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Final Moments of Flight 2933 Captured on Air Traffic Controller Audio; Chapeco Fans Pay Tribute to Fallen Players; Donald Trump Talks to Pakistani Prime Minister Over Phone; Big Mac Creator Dies at 98; Midway Islands: World's Plastic Dumping Ground. 8:00a-9:00a ET>

Aired December 01, 2016 - 8:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:00:30] KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream.

Now, mourning an unmanageable loss: grief-stricken fans pay tribute to their Brazilian football heroes as new information emerges about why the

plane crashed.

And strange bedfellows: President-elect Donald Trump has glowing praise for Pakistan's leader. A very different tone from what he said in the past.

And drowning in plastic: CNN's exclusive look at the tiny island choking on tons of trash all thrown away by us.

Now, we are learning new details about the final terrifying moments of Flight 2933 that crashed in Colombia this week. A recording of the pilot

talking to air traffic control points to the total failure of electricity and little to no fuel. It gives investigators a vital clue as they try to

work on what went wrong. Shasta Darlington has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: New details emerging into what caused Lamia flight 2933 to crash just as it was about to descend

in to Medellin, Colombia.

A Colombian radio station released a conversation between an air traffic controller and one of the pilots of the ill-fated flight. In the recording,

the pilot is desperately telling the air traffic controller that the plane was experiencing total failure.

PILOT (subtitles): Miss, Lima-Mike-India 2933 it's in failure, total electrical and fuel.

DARLINGTON: Minutes later, another exchange.

PILOT (subtitles): Lima-Mike India vectors. Vectors, miss. Vectors to the runway.

CONTROLLER (subtitles): The radar signal was lost. I don't have you. Notify your direction now.

PILOT (subtitles): We're heading 360, 360.

CONTROLLER (subtitles): Director. Turn left 010 and proceed to the Rio Negro localizer one mile ahead of the border. At the moment, you're

located, corect, I'm confirmed going left with direction 350.

PILOT (subtitles): Left 350.

CONTROLLER (subtitles): Yes, correct. You're at zero-point-one miles to the Rio Negro border. I don't have your altitude, Lima-Mike-India.

DARLINGTON: And then silence, those recordings now part of the investigation are sealed. Colombian authorities would not confirm their

authenticity to CNN, but said the audio has some overlap with their investigation.

Lamia flight 2933 crashed just minutes away from reaching the runway, killing 71 on board. Many of the victims were players for Chapecoense, a

Brazilian underdog soccer team that made it to the finals of one of South America's most prestigious soccer tournaments.

Family, friends, and fans ready to celebrate their team's possible victory now mourning their loss. Embracing one another visibly devastated.

Meanwhile, thousands of Chapecoense fans and friends packed stadiums in both Medellin where their first tournament game was to be held and Chapeco,

the team's home town, remembering their beloved team in death just as they celebrated them in life, cheering them on.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Medellin, Colombia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And for more on what this recording may mean, let's turn to senior aviation safety and security consultant Desmond Ross who joins us on

Skype from Dubai.

And Captain Ross, thank you for joining us here on CNN. As you heard in that report just now, we have this new critical information about the final

moments of the flight. What kind of picture does it paint to you?

DESMOND ROSS, AVIATION SAFETY AND SECURITY CONSULTANT: Good afternoon.

It's a very confused picture to me at the moment. The pattern that I saw on flight radar, it's a very clear holding pattern, so it was done

deliberately. It's not as if the aircraft was circling out of control or even necessarily lost.

Yes, we have this information that the pilot is indicating fuel shortage, electrical failure. It's, to me, not a good picture. To me, it looks as

though they haven't quite run out of fuel, which is not really something that should happen on a modern jet airliner. Well, this aircraft is

perhaps 20 years old, maybe more. But there is still good aircraft, they're a sterling performer in regional services around the world.

LU STOUT: Yet the plane had little to no fuel, so what could cause a plane to run out of fuel?

