Walsh reports, ISIS militant

could be getting dangerous close to seizing a major natural gas refinery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPODENT: A distant spec from up here, but this is Libya's shimmering prize, oil worth billions, but part

paralyzed by government in-fighting and now most troubingly in ISIS's crosshairs.

This is the Malita refinery, which pumps gas direct along the Mediterranean seabed to Italy.

It's upped its defenses, but one plant worker points out what he says is a militant stronghold in a hotel just down the coast.

The sea is pretty much open here.

On this jetty, the graffiti says that god is great, but you don't want to just rely on him.

NATO have expressed concerns that ISIS is trying to get its hands on boats to perhaps fashion some sort of crude, pirate navy. And in a place

like this so vital to Europe's energy, you can see how worrying that must be when you have this much

shoreline to try to defend.

MOHAMMED ARAB, SPC SECURITY: Cease to have have too many faces here, you know. Sometimes the test comes from the sea, otherwise maybe it comes

from the land. You don't know how is it.

WATLSH: ISIS have already hit some facilities in the east, the damage and oil fires caused visible from space in these NASA images.

Their own propaganda shows a wider scope of ambition. This attack on an installation in the eastern town of Rast Lanoush (ph).

They want to control the industry and its potential billions, yet have so far mostly disrupted production and sown little panic in the U.S.

presidential race.

DONALD TRUMP, 2016 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ISIS is making millions and millions of dollars a week selling Libya oil. And you know

what? We don't blockade. We don't bomb. We don't do anything about it.

WALSH: Trump is wrong. ISIS haven't made much money yet and don't control any oil fields, but their attacks are costly to what's left of the

crumbling Libyan state, bringing closer the day ISIS could seize control of refineries and sell fuel on the black market.

There already is a a thriving black market trade in Libya's oil, these boats evidence of that, tanks use to try and ship Libya's black gold, an

infrastructure here that ISIS could so easily use were they to get their hands on key refineries.

Europe watching this slow collapse just across the water.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Malita, Libya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, a photograph of a Japanese hostage being held in Syria has emerged. The sign that he's holding it says, "please, help me, and,

this is the last chance," now, along with his name there on that sign Jumpei Yasuda.

Now, it has been almost two months since last seen in what appeared to be a hostage video. And neither of the images reveals who his captors are,

but ISIS executed a friend of his fellow journalist Kenji Goto in January of last year.

Now, there has been a major setback for Syrian peace talks in Geneva. The opposition's main negotiator has resigned. He says that he quit

because the international community has failed to stop government attacks on the Syrian

people, has maintained, or failed to maintain a cease-fire, and humanitarian aid is just not reaching those who need it.

And Syria's civil war is just one of many conflicts driving migrants into Europe, but as we have seen the trip across the Mediterranean can

prove to be very deadly. Officials say at least 65 people have died at sea in the last

week after their overcrowded boats capsized. Hundreds are still missing.

And it's feared that the death toll, it could rise above 700.

Now, for more on the latest details for us, is our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman. He joins me live from Rome. And

Ben, hundreds of deaths at sea in one week. Who are the victims of this tragedy?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand that most of the people trying to cross from Libya to Italy are from sub-

Saharan Africa, from Sudan, Somalia, from Eritrea, from Gambia, from Nigeria, coming from so

many places, and what we've seen in the last week is a real spike in the number of people trying to make that crossing, more than 14,000, according

to Italian officials; last Thursday, more than 4,000 in one day alone.

And, of course, the death toll, the UNHCR is saying at least 700, but we're never going to really find out, even an approximate number, because

the human traffickers who force people on to these flimsy boats into the Mediterranean don't write up passenger manifests, they just send them out

in these rickety boats just far enough so they can send out a distress signal and be picked up by the Italian Navy, the Italian coast guard, other

vessels that are in the area.

And, of course, now that summer is upon us, the Mediterranean is calm, and it is expected that more and more people will try to make this

dangerous crossing.

