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NEWS STREAM

North And South Korea Meet For Second Time In A Week; Hawaii Officer Who Sent Out False Alarm Reassigned; Trump Defends Himself Against Accusations Of Racism; Fighting In Idlib And Eastern Ghouta; Abbas: Trump Peace Efforts The Slap Of The Century; News Agency Rappler Stripped Of License In The Philippines; Environmental Impact of Oil Tanker Collision; Future of Fusion Energy; Reuters Chief Calls for Jailed Reporters Release. Aired at 8-9a ET

Aired January 15, 2018 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to News Stream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: A second meeting in a week. The North and South Korea get together at the DMZ, their focus, sports and music. Even though it was

declared a de-escalation zone, the fighting around Idlib and Syria has not delivered on its promise of safety.

We report on the fate of families who moved there. And the impact of an oil tanker collision in the East China Sea, one week on. Environmentalists

fear a major oil spill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Two weeks ago, North and South Korea weren't even talking, but now South Korea says the North plans to send a 140-member orchestra to

perform at next month's Winter Games.

Delegates from both side spent Monday in discussions at the demilitarized zone. This is the second time they have met face-to-face in a week.

Also at the meeting, Hyon Song-Wol, a member of Kim Jong-un's personal girl band, Moranbong. It may be also at the Olympics in South Korea. Now let's

bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks, she joins us live from Seoul.

And, Paula, round two of inter-Korean talks taking place today with more high-level talks due for Wednesday this week. Exactly what's being hashed

out in these talks?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, this is really the cultural parts of the discussions. The discussions have ended for the day.

They have come to some agreement.

We know now that North Korea will send about 140 members of the Samjiyon Orchestra. This is an orchestra in North Korea that usually entertains

invited guests into Pyongyang. So, they'll be coming here to South Korea.

They will not only perform in the area of the Olympics, but we also understand that they'll be performing in the capital, Seoul. So there's

been discussions, we understand, from the South Korea unification ministry about how to get them around, how to transport them.

The North has been requesting that they can actually come to North -- South Korea via the DMZ, so across the land border. The South hasn't agreed to

that at this point.

But we also know that North Korea is going to send a forward team to sort of sort out the logistics for their delegation. The South has said that

they assume the safety and convenience of the arts group.

Now, you can only imagine that that would mean they're potentially going to pickup the tab for the transport, the accommodation, the food of that

delegation whilst they're here in South Korea.

So from a cultural point of view, they are nailing down the details. This is really the nitty-gritty now that they're getting into exactly how it

would work.

And of course, less than a month to go to the Olympics, so they have to do this fairly quickly, which is why they'll have another meeting -- a higher-

level meeting on Wednesday. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Paula, there's some interesting commentary from KCNA, North Korean state media criticizing the South Korean president for giving Donald

Trump credit for the talks.

The KCNA also warning that the trains and buses carrying our reps to the Winter Olympics are still in Pyongyang. Paula, is this bluster or

something more?

HANCOCKS: Well, it's not smooth sailing that we're seeing at the moment. Obviously, the optics are good, the images of the North Korean and South

Korean delegation sitting opposite each other at the negotiating table, meeting at the truce village of Panmunjom in the DMZ.

But the fact is at the same time, the KCNA, the state-run media is carrying on business as usual, slamming the South Korean President, Moon Jae-in,

going back to their nickname for him, calling him the chief executive of South Korea, saying that he was really playing to his master when he came

up with that briefing last week, suggesting that he is just trying to please the U.S. and the U.S. President Donald Trump.

So even though you're having this very positive move forward when it comes to delegations agreeing on what exactly the details will be, sending these

delegations to the Pyeongchang Olympics, well you have the bigger picture.

KCNA is really not pulling back from insulting the South Korean president, but certainly for the most part, people are focusing on the positive

knowing that there is often this kind of rhetoric fro North Korea.

LU STOUT: All right, Paula HANCOCKS reporting, live from Seoul for us. Paula, thank you. Now, Hawaii is taking action after that false alarm

sparked 38 minutes of widespread panic on Saturday. An emergency worker accidentally sent a message to cell phones warning of an incoming ballistic

missile.

