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NEWS STREAM

Top North Korean Official To Meet U.S. Secretary Of State; Investors Fear Political Instability In Italy; Roseanne Canceled After Star's Racist Tweet; Inside El Salvador's Controversial Gang Crackdown; World Headlines; Russian Journalist And Putin Critic Killed In Kiev; Hurricane Maria; Hawaii Volcano. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired May 30, 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: Dumped from her own show, the firing of T.V. star Roseanne Barr over a racist tweet reignites a deepening rift in the U.S. Accuse of

illegal executions. CNN's exclusive report on how elite police officers may have gone too far in tackling El Salvador's gangs. And up close and

personal, an oceanside perspective of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano, and how it is changing the landscape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: All that in just a moment. But first officials from North Korea and the United States are getting around world to hammer out an agenda

before Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet next month.

The White House says that Kim Yong-chol, one of Pyongyang's highest ranking officials will meet the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week in

New York. Now, Kim is the Vice Chairman of Workers' Party Central Committee, and the regime's top official in charge of relations with South

Korea. He is the most senior North Korean official to visit the U.S. since the year 2000.

Now our International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is in Seoul with much more, and he joins us now. And, Nic, Kim Yong-chol, as we know he is on

route to the U.S., he is going to meet Pompeo there. But in practical terms, I mean, what do they still have to work out ahead of the big summit

just two weeks away in Singapore?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: You know, it really comes down to perhaps two issues, centrally of course what does

denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula really mean to both sides.

This is what Kim Jong-un, the North Korea leader has said. So can Kim Yong-chol find an agreement with Secretary of State Pompeo that kind of

bridges the gap somehow, or narrows that gap from the U.S. understanding of what North Korea should be doing, which is complete, verifiable, to be

tested in strong, and meaningful ways, and not to be reversed nuclear -- denuclearization.

So that will be a key part of the conversation. And we have heard from South Korea's unification minister today that there's a sense here in South

Korea at least that the U.S. delegation that was meeting with the North Korean delegation in the DMZ today.

They met as well on Sunday. We understand they're here for another 24 hours as well, that they, you know, started from a position where there

were differences. They have been able to narrow the gaps, but it does seem that Kim Yong-chol with Secretary Pompeo will be key now to sort of being

senior level players in all of this.

And will be key to try to see can they bring themselves both countries to a point where it's worthwhile, where both could say in the end of the talks

that they had got something, that there was an agreement there. And of course, security -- future security for Kim Jong-un's regime in the future

is again something that will feature in those talks as well.

LU STOUT: And also we learned that the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be visiting North Korea on Thursday. What will be his agenda

there?

ROBERTSON: Well, isn't this just the way that we have been since President Trump really began to accelerate moves towards getting this face-to-face

summit with Kim Jong-un, we've seen it with Xi Jinping in China, two meetings so far with the Chinese leader.

What we also see now is clearly Russia like China believes it has a stake in the outcome, or the shape of the context of what could be contained in

the talks, and the outcome of the talks between North Korea and the United States, and going forward from that South Korea as well.

So you know when you look at it from Russia's position, this seems to be them wanting to make sure that they are getting their voice heard at this

early stage. When we think back a number of years, we think back to the six-party talks, and Russia was a key part of the six-party talks in the

past.

And you know, clearly want to try to make sure that as talks roll forward it's President Trump and Kim Jong-un, and then perhaps it becomes South

Korea as well.

[08:05:02] And then would China potentially get involved how -- you know, how big a circle will these talks can be. It seems Russia wants to be part

of that circle at an earlier stage as soon as possible.

LU STOUT: Yes, as you put it the circle for these talks is very wide. It's Very big. Even though we're only looking at two main players who are

going to be meeting June 12th in Singapore. Nic Robertson reporting live for us from Seoul, thank you.

Now it's a turbulent time in the global stock markets where two big issues weighing on investor confidence. On the one hand there are renewed fears

of a trade war between the U.S. and China after the Trump administration said that it would more forward with plans to slap 25 percent tariffs on

$50 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Now earlier in Wednesday, China threatened to fight back. Now, markets are also paying close to what's happening in Italy, and an ongoing political

crisis there. The man nominated to form an interim government still has yet to name his cabinet.

