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Trump, Ryan Have Meeting; New Accusations of Russian State-Sponsored Doping During Sochi Olympics; South African Miners Sue Over Health Problems; Apple Invests Big in Chinese Ride Sharing Company; Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer Takes Over As Dilma Rousseff Suspended. Aired 8:00a- 9:00a ET

Aired May 13, 2016 - 08:00:00   ET

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


[08:00:34] MAX FOSTER, HOST: I'm Max Foster in London. Welcome to News Stream.

More scandals over the Olympics. Russia denies claims of a state-run doping program at the Sochi games in 2014.

Apple invests in Chinese ride-sharing app, Didi Chuxing. But why are they pouring $1 billion into Uber's Chinese rival?

And Hong Kong, as you've never seen it before. We're hear from the photographer behind these amazing shots.

We begin with two countries, both wrought by scandals linked to the world's biggest sporting event. An investigation is being launched into

Tokyo's bid for the 2020 Olympics. The focus is on alleged payments totaling $2 million. We'll have more on that in a moment.

In Russia, the sports ministry and a spokesman for President Putin both speaking out against new allegations of a state-run doping program.

The stunning accusations coming from a former director of Russia's own anti-doping lab.

For more, let's take you live to Moscow. Senior international correspondent Matthew Chance joins us from there. What have you managed to

confirm on this one, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there has certainly been a lot of reaction coming from Russian officials as a result

of these latest allegation, which appeared, of course, in the past few days in The New York Times, alleging a wide-scale campaign of doping during the

Sochi 2014 winter Olympics -- of course, Sochi in southern Russia -- involving dozens of Russian athletes and at least 15 medal winners.

And so it's potentially very serious, particularly if the IOC go back and try to retest some

of those athletes to see whether they were drug cheats at the time when they won those medals.

Reaction, as I say, coming from the sports ministry. First of all, the minister saying it's a major shock, but also the minister moving to

discredit the individual who made the allegations. Gregory Rodchenkov, who was the former director of the anti-doping agency in this country. He was

fired effectively after the allegations of doping widespread state sponsored doping first surfaced in this country.

The sports minister here in Russia saying considering that he was fired from his position for manipulating tests, it's very likely that he

had other motives. The Kremlin has has spoken out against the allegations saying they sound -- this is the spokesman for Vladimir Putin -- saying

they sound like absolutely ungrounded statements. They look like slander from a defector. Those are the words of the Kremlin spokesman when it comes to

these latest allegation.

So, the Kremlin sports ministry effectively denying that this took place.

FOSTER: Are they accepting the investigation might be helpful? Will they work with investigations from the outside?

CHANCE: I think they have no choice but to do that. The sports minister has said, look, if there is evidence it should be presented to the

relevant authorities.

Also, the sports minister, trying to, you know, move the conversation on a little bit, saying that, look, you know, we've already tried to prove

as much as we can that Russia is committed to fighting doping. Of course, their athletes banned by the IAAF from taking part in competition. They're

not allowed to go the Olympics in Brazil, in Rio, later on this year yet. There's going to be a meeting next month to decide whether to lift that ban

on Russian athletes. This latest revelation, or series of revolutions isn't going to help their cause.

FOSTER: OK. Matthew, thank you very much indeed for that.

Well, the International Olympic Committee calling for an immediate inquiry into those accusations. We're expecting to hear more on that.

How does the process work here, Alex?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORT: The interesting thing, as Matthew said, while Russian athletes in track and field sports are currently banned from

international competition, they are trying to prove that they are reforming their anti-doping system.

The World Anti-Doping Agency is in charge of testing athletes in all sports across the planet, but they haven't got a big enough budget to do it

on its own so each country has its own national anti-doping agency, which of course, they're supposed to follow WADA rules does lead to some

inconsistencies, depending on how well, how independent that particular country's anti-doping

agency is run. In Russia's case, we found that it was thoroughly corrupt and not doing its job properly.

The head of that is the guy that fled the country after being run and dot not doing its job. The man who fled, fearing for his life, is the one

who's the whistle-blower to the New York Times newspaper.