That worker has now been reassigned and Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency is apologizing for the error. Sara Sidner reports, people took

shelter wherever they could, before they were notified that it was all just a mistake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:05:00] SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The state legislature has told me that he was the he was huddling with his family in their bathtub. His

daughter looked up at him and said, daddy, are we at war? And he said, yes.

Speaking very emotionally, tears in his eyes, he reacted very much the same way as many people in Hawaii reacted who saw those warnings, both on

television, radio, and more importantly, theire cell phones, because it said that this was not a drill.

Here's how people reacted to all of this. And then I'll tell you a little bit about what authorities are doing to try to keep it from ever happening

again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard to stay calm when you don't know what's happening. We kept looking out the window in case we saw something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nearly notified the hotel that I want to check out and head to the airport because I don't want to stick around to see if this

place is going to get blown up or not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got a message to my grandkids at home and it just - - it made me realized, my god, I could have never seen them again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is not enough time to probably get in and get home. So, I just told them let me use your phone and let me call my wife

and tell her I love her.

SIDNER: Now, Vern Miyagi who is the administrator for the State Emergency Management Agency said he is in there. They have been looking at these

procedures.

This all happened during a shift change, which there are three of inside the state warning point that is just behind me in the Diamond Head Crater,

they are in a bunker actually and that's where they operate.

They said there was shift change. There was -- they were testing the systems and the wrong button was pushed. That was how it was told to me

and to the public as well. We will be speaking to them a bit later on about exactly what they are doing to stop this from happening again.

But one thing that we should make very clear is that, you know, now, that people have had the scare. There is a lot of talk here, something that

government had wanted earlier of what to do in case there is an attack. People are discussing now where would they go, what do they need to have in

their homes.

The government was the first in the nation to upgrade its alarm system -- it's the alert system, the sirens that would go off here. This is

certainly not how they wanted to warn the public though.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Sara Sidner reporting there from the U.S. State of Hawaii. Now, it is Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. Americans are celebrating the

civil rights icon and what would have been his 89th birthday.

And as they pay tribute to King's fight for racial equality, their president, Donald Trump, is on the defensive, denying that he is a racist.

This comes after days of controversy over his reported remarks on Haiti and some African nations. CNN's Kaitlan Collins has more from Mr. Trump's Mar-

a-Lago resort in Florida.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, an extraordinary statement from the president on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, denying that

he's a racist and denying that he made disparaging remarks about people from African countries during a meeting with lawmakers in the Oval Office -

- a meeting that has now pitted lawmakers against each other, arguing over which vulgar language the president used.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not a racist. I am the least-racist person you have ever interviewed, that I can tell you.

COLLINS: President Trump on defense after days of outrage over his disparaging comments about immigrants from Haiti and some African nations.

TRUMP: Did you see what various senators in the room said about my comments? They weren't made.

COLLINS: Lawmakers who attended the meeting offering differing accounts about whether Mr. Trump referred to these countries as shitholes.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), ILLINOIS: He said these hate-filled things, and he said them repeatedly.

COLLINS: The lone Democrat in the meeting, Senator Dick Durbin, arguing the president did use the vulgar characterization, while two of Mr. Trump's

Republican allies said Friday that they did not recall the phrase before insisting Sunday that it did not happen.

SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R), GEORGIA: He did not use that word, George. And I'm telling you, it's a gross misrepresentation.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: I didn't hear that word either. I certainly didn't hear what Senator Durbin has said repeatedly.

COLLINS: Senator Tim Scott telling, The Charleston Post and Courier, that fellow Republican Lindsey Graham told him the comments are basically

accurate.

SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: I was in a meeting directly afterwards where those who had presented to the president our proposal spoke about the

meeting. And they -- they said those words were used before those words went public.

COLLINS: The bitter infighting is stalling talks over a potential immigration deal that would protect DREAMers.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: You can't have an immigration compromise if everybody is out there calling the president a racist.