At this point, this year we're about -- talking about the same number of people crossing as last year, but we know from officials in Libya and

here in Italy as well, that there are hundreds of thousands of people waiting to cross -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and the number of feared deaths here, I mean just simply staggering the scale of the tragedy.

Ben, the migrants who managed to survive this perilous journey in the last seven days, there were Italian Coast Guard reports over 14,000 of

them. Where were they taken to? What's next for them?

WEDEMAN: Well, normally they're taken to what reception centers as they're

called, in Sicily and elsewhere in southern Italy, they're processed and then in

theory, there's some -- they're given the attempt, rather, the opportunity to apply for political asylum. In some cases, we've spoken to refugees and

migrants who understand that the Italy, really, the economy, isn't very good when it

comes to job opportunities for them. Many of them don't want to be registered in Italy, and would just as well go further north.

Of course, Germany is where many people would like to go, the UK.

So I've spoken with refugees and migrants who said they were in camps in Sicily. They said, we want to go out and go to church, off they went.

They -- with a bit of money in their pockets they take buses, trains, ferries, go as far north as they can, because Italy, the economy is just

not good enough to absorb so many people desperate for work and a better life.

LU STOUT: Yeah. And who knows what the future holds for them. Ben Wedeman reporting live from Rome for us. Thank you, Ben.

Now, you're watching News Stream. And still to come this hour, a heavy

rain in China has been triggering flooding and landslides. One frightening moment was captured on camera. We have got the video and the details

ahead.

Also ahead, a zoo in the United States is facing a backlash over its decision to kill a gorilla to save a boy. Why officials say deadly force

was necessary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:14] LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now, in China heavy downpours triggered landslides and flooding in much of the southeast. One resident used his mobile phone to capture these

pictures. Chinese state TV reports a minivan and a motorcycle were driving past as that hill just gave way, and amazingly, no one was harmed.

But in other areas of China, there are reports of deaths. Let's go straight to our meteorologist Chad Myers. He joins us now from CNN Center.

And Chad, we have these deadly landslides and flash flooding in southern China. What's going on there and when will conditioning improve?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's all about The Plum front, The Plum Rains front, Kristie. This is going to be another couple weeks before

the front moves farther into China. This happens every single year. The Meyu Baiu Front. We start to see the onshore flow of tropical moisture,

but yet a front that won't allow it to go too far inland.

And so right along that front is where the showers fire up. You can find the red zone right through here over the past couple of days, firing

again. One day after another, showers and thunderstorms every single day.

What happens is the hillsides become super saturated with water. All of a sudden the friction that holds the dirt together is lubricated by so

much water that the water just let's the dirt go, it's like lubricating your engine in your car. When you lubricate the dirt you make it mud, you

make the mud so thick it gets so heavy that the mud begins to flow downhill. And that's what we've had and what we'll have. This is just

the beginning of where we are at this point.

There's the Meiyu Baiu Front right here. The Plum rains coming in May through July. We expect this every year, moisture coming in from the south

and southeast. Cool, dry air trying to bump it, coming down all the way from

Russia and Siberia. And that's the front through there across parts of southeast China affecting Japan, Taiwan, Korea, all in the same areas, all

the same front.

But eventually, as this front moves farther inland, we begin to see the areas that have got so super saturated now dry out, and the areas

farther inland get a little more rain -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: All right, CNN's Chad Myers there reporting the factors behind the deadly flash flooding in China. Thank you, Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

LU STOUT: Now, rescuers in Japan they are right now searching for a 7-year-old boy. The boy has been missing for more than two days since his

parents abandoned him in the mountains as a form of punishment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

On the ground, in the air, more than 150 people searching for Jamata Tanuka. This 7-year-old went missing on Saturday afternoon. His parents

called the police after, according to authorities, an attempt to discipline their son went horribly wrong.

