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NEWS STREAM

Survivor Of Alleged Massacre Recalls Horrific Ordeal; Search Continues For 110 Abducted Schoolgirls; Life After Slavery In Libya; Putin Focuses On Russia's Military Capability; Russian Seductress: I'll Trade Info For Freedom; Communications Director Hicks Abruptly Resigns; Trump Signals Support For A Variety Of Gun Reforms. Aired at 8-9a ET

Aired March 01, 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)

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I am Anna Coren in Hong Kong, and welcome to News Stream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: They are not dead yet. A Rohingya teenager told CNN about how soldier in Myanmar tried to kill him before he access Bangladesh.

Rescued from slavery -- we have the exclusive story of a young man who wanted a better life with his family, ended up trapped in Libya. And

people who stay warm legally. China's less fortunate who have to burn coal, even though it's banned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: We begin with an exclusive CNN report on the tragic Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, where is, of course, nearly 700,000 refugees run for their

lives. Well, this past August, the military allegedly killed dozens of Rohingya men and boys living in the village of Maung Nu in Rakhine State,

only two men survived. We spoke to one of those survivors, still bares the scars of his unthinkable ordeal. But we must warn you, viewers may find

some of these images disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Rohingya villagers filming with their phones as they follow a trail of blood in Maung Nu in Rakhine State. Human rights watchers are late but

thousands were shot and stabbed to death in this town by Myanmar's military in August 2017.

Allegations that the Myanmar government has denied saying it targeted Rohingya insurgence but not civilians after a deadly attack on a security

post.

MUHAMEDUL HASSAN, MAUNG NU MASSACRE SURVIVOR (through a translator): I saw my own brother along with the 10 other people shot and killed in front of

my eyes.

COREN: This cellphone video was released by the Arakan project, a rights group that advocates on behalf of the Rohingya. The video has not been

independently verified by CNN as journalists have little or no access to the region.

In the video, the rights group says, residents returned to the blood shedding street is their town desperate to find families and gather

evidence of what happens. One gruesome discovery -- the body of a young man.

(CROSSTALK)

COREN: Muhamedul Hassan shows his wounds. Four months later, CNN finds the teenager living in a Refugee camp in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. He

says he was shot by the army but managed to escape by claiming dead.

HASSAN (through a translator): There were -- a soldier pointing a gun on me and he said, you are not dead yet? And he shot me again in the chest.

After 10 minutes, he went away to the other soldiers. And I crawled and fled away to my own.

COREN: In November 2017, security forces announced the construction of a new military outpost in Maung Nu village.

CHRIS LEWA DIRECTOR, THE ARAKAN PROJECT: A bulldozer came to the village to open and clear an area for this front. But, as you know, in other

region of northern Rakhine and particularly in Maung Nu, where villages have been burned, there have been vast destruction and demolition.

COREN: Myanmar government agencies have denied that the bulldozing of empty homes is intended to cover-up evidence of wrongdoing. They say towns

and fields have been cleared to the construction of housing to Rohingya refuges being evacuated.

AUNG TUN THET, UNION ENTERPRISE FOR HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE: (Speaking Foreign Language)

COREN: Muhamedul says he remains in touch with former neighbors in Maung Nu by a cell phone. With little to no aid arriving in the town, they tell

you, they also want to leave to Bangladesh. After fire, death and demolition in a village where Muhamedul grew up, he may no longer have a

house in his own.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, CNN will continue to accord on the Rohingya crisis. You can watch our interview with a Nobel Peace laureate who visited Bangladesh and

cast there this week, to the third laureate to call the crackdown on Rohingya genocide.

You can watch that at CNN.com/newsstream. Well, more than 100 schoolgirls kidnapped last week in northeastern Nigeria are desperately trying to get

any news they can about their daughters. The girls were abducted when suspected Boko Haram militants raided their school in the town of Dapchi.

[08:05:00] Well, CNN's David McKenzie traveled there to see some of those who escape the attack and joins us now live from Kano. And, David, you are

one of the first western crews to travel to where the girls were kidnapped, and spoken to their family members and their friends, some of those girls

who actually escaped the raid. I can only imagine you have listen to some pretty harrowing stories. What do they tell you?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anna, they are really distraught as you can imagine and many of the survivors say they lost sisters in that

attack. One saying, they had to hand their 11-year-old sister but they lost and been free, and then the militants who attacked the school

pretending to be a Nigerian soldiers who took them.

