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Malaysian Authorities Say Nerve Agent VX As Cause of Kim Jong-nam's Death; Dolly the Sheep's Legacy; Trump Administration Asked FBI to Push Back on Russia Reports in Media; Previewing the Oscars. 8-9a ET

Aired February 24, 2017 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:12] KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to

News Stream.

And Malaysia says they know what killed Kim Jong-nam: the banned chemical agent VX.

CNN has learned that the FBI rejected a White House request to knock down media reports on ties between Trump associates and Russia during the

campaign.

And 20 years after the creation of Dolly the sheep was unveiled to the world, we speak to one of the scientists behind the world's first mammal

cloned from an adult cell.

In a plot twist almost stranger than fiction. Now, more than a week on, Malaysian police say they finally know what killed the brother of North

Korea's leader. Now a banned chemical weapon known as VX nerve agent was found on the body of Kim Jong-nam.

Now, he was apparently poisoned at the Kuala Lumpur airport. It is the latest in a presumed

murder that sparked a diplomatic fallout, a multinational manhunt and accusations of espionage and

assassination.

Now, let's get more from Alexandra Field. She joins us live from the Malaysian capital. And Alex, tell us more about this nerve agent? How

dangerous was this chemical that was used in the attack?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a truly stunning scenario. You're talking about one of the most potent nerve agents that

exists. It is odorless, only a couple of drops or a swab is needed to produce a lethal consequence. And you're talking about a material that was being carried through a busy airport in

Kuala Lumpur. Authorities here say they don't know where it was before they reached the airport, but they do believe that the women who deployed

it were trained to use it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: Nerve agent found on Kim Jong-nam's face and eyes, this from Malaysian police. It's an internationally banned chemical weapon that can

kill almost instantly by stopping someone from breathing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: VX was developed in the 1950s by the British and it was soon copied by the Russians, the Americans, the Syrians and possibly the

Iraqis. So it's a very, very lethal agent.

Just a few drops on unexposed skin, uncovered skin, will kill you very, very quickly. So, it is probably the most lethal of the nerve agents ever

designed.

FIELD: The half-brother of the North Korean dictator died in an ambulance after complaining of dizziness. Before that, CCTV video in Kuala Lumpur's

airport appears to show the attack. Malaysian police say two women were trained to poison him and taught how to protect themselves.

North Korean officials have sharply criticized the investigation, insisting the women would have suffered themselves if they had handled the chemicals.

Weapons experts point out that some versions of VX are only lethal once two components are combined.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any modern country with a sophisticated chemical industry or universities that have decent chemical engineering departments

could replicate this formula. The formula is out there.

FIELD: Malaysian investigators don't know yet where the chemicals used in the attack on Kim Jong-nam were made. They have asked Interpol to issue

alerts for four North Korean men believed to be back in Pyongyang. They're suspected of giving the women the deadly weapon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: Those two women are still under arrest, along with another North Korean citizen. And officials here in Malaysia says still want to talk to

at least seven other North Korean citizens. They have been asking North Korean officials for help in terms of locating those people and finding the

opportunity to question them.

North Korean officials, however, are saying that they have not received some of those requests. There's actually a representative of the North

Korean embassy here in Kuala Lumpur who came outside of the embassy today to say that the embassy had not received any such letter sent by Malaysian

officials requesting their assistance. This falls very much in line, Kristie, with what North Korean officials have said all along. They have

asked to actually be part of a joint investigation here. Malaysian officials not interested in that. But North Korean officials have been

highly, highly critical of the investigation that's happening here. They've rejected the idea that this is a poisoning.

And while they did send out a spokesperson today to make a brief statement about the investigation, there was no mention at all of that VX agent,

Kristie.

LU STOUT: Day after day we get more key details on the mysterious death of Kim Jong-nam. Alexandra Field reporting live for us from KL. Thank you.