ROSS: Calculation errors, bad planning, some form of leak during the flight, loss of fuel during the flight, icing in the system can cause fuel

to still be in the fuel tank but may not be able to get through to the engine, an unlikely situation. In this particular case, it appears there

was no fuel because there's been no fire. The aircraft has hit the mountain, it slid down the mountain. That's very clear on some of the

video. And there's no fire. So, it doesn't sound like there was any fuel in the tanks to catch fire.

LU STOUT: And the plane was also in total electric failure. Why? Isn't a plane supposed to have some sort of battery backup?

ROSS: It certainly has got a battery backup. And some of the services would have continued to operate, but maybe not sufficient to enable the

aircraft to be flown. Even things like the fuel gauges are electrically operated. The navigation system, obviously the electrics are important for just about every function on the aircraft, on the flight

deck.

A lot of these aircrafts, and I can't speak specifically to that one, but even if the engines fail, there's actually a little drop down thing which

is colloquially known as a rat in some circles, which it drops out of the fuselage and a little propeller generates electrical current by spinning in

the air flow, a small generator.

And so you, you know, under most circumstances, you have some electrical power, even right down to the final impact.

(CROSSTALK)

LU STOUT: We've also learned that the plane didn't declare an emergency. There was no mayday distress signal. Could that have made a difference?

ROSS: Not a great deal. The pilot's priority is to fly the aircraft, navigate the aircraft, and get it on to the ground safely. In this case,

declaring an emergency, all it could have done would given them priority to land, which yes, he should have done, if he knew he was in trouble. If he

knew he was going to run out of fuel. They didn't have enough fuel to continue in a holding pattern or to go somewhere else.

He should have declared an emergency, but it didn't happen. But it would not have made a difference to the end result at that point in time.

The holding pattern becomes a question at this point. Why was he in a holding pattern? Was he in a holding pattern because there was too much

traffic at the airport and he was being held by air traffic control and they didn't want him to arrive at airport for another five, ten minutes?

This happens all the time whjen there is busy traffic.

Was he in a holding pattern because the weather was bad at the destination and he was waiting

for the weather to clear? We don't know at this moment. In either case, if he was running short on fuel, he should have declared an emergency and

advised the controllers that he needed to get down to the runway as quickly as possible. They would have declared an emergency, given him priority to

land, even if there were other aircraft in the traffic circuit.

So there are question marks there, which until I could hear the recordings from both the control

tower and the aircraft, I couldn't tell you exactly what's happened.

LU STOUT; Yeah, absolutely. A number of questions raised, including as you mentioned, that holding loop pattern that the plane was in.

Captain Des Ross, we'll leave it at that. We thank you so much for joining us here on the program.

ROSS: Thank you.

LU STOUT: Now a vigil was held for the victims at a sports stadium in Colombia. And many of those killed belonged to a Brazilian football club

who were due to play that night. Surviving players who hadn't made the trip stood shoulder to shoulder with bereaved family members.

Now, Don Riddell was at that vigil and he joins us now from Chapeco. And, Don, family members and fans, they have been in mourning. How are they

honoring the departed?

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, it has been absolutely extraordinary here, Kristie, over the last 24 hours or so. The mass last night is

something I've never seen before. An incredible atmosphere here. If you didn't know any better, you would think it was a celebration, but amidst

the flares and drumbeat and rhythmic chanting and clapping, of course immense sadness. This is a community that is absolutely heartbroken, not

just this football club. This is a very small city of around just 200,000 people. And the football club at the heart of it means

absolutely everything to everybody here.

So the whole community is broken, and especially so the players and the families. We arrived during the day when many of the fans were around the

stadium here just kind of saddened, kind of pockets, consoling each other. Underneath this stand around the locker room area that was where the

players were and the families.

Now, 11 players didn't make the trip because they didn't make the squad or they were injured. imagine what they're going through now. Just you can't

imagine. They can't possibly make sense of it. The families, too.