Carlo Cottarelli is -- he was expected to present a list of names at least on Tuesday, and that never happened. Now, the two are said to be holding

informal talks today. In any case, there cold be fresh elections within months.

And there were big falls on Tuesday, but Italy's market appears to be making up some of those losses. We'll bring up the board for you in just a

moment. Stocks in Milan, they are up around two percent on Wednesday.

As you can see there, we're up at the moment about one in a third. And meanwhile, a pretty grim day here in Asia, you can see all red arrows,

markets have followed Wall Street's lead, and the Dow shared nearly 400 point.

So let's get the very latest on the markets. CNN's Anna Stewart is keeping across it all from London, and she joins me now. Wow, we've got Italy's

political chaos, we've got U.S.-China trade tensions all shaking global investors. Give us the picture -- the full picture there in Europe.

ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, plenty to trade on today, Kristie. And as you said there, it's quite a surprise to see Italy's markets have

actually recovered quite well actually, they were up over two percent earlier today, now up by 1.4 percent.

The FTSE and the DAX have been slightly flat, and that CAC has been down, but this is followed on form that broad market sell-off, and it went from

Europe to the U.S. As you said the Dow dropped nearly 400 points, and then it really hit up Asia, too.

And there are these two stories we are concern about -- the Italian market turmoil, political uncertainty, as well as the renewal of those Trump trade

tariffs against China. Now in terms of the Italy story, what been interesting is the rhetoric we have had out over the last few hours because

yester what message we are really trading against was the fear over renewed elections.

Now that obviously could result in a stronger mandate for the Eurosceptic parties, or as many feared, it will become a de facto vote on whether Italy

should stay in the Eurozone itself, something -- some people are calling Quitaly, after brexit, could you get Quitaly.

Now some of those fears today appear to have receded. There was one comment from the leader of the Five Star moment -- movement, he said, if

the feared that Italy will exit the Euro, it's because someone spread the news.

But we never wanted that. So certainly calming the investor fears there which is probably why we're seeing quite a bit of pull back in many markets

into the green today, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes, I mean, we may see a rebound in Italy, but outside of Italy in the Eurozone markets are pretty edgy in Europe. You know, why is that -

- why are they so spooked about what's going on in Italy. Does it look like the new Greece?

STEWART: Yes, they are edgy. And particularly if you look there's actually a bond here, the borrowing costs have gone up consider being

actually, they he sold some bonds earlier today. And you could notice that the borrowing costs are much higher, although there is still appetite.

And I think the big risk here is if we move towards a potential critically, and this is the worst case scenario, but this is how investors trade. What

you'll be looking at is the third biggest economy in the Eurozone.

This is the third biggest developed economy in the world in terms of debt to GDP. So any moves that would move it out of the Eurozone, you would see

capital flying out of Italy, a potential collapse of the banking system, and the contagion would be much greater than anything you ever saw with the

Greek debt crisis.

LU STOUT: A very dire picture indeed. No wonder the markets are spooked. Anna Stewart reporting live for us, thank you. We'll talk to you again

soon.

Now, we are waiting to see if U.S. President Donald Trump is going to be responding to the canceling of a popular U.S. T.V. show that he had

publicly praised, and described as being about him, and his supporters.

Roseanne Barr, lost her name sake show after she compared former Obama presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett to an ape, in this tweet she said

this, quote, Muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby, equals V.J.

Now, Barr's show first premier in the 1980's, it focused on a working class American family dealing with various issues. It went off the air in 1997,

it came back this year with a Trump friendly twist that was met with high ratings.

But ABC still pulled the plug after the racist comment went viral. Barr did apologize for her tweet at first saying this, quote, I apologize to

Valerie Jarrett, and to all Americans.

[08:10:03] I am truly sorry for making a joke about her politics, and her looks. But Roseanne Barr has since flip-flopped on her reaction to the

cancellation even blaming her tweets on a sleep aid, on Ambien that she was apparently taking.

