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NEWS STREAM

Turkey will Share Results of Investigation to the World; U.S. and China Defense Chiefs Met in Singapore; China's Third Quarter GDP Hits Lowest in Years; Pompeo in Mexico to Talk About Migrant Caravan Approaching U.S. Border; Democrats Looking into LGBT Community for Votes; World Headlines; Tensions High in Kerala as Hindu Temple Opens Gates to Women; Dutch Inventor Works to Tackle Ocean's Plastic Problem; Prince Harry Climbs Sydney Harbour Bridge. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired October 19, 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] ANDREW STEVENS, CNN HOST: I'm Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong. Welcome to "News Stream." What actually happened to the Saudi journalist,

Jamal Khashoggi? Turkey's foreign minister says that they will share results of their investigation with the world.

No single nation can rewrite international law. Defense Secretary James Mattis talks Freedom of Navigation in the South China Sea a day after his

meeting with his Chinese counterparts.

And no women in the temple despite a change of law, protesters in Southern India are taking a stand against allowing females of a certain age into a

place of worship.

Well, Turkey's foreign minister says Ankara will share with the world the results of its investigation to the likely murder of the Saudi journalist,

Jamal Khashoggi. Right now, he says they're waiting on lab results. Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month, never

to be seen again.

Now, there's mounting evidence over what happened -- what appears to be Saudi Arabia's role. And for the first time, U.S. president, Donald Trump,

is saying it looks like Khashoggi is dead. And as a reaction to the events played down online, Twitter is suspending accounts that appeared to be

setting out to smear Khashoggi. But it doesn't have evidence that the accounts look pro-Saudi or Saudi government banks (ph).

More now on the international fallout. We'll have that in just a moment. First of, CNN sources are painting a picture of how Turkish intel responded

as soon as they learned Khashoggi was missing. Our own international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, is outside the Saudi consulate in

Istanbul and he joins us live.

Now, Nic, you've been piecing this all together. What have you found?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah. Big CNN team here working on those, talking to multiple sources, either inside Turkey,

in the region, or more broadly. And the picture that has emerged here is one that paints just how quickly Turkish authorities realized what was

happening indeed to the point of rushing intelligence officials to the airport to try to catch a plane there, a private Saudi jet, that was about

to fly off to Riyadh. So, all these details emerging were pieced together. This is how it looks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Just before 5.00 p.m. on October 2nd, Jamal Khashoggi's fiance begins to panic. Hatice Cengiz is waiting outside the Istanbul consulate

nearly four hours after Khashoggi went in. She makes a call to a senior Turkish official in the capital, Ankara. And within minutes, the alarm is

raised. Turkish Intelligence Agency is alerted.

The official who talked to Cengiz that afternoon tells CNN he called the Saudi ambassador in Ankara who expressed surprise about the disappearance

of Khashoggi. Within hours, however, that mystery turns to horror.

CNN has learned that by mid-evening Turkish intelligence was reviewing an audiovisual feed from inside the consulate, a feed they have not officially

admitted to having. On it, evidence of a struggle and assault and the first indication that Khashoggi was dead.

Intelligence officials raced to Istanbul airport where a private Saudi jet was waiting to take seven men back to Riyadh. One of them had a diplomatic

passport. According to a police report obtained by CNN, the airport search was ordered because there was a risk that Jamal Khashoggi had been

abducted.

The police officer at the gate was instructed to hand over the passenger and crew information for the flight. At around 9.00 p.m., disguised as

airport workers, the intelligence agent searched the jet while the Saudi passengers waited apparently unaware.

The police report we've obtained says that the intelligence officials also searched the bags of the passengers to make sure there were no body parts.

So, just five hours after the alarm was raised, Turkish authorities are beginning to suspect Khashoggi was killed. Nothing was found and eventually

the plane was allowed to leave.

But the Turks work was only just beginning. They spent the next few days analyzing every scrap of surveillance footage, the vehicles, the

passengers, their movements, trying to piece together how Khashoggi had died and who killed him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:06] ROBERTSON: And now, the extension of that effort is to the point of trying to locate Jamal Khashoggi's body as we heard from the

foreign minister earlier. They've searched the consulate. They've searched the consul general's residence. They've searched a number of the vehicles

belonging to the consulate. The question is where did all those vehicles go. There's a period where a couple of those vehicles have went off the

radar, if you will, were outside of the scope of what the investigators have been able to discover so far. The key in all of this right now is

where is Jamal Khashoggi's body. Andrew?

