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NEWS STREAM
The Field Widens, U.S. Senator, Kamala Harris Throws Her Hat Into The Ring For The 2020 Presidential Race; Presenting Plan B, Theresa May Prepares The New Pitch As British Lawmakers Start To Take Matters Into Their Own Hands; An Economic Slowdown; China's GDP Growth Stalls Growing At The Slowest Pace Nearly Three Decades. Aired: 8-9a ET
Aired January 21, 2019 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST, "NEWS STREAM": I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream." The field widens, U.S. Senator, Kamala
Harris throws her hat into the ring for the 2020 Presidential race. Presenting Plan B, Theresa May prepares the new pitch as British lawmakers
start to take matters into their own hands. An economic slowdown. China's GDP growth stalls growing at the slowest pace nearly three decades.
Another Democratic candidate has officially announced her bid for U.S. President in 2020. Just minutes ago, Senator Kamala Harris to California
threw her hat into the ring. Kyung Lah, has more on the woman who could be a major player in the race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. SENATOR, CALIFORNIA, DEMOCRAT: That's why I'm running for President of the United States.
KYUNG LAH, SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN (voice over): Senator Kamala Harris, announcing her Presidential campaigns core principles on Martin
Luther King Day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Truth, justice, decency, equality, freedom, democracy. These aren't just words. They are the values we as Americans cherish and they're
all on the line now. I intend to fight for truth and transparency and trust. I intend to fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over): California's junior senator is notable both in biography and her two-year tenure in the senate. Supporters hail Harris' rapid-fire
questioning in the Senate from Supreme Court nominees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?
BRETT M. KAVANAUGH, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT: I'm not thinking of any right now, Senator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over): To Justice Department officials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is has the.
HARRIS: Yes or no, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is has the full independence that is authorized by those regulations.
HARRIS: Are you willing to do as has been done before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over): Making more than one of them squirm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not able to rushed this fast. It makes me nervous.
HARRIS: A lot of the work I've done has been inspired.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over: The native of Oakland says she embodies everything California stands for and what the President is against.
She is the daughter of immigrants. A father from Jamaica and a mother from southern India, both active in the civil rights era.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: And so, it's about fighting for justice. It was about fighting to make sure that all people had a say in their future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over): Harris graduated from Howard University, returning to Oakland to become a prosecutor. As a San Francisco district attorney Harris
crafted innovative programs to reform the criminal justice system, at a time when other prosecutors were taking a tough on crime approach.
And despite political pressure from her own party, she refused to seek the death penalty against the killer of a police officer sticking to a core
campaign pledge and personal belief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I'm humbled to be chosen to be the next Attorney General of the State of California.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over): But she would defend the death penalty as California's first black woman Attorney General. Still personally opposed but upholding
state law coming under fire from activists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I now declare you spouses for life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over): When the Supreme Court allowed marriage equality to stand in California, she officiated the first legal same sex marriages in
2013.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Any day that justice is delayed, I would suggest justice is denied.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over): All part of her pledge to be a progressive prosecutor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: It is a false choice to suggest that one is either in favor of the Second Amendment or in favor of reasonable gun safety rules. We can be
both.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH (voice over): That history is both an asset and an opening for attack. A question that may follow her to the campaign as it did on her book tour.
Is it possible to be both the top cop and a reformer for progressives?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you say to those who hear that and read that and still say that you're anti police?
HARRIS: Well, it's just not true.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, I had that out.
HARRIS: And that's why I say we have to talk truth. It's just not true, it's not true, it's not true-period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: That report by CNN's Kyung Lah and Kyung joined just now, live from Washington.
[08:05:00]
LU STOUT: Kyung, the field for the Democrats, still wide open here but now we have official, as of what, 30 minutes ago, Kamala Harris along with
Elizabeth Warren, with Julian Castro, with what Kristen Gillibrand, possibly Cory Booker, there's Beto" O'Rourke, his name keeps being tossed
about. The field was even wider than that. How is this field so wide taking shape? And who's on top there? In terms of name recognition?
LAH: Well, we're going to need a whole lot more boxes because the field is expected to grow significantly, Kristie.