They came with a flatbed truck and two -- three other cars, clearly though it is there to take children. The question is, why did the Nigerian

military removed their forces from their front-line village some weeks ago, right before it seems those militants attack or a few weeks before. We

spoke to some survivors. They are distraught that their sisters are missing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I haven't seen my sisters since it happened. I tried to call her number and it didn't go through. In the morning, I looked for

here at the school but I just couldn't find her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I worry that I have lost her for good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: Well, Anna, the parents have compiled a list of 110 men ranging from 11-years-old to 19-years-old, and they are wondering why has this

happened again in Nigeria. There had been a state of kidnappings over the years.

Of course most famously, the Chibok girls, 400 years ago -- four years ago, and 300 of those girls and the question is, how did it happen again? Such

eerily similar scenes playing out in Nigeria with the country and that village, of course, absolutely outraged. Anna.

COREN: David, what is the latest on the search effort?

MCKENZIE: Well, I have seen military airline -- military planes on the tarmac here in Kano. They say -- the government says they have scrambled

jets and choppers to look in to the areas in the Northeast of Nigeria.

But because of that confusion in the first few days in the immediate aftermath of this kidnapping, it's very difficult to figure out how they

would manage to find these girls and rescue them safely at this point.

So really now, the parents have very few options. They are pushing the government to do what they can. Muhammadu Buhari, the President of Nigeria

said he will do everything to get those schools back safely.

That really feels like this could be another drawn-out situation. Hundred of the Chibok girls are still missing. They were eventually released, the

others by escaping and by ransom payment.

So despite the gains Nigeria has made against ISIS affiliated Boko Haram in this region, there really is a sense that they clawed back some of their

advantage and they still able to, sort of, do these terrible kidnappings and suicide attacks in the region I am standing.

COREN: Well, David, we certainly appreciate your reporting. David McKenzie join us form Kano in Nigeria. Thank you very much. Well, CNN has

been giving you an in-depth look at the world of human trafficking through out, Nima Elbagir's, undercover reporting.

She pose as a migrants in Nigeria to uncover how pusherman, human smugglers exploit these desperate people trying to get to Europe. Well many of whom

find themselves being sold as slaves but according to the international organization for migration, more than 10,000 migrants risked their freedom

and lives since the beginning of this year alone to get to Europe.

Well, Nima, follows up on one migrants named Victory who was sold into slavery in Libya. He survived the deadly journey and escaped but return to

Nigeria. We see his dreams shattered.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Benin City in Nigeria is the trafficking capital of the country. It's one of the most

trafficked from departure points in the whole continent.

It's where tens of thousands of young people, men and women, head off for their dream of Europe. It's also where tens of thousands of them are

returned with that shattered, and today, we're hoping to meet one of those returnees.

VICTORY, LIBYAN MIGRANT: (Speaking Foreign Language)

ELBAGIR: The last time we saw Victory, he was lying on the floor of a Libya Detention Center, just rescued from slavery, begging to be sent back

home. Now, he is back in Nigeria but have he found his happy ending? How do you feel coming back here?

The last time we saw Victory he was lying on the floor of a Libyan detention center just rescued from slavery, begging to be sent back home.

Now he is back in Nigeria, but has he found his happy ending. How do you feel coming back here?

[08:10:00] VICTORY: A lot of people lost their lives over there, I am happy that I didn't lose my life. I'm back home now, so I can take another

step. So I am happy.

ELBAGIR: Victory is responsible for his mother and three younger siblings. His mother says she's too embarrassed to show her face on camera. Too

embarrassed to admit her family was desperate enough that her son risked everything to try and make his way to Europe.

VICTORY: I also have the children to care of so just to see what I can for myself. Even where I am working now, if I get 3,000 naira a day I have to

split it into three. The money is not even enough to feed us.

When I go to work I don't even eat. If I eat from that money there will be nothing left for me. Maybe if I want to eat dinner, maybe once, it should

be in the evening so that is just it.

If I was to come here and eat with them when there is no much food to eat. So I just have to face everything on my own. So let me see what I can do

for myself. So I'm happy to work even though the pay is not good.

ELBAGIR: Victory is homeless, afraid to burden his mother with his presence, another mouth for her to feed. If anything, Victory, says their

life now is worse since his return from Libya, but that doesn't mean he's giving up.

VICTORY: Because everything I do is because of them. I believe that I have to be somebody tomorrow. I have to do something with my life, things

will go well, just move on with my life, that's it.