We were on the same flight as some of the families who were coming in to Chapeco. They're absolutely distraught. And I suppose the good thing is

because this is such a small, tight-knit club, there is a lot of support for everybody. But when they cam e on the field last night, at around the

same time that the team should have been playing in this historic game for the club, and when they sensed the atmosphere and the noise and the raw

emotion and energy in the crowd, I think for many of them it was just completely overwhelming.

And seeing that emotion was really quite difficult for anybody who observed it.

[08:10:LU STOUT: You describe this immense, overwhelming sadness. We had this team, this

incredible team that's been torn apart. How are the surviving teammates coping and considering what's

next and rebuilding the club?

RIDDELL: I mean, they're being asked that question, of course. But it's just so soon. I mean, we're only on day three of this nightmare. Of

course, the final they were due to played in was canceled. There is one more league game this season. It remains to be seen whether they can field

a team, although many clubs in Brazil are pledging offers of support, financial and also the loan of their players.

The players we've spoken to, they say they just don't know how they can go on. They're so psychologically damaged by what's happened, they can't even

contemplate taking the field.

And whatever happens to this club in the future, and I have no doubt there will be some future, if for no other reason because the community and the

fans will demand it. I mean, the atmosphere here last night, it was almost as if the supporters were driving through their energy community will

demand it.

Last night it was almost as if the supporters were driving through their energy and the sheer sort of force of will that they'll drive the recovery

that way.

The most important thing right now is getting the bodies back. There are 38 people associated

with this club who perished in that devastating plane crash. And the club has been working over the last 24, 48 hours to try and bring those bodies

back.

I don't know if you can see behind me, Kristie, but they're actually erecting a series of tents on

the field. The plan, as we understand it, is that these bodies will be returned here at some point overnight or in the early hours of the morning,

and they will be laid out on the field, closed casket, with pictures of the players, the managers, the directors on those caskets, and the supporters

will be able to file past and pay their respects, honor their heroes, and say a final farewell.

And I can't imagine how emotional that's going to be. At that point, those bodies will be taken to their final destinations, where they will be buried

with their own private funeral services.

And I guess at that point, the question really turns to the future and how this club rebuilds. It is a monumental task. I mean, one of the players

said to us yesterday, even if we have players remaining, we don't have any managers, and we don't have any coaches. So, they're going have to start

from scratch.

And this is not going to get any easier any time soon.

LU STOUT: Yeah, it's an incredibly emotional time for everyone involved here. Don Ridell, we thank you for your reporting.

Now, the United Nations is pleading for action on Aleppo. A security council held an emergency meeting on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for the UN's

food program has warned of a slow-motion descent into hell in the city while the UN humanitarian chief

had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN O'BRIEN, UNITED NATIONS HUMANITARIAN CHIEF: For the sake of humanity, we call on, we plead with the parties and those with influence to

do everything in their power to protect civilians and enable access to the besieged part of Eastern

Aleppo before it becomes one giant graveyard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: At least 20,000 people have fled the city's eastern neighborhoods. It's estimated that 200,000 are still isolated inside. And

this is what those left behind are believed to be facing.

(GUNFIRE)

LU STOUT: There's heavy fighting on the ground between the Syrian government and rebel fighters as air strikes pound the city from above.

Now, let's bring in Mohammad Lila who is tracking developments from Istanbul. He joins us now live.

And Mohammad, it is an increasingly dire and dangerous situation. What is the latest inside

eastern Aleppo?

MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are reports of air strikes and artillery strikes in those besieged parts of eastern

Aleppo. Several neighbors are being targeted, one particularly strategic neighborhood, Sheikh Zaid (ph),

there's been a lot of fighting there according to people on the ground. The government says that they've cleared the area of the rebels.

the rebels say, no, they've pushed the government assault away. so there's a lot of back and forth. It's still a very fluid situation.

But of course, we've been seeing those images and that footage. The fighting is still very, very

fierce. And neither side shows any indication of letting up.

[08:15:32] LU STOUT: And Russia and Syria, they have declined the UN's request for a pause in the fighting. What is Russia suggesting instead?