Of those pictures and of those names that are there. Certainly, Elizabeth Warren is probably the best known. But if you put in Vice President Joe
Biden, who has not yet decided if he's going to run or not for President, he is in many polls of name recognitions, certainly the best known but
here's the important thing. We're more than a year away from the Iowa caucuses. So that's why you're seeing people jumped in now with a field so
wide, with so many new faces coming in.
You're seeing people like Senator Harris jump in with the biography, doing a soft launch, trying to get voters to know her, making a book tour,
explaining who she is. The time is now for candidates like her and others to jump in to say, give U.S. a look because there are so many potential
people who could be out there.
LU STOUT: Yes, the time is now and so the publicity blitz begins. Kyung Lah, reporting live first from Washington. Thank you so much. Take care.
LAH: You bet.
LU STOUT: And now to the partial U.S. government shutdown. Now, in day 31. U.S. President Donald Trump is facing criticism from the left and from
the right over his plan to reopen the government. In his speech on Saturday, Mr. Trump offered a plan that would temporarily protect some
undocumented immigrants from deportations in exchange for $5.7 billion that he's asking for, in funding for the southern border wall. It was
immediately criticized by conservative media commentators and democratic House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi swiftly rejected it.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to put the person's plan up for a vote this week. But there is little chance it's
going to pass.
Meanwhile in the House, Democratic leaders plan to vote on a new bill that would add an extra $1 billion for border security, not the wall. Let's get
more now from CNN's Lauren Fox. She's live for us on Capitol Hill.
Lauren, Donald Trump extended what he called the compromise. He's offered to end the shutdown but the Democrats they are not buying it. Tell us why.
LAUREN FOX, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, CNN: Well, that's right. Kristie, Democrats are saying that the President's plan is just too little. First
of all, they say, if you want to negotiate over the border, well, do it. But first, you have to open up the government.
The President says he's not willing to do that. Democrats also want more permanent protections for recipients of DACA and temporary protected
status. That's something else that the President's plan doesn't include. His plan only has three years of protection.
Here's what the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer had to say about the President's plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHUCK SCHUMER, U.S. SENATE MINORITY LEADER: It was the President who single handedly took away DACA and TPS protections in the first place.
Offering some of those protections that he took away back in exchange for the wall is not a compromise but hostage taking.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOX: And Kristie, as you noted, Mitch McConnell will put the President's proposal on the Senate floor this week, but don't expect enough Democrats
to support it to get it out of the Senate. So if House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi and the top Democrat in the senate say, this is a no go, expect the
democrats are going to hold firm even as there's growing frustration among rank and file members that the shutdown is going on more than a month now,
Kristie.
LU STOUT: Is it going to drag on as we look in a fresh start or fresh week. Last week it got really nasty. It turned into this personal showdown
between Speaker Pelosi and President Trump, this offer of what he called, the U.S. President, a compromise here with that offer from Donald Trump.
Is that just a sign that there could be some leeway here. There could be moves towards ending the shutdown this week?
FOX: Well, you know, certainly moderate members on both sides of the aisle hope that's the case. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West
Virginia, who's from a state of the President one in 2016. He's newly reelected. You know, he said, "Look, this may be a way forward," but it's
going to take some of those moderates in the middle to keep negotiating. And the problem is, even if they find a solution among themselves,
moderates in the Republican Party, moderates in the Democratic Party. If the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and the President of the United
States can sit down in a room and negotiate it doesn't matter and that's the issue here.
This comes as furloughed workers and folks working without pay will miss their second paycheck this week.
LU STOUT: Yes, the shutdown has reached the record of 31 days and the pain is definitely being felt.
Lauren, thank you so much for your reporting. Lauren Fox there on Capitol Hill.
[08:10:00]
LU STOUT: Now, new explanations coming from President Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, about a stunning report from BuzzFeed. The report, last
Thursday, said that the President directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about a Trump Tower project to Moscow.
Now, Giuliani is saying that Mr. Trump may have talked to Cohen about his testimony but it's not a big deal if he did. Listen to what he told our
Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: As far as I know, President Trump did not have discussions with him. Certainly had no discussions with him in
which he told them or counseled him to lie. If he had any discussions with him, they'd be about the version of the events that Michael Cohen gave
them, which they all believe was true.
JAKE TAPPER, ANCHOR, CNN: But you just acknowledge that it's possible that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about his testimony.
GIULIANI: Which would be perfectly normal, which the President believe was true.
