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NEWS STREAM
Soon: Details To Be Released On Trump-Putin Summit; U.S. Defense Secretary Arrives In Japan On Asia Tour; WH And Kremlin: Trump-Putin To Meet On July 16th In Helsinki; Battle Ahead Over Next Supreme Court Justice; World Headlines; CNN Freedom Project; Migration "Make Or Break" Issue For Europe; Futuristic Flight. Aired at 8-9a ET
Aired June 28, 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. And we begin with breaking news, the finalized
details of the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin about to be announced any moment now.
The meeting is expected to take place next month. The U.S. National Security Adviser, John Bolton, met with Mr. Putin on Wednesday to sort out
the details. CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins me now live from Moscow with more. And, Fred, so many questions here at the top. Where and when could this
meeting take place?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're going to find out for sure hopefully in the next couple of minutes. You're absolutely right, the
spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, he came out earlier today, and said that around 8:00 a.m. eastern standard time, or 3:00 p.m. Moscow time,
which it is actually right now.
So we are expecting it right now. We will get an official announcement. It's looking very likely as though the summit will be in Helsinki, in
Finland. And President Trump apparently came out yesterday, and said that he believes that it will happen after the NATO Summit in Brussels, which
he'll be attending on the 11th and 12th of June.
Now of course, getting all this in place is something that happened yesterday after National Security Adviser John Bolton was here in Moscow,
and had a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, and the other big ministers of the Russian government. All this went very, very quickly.
And in the end, this meet is one that will take place very, very soon. Now some of the topics that are going to be discussed, of course, are going to
be Ukraine and Syria. John Bolton also had a press conference saying yesterday he believes that election meddling will also be on the agenda as
well. Here's what happened yesterday at that meeting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: National Security Adviser John Bolton face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his top ministers. A quick agreement,
President Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold a summit next month. Still, Putin taking a swipe at the U.S.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through a translator): I regret to have to point out that Russian and U.S. Relations are not at their best. I have
mentioned this publicly more than once, and I want to say it again at this meeting, as well.
PLEITGEN: Sources tell CNN the most likely venue for the summit will be Helsinki. The exact date and location due to be announced on Thursday, the
National Security Adviser previously suggested that Russia and Putin can't be trusted.
JOHN BOLTON, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR OF THE UNITED STATES: After bringing up the Russian meddling at the beginning of the meeting, which is
exactly the right thing to do. Saying it was something that all Americans were concerned with. Trump got to experience Vladimir Putin looking him in
the eye, and lying to him directly.
PLEITGEN: Today at a press conference, right after his meeting with Russia's President, brushing off the perceived change of course.
BOLTON: I don't really address what I've written in the past or what I've said on television. It's all out there. Right now I'm an adviser to
President Trump. It's his agenda that we're pursuing. And that's the agenda that I intend to advance.
PLEITGEN: On the agenda, will be major issues like the conflict in Ukraine and Syria. U.S. sanctions against Russia, and Bolton says Russian meddling
in the U.S. presidential 2016 election.
BOLTON: I think a lot of people have said or implied over time that a meeting between President Trump and President Putin would somehow prove
some nexus between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, which is complete nonsense.
PLEITGEN: But Russian state TV gloating about Bolton's visit to Moscow, joking about Russia's perceived reach into America's political process.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through a translator): Cyber security is a topic for the summit because what are the main accusations we hear in the past years
from the American side that our great, and terrible Russian hackers invaded the American space, which many see as an aggression against the country,
and we caused some trouble there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through a translator): What trouble did we cause? We just elected Trump, that's all.
PLEITGEN: Russian state TV trashing CNN and The Situation Room in their show, as America's National Security Adviser was busy hammering out a
summit meant to improve relations between Moscow and the Trump White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: And, Kristie, we've just gotten the breaking news from the White House office of the press secretary about when and where the summit is
going to take place. I'll just read it to you in full because it really is only two lines.
It says President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian federation will meet on July 16th, 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. The
two leaders will discuss relations between the United States and Russia and a range of national security issues.
Interesting to see that they're saying national security issues, we'll see what exactly they're going to fill that out with what exactly that is going
to mean, but we know exactly the date and the location.