STEVENS: Now, we're still waiting for that report from the Turks. Nic, one question that comes to mind, why did Turkey take such a keen interest in

Khashoggi? After all, he was a Saudi citizen going into the Saudi consulate. He was not Turkish. So, why did Turkey put so much effort into

finding out what happened so quickly?

ROBERTSON: I think there are a number of reasons. I mean, as with any government, you know, consulates operating -- foreign governments obviously

operating on their soil is a point of interest, what those consulates are doing, are there nefarious activities. That was sort of normally be within

the scope of any government.

Normally, they wouldn't have to worry about that, but there had been growing concerns with this particular leadership and Saudi Arabia, old

nefarious type activities effort, rendition type events, so that would have put it on the radar. But we also know that Jamal Khashoggi, according to

President Erdogan -- President Erdogan describes him as a friend.

Khashoggi's fiance was well connected to some Turkish officials, one who was an advisor to President Erdogan. So, again, this gave, you know,

Khashoggi's disappearance an added urgency to officials. They knew his data. They knew that he was writing critically of the current leadership in

Saudi Arabia. So, he was -- he was on their radar and the fact that he could be in the country and then suddenly disappeared in this context.

I think all of these added up. And if you, of course, have looked at the bigger broader geopolitical picture, now you can see that there will be

potential longer term national strategic interest for Turkey and seeing this dealt with, you know, under international scrutiny, they would like to

have that support. But I think at the moment of Khashoggi's disappearance, it really was those connections -- his own connection by interviewing the

president, his connection through his fiance to government officials. Those were the things that rang the alarm bells there, Andrew.

STEVENS: OK. Nic, thank you very much for that. Nic Robertson joining us live from Istanbul outside the Saudi consulate there. It's interesting Nic

talks about the political angle because the political angle is becoming more and more acute in this story.

The White House the latest (ph) to harden its line now on Saudi Arabia. The U.S. Treasury secretary said that he canceled his appearance in the next

week's investment conference in Riyadh dubbed as the Davos of the Desert. But that's only after many of his European counterparts have already backed

out. And for the first time, President Trump is now admitting the Saudi journalist may be dead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe Jamal Khashoggi is dead?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It certainly looks that way to me. It's very sad. It certainly looks that way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you considering for possible consequences for Saudi based on those --

TRUMP: Well, it will have to be severe. I mean it's bad that -- but we'll see what happens. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: Severe consequences coming from the president's mouth there. Well, analysts say that it is unlikely the U.S. would completely breakout

with the Saudi over this issue. But let's bring in our CNN national security analyst, Samantha Vinograd, now to talk about this.

Samantha, let's just start with what would you imagine would be going on behind the scenes now between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia? The president has

said he thinks that Jamal Khashoggi is now dead and there could be severe consequences. So, what would the conversation be right now?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, at this point, I don't think it should be a question on whether the president thinks that

Jamal Khashoggi is dead or not. Typically, the United States and Saudi Arabia share intelligence for allies and were intelligence partners.

The fact that this 15 men interrogation squad or assassination squad is probably back in Saudi at the moment tells me that Saudi officials,

including the crown prince and the king, know exactly what happened in Istanbul more than two weeks ago.

And if they have not told President Trump that then we have an even bigger problem at the same time. We have intelligence partnerships all around the

world with countries all around the world in addition to U.S. collection mechanisms that should provide us with a definitive assessment this point

as to what happened, who was responsible, and potentially where the body is.

[08:09:58] STEVENS: Well, the evidence, so far, it has been unofficial through lakes (ph). We are expecting the official version from the Turks,

but everything is in point towards a very high level sign off on this mission to what looks like a torture assassination of this journalist.

If that is the case, what can the U.S. do because they have a very complex relationship, as you say, and a very strong economic relationship obviously

with oil and Saudis love to put too fine a point of it has the U.S. over barreled literally?