COLLINS: The president declaring Sunday morning that DACA is, quote, probably dead, but later leaving the door open.

TRUMP: We are ready, willing and able to make a deal on DACA, but I don't think the Democrats want to make a deal.

COLLINS: The stalemate raising concerns that a deal will not be reached ahead of Friday's budget deadline to avoid a government shutdown.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: I, for one will not vote for government funding until we get a deal on DACA.

TRUMP: I don't know if there will be a shutdown. There shouldn't be.

COLLINS: President Trump also addressing this frightening false alarm in Hawaii.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. Pacific Command has detected a missile threat to Hawaii.

[08:10:00] A missile may impact on land or sea within minutes. This is not a drill.

COLLINS: The mistake sending panicked residents running for their lives. President Trump suggesting that tension with North Korea contributed to the

chaos.

TRUMP: But part of it is that is people are on edge. But maybe eventually we'll solve the problem, so they won't have to be so on edge. We have

great talks going on. The Olympics you know about. A lot of things can happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Now, Kristie, the outcry over the president's remarks comes at a time when Republicans and Democrats could be discussing how to keep the

government from shutting down in a few days.

But instead, they're arguing over, the president's language. And as a reminder, Kristie, the federal government runs out of money in just four

days.

LU STOUT: All right. That was, Kaitlan Collins, reporting, a very critical week, indeed, for the U.S. president. Now, U.S. stock markets,

they start off the week at record highs.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of President Trump's inauguration and the remarkable trump rally shows little sign of slowing down. CNN's

Richard Quest takes a look at an economic overhaul that's happening very quietly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: Within weeks of coming into office, Donald Trump promised to cut two regulations for every new regulation brought in.

Now, the White House says it's gone way, way beyond that, cutting 22 regulations for every new one. And thousands more have either been delayed

or withdrawn.

The impact of all of this deregulation may not be immediately obvious, but it's certainly starting to have an effect. Just talk to chief executives.

Every year, the business roundtable asked members, what's the biggest cost pressure on their business? Now, last year, for the first time in six

years, regulatory costs were not number one. Labor costs were, instead.

The executives say that the lack of regulation creates confidence in the economy. Add to this consumer confidence, which is close to 17-year high,

and that's pushed the stock market, the Dow Jones to all-time records, as we're seeing, last week.

But this is about much more than just the stock market and a few records. Look at the detailed list of areas targeted for deregulation in Donald

Trump's first year in office. It's very detailed.

And it includes everything from clean power to clean water, from firearms to net neutrality. Now, tweaking these rules will transform the U.S.

economy in ways that may take years to become full apparent.

And anyways, economists are divided on whether it will help or harm. Whatever the impact, this is an economic overhaul right under our very

nose. And as we can see, the president is only just getting started. Richard Quest, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And Quest takes a closer look at President Trump's deregulation all this week. Be sure to tune into Quest Means Business, 9:00 p.m. London

time, 5:00 a.m. here in Hong Kong. You're watching News Stream.

And still to come, thousands travel to cities like Idlib to get away from war-torn Aleppo, but Syria's civil war has reached many in these supposed

safe zones. We'll hear their stories, next. And Palestinian leaders slam President Trump's Middle East peace efforts as the slop of the century.

We've got the details, next.

[08:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. This is News Stream. Now the fight against ISIS may have died down in Syria, but the

country's civil war is fierce as ever.

And it's hitting so-called de-escalation zones. These are places that were supposedly safe under a Russian-led ceasefire, but it's only seen more

fighting.

This video comes from the White Helmets rescue group trying to reach civilians in Eastern Ghouta. It says government air strikes killed nearly

180 people on enclave.

And this video from Syrian rebels appears to show fresh fighting near Idlib, another de-escalation zone. Arwa Damon spoke to a family who fled

to Idlib from Aleppo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It feels like one is peering into a macabre dollhouse of broken lives. Bits of concrete tumble down as people try to

clean up or salvage what they can amid the horrors that they can't escape.

Five of his relatives were killed in that building, three children among them. Images like these are familiar a year ago from the siege of Aleppo.

