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Brazil Wins Second Gold Medal, First in Athletics Since 1984; Yulia Efimova Says Doping Criticism Taking Emotional Toll At Olympic Games; Brunei Looks to Enter Halal Meat Market; Doctors Without Borders Says Hospital Hit in Yemen; Security Challenges in Rio

Aired August 16, 2016 - 08:00:00   ET

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


ANDREW STEVENS, HOST: I'm Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong, and welcome to NEWS STREAM.

Diving for gold on the track: one sprinter's extreme effort to clinch the 400 meter final in

Rio. We're live from the Olympic city with the latest.

Extreme vetting, Donald Trump lays out his plan to tackle radical Islam, but there's another hiccup for the Republican candidate. We'll tell you

what his campaign manager is attracting attention from investigators in Ukraine.

In terms of dramatic moments, day 10 of the Olympic Games could have scored a 10 out

of 10. American gymnast Simone Biles had one slip on the balance beam and that knocked her down to bronze, instead of the gold everyone was

anticipating.

And then there was Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, she literally dove across the finish line to claim gold in the women's 400 meters. The move, though,

was entirely legal although fans are still debating that.

Well, CNN's Amanda Davies is live from Rio and she joins us now with more from on Monday's drama. And indeed, Amanda, it was drama.

But I want to start with something which has finally given the home fans something to smile about. After all the criticism we've had in the lead-up

to the games and the enduring criticism of the games in Rio, finally, we've got a gold in athletics.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes. Thiago Braz da Silva, the 22-year- old from here in Brazil, is a name on everyone's lips this morning, Andrew. It was such a dramatic night at

the Olympic stadium for so many reasons -- the weather played its part, it was seriously wet, windy,

stormy, there were serious delays to this track and field events, that just added to the tension.

And in the end, it was the home fans late, late into the night, a small pocket of them in the

corner of the Olympic stadium cheering on as Braz da Silva upset the odds, and defending gold medalist, the world record holder. Right now, La

Villenie of France, to post a new Olympic best time in the pole vault, 6.03 meters, some 10 centimeters better than he had ever cleared before, to

claim a Brazil's second gold medal of the games, actually Brazil's first medal in athletics since 1984.

And a real, real boost to the home fans, the organizers here, because Brazil finished 22nd in the medal table in London. They invested $245

million in sports over the last few years, and has set a target of Brazil finishing 10th in the medal table. Now, into the final week, that looks

some stretch.

They were 28th in the table in the early evening here last night, Andrew, but that extra gold, their second of the games, moved them up to 16th. And

really the organizer's hoping that that will act as a springboard for the remaining Brazilians competing.

STEVENS: Absolutely. I mean, you want to hope with them, given all the criticism they've

had to endure.

Speaking of controversies, Amanda, that dive, Allyson Felix losing her gold right on the line to a diving from Shaunae Miller. It was legal. But what

was the reaction?

DAVIES: Well, there's still a lot of questions, Andrew. Was it a dive? Was it a trip? Or was it simply sheer Olympic spirit, grit and

determination, being so close to that finish line, having put every single ounce of energy into it. Shaunae Miller here in her first Olympic games

said she actually doesn't remember what happened. She kind of blacked out, stumbled across the line and then the next thing she knows she hears her

mother screaming at her to get up and at that was the point she realized she must have won.

But it was legal. It's all about just getting your torso across the line for victory. She beat Allyson Felix. Allyson Felix of Team USA, of

course, who has now become USA's most decorated track and field female athlete of all time with seven medals over four games. But, it was the

silver medal, not the gold, that she was hoping for.

That is Shaunae Miller celebrating in her first games, and what a games it's been for her. She also had the honor was leading out team Bahamas, as

the flag bearer at the opening ceremony.

STEVENS: All right, Amanda, thanks very much for that. Amanda Davies joining us live from Rio.

Let's check the medals table now and Team USA still keeping its hold on first place followed by

Great Bbritain, China, Russia and Italy.

And as Amanda was saying, Brazil is finally moving up the table to 16th and now has two golds, as we said, after that men's pole vault. Olympic record

there and the first athletic gold for Brazil in more than 30 years.

Now, the Russia whistle-blower Yulia Stepanova says that she fears for her life. On Saturday, the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed that Stepanova's

electronic account had been hacked. She gave a video conference to interview -- or video interview with journalists on Monday warning if

something happens to her, and to her husband, it wouldn't be an accident.

Well the runner helped uncover evidence of Russia's state-sponsored doping program ahead of the Rio 2016 games and was forced to flee to the United

States.

Stepanova is one of many Russian athletes who was banned from the Olympics this year.

Well, the doping scandal led to some fiery exchanges in the pool, too. And the target was

Russia's Yulia Efimova. It was all sparked by Efimova's now infamous finger wag which led her rival American Lilly King to call her a drug

cheat.

Well, Efimova served a doping ban between 2013 and 2015.

Well since that flare-up in the pool, Efimova has spoken exclusively with CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and he joins us from Rio.

It's been a massive controversy. She was quoted in one newspaper, Nick, as saying it's been like a war in Rio for her. How is she bearing up?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, speaking to us, she sort of blamed the media, really, for creating this war between her and

Lilly King. But did accept there's quite a lot of hostility directed towards her. And it has left her absolutely exhausted. She's getting

about three hours of sleep a night for the last three weeks. At times she looked intensely drained. And in fact when we finished speaking on camera,

she did quietly break down here.