VINOGRAD: Well, certainly, Saudi recently pumped more oil at President Trump's request to encourage OPEC too, I should say, and raised production

by, I think, about 1.5 million barrels per day because United States is bringing Iranian oil offline when we re-imposed sanctions, but there are

range of things that the United States can do short of completely calling off the 70-year alliance.

The United States, from a security perspective, gets a lot from that alliance. We work with Saudi Arabia to counter Iran and we work with Saudi

Arabia to counter ISIS, among other things. That does not mean there can be a free pass for this horrific crime.

And United States can do things ranging from expelling diplomats, seizing consulate property here in the United States, looking at sanctions against

the perpetrators under something called the Global Magnitsky Act, and Congress can actually ask unilaterally to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The president has said he signed $110 billion worth of arms sales. Those actually have to be approved by Congress so that if they ever materialize

and there is growing bipartisan consensus to put a hold on those sales because of this horrific case.

STEVENS: Donald Trump has made no secret that the fact that sort of foreign policy is more transactional now. He's talked about the financial

impact of dealing with Saudi Arabia and how important those arm sales are. Do you think in the light of what's happened that we could actually see a

change in U.S. administrations sort of foreign policy and that it goes back to more values-based morality-based foreign policy as opposed to

transactional?

VINOGRAD: I think that's unlikely. I think the administration's approach has been quite transactional, particularly when it comes to allies with

NATO extend about a transaction related to increasing the share of GDPs spent on defense spending. With Canada, it's about increasing access for

U.S. dairy farmers. With South Korea, it was about raising the ceiling for U.S. automobile exports.

Unfortunately, the president is less transactional when it comes to our enemies like Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, which is very curious. But in

this particular case, I don't think it's really going to be up to him. I think that the Congress, based upon the way the U.S. constitution is

constructed and its Arms Export Control Act, is going to act if the United -- if the president doesn't, based upon gross human rights violations,

they've also triggered something called the Global Magnitsky Act and investigation which requires the president within four months to report to

Congress on whether there were human rights abuses and who is responsible.

So, if the administration is not going to pivot more toward upholding international human rights regimes, I think that Congress is going to step

in in a bipartisan way.

STEVENS: OK. Thanks very much for that analysis. Samantha Vinograd joining us from the U.S.

Now, the U.S. defense secretary is in Singapore taking on the increasingly controversial matter of the South China Sea. James Mattis has been speaking

with his counterparts from the Pacific region and he has told them no single nation can rewrite the international rule to the road. And while

that comment appeared to be aimed at China, Mattis did meet with that country's defense minister for about an hour and a half. A lot of that time

was apparently spent talking about the building and militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea.

Well, CNN's Matt Rivers has more on the tensions leading up to this meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was faint smiles and handshakes this week in Singapore as U.S. defense chief, James Mattis, met

with his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe. But make no mistake, China-U.S. relations aren't great right now, and the South China Sea is a big reason

why.

The sticking point remains China's artificial islands program. They built up and militarize key outpost across the South China Sea, like these,

called the Spratly Islands, which CNN saw firsthand onboard a U.S. Navy plane in August. On Tuesday, the Air Force flew a similar flight with B-52

bombers though it's unclear which disputed island chain they flew here. It's a routine patrol flight for the military. They have done them since

2004, but it makes the Chinese government very angry every time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We are firmly opposed in any country's behavior, he says, that jeopardizes the sovereignty and safe

interest of the coastal countries and disturbs the regional peace and stability with the excuse of Freedom of Navigation and over flight (ph).

RIVERS: On that fly over, the Chinese military likely made their displeasure known loud and clear. The B-52 pilots likely heard something

similar to what we did back in August.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leave immediately and keep if off so as to avoid any misunderstanding.

[08:15:02] RIVERS: And from the air to the sea, there's this, a Chinese Destroyer came within 45 yards of the USS Decatur near the Spratly Islands

last month as the U.S. ship was conducting a Freedom of Navigation operation. U.S. ships regularly sail near the disputed islands to counter

Chinese territorial claims calling it international waters, but it is rare for a Chinese response to be so aggressive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Chinese ship starts putting bumpers over the side of it, you don't do that when you're out in the middle of the ocean unless

you're intending to run into something.

RIVERS: The list of issues goes on. Last month, the U.S. sanctioned forces of the Chinese military over its purchase of Russian weapon systems.