LILA: Well, it's very interesting because just today here in Turkey, Turkey's foreign minister held a joint press conference with Russia's

foreign minister. They both acknowledged the need for a cease-fire as well as the need for humanitarian aid to enter the eastern part of Aleppo. But

they stopped short of saying that they'd reached any kind of agreement for how that aid would arrive.

Yesterday, Russia announced that it had, quote, liberated Castello Road from the rebels, meaning that that main artery that connects Damascus to

Aleppo was now open for traffic. Russia said that it would be -- that humanitarian convoys would be allowed to travel on that road and provide

relief to the city of Aleppo.

But the UN today pushed back and said they don't actually need access to that road. What they need is specifically access to the eastern part of

the city. Adn in the past, they haven't been able to enter either because the Syrian force on the ground wouldn't let them or the rebels had made it

too dangerous in those areas for the relief convoys to arrive. So that's what the UN wants, that's what they're pleading

for. But so far, there's no indication that they're going to be given access specifically to the eastern part of the city.

LU STOUT: All right. Muhammad Lila watching the situation there very closely for us. Thank you.

Now, the UN says half a million people in northern Iraq have no running water, and ISIS is partly to blame. Now, fighting between Iraqi forces and

ISIS damaged a water pipeline in Mosul. The pipeline cannot be repaired because it lies in ISIS territory.

Local official say ISIS has made the problem worse by intentionally cutting off water to homes near the front line. He says the terror group wants to

force residents to flee with them so the civilians can be used as human shields.

You're watching News Stream. And coming up Donald Trump reaching out to the leader of Pakistan. Could that signal a change in U.S. relations with

the South Asian nation?

And the UN is slapping tough new sanctions on North Korea, but will they deter the hermit kingdom from its nuclear activities? We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, you're back watching News Stream.

Now, Donald Trump apparently had some glowing praise for the prime minister of Pakistan. The two leaders talked on the phone and Islamabad released a

transcript, now that amounts to a violation of diplomatic protocol.

The U.S. president-elect is quoted as calling Nawaz Sharif a terrific guy who is doing amazing work. Now, Trump apparently said he felt like he was

talking to a person he had known for long. And he then told the prime minister that Pakistan is an amazing country with tremendous opportunities.

The president-elect's office put out a statement saying the two had a productive conversation

about how the United States and Pakistan will have a strong working relationship, but the Trump team did not answer inquiries from CNN on

whether those were Mr. Trump's actual words. If they were, they're very different from what he said in the past.

In 2012 he tweeted this, quote, get it straight, Pakistan is not our friend. Then back in October, Mr. Trump said if elected, the U.S. would be

best friends with India, Pakistan's long-time adversary.

Now, under Barack Obama, the U.S. has made diplomatic progress with India, strengthening ties on climate, defense, and trade.

In contrast, relations with Pakistan have been rocky at times, particularly after the U.S. raid of Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. It's not

known how U.S. relations with Pakistan and India will play out under a Trump presidency, but India has long said it won't accept interference on

territorial disputes.

Now, meanwhile Trump has not lost sight of domestic issues. In a few hours, he's to travel

to a factory in the U.S. state of Indiana after a deal was struck to keep jobs in America. It comes as he takes hits from critics for turning to

Wall Street to assemble his economic team.

Jessica Schneider has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-elect Donald Trump heading back into campaign mode, embarking on a "Thank You" tour in

swing states that won him the White House. Trump will hold a rally in Cincinnati tonight after taking a victory lap in Indiana, celebrating a

deal with Carrier to keep at least 1,000 manufacturing jobs from moving to Mexico. Carrier offering limited details on terms of the deal, receiving

unspecified incentives from the state run by Trump's V.P. Mike Pence.

This as Trump's cabinet continues to take shape. The search for Secretary of State narrowed down to these four candidates. Close Trump adviser Newt

Gingrich hammering Mitt Romney after his high- profile dinner with Trump Tuesday night.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: You have never, ever in your career seen a serious adult who's wealthy, independent, has been a

presidential nominee suck up at the rate that Mitt Romney is sucking up.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Trump also facing blistering criticism from the left over his newly appointed economic team. Democratic Senator Elizabeth

Warren slamming Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs executive Steve Mnuchin, who headed a firm that made big money off the 2008

housing crisis.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: He promised when he was running for President that he would break the connection between Wall Street and

this Congress. And then what does he do? He turns around and picks a guy who had actually been one of the people who helped do all of those lousy

mortgages.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The President-elect's team defending the pick.