Police say the family had gone on a day trip to pick wild vegetables, but Jamata's parents said he misbehaved by throwing stones at passing cars

and people. On their way home, police say Jamata's parents decided to leave him alone for a short time in the mountains as way to punish him for

being unruly. But when they went back to get him, he was nowhere in sight.

Two hours later, the parents called police. His father suggesting in an

interview with local TV that they hesitated to report the boy missing because of the circumstances surrounding his disappearance. More than two

days later, the search is still on and concern increases.

Temperatures in this part of Japan dip into the single digits at night, and the area is known to be home to wild bears.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: A very disturbing situation. We'll keep you posted on any updates there.

Now, meanwhile, in the United States, a zoo is defending its decision to kill

an endangered gorilla.

Now, the animal was holding and dragging a 4-year-old boy who somehow got into the gorilla's habitat. Zoo officials in Cincinnati, Ohio say that

a quick decision had to be made to shoot the gorilla and save the boy. But some animals rights activists say the zoo had other options.

Now, Jessica Schneider joins me now live from Cincinnati. And Jessica, we know it was a tough call and this call is getting a lot of

criticism. So, how is the zoo defending its decision to kill this animal?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, the boy was in imminent danger, that's the word from Zoo director Thane Maynard. He said

the dangerous animal response team had no choice but to move in and shoot and kill the gorilla all to save that little boy's life.

Now, the team did try other options. They tried to lure the 450-pound gorilla out of the exhibit, but when the gorilla named Harambe didn't respond, that's when that team moved in. They said saying tranquilizers

wouldn't work because the tranquilizers would have just taken too long to take effect.

So, this morning, though, the zoo director is saying that they are heartbroken and saddened but that they had to move quickly and urgently to

save that little boy -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and Jessica, have you been able to pick up any information about how this boy managed to slip into the gorilla's habitat?

SCHNEIDER: Yeah, there's a lot of confusion out here as to exactly how that

happened. The gorilla world exhibit has been open since 1978, and officials here say there has never been a breach. But the zoo director

outlined what happened a little bit.

The 4-year-old boy slipped under a rail and then got through some of the protective wiring, actually climbing on to the wall of the moat and

then dropped 15 feet into the water below, that's when the visitors heard the splashes and then they started screaming to the little boy.

The little boy's mother, according to some video, also screamed out, mommy's here for you, but a lot of panic and ten tense minutes as that

gorilla, 450 pounds, named Harambe, dragged and tossed the boy in that moat enclosure.

LU STOUT: all right. Jessica Schneider reporting for us live outside Cincinnati Zoo. Thank you very much indeed for that update.

Now, voters in the U.S., they now have a third choice for president: former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson secured the libertarian

presidential nomination at the party's convention in Florida on Sunday.

And Johnson took aim at positions held at presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY JOHNSON, LIBERTARIAN PARTY PRESIDENT NOMINEE: Well, taking him on on the fact that he wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants,

taking him on, on wanting to build a fence across the border. That's nuts. Taking him on when he says that Mexicans are murderers and rapists, when --

it's incendiary as a border state governor. It's incendiary to 50 percent of the population of New Mexico

that he's talking about Hispanic, Mexicans in this way when the absolute opposite is true.

Call him out on what is really racist. It's just racist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, on the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders still says he plans to stay in the race, even after the last vote. He insists Hillary

Clinton does not have a lock on the nomination. And Sanders is campaigning hard in the state of California in hopes of winning next week's primary in

that delegate-rich state.

Even if he doesn't win, he says he'll take his campaign all the way to the convention and try to win over Clinton's supporters.

Now, Brazil's interim president has been in office for just a few weeks, but already public sentiment is turning against him.

Now, the hope was impeachment on President Dilma Rousseff would calm things down, but as our Ivan Watson reports some are now calling for the

new president to be dismissed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When the honor guard arrives to greet foreign diplomats at the presidential palace, so do the

protesters...