[08:05:03] So it is indeed after the NATO Summit that President Trump will be attending, but considerably later, after the end of the football World
Cup. And just one little note, Kristie, on the side, the Kremlin pretty much simultaneously came out with that statement as well. Kristie.
LU STOUT: Got it. So we do know where it's taking place in Helsinki, when, July 16th. Right after the World Cup final being hosted, of course,
by Russia. Fred Pleitgen with that breaking news for us, joining us live from Moscow. Thank you so much.
Now the U.S. Defense Secretary has just arrived in Japan after wrapping up talks in both China and South Korea. While in Beijing, Chinese President
Xi Jinping told James Mattis that China will not give up, quote, any inch of territory in the Pacific Ocean.
Mattis also met with his South Korean counterpart in Seoul to discuss denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. His visit comes as a monitoring
group says new satellite images showing North Korea making modifications at a nuclear research facility.
That has some asking questions about Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearize. CNN's Paula Hancocks is following the story from Seoul. And
she joins us now. And, Paula, Secretary Mattis is in Japan, but earlier, he met with his South Korean counterpart. How did they discuss
denuclearization as well as the alliance?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, one of the main topics that they would have been talking about we understand is the fact that they
will be no massive military drills coming up in August.
There was going to be this all freedom guardian, which the U.S. President Donald Trump, just after his meeting with Kim Jong-un, said should not
happen, calling them war games, calling them provocative, a word which North Korea has consistently used when talking about these military drills.
So that was mentioned in the opening remarks by both men, the Secretary of Defense of the U.S. saying that it was really done, so it could give a
chance to the diplomatic side, to try and make a difference.
But also says that U.S. and South Korean forces remain very vigilant to any kind of confrontation, so would be ready for anything as well. A very
similar situation and sentiment we heard from the South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, saying that if North Korea continues to follow
this path, then they are suspending these drills.
So once again reminding us that this is conditional as far as the U.S. and South Korea are concerned, that it's only as long as North Korea is going
to show that they are willing to denuclearize. Kristie.
LU STOUT: And a question about the threat being posed by North Korea. There is this new satellite imagery suggests that North Korea is upgrading
its nuclear research center. Does North Korea remain a threat?
HANCOCKS: Well, we have heard from the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, in talking to the Senate panel that yes, North Korea is still a
threat. But also the fact that the U.S. President said it is not, he was trying to walk a fine balance.
Really, walk a fine line between, between his boss' words, and his own, saying that at this point the tension is certainly calmed down. We do know
from this U.S. monitoring group, 38 North, that they have looked at satellite imagery, and they have seen it from March to June 21st.
Well, it's over the past few months, but they have noticed some modifications to the Yongbyon nuclear research site, now they say they have
seen a rapid pace of progression. But also point out that they don't know whether this is related at this point to denuclearization, they themselves
in their report cautioning about this.
And of course there are some experts who say you can't take these satellite images alone, as evidence that the North Koreans are pushing forward with
any kind of nuclearization program. We have heard though in the past North Korea wants a step-by-step approach.
They want to slow down slowly, and have incentives along the way, whether that's lifting of sanctions, which Washington has said it is not willing to
do. It wants to see complete denuclearization before it's willing to lift these sanctions. So yes, these kind of satellite images will be poured
over.
We know the South Korean defense ministry has said that they're looking at them very closely, and watching the situation very closely. But we have
been cautioned by some experts that just these satellite images alone don't necessarily mean that North Korea is not doing what it said it would do.
It's too early to tell.
LU STOUT: Absolutely. We've got to take it with a grain of salt. Another question for you, this one about China, you know, lot has been said about
China's key role here in denuclearization the Korean Peninsula.
But while Secretary Mattis was in Beijing, and he was talking with the leadership there, including Xi Jinping, it seemed that the focus was more
on tension at sea, in the South China Sea, rather than what's going on, on the Korean Peninsula. Does that concern officials in Seoul?
HANCOCKS: I think certainly officials here would like the focus to be most definitely on North Korea. I think potentially in Japan as well. We know
that Secretary Mattis is in Japan now, he's going to be meeting with the defense minister there on Friday.
[08:10:00] They have concerns about whether Pyongyang is serious about denuclearization. So certainly from South Korean and Japanese point of
view, they would like the focus to be mainly on North Korea.