JASON MILLER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR OF PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP'S TRANSITION TEAM: It takes someone like Steve who understands how the system

works, how we can go and make it more fair, how we can go and help American workers to get in there and actually change it.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Capitol Hill also reacting to Trump's announcement, with no details as of yet, that he will separate himself from his billion

dollar empire.

SEN. JAMES RISCH (R), IDAHO: You've got to be very, very careful on conflicts of interest. Sooner or later, this had to happen. And I suspect

he's probably not very happy about it, but it's just one of those things that had to be done.

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): The Office of Government Ethics sending out an unusual series of tweets applauding Trump's pledge and encouraging the

President-elect to divest his assets, a commitment that Trump has not yet made.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Jessica Schneider reporting.

Now, turning to the Korean Peninsula, Seoul is applauding strong new sanctions on North Korea. The UN secretary general says that they are the

toughest ever imposed by the security council, but will that by effective?

Saima Mohsin takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Defiant and definitive, North Korea`s launched more than two dozen prohibitive ballistic missiles this

year alone.

And on September 9th, state TV announced Kim Jong-un`s fifth successful nuclear test.

U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, says one Korean official likened the atmosphere to "living with the Cuban missile crisis every day."

Crucially, China is backing the sanctions, which will cut North Korea`s single largest export, coal, by 62 percent, worth around $700 million a

year. China is their biggest customer.

The previous round of economic sanctions haven`t slowed North Korea`s nuclear program.

JOHN DELURY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, YONSEI UNIVERSITY: He is not going to cut his missile program and his nuclear program with those hundreds of millions

of dollars. He`s going to find other places to cut.

MOHSIN: Sanctions on North Korea he says are counterproductive, although six-party talks have been tried and failed over the years to stop

proliferation, its direct talks with the North Korean leader himself that could make the difference.

[10:25:06] DELURY: We don`t even know Kim Jong-un. We haven`t had high level diplomatic contact. No head of state has sat in a room with Kim Jong-

un.

We thought Kim Jong-Il was crazy, until people started meeting with Kim Jong-Il. When high level people including the American secretary of state

sat down with Kim Jong-Il, they were shocked because they discovered the guy was not nuts.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: It`s called opening a dialogue.

MOHSIN: President-elect Trump has in the past said he had no problem speaking directly to Kim Jong-un, even suggesting they have hamburgers

instead of a state dinner. But he`s also said North Korea is China`s problem to solve and he`d pressure them to deal with the regime.

With growing protest here in South Korea, calling for President Park to go, we could soon see two new presidents in Seoul and Washington, with all eyes

on their policy towards North Korea.

Saima Mohsin, CNN, Seoul, South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: As you heard, those sanctions are expected to cut North Korea's exports of coal, but there's another measure that caught our eye: a ban on

the export of monuments. It turns out North Korea is known to have a thriving industry carving propaganda statues.

Now, according to the U.S. ambassador to the UN, the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mubage paid $5 million for two statues. The ambassador says North

Korea has earned tens of millions of dollars from similar orders.

Now, Thailand's crown prince has returned to Bangkok and is expected to formally assume the

thrown. He presided over this ceremony ealier, marking 50 days since his father died in October. The coronation won't be until next year, after his

father's body is cremated.

The late king was deeply loved across the country and had reigned for 70 years.

You're watching News Stream. And still to come, how technology is being used to fight human

trafficking. It's all part of CNN's Freedom Project.

And later as the environment suffers, some of the most damaged parts of the Earth lie beneath a pristine surface. We have an exclusive report on a

plague of plastic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:22] LU STOUT: In the U.S., a nonprofit group is tackling the demand side of human trafficking. It's a simple but very effective project, which

targets would-be predators using their very own phone numbers. Robyn Curnow explains as part of CNN's Freedom Project.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sexual predators lurking behind their computer screens are no longer as hidden as they think.

