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NEWS STREAM
British Police Big Discovery In The Skripal Poisoning Case; Donald Trump Holds Vladimir Putin Responsible; Alleged Russian Agent Held Until Trial; Montenegro Calls Out The U.S. President Over Remarks The Nation Is Very Aggressive; Israel's Parliament Passes A Contentious New Law; Seventeen Men Charged With Rape In The City Of Chennai, India; World Headlines; Fighting Misinformation; Murky Waters; Warship Jackpot? Aired 8- 9a ET
Aired July 19, 2018 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:00:00] ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. Welcome to "News Stream." Suspects identified. A source tells CNN British
police have made a big discovery in the Skripal poisoning case.
Changing the message again. Donald Trump reveals what he told the Russian president during their one-on-one meeting.
And striking the mother load. A South Korean firm finds a sunken Russian ship that may contain a fortune in gold.
We begin in Washington where for the first time U.S. president says he holds Vladimir Putin responsible for Russia's interference in the 2016
election. And after days of intense criticism, Donald Trump now says he gave the Russian president a very strong warning against future
interference during their one-on-one meeting in Helsinki, something he failed to say while standing beside the Russian leader just days ago.
Well CNN White House correspondent Abby Phillip joins us now. Abby, despite what the president says, the reality is no one really knows what Trump said
to Vladimir Putin in their two-hour one-on-one meeting. Are Americans really buying his version of the truth?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There is still so much confusion here in Washington about what the president really believes when
it comes to Vladimir Putin and Russian interference in the 2016 election. The White House just spent two days trying to sort out his comments at that
press conference in Helsinki with Putin standing right beside him.
And then just yesterday, the president raised even more questions about whether he believes Putin continues to meddle in this 2018 mid-term
election right now. All of this is just causing a sense of whiplash and if anyone is confused you couldn't really blame them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP (voice-over): After being widely criticized for not confronting Russian president Vladimir Putin over the attack on the 2016 election,
President Trump now insisting he did.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I let him know we can't have this. We're not going to have it, and that's the way it's going to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): The president blaming Putin for the attack for the first time, although indirectly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Certainly as the leader of a country you would have to hold him responsible, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): But on Monday, President Trump had a different message.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial.
I, Donald john Trump --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): The "New York Times" reports that two weeks before his inauguration, President Trump was with direct, highly classified
evidence that Putin orchestrated the attack, including texts and e-mails from Russian military officers and information gleaned from a top secret
source close to Mr. Putin.
Despite this, the president has spent the past year and a half dismissing the investigation into election interference as a witch-hunt. A
characterization rebutted by his own hand-picked FBI director.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: I do not believe Special Counsel Mueller is on a witch-hunt. I think it's a professional investigation conducted by
a man that I've known to be a straight shooter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): President Trump telling CBS that he now stands by the intelligence community's assessment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF GLOR, CBS NEWS ANCHOR: If you believe intelligence agencies is Putin lying to you?
TRUMP: I don't want to get into whether or not he's lying. I can only say that I do have confidence in our intelligence agencies as currently
constituted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): But earlier in the day, the president appeared to contradict his intelligence officers over the ongoing threat posed by
Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WRAY: Russia attempted to interfere with the last election and that it continues to engage and malign influence operations to this day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is Russia still targeting the U.S., Mr. President?
TRUMP: Thank you very much. No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's go. Make a way out. Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, you don't believe that to be the case?
TRUMP: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): Press Secretary Sarah Sanders later saying the president was again misunderstood.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They had a chance to speak with the president after his comments and the president was -- he
said thank you very much and was saying no to answering questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): President Trump also coming under fire for entertaining Putin's proposal to allow Russia to interrogate two Americans
in exchange for allowing questioning of Russians charged with interfering in the U.S. Election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He feels very strongly about it and he has an interesting idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): The State Department forcefully rejecting Russia's request.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:05:02] HEATHER NAUERT, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: The overall assertions that have come out of the Russian government are absolutely
absurd.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP (voice-over): But at the White House, a much softer tone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: There was some conversation about it, but there wasn't a commitment made on behalf of the United States and the president will work
with his team and we'll let you know if there is an announcement on that front.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP: And the White House is still trying to work out exactly what happened in that meeting with President Trump and Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Remember, it was a one-on-one that really only included the two leaders and their translators for more than two hours, and the president has a couple
of meetings with his own national security team.
The Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State will be meeting with him separately here at the White House this morning, whcih I'm sure will be
part of that process. Anna?
COREN: Abby, I just wanted to follow up on that anger over Trump's apparent willingness to allow the Russians to interview American citizens
including the former American ambassador to Russia. As we've heard from the State Department, they said a flat out, no, that won't be happening. Has
Trump attempted to walk back those comments?
PHILLIP: Well the president made these comments in the press conference where he described it as an interesting idea -- this idea that Putin wants
to interrogate a couple of American citizens including a former ambassador to Russia. The White House had an opportunity to answer that yesterday and
they didn't dismiss it out of hand. Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary told reporters that it's something -- that these are things that
they're still looking into in the wake of this meeting.
But as you just mentioned, the State Department has knocked it down completely and a lot of folks here in Washington really stunned by the
difference between the State Department response and the White House response, in part because it is a ridiculous idea on its face that the
United States government would turn over one of its former ambassadors to Vladimir Putin on charges that have long been deemed to be completely
ridiculous on their face.
So, a lot of people in the White House seem to be chocking this up to President Trump not being aware of the meaning of what Putin was putting
forward, but others say that is something that should be obvious from the beginning.
COREN: So many people shaking their heads in Washington. Abby Phillip, we appreciate the update. Many thanks to that.
Well, a Russian woman accused of being a foreign agent will remain in jail until trial. Prosecutors claim Maria Butina attempted to gain access to
U.S. politicians in exchange for sex. Butinae pleaded not guilty to the charges in court Wednesday but a judge ordered her jailed without bond
believing she is a flight risk. Russian officials say her arrest was timed to disrupt the Trump-Putin summit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARAI ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN (through translation): According to a statement on the website of the U.S. Justice
Department, she is charged with acting as a foreign agent without registration. This farfetched accusation of our citizen just looks strange.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well, CNN's Matthew Chance has much more from Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): She appealed directly to the heart of American conservatism. Combining a
passion for guns with a youthful charm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA BUTINA, GUN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I'm a representative of Russian federation here and I am a chairman of the Right to Bear Arms. It's a
Russian nonprofit organization.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE (voice-over): An online profile says Butina was born in Siberia a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall and spent her childhood navigating
the rocky transition from communism to capitalism. She apparently launched a chain of small furniture stores in her hometown before moving to Moscow
where it says her interest in expanding the rights of average Russian citizens soon caught the attention of the most senior leaders of the
Russian federation.
Butina's gun lobbying also got her privileged access in the United States, including to the National Rifle Association. John Bolton, then an NRA
official, now U.S. national security adviser appeared in a 2013 video used by Butina's organization to encourage the Russian government to loosen gun
laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BOLTON, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: Should the Russian people have the right to bear arms? I can share with you a word about what this
particular freedom has meant to Americans and offer you encouragement as you consider embracing that freedom.
BUTINA: I am visiting from Russia so my question --
TRUMP: Ah! Putin. Good friend of Obama, Putin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE (voice-over): But it's now known Butina's gun lobbying also brought her into direct contact with Donald Trump, the Russian asking the then
presidential candidate at a public libertarian event in 2015 about Russia and sanctions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin. Okay? And I mean where we have the strength. I don't think you'd need the sanctions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:1001] CHANCE (voice-over): While Butina has denied the allegations against her, comparisons have been made between her and Anna Chapman, a
flame-haired Russian agent who gained notoriety and celebrity after being arrested in the United States as part of an illegal spy ring in 2010.