CROWD: Throw out Temer. Throw out Temer.

WATSON: ...demanding the resignation of the brand new interim president Michel Temer.

Brazil faces a political crisis during a time of great economic pain.

PAULO KRAMER, UNIVERSITY OF BRASILIA: This is the worst economic crisis Brazil has ever had since the early '30s, last century, The Great

Depression.

WATSON: A fresh scandal this month forced a top cabinet minister to announce his resignation, barely 11 days after assuming office, embarrassed

after audio recorders emerged of him purportedly colluding to stop a major corruption

investigation. And the irony, this is one of the politicians who spearheaded

the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff, forcing her to step down earlier this month for allegedly breaking budgetary laws, which

she denies.

More than two-thirds of the congress here voted in favor of an impeachment process of the elected Brazilian president, but many of these

lawmakers are themselves implicated in a variety of corruption scandals.

Political analysts say the scale of the alleged corruption here is mind-boggling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost 60 percent of the chamber of deputies are being investigated in some stage of criminal investigations.

WATSON: 60 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 60 percent, yeah.

WATSON: That's a view echoed even by some lawmakers like Eduardo Bolsinaro.

Do you think there is a lot of corruption in this room?

EDWUARDO BOLSONARO, BRAZILIAN CONGRESSMAN: I don't think, I'm sure.

WATSON: Part of the problem, it's tough to govern here when there are dozens of political parties are represented in the Brazilian congress.

There's even a professional clown, a comedian, who was applauded when he cast his vote for the impeachment of President Rousseff.

Polls show she had nearly single-digit popularity ratings when suspended, but so does the legislature that suspended her.

People don't respect you?

BOLSONARO: No. Like it's -- yeah, they don't respect -- we don't have too much credibility together with the society.

WATSON: And it hasn't helped politicians credibility that several ministers in the new interim government also appear to be under

investigation for alleged wrongdoing.

KRAMER: Well, that's the political class we have right now. We can't go to the supermarket and buy a new one, unfortunately.

WATSON: The changing of the political guard in this country is still very, very complicated.

The elected president, Dilma Rousseff, is still living over here in the official presidential residence, and she is vowing to fight the

impeachment proceedings against her.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Brasilia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: This is News Stream. And up next, it's competitive scene that

rivals traditional sporting events, but it's all about gaming. In eSports, top gamers battle for multimillion dollar prizes as well as the adoration

of fans around the world. We'll tell you more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:30:34] LU STOUT: Now for most of us, gaming is just a casual hobby, but for pro-gamers it is a competitor's sport. It requires skill

and training and the payoff can be in the millions.

But competitive gaming is now a huge industry, and Don Riddell looks at just how much esports have grown and developed over the past few years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELLL, CNN WORLD SPORT: It's a scene you'd expect at any major sports event: fans lined up for hours outside, merchandise stands doing a

roaring trade, broadcast cameras ready for action and fever-pitch excitement during the game, except this...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a brilliant play going out...

RIDDELL: Is a little bit different.

This is esports, the sport for the digital generation. At the Intel Extreme Masters in Poland, some of the world's best teams are going head to

head in games like League of Legends and Counterstrike.

And it's already worth an absolute fortune.

RALF REICHERT, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ELECTRONIC SPORTS LEAGUE: The most simple way to describe esport is that 200 million fans worldwide watch it.

This is bigger than the NHL.

RIDDELL: Last year's League of Legends world championship final attracted 36 million viewers, an audience that sports like the NBA can only

dream of.

These are dynamic games in which lightning quick reflexes and communication are critical for success and players are fated like rock

stars.

OLOF MJBJER, PROFESSIONAL GAMER: When you're a player, you're so focused on

playing the games you don't -- you block everything out. But when you win, you see

everyone like, the whole arena full, it's unreal.