ELBAGIR: After we did the interview with you in Libya, a lot of people got in touch to say that they thought that you were a hero, for having survived

what you survived. Do you feel like a hero?

VICTORY: I am happy that my life has a day to face tomorrow to see what I can do for myself.

ELBAGIR: How many more like Victory will attempt the journey to Europe, thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Many returning to poverty they say is

even more dehumanizing than the horrors they down in Libya.

Victory, though, is convinced that his will be a happy ending. But like he did in Libya, he will again find the strength to survive. Nima Elbagir,

CNN, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, is fighting to end modern-day slavery and shine a spotlight on the horrors of human trafficking. We are teaming up with young people

around the world for student-led day of action on March 14th. Well, we ask what does freedom mean to you?

On the mean time, we have got a way for you to help trafficking victims like, Victory. Just go out website at CNN.com/freedom, and you find a link

to the international committee of the Red Cross Libya crisis appeal.

And tune in tomorrow whenever is Max Forster's guest on a special edition of CNN Talk to take your questions about who work on human trafficking and

what action is prompted to stop these. That is CNN Talk on Friday, 2:00 p.m. in London, 1:00 p.m. in Berlin and 8:00 p.m. in Hong Kong, only on

CNN.

Well, still ahead on News Stream, Vladimir Putin delivers his annual presidential address just weeks before he is up for reelection. What the

Russian leader says about his country's nuclear capability.

Plus, the U.S. president stuns that group of bipartisan lawmakers during a meeting at the White House with his comments on gun control. So the

question remains, what's the case reports.

[08:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: Welcome back. More bombing, more fighting, more death, more destruction, well, those are the words of the United Nation's emergency

release coordinator on what's happening in the last two days in Northern Syria.

A daily five-hour ceasefire is doing next to nothing to help civilians and rebel controlled Eastern Ghouta. We obtained a video from a government

controlled area right outside Ghouta, and it meant to provide a way out for civilians.

You can ambulances and buses out there but reportedly no one came out on Wednesday. Well, Mr. Putin only made a parting mention of Syria in his

annual address to the nation but he did focus on Russia's military capability.

CNN's Matthew Chance joins us now from Moscow. And, Matthew, obviously, a lot of ground to cover but let's begin with the alarming claims that Putin

made during his State of the Nation Address. Russia has developed an invincible missile that can reach anywhere in the world. How seriously

should we take this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think -- I think very seriously. This was -- this was a speech that Vladimir Putin gave to both

houses Russian parliament. It comes just three weeks before the presidential election in this country, which he is expected to win.

And he made what was one of his sort of toughest, sort of anti-Western speeches that he has made in some time. Basically warning his adverse

reason and in the west in particular not to mess with Russia.

He spoke about the new strategic weapons the country has developed or in development right now including these what they called invincible missiles

that can strike anywhere on the planet with no limitations in range.

And he spoke about other missiles that are hypersonic, so super fast and cannot be brought don by the U.S. missile defense system. All the missiles

which were very maneuverable and were equally able to avoid the deployments in Eastern Europe of the U.S. missile defense system.

Basically, the message from Vladimir Putin as he spoke to parliamentary and of course it was broadcast on national television as well, it was very much

that Russia as a military power is back. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through a translator): No other country in the world has this kind of arsenal. Why did we do all of this? Why did

we agree on it? There were absolutely no secrets about it.

We said it absolutely public to all out colleagues, despite all the problems that we encountered in terms of economy and finances, industry and

so on, Russia has still has the greatest potential in the world but nobody listened to us -- now listen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHANCE: Well, now listen to us -- that was the final words of Vladimir Putin there in a not so veiled morning to Russia's adversaries. He also

went on to criticize the new U.S. nuclear doctrine which he said lowers the bar for the use of nuclear weapons.

He made the point that, you know, if any nuclear attack even a small-scale nuclear attack is carried out, obviously against Russia or any of its

allies, then that would be considered as a proper nuclear assaults on the motherland, on Russia and the response, he said from Russia would be

immediate. Anna.

[08:20:05] COREN: Matthew Chance, as always, good to see you. Matthew Chance there live from Moscow. Well, meanwhile, a self-proclaimed Russian

seductress is offering to share what she knows of allege ties between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

Well, it's hard to tell if she is a scare artist trying to get out of jail or has genuine information. But one is for certain, she did spend time

with some high-profile Russians. Matthew Chance has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: She promotes herself endlessly on social media as Nastya Rybka, the kind of self-styled Russian sex guru who'll supposedly teach you the

art of seduction for a fee, of course.