According to U.S. court filings, Butina offered sex in exchange for a position in a special interest organization during her work in the U.S. It
all raises questions about whether Butina really was just a Russian gun lobbyist or if she had her sights set on another target. Matthew Chance,
CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Well Montenegro is calling out the U.S. president over his remark that the nation is very aggressive. The small Balkan country says it's
proud of its peaceful politics and stabilizing influence in the region. Well, Mr. Trump sparked controversy by calling into question America's
commitment to defending NATO allies and its newest member, Montenegro.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS HOST: Why should my son go to Montenegro to defend it from attack? Why is it --
TRUMP: I understand what you're saying. I've asked the same question. You know, Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people.
CARLSON: Yes, I'm not against Montenegro, or Albania.
TRUMP: No, by the way, they're very strong people. They are very aggressive people. They may get aggressive and congratulations, you're in
World War III.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: Well CNN's Nick Payton Walsh joins us live from Montenegro. And Nick, what's the reaction where you are to these bizarre comments?
NICK PAYTON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it's fair to say Montenegro don't consider themselves to be a particularly
aggressive people. And frankly, standing here on this (inaudible) coastline at the height of tourist season, that's not really what that day is about.
We have heard from the Montenegro government, the newest, smallest member of NATO that joined just in June last year, now finding itself thrust into
kind of the international spotlight, kind of cast in the role of Sarajevo in World War I, the potential place where World War III could all kick off
from if you would believe Donald Trump.
They've released a statement saying, we've built friendships and have not lost a single one and the same time we are able to boldly defensively
protect and defend our own national interests. It goes on to talk about our most important thing is the value of freedom, solidarity and democracy and
how the friendship and the lines between Montenegro and the United States of America is strong and permanent.
Now, put all this aside and a sort of slightly bizarre moment in which a tiny Balkan nation has found itself rather in the headlights of, you know,
whether Article 5 really is going to be held up by the Trump administration. This is not a country whose journey to NATO was easy, Anna.
You know, it had an incredibly tough passage towards it.
It has contributed troops to Afghanistan to NATO for about eight years or so now and in the last eight -- sorry, four years -- it's had two coup
attempts inside the country designed to overthrow the government, perhaps put in more nationalistic pro-Russians forces. And certainly the one in
October 2016 was lengthily outlined by investigators as potentially having two Russian intelligence agents behind its planning.
Serbian nationalists were supposed to come to take over government buildings. There was even an attempt potentially or design at the time to
kill the then prime minister. So, when people talk in sort of that casual tone in that Fox News interview between Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump
there about whether or not Article 5, you know, is something people really want to get involved the with. Were the Montenegro is really worth it?
Here, that strikes right at the heart of the kind of existential struggle between Russia who is seen as part of their kind of Slavic hinterland so to
speak, desperately keen to keep it out of NATO's grasp and in the pro- western part of this country, which want to get closer to E.U. like neighboring Croatia. Wanted perhaps how the collective security of Article
5.
And most importantly, Article 5 wasn't really designed under the idea that you would end up seeing U.S. troops fighting for a nation of 620,000 people
whose army, by the way, is only 1,500 strong. The idea was once you said you had collective security, nobody would kind of mess with you. That's the
broader problem here.
Without being undermined, I think people of Montenegro are beginning to wonder and certainly the small members of NATO, given how Ukraine and
Georgia want to join NATO, but have been invaded by Russia in the past, exactly what that means for collective defense now in 2018. Anna?
COREN: Yes, many are saying that Trump once again just playing into Putin's hands. Nick, you enjoy the stunning views. Nick Paton Walsh joining
us there from Montenegro.
Let's go now to a developing story we are following in the U.K. Two people have been identified as suspects in connection with the attempted murder of
a former Russian double agent and his daughter. And we are hearing those suspects may have left for Russia after the attack. Well that is according
to a CNN source with knowledge of the investigation.
You remember Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a deadly nerve agent Novichok back in March. For more, let's go to our Nina
Dos Santos standing outside a British parliament. Nina, police have several suspects who they've identified on CCTV. Do we know who they are?