UK anti-doping agency officers have been going to Russia, have been asked to go to Russia to now see if the testing process is happening

properly. And they are reporting that they are being blocked at any avenue and the number of tests taking place in Russia has dropped dramatically

over the last 12 months.

So Russia has really got its work cut out to prove that it is fit for purpose and that its track and field athletes should go to the Olympics

knowing that they're clean athletes.

FOSTER: But presumably WADA needs to be completely must be completely convinced

that the sport is clean in Russia before it can give the go-ahead. And it doesn't look like they're going to get that in time for the Olympics?

THOMAS: It doesn't look like it. But it would be silly to prejudge any decision next month.

I think there's a real issue there for the head of the IOC, the Olympic organizers, Thomas Bach (ph), the new IOC president, is very close

to the Russian president Vladimir Putin, but Bach (ph) is under huge pressure now with, yes, another revelation that if Russia does get to go to

Rio Olympics many people will be asking why.

FOSTER: And also for the other countries, the other athletes, they want Russia involved, right, particularly in the sports where they are very

strong, It won't feel like a full competition without Russia?

THOMAS: Well, even now sort of 30 years on people look back to the issue we had in 1980, because of a political row, U.S. athletes weren't

there. And four years later, in '84 Russian athletes didn't go to the Los Angeles games. And in both those games, you've kind of got an unofficial

asterisk next to people who won. For example, Alan Wells (ph), the Brit who won the 100 meters in Moscow, people always say, oh yeah, but the

Americans weren't there and they're the best sprinters.

So, you once again want all countries there, the very best athletes are there to provide best competition for the athletes themselves and for

the millions watching across the globe.

FOSTER: So, really waiting for that meeting next month.

Alex, thank you very much indeed.

Now, another country dealing with an Olympic-related scandal is Japan. French prosecutors are looking to payments related to the 2020 Tokyo games.

They say the Japanese bid committee gave $2 million to a Singapore-based economy in 2013. That same year Japan won the right to host the 2020

Summer Olympics.

The bid committee denies any wrongdoing saying money was spent on consultation services. This comes on the heels of a wider probe by French

authorities into alleged corruption in the sports world.

Well, Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff.is condemning what she calls a coup as Vice President Michel Temer takes over power there,

this after senators voted on Thursday to push forward with Ms. Rousseff's impeachment trial.

Thousands have taken to the streets in protest with demonstrators speaking out for and against Ms. Rousseff who is accused of illegally using

money from state banks to cover a government shortage.

We're going to get to Shasta Darlington now. She's in Brasilia for the very latest on this.

Very interesting reaction across the country. But what does it say about the feeling in the nation?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, the nation is very divided. You know, yesterday we saw one president being

suspended, and another person stepping in as vice president, and they both have their supporters.

But the majority of Brazilians wanted change. We're mired in a deep recession. It's the second year of recession. Some calling it a

depression, and there were millions if people are out on the street ahead of the impeachment vote in the senate really calling for the ouster of

Dilma Rousseff.

Since she has been forced to step down for up to six months to defend herself in this impeachment trial, we're also seeing her supporters now out

on the street. They call this an institutional coup d'etat, because basically, she's being accused of meddling with the

accounts, meddling with the budget ahead of re-election to try and make the economy look better. While so many of her accusers in

the congress and in the senate are actually facing far more serious accusations of bribery and of money laundering.

But the fact is, the country is facing so many problems. Brazilians, the more than 60 percent of Brazilians according to polls wanted Dilma

Rousseff out. They also wanted new elections so the incoming interim president Michel Temer faces serious challenges ahead.

He's appointed a whole new economic team, a whole new cabinet. It's headed by a former central -- head of the central bank, Enrique Morales

(ph. And so he has really a short window to prove that he's got the team in place to start making the economic changes

necessary to put the economy back on track.

