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NEWS STREAM
Prime Minister Theresa May Offered To Resign If Her Party Backs Her Twice-Defeated Brexit Deal; Changing Case Involving The American Actor, Jussie Smollett Has Now Angered The U.S. President; Russia Acknowledges That Members Of Its Military Are Inside Venezuela. Aired: 8-9a ET
Aired March 28, 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: Welcome to "News Stream." I'm Kristi Lu Stout in Hong Kong.
JULIA CHATTERLEY, ANCHOR, CNN: And I'm Julia Chatterley outside the British Houses of Parliament in London. And we begin with Brexit on the
day after an eventful night here in Westminster.
There were hopes that Wednesday would provide some clarity, even perhaps some unity, but it ended in even more confusion and division.
Prime Minister Theresa May offered to resign if her Party backs her twice- defeated Brexit deal before lawmakers failed to agree on an alternative from a menu of eight different options. They included giving voters a
second referendum on the E.U. membership and leaving the E.U. without a deal in place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BERCOW, SPEAKER, BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS: The ayes were 160. The no's were 400. So the no's have it. So the no's have it. So the no's
have it. So the no's have it. So the no's have it. So the no's have it. So the no's have it. So the no's have it. Order. Order. Order. Order.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Disorder, actually, more like it. To make some sense of the current Brexit stalemate, Nic Robertson joins us now from Downing Street.
Nic, rather you than me, quite frankly. No majority for any of the eight options here, but pretty close on two. A much closer relationship than the
Brexiteers certainly would like to see or a second referendum. Where does that leave us?
NIC ROBERTSON, INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR, CNN: Well, you heard the Speaker. The no's have it. The no's have it and the no's have it and who
really knows what's going to happen. Obviously, the MPs who were behind these indicative votes hoped on Monday to be able to focus down some more
on the two that came out ahead, if you will.
Obviously, not of them won a clear majority, but the idea of a Customs Union being part of any Brexit deal that was sort of eight votes adrift of
success and the other one that got the most ayes, if you will, that was for a referendum on whatever the outcome of the agreement that Parliament would
pass.
So it's sort of two tracks there to focus down on Monday next week, but the clear question today -- and we still don't know the answer to this is, will
the Prime Minister try to push through a meaningful vote three on her deal that she still says is the best compromise and she can point to the votes
yesterday as showing just how difficult it is to get clarity and to get support around one central issue.
But it does seem, even today that support for her meaningful vote three where she might have thought that her offer of resignation yesterday and
what she had been hearing from hard line MPs yesterday, some of that is evaporating today.
Those who sort of indicated they might support her deal are now indicating that they wouldn't. The DUP made very clearly all along that they won't
support it. The Prime Minister is in a very difficult position right now and it isn't clear whether she's going to try and push that vote forward
this week.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, we're just hearing from the House Speaker just in the last few seconds saying subject to approval, the House will debate Brexit
on Friday. So they are going to be in session. They are going to be debating. But as you just said, the key question now is, does Theresa May
try and attempt to bring her deal back to the table here particularly in light of what we heard from the House Speaker yesterday saying, "Look,
don't even try it if this deal ultimately hasn't changed." What we also saw Theresa May doing of course yesterday and I have mentioned it briefly
is giving away what people have said is her final call card here and that was promising to resign if people do vote. If the Party does vote for her
deal.
And as you said, the DUP, the Party that is backing this government, is still saying they're not going to support her. I mean, can she bring it
back in these kind of conditions?
ROBERTSON: You know, it's a huge, huge ask and lift of the Prime Minister to be able to do that and do it successfully and the person that she would
rely most to do that would be the Chief Whip to try and corral all those MPs into voting for her and that is the person we have seen coming and
going most often and spending most time in Downing Street today.
The Chief Whip literally left a couple of minutes ago, that to my counting, is at least three visits here, who has spent over three hours today alone,
to spend over three house in with the Prime Minister. He comes in sometimes, he goes off for ten minutes and comes right back again.
So it seems that she and the Chief Whip are working very hard on this.
[08:05:10]
ROBERTSON: But some of those sort of harder line MPs, we've heard Jacob Rees-Mogg from the European Research Group saying that he would support
Theresa May deals, then sort of hedging it saying, well that is conditional and the DUP supporting, the DUP won't vote. Boris Johnson has said that he
would support, but he is now apparently saying in headline - banner headlines in one of the afternoon papers here in London, "The Evening
Standard" that now, the deal is dead.