Now, Brian Stelter has been following all the angles on this story, and he joins us now live. Brian, good to see you, and thank you for joining us.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

LU STOUT: You know, we know Roseanne Barr, familiar with her comedy, and with her voice on Twitter, she's not new to the incendiary tweets. She's

has done this before, she's issued racist tweets before, so why did ABC decide probably they had enough, and it had to pull the plug?

STELTER: The network was making the bet that she would be able to restrain herself, be able to tone her tweets down now that she's the star of the

sitcom once again. That was ABC's bet a few months ago, and it turns out they were just wrong.

She was not able to step away from the smartphone, and stop tweeting conspiracy theories, and hate. Instead she kept doing it even as her

sitcom reached number one in the ratings. ABC executives have told there were several flare-ups like this over the past few months that didn't get

quite as much attention to this one.

Several times where she tweeted something inappropriate, and had to apologize. This week was the last straw as one executive said to me enough

was enough. She had clearly crossed the line with these racist sentiments, and there was no coming back from it.

It was seen as unsurvivable within ABC. So I think this is one of those cases, Kristie, where you see network, you see a big company, trying to

balance risk and reward. They believe there would be a big reward by bringing Roseanne back.

They thought it outweighed the risk, and they were wrong. But now ABC is being praised for pulling the plug, for taking a stand here. It's a really

interesting case of corporate America trying to be on the right side of history at a time where political leadership isn't showing that

necessarily.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STELTER: Roseanne Barr making excuses for her racist tweet comparing one of President Obama's top advisors, Valerie Jarrett, to an ape.

Barr now blames the sleeping pill Ambien, and claims that she did not know that Jarrett is black. Despite initially apologizing, the star is now

suggesting that her show was canceled due to her support for President Trump.

ROSEANNE BARR, COMEDIAN: Thank you for making America great again.

STELTER: But Barr undermining her own apology with a torrent of retweets from fans, portraying her as a victim of a liberal double standard.

The comedienne also retweeting a number of fake and offensive posts, including this fake yearbook quote, claiming Jarrett wanted to change

America to be a more Islamic country, also later deleted. Jarrett is taking the high road, responding to Barr's initial tweet on Tuesday night.

VALERIE JARRETT, SENIOR ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I think we have to try and turn it into a teaching moment. I'm fine. I'm worried about

all the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense. Those ordinary examples of racism that

happen every single day.

STELTER: Executives at ABC and Disney decided within hours to end the show, first speaking with Roseanne by phone, then publicly announcing the

cancellation, writing, Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant, and inconsistent with our values.

Disney CEO Bob Iger adding, there was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing. Roseanne's talent agency, ICM Partners, also dropping

her as a client.

Behind the scenes some of Roseanne's co-stars were already planning to quit, including actress Emma Kenney, who plays Roseanne's granddaughter,

and Wanda Sykes, one of the show's consulting producers.

But Barr has spent years posting derogatory material online, and peddling right-wing conspiracy theories. Recently, she falsely accused a survivor

of the Parkland massacre of giving a Nazi salute at a protest. That was based on a doctored photo.

She also promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy, falsely claiming that Democrats were running a child-sex trafficking ring out of this Washington, D.C.,

pizza restaurant. This time, though, ABC said she had gone too far.

President Trump, meantime, keeping silent about the controversy Tuesday night, despite praising Roseanne when the show premiered in March.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And look at Roseanne, I called her yesterday. Look at her ratings. They were unbelievable, over

18 million people, and it was about us.

STELTER: Trump's son, however, did weigh in, retweeting two of Roseanne's outlandish tweets, calling billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, a

Nazi who turned in his fellow Jews to be murdered. Trump Jr. insisting that Barr's tweet was not anti-Semitic.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STELTER: It sure had anti-Semitic connotations though, and overnight, early Wednesday morning here in the U.S., Barr has continued to tweet.

She's been posting dozens of messages to her fans, she has been retweeting a lot of her supporters who were claiming she's the victim of liberal media

double standard. Kristie, I think she's trying to have it both ways. She's apologizing, saying she's screwed up.

[08:15:01] But she is also saying she's the victim. She is also playing to the idea of resentment and grievances way too much a part of American

politics.