Now, in Iraq, a military operation is under way on the outskirts of Mosul. The objective here to secure areas around the airport and a nearby military

base. Both have been recaptured following that intense firefight over two days. It's all part of a major offensive to liberate the western half of

the city.

I want to bring in Ben Wedeman. He is at a village nearby. He joins us now live. Ben, you were there at the Mosul airport and surveyed the

aftermath of the operation. What did you see?

[08:05:16] BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we saw, a fair bit of destruction at the airport itself, but what we also see is

that the runway is completely full of rubble, rubble put there by ISIS so that nobody could actually use that airport. What we saw is that they have

essentially taken over -- the Iraqi police have taken over the airport itself and are on the edges and they're prepared to move on the southern

suburbs of western Mosul. We've seen all day overhead attack helicopters firing missiles and heavy machine guns into the city itself. What we also

saw was a group of American spotters who are providing targeting information for the attack helicopters overhead.

We've also seen a lot of troops heading to the very front line. What we're seeing is really intense bombardment of the southern suburbs of the western

part of the city, an intensity we didn't see, for instance, when it came to the battle for eastern Mosul, which it took an entire three months. Iraqi officials are hesitant, the ones we've

spoken to here, to predict when it is that they'll be able to gain control of western Mosul, but they seem to be using a lot more firepower this time

around -- Kristie.

LU STOUT: So we have intense bombardment under way after Iraqi forces managed to grab a

big prize, the Mosul airport.

So, Ben, why is this such a significant strategic victory for them?

WEDEMAN: Well, it's not a victory yet, the battle is just beginning, but certainly once they're able to gain control of the western side of Mosul,

they will have regained control of Iraqi's second largest city. This is a city where in the summer of 2014 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the so-called caliph

of ISIS declared the caliphate. And so symbolically--

LU STOUT: OK. Unfortunately we just lost our correspondent reporting from nearby Mosul, reporting on the back of Iraqi forces retaking the airport in

Mosul. Ben Wedeman reporting live for us just then. Our apologies for the technical difficulties.

Now, let's turn our attention now to The Philippines where this woman, she is a fierce critic of

President Rodrigo Duterte, she is under arrested. Now Senator Leila de Lima is accused of having ties to the illegal drug trade when she served as

the justice secretary.

Now, this investigation began after she launched an inquiry into killings during President Duterte's war on drugs. Thousands of people were killed

in just months. She denies the accusations against her and supporters say her arrest is politically motivated.

Now, the Trump administration apparently took unusual measures to try to squash media reports

about alleged ties to Russia. And CNN has exclusively learned that the White House asked the FBI to

publicly push back on press coverage claiming Donald Trump's associates were in contact with Moscow during the presidential campaign, but the FBI

refused.

Jim Sciutto and Evan Perez broke the story with Pamela Brown, (inaudible) and Manu Raju. And here's Jim to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: FBI rejected a recent White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications during the 2016

presidential campaign between Donald Trump's associates and Russians known to U.S. intelligence.

Multiple U.S. officials tell CNN the White House sought the help of the Bureau and other agencies investigating the Russia matter to say that the

reports were wrong and that there had been no contact, these officials said. You may recall that CNN and The New York Times first reported on this

just over a week ago and do far, there has been no White House comment on the record.

I should say that the FBI is still investigating these alleged communications. Several members of the House and Senate intelligence

committees tell CNN that congress is still investigating them as well. And that investigation has begun. They're starting to collect documents,

records, et cetera. They will call witnesses.

Communication between the White House and the FBI is unusual because of decades-old

restrictions on such contacts. The request from the White House a violation of procedures that

limit communications with the FBI on pending investigations. The Trump administration's efforts to press Comey run contrary to Justice Department

procedure memos issues in 2007 and 2009 that limit direct communications on pending investigations between the White House and the FBI.