But this is Idlib City. This is where families were supposed to be safe. This was meant to be a refuge, one of the last remaining ones.

Part of a so-called de-escalation zone that lately has become anything but. The four strikes that hit here happened five days before we arrived. And

many of those we met have actually fled from Aleppo.

(on camera): (Speaking Foreign Language). So lucky they were in that back room.

MOHAMMAD MONTAKHAB (PH), IDLIB RESIDENT: Yes.

Mohammad Montakhab (ph) is haunted by all he has lost. His wife was killed in Aleppo six years ago. He's raising his two sons on his own.

We asked where the boys are now and his eyes filled with tears. We fled from Aleppo to get here, he told us, whispering, choking on his words.

There is no solution, there is just no solution. The boys were both studying for exams when the bombs shook the building, sucked the air out of

the room, and everything went pitch black.

They were screaming daddy, daddy, Mohammed remembers. He couldn't find them right away. When the kids were younger, back during happier times.

What childhood, he laments. "What childhood? Children have lost everything in life."

We head south where some towns already feel deserted. In Maarat al-Numan closer to the front lines of the fighting, children rummage through the

aftermath of bombs to look for plastic to sell.

We do get scared. We hide from the bombs, they say. The Syrian regime and its foreign backers' latest push seems aimed at eliminating or at the very

least suffocating the last major rebel stronghold.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been on the move the last few weeks, many fleeing ahead of what they know is coming or as soon as the first

strikes hit.

Some live in makeshift camps along the road to Turkey, bringing everything they can, including their livestock. By now, everyone is resigned to

knowing that no one is going to save them. No one is going to stop the violence.

Rada (ph) and her family were initially in ISIS territory over a year ago. As they were fleeing, there was an explosion, her daughter (INAUDIBLE)

almost lost her leg.

I don't like to remember, the seven-year-old tells us. They thought they would be safe but then the regime and the Russians started bombing. Four

days ago, they arrived here.

Turkish aid organizations are building new and expanding old camps in Syria right up against their border. Mohammad's youngest, was born in the camp,

the day they arrived.

He's saying freedom, Abdul Karim (ph) bitterly jokes, if a barrel bomb had hit us when we were sleeping, it would have been more merciful.

[08:20:00] Syria's remaining rebel areas risk turning into the next Aleppo, only this time even fewer people are watching, even fewer seem to care.

For many we spoke to here, it's not about if this area will also get bombed, it's about when. And how many souls can get crushed into this

shrinking safe space? And what happens when it's gone. Arwa Damon, CNN, Idlib, Syria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Nowhere is safe for Syrians. A brutal report there by CNN's Arwa Damon. Now in neighboring Iraq, 26 people were killed in a double

suicide attack in Baghdad. Dozens are wounded.

The bombers detonated their vests in a busy square, packed with day laborers. This is the first major attack since Iraq declared victory over

ISIS last month. And there has been no claim of responsibility.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is calling U.S. President Donald Trump's peace efforts, the slap of the century. That is a complete

reversal of the more hopeful tone he sounded after his meeting with Mr. Trump last September. Instead, Mr. Abbas is now making it clear he does

not want the U.S. in charge of any mediation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY PRESIDENT (through a translator): The political negotiations should be under international mediation and not sole

American mediation. Should I make it clear? We do not accept America as a mediator between us and Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Let's get a closer look at the continuing tensions following Mr. Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Oren

Liebermann is there, he joins us now live.

And, Oren, an angry, a defiant Mahmoud Abbas spoke out against Israel, against the U.S. over Jerusalem. But what does he see as the path forward

to peace?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this wasn't a speech where he laid out any details about how he sees the Palestinians moving forward.

This was a speech about expressing what you just saw, expressing that anger.

In terms of the future, Palestinian authority President Mahmoud Abbas simply said, we need to work on Palestinian reconciliation between his own

Fattah Party and Hamas in Gaza. Hamas wasn't even at the PLO Central Council meeting.