NASTYA RYBKA, RUSSIAN SEDUCTRESS (through a translator): Even if we're interacting with men who are famous actors, lawmakers, oligarchs,

scientists very few of these men when they interact with a woman discuss high-brow topics with them. If you want to seduce a man like that, he

needs to be hooked by his basic sexual instinct.

CHANCE: Amid snaps and titillating videos of her frolicking on yachts and exotic beaches, she brags of liaisons with billionaires -- and one

billionaire in particular.

These are the images that have thrust Nastya Rybka into the kind of spotlight she didn't expect. It shows her relaxing on a boat with two men.

One of them is Oleg Deripaska, one of Russia's richest men, the other a senior Russian official, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko.

Russia's main opposition leader sees on the images as evidence of official corruption, also suggesting the two men who could be heard discussing U.S.-

Russia relations may have served as a link between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

Prikhodko has refused to comment on the allegations. Deripaska has dismissed it as a story far from any truth. In a statement to CNN, his

spokesperson said he is suing Rybka and her business partner because they, quote, maliciously made his private photos and personal information public.

Mr. Deripaska, it's Matthew Chance from CNN. It's not the first time the Russian oligarch known to be close to the Kremlin has fended off

allegations of collusion.

CNN confronted him last year after it was revealed Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who once worked for Deripaska offered him private

briefings. Deripaska told CNN, he never received any communication about it.

Didn't you give millions of dollars? But it was after the promise of more detail, more information from Nastya Rybka who was holding one of her sex

and seduction classes on this beach in Thailand that this extraordinary story appears to have a taken a spy novel turn.

She was arrested by Thai police for violating the terms of her tourist visa, managing to record this quick tantalizing message aimed at the

American media that she was driven away.

RYBKA (through a translator): I'm ready to give you all the missing pieces of the puzzle, support them with videos and audio regarding the connections

of our respected lawmakers with Trump, Manafort and the rest. I know a lot. I'm waiting for your offers in a Thai prison.

CHANCE: They're probably just the words of a desperate woman hoping to avoid deportation to Russia. But her promise with no evidence so far to

unlock the mysteries of the Trump-Russia scandal have certainly got Nastya Rybka the attention she so often craved. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, turning now to chaos in the West Wing. U.S. President Donald Trump is losing yet another communications director. It comes in a

volatile time for the administration as the Special Counsel's investigation. Here is Abby Phillip.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump growing increasingly isolated after the abrupt resignation of one of his closest advisors, White

House Communications Director Hope Hicks. Hicks, is the fourth in that post to step down since Mr. Trump took office a year ago.

ROB ASTORINO, FRIEND OF PRESIDENT TRUMP: Hope was one of the people he really, really trusted. So with her leaving, there's only a handful left.

And he's going to feel like he's on an island.

PHILLIP: The White House attempting to downplay the shocking announcement, insisting that Hicks has been thinking about leaving for weeks. But Hicks'

departure came one day after she testified before a House Committee as part of their Russia probe, conceding that at times, she's told white lies for

President Trump.

A source tells CNN's Erin Burnett that this admission upset the president, who berated Hicks after her nearly nine hours of testimony.

A former Trump campaign aide telling CNN that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team has been inquiring about Hicks's remarks to The New York

Times shortly after the election, denying any contact between the campaign and Russian officials, a statement that has proven to be false.

[08:25:08] Only a handful of President Trump's original inner circle are now left in the White House as scrutiny over the president's son-in-law and

senior advisor, Jared Kushner, continues to grow.

The New York Times reporting the two companies loaned Kushner's family real-estate business more than $500 million after meeting with Kushner at

the White House.

JESSE DRUCKER, THE NEW YORK TIMES (via phone): You're seeing Jared Kushner meeting with executives in the White House. And then sometime after those

meetings, the companies that those executives work for, run or help to run are giving very sizable mortgages to his company.

PHILLIP: The Times reports that Kushner still owns the vast majority of his interest in his company. But a spokesman for his attorney insists that

Kushner has taken no part in any business, loans or projects with and for the Kushner companies since joining the White House.

Sources tell CNN that Kushner is worried that everyone in the West Wing is out to get him after having his top-secret clearance stripped by Chief of

Staff John Kelly.

All of this as the Mueller probe intensifies. The Washington Post reporting that Mueller's team is looking into whether President Trump's

efforts to oust and intimidate Attorney General Jeff Sessions last summer amounts to obstruction of justice.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am disappointed in the attorney general. He should not have recused himself almost immediately

after he took office.