TAPPER: So it's possible that that happened, that President Trump talked to Michael Cohen about this incident.
GIULIANI: I don't know if it happened or didn't happen, and it might be attorney client privilege if it happened, where I can acknowledge it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: The Office of Special Councel, Robert Mueller, which almost never respond to news items challenged the BuzzFeed report, saying
characterization of documents and testimony are not accurate. But BuzzFeed is standing by its story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BEN SMITH, EDITOR IN CHIEF, BUZZFEED: We are eager to understand which characterizations Mueller is talking about there. And obviously, we take
that incredibly seriously.
ANTHONY CORMIER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, BUZZFEED: If a further confirmation -- that this is right. We're being told to stand our ground.
Our reporting is going to be born out to be accurate and we're 100% behind it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: A Kremlin spokesman says Moscow did not communicate, "Anyone whatsoever," about the Trump Tower Moscow deal beyond an initial email in
early 2016.
A new week brings a new Brexit plan from Theresa May. The British Prime Minister is expected to lay out her Brexit Plan B in Parliament in the
coming hours. But her historic failure to get the votes needed to pass her deal last week has stirred up a government meltdown.
In fact, CNN has learned that a group of cross party members of Parliament has plans to introduce legislation, making it impossible for Britain to
leave the E.U. without a trade deal in place. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has warned the Parliament taking control of the Brexit process would jeopardize democracy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIAM FOX, BRITISH INTERNATIONAL TRADE SECRETARY: You've got to leave population and a remain Parliament. Parliament has not got the right to
hijack the Brexit process because Parliament said to the people of this country, "We will make we make a contract with you. You will make the
decision and we will honor it."
What we are now getting are some of those who were always absolutely opposed to the results of the referendum trying to hijack Brexit and in
fact, steal the result from the people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: CNN's Bianca Nobilo joined now from outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Bianca, wow, this is being called a hijacking, this
is being called a parliamentary plot. We know that various MPs are working on motions to block a no-deal Brexit, but what exactly are they planning?
BIANCA NOBILO, CORRESPONDENT,CNN: Well, Kristie, we're expecting an onslaught of amendments this week, which will try and stop the Prime
Minister from being able to go for a no deal in any scenario. There is a lot of business within the Conservative Party about some of these MPs and
the amendments that they're trying to put forward to, as some have said, hijack the political process.
However, the reason that some MPs have come forward with these amendments is simply because that there is an impulse, there is a deadlock in this
Brexit process. So what these amendments seek to do, and there are an array of them, is to make a no-deal situation legally impossible.
That's because they'll try and enshrine in law that if a deal hasn't been approved by Parliament by mid-February, or perhaps March, depending on the
amendment, that it will prohibit the Prime Minister going for a no deal and for so to extend Article 50. So that goal is to stop no deal in any
circumstance.
Now, the Prime Minister's focus is on presenting her plan B to Parliament today. Her hope is still that she can get a deal through to avoid that no
deal situation. However, she's still in this situation where parliament is so split on what it wants, that it's very difficult to see anything she
puts forward being able to garner the majority support of the House of Commons.
LU STOUT: Absolutely. So this brings us to the question that I've been asking you for weeks and months now. What can she do? How can she break
the deadlock and bring a majority of MPs on side with her?
NOBILO: Well, this is the problem. Yes, she's going to be presenting a new plan today as Plan A didn't work and how government accepts that. But
she's facing the same old problems that she's faced through the entire process.
The main difficulty is, the Prime Minister, because she faced such a historic defeat on her Brexit deal, knows that a tweak here and tweak there
simply isn't going to work and get the numbers on side. Her problem is, is that if she ops for a softening of Brexit and making some allowances there,
then she was completely isolating some of her Brexiteer MPs that might support her.
[08:15:02]
So the job of Downing Street at the moment is to try and amend the Prime Minister's existing plan without isolating anybody else who's already
supporting it. So she continues to walk this tightrope that she's been walking now, throughout the entire negotiation process.
There's been discussion about whether or not the Prime Minister could reach out across the aisle to Jeremy Corbyn and try and work with the Labour
Party. She invited him to talk, he declined, because he said that she needs to take no deal off the table first.
But there's also so many problems in trying to work with the opposition to secure the main policy of the government because it will mean that labor
tries to extract concessions and that's going to put even more pressure on a conservative party that is near breaking point.