[08:15:10] NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. At the moment, we don't know who they are. They haven't released their identities, but it's
believed that authorities do know who they are especially two of them who may have been part of the sort of a hit squad part of what could have been
a larger operation here. And according to sources I've been speaking to throughout the course of the night and the morning, two identities in
particular seemed to have been fixed upon.
Again, we have not seen any picture evidence of those identities or names being released, but it's believed that police working in tandem with the
National Security Services have managed to comb through hours of CCTV footage in the Salisbury area at around about the time of the attack as
well as in airports as well and have identified people who have arrived on U.K. soil shortly before the attack and also departed U.K. soil apparently
shortly afterwards.
It seems as though the listening post of (inaudible) Cypress has intercepted a message in Russia, a coded message saying that essentially
they had managed to make it outside of the U.K. airspace safely and that time wise has been helpful for authorities to try and narrow down the
amount of CCTV footage that they've had to look to do try and identify individuals using facial recognition software.
For the moment I'm told, Anna, by sources that they believe that these individuals are using aliases, that they have managed to track them to a
manifest of a passenger plane, but they are not sure who these individuals are because they were not previously on the British radar. Anna?
COREN: Nina dos Santos, we certainly appreciate that update. Many thanks. Well, up next, we head to Jerusalem after Israel's parliament passes a
controversial new law defining the nation's state.
And uproar in India as child rape suspects appear in court. Coming up, we find out why horrific crimes like these are still happening despite a new
law.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: Welcome back to "News Stream" live from Hong Kong.
Israel's parliament has passed a contentious new law that defines the nature of that state. It establishes Israel as a historic home of the
Jewish people with a united Jerusalem as its capital, but what's not said is what's causing the controversy.
Oren Liebermann joins us now from Jerusalem to explain much more.
Oren, Arab lawmakers, they tore up their copies of the bill in protest describing this new law as an apartheid law and a racist law. Explain to us
the level of anger that this has triggered in a deeply divided Israel?
[08:20:00] OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They perhaps showed the most outrage in tearing up copies of this law as well as holding up black
flags but they were certainly not the only ones that were outraged by this bill. All of the opposition leaders, all of the opposition politicians
spoke against it. Many of them screamed against it and there have been statements coming from NGOs as well as Jewish rights groups or Jewish
groups here and abroad all speaking out against this.
Part of it is the fact that Arabic, which has been the official language of the state of Israel since its inception, has been downgraded to a language
of special status. But that's one of the smaller impacts. As you pointed out, what's generating all of this anger is what's not in the law. This is
called a basic law, meaning it is a guiding law.
Guiding principles for the state of Israel and it talks extensively about Israel as a Jewish state but it makes no mention of equality, minority
rights or democracy and it's that omission, the fact that those aren't mentioned here, which has generated a lot of the anger we're seeing, which
is very much continuing after this was passed very early this morning.
COREN: Oren, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this was a defining moment for Israel, but an opposition leader has asked whether it
will harm or benefit Israel. What's your take?
LIEBERMANN: Anna, we've seen that same criticism that it will damage Israel's status and Israel's reputation abroad not only for opposition
leaders but again, also from a number of other groups. It's difficult to answer that question right now because we haven't seen too many other
international groups or international countries weigh in on what they think about this law.
Importantly, we haven't seen anything from the U.S. whether the State Department or the White House to get their read on this law. What is clear
is that as Israel tries to push better relations and more open relations with some of the Arab states in the region, this law certainly makes that
harder because it is the Arab politicians and Arabs in Israel who make up 20 percent of the population who are most incensed by the passage of what
they say is a discriminatory apartheid law.
COREN: Oren Liebermann, thank you for putting that on to context for us -- joining us there from Jerusalem.
Well now to an appalling story out of south India where 17, yes, 17, men are now charged with raping an 11-year-old girl in the city of Chennai.
It's just the latest in a series of recent rapes of children that has outraged India, setting off massive protests across the nation demanding
government action. We'll take a look at what happened Tuesday in this case, in Chennai.