We've heard the former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab coming out and saying in his opinion the deal is now dead. So the people that she would need to
count on, the numbers aren't there at the moment, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, lots of arrows pointing to a longer delay given that we simply can't agree on anything on a path forward mere. Nic Robertson,
thank you so much for breaking that down for us.
All right, let's dig more into the details of this. Quentin Peel joins me now. He is an associate fellow with the Europe Program at Chatham House
and a commentator with "The Financial Times." Quentin, great to have you with us. I'll ask you and pose the same question. Where next after this?
QUENTIN PEEL, ASSOCIATE FELLOW, EUROPE PROGRAM AT CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, if she can't get her deal through, and it is looking increasingly likely that
her gesture of saying she would resign has been a futile gesture.
CHATTERLEY: Fruitless, yes.
PEEL: Then she has got some very uncomfortable choices to make. If she's brave enough. One, she could offer that compromise which is the
referendum. She would get her deal, but it would have to be put to a referendum. That is possibly the best option for her. The second one
would be to go along with the Customs Union direction. That would be horrible to her fair party and rather pleasing to the Labour Party. So
less comfortable for her to do.
Or does she allow the whole thing to just go belly up and we crash out, and then she would also split her Party. So every option she faces would force
her to confront what she has always been avoiding -- splitting the party.
CHATTERLEY: I mean, I will take the last thing that you mentioned there because that again was the strongest no last night again. Look, we don't
want to see a no deal exit here from the E.U. if we bring it back.
The second referendum for me was also interesting because that got more support last night than the two times that she's brought her deal to
Parliament in terms of the number of votes it got. What would it do if she suddenly turned around and said, okay, my deal, we get to vote on I assume
whatever the final agreement is with the E.U. because, again, this is just the withdrawal, it's not determining the future relationship with the E.U.
at this stage.
PEEL: Oh, no. I think she has to put the withdrawal agreement to the referendum, because yes, the final deal is out there down the line and we
don't know what it's going to look like. Almost certainly softer than the Brexiteers would like, unless there is a very hard line Brexit Prime
Minister who takes her place.
But the referendum, I think has to be on whatever is approved by Parliament and that has to be held, really, within the next nine months or so. So
there would have to be a delay, as you say, for about a year. We would have to have European elections, another thing that she's been desperate to
avoid.
So all of the options are horrible, unless she gets her deal through tomorrow and I don't think she will.
CHATTERLEY: Can the government survive a long extension and a promise to hold a second referendum? Seventeen point four million U.K. voters asked
to leave -- the idea that it goes back to them?
PEEL: Yes, and it's clear that opinion has shifted a bit. It now looks like more like 54/46 for remain. And we saw there was a million people on
the streets of London asking for it. I mean, it's not as if it's a closed book.
Having said that, I think she will have to go because having offered to resign, she really is a busted flush. She is a completely weakened figure,
so I think she would almost certainly say I've been forced into this. This is what I'm proposing and then I am going to let somebody else take the
lead.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, the bolt on options though on her deal perhaps is the way forward. Quentin Peel, sir, thank you so much for that. Of course, we've
been bringing you Brexit analysis from across the United Kingdom, too. Just to give you a sense of how the current chaos behind me is going down
with voters, Anna Stewart joins us from the Brexit supporting city of Hull and Nina dos Santos is in the pro remain, Bath.
Anna, I'm going to come to you. I'm sure you were just listening to that conversation. How well do you think it is going to go down there, the idea
perhaps that the government has to turn around and say, look, we are going to postpone the exit for at least a year, we're going to take a second
referendum. We are going to ask the people yet again if they still want to leave here. How is that going to go down where you are?
[08:10:03]
ANNA STEWART, REPORTER, CNN: So I'm now in Hull, Julia. As we've said, it's another leave area, 68% of people voted to leave the E.U. here. We've
been in town. We have been speaking to people on both sides of the divide actually, and what's really interesting is looking at what happened last
night and the fact that Parliament voted against everything, but the biggest support is for a second referendum.