And he said, we no longer accept the U.S. as a mediator for peace so we need to bring in international groups. But it was in more detailed that

than. And that's because this wasn't a speech about foreign policy.

This was a speech directed straight to the Palestinians, the people, the street. And that's where he was aiming that anger, so they would hear it.

And that anger was pointed at the nearly everybody, it seems.

At the U.S. and Israel, and that's perhaps obvious, but he also attacked the British for the Balfour Declaration, a hundred years ago which was seen

as important in creating the state of Israel. He wanted an apology and compensation.

He attacked the Europeans for his -- for what he said was creating a state of Israel as a colonial enterprise as a European interest. He even

attacked other Arab states, saying we don't interfere in your affairs, don't interfere in ours.

And although, Kristie, he didn't name any specific countries there, that's seen as pointing directly at Saudi Arabia which was working with Trump on

the peace plan there.

A plan we now learn from Abbas did not include any part of Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian State. So this was an angry speech, as you

pointed out, a defiant speech, directed straight at the Palestinian street, trying to build up support for Abbas.

LU STOUT: Abbas spoke out in such strong, critical words against a number of countries, including Israel. How have Israeli officials reacted?

LIEBERMANN: The responses seem to be first stunned by the rhetoric that Abbas used. We heard from Israeli President Reuven Rivlin who said, Abbas

hasn't used this sort of language in years, back when he was accused of anti-Semitism and holocaust denial.

And that's been largely the sentiment we've heard from Israelis, shock and surprise at the anger within this speech, and therefore a rejection of

Abbas' speech.

LU STOUT: And the meeting where this speech took place, the PLO meeting, did it also raise questions about unity among Palestinians, given the fact

that keep groups were not there?

LIEBERMANN: Unity is always the big question, perhaps you would say, the elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. The Palestinians consider

it important, because united between West Bank and Gaza makes them a more powerful political and diplomatic force.

But as you point out, because Hamas from Gaza and Islamic Jihad weren't there, it's even difficult to have any sort of unity at this central

counsel meeting.

So although they view it as important, there was no vision laid out about how to achieve unity, about how to pursue reconciliation. Abbas simply

said, it's one of the priorities at this point, though it remains difficult.

What's important to see in the perspective here of this speech is that today, is perhaps the more important today, because this is when the

Central Counsel makes its decisions, drafts its decision and one of the things Abbas said is -- one of the important moves that has to be made here

is now revising the agreements between the Israelis and Palestinians. How are those revised? That's what we expect to learn in a few hours when the

second day of the Central Counsel meeting begins.

[08:25:02] LU STOUT: Got it. Oren Liebermann reporting live for us from Jerusalem. Oren, thank you. You're watching News Stream.

And still to come, the head of the Reuters news agency is calling for the prompt release of its jailed journalist. And we have an update on what he

told CNN's Brian Stelter, next.

And also ahead, a look at the environmental impact after an oil tanker sank, creating concern that there might be a major oil spill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: South Korea's unification ministry tells CNN that North Korea plans to send a 140-member orchestra to perform at the Winter Olympics.

The two are also talking about forming a joint women's ice hockey team. More talks are scheduled for Wednesday.

A rescue group in Syria says government air strikes killed nearly 180 people in Eastern Ghouta in just over two weeks. The White Helmet

volunteers say Syria has stepped up its assault on rebel held zones in Syria's civil war. The fighting by Syrian troops and rebel groups is in

violation of a cease-fire.

The Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says U.S. President Trump's Middle East peace plan is the slap of the century.

At a meeting of senior officials, Mr. Abbas seemed to confirm that the Trump administration wants to set the town of Abu Dis as a future

Palestinian state capital. Mr. Abbas said the U.S. should not have led -- have a lead role as mediator in future peace talks.

Jakarta police say 77 people were injured when part of the second floor of the city's stock exchange collapse. This video shows a group of people

falling from the walkway, as it crashed to the floor below.

You can see rubble near the entrance of the building. The stock exchange says trading was not affected. Now to the Philippines, where a news agency

is accusing the government of an attack on freedom of the press. The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has just revoked the license

of the news platform of Rappler.