FBI director James Comey rejected the request, according to these sources, because the alleged communications are the subject of an ongoing

investigation.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:10:16] LU STOUT: Now, Donald Trump is reigniting a simmering feud with China, and Beijing isn't taking it lightly. Now, Mr. Trump doubled down on

claims that China artificially reduces the value of its currency to give Chinese businesses an edge over U.S.

competitors. Now, Trump described Beijing as the grand champion of currency manipulation, but a Chinese government spokesperson is flatly

rejecting Mr. Trump's accusations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENG SHUANG, SPOKESMAN, CHINESE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): We have repeatedly said that China has no intention to gain

export edge through currency competitive devaluation. There is no basis for sustained depreciation of the RMB. We hope that relevant parties view

the RMB exchange rate in an objective light and do more that is conducive to mutual trust and cooperation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: And that was China's ministry of foreign affairs spokesman.

Now, amid swirling accusations about the Trump administration's ties to Russia, one Ukrainian

lawmaker claims he held a private meeting with Donald Trump's lawyer to discuss a Russia-Ukraine peace deal and believes his peace plan may have

ended up in the White House. Nick Paton Walsh recently spoke with him. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a peace plan that is controversial as the war in Ukraine seems endless. It all began

with a story of how one obscure Ukrainian MP dined at a luxury New York hotel with Donald Trump's personal lawyer, found his left field ideas

perhaps passed on to the president's short-lived National Security Adviser and was then was caught in a diplomatic storm now investigated for treason

in his own homeland.

ANDRII ARTEMENKO, UKRANIAN LAWMAKER: He told me that Michael Flynn is the best person, the best -- my connections in the Trump Administration who

really, if he likes, is going to be a huge support.

WALSH: Andrii Artemenko gave us a hurried interview in Kiev and tells us of a January dinner in Manhattan. He says, he had with Donald Trump's personal

lawyer, Michael Cohen, arranged by the mutual friend, Felix Sater.

ARTEMENKO: We probably spoke around 20-25 minutes where I present my intentions, my peace plan war in Ukraine, how we can stop the war, how we

can finish this. And also, he says, listen, this gentleman is very potential and he wants to send a message to Trump Administration.

WALSH: Mr. Cohen says the dinner happened but they didn't talk about peace for Ukraine but Artemenko says Cohen insisted the plan be given to Trump's

controversial and short lived then National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who resigned 24 days into his job due to his comments over sanctions on

Russia because of Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

When you first spoke to Felix Sater, did you ever imagined that your peace plan would end up on the then, National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn's

desk?

ARTEMENKO: Absolutely not. It was the Michael Cohen idea, he mentioned his name first in my meetings and he said listen to Michael Flynn for his

personal opinion is most powerful man who can really support this idea, who really support, who can help you, who can provide this information to

President Trump.

WALSH: The White House flatly denies any contact with Cohen or Artemenko on this issue. Russia annexed Ukraine Crimean Peninsula in 2014 then sent

military help to the separatists in the country's East where the war drags on to this day. Artemenko thinks his plan may even involve the lease of

Crimea to Russia in exchange for Russian troops leaving the East.

Michael Cohen told CNN in a text message, "If this continued fake news narrative wasn't so ridiculous, I would be angered. I acknowledge that the

brief meeting took place but emphatically deny discussing this topic or delivering any documents to the White House and/or General Flynn; something

I stated to the New York Times."

According to The Times, Cohen said he left the plan in a sealed envelope on Flynn's desk. Although Cohen later denied eve delivering Flynn the plan,

the White House says it has no record of receiving such a document. Mr. Sater and Mr. Flynn didn't respond to requests for comment. Both Russia and

Ukraine have rejected the plan. Artemenko has since been expelled from his political faction and has to hurry off, he says, to meet Ukrainian

President, Petro Poroshenko, although the President's office denies. It.