LU STOUT: Bianca Nobilo, reporting live from London, outside the Houses of Parliament. Bianca, thank you.
Now as referred, one of the key stumbling blocks for Theresa May's deal is a contentious Irish backstop in order to get her deal through Parliament.
This likely to be the issue she will have to unravel. So what exactly is the backstop? Why is it so unpopular - while the backstop is a policy to
prevent a hard border between Ireland, which is part of the E.U. and Northern Ireland which is part of the U.K.
The whole of the U.K. will stay in the European customs territory during a transition period in a new borderless trade agreement. If that hasn't been
reached by the end of 2020 then the backstop would kick in. If that happens, U.K. would remain in the European customs territory and could only
leave with permission from Brussels, thus limiting the power of the U.K. to pursue its own trade deals with the rest of the world, backstop or no
backstop.
Whatever solution is found to the border question will have huge implications for those in the ground. Nick Robertson reports from Northern
Ireland.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR, CNN: In a few months' time, this could be E.U.'s land border with the U.K. It's giving rise to
the most contentious issue in Brexit, the backstop.
When I say backstop, what does that mean to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Backstop means, basically, it's an insurance policy but Theresa May and the European Union have taken out.
ROBERTSON: In its simplest form, the backstop keeps the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland open. Both the E.U. and the
U.K. say they want that. But the E.U. insist the backstop is part of the deal in case the two sides can't get an agreement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever's going to happen, it's going to impact on the city more than any other part of the U.K., more than any part of the E.U.
ROBERTSON: This city here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This city because we are the biggest population center which will be in the U.K. on the border with the E.U. So whatever is going
to happen, be it good or bad, it's going to impact most here.
ROBERTSON: We are in Northern Ireland's second largest city, Londonderry, also known as Derry. A few miles from the border with Ireland. From the
1960s to the 90s, Gary was at the heart of Northern Ireland's deadly sectarian violence.
Twenty something years ago, I heard right here as Catholic teenagers rushed up here to fight pitch battles here with mostly Protestant police, 1998
peace deal has made all that feel like ancient history. But that's what the backstop is about in part to prevent a return to that sort of violence.
Is it going to work?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Better.
ROBERTSON: Because?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know what that's supposed to be like if it doesn't. This place will go back to it was 25 or 30 years old.
ROBERTSON: You mean the violence?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ROBERTSON: Concerns are growing the backstop is blocking Brexit. It could bring back border controls.
What would happen if those are no-deal Brexit and to the border?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does it mean I have to show my passport or something to go down, I don't know. I was like, I was told that maybe you'll have to
show your passport or have a visa to go join over the border to visit family.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think a man on the street has any idea what's going to happen, especially with businesses. I'm working for a company that
does out of cross border trade. So they are particularly worried, in terms of taxes going back and forth over the border.
ROBERTSON: What would you hope for with the border yourself?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, we would obviously hope that it's an open border. You know, especially in this area, there's a always been a strong
relationship because we're a border area, so we would need free movement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very worrying. I don't know what the future is going to hold for myself, for my family and especially for my children.
ROBERTSON: The trouble for Theresa May is she needs the support of Northern Irish MPs who oppose the backstop. It makes them feel less
British. And so far, she hasn't found the way around it. Nic Robertson, CNN, Derry, Northern Ireland.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LU STOUT: The British Prime Minister is skipping the World Economic Forum to deal with Brexit and she's not the only leader staying home. This year's
Davos is as much about the no shows as it is about the lineup. We'll take you there next.
Plus, we'll take a look at what the latest economic numbers say about the health of the Chinese economy.
[08:20:05]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream." On Friday, we brought you the story of two ethnic Uyghurs from
the Xinjiang region of China. A woman named Mihrigul Tursun accused Chinese authorities on detaining her and separating her from her eight-
week-old triplets in 2015.
She said one of the babies died in a hospital shortly after her release three months later. She alleged that she was detained three times in
China, interrogated, and tortured.
Meanwhile, a young man named Arafat Iarkin (ph), claimed that lost contact with his parents while studying in the U.S. and later learned they had been
detained as part of a much larger crackdown in Xingjian. On Monday, the Chinese government issued a response to the report.