President Trump used the U.N. Security Council speech to accuse China of quote, "meddling in upcoming U.S. elections," without offering specifics or

evidence. And Secretary Mathis canceled a planned trip to Beijing for this month.

Vice President Mike Pence summed up the new look U.S. approach towards China in a speech saying, the U.S. used China as an adversary on lots of

fronts, militarily, politically, and economically.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: China wants nothing less than to push the United States of America from the western pacific and

attempt to prevent us from coming to the aid of our allies, but they will fail.

RIVERS: The meetings in Singapore this week look friendly and both sides were likely cordial. Diplomacy remains the best bet to avoid any sort of

conflict. But this threat of conflict is higher and how these issues get fundamentally solved is unclear.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: Well, staying with China now, the world's second biggest economy -- excuse me -- continues to lose steam. China reported its slowest

quarterly GDP growth since the financial crisis of 2006 to 6.5 percent in the last quarter. Investors will be keeping a close eye on next quarter's

GDP numbers. That's when the U.S. trade war is expected to weigh in more heavily on Chinese exports.

Now, mainland Chinese market has shut up on Friday trade despite being disappointing GDP numbers. The Shanghai Composite closing almost 2.5

percent higher. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was also in the green.

Now, ANZ's Bank chief economist for greater China, Raymond Yeung, joins us now with more on those numbers and what's behind the stock movement. Let's

just start on the economy first, Raymond.

RAYMOND YEUNG, CHIEF ECONOMIST FOR GREATER CHINA, ANZ BANK: Yes, Andrew.

STEVENS: Looking at the numbers, it was weaker than expected, 6.5 percent. If trade is not dragging down the Chinese economy, what is?

YEUNG: I think the downsize of price of today's number is just marginal. Basically, everybody is expecting a slow down of GDP in the third quarter.

It's very likely that we will see a further slowdown in the fourth quarter because the whole economy is still undergoing a reform program namely

deleveraging and also the stocking (ph) of the property market, at the same time the capacity reduction, and all these reform means that the Chinese

government is very restrained in boosting growth through the use of stimulus.

So, I believe that the number, even though it's slightly down sign in terms of their actual number today compared to the consensus of 6.6 percent, but

the 6.5 percent is still at the government targets. So, it's not entirely surprising. It's just a small margin of downsize surprise today.

STEVENS: OK. You mentioned China is going through this reform program, the deleveraging. The China capital levels are very high levels of debt there.

But on top of this, we are going to get those trade -- that trade war, the impact of that kicking in this quarter, this current fourth quarter, and

into the next quarter as well, which is going to be another headwind to the Chinese economy.

Can Beijing afford not to do some sort of stimulation to make sure that it doesn't go into a hard landing?

YEUNG: My estimation of the direct impact of the trade war is just a 0.5 percentage point of the GDP spreading across a couple of quarter. So, if

Chinese government is willing to sustain the current reform paths that basically is short term paying. But at the same time, if the policy maker

try to stick to the 6.5 percent, it will go over the -- not only the next quarter but also next year. They basically need to manage expectation. And

in order to achieve the growth of 6.5 percent, then they got to do something.

Now, it doesn't mean that they can't do anything because, for example, we've seen the poverty sector start of warm up in the last two or three

months. And if they're willing to -- you know, loosening a bit about the tightened measure there put in the past two years, that basically can

offset some of the negative impact from external trade and some sort of boosting the domestic growth to a more active property market.

[08:20:10] STEVENS: OK. Just very quickly, we saw the Shanghai market up 2.5 percent today. Is this the start of the government coming to the rescue

yet again of investors? They talked the market up today. Are they going to take more action to prop up a market, which is down 30 percent in the last

10 months?

YEUNG: I think basically so far that what they have done has not translated into action about the direct impact of -- in the stock market.

We have not seen that. It seems that they -- what they're trying to do is just (inaudible) officials came out yesterday and today and pops (ph) up

the market, but it's not really a direct intervention or direct acquisition of stocks and equities in the market.

So, I believe that what they're trying to do is calm the market and to reiterate there are policies that launched in July by the (inaudible)

talked about stabilization of growth and also the financial sectors. I think this is all they just want to do and do not want to get a very high

expectation to the market that -- what they like to see is not a rebound or a rally of the stock market again.