PHILLIP: The Post adding that the president has privately refers to Sessions as Mr. Magoo, a cartoon character who is elderly, myopic and

bumbling.

President Trump lashing out at Sessions again, calling his approach to investigating alleged surveillance abuses disgraceful.

Sessions dining publicly with the other top members of the Justice Department, Wednesday night after firing back at the president's latest

attack in a rare statement.

As long as I am the attorney general, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor, and this department will continue to do

its work in a fair and impartial manner.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Abby Phillip reporting there. Well, meanwhile, Mr. Trump surprised bipartisan lawmakers in a televised meeting at the White House on Wednesday

by expressing support for a number of gun reforms opposed by the National Rifle Association and members of his own party.

He called for stronger background checks and raising the age limit to buy rifles. Well, a short time to ago, the president tweeted about the meeting

saying, many ides, some good and some not so good emerge from our bipartisan meeting on school safety yesterday at the White House.

Background checks, a big part of conversation. Gun free zones are proven targets of killers. After many years, a bill should emerge respect Second

Amendment.

Well, Congress and the White House struggled to agree on how to handle America's gun violence. There is no confusion in parts of corporate

America. The largest retailer in the U.S. won't last, a long with Dick's Sporting Goods announced on Wednesday, they are taking action.

Well, both companies say they will raise the age to buy a firearm to 21 regardless of the law. Well, Dick's Sporting Goods also said, it will stop

selling all assault-style rifles.

It will still selling high capacity magazine and it will stop selling accessories for AR-15s and similar types of guns. Well, company CEO says

it's time to take a step.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD STACK, CEO, DICK'S SPORTING GOODS: We think it's the right move and whatever happens, we think this is the right move. It's the right thing to

do for these kids.

It's the right thing to do for what's going on and we hope that it explores the conversation and brings people along to have a serious conversation

about what's happening in our schools and with gun violence, and put a stop to it.

I'm a gun owner myself and I'm a -- I'm a supporter of the Second Amendment. I'm a gun owner myself we have to do something about this.

This is tragic what's going on and we are taking a step.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Edward Stack there. Well, efforts by the Chinese government to fight air pollution have left its poorest residents choosing between

staying warm and obeying the law. A report from Matt Rivers is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00] ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Welcome back. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. You are watching "News Stream." These are your

world headlines.

In northeastern Nigeria, the search continues for 110 girls who haven't been seen since the school was raided by suspected Boko Haram militants

last well. Authorities say the girls aged between 11 and 19.

There is little sign of relief for people in Syria's northern war zone. The fighting in eastern Ghouta has only slightly (INAUDIBLE) on day three of

what Russia calls a five-hour humanitarian pause. The U.N. says trucks unloaded the supplies ready to enter the area (INAUDIBLE).

Vladimir Putin just wrapped up his annual presidential address where he only made a passing reference to the crosses (ph) in at Syria. But he did

focus on Russia's military capability, saying it has developed new missile that will make NATO defensive useless. Mr. Putin is up for reelection later

this month.

The Chinese government has taken drastic measures to fight air pollution, but in doing so, it left some of its poorest residents behind. CNN's Matt

Rivers met people in China's northeast who have been doing everything they can to survive the (INAUDIBLE).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The winter in Northern China doesn't care if you're poor. It doesn't care that Huang Yi-

min (ph) is 75, has heart problems, is partially paralyzed. The harsh air is relentless. And in the depths of poverty, coal is his only way to fight

back.

"Coal is so dirt. Leaves black soot all over," he says. So one shovelful at a time he feeds a furnace next to his bed. Not ideal but it's the only kind

of heat he can afford, which is why the government ban on coal is so brutal.

"I had to burn it secretly," he says. "How else could we survive?"

Coal is cheap and the primary heat source here, where many household incomes are as little as a few dollars a day. But burning coal is also a

major reason why the air here can look like this, a mad max-style hellscape, eye-burning air pollution so thick you can taste it.

So on October 2017, the Hubei Province government banned residential coal use. Instead, they hastily installed these yellow pipes meant to carry

cleaner natural gas to people's homes.

(on camera): But what homeowners are telling us is that buying that natural gas to heat their homes would be way more expensive than using

coal, and in most cases, it would be completely unaffordable.