He promises to return but doesn't. Moments after he leaves, Ukrainian prosecutors announce he is being investigated for treason for even

suggesting the plan.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kiev, Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:15:23] LU STOUT: Now, it is widely known that a U.S. whistle blower Edward Snowden sheltered in Hong Kong while carrying out one of the biggest

intelligence leaks in history. Now, three asylum seeker families hit him in their small apartments as he evaded authorities, but now they say they

are living in fear with reports that Sri Lankan police have been in Hong Kong looking for them.

Now, their lawyer who also represented Snowden says he has information on at least two visits. He claims investigators tried to track down the

families who fear persecution if they return home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT TIBBO, LAWYER: We do not believe that the Hong Kong government has provided the protections that our clients are entitled to receive as asylum

seekers in Hong Kong. So, in our view there's been a lack of state protection by the government, either that's because the Hong Kong

government is unwilling to do so or unable to do so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, in a statement, Hong Kong police say a person who feels threatened should seek help from the police force. And CNN has reached out

to Sri Lankan authorities for comment. We haven't received a response.

Now, 20 years after scientists revealed the birth of Dolly the sheep, medical research is still

benefiting from the work that led to her creation. We will hear from one of the leading researchers celebrating this important anniversary, just

ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back, you're watching News Stream. 20 years ago this week scientists in Scotland introduced the

most famous sheep in history. Now, Dolly, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The announcement made global headlines and raised fear of a

future of cloned armies and even dead people resurrected in labs.

Now, that future never happened. But since Dolly, a number of species, including mice and

rats, have been cloned, but Dolly's real legacy is the research she inspired. Now, earlier I spoke with Alan Coleman, one of the scientists

whose work led to Dolly the sleep. And he is now a visiting scholar at Harvard University's department of stem cell and regenerative biology.

I asked him to take me back to the day the announcement was made.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN COLEMAN, SCIENTIST: We underestimated the impact the announcement would

make. And it was all about what would happen if you cloned human beings, not sleep. So it was something we had prepared for, but we had been

totally overwhelmed by the response. I had not anticipated such a sort of severe and universal response at the time.

LU STOUT: Yeah, when Dolly was announced, she made global headlines and raised fears of a Dystopian future of clone armies and even resurrecting

the dead. 20 years on, we know for certain that never happened. So how has the technology been used over the years?

[08:20:12] COLEMAN: Well, it's been used in sort of really a niche-like way. It's been used to propagate elite domestic animals so that you could

breed more offspring by making more, if you like, founders so you could replicate the number of identical cloning, say bulls

and cows to enable much greater numbers of offspring. And it's been used to try and re-establish ancient breeds and things like that. And it still

is in use that way, but for me the greatest legacy was the resurgence of interest and in scientists in trying to reprogram the genome to try and

take adult cells which were fixed, if you like, in their ways and restore them to the pristine naive state that you find in embryonic cells and take

advantage of that type of transformation.

LU STOUT: And that's the technical and scientific legacy of Dolly. And as you mentioned earlier, just the cloning technology has been used to clone a

number of species, from horses to household pets. Is the technology there to clone a human, but we are prevented from doing so because of ethical

concerns?

COLEMAN: Well, we're prevented from doing so by both ethical and legal concerns. I mean, in many countries it's banned with the threat of

criminal prosecution. It's also technically, the whole cloning process remains very technically difficult.

We're still not absolutely certain it could be performed with humans. What we do know is that some of the earlier stages have been successfully used

with human cells, but we do know that no one has been able to properly clone nonhuman primates like monkeys. So we're still not sure we could,

even if we wanted to.

LU STOUT: Now, as for Dolly the sheep, she lived out her days at Rosslyn Institute (ph). She gave birth to six healthy lambs before tumors in her

lungs were found. She was euthanized at the age of 6 and is on permanent display at the National Museum of Scotland.

Now, Uber is taking another hit, this time in the form of a lawsuit. Now Google's self-driving car project Waymo is taking action, accusing the

ride-sharing app of trying to steal trade secrets for vehicles like the one you see right here.