But clearly, there is this appreciation in both countries I'm sure, that the South China Sea is of great concern to the United States, and of course
to many other countries in the region. And of course, we've heard as well from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that there has been some
kind of pull-back.
And also the U.S. President saying this, by China when it comes to the sanctions, that they're not enforcing them quite as strongly as they were
before things started to get better, before the relationship between Washington and Pyongyang started to develop, before that summit in
Singapore between the two leaders. So certainly that's of concern for Japan in particular as well. Kristie.
LU STOUT: Paula Hancocks live in Seoul for us, thank you so much. Rescuers are now searching for alternate ways to enter this flooded cave
complex in Northern Thailand where 12 young boys and their football coach went missing.
Now dive operations were paused due to heavy rain, and then they were just restarted. Meanwhile, time is quickly running out. The team and their
coach, they have been missing since Saturday. Now our camera operator Mark Phillips is there at the scene at the cave complex, and he filed this
report for us. OK, before we get to that report. Let's go straight to CNN USA. Let's go there now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN MARTIN, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: ... of diplomacy, of foreign policy, of national security. It's much more through
this Trumpian prism. I've said it before. I'll say it again. Trump is shaping the presidency much more than the presidency is shaping Trump, and
look no further than this latest tweet on Russia ahead of the summit to really illustrate that.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And look, you know, summits are important things between U.S. leaders and Russian leaders. They're important things, and
often times you want to know what will come of it. And one of the most serious issues that the United States has to discuss with Russia is the
meddling in the last election, the idea it might meddle again.
It seems to me this is an invitation, you know, dear Vlad, please meddle. You know, I'm going to believe you when you say you didn't. And if I'm not
going to pick on you for meddling, why would I pick on you for occupying Crimea? It doesn't set the stage for a tough negotiating process.
JOSHUA GREEN, POLITICAL ANALYST, CNN: No. And despite what Trump's aides say -- and you know, I think the other lesson from this is that nobody in
the Trump administration really speaks for Donald Trump's views on geostrategic issues except for Donald Trump himself. Pompeo doesn't.
Bolton doesn't. Nobody does. Pence doesn't.
BERMAN: In fact, they go around the world correcting things that the President says. You know, Mike Pompeo had to correct that North Korea
isn't denuclearizing yet. Mike Pompeo had to correct that North Korea is not, you know, returning the bodies of U.S. killed in the Korean War.
GREEN: Sure. But the other problem it creates is going into the summit. Nobody has any idea what's going to come out of this because I don't think
Trump himself has a specific geostrategic agenda that he wants to discuss with Putin.
Trump's idea of diplomacy is this kind of mano-a-mano, two strong men sitting down, and facing each other, the same way he did with Kim Jong-un,
and his desire I think is to come out with a PR victory, looking strong, looking as though he's accomplished something, whether or not he actually
has.
So far, he hasn't in North Korea. I doubt he will in Russia either. But this is as much about the PR opportunity, and the way he comes across as it
is any specific issue.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: It's about that photo op, John, right. And we saw this. We saw it in the way that he went in, right? The way that he was
leaving Kim Jong-un, not the first time, I mean, it sort of started with the handshake with Emmanuel Macron. But this is very much about the PR
move, about the photo op, about look what I'm doing, I am meeting with leaders, and summits are important.
JOHN AVLON, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: Yes. But this is also -- this is not even photo op diplomacy because it's also a Potemkin summit, if the
president's not standing up for American interests. You know, conservatives criticize Barack Obama, and said he is embracing our enemies, and
alienating our allies. That was a campaign talking point.
That is a closest statement of fact with this president's actions with geopolitical dictators. And if he can't see the national security
implications, vital national interest in Russia influencing our elections is, to John Verman's point, an invitation to do it again.
HILL: But that's because this president will tell you that no one is tougher on Russia than me. So you have to combat that as well.
GREEN: Those are just words.
BERMAN: You know, Jonathan Martin, I will say this -- as I was saying, meeting with world leaders is a good thing. It's never bad to have a
relationship. Maybe it will lead to progress here. We shouldn't rule out that possibility. It's a good thing they're meeting as opposed to not
meeting ever.