LU STOUT: And even after this racist tweet she still has her very significant fan base. Donald Trump, a big fan. We are awaiting any

comment from him. And there's been this huge outcry on social media.

We'll show just a sampling of tweets. Using the hashtag boycott ABC, accusing it in a work of bias and censorship. Is this some movement that

could gain ground, and what impact could this pro-Roseanne backlash have?

STELTER: I would be surprised if ABC actually does suffer as a result of some of that chatter. It is very loud right now, and there's certainly --

especially in the far right fringes of the web, kind of, you know, into the conspiracy theory, be responsible to the web, there's a lot of criticism of

ABC right now.

But I think what is more significant is the praise ABC is getting from the left, and from the right. People saying ABC did the right thing even if it

was a mistake to bring the show back in the first place, they did the right thing by firing her as a result of these racist tweets.

My sources at ABC said it is the sense of pride at the network now, that the company did the right thing, that corporate America is trying to make a

statement through an announcement like this.

You know, Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, he first is for running for president himself last year. He was thinking about taking on Trump, and he

decided not to do it. Now he is going to run Disney for a foreseeable future.

But these kinds of corporate leaders, they view themselves as trying to send messages about American values, and they just didn't think it would be

possible for Rosanne Barr to remain at ABC.

LU STOUT: Yes. And corporate America making very powerful statement with this message from ABC. Brian Stelter reporting live for us from New York,

thank you so much.

STELTER: Thank you.

LU STOUT: Take care.

STELTER: Thank you.

LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. Still ahead right here on the program, we've got a CNN exclusive. We're going to go inside the dangerous

war on gangs in El Salvador, and the controversial tactics being used by police.

Also ahead, another Kremlin critic is killed. Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko is gunned down in Kiev. We'll have a live report from Moscow,

and as well as the reaction there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: There is an undeclared war in El Salvador that's become America's war as well. It is a fight against violent gangs particularly

MS-13, a group that's been called the most dangerous gang in the world.

Now in the CNN exclusive, Nick Paton Walsh gained access to a law enforcement unit with a dark history accused of extrajudicial killings,

backed by American money. He joins us now live from London. And, Nic, you went inside the dangerous war on gangs in El Salvador, what did you uncover

there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: El Salvador is country torn apart by intense violence, where somebody is murdered every two hours.

But El Salvador elite police who we have say over decades do have a history of often acting outside of their own legal framework, have been taking a

lot -- tens of millions of U.S. money in assistance.

[08:20:10] And one particular is sort of the more stringent or awful example of how accusation of extra killings can blight that cooperation

with the United States. Here is what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: It's an undeclared war here in El Salvador, elite police against MS-13, a gang menace that beheads, rapes, and terrorizes. And it's

America's war too, because President Trump has declared MS-13 animals that must be eliminated, and these men are fighting with U.S. money, and help.

A lot of this equipment, American government supplied, part of an effort to try, and tackle gang violence back in El Salvador. These men, the Jaguar

unit said their targets are gang leaders to cripple the gang hierarchy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through a translator): The U.S. participates in training, as well as was providing equipment. The only thing that the U.S.

does not supply is lethal equipment, the weapons, and the ammunition. But it does supply us with protective equipment, helmets, bullet proof vests,

and knee pads.

WALSH: Well, there's something that U.S. taxpayers should know about how America is fighting this proxy war. This unit has a dark history. Many

once in an elite unit called the Special Reaction Forces, the FES or FES.

It was disbanded after troubling allegations. FES had a very lethal track record on the street. Killing a staggering 43 people they say were gang

members in just six months last year.

Some, and it's repeatedly been alleged illegal executions. That is a problem for the U.S., who are not supposed to fund units guilty of human

rights abuses. Critics say, some FES police evaded this dark past by being folded in to the new Jaguar unit, so the U.S. had no issues funding them.