He's also gotten some flak, because for the first time since 1979, the new cabinet is made up

entirely of men. There isn't a single woman on it. So he's going to face flak on that, and we're going to have the first cabinet meeting today, and

this will be Michel Temer trying to show Brazilians that he can united the underground, that he can get reforms through congress.

Luckily for him, with this vote, this impeachment vote going on, it's showing the country that he does have the backing, the institutional

backing, to at least get the reforms started.

So, everyone will be watching closely for the first steps he takes. And this, again, the next weeks will be crucial, especially because the

whole world will be watching as Brazil gears up for the Oympics in August, Max.

[08:10:39] FOSTER: Can he really bring stability back, though, when this is really just a holding pattern, isn't it, until that trial is over?

He can put in all the policies, but thre will always be that suspicion, that will e unwound if she's found not guilty, for example?

DARLINGTON: Max, there is always that possibility, but when you take a look at the vote to launch the trial, it was 55-22 senators. There's

already a two-thirds majority in the senate that seems favorable to this impeachment process. So the likelihood of Rousseff winning this trial is

pretty low.

There are some factors out there that could affect this. There's the ongoing investigation into

corruption and money laundering at the state-run oil company Petrobras, which has already engulfed so many politicians in both Rousseff's party and

in Michel Temer's party. So, if new revelations were made there that touched either Rousseff or Temer, we could see a change in the balance of

power.

But at this stage, what really needs to happen to get Brazilians on board is an improvement in economy. They were actually more willing to

put up with corruption when they all had jobs, when inflation was low. Now that people are personally feeling the squeeze, it really affects them.

They don't want to see their politicians on the take when they aren't bringing in a paycheck.

So, this is where Temer is going to have to work hard and work fast, if he wants to get Brazilians on board, really conquer hearts and minds, if

you will, Max.

FOSTER: There's a big change here, isn't there? If this is the lasting sort of new leadership in the country, Because it ends, is it 13

years of leftist rule in the country?

DARLINGTON: That's right. The Workers Party really came to power because it was such a deep economically divided country. You had the very

-- millions of very impoverished Brazilians and an elite class in power for so long.

So with the commodity sales booming to China, they used a lot of that money to finance social programs to lift millions of Brazilians out of

poverty. Of course, the problem over the last few years has been that China wasn't buying those commodities, and in a deep recession, Rousseff

was unable to finance a lot of the social programs the way they had in the past, and people were losing those jobs.

So a lot of people who had sort of moved up into the lower middle class couldn't pay their

bills for the TVs they bought, for the cars they bought, or for the education for their children.

Now what one of the first things that Michel Temer said during his press conference yesterday was that he is not going to eliminate those

social programs, that he recognizes when a government has done something good, even if a different government, those programs should be kept in

place.

We'll see if he sticks to his word but that was one of the big fears especially from the lower classes here in Brazil is that he would come into

power and eliminate these very popular social programs, Max.

FOSTER: OK, Shasta, thank you very much, indeed. It's going to be a busy couple of months there, obviously for you.

Now, in the race for the White House, meanwhile, Donald Trump takes on the task of uniting a fractured Republican Party. The apparent

presidential nominee sat down with House Speaker PaRl Ryan, one of the party's top leaders. But as Manu Raju reports, the two men still have

differences to iron out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, 2016 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I thought it was a great meeting. We had a -- we discussed a lot of things.

MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No endorsements but a more united front in the GOP following Thursday's critical meeting between

Republican leaders and their presumptive nominee.

TRUMP: For the most part we agree on a lot of different items, and we're getting there. I don't mind doing through a little bit of a slow

process. It's a very big subject. I mean, we have a lot of things.

RAJU: House Speaker Paul Ryan using the meeting as an opportunity to get better acquainted with Trump before giving his full endorsement.

RYAN: This is a first very encouraging meeting. But again, in 45 minutes, you don't litigate all of the processes and all the issues and the

principles that we -- that we are talking about.

RAJU: RNC Chairman Reince Priebus confident that the party can present a united front come this fall.

REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: Positive first step toward unifying our party. It was a great meeting, and that's the only way it can be described.

I think that it had very good chemistry between the two of them.