Now, Waymo claims an employee downloaded thousands of confidential files, then quit to

start his own self-driving truck company, which was bought by Uber. Uber says it is taking these

allegations seriously.

Now, Uber has suffered setback after setback here in Asia, including a run- in with Taiwan's government and a sell-off in China. It's also struggling in the world's

second largest country, India, with its main rival Ola (ph) offering unique and innovative services. Its founding partner has some

unsolicited advice for Uber: go local.

I recently sat down with Pranay Jivrajica in Bangalore to find out why Ola is so popular and how it can

keep on growing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRANAY JIVRAJICA, FOUNDING PARTNER, OLA: I think it has been a phenomenal journey so far, but having said that, when we do more than a million rides

on an average, but we're still scratching the surface, given the opportunity in India is humongous.

LU STOUT: There is so much demand in India, but you need more drivers. Where are your drivers coming from? And are they getting the skills

training they need to get to use your app and also know the roads?

JIVRAJICA: We need drivers who can actually do this job. And now we have partnered with a lot of training institutes across India who can actually

give us these 30-day program, or 25-day program for these fresh young citizens who can actually become entrepreneurs with their own cars. So, just to give you a context, our driver app, the

smartphone and the app that the driver uses operates in more than nine languages. So for drivers coming from (inaudible) and he's not conversant

and fluent with English, we can educate him with basic English to communicate with customers and understand what the customer is saying.

But he will be more than comfortable when the app in his own native language. So that is one of the adaptations that we have done.

LU STOUT: Yeah, on the Ola app, you have this menu of options and there are just under a dozen different modes of transportation you can pick from

to use your service in India, including the auto rickshaw. And I see that as sort of an example of local spice, something that you would only find in

India. Do you feel that because you are a local player that you are better able to identify and quickly capitalize on local spice?

[08:25:06] JIVRAJICA: What has helped us is having an ear to the ground in terms of understanding what the users want. At the same time, Ola is a

very inclusive platform. It's all forms of mobility which can take you from point a to point b, something that we aspire to bring on to the Ola

platform. And that is where you see the auto rickshaw, the shuttle services, the bike service, the small cars, the big cars, cars with an in

car entertainment system and a lot more.

LU STOUT: Uber in Asia has been struggling. They had to throw in the towel in the China market. They had to suspend service in Taiwan. Do you

think part of their struggled is due to the fact that they are not a local player?

JIVRAJICA: I believe to a large extent, yes. One of the things that I see is that they have a very cookie cutter approach in terms of this is what

the model is and how do I force fit it into any geography that we go in. Versus, you know, building it ground up in terms of what the users and

drivers actually want and what do the local wants is and contextualizations required to build business in a faster and more accelerated pace.

LU STOUT: A couple of years ago you launched Ola money, your digital payment service. How much of the payments from your customers is being

done with cold, hard cash versus Ola Money?

JIVRAJICA: Ola Money started as a convenience product for the user because we wanted users to walk out of the cab without being troubled with the

hassle of change. But then since then it has evolved into a full-fledged wallet where you can do a lot more with Ola

Money and not just on the Ola platform. You can pay your utility bills, you can do a lot of online merchant transactions, a lot of offline

transactions is what you can do with Ola Money. And today we see more than half of our transactions, significantly more than half of our transactions

on the Ola platform using Ola Money.

LU STOUT: The feature of Ola, you know just five years, 10 years out, do you see that Ola will be a ride-sharing company, digital payments company,

or a logistics company or something else. What's your overall vision?

JIVRAJICA: What we aspire to become in the coming few years is one of the building blocks of the internet economy in India, which would include a

host of these things you mentioned, how seamless can payments be for users, how scalable the solutions could be in terms of the technology stake that

we have. How can we make it adaptable to different needs, which could be deliveries, which

could be expanding into new geographies.