In fact, the number of gang members killed each year by police has risen five times in two years. A higher body count that has say polls made

people feel safer. It's a culture of allege impunity expose in WhatsApp's messages CNN obtained where the first police discuss executions, and ask

informants help identifying gang members.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through a translator): Can you send us a picture of shadow? The message says, we are going now, we had located him, sending us

photo right now. We are going to crush that (BLEEP). A local police officer rails at the sloppy cleanup of an execution of a gang member by

fellow police nearby.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through a translator): There are witnesses who saw that they were beating that son of (BLEEP) before killing him. But our comrades

portrayed it as a shootout. Here, you have bad procedures and practice, if you are going to do (BLEEP) like that, you better be sure there are no

witnesses.

Brutal tactics can drive people away from the police towards gangs like MS- 13 into this world here, we get rare permission to enter. We are headed now to one of the scene of the more prominent killings here in deep inside

gang territory carried out by what locals say was effectively a police death squad.

Nobody disputes the Eclipse as he was known was a local gang figure, but they dispute for the Eclipse was armed when police shot him dead.

Neighbors say, that it was simply an execution.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through a translator): They came inside in a little time passed, they were screaming hand in your weapons, and they replied,

there they are, mister. They are surrendering, and all of the sudden, we heard the first shot, and after came the first, there was some silence.

And after, another four shots were fire.

WALSH: It's a distort mother shows us the scene in his bedroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through a translator): Here he was lying down. He's hands are like this, as if he was sleeping. They killed my son.

WALSH: She claims they shot him in the back. They say, the police never come around here now. This case was investigated, but charges were not

filed.

Police rarely, if ever prosecute their own, in fact, one of the officers accused in the shooting are likely now serves in the new Jaguar unit.

Using his photograph, a facial recognition expert who used to work for British police identified him in our footage of a new Jaguar unit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These images are very, very clear, very good images. I'm felt concern at least that this is one, and the same person that I'm

looking at.

WALSH: An officer accused of killing an old unit, but first is likely in the new one, the Jaguars. The forth coming U.N. report will declare a

pattern of behavior by security personnel amounting to extrajudicial executions.

[08:25:08] El Salvador police reply they are fighting, quote, terrorist, and often arrest them without the use of arms while keeping human rights

paramount, more than 200 officer's faced court for improper arm, and aggression last year they said.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through a translator): There is a general belief about this unit having a dream like to kill these gang members, but that is a

lie.

It does not happen here, not in any other country. We stick to the legal norms of our country. We can only respond against aggression, and we use

the force level that applies to our police core. And as a last resort, we fire our weapons.

WALSH: In a statement, the U.S. embassy said that the U.S. government takes allegations of extra judicial killings extremely seriously, and has

consistently express concerns regarding allegations of security force abuses.

It provides assistance to investigate, prosecute, and adjudicate all types of violent crimes, including those involving suspected human rights

violations. They added, the U.S. recently provide a 500 body cams, and tracks alleged abuses, so no corrupt officer get their help.

The U.S. has tried brute force here, and elsewhere before, and failed, or gotten caught in a longer conflict as the threat of MS-13 rises, they will

have to hope the gangs crumble rather than escalate the fight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: If you take the view that Donald Trump does that MS-13 are quote animals, and the words he used just last night, then why would you be

concerned that necessarily they are being executed, some are claiming cold blood in El Salvador's streets?

Well, there is the first problem that if those units are receiving the United States funding, it causes a legislative problem for the U.S. who

have to be mind forward, that verified instance of executions like that, and not done by united receiving their aid.

But there is the broader issue, this is America's fight now, where clearly the problems in El Salvador are causing thousands of people who try and

head towards the United States now to seek a better life, and these tactics don't often work.

Brutal police behavior often causes people to not trust the police, to not trust the state. It can cause soaves of territory as we saw to be hostile

towards the police -- to the police, no go zones, for people to sometime find that MS-13, or the gangs that act like a kind of insurgency at times

here offered them a different way away from the state.

And that actually can defeat the whole purpose of trying to keep sort of unified country behind its government. So police brutality is a deeply

concerning issue I think for anybody who wants to see the fights against gang culture in El Salvador actually is being successful, Kristie.

LU STOUT: A very questionable tactics being used by police in El Salvador, and as you point out they don't even work. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live

from London for us, thank you.

When President Donald Trump ended protection for immigrants from 10 countries, nearly 200,000 El Salvadorans were at risk of being deported.