Either whenever a deal is reached, if it ever is, or of course, on Brexit itself. Overwhelmingly, on both sides here in Hull, they feel that is
undemocratic. They already voted. One woman said to me maybe if that happened after one year after the initial referendum that might be
acceptable, but for most people here, it's unacceptable. They aren't being listened to. We hear it again and again in every area. We traveled to up
and down the U.K. that voted to leave the E.U., we hear that they feel they are not being heard in Westminster.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, that's a fascinating point. If it would have been sooner, perhaps it would have been okay. But to leave it this long, yes.
Nina, come in here, as well, because obviously, you're in Bath. They voted -- the majority voted at least to remain.
We heard Quentin Peel there saying actually, there seems to have been on a nation level, a shift more towards remaining here, what are they making of
the current situation now?
NINA DOS SANTOS, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, this is arch remain territory here, Julia. You know, the United Nations, a UNESCO world heritage site,
which attracts huge amounts of tourist revenues from inside the European Union, also from inside the U.K.
There are divided opinions here. We've been speaking to a snapshot of about six people throughout the course of the morning and largely speaking,
about four of them said that they were pro remain.
Many of them said that they took part in that million strong march to the capital to protest for the right to try and have a second say on this
referendum and if that wasn't going to happen, the next thing they wanted was to revoke Article 50.
This is such a pro-European place in the country. In fact, its own Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, Wera Hobhouse was actually born in Germany.
She was originally a German citizen before becoming a British citizen.
And the people of Bath have no issue with that. They embrace their European heritage. They embrace their ancient Roman heritage which brings
all of these tourists here. And many of them are saying that they are now even more committed to the cause of remaining than they were before because
they feel that now might just be a glimmer of hope to try and catch on to the opportunity to try and delay Brexit for enough time to perhaps reverse
the whole procedural altogether --Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, both sides of the debate there. Anna Stewart and Nina dos Santos. Kristie, what did you call it yesterday, I think you said it
was an open wound and I think you're completely right in what we're talking about here is the prospect that it may even be going on for two, three,
perhaps four more years before ultimately, this is all decided. Wow. Back to you.
LU STOUT: Absolutely, and it's interesting just to hear how public opinion continues to shift as this process -- excruciating process drags on.
Julia, thank you so much. We'll talk again soon.
You're watching "News Stream" and still ahead right here on the program, the strange and ever changing case involving the American actor, Jussie
Smollett has now angered the U.S. President.
Also ahead, Russia acknowledges that members of its military are inside Venezuela as that country struggles with another major electrical outage.
Why the west is concerned it may disrupt the balance of power in the region.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:15:08]
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. This is "News Stream." Now, U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing in on Jussie
Smollett. Mr. Trump is announcing an FBI and Justice Department investigation in to the controversial case involving the young actor.
Chicago officials and the Police Chief were visibly angry when they learned that the city's top prosecutor dropped all charges against Jussie Smollett.
He had been accused of staging a hate crime attack on himself and was facing numerous felony charges. Ryan Young is live for us in Chicago who
joins us now. And Ryan, why is the U.S. President announcing an FBI and Department of Justice probe into Jussie Smollett?
RYAN YOUNG, U.S. CORRESPONDENT, CNN: It is an interesting question, but you have to go back to the very beginning here. I think one of the reasons
why this has gotten so much attention is, the days after this attack, Jussie Smollett apparently told detectives that when the two men were
attacking him, not only did the they put a noose around his neck, punched him, poured bleach on him, but they were screaming racial and homophobic
slurs before saying, "This is MAGA country."
And of course, that kind of brought the President into all of this, and now we figure that it may have been a hoax as what police believe, you could
understand why the President might be upset that someone was sort of trafficking in his name.
All we do know is, you have this tweet this morning that happened about an hour and a half ago that sort of surprised all of us that says, "The FBI
and DOJ to review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago. It's an embarrassment to our nation." So you have that tweet. We already knew
there were a lot of people who are looking at this case, like you talked about the Mayor and the Superintendent of Police who were very upset about
this.
They believe they had the evidence to at least get Jussie Smollett to say something. Maybe he would plea to a plea deal. He faces a 16-count
indictment, and let's not forget, though, that there were two brothers involved in this case, as well -- the Osundairo brothers who have told
police that they were paid by the actor to do this hoax and when after getting all of that information, they went to a grand jury, they got a 16-
count indictment, then all of a sudden, this week, out of the blue, we were told to get to the courthouse for an emergency hearing.