What do you expect to hear from Republicans in Congress on this, the -- you know, what we call the invitation to meddle in the election, this summit
without necessarily clear agenda? I suspect we'll see a written statement from John McCain in his office shortly, and then after that I expect
crickets.
[08:15:00] MARTIN: I expect the President of the last 17 months to largely stay true to form, John, which is tweets, paper statements from staff, and
then moving on to whatever the next thing is. I mean, that's kind of the pattern here when Trump violates some kind of a norm that they can't
ignore, or that sort of, you know, challenges their policy principles like ignoring the intelligence community.
You know, they're going to respond when either asked in the hallway of the capital, or they'll put a statement on Twitter, or have their staff write a
statement that they'll put out in a press release.
But beyond that, they're just not going to go that much further especially in a midterm election year. Look, they have made their decision, OK? That
basically, they've got to keep the party unified, and consolidate GOP support going into the midterms.
And that creating a rift with this President, no matter what he says or does, is going to undermine their hopes of retaining control of the House
and the Senate this fall.
BERMAN: And actually Marco Rubio -- Marco Rubio has been saying recently he doesn't criticize the President because he thinks the media is too tough
on him.
GREEN: Exactly. I mean, look, Republicans go to the ends of the earth to find ways to avoid directly criticizing Donald Trump. There are a few
exceptions. Marco Rubio has put out a couple strong statements on China, on ZTE, John McCain certainly.
Ben Sasse, somebody has talked about, and has called Trump's tariffs stupid repeatedly, but nobody gets in front of a camera. Nobody stops the
procedure of the Senate in order to make this point, or...
(CROSSTALK)
JOHN AVLON, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: This is the party of the Cold War, and it's a dereliction of duty when it come to the national security.
Don't forget Donald Trump has been tougher on Harley-Davidson than Vladimir Putin.
HILL: We're going to have to leave it there. Just ahead, there's another battle obviously brewing in Washington, this one to replace Justice
Kennedy. Lots to say about that, and you'll hear from Senator Richard Blumenthal next.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[08:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: And returning to our breaking news story this hour, we now know that U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will
have their long-awaited meeting in Helsinki on July 16th.
And for more I'm joined by Michelle Kosinski at the U.S. State Department. Michelle, we have a date, we know the venue. It's taking place after the
NATO Summit. It's taking place after the World Cup final being hosted by Russia. But do we know why this meeting is taking place?
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: There are questions surrounding why. In fact, one source has been telling me that
there are people within the White House and within the State Department who aren't really sure what the purpose of this summit is.
So this is something that President Trump has been pushing, that he thinks he can make some headway in the relationship with President Putin. And
that President Trump so liked the attention that he got in the eyes of the world on him during his summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un, that he
feels this could be something similar.
Now this is about the time in his presidency when he could or should be having meetings with world leaders of all kinds. Other European leaders
have certainly met with Vladimir Putin. I think where this raises eyebrows is in a couple of ways. First of all, the proximity to NATO.
There are some U.S. allies, you know, whose eyebrows are raised because he's supposed to be showing unity with NATO against Russian aggression,
that is the point of NATO. So to be meeting with Putin so soon after, you know, some allies and diplomats that I've talked to don't think that that
sends a great message.
Especially when they're saying things like well, you know, if it's all smiles with Putin, but it was all snarls at NATO with U.S. allies, as it
was with the G-7, not so long ago, then that is going to send a terrible message.
Now the perspective from the White House is, this is a time -- this is a good time and a good place to try to fix the relationship. And that it's
possible for there to be some headway on these extremely thorny issues like Ukraine, like Syria. The Secretary of State was asked about Russian
meddling in the U.S. election just yesterday. Is that going to come up?
And he said he felt confident that President Trump would make absolutely clear to President Putin that meddling in the U.S. election is completely
unacceptable. We'll see if that comes up. I mean, the way it's brought up, and the way it's discussed afterwards by both Trump and Putin has been
a major issue in the past.
The President's National Security Adviser John Bolton was just in Moscow yesterday. And he said that there are no specific outcomes that they're
seeing in this, but just having the summit in and of itself is a deliverable.