STEVENS: OK. All right. We'll have to leave it there. Raymond, thanks very much for coming in today. Raymond Yeung, chief economist for greater China

for the ANZ Bank.

Still ahead on "News Stream," a desperate journey and the greatest hurdle may yet to come as the caravan of migrants approaches the U.S. border in

Mexico. Find out how President Trump is responding. And taking pride and turning it into votes had the Democrats concerning to the LGBT community

ahead of the midterms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEVENS: America's top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, is preparing to meet Mexico's president over an increasingly urgent issue. As we speak, a

caravan of thousands of people is making its way through Central America to the southern U.S. border. The people are hoping to apply for humanitarian

visas in Mexico that will let them in to the United States.

But the Trump administration is telling Mexico to stop the migrants before they get to the U.S. and the president is threatening to cut off foreign

aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and send in the troops if need be.

Now, one of the most closely watched races in the U.S. midterm elections is in Texas where Democrat Congressman Beto O'Rourke is trying to oust the

Republican Senator Ted Cruz. During a CNN town hall, O'Rourke dabbled down on his claim that if he elected to the Senate he will vote to impeach

President Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:10] BETO O'ROURKE, DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE: I would liken impeachment to an indictment. There is enough there to proceed with

the trial for a full vetting of the facts and to make the most informed decision in the interest of this country and our future. As you know, under

the constitution, as a member of the Senate, it's a far different board (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: Ted Cruz is trying to paint O'Rourke's position on impeachment as outside the mainstream. Cruz declined CNN's invitation to appear at that

town hall.

Now, with the midterms fast approaching, activist from both parties are trying to motivate supporters to turn out the polls. Some of the most

reliable votes the Democrats -- for Democrats come from the LGBT community as long as they show up for a one -- for the off year elections.

CNN's Robyn Curnow has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: The Pride Parade is fun (inaudible). This one in Atlanta made a big musical statement as this rock star is pitching

(ph) for Democrat, Stacey Abrams. She is running for governor of Georgia and no other major party candidate like her has joined the parade before.

Also here are more than a dozen other local politicians.

The LGBT community is becoming an ever important voting block for Democrats, even if some people have voted for Donald Trump like Denise

Nyborg on their honeymoon from Kentucky with her wife who we met before the parade began.

DENISE NYBORG, DEMOCRAT WHO VOTED FOR TRUMP: I did vote for him. I don't regret my vote. I think that it was kind of a toss up between the two

because I'm typically Democrat.

CURNOW: And she plans on voting for Democrats this year.

NYBORG: I disagree a lot with the way he is running the country.

CURNOW: We were invited to a fund raise for the largest LGBT rights within the U.S. where activists, volunteers, and voters gather to watch the

parade.

PERCY BROWN, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: As a black gay man, I think that it is very important that we have a political president at Pride to not only show our

voting power as an LGBTQ community but form coalitions with other marginalized communities.

CURNOW: Even here, a small group with anti-gay protesters gather to (inaudible). And despite recent gains in gay rights, many people we talked

to said equality was still a top election priority.

TIFFANY HILL, DEMOCRATIC VOTE: We do need to have equality across race, gender, all of it.

BRIAN HACKNEY, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: Equality for LGBT people and LGBT community, especially transgender community. People are really focused on

this election (ph). This election (ph) seemed like the most important that's going to happen in my lifetime.

KRISTA HILTON, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: The community likes to keep the energy and everyone kind of hitting off and getting energized and motivated in

that.

CURNOW: So, the voters in the parade are hoping that all of those energy translates into votes. (Inaudible) election coming up, many people here are

already motivated to do much more.

CHAD GRIFFIN, PRESIDENT, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN: Are you ready to make some history?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE/FEMALE: Yes.

CURNOW: Chad Griffin is one of the most high profile gay activists in America. He is running volunteers who are going to knock on doors for the

Democratic tickets.

GRIFFIN: Around the country, there are 10 million eligible LGBTQ voters. When we turn out, we win elections. Often times in the off year elections,

there's a dip in turnout with LGBTQ voters, with voters of color, with women voters. We're working hard to make sure that's not the case this

year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to physically actively do something.