So, yeah, I think it's about how do we cater to a host of use cases and offerings using the backbone of technology and showed a seamless and always

improving experience for users and drivers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was Ola founding partner Pranay Jivrajica speaking with me in Bangalore on the sidelines of CNN Asia business forum that took place

there.

Now, it's also worth noting here that Uber has declined to make any comment on Javrajica's suggestion that it ditch the one size fits all approach.

Now, coming up right here on News Stream, CNN Freedom Project explores what would the

impact be if children were able to recognize the signs of human trafficking and to speak up when

it's happening? We'll visit a London elementary school that is teaching children just that. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:33] LU STOUT: Now, all this week we have been sharing with you stories of human trafficking in places most people might not expect. But

in one London elementary school, children are learning to identify the five signs of human trafficking. And activists hope it will one day prevent a

tragedy.

Isa Soares has this installment of the CNN Freedom Project.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Thank you.

PHIL KNIGHT, TEACHES CHILDREN ABOUT MODERN-DAY SLAVERY: I would love to see a world where you've got the whole generation growing that go we know about

modern-day slavery. The reason it has gotten so big is no one knew about it.

ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Phil Knight teaches children about modern slavery about hearing the story of a 16-year-old student who

had been sex trafficked to the U.K. as a young girl.

KNIGHT: As we got deeper into it we realized that no one is teaching kids about this type of stuff. It's difficult. You go to a school and say can we

come in and you know, they go, modern-day slavery and human trafficking, really. But once we send them the stuff and they see how we work, we are

straight in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happens if anything you make your slave do what happens if I make you do that?

SOARES: Just Enough U.K. have been running school worships for 8 to 16- years-old since 2013.

KNIGHT: We have educated over 40,000 children and that is going up and up and up with the amount of schools we are booking in because we built a name

on trust.

LINDSAY MACKAY, ACTRESS: You look quite strong. Are you quite strong? Today you are going to be my slave.

SOARES: Actress Lindsay McCain has been leading worships for the past year.

MACKAY: We start off with introducing who we are, establishing that we are in a safe environment. We then jump back in time to see the knowledge that

children have already of the topic.

Has everybody heard of William Wilberforce? 20 years it took for him to get the signatures to ban slavery.

The kids get involved. Through acting, different scenarios that could lead to trafficking and how people are tricked into it.

I have their passport what does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: They can't leave the country.

MACKAY: They can't leave the country. Or they can't leave me.

And then we do the five thing signs of slavery.

These are the signs to keep your safe.

SOARES: Lindsay has first-hand experience of being groomed by a trafficker while studying in Madrid.

MACKAY: I lived in an all-female flat with a male landlord and I have gifted given to men and I was told to meet his friends. If I went home, he

would come pick me up from the airport unannounced and would track my flights and sent me letters telling me about how I need to go with him. And

looking back at it now especially with the work I'm involved in I realize how close I was. And if I didn't have a supportive family I probably might

have fallen into it.

KNIGHT: The most important thing for me was she took the knowledge and adapt it into her worship without scaring the children. The biggest thing

for just enough is it can never shock them. They can never be scared. They can never be worried about what they've seen.

[08:35:13] MACKAY: Let us know about what you thought of the workshop, whether you enjoyed it, what was your favorite bit.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: The five ways you can identify someone who is maybe in slavery because I think that is a very helpful thing.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: The presenter was, like, showing her expressions and she wasn't really shy.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I just learned more about modern slavery. And now I understand.

SOARES: The aim now for Phil and his team is to spread the message to children worldwide.

KNIGHT: I'm off to America to start building just enough USA. If you can do a worship on, you know, a great flat screen in a really great school in

London can you do it on the back of a truck in Nigeria with no electricity? Definitely. It's all done to the magic of the presenter.

MACKAY: So now how many believe that one person can change the world?

I thought that would happen.

SOARES: Isa Soares, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: What an incredible program. And the kids are getting the message, they really are.