CNN's Ivan Watson has more now from Hong Kong. Ivan, what did the Chinese government say?
IVAN WATSON, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, Kristie, China vehemently refuted CNN's report in which this Uyghur woman, Mihrigul
Tursun, said one of her children died in the hands of the Chinese authorities and that she witnessed deaths of fellow inmates, in what she
says were mass internment camps in Xinjiang.
Speaking at a regular press briefing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying describes Tursun's story as a, "complete lie,"
told with ulterior motives. She denies that Tursun had ever been formally imprisoned or detained in a vocational training center. That's the
government's term for what critics say are internment camps. Hua, did say Tursun was detained by local police for 20 days in 2017 for inciting hatred
and just discrimination.
Hua, also disputes Tursun's claim that one of her sons, Mohaned, died while in hospital in Xinjian. Hua, calls the account totally false and says
Tursun sent the boy to live with relatives in Turkey. Tursun's allegations of detention and torture, they match testimonies she made before the U.S.
Congressional-Executive Commission on China last November.
It fits a growing pattern of evidence emerging about the systematic repression of religious and ethnic minority groups carried out by the
Chinese government in Xinjiang. Hua, on Monday did not address allegations made in CNN's report that Chinese authorities have, according to the U.S.
State Department indefinitely detained at least 800,000 and possibly more than 2 million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and other Muslim minorities in
internment camps.
Now, prior to our broadcast on Friday, CNN previously reached out to multiple Chinese government agencies including the Foreign Ministry for
comment on this story -- Kristie.
[08:25:04]
LU STOUT: Ivan, we thank you for your reporting.
Now, China's economic growth for the year of 2018 hit the slowest pace, the weakest for the country since 1990. Annual growth expanded just 6.6%
indicating that the economy is losing momentum. Weakening global demand, heavy debt, the ongoing trade tension with U.S., all major pressure points.
Will Ripley has more.
WILL RIPLEY, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: The kind of growth that China is reporting for 2018, 6.6%, it would be the envy of most developed economies.
But it's not a great trend for China. It's down from the previous year. If you look at the end of 2018, when growth dipped to 6.4%, that's the
lowest level to China has reported since the height of the global financial crisis in 2009.
A lot of economists are pretty skeptical about the numbers that China reports. Some have even gone so far as to call them a work of fiction,
saying that the actual reality here on the ground in China may be significantly worse in terms of economic growth. But China is still
growing, it has a strong economy. They have a lot of money in the bank but there's some very troubling trends here.
Consumer spending, manufacturing output, business confidence, all down. Now, a big part of this - you saw a drop in car sales in China in December,
for the first time in about 20 years, people are buying less property, they're buying less electronics, retail sales are up as is industrial
output. So those are some bright spots. But when it comes to industrial output, we are hearing that some factories have been getting a lot of
orders. People try to get as much as they can, made an exported from China before potentially the next round of tariffs kick in, in the trade war with
the United States.
And that is the big problem that China needs to solve here. They need to find a resolution to the trade war because if they don't, things are not
looking good for Chinese growth, at least in the short term, despite assurances from the trying to statistics bureau that at the moment, the
trade war is under control. And even though global conditions are expected to be more complicated and severe, they are confident that China's economy
will move forward with stability in their words.
Now, there has been some stimulus announced this month, $193 billion. It pales in comparison to the stimulus measures that were taken back in 2009
but you're looking at tax cuts for small businesses, lower tariffs. In addition, the government efforts to boost infrastructure and loosen
monetary policy.
But this trade war with the U.S., really, cast a cloud over any Chinese efforts. And that is something that frankly, they can't control. If the
new tariffs kick in, it is going to have a dramatic and devastating effects in the economy here that could affect the rest of the world and affect
global growth as well. That's why you have the Chinese Vice-Premier, Liu He, visiting the United States next week as they continue to try to hammer
out a compromise -- Will Ripley, CNN, Beijing.
LU STOUT: Chinese state media is reporting that authorities believe experiments that led to the world's first gene edited babies were illegal.
Authorities began investigating the geneticist He Jiankui in November after his experiments resulted in the birth of twin girls. He claimed that his
team had secretly edited embryos in order to reduce the risk of babies being born HIV positive. Authorities allege he forged documents and blood
tests to get around a ban on assisted reproduction. A second woman is now pregnant as a result of his experiments.