Emotions ran over in the courthouse and a scuffle broke out between defendants and prosecutors. Police say the suspects all worked in the
building where the 11-year-old victim lived. Well. I spoke with Swati Maliwal, the chairperson for the Delhi Commission for Women and asked her
why these assaults against girls and women keep happening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SWATI MALIWAL, CHAIRPERSON, DELHI COMMISSION FOR WOMEN: This is what is going on. An 8-month-old baby gets raped, a 2-year-old, a 3-year-old, a 40-
year-old, an 80-year-old woman. A 16-year-old girl was raped, gang-raped recently and she was burned alive and she died because of it. So, again and
again and again rapes are happening in India and I'm sure across the world also there is growing rise in sexual violence but in India it's becoming a
very, very -- it's almost becoming an epidemic.
It's really shameful that Delhi is called the rape capital of the world. It's been ongoing for a long time and the center is being -- the central
government is not giving adequate attention that this problem deserves.
COREN: If I can just go back to this latest attack. The 17 men aged 22 to 66. They worked the apartment building where this young girl lived. They
repeatedly raped her over the course of six, seven months. It is staggering to think that not one of these men thought that this was wrong, this was a
criminal act. How has this become acceptable behavior, raping a child? Where is the breakdown occurring?
MALIWAL: It is acceptable here because nothing happens to such men. They just go to jail for some time and sometimes they go to jail for some time
and then they just come out. Even the gang rape victim of 2012, Nirbhaya, who we call her the fearless one, the one who died because rods were
inserted inside her and she was brutally gang raped in December 2012. Even she has not got justice until now.
Even her perpetrators, they continue to be, you know, just languishing in some jail. No justice has been given. So the message is there in the
country that whatever you do, however much you may torture a girl or a woman you may rape as many but nothing will be done against you. There will
be no action that is taken against you.
COREN: I want to ask you about the government. You are clearly very critical of the government and Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi has been
criticized at times for being very slow to respond to these high-profile rape cases where your fellow Indians have taken to the street to protest.
He has, however, brought in tougher laws especially, as you mentioned the death penalty for rape of girls under the age of 12. Is this not a
deterrent to attackers?
[08:25:05] MALIWAL: How will it be implemented? Where is it being implemented? There is no implementation. There are hundreds of laws in this
country, but until proper resources are set aside for its implementation nothing much is going to happen. How will you implement it? Delhi in itself
is lacking 66,000 police personnel for the past 10 years.
It's been 10 years the Delhi police has been asking, requesting the central government for proper personnel. Even that is not being given. I mean, what
do you do? There are no police personnel. Fast track courts are not being created. Presently, the situation of this (inaudible), this 11-year-old
girl probably will spend the rest of her life fighting the different or fighting the case in different courts and different layers seeking justice.
She will probably never get justice.
COREN: Swati, last month, Thomson Reuters Foundation found that India was the most dangerous country in the world to be a woman followed by
Afghanistan and Syria. Is that a fair assessment in your opinion?
MALIWAL: I definitely think so. We are -- I'm living in the capital of the country and I monitor the crimes here and the situation is such that every
day six rapes are happening in Delhi itself. Across the country, every hour there are rapes that are happening. Girls and women, they do not even come
out and report the case because they fear victimization after that.
So the situation is quite bad and there are proper mechanisms that we can have for delivering justice. I'm not saying that there should be some mob
mentality or some mob should lynch these rapists. That's not what we are demanding. We are wanting the proper court procedures, proper
investigations should take place.
Presently, there are no resources with the police. Presently, the police have no accountability. There are hardly any fast track courts. There is
hardly any implementation of laws and that is why the situation is this.
COREN: Swati Maliwal, we applaud you and we ask you to continue your fight. Thank you so much for joining us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: And CNN is committed to following all of these horrific rape stories coming out of India. So with "News Stream," much more after the
break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong and you are watching "News Stream."
British police have identified two suspects in the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter. A source says right after the attack
the suspects left for Russia. Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a deadly nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury back in March.