Now, CNN is committed to the fight against modern day slavery, so on March 14, we are

teaming up with young people around the world for a student-led day of action called My Freedom Day. Now, driving it is a simple question, what

does freedom mean to you? Send us your answer by text, photo or video across social media. Use #myfreedomday so we can share your responses on

our website.

You're watching News Stream. Still to come, Hollywood's biggest night reveals one of

Hollywood's biggest issues: diversity is in the spotlight ahead of this weekend's Oscar ceremony one year after Oscars so white. Did the Academy

finally get it right?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: The word Hero brings to mind rescuers or those who sacrifice themselves to help

others, but it can also refer to someone with the will to beat all odds. Now, a little boy from Haiti and his incredible resilience is so

inspirational that Anderson Cooper picked him as his hero.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: For me, when I think of heroes, I think of a little boy

named Monley (ph) who I met in Haiti back in 2010 in the days after the earthquake. And he was 5 years old at the time.

This is Monley Eliser (ph), the 5-year-old boy trapped in the rubble of his collasped home for for eight days after the quake.

And he found kind of a crawl space that he was able to crawl into.

We were there when he was brought to general hospital here in Port-au- Prince and treated by doctors from the International Medical Corps.

And so in the midst of this horror, to have this little boy emerged with his blinking eyes.

He was clearly emaciated and could barely talk.

In the years since, my executive producer, Charlie Morris kept in touch with him. We'd been down there a couple of times. And Monley (ph) is 11

years old now. And he is -- he is doing really well.

I think so many of us kind of view our own situations and think, wow, you know, I'm -- things aren't where I want it to be in life. And you know for

very understandable reasons or we're unhappy with things.

But I just think there is something about that determination that Monley (ph) showed and that kind of burrowing down and barreling through

determination to survive, to get out and to make it. And I don't know that if you ask him he could even tell you how he survived or what it was in him

that made him survive, but to me he's a sign of hope and he's a hero.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: the definition of determination and a hero.

Now, the famous red carpet is in place for this Sunday's Academy Awards. And after that Oscars so white controversy of last year, Sunday's show

could be one of the most diverse ever.

Stephanie Elam shows us what to look out for.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Musical romance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been standing with you.

ELAM: Family drama, and extraterrestrial life, all competing for Oscar.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty strange that we keep running into each other.

ELAM: La La Land is the film to watch with 14 nominations, tying All About Eve and Titanic for the most nods in Oscar history.

RYAN GOSLING, ACTOR: It's very, very exciting.

ELAM: The musical is up for best picture along with Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Lion, Manchester by the

Sea, and Moonlight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some people think that maybe Hidden Figures could eke out in the end, but I think that in the end La La Land will prevail.

ELAM: La La Land's Emma Stone is up for best actress, as is Isabelle Huppert for Elle, Ruth Nega in Loving and return winners Meryl Streep as

Florence Foster Jenkins and Natalie Portman as Jackie. But Stone is the front-runner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emma Stone has essentially won every single award you can

win.

ELAM: The race for best actor, however, is tight. Andrew Garfield in Hacksaw Ridge, Ryan Gosling in La La Land and Vigo Mortensen in Captain

Fantastic are all up for the honor, but the momentum is with Denzel Washington for Fences and Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone is going to be on the edge of their seat for that competition.

JIMMY KIMMEL, COMEDIAN: Do you know who's hosting the Oscars this year? I'll give you a hint, he's touching your face.

ELAM: Jimmy Kimmel is taking on Hollywood's most notoriously challenging role. The late night host will MC the Oscars for the first time.

RAMIN SELOOCKIN, VARIETY: He really is going to rely on his relationship with the actors in the room to try to make them comfortable and relaxed.

ELAM: Although a few will probably be excited and emotional after striking Oscar gold.

Stephanie Elam, CNN, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that is News Stream. I'm Kristie Lu Stout. World Sport with Alex Thomas is next.

END