Trump-Kim Summit is planned for next month. That's the word from the White House, which is President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will
meet around the end of February. The announcement follows a 90-minute meeting in the Oval Office between President Trump and North Korea's lead
negotiator on Friday.
They discussed denuclearization and the second summit. Mr. Trump says location has been selected but won't be revealed until later. Last year,
the two leaders have met in Singapore but talks over North Korean denuclearization appear to have stalled since then.
You're watching "News Stream" and still ahead, the President of Zimbabwe is cutting shorter trip overseas to deal with unrest at home why he is
skipping Davos.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:00]
LU STOUT: Hi, I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and these are the world headlines. The British Prime Minister
Theresa May will present her Brexit Plan B to Parliament in the coming hours but the impasse continues and cross party groups are planning
legislation to delay or frustrate the Prime Minister's plans.
A leading pro-Brexit politician is accusing those law makers of trying to hijack Britain's exit from the E.U. Republicans and Democrats are
scheduled to vote on separate U.S. border security measures this week but neither is expected to win enough support to end the government shut down
now in day 31.
Over the weekend, President Trump attack House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Twitter for rejecting his latest proposal, which extends some protections
for DREAMers and others in exchange for funding his border wall.
Israel says, it's military has launched strikes, the Syrian territory targeting Iranian forces after they launched the rocket over the occupied
Golan Heights on Sunday.
Russia says Syrian forces shutdown Israeli missiles. Russian state media also report that at least four Syrian soldiers were killed.
Unrest in Zimbabwe has forced President Emmerson Mnangagwa to cancel his planned trip to Davos and to return home. Protests broke out in Zimbabwe
last week following a 150% increase in fuel prices. The government has been accused of a violent crackdown. It is also restricted internet
access.
For more, CNN's David McKenzie is live for us from Johannesburg. David, a government spokesman said that the violent handling of the protests is,
"just a foretaste" of things to come. That sounds a bit sinister, is that a threat?
DAVID MCKENZIE, INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: I think it was meant to be soon as that and yes, it is a threat broadcast through state media on
that trip of Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Now, the President is coming home after days of violent protests and a crackdown by security forces. He said it's in light of the economic
situation, but you have this bizarre split-screen moment in a way of Emmerson Mnangagwa meeting with Vladimir Putin in the halls of Moscow.
At the same time, you have these deadly protests ongoing because of the dire economic situation in Zimbabwe. Many people are just struggling to
put food on the table, put gas in the gas tanks with that massive fuel increase and the government doesn't appear to know how to deal with this.
Hundreds have been arrested. I spoke to eye witnesses who said that, the youth, some of them in military uniforms, storming houses, breaking
windows, hauling people off in the middle of the night. Most of those people arrested haven't been given bail and activists are saying this is
just yet another sign that Emmerson Mnangagwa's regime is very similar to that of Robert Mugabe's and that not much has changed - Kristie.
LU STOUT: The economic situation is dire. The government crackdown very brutal that's why Mnangagwa had to go back home. But will the protests go
on? Will people continue to go on the streets, despite that government warning, despite the threat of what's to come?
MCKENZIE: Well, people are desperate and they feel they have few options economically. There's a massive foreign currency crunch
[08:35:00]
in Zimbabwe, which translates into very real problems for ordinary people, including those in the public sector who at times aren't paid or if they
are paid they are paid late. So there's a series of strikes that have been going on. Just this week, activists are saying they want to have people stay at home, grind the
economy even further to a halt. But the difficulty they have is also just in organizing.
As you said, the internet has been a shutdown periodically over the last week. Right now, technically, the internet's open but all major social
media sites are blocked as well as WhatsApp and other messaging services, Kristie.
So it is difficult to organize. It has been karma to the end of the capital but there is a sense of foreboding, that when Emmerson Mnangagwa
comes back later today, Zimbabwe time, that it might be a critical moment. And in the long term, they have an extremely difficult challenge to try and
write that economy and answer to international critics who say, they are using this heavy hand and shouldn't be given a helping hand on those
economic issues because of it -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yes, the government crackdown there has turned so brutal involving, as you reported, cyber shutdowns as well. David McKenzie
reporting live for us. David, thank you.