When we arrived there, we found out that all 16 counts had been dropped; and on top of that, we were told the actor served two days of community
service and forfeited $10,000.00. In fact, listen to the prosecutor involved in this case kind of defending her actions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KIM FOXX, STATE'S ATTORNEY, COOK COUNTY, ILLINOIS: The court has not found him guilty. I believe based on the facts and the evidence that was
presented and the charging decision made by this office, this office believed they could prove him guilty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: I can going to go step by step through all the parts of this case for you, guys, but let's sum it up this way. At the end of all of this,
somehow the case file was sealed. So the public would never get a chance to see all of those evidence that police apparently have.
Well, today, around 9:00, Chicago time, we're told there is going to be a court case to see if some of those records can be unsealed so we can
finally see some of the evidence that police have gathered against Jussie Smollett. Let's not forget the actor after all of these happened, stepped
to mic and said, "I could have never done this." So there are people who are very upset because they believe the actor owes the city a big apology.
LU STOUT: Yes, a lot of people are upset. A lot of people want an explanation. This is why even the U.S. President is demanding an
investigation. It's unclear whether Federal officials have jurisdiction over the Jussie Smollett case, but that aside, we need to get the answer to
the question why? You know, why did local prosecutors drop charges against Jussie Smollett? What is known at this moment?
YOUNG: One, I think there is a way for the FBI to get involved in this. Let's not forget, there was a letter a few months before that were actually
sent to the actor and that might affect Federal tampering laws in terms of the letter, so there's a way for them to get involved in this and there's
also the hate crime legislation.
But no one is actually sure why the charges were dropped. I will leave you with this part. Sometimes, these end up in plea deals. So they were able
to satisfy what they wanted, but it gave the actor a chance to say -- not to say he was sorry and I think that's what some people were looking for.
LU STOUT: Got it. Ryan Young on the story for us. Thank you so much. I have a feeling we're going to be talking again very, very soon.
[15:20:04]
LU STOUT: Now, we want to turn our attention now to Venezuela, paralyzed by its second major power blackout this month. President Maduro has now a
plan to ration electricity until the Simon Bolivar Hydroelectric Plant is restored to full capacity. CNN shot these images of the normally bustling,
brightly lit capital of yes, an oil-rich nation. This is what it looks like -- in the dark.
School and work activities are suspended all day. Mr. Maduro has blamed the opposition led by National Assembly President Juan Guaido for attacking
the electrical grid. Guaido blames the government incompetence for the blackout.
And meanwhile, we have learned that Russia is acknowledging it has military personnel on the ground inside Venezuela calling them specialists. This is
worrying the U.S. Already, President Trump has told Moscow to get his troops out. Fred Pleitgen joins us now live from Moscow. And Fred, we
knew that Nicolas Maduro had the support of Russia, but now know that Russian military personnel are inside Venezuela. What are they doing
there?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: That is a very good question. The Russians have sort of said some of the things, at least
outlined some of the things that these troops are doing.
Just a couple of minutes ago, responding to a question from CNN, the spokeswomen for the Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova acknowledged that
there were Russian forces on the ground there and said that those Russian forces would stay as long as needed. Now, the operative thing that she
said then is she said that these troops are there as part of military technical cooperation between Venezuela and the Russian Federation.
Now, we know that something that has been going on for quite a while now, that cooperation between the Russians and the Venezuelans, the Venezuelans
have some Russian military hardware. The Russians are saying that they need to maintain or have been saying they need to maintain some of that
military hardware so that is one of the reasons why they could possibly be on the ground there.
It's been very interesting to see and I think we're seeing pictures right now of that one Russian jet that is on the ground and from what we're
hearing still on the ground at Caracas Airport. That's an IL62 troop carrier. There was also another larger cargo plane that landed in Caracas
Airport, it has since departed Antonov 124 that may have brought some parts for some of those military hardware that the Russians for their part, at
least, are talking about.
Now, that is the sort of technical side of things and what the Russians say that they are doing on the ground there, they are also blasting President
Trump. A senior Russian lawmaker late last night came out with a statement and saying that President Trump saying that Russia should get out of
Venezuela shows that the U.S. is, as he put it, irritated by the fact that they haven't been able to orchestrate what he called a coup d'etat in
Venezuela. The Russians of course are saying that they very much stand by the Maduro government and they accuse the United States of interfering in
the sovereign affairs of Venezuela -- Kristie.