In his next exclusive report, Nick is going to be speaking to those who actually lived in the U.S. for more than a decade, and now they face gang

violence, homelessness, as well as the challenge of making a living in El Salvador capital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: Christian Lara (ph) lived in the U.S.A. for 20 years, and was deported coming out to these Florida construction job. He had only

committed immigration offenses.

The best choice now, is a $5 a day farm job. Oscar is more complicated. He is 20. He went to America age 10, and served for months for assault,

and bodily harm in Houston. Get back here, he trembles. Are you scared of the gangs here now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

PATON WALSH: Are you scared you might end up involved, and caught up in that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, when I was in the U.S.A., I saw like 16, people killed every day.

PATON WALSH: And 48 hours passed since we meet Christian and Oscar, in which there's two beheadings, over 20 murders, and a policeman is killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And you can see the rest of Nick's report from what's considered one of the most dangerous cities on the planet, Thursday, only on CNN.

Coming up right here on News Stream, a well known Russian journalist, and critic of Vladimir Putin has been shot dead in Ukraine. The latest the

investigation into the death of Arkady Babchenko is next.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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

Roseanne Barr claims that she had taken a sleeping pill when she posted a racist tweet about former Obama presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, and

she adds what she said was indefensible. ABC canceled her sitcom after she tweeted, Muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes had a baby equals V.J.

The Afghan Interior Ministry says the attack on its facility is over and the situation is under control. One police officer was killed and five

others wounded in the incident. The attackers have also been killed. The ministry spokesman said 10 assailants attacked the ministry with a car bomb

and gunfire.

The U.S. has called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the latest conflict between Israel and militants in Gaza. Israel

says about 70 rockets and mortars were fired toward its territory on Tuesday and retaliated with a series of strikes on target in Gaza.

The Russian Foreign Ministry is blaming Ukraine for what it calls an armed assault on a prominent Russian journalist. Ukrainian media reports that

Arkady Babchenko, a critic of Vladimir Putin, was shot and killed at his home in Kiev on Tuesday. Babchenko left Russia last year, saying that he no

longer felt safe there after he criticized Russia's role in Syria.

Fred Pleitgen is following developments from Moscow. Fred, again, this prominent critic of the Kremlin, he was shot in the back, he was killed in

Kiev, who really is responsible for his death?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this point in time, I thought the Ukrainian authorities are trying to find out,

Kristie, but certainly if you look at the political situation, you do see the Ukrainians and the Russians are ready, really pointing fingers at one

another.

Now what we do know at this point is that he was late last night going back home after apparently getting bread for the -- at the house that he lived

in. He was at the entrance to the building that he lived in when he was shot in the back. He was then found by his wife and an ambulance was called

but he died on the way to the hospital.

Now, the Ukrainian authorities have put out a sketch of what they believe might be a suspect, but they also acknowledged that at this point in time,

still very early in the investigation, certainly too early to know who exactly was behind it.

However, Ukrainian politicians, first and foremost the foreign minister -- the prime mister, sorry, of Ukraine, he put out a statement on his Facebook

page essentially pointing the finger at Russia which led to some extremely angry responses here from the Russian Federation.

We were on a conference call earlier today with the spokesman for Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, where he shot back at the Ukrainian. I am going to

quote him here. He said, this is the highest level of cynicism amid such a brutal murder to shake the air in such a russophobic way instead of talking

about and conducting a thorough and impartial investigation.

Those are the words of Dmitry Peskov. Nevertheless, however, as you pointed out, Arkady Babchenko did live in fear, and he did leave Russia in 2017,

fearing for his safety after what he called a political hate campaign against him, not just for comments he made about Russia's Syria campaign

but also comments that he made about Russia's involvement in Ukraine as well at the time of his death.

[08:35:02] He was working for a Ukrainian television network and obviously still on the air there very much. Again, unclear why he was killed but

certainly another critic of Vladimir Putin getting killed there in a very mysterious way, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Absolutely. Fred Pleitgen reporting live from Moscow for us. Thank you. You're watching "News Stream." And coming up, the number of

Puerto Ricans who died after Hurricane Maria battered the island could be a lot higher than we are told. We have the numbers and they are staggering.