CRAIG LEVINE, CEO, ELECTRONIC SPORTS LEAGUE AMERICA: Players like Mjbjer (ph) in League of Legends are international icons Call of Duty

players like Nate Shot have over a 1 million Twitter followers. So, there's a stardom and celebrity element to it.

RIDDELL: Once maligned as a pastime for lethargic kids in basement, esports is now highly lucrative.

The Pakistan-born Said Sumeil Hassan (ph) has amassed career prize money of almost $2 million. He's just 17 years old.

As you can see, in this aptly named bar called Joystick, there's still a niche market for retro video games, but things have changed so much,

since Kong was king.

Over the last 15 years the advent of internet technology has enabled esports to explode into a highly sophisticated and global gaming community,

a creation of Twitch, of which Amazon paid almost a billion dollars in 2014 helped turn it into a spectator sport.

MARCUS GRAHAM, DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING, TWITCH: Twitch is a game changer, not only because of what it represents in that it represents

basically, like, the first global cable channel for esports.

KEVIN LIN, COO, TWITCH: As much as I might like Stephen Curry I probably can never see the guy anywhere. He probably will never respond to

a tweet of mine. It's very different in esports. And that all is happening on Twitch where my favorite League of Legends player

realistically might respond to my question.

I mean, I might even get to play a game with this guy.

RIDDELL: That's why sponsors are paying very close attention to the growth of esports. It might be the only way maybe to reach an elusive

young demographic.

Games like Starcraft II aren't just meant to be played, they were specifically designed with broadcasting in mind. And that's now an

industry standard, and it is impossible to cap the potential of esports in the future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gigi Cult (ph) secures his championship title 4-2.

REICHART: esports is a global sport. It has a huge advantage here any other sport and these teams usually are focused on regional

championships and then have some international competition. Esports is in its own definition global. You can play against someone in any game at any

time in the world, and, therefore, we're saying it's going to be from that perspective, actually much more global

than any sport can ever be.

CARLOS RODRIGUEZ, TEAM OWNER: It's safe to say esports will be very, very close, even though in compare with professional sports we see today,

like football, basketball and whatnot. For traditional sports and traditional media, so

to say, I would be scared, you know?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was our Don Riddell reporting. And he joins us now live from CNN Center with more on this incredibly competitive scene.

And Don, you know, I'm so curious because you are this veteran sports reporter. So, what got you interested in esports? I mean, when did you

realize, that yes, this was something worth covering?

[08:35:11] RIDDELL: Kristie, probably about 12 to 18 months ago. You're right, I've been covering sports for about 20 years, tradition

sports, or real sports, you might call them. But, you know, I slowly became aware of the fact that this community existed.

You know, I know that video games are very popular, but it wasn't until I got a new neighbor who is a video game developer and he and I

started talking about esports in the community, and just the numbers and the players and the

excitement, and how these gamers are treated. It really did open my eyes.

And once you start investing yourselves in this community, it is absolutely fascinating. There are an awful lot of untapped stories there.

The players are incredibly interesting, when you look at how dedicated and invested they are, training 12 to 14 hours a day. How much strategy is

involved. How they live. How they train. How they interact. The teams, the promoters.

The governance of this sport, which has a long way to go and people within esports I think mostly would agree with that and recognize that. It

is an absolutely fascinating industry, and one that I think is only going to get bigger and better and even more exciting.

LU STOUT: Yeah, and it is so big. It has, what, 148 million fans around the

world? I mean, esports is that big. But it's a significant number, but it's not fully embraced by the masses. So what needs to happen next? What

will it take for esports to become truly mainstream?

RIDDELL: Well, mainstream is interesting, isn't it? You could have a whole

conversation about what it means to be mainstream these days because this digital revolution really is redefining the media landscape as we know it.

But I guess traditionally mainstream would mean television. Various TV networks have tried their hand as broadcasting esports. CNN's broadcast

partner Turner is the latest to get involved. They've just gone live with the eLeague, which is a Counterstrike game just last week.