(voice over): But even if you had enough money to buy natural gas, supply shortages meant that a lot of these pipes are empty. People were freezing,

coal was still being burned, and the public backlash was fierce, unusual in Communist China. So Beijing took notice, the ban on burning coal was lifted

in December, but the effects have lingered.

Mr. Wong's hands aren't usually clean but they were during the ban because he wasn't allowed to sell coal anymore. He is back at it now but business

isn't good.

"People don't dare buy too much," he says. "They fear coal could be banned again at any moment."

Huang Yi-min (ph) resents the choice that he was forced to make, follow the law or freeze.

"We are not being taken care of by the people in Beijing. They don't listen to us."

The government says it is working on new lasting

[08:35:00] solutions but the winter won't wait while they figure things out.

Matt Rivers, Hubei Province, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: UK is in a grip of an arctic freeze that is causing chaos across some parts of the country. (INAUDIBLE) the "beast from the east" brought

some zero temperatures and heavy snowfall. One of London's busiest transport hubs, Paddington Station, even had to close because of the wintry

weather. Across Britain the cold snap forced hundreds of schools to close as well. To make matters worse, more snow is expected today and tomorrow.

Just ahead on "News Stream," research find undergraduate university student making new ways to treat brain injuries. What she has learned that could

one day save lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: The president of the European Council said if Britain wants to avoid a hard border in Ireland, it keeps -- it needs, I should say, to come

up with a solution. Donald Tusk is making British Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss U.K.'s exit from the E.U.

Earlier, the European Commission released a draft proposal for Britain's withdrawal that could kick Northern Ireland inside the E.U. Customs Union.

Mr. Tusk said he wants to know if the U.K. has any better ideas.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TUSK, PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COUNCIL: One of the possible negative consequences of this kind of Brexit is a hard border on the island of

Ireland. The E.U. wants to prevent this scenario. Hence, if no other solution is found, the proposal to establish a common regulatory area

comprising the E.U. Union and the United Kingdom is respect to Northern Ireland.

And until now, no one has come up with anything wiser than this. In a few hours, I will be asking in London whether the U.K. government has a better

idea that will be as effective in preventing the hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, there. Benjamin Netanyahu's legal troubles are growing. Prosecutors say that for the first

time, they tied the Israeli prime minister to media bribery Case 4000, then he could be questioned by weekend (ph). He's not a suspect in the case yet

but he is into others.

Meanwhile, police have arrested an eight suspect in the growing corruption probe. The latest suspect is Eli Kamir, an Israeli media advisor.

Last stop on our program, CNN has been profiling young innovators who are changing the world of tomorrow today. Chief medical correspondent Sanjay

Gupta introduces us to a young researcher whose work may one day help treat brain injury and disease.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Every year, there are 10 million new cases of dementia diagnosed worldwide.

[08:40:00] That includes brain diseases like Alzheimer's. It is a massive economic and emotional burden on families. In tomorrow's hero, Indrani Das

is trying to find solution to these diseases by looking inside the brain itself.

INDRANI DAS, STUDENT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Diseases that affect the nervous system just ruin a person's quality of life. They take away from their

basic humanity. Because of that impact, I wanted to understand and to try to repair.

My name is Indrani Das. I'm an undergraduate student at Harvard University and I have been doing research with brain injury for the last four years.

What happens when there is an injury to brain tissue, neurons, the main signal-conducting cells of the brain, die. But then, the supporting cells

around them respond to that injury and oftentimes they end up secreting toxic chemicals that actually further the damage done to neurons.

When I was 14, I started working in my high school's biology lab, working with these supporting brain cells called astrocytes, growing them in a

petri dish. And one of my focuses was on how all these astrocytes are contributing to the death of neurons in the area.

One of the things I found is signaling molecule glutamate actually piles around these astrocytes in the injury condition, essentially

overstimulating them and then causing them to malfunction and die.

Once I found that problem, I wanted to find a way to stop astrocytes from poisoning neurons and their surroundings. So what I did was tried to

isolate this thing called an exosome that is found in the healthy brain.

And what I did is (INAUDIBLE) signal to my astrocytes that were injured. I was able to show that they would start recycling that chemical that

otherwise piles up around the neurons. And this stopped neurons surrounding my astrocytes from dying in injury condition.

It could potentially take people who are suffering conditions where their brain cells are dying and they are losing all their humanely functions to

have a quality of life that is these neurodegenerative diseases otherwise robbed from them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Amazing work, isn't it? That is "News Stream." I'm Anna Coren. Thanks so much for your company. Don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with

Rhiannon Jones is coming up next.

[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

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