CNN Philippines reports, the commission accuses Rappler of giving foreigners a controlling stake and then trying to conceal it, something

that would violate the Philippine constitution.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now let's hear from the executive editor and CEO of Rappler, Maria Ressa, is also CNN's former bureau chief in Manila and Jakarta, and

she joins us now from Manila via Skype.

Maria, good to talk with you. What's going on here? Why do you believe the authority in the Philippines shut down your media platform?

MARIA RESSA, CEO, RAPPLER: Well, first, we haven't been shut down and we're going to continue to appeal this. We have legal remedies in front.

It's business as usual for now.

[08:30:00] But the fact that this decision has been handed down and has also been forwarded to the Department of Justice is quite alarming. What

we're questioning is the rule of law. And it is on two-front.

First, press freedom issue. We've seen systemic attacks on journalists and on news organizations, including threats by President Duterte himself,

threats that have been carried out in different ways.

The second is an actual corporate battle, right? It's the corporate battle for an investment that is recognized by the Philippine constitution. Other

media groups have this. It's called a PDR, Philippine Depository Receipt.

It is legal and this is the same type of vehicle that the SEC, the regulatory body is questioning, and has now said that Rappler should lose

its license to operate because of this. And I think the last part of this is it impacts not just Rappler, but also international investors in the

Philippines.

The PDR that the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, voided is for a Myanmar network. This is the one that was by the founder of -- Pierre

Omidyar, the founder of eBay.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN NEWS STREAM SHOW HOST: OK, you haven't been shut down, you're still operating, but the government is stripping you --

stripping Rappler of your license. You believe this is politically- motivated decision? Do you believe that it is related to your coverage of Duterte's war on drugs?

RESSA: That's certainly what we're seeing, not just the war on drugs, but the fact that we question, we perform our role as journalists in this

society. The first is, we know that it did not follow procedural rules of due process. It skipped a few steps.

Something that our lawyers expected to take, at least a year's time, was shrunk down to about five months in process. And then second, even if there

is one clause that they find wrong, the pelty, the punishment is extremely severe. In the past, when there are -- when there are -- hold on one

second, so sorry about that. In the past, when there have been charges like this and when companies have lost it, they've been given a year to fix the

clause. Certainly no licenses have been -- have been stripped.

I think what we plan to do is to take this to the next legal remedy, to the next court, all the way up to the Supreme Court if we need to.

LU STOUT: You plan to appeal this decision, as you continue to operate. Maria Ressa of Rappler, thank you so much for joining us. Take care.

RESSA: Thanks.

LU STOUT: After burning for a week, an oil tanker that collided with a cargo ship sank. It was carrying a million barrels of oil on board. It had

drifted in waters between Shanghai and Japan. Questions are being asked about the environmental impact, and Green Peace says there is the

possibility of an oil spill.

The fuel tanks in these vessels are located close to the engine room. It is likely that the fuel tanks have remained intact since the initial collision

on the sixth of January. As the fuel oil cools, it will become more viscous which will help to slow or even prevent leaks.

In this scenario, it is possible that we will see chronic low volume leakage over a period of time at the seabed, impact which would remain

relatively local.

Earlier, I spoke with Chinese environmental consultant Ma Jun about this.

(START VIDEOTAPE)

MA JUN, ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT: When it comes to the volume of the condensed oil, this is one of the largest, but on the other hand, you know,

through up to eight days of burning and towards the end of the sinking, there's violent explosion.

How much condensed oil has been left and how much of that had carried with the sunken ship to the bottom of the sea? I think that matters a lot. What

also matters is that the -- this condensed oil is toxic to the aquatic region, even the bacteria that can used to be able to, you know, usually

can break down, help break down the crude oil.

So without the impact, it could be longer term. But on the other hand, this -- this oil is very light, so it will come to the surface more. And also,

it's highly volatile so it will volatilize into the air, you know, through the burning and volatilization.