[08:30:00] A shore time ago, we got this response from the Russian ambassador to the U.K.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEXANDER YAKOVENKO, RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR TO THE U.K.: These are the reports of the media. Unfortunately, we don't have official statements from the
British side. I want to hear that from the Scotland Yard or from the Foreign Office. A lot of versions that we hear, you know, in the
newspapers, they are not supported by the statements of the Foreign Office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COREN: After days of back and forth, U.S. President Donald Trump told CBC News that as the Russian head of state, he holds Vladimir Putin responsible
for the attack on the U.S. election. Meanwhile, the White House is considering allowing Moscow to interrogate 11 Americans in exchange for
help with the election interference investigation. The State Department says the U.S. would not allow that.
The Syrian and Russian militaries reach reconciliation agreement with rebel groups in Southwest Syria. On Wednesday, rebel groups agreed to hand over
military hardware and will give up the rest of their weapons once ISIS has been eradicated from the region. The deal follows days of intense fighting
in Southern Daraa Province, according to activists.
Facebook is unveiling a new plan to tackle misinformation. It now says by working with local partners, it will take down misinformation that could
contribute to imminent violence. Facebook is starting these efforts in Sri Lanka and Myanmar where false rumors spread online have led to attacks
against ethnic minorities.
Now there are calls for Facebook's own WhatsApp to do the same. It, too, has been used to spread false information that has contributed to a spate
of mob lynchings in its largest market, India. More than a dozen people have died over the past two months.
Last Friday, a man died in the state of Karnataka at the hands of an angry mob. An official says he and his three friends were stopped along the
roadside to hand out chocolate to schoolgirls. Once child started screaming which alarmed locals who have seen fake WhatsApp video about child
abductions.
In May, an angry mob attacked and killed a transgender woman on WhatsApp rumors that she and three others were child traffickers. And that was just
a day after a man with mental health problems was beaten up over WhatsApp rumors he was a member of a kidnap gang.
Well, joining me now is Manish Singh, freelance technology reporter and former senior correspondent at Mashable. Manish, following this growing
criticism, Facebook has now announced it will begin removing misinformation that could incite violence, which we exactly what we saw in Sri Lanka, in
Myanmar, in India. How dangerous has Facebook become?
MANISH SINGH, FREELANCE TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Thanks, Anna. What's happened is that Facebook is continuing, is increasingly struggling to understand
the local challenges that these Asian markets present.
And because Facebook services are so popular in India and other developing markets, that even if Facebook -- so Facebook needs to assume
responsibilities and take the action, proactive steps to counter these challenges.
COREN: It's really interesting that you say that they're struggling to understand the local markets, because I want to ask you, how difficult will
it be to enforce, police this, considering that Facebook will be working with local civil society groups to identify this misinformation?
SINGH: So what many privacy advocates have said so far is that Facebook is continuing to take reactionary steps and not proactive. So it is not
understanding where this -- it is not able to figure out what kind of next steps that these bad actors will take on the platform.
COREN: And why does this not apply to WhatsApp, Manish? People are really scratching their heads, considering the mob violence that we have seen in
India in the past few months that led to the death of more than a dozen people, because of these false rumors about child kidnappers that went
viral on WhatsApp. Why is WhatsApp not included?
SINGH: No, WhatsApp is included. The problem is that with WhatsApp, unlike Facebook in which (ph) people go and they willfully share content with the
public and the world, entire world, anyone can go there and see their update. On WhatsApp, because of the kind (INAUDIBLE) has been built, that
it enforces and do an encryption, it's very difficult for Facebook to figure out what exactly is bad content on the platform and then take
reactions.
COREN: All right. Manish Singh, we certainly appreciate your insight, joining us there from New Delhi, many thanks for that.
[08:35:01] Lebanon once prided itself on its beautiful beaches, but now they are toxic mess and the ecological crisis has become an embarrassment.
Our Ben Wedeman went to take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Lebanon, sun-drenched land of sea, sand, surf and trash. This small country on the
Eastern Mediterranean is grappling with an ecological crisis years in the making on land and its sea.
Diving instructor Ahmed Farhad (ph) took us on a tour of Beirut's coastline. Above water, we went through areas reeking like a public toilet.