LU STOUT: Yes, Russia is standing by the Maduro government both outside and inside the country as confirmed now. Fred Pleitgen reporting live,
thank you.
And now to really a terrifying scene in the capital of Bangladesh. We now know at least five people have died in a fire at a high-rise building
there. The Fire Department tells CNN, the rescue effort is ongoing at this 22-story tall building. It is in a busy, congested commercial district of
Dacca and you can see firefighters, they had to use cranes to help get people out.
And some people resorted to jumping out of the windows to escape. Rescuers believe a handful of people might still be inside.
Last month, as you recall, a massive fire in an old neighborhood of Dacca killed nearly 70 people.
Now, Facebook is taking aim at white nationalism in the wake of the terror attacks in New Zealand announcing it is banning all praise, support and
representation of white nationalism and white separatism on Facebook as well as Instagram.
Now, the company says this, while it has long prohibited hateful treatment based on race, the same rationale had not been applied to white nationalism
because it says, it was thinking about broader concepts of nationalism and separatism, things like American pride and bask separatism which are an
important part of people's identity.
Facebook also says that when people search for terms associated with white supremacy, they will be directed to organizations that help people leave
hate groups and the company says it will undergo a civil rights audit, a project that the COO says is one of this year's top priorities.
The man charged in the shooting attacks, the terror attacks against two mosques in Christchurch that left 50 people dead is a self-proclaimed white
supremacist. New Zealand's Prime Minister welcomed the announcement from Facebook. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACINDA ARDERN, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: In the wake of the terrorist attack, there is much work to do. You will have seen the reports overnight
that Facebook has taken steps to extend its application of hate speech, to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white
separatism. Arguably, these categories should always have fallen within the community guidelines of hate speech.
But nevertheless, its positive clarification has now been made in the wake of the attack here in Christchurch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[08:25:10] LU STOUT: The Austrian Chancellor is considering disbanding a far right group after it was linked to the suspected gunman in the New Zealand mosque
attacks.
Prosecutors say the Australian suspect donated almost $1,700.00 to the group's leader in Austria. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is calling for an
investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEBASTIAN KURZ, AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR (Through a translator): Our position on this is very clear -- no kind of extremism whatsoever, whether it's
radical Islamists or right wing extremist fanatics has any place in our country, in our society.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: The suspect in the Christchurch shootings is due back in court on April 5th.
In another major shift for social media, Twitter says it will start labelling tweets from officials that violate its rules. Twitter's policy
chief made the announcement at a "Washington Post" sponsored event in San Francisco. The social media giant is still refusing to remove President
Trump's more questionable tweets saying that they are in the public interest.
But the next time the U.S. President sends a tweet that is considered offensive, it might be accompanied by a note providing more information.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VIJAYA GADDE, TWITTER'S LEGAL POLICY AND TRUST AND SAFETY LEAD: There are other types of content that we believe have are newsworthy or are in the
public interest that people may want to have a conversation around. But today, when we leave that content on the platform, there's no context
around that.
And it just lives on Twitter and people can see it and they just assume that that's the content or behavior that allowed is by our rules.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even though your rules say no bullying.
GADDE: Exactly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LU STOUT: Twitter will still remove tweets from anyone with violent or threatening content. President Trump says that Google's CEO has assured
him the company is committed to U.S. security and not quote, "the Chinese military."
Mr. Trump met with Sundar Pichai on Wednesday. Earlier this month, he had complained that the tech giant's business activities in China were helping
China and their military. Now, Pichai previously told U.S. lawmakers that Google has no plans to launch a censored version of its search engine in
China.
You are watching "News Stream," and still to come, back to Brexit. Britain's Prime Minister offers to sacrifice her leadership if Parliament
will just pass her deal. Lawmakers are deadlocked with no sign of a break through.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back. I'm Julia Chatterley outside the British Houses of Parliament in London and returning now to Brexit, let me bring you up to
speed on where we are right now.
Lawmakers have failed to agree on eight alternatives to the Prime Minister's twice rejected Brexit deal.
[08:30:10]
CHATTERLEY: Those alternatives included a softer Brexit, leaving without a deal and putting a second referendum back to the people.