I think previous experiments haven't really worked out terribly well, and one of the reasons for that is that these are two completely different

cultures, television and esports. And I think for them to mesh successfully, the world of

television needs to respect that esports is its own thing and the two need to work together rather than the TV industry saying, you come on to TV,

we'll give you loads of money and this is how you're going to do it. I don't think that really works.

There is an argument to be made as to whether esports even needs television, because it's certainly doing very nicely on its own, thanks

very much, after the innovation of Twitch five or six years ago, but I think it's going to take time. I think it's interesting, you talk about 148 million enthusiasts.

An awful lot of the people who consume esports as viewers don't actually play it. And I think the more exposure it gets the more that's going to

change, the more this community grows up, I think you're going to see it's got a very, very long tail on it.

LU STOUT: Yeah, absolutely, and it is becoming increasingly mainstream with deals like the Turner deal that took plate just last week.

Don Riddell, thank you so much and take care.

Now, all of this week, we're going to have more on this topic, competitive gaming and its players. Esports, it favors mental skill over

physical strength, but men are noticeably dominating the industry both as players and as spectators.

So, Tuesday right here on News Stream we will hear from a top coach in Smite about the gender gap in esports and she'll telling me how she handles

the harassment that comes her way.

Now, you're watching News Stream and still to come, the cyber battle between hackers and tech companies. We're going to show you just how

quickly criminals can break into your smartphone and what security experts say we should do about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:26] LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, Apple and Google say that they're serious about protecting the privacy of smartphone users. And to do that, they're getting help from

cyber security experts to spot weaknesses in their software.

Oren Liebermann takes us inside a computer lab in Israel to show how easily hackers can break into your phone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I've come to the headquarters of Checkpoint, one of the world's leading cyber security firms

to learn about mobile security. And if my cell phone hasn't been hacked already, it's about to be.

So you just sent me a text message, new carriers settings, update available,

click to install. That's it, you want to click on this link?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

LIEBERMANN: Cyber expert Michael Shaolov, leads me through a series of mobile hacks. The first a common phishing attack. I get a text message

from a number with my area code. I click the link.

And that's it. It's installed.

Now they see everything on my phone.

I'm just going to go to CNN's website. They see that I've just typed in CNN.

They have access to what I'm typing, my emails, my cloud storage.

And that's it, it immediately picks up that I've typed in my email address, and the fake password that I typed in.

But who's careless enough to click on a link in a random message?

The next hack is one Checkpoint discovered and reported to Apple. It targets work networks on Apple's operating system.

The message looks professional. And it looks like it's coming from the employer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, on the device from this point on, you don't see anything. But from this point on, we have pretty much full control of

the device.

LIEBERMANN: Shaolov (ph) pulls the contact list and calendar from the phone. He gets an email with all the information. Hackers can use this

vulnerability for corporate espionage.

The final hack we go through is called stage fright.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, it's a vulnerability that affects nearly 90 percent of the Android devices.

LIEBERMANN: 90 percent of Android devices.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 90 percent of the Android devices.

LIEBERMANN: I get a message with a link to a Prince video. One click, and that's it. My phone is infected.

And now they have even more access than before.

UNIDENITIED MALE: We can actually take a photo of you.

LIEBERMANN: So he can take a picture of me right now?

He just did take a picture of me right now.

It's not the most flattering angle.

UNIDENTIED MALE: Yeah.

LIEBERMANN: And it's locked.

This is a different phone infected with the same malware. And you can see the phone isn't doing anything, I'm not doing anything with it, but

they are recording me right now on this phone, they can do it using the front camera

or the back camera, complete control over this phone.

Most cyber attacks still target desktops, but Shaolov (ph) says there's a dramatic shift as hackers figure how to monetize attacks on

mobile.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. But don't go anywhere, World Sport with Randam Jones (ph) is next.

END