Well, that sounds quite a lot like how it was with the Kim Jong-un summit that they just want to have it, and see what happens. Not necessarily
anything wrong with that, but there is going to be so much scrutiny on what comes out of this if anything.
There are fears that in a meeting like this, where it's Trump head to head with Putin, you know, worries that President Trump could agree to some
things, or you know, sort of subtly, or not so subtly give President Putin an indication that well, OK, you're right, Crimea is Russian, or will be
from here on out, or OK, Assad can stay in power, maybe for the indefinite future. Things like that.
So those are the worries. We do know that President Trump, and the White House feel that there could be some headway made here on the issue of
cooperation in Syria. That would be quite a deliverable. So it remains to be seen if anything can come out of this meeting on that. Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yes. It remains to be seen to talk about Syria, to talk about the situation in Ukraine, or from Trump's point of view, this is just about
the relationship. But as you point out, America's allies already looking at this announcement just out that Putin and Trump to meet in the Finnish
capital of July 16th with,as you out it, raised eyebrows. A lot of questions here. Michelle Kosinski reporting live for us, thank you so
much. Take care.
[08:25:00] Now, with just five months to go until crucial midterm elections, a major political battle is brewing in the U.S. over the next
justice appointed to the nation's highest court. Anthony Kennedy who often provided the swing vote in closely divided cases announced his retirement
yesterday.
It's a move that paves the way for U.S. President Trump to nominate a replacement that could solidify a conservative majority on the Supreme
Court. And remember, although President Trump isn't even halfway through his term, he's already set to appoint two Supreme Court justices. Our
White House Correspondent Abby Phillip has further insight into the ramifications of all this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to pick a great one. We have to pick one that's going to be there for 40 years, 45 years.
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump celebrating the chance to appoint another Supreme Court justice after Justice Anthony
Kennedy announced his retirement.
TRUMP: Great man. And I'm very honored that he chose to do it during my term in office because he felt confident in me to make the right choice.
PHILLIP: Kennedy was the key swing vote on a number of landmark cases, including Roe v. Wade and the legalization of same-sex marriage, where the
mostly conservative justice sided with the liberal wing of the court.
ANTHONY KENNEDY, RETIRING SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: They asked for equal dignity within the eyes of the law, and the Constitution grants them that
right.
PHILLIP: His retirement gives conservatives a major opportunity to tip the ideological balance of the court more strongly in their favor, potentially
reshaping life in the U.S. for years to come.
BERNIE SANDERS, UNITED STATES SENATOR: This is obviously an enormously, enormously important issue, everything to do with women's rights, having to
do with gay rights, having to do with solidifying the pro-corporate, anti- worker wing of the Supreme Court.
PHILLIP: President Trump vowing to select a nominee to replace Kennedy as soon as possible, referencing a list of 25 staunchly conservative
candidates, six of whom are said to be on the short list.
TRUMP: We have a very excellent list of great, talented, highly-educated, highly-intelligent, hopefully tremendous people.
PHILLIP: Senate Majority Leader McConnell vowing to confirm Kennedy's replacement this fall, with the next court term starting one month before
the midterm elections.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY, MAJORITY LEADER: The Senate stands ready to fulfill its constitutional role by offering advice and consent on
President Trump's nominee to fill this vacancy.
PHILLIP: Democrats calling for a vote to be postponed until after the midterms, and accusing McConnell of hypocrisy.
CHUCK SCHUMER (D), UNITED STATES SENATOR: Our Republican colleagues in the Senate should follow the rule they set in 2016 not to consider a Supreme
Court justice in an election year.
PHILLIP: Ahead of the 2016 election, McConnell stonewalled President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, for over eight months.
MCCONNELL: This decision ought to be made by the next president, whoever is elected.
PHILLIP: But blocking the appointment will be nearly impossible for Democrats. The Senate only needs 50 votes to confirm a Supreme Court
nominee, meaning that, if all but one Republican vote along party lines, they will not need any Democratic support. Three red-state Democrats who
are up for reelection in November also voted in favor of President Trump's first nominee, Neil Gorsuch.
JOE MANCHIN (D), UNITED STATES SENATOR: We should go through this process. I was very disappointed the process wasn't adhered to the last time. And
two wrongs don't make a right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP: And President Trump wakes up this morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he has a private fundraiser followed bay tour of a manufacturing
plant that's been somewhat controversial in that state. There are also expected to be protests outside of the private fundraiser this morning.