RAJU: After the meeting, I asked Trump's former rival, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, about the rest of the party falling in line.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: Parties usually work things out and get to unity. I think we'll get there.

RAJU: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham among Trump's most strident critics, saying this back in December.

[08:15:12] SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to Hell.

RAJU: Changing his tone, Graham said in a statement, "I had a cordial, pleasant phone conversation with Trump. I congratulated him on winning the

Republican nomination for president."

Now all eyes will be on the party's next steps and what endorsements, if any, will follow.

RYAN: From here, we're going to go deeper into the policy areas to see where that common ground is and how we can make sure that we're operating

off the same core principles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, on the Democratic side of the race, Bernie Sanders continues to lag in the delegate count, even after his big win in West

Virginia. Hillary Clinton leading him in pledged delegates by 294. But the Sanders camp says it's still on a roll

and it won't stop until the democratic national convention, which is in July.

Now, don't forget you can head always over to CNN.com/politics. You can read about Trump's women problem, for example, and look back at his

relationship with women and the high-profile clashes that he's had with them over the years.

Now, Apple looks to improve its presence in China by writing some pretty big checks. We've got more on the Chinese ride hailing app that

Apple is investing in.

And inside a major jihadi recruiting camp, CNN confronts a convicted recruiter who is still walking free in Brussels. That exclusive report

coming up for you soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Well, deadly attacks in Iraq again claimed by ISIS. Earlier on Friday, 20 people were killed and 34 wounded in a town of Balad (ph).

In the first attack, three armed men stormed a coffee shop. Later, Iraqi officials say the same men blew themselves up at a security checkpoint.

The escalation of violence is sparking street protests. Hundreds marched in Baghdad on Thursday accusing the government of failing to keep

them safe. The Iraqi capital has suffered a very deadly week.

On Wednesday alone, more than 90 people were killed in three suicide attacks carried out by ISIS.

Now, according to South Africa has given the go-ahead for a landmark class action suit against multiple gold companies. Thousands of miners say

they are decades of work underground is killing them. Here's David McKenzie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Once a gold miner in South Africa, Joseph Mtebede (ph) thrived on physical labor, had big dreams for his future.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When I started to work in the mines, I wanted to just make money and go back to school and study, but

when I started seeing others making money I thought I could save money and start my own business.

MCKENZIE: But for Joseph, the simplest of tasks now a struggle. Decades underground is slowly killing him, he says. A victim of terminal

sillacosis (ph).

[08:20:04] UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator ): Just listen to my voice. I have problems with my lungs. I can't even walk fast or far it is

very hard for me.

MCKENZIE: Many miners when he retire or get sick can only afford to live in shacks like

these. The wealth of South Africa was built on the backs of these men.

Now thousands of miners are suing gold companies as part of a historic class action. During apartheid and more than two decades since, the

alleged companies have been negligent and could have stopped the harm to their workers. They want a massive payout.

Dr. Rhett Khan (ph) has been treating sillacosis (ph) affected miners for decades. It's his life's work.

Miners develop the incurable disease by inhaling silica dust in gold mines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These multiple little white dots is the dust.

MCKENZIE: Over the years the fine dust gets logged in their lungs. It can cause reduced lung function, weight loss and severe weakness.

UNIDENITIFED MALE: This degree of dust will affect his life expectancy.

MCKENZIE: This could kill someone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This can kill somebody.

MCKENZIE: The scale of the problem is staggering. Scientific studies estimate that at least 200,000 miners could be suffering from the disease

here. Researchers call it a pandemic.

Is it still as bad as it was?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's as bad as it was under reported. The silica dust disease problem

has not got better.

MCKENZIE: The chamber of minds admits that sillacosis is a significant legacy issue, but they say companies have been working to

eliminate the risks and are offering to set up a medical fund.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel helpless. This sickness has destroyed everything in my life.

MCKENZIE: Money won't bring Joseph's health back, but he says someone has to pay.