That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream." As hurricane season officially begins this week, experts are still

trying to count the number of deaths caused by last year's devastating Hurricane Maria.

A Harvard study finds the number of people who died in Puerto Rico last year was probably much higher than the official figure of 64. In fact, 70

times higher. Leyla Santiago has more from San Juan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I actually just asked the government of Puerto Rico about the Harvard study, and they told me they are not

questioning the validity of it. So let's talk about exactly what it found.

According to the researchers working with Harvard, they believe that the death toll related to Maria could be more than 4,600 deaths. Now, this is a

survey, it's an extrapolation that they believe could range anywhere from 800 to 8,000. So, nothing exactly definite.

But when you look at the official government death toll, that number still stands at 64. It's something that many have questioned even today, eight

months after Hurricane Maria. When CNN investigated it last year, we found after talking to funeral homes that the number could be nine times what the

government was reporting.

Since then, the government has commissioned a study. They are working with George Washington University, saying they want to get to the bottom of

this. But there have been delays in that study and the timing of this is important because on June 1st, the hurricane season will begin in Puerto

Rico.

And as the government tries to prepare for that, they are going into this next hurricane season not knowing exactly how many people died, how or why.

Leyla Santiago, CNN, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Meanwhile, the rivers of fire spreading across Hawaii's big island have swallowed at least 71 homes, nearly a third of them in just the

past few days. And the danger is not limited to the island. Guam, more than 6,000 kilometers away, is now getting volcanic haze from Kilauea. And in

Hawaii itself, more evacuations and more warnings. Scott McLean has the very latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over)an, redrawing the big island of Hawaii's coastline. Here's the spectacle of this molten slide

seen from our vantage point on a boat as orange glowing lava meets Hawaiian whitewater.

(on camera): There are boat restrictions in this area. As the lava hits the ocean, it sends up this white plumes. That's lava haze or laze, a

potentially deadly mixture of gases.

[08:39:59] And look which way the wind is taking it, back on shore, creating potentially more air quality issues for the people who live here.

(voice over): Air quality is still top of mind at the Kilauea summit. Hawaii volcano's national park has been closed for weeks as frequent small

scale explosions send ash thousands of feet into the sky. Kilauea is showing no signs of losing strength. At times, this fissure shot 200 feet

into the air above what was once a quiet residential neighborhood.

The latest unrelenting lava flow destroyed at least a dozen more homes in Leilani Estates, turning this stretch of paradise into a smoldering heap of

devastation. Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey waited and watched but were powerless to stop the slow motion disaster. Even a veteran

wildland firefighter felt helpless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is such a different kind of fire because that kind of fire you can actually fight and do something about it. And this, you're

totally out of your control. Mother nature is going to do what she does and that's just the way it is.

MCLEAN (voice over): All that lava has to go somewhere. It has already covered two well heads at a nearby geothermal plant, but officials say the

plant is secure. Some of the lava headed north, prompting closure of the main highway and an ominous warning from civil defence officials.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Highway 132 is being shut down between Lava Tree State Park to Four Corners, due to a fast moving lava flow

approaching the highway.

MCLEAN (voice over): Officials tried to predict when the lava would cross this major escape route for residents under volcanic siege. Kilauea's fury

is a three-pronged devil's pitchfork for residents here, assaulting the big island's air, land and sea.

Scott McLean, CNN, Hilo, Hawaii.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Incredible, you know, for most people scenes right there, you know, Scott's report. Right behind me, these are awe inspiring. A little

bit scary as well.

But some more daring souls, they have a different thought in mind when faced with the fiery power of nature like this person on Twitter who really

wants to know, is it safe to roast marshmallows over volcanic vents or would the resulting marshmallows be poisonous?

Well, USGS actually responded to the question saying, no, it is not safe, please do not try it. Adding this, you add sulfuric acid to sugar, you get

a pretty spectacular reaction. And we looked it up. It turns out the sugar transforms into a growing charred mess. But even if you like your

marshmallows burnt, don't, people. Don't roast them over a volcano.

That's it for "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout. Don't go anywhere. We got "World Sport" with Christina Macfarlane, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

END