As reported, the President of Zimbabwe is just the latest world leader to pull out of Davos to cope with the political crisis back home. U.S.
President Donald Trump, the British Prime Minister Theresa May, will also not be attending.
Our CNN business anchor, Julia Chatterley is on the ground and Davos for us. She joins us now live and Julie, good to see you.
The world is in a state of crisis, very far from the situation there in the Alpine hills of Davos. We know that world leaders have canceled and yet
the show must still go on there.
JULIA CHATTERLEY, ANCHOR, CNN: Well, it's an interesting question, Kristie. I'd have to say, welcome to the World Economic Forum here in
Davos, where political attendees it seems in the run up to this are falling like dominoes. But I think it points to one of the big questions that
we're going to be asking over the coming days and that is the growing accelerating vacuum, I think, in global leadership around the world and
whether or not, perhaps businesses can step into the breach.
But you've kind of pointed to some of the key leaders that won't be here. Let me walk you through those once again. Donald Trump, the entire White
House contingent staying at home. Theresa May, of course, we've been talking about this nonstop, trying to battle out that Plan B for Brexit.
The Chinese Premier Xi Jinping not coming, though he's sending his deputy. The French President staying home to deal with his own issues and the
protests there. Of course, there are lots of other leaders that will be here discussing all the relevant global issues. Whether it's markets,
global slowdown, some of the bigger issues like, affordable health care, income and inequality.
But guys, I have to say the noticeable absence of some of the key global leaders here is clearly very obvious in this discussion.
LU STOUT: You know, year after year there's always naysayers about Davos. But this year, a lot of questions and critiques about its value, you know
it's being slammed as irrelevant, it's being slammed as out of sync, you know, pointing out that still, in this day and age, only 22% of
participants are women there.
When you talk to titans of industry and politics there at Davos, why are they there this year?
CHATTERLEY: They're there because everyone else comes to Davos. I think this is a critical point globally. This is a meeting place, deals get
done, discussions get had, and important subjects. Some of those that I just mentioned do get discussed. So I think that's important.
Also, and these are things that we talk about on a daily basis. There are a lot of risks out there right now, we can talk through them. The U.S.-
China trade war, the risks of a global slowdown, Brexit, all of these things are going to be very topical this week. And actually, Christine
Lagarde, of the International Monetary Fund, laid out the risks as she announced that they're predicting further slowdown for global growth.
Listen to what he had to say as a warning to the attendees coming here over the coming days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE LAGARDE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: Last October, assume we had started cross-country skiing in October. We
downgraded our growth forecast a little bit. Risks were on the rise. We had bad news on the trade front, if not actually materializing, at least
for some it was, but certainly threats. Well, I'm afraid that we are going to announce a further downward revision of our forecast.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: She sounds quite frustrated there, I think, Kristie, as well and obviously, it would have been great to have had the likes of Xi Jinping
and Donald Trump here to talk about one of the big risks, which of course, the big unknown is whether or not some kind of trade deal can be signed
between those two nations.
But hey, there's a lot of other attendees that are also going to be here talking about a lot of other important subjects, too.
LU STOUT: Absolutely. Julia Chatterley, reporting live from Davos. Thank you. And you can join CNN for our coverage of the World Economic Forum live
in Davos, Switzerland. "First Move with Julie Chatterley" kicks off the week long coverage starting in about 20 minutes, right here on CNN.
You're watching "New Stream" and still ahead. Passengers on the flight from New Jersey to Hong Kong, they spend 14 hours on the tarmac in frigid
weather and didn't even make it to their destination. What happened? After the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: It's the start of a new week here in Hong Kong. Welcome back, this is "News Stream." Now imagine, 14 hours stuck on the tarmac in frigid
temperatures. That is exactly what happened to passengers on the United Airlines Flight on Sunday. Their plane, it was supposed to fly from New
Jersey to Hong Kong but they had to make an emergency stop in Canada because of a sick passenger and things got worse from there. With a
mechanical issue keeping the flight on the tarmac, with food running low, and passengers, they couldn't leave the plane because the local airport in
Canada did not have a customs officer on duty.
The nightmare, it finally came to an end after United sent another plane to take passengers back to New Jersey. The airline issued an apology as you
can imagine, to all those passengers.
And that is "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere, "World Sport," Amanda Davis is next.
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