Kristie.
LU STOUT: All right. CNN's Abby Phillip there, you're watching News Stream. And still ahead, a stark warning from the German Chancellor, E.U.
leaders meet to discuss what Angela Merkel has called a make-or-break issue for the union. We'll be live in Brussels.
[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.
U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July the 16th in Helsinki, Finland. The White House says the two leaders
will discuss relations between the United States and Russia, and a range of national security issues.
U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis is now in Japan after wrapping up talks in both China and South Korea. While in Beijing, Chinese President Xi
Jinping told Mattis that China will not give up, quote, any inch of territory in the Pacific Ocean. Mattis also met with his South Korean
counterpart in Seoul to discuss denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
Democrats and Republicans are already squaring off over who will be the next U.S. Supreme Court justice following news that Justice Anthony Kennedy
is retiring. Democrats say they want to wait until after the midterms to hold confirmation hearings, but Mr. Trump says he will act quickly to
nominate a replacement. This is the second justice nomination of his term.
Media in Kenya reported at least 15 people have died in a fire that engulfed a popular market in Nairobi. Medics attending the scene say around
70 people were injured. A search and rescue operation is ongoing. The cause of the fire not yet known.
Now, in just a few hours, we're going to get the United States' annual report on human trafficking around the world. It is called the TIP Report
for trafficking of persons. It ranks every country on their efforts to fight trafficking and it's not just developing nations that do poorly in
the report. I mean, some of the lowest rankings go to wealthy places, including Hong Kong.
CNN's Clare Sebastian joins me live from the State Department. Clare, every time this report is released, we cover it, and it reveals the countries
that are not doing enough to fight modern-day slavery. What are you looking for this year?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kristie, this is the 18th year that this report is coming out. It's going to be presented later today here at
the State Department by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. We know that Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and senior adviser, will also be here.
What we're listening at of course is the upgrades and downgrades. That is always crucial. The countries that get moved up and down in terms of the
ranking of how well they're doing in combating human trafficking.
I just want to explain a little bit about how those rankings work. The top tier, Tier One, that is countries who are meeting the minimum requirements
in terms of combating human trafficking. That isn't necessarily cause for victory lap. They're just doing enough. Tier Two are countries that aren't
fully complying but they are trying to make an effort.
There is also a level called Tier Two Watch List. These is countries that are a bit like Tier Two but have a significant number of victims. And then
the Tier Three, which is the lowest of all of those countries that haven't made this a policy priority at all, that really aren't making a significant
effort to combat human trafficking.
But as you know, Kristie, this is a global problem, one that we continue to shed light on and there are several areas where we've uncovered evidence in
the last year of just how widespread this continues to be.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, CNN team has uncovered child labor in a cobalt mine there. Cobalt, of course, a mineral that's become ubiquitous
in consumer electronics. We also have a CNN team that went to Libya in October and witnessed at least a dozen men being sold into slavery that led
to a global outcry including U.S. and U.N. sanctions on several men earlier this month.
[08:35:06] So the TIP Report, the idea, the stated goal is to bring change (ph) in this area by naming and shaming these companies in this public
ranking or naming and praising them. That is the goal here at the State Department.
LU STOUT: The goal here is to bring about change to end human trafficking. So, for those countries that remain at or are demoted to Tier Three status,
what kind of penalties are in place for them?
SEBASTIAN: Right. So there are sanctions that can happen to these countries when they are demoted to Tier Three. They're not automatic. They
have to be decided by the State Department. They can include things like restrictions on U.S. foreign aid to that country. That is of course clearly
designed to provide a deterrent, not to mention of course the humiliation of being downgraded to Tier Three.
This happens to China this time last year when it was the first report under the Trump administration and relations between those two countries
seemed to be warming. So, you know, there are people out there who say this does have a relationship to politics in other areas. It has been criticized
in the past. That's certainly something that we'll be watching out for today as well.
LU STOUT: Clare Sebastian reporting live, thank you.