YouthSpark, a non-profit that provide services to trafficking victims recently launched a new initiative that tackles the lesser discussed side

of the trafficking problem, demand.

ALEX TROUTEAUD, YOUTHSPARK EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: When every day you are serving youth who've been sexually exploited, at some point you sit back

and say, what's causing this? Because it's nothing wrong with the kids.

We really felt like we owed it to the youth that we work with to work upstream a little bit and start doing what we can as an NGO, to address the

exploitation that they were being faced with.

CURNOW: Demand tracker is simple, an employee posts ads online offering juveniles up for sex. Unlike the other ads on sites like this, hers are

decoys and the models, all adults, agreed to pose for them.

She clicks, posts and waits. But when a would-be predator calls or texts the number in the ads demand tracker automatically adds the number to a

public, searchable database. The caller is also sent a text message letting them know their number is being identified and is available to law

enforcement.

TROUTEAUD: Guys get involved in this bad behavior, they start somewhere. If the first time you do that you realize, whoa, someone is watching and I'm

going to be held accountable for this and law enforcement are paying attention. That's the kind of message that we think will educate men to

change their track real fast.

CURNOW: In the four months that demand tracker has been operational it has recorded 12,000 unique numbers. The system does have its limitations. It

can identify phone numbers but not who places the calls and it can't separate intentional calls from misdials.

If someone wants their number removed from the public phasing list there is a button on the site that allows them to do that but the number still

remains in the database itself.

Trouteaud says police are mainly concerned with numbers that show up multiple times as these are likely not accidental. It's not perfect but

many in law enforcement see it as a great start to tackling demand.

DALIA RACINE, DEKALB COUNTY GEORGIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: It may not be something that we could use in a particular case, but I think it is good to

help with pushing legislation to make tougher laws against the purchasers. It could help in bringing together training curriculum on how to track

purchasers by looking at their patterns and their habits.

CURNOW: It also sends a clear message to predators.

RACINE: We are coming after the demand side just as hard as we are after the exploiters and after the supply side of this issue. And you are no

longer going to be safe behind those keyboards. We are going to find you and we are going to prosecute you.

CURNOW: Robyn Curnow, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And tomorrow, the CNN Freedom Project will introduce you to a group of students running an endurance race to save the lives of

trafficking victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: For 24 hours, teams of eight from Hong Kong-based schools will run continuous relay laps, a bold

mission to raise awareness of modern-day slavery and money to fight human trafficking.

KESHAV MONON, BUSINESS DIRECTOR, 24 HOUR RACE: Slowly, I started to go back to my home roots. And when I found out more about problem of slavery

in India, how it manifests in many different forms, I felt really bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: You'll hear more about their motivation and how they handle the 24-hour race. It's all part of the Freedom Project's special series

Tackling Demand, only on CNN.

Now, crowds lined the streets of Santa Clara, Cuba, hoping to catch a glimpse of the funeral

procession bearing the ashes of Fidel Castro.

Castro's remains are traveling across the nation from Havana in the northwest to Santiago de Cuba nearly 900 kilometers to the southeast, now

that retraces the route in reverse that Castro himself made when he seized power back in 1959.

Now, Colombia's lower house of congress has joined the senate in approving a new peace deal between the government and FARC rebels, aiming to end

almost 50 years of violence. A previous draft was rejected in a referendum. And this time, the public did not get the chance to vote.

FARC rebels now have 150 days to lay down their arms.

You're watching News Stream. And coming up, an exclusive look at island paradise at war with the world's plastic and the animals struggling to

survive our polluted oceans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, scientists say that 8 million tons of plastic waste is thrown into the world's oceans every

year and much of it washes up here on the tiny island of Midway, where countless animals there pay the price for that pollution.