None of those won a majority of won a majority of votes in the Houses of Commons on Wednesday. Theresa May even told her Party she was prepared to
resign in a last ditch effort to save her Brexit plan. But once again, the Speaker of the House said there will be no third vote on Prime Minister
May's deal without substantial changes.
Business leaders meanwhile have converged here in London at the British Chambers of Commerce Annual Conference where Brexit as you would imagine is
high up on the agenda. And our John Defterios is there for us.
John, we may seem -- criticize the lack of urgency from Parliament behind me to find a solution here, but for businesses, it is increasingly critical
and the lack of uncertainty is a huge problem.
JOHN DEFTERIOS, EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR, CNN: It certainly is, Julia, I was thinking about the best analogy where you are just around the corner
from us is all the jacking and maneuvering, and here, they are asking for clarity.
As you suggested, we are the British Chambers of Commerce for their Annual Meeting which landed on a very critical weekend in Parliament of course and
where we go next. The Director General was suggesting it's time to stop chasing rainbows, looking for the pot of gold that hasn't existed for the
last three years.
I just got speaking to the Chief Executive of a large insurance group legal and general, has better than a trillion dollars of business, three quarters
of it in the country who just said, we actually really mind whatever decision they make. We can live with anything, but come and land on a
decision. I also spoke to the Mayor of London who said it's probably because of what we're seeing in Parliament right now, whatever they decide,
it has to be handed back to the people to get full support. Here is Sadiq Khan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: What is clear to me is Parliament is in gridlock and the best way to unlock the gridlock is to give the British
public a say, but also, we've got a situation where British businesses are worried about the deal Prime Minister has done. They are worried about a
no deal situation.
Of course, they want certainty, but all of that certainty is a no deal situation or a bad Brexit deal and my worry is, the impression were given
to people outside of our country is we're not open-minded, outward looking, pluralistic pro-business. That is why it's really important Parliament
realizes that they themselves can solve this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEFTERIOS: Once again, the Mayor of London. He is saying the worst case scenario of course, Julia, and you've talked about this for the last week,
as you stumble into a no deal Brexit and that would shock the business community.
He's thinking almost of the nuclear option which would ease the pain for everyone and that is revoking Article 50 which started the clock ticking on
of course the exit out of the European Union today.
CHATTERLEY: Is the BCC then saying, John, at this stage that actually, they would rather have Theresa May's deal and have clarity than a longer
extension and risk simply not knowing what the outcome and what the future relationship with the E.U. is going to be in the future They want a deal
done now, whatever it is.
DEFTERIOS: Yes, in fact, the last two Chief Executives and other people attending this Chamber's meeting said exactly the same thing. We're
probably not going to get a better deal leading up to April 12th and that what Theresa May has put on to the table and they can live with a soft
Brexit.
They actually said if you look at employment right now and even investment and growth, it could be much better, but it's not catastrophic with all the
uncertainty that has been put on the table so far.
So yes, they just want some clarity and they don't want the dance around although Sadiq was suggesting here, you could take that option of Article
50, buy some more time, but it doesn't provide the clarity that this business community is looking for right now, that's for sure, Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, surprisingly resilient U.K. economy, but can it continue? John Defterios, thank you so much for that and we will see you again in
"First Move." For now, Kristie, I'll hand back to you.
LU STOUT: Julia, thank you so much. We will see you again for "First Move" at the top of the hour.
Now a secretive North Korean distant group is emerging from the shadows after being unmasked as the masterminds behind a raid on the Pyongyang
Embassy in Spain. What is this group all about? Who is behind it? Amara Walker has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
AMARA WALKER, ANCHOR, CNN INTERNATIONAL (voice over): A North Korean dissident group says it carried out last month's raid on Pyongyang's
embassy in Spain. However, the group is denying claims that this was an armed attack on the diplomatic compound. Cheollima Civil Defense is a
secretive organization whose goal is to overthrow Kim Jong-un's regime. In an online statement, the group also denied to that any foreign governments
were involved in the operation or that it was related to President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un's summit in Hanoi, which occurred days later.
[08:35:10]
WALKER (voice over): The U.S. State Department is echoing that denial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The United States Government at least, had nothing to do with this?