Now, Hong Kong is one place that dropped down the list in the 2017 TIP Report. There are 350,000 domestic workers here in Hong Kong. And an
estimated one in six is a victim of exploitation. And Kong Kong is currently on the Tier Two Watch List on some par with Iraq, Afghanistan and
Rwanda. So, we're going to be looking closely to see what happens with this year's release.
Now, E.U. leaders, they are coming to Brussels for talks on an issue -- many issues but one in particular that's exposed deep divisions between
them, immigration policy. They arrived just hours after German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned it is a make or break issue for the E.U.
Nina dos Santos is at the summit in Brussels. She joins us live. Nina, the summit, it comes at a time of deepening divide and tension. Is there enough
political will and goodwill to reach an agreement on so many contentious issues, ranging from Brexit to trade to migration?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're likely to see, Kristie, more unity on some issues like for instance Brexit where it's likely to be 27
countries against the one that is planning to leave the United Kingdom, and more disunity on the issue of migration, which affects far more European
countries, and it is going to be far, far more difficult perhaps to fix.
So let's start with Brexit. The U.K. prime minister, Theresa May, is expected here in Brussels imminently. She's going to have the opportunity
to discuss where she sees Brexit going from here with her E.U. counterparts over the course of a working dinner.
It's expected she's going to have to swallow some humble pie at that dinner because it's expected that the other leaders are going to stand firm and
say that they're frankly quite disappointed over the lack of progress that the U.K. has made on the issue of Brexit and that they would be willing for
the U.K. to leave the European Union in March of next year without a trade deal altogether.
So that's Brexit for one side and that's also important because this is the last opportunity Theresa May actually has to speak to her E.U. counterparts
before a big crunch summit that's taking place in October and that will be the time when it's expected the U.K. will finalize the kind of exit deal
that it's going to get.
On migration, that is going to be another topic that's going to split Europe along various axes, from east to west, Poland and Hungary refusing
to accept more migrants. And also inside Germany, it's managed to split members of Angela Merkel's ruling coalition with her open door migration
strategy being undermined from within.
We've also got the Italians as well standing firm on their decision to turn back boats that are trying to dock to land migrants on Italian soil because
they say they can't take any more and not enough people are being moved north.
So these are the type of issues that we have. The reason why all of this is important is because the lack of freedom of movement within the European
Union undermines the whole principle of the Schengen Agreement which is a key political tenement of the E.U. Many people say that without Schengen,
the E.U. is finished.
I need to point out, there are couple of stop-gap measures that are on the table here. In particular, there has been a lot of talk of creating
disembarkation centers to process asylum claims outside the E.U., potentially in North Africa that could be used to root out economic
migration which is a big issue here versus asylum seekers.
And also expect more money for countries like Turkey that is hosting millions of Syrian refugees. More money for the Mediterranean border guard
that is something that the Italians have been (INAUDIBLE) for some time. And also, help for major transit launch point countries like Libya.
But I should point out, migration from here is not going to be a topic that's going to go away any time soon, Kristie, largely because Austria
that is very anti-migration at the moment is going to take on the helm of the rotating presidency of the European Union. That means migration is here
to come for at least the next six months on the top of the agenda.
[08:40:01] LU STOUT: Yeah, absolutely, especially given the hard line political shift that we're seeing in Austria and elsewhere like Italy. We
will leave it at that. Nina dos Santos reporting live for us from the site of the E.U. summit, take care.
Now, five times faster than the speed of sound, the airliner of the future has been in the works for decades, and we will have details for you, next.
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LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. This is "News Stream." Now, flying nonstop from Los Angeles to Tokyo, that takes about 12
tiring long hours. Now, Boeing says it aims to slash that to three hours. The only thing is the plane that can do it isn't quite ready for take-off
just yet.
Now, the American company unveiled images of its planned hypersonic airliner of the future. It will be designed to fly at up to five times the
speed of sound or 6100 kilometers an hour. That's three times as fast as Concorde which retired from operation back in 2003.
Boeing says it has been working on ultrahigh speed flight for decades. But we are going to have to be patient here because it could still be another
another 20 or 30 years before planes like this enter service. So, just a pipe dream for now.
That is it for "News Stream." I'm Kristi Lu Stout. Don't go anywhere. "World Sport" with Christina Macfarlane is next.
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[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)
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