Animal entrails bobbing in the murky green water. And underwater of Beirut Corniche (ph), we found a seabed littered with cans, bottles, and plastic
bags. Hearty fish somehow still thrive in these waters.
Anglers try their luck at the mouth of a sewer, gushing into the sea.
Lebanon has plenty of positive environmental laws on books that exist only on the books.
Watahak (ph) has been diving here for 12 years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest, so far, a lot of regulations need to be applied and a lot of those that already are available as rules and
regulations are being ignored.
WEDEMAN (voice over): Three years ago, piles of rubbish snaked through the city when landfills reached capacity. The trash was finally moved to a new
landfills. Winter rains washed the garbage into the sea, which then threw it back on to the coast.
Many of Beirut's beaches are littered with garbage, left by residents desperate for relief from the city's long, hot and humid summers.
MICHEL AFRAM, HEAD, LEBANON'S AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE: What we are doing in Lebanon, we are destroying our environment.
WEDEMAN (voice over): Dr. Michel Afram, head of Lebanon's state agricultural research institute, does not mince his words. Everyone is to
blame for this country's mess.
AFRAM: We saw garbage everywhere, in mountain, in hills, in the rivers, in the sea. And we have to change it.
WEDEMAN (voice over): George Habdad (ph) from the Research Institute collects water samples from the sea, for analysis in the labs. The findings
consistently show a toxic cocktail in the making.
AFRAM: The sewage also is waste water coming from hospital, waste water coming from industrial zones. So, we have a lot of possibility to be
contaminated or to catch a bacteria or to catch a chemical material or heavy metal.
WEDEMAN (voice over): But it's hot, it's summer, and a day at the beach, myself included, is hard to resist.
Ben Wedeman, CNN, Lebonon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: Coming up on "News Stream," a South Korean firm may have discovered an underwater fortune from over a century ago.
[08:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COREN: Welcome back. A South Korean firm has discovered a massive Russian warship at the bottom of the ocean more than a century after it sank. It's
reportedly carrying a fortune's worth of gold coins, believed to be part of the Russian war fund. CNN's Andrew Stevens has the story from Seoul.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Ha, ha, ha. You're not going to believe it. I have a name. I have a name. It's in Russian. I can't read it.
ANDREW STEVENS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): And with that, the mystery of the final resting place of the Russian warship Dmitri Donskoi was
solved. In the deep, dark waters off the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, 434 meters or more than 1,400 feet down, these Russian letters revealing
the final resting place of a ship that treasure hunters have been searching for for decades.
Video footage from the salvage team show the ship's wheel, marine growth encrusted guns and the anchor. Its stern severely damaged, the result of an
attack by Japanese warships during the Russia-Japanese war of 1905. She was so badly damaged from that encounter that the captain had her scuffled,
deliberately sunk after evacuating almost 600 crew and soldiers to a nearby island of Ulleungdo.
(on camera): And that's where it gets interesting. The Russians didn't want her to fall into Japanese hands because the Dmitri Donskoi, it's been
reported, was carrying gold. Fabulous amounts of gold. If you believe some reports, the total amount of gold bars and coins on board would today be
worth more than $130 billion. That's right. Billion.
A quick back of the envelope calculation suggests it would have to be carrying thousands and thousands of tons of gold to be worth that much. All
to pay for Russia's war against Japan. But there are many treasure ship skeptics. Why, they ask, would the Russians entrust so much loot on to one
ship? Why even would they send it by ship when they could have sent it by rail across Russia to the eastern city of Vladivostok?
The salvage company that found the Dmitri Donskoi say they plan to raise it but they didn't say when. According to South Korean law, they will have to
fork out about a tenth of what they think the ship is worth. Not surprisingly, they are not commenting on the amount of gold. Dmitri Donskoi
has already given up its location but the biggest mystery, what lies beneath those rotting decks remains at least for now unsolved.
Andrew Stevens, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COREN: That is "News Stream." I'm Anna Coren. Thanks so much for your company, but don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Patrick Snell is coming
up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)
END