David McKenzie, CNN, South Africa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: OK, we're going to just return to our top story just for a moment. The former head of Russia's drug testing laboratory told The New

York Times he was involved in a cover-up and the disposal of dozens of drug test results during the 2014 winter Olympic Games.

Now, the host Russia won 13 gold medals, more than any other nation. The International Olympic Committee is calling for an investigation after

that. And right now three Russian athletes along with the Russian deputy sports minister are responding to those allegations.

The minister moments ago categorically denyied that there was any sort of state-wide doping program.

We'll have more on what they have to say coming up in World Sport with Christina Macfarlane.

Now, Apple has just pumped $1 billion into one of China's biggest ride hailing services. The endorsement from Apple is a big victory for Didi

Chuxing in its war against Uber in China.

Didi is reportedly valued at $20 billion. According to the company's president John Liu (ph), the deal happened at lightning speed as well after

the two sides met in California last month.

Our Matt Rivers looks at who exactly is this major player in China's ride hailing market?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a deal that came together extremely quickly. Reporters were told earlier today by the president of

Didi Chuxing that the two CEOs involved here, that would be Tim Cook for Apple and Chung Wei for Didi Chuxing, they only met for the first time a

month ago and yet here we are a month later talking about an investment deal worth $1 billion U.S. dollars. It really is quite remarkable.

And when it comes to these two companies you're probably quite familiar with Apple. It is the richest company in the world, after all,

but when it comes to Didi, as it's shortened to here in China, you may not be as familiar with it. It might not be that famous throughout the rest of

the world, but here in China, it is absolutely huge.

Walk you through some of the numbers. According to the company, 11 million rides per day are taken through the app, some 300 million users are

a part of this service, and 400 different Chinese cities. Most analysts will tell you that in terms of market share, Didi holds somewhere between

70 to 90 percent of the ride-hailing service here in China. So it's very, very

big here, very popular. But it is not without its competition.

Uber has done its best to try and gain some sort of foothold here in China, it's investing in very

low-cost rides, it's providing a lot of subsidies for drivers here. But Uber has certainly run into problems going up against Didi. In fact, it

was earlier this year that the Uber CEO admitted that his company was losing about $1 billion a year. And so while it is an uphill

battle against Didi, you can expect Uber to continue to try and break into this market that is something that Didi is extremely well aware of. And so

you can expect that company to perhaps use this $1 billion investment from Apple to

continue to fend off Uber and to, perhaps, even increase its market share more here in China, one of most lucrative markets in the world.

Matt Rivers, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:25:16] FOSTER: Well, Apple saw slowing sales numbers earlier this year, especially in China, and this investment could help its flagging

fortunes there.

Observers think this is also a way for Apple to test new products in China. There are rumors of a car-related project in the works for the U.S.

company. The partnership could also benefit Apple in other ways as well by helping through this relationship, for example, with the Chinese

government.

Mark Zuckerberg says there's no evidence that Facebook is biased against conservative news. Meanwhile, a report from Gizmodo claimed that

Facebook is intentionally suppressing stories from conservative websites on its trending topic.

Zuckerberg said he will invite leading conservatives to Facebook to discuss their concerns.

Facebook also released a series of documents showing how it edits the trending topics list

on Facebook. A special algorithm generates a list of stories doing well amongst users. Editors at Facebook are then allowed to make minor changes

to that list.

Some of the changes allowed include removing duplicates or editing names to make it easier to understand and the guidelines stress that no

suppression of political ideologies is allowed.

Now coming up, as world leaders prepare for more Syria peace talks in Vienna, Syria tells CNN there's one thing it will not negotiate. We're

live from Damascus, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:30:01] FOSTER: Leaders are going to resume peace talks in Vienna next week to revive the so-called cessation of hostilities agreement in

Syria. A 48-hour extension of the ceasefire in Aleppo cease-fire has expired.

The opposition is still calling for President Bashar al-Assad to step down, but the Syrian information minister tell CNN that option is

completely off the table.

For more on the debate ahead of the Syria peace talks, we are joined by our senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. He joins us

now live from the Syrian capital Damascus.