Nick Paton Walsh has this exclusive report from the Pacific paradise haunted by plastic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Midway has always been vital to somebody -- a home for birds to breed; and for the U.S. and Japan,

a place so strategic they fought a decisive battle for it in World War II.

Wherever you step you're still reminded here of sacrifices made of a naval battle where American luck and courage combined to defeat Japan so

unexpectedly historians still marvel at it today. Even now it houses these sensors, meant to detect radiation from a North

Korean nuclear test.

To get more a sense of scale, we head out from the atoll towards the reef that encircles it, closer to the endless plastic of the great Pacific

garbage patch. It's often hidden under the surface, an almost invisible underwater soup of tiny fragments and not easy to spot, like this: a sunken

barge used to ship fresh water here when this was a Cold War early warning station.

Man comes and leaves, but this isn't his home, it's theirs.

The sound of dolphins talking.

Well, far more intelligent animal in the sea than us now. And they just seem to be following us wherever we go: staggering. Completely unafraid.

Possibly not used to seeing boats that often, but in an ocean which as we've been seeing is being changed really permanently by man's behavior,

and something just so staggeringly beautiful and calm.

The contrast could not be more stark. The message in these bottles that have floated thousands of miles to get here is clear: the trash from your

quick convenient gulp can end up anywhere on Earth and last forever.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:40:16] LU STOUT: Disturbing visuals there. And that was Nick Paton Walsh reporting.

And did you know that some 60 percent of the world's ocean plastic comes from a handful of Asia's countries.

Now, according to Science magazine, the biggest polluter is China. It threw away nearly 9 million tons of plastic in 2010, another 3.2 million

tons come from Indonesia.

Now, other top plastic polluters include the Philippines, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

Now, tune in to see the full program. It's called "Midway: a Plastic Island." It airs 2:30 p.m. Saturday here in Hong Kong, 3:30 p.m. in Tokyo,

only on CNN.

And before we go, we'd like to pay tribute to the creator of one of the world's most well-known hamburgers. Now Jim Delligatti has died at the age

of 98. And he introduced the Big Mac at his McDonald's franchise store in 1967, but he never thought it would become a piece of Americana. Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The creator of the Big Mac did not die from a Big Mac attack.

JIM DELLIGATTI, CREATOR OF THE BIG MAC: Well, it's not really that unhealthy.

MOOS: Big Mac's maker...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Jim Delligatti.

MOOS: Lived to the age of 98. It was nearly 50 years ago that he first served a Big Mac at his McDonald's franchise near Pittsburgh. It was an

instant success, went national, immortalized by the jingle...

(SINGING)

MOOS (on camera): Where is the special sauce? There's the special sauce.

(voice-over): The original Big Mac sold for --

DELLIGATTI: Forty-nine cents at the time.

MOOS: Now it's as much as $5 and sold worldwide, though in Paris --

SAMUEL L. JACKSON, ACTOR, "PULP FICTION": What do they call the Big Mac?

JOHN TRAVOLTA, ACTOR, "PULP FICTION": A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it La (ph) Big Mac.

MOOS (on camera): You know they say that only one out of five millennials has even ever tasted a Big Mac.

MOOS (voice-over): McDonald's didn't lower its flag to half-staff, but it did tweet, "Jim, we thank and will forever remember you." Fans posted Big

Mac tribute photos. One suggested, "to honor his legacy, why not return the Big Mac to its former size? It's become so small it's pathetic." Not true,

says McDonald's. It's been the same size since inception.

Another fan suggested, "if they cremate him, they should put him in a Big Mac box. I love Big Macs."

But even the guy who invented it in 1967 jumbled the jingle.

DELLIGATTI: Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, onions, pickles on a sesame seed bun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always thought it was pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

DELLIGATTI: It could be. But I say on a toasted sesame seed bun.

MOOS: Jim Delligatti's family still owns and operates 21 McDonald's in Pennsylvania. But Jim's business, the Big Mac itself was...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our own secret sauce.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN...

DELLIGATTI: Onions, pickles on a sesame seed bun.

(SINGING)

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: It's a classic.

And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. World Sport with Amanda Davies is next.

END