CURNOW: Opposition to Donald Trump and the appointments of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had lead to volunteering for the first time.

GRIFFIN: Let me just put you down (ph) as a strong Abrams, is that correct? All right.

CURNOW: Defines a sense of Democratic momentum on the streets.

GRIFFIN: That's what it makes it all worthwhile.

KAYCEE ARROWSMITH, DEMOCRATIC VOLUNTEER: I know, right?

CURNOW: Races are tightening.

ARROWSMITH: I think my biggest fear is that the energy and the frustration that I feel maybe isn't felt around the country and we're going to not see

the blue wave that we're hoping for. I thought that would be very demoralizing.

CURNOW: But not all feel that way. Many in the gay community are approaching this election with a renewed mission.

Robyn Curnow, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: And still ahead on the show, faith and fury, protest in India over the presence of women at a temple. We're live with the latest.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN HOST: I'm Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and these are your world headlines.

The Turkish foreign minister says Ankara is going to share the results of the Khashoggi investigation with the world. He said authorities have

searched the Saudi consulate, residents and vehicles. Now, investigators are waiting for lab results. The Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi,

disappeared on October the 2nd after her entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Elections in Afghanistan Kandahar province will be postponed by a a week following the murder of the region's police chief. Abdul Raziq have just

met a top U.S. commander when the attack happened. U.S. says the American commander was not hurt but the assailant was killed.

British media says Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary has been released from prison in London. He was charged in 2016 for inviting support for ISIS. He

was sentenced to five and a half years. Choudary will be subject to a strict supervision regime. It is believed he will go to a probation hostile

instead of going home.

Nestled in the verdant beauty of Southern India, a place that should be known for unity, has become the scene of a remarkable division. Protests

have broken out around a temple in Kerala which was meant to open (ph) for women and girls over the age of 10 this week following a Supreme Court

ruling on equality, but not one of them has actually been able to make it over the threshold (ph) yet.

Nikhil Kumar is in New Delhi. He joins us now. Just give us a background first of what was that Supreme Court ruling and why can't these women still

into the temple?

NIKHIL KUMAR, CNN NEW DELHI BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Andrew, the ruling was last month. Last month, the bench of the Supreme Court here said that a

rule at the temple -- excuse me, that barred the entry of women and girls from the age of 10 to the age of 50 of menstruating age, that was the

reason for this rule, that that rule discriminated against the ruling, scrap (ph) that rule.

This month on Wednesday is when the temple reopened for the first time since that order was handed down and there was hope amongst many people

that the first women will be able to enter the temple, go to the main shrine there and make history in doing so, but none, as you say, have been

able to do so.

This is because thousands of orthodox (ph) Hindu protesters have congregated around the temple, blocking the entryway. You have to walk

several kilometers from the base camp to enter this temple. They blocked all the entryways to stop women from entering the temple and going to the

shrine.

They say that while they respect the Supreme Court order, they say that they do not accept it because this is a matter of religion, this is a

matter of their beliefs, and that allowing women in to the temple will mean that they desecrate the deities

commemorated there. And that set up the stand off to the women who do want to enter.

[08:34:59] At least four have tried, one of them a local journalist. Other journalist, female journalist, who went to the area to try and cover the

reopening was heckled. Some fears violence. The protesters say, we are doing this because we think the court should review its ruling and should

reverse this order. This is a matter of religion, not a matter of law.

Of course, Supreme Court disagreed with that when they passed this order. So, we have two more days until the temple closes once again for a month to

follow the local religious (ph) calendar, opens on Wednesday, two more days, for women to try and make it inside.

It is not clear that that will happen. There is a massive police presence there, about a thousand officers. Nonetheless, no women have been able to

step inside that shrine yet. Andrew?

STEVENS: Nikhil, thank you so much for that update. Nikhil Kumar live from New Delhi.

And still ahead here on "News Stream." a bold ocean cleanup project is fueling both hope and skepticism. CNN talks to the young inventors

(INAUDIBLE) after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEVENS: View of Hong Kong this Friday night. Welcome back. You're watching "News Stream." The world's oceans are being suffocated by pieces

of plastic. Environmental researchers say eight million tons of plastic enters the oceans every year, contributing to a massive island of trash

floating in the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, three times the size of France. It is the biggest of five such garbage patches.