It's all about Aleppo, isn't it, or at least that's the starting point for these talks.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's the starting point and it is also probably the most difficult point in these talks as

well, because one of the things that all sides have said is that they say that if there is going to be a political process moving forward, if there's

going to be a new constitution in Syria, if these talks are going to be fruitful, there has to be a cessation of hostility in place for the entire

country, for all of Syria, and the biggest problem right now is getting that to happen in Aleppo, Max.

Over the past couple of days there has been a cessation of hostility in place. However, that was not renewed. About 24 hours ago what we've

heard is that there is violence going on there. There's been shelling of residential areas by opposition groups apparently also some airstrikes

there by the Syrian military as well.

And so Aleppo really is the biggest problem at this point in time and probably also the biggest stumbling blocks. But, by far not the only ones.

One of the things that you've just mentioned is that the Syrian opposition continues to say that they at the end of a transitional process

want Bashar al Assad to step down. The information minister telling me that is not even up for negotiation.

Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMRAN AHED AL-ZOUBI, SYRIAN INFORMATION MINISTER (through translator): We totally reject this. The political transition just means a change from

one type of government to another. And this will require a constitutional process. There will be a new constitution for an expanded national unity

government that everyone can participate in. Any other interpretation is something we reject.

PLEITGEN: How much leeway is there for the terms that the opposition would like?

AL-ZOUBI: We have an idea of an expanded government that includes the opposition. Any compromise should come as part of a dialog between

Syrians. But the problems with the Saudi-backed delegation, some of them are terrorists, some belongs to Islamic Jaish al Islam (ph), Arar al Sham

(ph) and Jabhat al-Nusra (ph).

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: Now, of course, the opposition will take issue with some of the things that the Syrian information minister said. They of course blame

the government for what they say was an offensive that the government launched on Aleppo as the cessation of hostility was supposed to take

place. But any way that you look at it, it certainly is a big stumbling block for these talks moving forward if the cessation of hostility doesn't

remain in place. And you've seen over the past couple weeks the U.S. and Russia and sort of teaming up bilaterally to try to get local ceasefires

going on.

Here, for instance, in the Damascus area where it has actually been holding, and people here have had some respite from the fighting. But at

the same time, a lot of people are also complaining to us, saying, look, we need a political process to move forward. These cessations of hostilities

are great, but as long as they're not permanent they don't feel that there's enough momentum at this point in time to try and sort this crisis

out for good, Max.

FOSTER: It's interesting that one of the main pressures, really, on the talks, according to John Kerry, at least, in the U.S., is that you've

got this U.S. elections coming up in November. He suggested that that would put a pressure on these talks and maybe speed things up.

What's the feeling there on that, though?

PLEITGEN: Well, it certainly is a very good question, and something that we've been asking people as well. And they really aren't sure at

this point in time whether or not U.S. foreign policy is something that would also change that quickly, whether it would put pressure on any of the

sides or whether or not at this point in time the entire momentum of this conflict that's been going on for such a

long period of time is already in motion to an extent that even if there was a change of government, or even when there is a change of government,

in the United States, that that would essentially change things here on the ground.

Nevertheless, all sides who are participating in all of this -- the Iranians, the Russians, the U.S., the Turks and the Saudis have said there

can only be a political process moving forward.

It seems as though at this point in time that all of them, or at least the main one ones fighting on the ground want to improve their positions on

the battlefield before they would go into any sort of real negotiations that could actually move forward.

So, at that point in time as long as these sides are still, or still appear to be bent on continuing

to fight this war, it doesn't seem as though the prospect for talks is one that's very good. That doesn't mean that the international community isn't

trying. Certainly, they are coming together. They are trying to move things forward, but it's just proving very, very, very difficult at this

point in time, Max.

FOSTER: Fred, in Damascus, thank you very much indeed.

Now, many of the radical militants now thriving in Syria are recruited from Europe. In this exclusive report, CNN's Erin McLaughlin talks to the

mother of one young recruit in Belgium and tracks down his recruiter convicted now walking free.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:35:15] ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Photos from Sabri Rella's 18th birthday, a family trip to celebrate, one of his

mother's happiest memories before he went to Syria.