ROBERT PALLADINO, UNITED SATES DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The United States would always call for the protection of embassies belonging to any
diplomatic mission throughout the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALKER: Meantime in Madrid, a Spanish Judge in charge of the investigation has named a Mexican national residing in the U.S. as the leader of the
February 22nd raid. The Spanish authorities claimed, Adrian Hong-Chang and nine others broke into the compound handcuffed staff and then tried and
failed to get one official to defect. Hong is a prominent longtime critic of the North Korean regime.
He's seen here testifying about Pyongyang's human rights record to a Canadian Senate Committee in 2016. Spanish authorities say that Hong and
the others fled Spain for the U.S. after the attack. And that day's later and the raiders offered information gathered at the Embassy to the FBI.
The FBI declined to comment while Cheollima Civil Defense says they voluntarily share the information at the Bureau's request.
The group also claims that its activists were invited into the embassy and that there was no violence. Earlier this, month Spanish authorities
confirmed an investigation into the raid on the embassy, but didn't provide any details ahead of unsealing court documents this week. Amara Walker,
CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LU STOUT: You're watching news stream. We'll be back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LU STOUT: All right, coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching "News Stream." Now, Singapore was once known for its strict rules
over graffiti and public vandalism, but now street artists are tagging the city streets legally and a new generation of artists are using the calls as
the their canvas.
In this installment of "Iconic Singapore," we meet two ambitious people who came together to show off their two very different art forms.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
MALIK MAZLAN, CALLIGRAPHER: One of the hardest things was learning how to actually control the brush.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Malik Mazlan did not choose the easy path when it came to his art form. As a Malay living in the city's Muslim
corridor, he took up Chinese calligraphy reaching far outside his own heritage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAZLAN: I've been saying that I will always want to go beyond pen and paper.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Street artist Anthony Chong's work has always been about testing traditional boundaries. Known as Antz, he's an
icon in what one was an underground graffiti movement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTHONY "ANTZ" CHONG, STREET ARTIST: Many "bomb" -- "bomb" meaning painting in the streets. We only hit the valleys, nothing really obvious
for the public eye, just the opposite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Willing to take some risks, Antz and Malik decide to merge media.
CHONG: Yes, it's easy right?
MAZLAN: Yes.
CHONG: So this is what the legal wall here, so therefore, we keep on painting over and over and over again. Nothing in art is permanent.
MAZLAN: He got me a lot out of comfort zone.
[08:40:10]
MAZLAN: The whole thing is, I want it to look more visual than it being just normal calligraphy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How is he doing?
CHONG: Decent for a first timer. Yes, he should be fine.
MAZLAN: Singapore artist is certainly more like I thought it was. Because before this, was just in the traditional realm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is the name of the piece?
CHONG: We call it "Fu."
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LU STOUT: Loving that kind of collaboration. Now, kissing the Pope's ring has long been a sign of respect for the leader of the Catholic Church. So
it's no surprise that a video of Pope Francis awkwardly pulling his hand away as people tried to kiss his ring went viral and, of course, the late
night comics, they were quick to weigh in. So does our Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): When it comes to kissing the Pope's ring, he doesn't seem to like the ring of it. Watch Pope
Francis yank his hand away time after time as Catholics lined up at a shrine in Italy to pay their respects. One guy looked like he ended up
kissing his own hand. It was as if his devoted fans head cooties.
TREVOR NOAH, HOST, THE DAILY SHOW, COMEDY CENTRAL: It looks like, like a weird video game where you have to try and kiss the Pope.
MOOS (on camera): But it's not as if the Pope tells everyone to kiss off when they go for his ring, he usually goes along with it. Most memorably
when this circus performer did it last year.
Ring kissing does tend to slow down the line, this man puckered up then got hustled away. On the day in question, Pope Francis allowed folks to dive-
bomb him for 10 minutes before he started playing hard-to-get. Supporters say it's the Pope being humble. Preferring to wash people's feet rather
than have them kiss his ring.
Most hand kisses, don't involve a ring, be it the Queen, or Melania Trump, or Kellyanne Conway. One guy who doesn't refuse it is Don Corleone, and
you better not refuse him.
Someone tweeted that Pope Francis looks like he's batting off flies. Still, he did stop for hugs, a Papal treat.
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, ABC: It's also good if you add an ice cream cone.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
LU STOUT: That is "News Stream." I'm Kristi Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere, "World Sport" with Amanda Davies is next.
(SPORTS)
[09:00:00]
END