It's now an alarming (ph) issue, but as of Wednesday, an ambitious project is on the way to help tackle the plastic problem and it involves a giant

pipe nicknamed Wilson underneath (ph). CNN's Rachel Crane reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we see here actually the stomach contents of a single sea turtle that was found dead two years ago.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN SPACE AND SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT: This is what's all in one sea turtle?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One sea turtle.

CRANE: Look at all that plastic.

Our oceans are already teaming (ph) with plastic. But an audacious new plan to clean them up is just getting started.

There are approximately 150 million tons of plastic in the world's oceans and a recent U.K. report predicts that that number will triple in the next

decade.

Pieces of plastic in the ocean can kill sea life, threatening industries like fishing or tourism, and negatively affect our health when they end up

in our food.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plastic is still going to be there in one year. It is still going to be there in 10 years. It is probably still going to be

there in hundred years. Only if we go out there and clean it up this amount of plastic is going to go down.

CRANE: One young Dutch inventor and his team have their sights set on solving the plastic problem. How? Meet Wilson, AKA System One. It's an

almost 2,000 feet long floating pipe with a net hanging below. No motors, no anchors, no crew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you look around the world, those plastics washing out on beaches. Basically we design an artificial coastline here as a

method of taking the plastics out of the water over there. The wind is like propelling the system through the area such that the open end of the "U" so

to speak is going forward.

CRANE: So it kind of captures it (ph) for ocean plastic?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, exactly.

[08:40:00] And then after a couple of months, there is a boat coming that pluck the garbage stuck (ph) in the ocean and that takes the plastics out

there on the boat and brings it back to shore.

CRANE: It is a seemingly simple solution to a complicated problem. The critics are worried about the system's effect on marine life.

Are these the tubes that we see out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. So we have the floater at the top that keeps it afloat but also prevents plastics from going over it. We have a screen

underneath it that prevents plastic from going under, so we don't have anything that can entangle marine life. What happens is that the current

flows underneath it, the plastic which floats will remain in this zone in front of the cleanup system (ph).

CRANE: You obviously have a ton of support for your project. There is also a lot of critics out there who are saying, you know, you guys are just

skimming the surface (ph) of this problem and you're not dealing with microplastics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ninety-two percent of the plastic isn't microplastic, but are larger objects.

CRANE: It's not microplastics yet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. So it is kind of a ticking time bomb. The sooner we get that out, the better.

CRANE: On September 8th, the Ocean Cleanup project towed the system out of the San Francisco bay. They build it as the largest cleanup in history.

That's because they are starting with the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating mass of trash more than twice the size of Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People actually do really care. They do want this problem to be solved which makes me hopeful that if we get this first

system working then we can actually get this (ph).

CRANE: He says the first toll of plastic is expected to come back in the next few months. The group plans to make consumer products out of recycled

plastic from the patch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This dark sunglasses are (ph) from plastic coming out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

CRANE: But the ultimate goal, to clean up 90 percent of ocean plastic by the year 2040.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back in the day, people say, well, there is no way to clean this up. The best thing we can do is not make it worse. But to me,

that is a very uninspiring message. Everyone wants the future to be better than the present. That's what we hope to achieve with this cleanup.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: Rachel Crane there reporting. Big ambition but he is making a start at least. Just before we go, that man behind me maybe quite well

known to you. That is Prince Harry. He is in Australia, championing one of his favorite causes.

Early today, he climbed the Australian Sydney Harbour Bridge. At the top, he raised the flag for the Invictus Games. That's the Olympic-style

tournament that he started for military personnel wounded in action. The competition opens on Saturday in Sydney.

Before he did that climb though, the duke and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, spent time with surfers on Bondi Beach for an event to raise

awareness for mental health issues.

OK, so now you're probably looking at those guys with the royals wondering is that (INAUDIBLE) 2018? I can tell you the answer is no. It's floral

Friday, which is the international beach event to raise awareness for mental health. The royal couple is in Australia as part of the 16-day tour

of Australia, Asia, and South Pacific.

And that's it from the team at "News Stream." Thanks for joining us. I'm Andrew Stevens. Don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Amanda Davies is just

ahead.

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