SALIHA BON ALI, MOTHER OF SABRI RELLA: We don't know what's happened in Syria but we are sure what's happened with us when he was here.

MCLAUGHLIN: Eight months after that trip, she says her son became radicalized. He sent her a Facebook message to let her know he was in

Syria. Then came a chilling phone call.

BON ALI (through translator): The Syrian guy said, "Congratulations, your son just died as a martyr." Then he hung himself.

She said her son was the happiest of her children. She didn't know the most dangerous jihadist recruitment network in Belgium had approached her

son.

The network is made up of veteran jihadis and recruiters.

(SHOUTING)

MCLAUGHLIN: Some would go on to carry out the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. Authorities have prosecuted more than 60 recruiters and

foreign fighters, but one of them was Rufla. Because there's no proof of death, Rufla was still convicted. His recruiters were also declared guilty.

As you see here, the judge allowed them to walk free pending their appeal.

CNN tracked down one of the recruiters to his home address.

(on camera): This is the neighborhood of one of the recruiters convicted alongside Rufla. Rufla's mother says her son called him from

Syria pleading. Rufla wanted to come home. The recruiter said no. We're here to ask him why.

(voice-over): We ring the doorbell. His mother answers. She screams at us to leave her alone.

As we walk away, the recruiter appears and confronts us. His words are not welcoming. He refuses to talk to us on camera.

Belgian authorities tell CNN they have not notified residents that a convicted jihadist recruiter is living in their midst.

We saw a teenaged boy entering the same apartment building. The president of Brussels tribunal says in Belgium it's not unusual for a

criminal to go free while they're waiting for appeal if they're not considered a flight risk.

(on camera): How is it a convicted member of a terrorist organization sentenced to seven years in prison is allowed to walk free after his

trial?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): The judge has said this man's behavior was good throughout the trial and this decision of the judge needs

to be respected.

MCLAUGHLIN (voice-over): For Rufla's mother, the fact that her son's recruiters are free while he's dead too is much. She says it's as if he's

died twice.

UNIDENTIFIED MOTHER (through translation): I don't really believe in human justice. But in God justice. And he will pay. Not here. But by God.

And I just want to tell him that my son didn't have a second chance, like him.

MCLAUGHLIN: Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK

[08:40:10] FOSTER: Hong Kong is one of the most densely packed cities on Earth. It's also one of the most breathtaking with a mix of skyscrapers

and mountains. Photographer Andy Young takes us on a unique journey of his hometown using drones to show us Hong Kong from a very different angle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDY YOUNG, PHOTOGRAPHER (through translator): I came up with an idea to take a picture at night to show the feeling of the building lights being

reflected on the fog and the sea of clouds, but it is difficult to capture this atmosphere. It took me two weeks with no guarantee that this will

come and I use add drone to capture this cloudy scene.

Many people know that Hong Kong is very crowded. When I was flying the drone, I could see how packed it was. This moment is the best to tell

how colorful the buildings are and the feel of saturation as well as how serious hong Kong's housing problem is.

I think a different thing about taking pictures in Shanghai and Hong Kong is local people. When i was taking pictures of the observation deck,

I already set up a tripod, but there was still a lot of Chinese tourists pushing around. I think that was a very special photography experience.

This is one of my favorite photographs, because it shows just how crowded it is to be living in Hong Kong, and it's also a classical type of

building here called the tenement house. This location was also used by the hollywood film Transformers as a filming location and I think it tells

the renounced characteristics of Hong Kong, so it's become one of my favorites.

I would suggest flying a drone from a high ground, like the peak, so you can try to avoid

signal interference at a higher level. The best time to take a picture like this, I think it's at night when the lights are switching on and the

lights of the buildings are reflecting on the cloud and fog showing their colors.

That's the best moment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Andy Young there with those dizzying images.

That is News Stream. I'm Max Foster.

END