Having said that, the collision site was was within the carrier which considered to be one of the richest fishing ground in China, the Zhoushan

fishing ground. Although the sunken site is out of that fishing ground,

[08:35:00] we still need to keep an eye on how the contaminants might be carried by the ocean flow to the -- to have the impact on the fishing

ground.

LU STOUT: And how is this incident being reported from inside China? Are people in the affected coastal communities, especially those who work in

the seafood and fishing industries, are they aware of the danger here?

JUN: Over the past couple of days, there has been intensive reporting in the Chinese media. The shocking picture of the burning and the explosion

have attracted a lot of public attention. And so, hopefully, the local fishermen and those who work on the fishing industry, this has caught their

attention.

Yes, we need to have monitoring now and I trust that the monitoring need to kept for quite a long time. This accident will have a negative impact to

the environment and we assume it will have a long-term negative impact.

How much this impact will be, it depends on the volume, how much the oil is still left after all these days of burning and explosion. So, that part, I

think the researchers and the officials are busy making the assessments at this moment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Ma Jun speaking to me earlier. After the break, what some scientists call the holy grail of renewable energy. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. You're watching "News Stream." It is considered the holy grail of renewable energy. Scientists in Germany and elsewhere are

working to crack the conundrum of nuclear fusion. Isa Soares has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's a precision and an estimated one million manpower hours to build the Wendelstein 7-X. Each

wire, each welding is a step closer to mastering the last remaining unharnessed primary energy source on the planet, nuclear fusion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an amazing project and the reason I got into this line of work years ago was because of my interest in working on a project

that can develop a new energy source for us.

SOARES (voice over): A team of over 400 scientists from around the world have gathered at the Max Planck Institute in northern Germany to work on

the one machine, technically called stellarator after the Latin word stella, meaning star.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fusion is a process that powers the sun, that makes the sunlight, things that warm us on earth. What we are doing is to copy the

process, the actual process under different conditions, under conditions that can be mastered by a human.

SOARES (voice over): Nuclear energy already provides 11 percent of the world's electricity,

[08:40:00] from nuclear power plants operated by a process called nuclear fission. But this is hardly without risk, given the long-term challenges of

securing hazardous waste, highlighted by the explosion (INAUDIBLE) back in 1986. Wendelstein is a whole different ball game.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like a pool game. Most important is for us to distinguish between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion is

fusing light, nuclear fission is splitting a nucleus. That's the biggest difference, because these fission products are basically a problem, because

that's just generating the nuclear waste.

Fusion is like a collision, it happens in the core. And in the core of an atom, there's the energy, there's the actual energy. The fuel we are using

for nuclear fusion is so more energy efficient. It is 10 million times more efficient than burning coal.

SOARES (voice over): The key to make the nuclei react is a special fluid which is called plasma.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So the stars are made of plasma. Almost everything in the universe and its light is in plasma state. It's very common in universe

and very rare on earth. So you have to create this state of matter. And for that, you need to build a machine.

SOARES (voice over): The stellarator must heat and contain the plasma at more than 100 million degrees Celsius. And for this, it needs a magnetic

cage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Basically, you can imagine Wendelstein 7-X as a bottle, as a magnetic bottle. It is a ring-shaped bottle and you are filling this

hot plasma into this bottle. And the task of the bottle is to keep the plasma hot.

SOARES (voice over): Wendelstein is one of the number of fusion projects worldwide. Among them and on an even bigger scale is the ITER project in

southern France, funded by the E.U.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wendelstein 7-X is clearly one of the most advanced machines in the world and also a big hope.

SOARES (voice over): Manpower, brain power, and over $1 billion have been invested into it. But Klinger (ph) believes it's worth it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This fuel is available to everybody and that's something really new about this primary energy source.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And finally, an urgent appeal. The editor in chief of the Reuters news agency tells CNN its two journalists jailed in Myanmar need

help now. They face 14 years in prison over charges they illegally acquired information with the intention to share it with foreign media. The two had

been reporting on the military crackdown against the Rohingya.

Steve Adler, he spoke with CNN's Brian Stelter, you can hear what he has to say on CNN.com/reliablesources.

That is "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Alex Thomas is next.

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[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

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