That's the emotional side of what she's been through. Yes, she has twice, she says, made mistakes. The first taking a dietary supplement bought at

an American health food store which she inadvertently says contained a steroid, that was her first ban. The

second, Meldonium, a more complicated history of that drug more often taken by Russian athletes, which is still being looked at by doping police to see

exactly how long it stays in the system.

Other athletes say well I've never made two mistakes and I'm still competing in the games.

But this is what she had to say when we spoke to her earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: It's hard for you to believe as a patriot or you don't believe the allegations themselves?

YULIA EFIMOVA, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: I don't want to believe this because I know like Russian athletes, a lot of Russian athletes, it's like more

stupid just Russian like use doping but every other country it's fine.

WALSH: It's political, right?

EFIMOVA: Yes. It's always look smart like political. It's only like Russia, Russia, Russia, like all Russia. Drink vodka, like have beer and bring

doping and that's it, you know.

WALSH: It's a Cold War mentality?

EFIMOVA: Yeah, probably. I think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: That's her responding to whether or not she believes the full extent of the allegations

against her Russian team. I should point out she doesn't live in Russia, she lives in Los Angeles, credits America for changing her, said she loves

the easier life she has there. And, strangely, having become unwillingly the face of Russian doping here, because of that finger

wagging, the exchange with Lilly King, she doesn't always epitomize it, she isn't accused of being part of this broader industrial style system. It is

these two mistakes she faced a ban from and appealed them successfully.

But still at the end of the day, no matter what you think about her alleged doping record or

doping record, still a human face of exhaustion and emotional stress for the past couple of weeks for her here Andrew.

STEVENS: Yeah, and brave step to speak to international television, too, about what she's going through.

Nick, thanks very much for that. Nick Paton Walsh joining us live from Rio.

Now moving away from the games, and Russia has launched airstrikes on Syria, but for the

first time, they're coming from Iran, a sign of greater military cooperation between the two key

allies of Bashar al-Assad.

Moscow says Russian fighter jets and long range bombers took off an airbase in western Iran. Russia says the targets were training camps and weapons

held by ISIS and Jabaat al-Nusra.

Well, in the U.S., the Republican presidential candidate is also taking aim at ISIS. Donald Trump has called for the launch of a fight against radical

Islam. He compared it to the Cold War and says there should be a tougher screening of would-be immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In the Cold War, we had an ideological screening test. The time is overdue to develop a new

screening test.

I call it extreme vetting. I call it extreme, extreme vetting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: Well, let's find out how the reaction is in the Middle East to that plan from Donald Trump.

Ben Wedeman is in Istanbul. Extreme vetting, Ben. We don't have any details on what that would mean but what sort of reaction is it causing

where you are?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Andrew, that's the essential problem: what is extreme vetting? Talk to anybody who's ever

applied for a tourist visa to the United States in this part of the world, and they will tell you the process is already fairly difficult. You have

to show bank statements, prove you're gainfully employed, prove that you're not going over there without the intention of returning -- for businessmen,

for academics, for students who want to go to the United States, they really do have to come up with a lot of paperwork to prove to some fairly

difficult consular officers in this part of the world that they are not going to the United States with evil intentions.

So, when you ask people, well what do you think of this, what is your reaction to this proposal of extreme vetting, they don't know what it

means. And they oftentimes leads to conversations that go into sort of pondering of the absurd. What does it mean? A cavity search? Does it

mean a check of all your social media?

And for instance Mr. Trump is talking about trying to screen for anti- Semitic opinion. Well, many people in this part of the world aren't particularly enamored of Israel. Now will that be interpreted as anti-

Semitic?

So there's more questions than there are answers. And nobody's coming up with those answers - Andrew.

STEVENS: Well, just on a broader note with that, Ben, I mean there's this steady drum beat of

anti-Islamic rhetoric coming from Donald Trump's campaign. How closely is it being followed on the Arab street?

WEDEMAN: Well, you'd be surprised at how closely it was followed initially, because he was, of course, the first U.S. presidential candidate

to really come out with this very harsh line, talking about barring all Muslims from entering the United States.

By now, people have become quite accustomed to the fact that Mr. Trump when it comes to this part of the world, is rather hostile. Nonetheless, there

actually was some positive reaction to the speech. For instance, in Egypt, the Egyptian media reacted very positively, because he spoke highly

of the Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi who he sees as a model for cracking down on Islamic

hard-liners.

Of course, yesterday was the third anniversary of a massacre of members or supporters of the

Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo where as many as 1,000 people were killed. So the question is, people are asking here does that mean he supports that

sort of blood bath of not necessarily members of ISIS or al Qaeda, but people who would like to see Islam as part of the political process?

So, lots of confusion. And Mr. Trump certainly arouses very mixed emotions in this part of the world -- Andrew.

STEVENS: Absolutely. And a lot of the policy he does enunciate remains deliberately

vague perhaps.

Ben, thank you very much for that.

Ben Wedeman joining us live from Istanbul.

Now, we have new details on a corruption probe into Trump's campaign chairman Paul

Manafort. Ukrainian officials claim that his name is in a ledger that sets a detailed payments from

the pro-Russian former president of Ukraine. It involves more than $12 million. But investigators say they have no documents to support the

allegation. They also have no proof that Manafort actually took the money.

Manafort calls it all nonsensical.

Let's dig a little deeper into this. Matthew Chance joins us now from Moscow. Matthew has been following the story. First of all, this

information coming from secret records, what do we know about these records, Matthew?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're a kind of a dossier, a ledger that has surfaced from sort of murky underbelly of

Ukrainian politics over the past couple of months and have been given to the Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities for investigation.

We're looking at something like 800 pages of hand scribbled notes like a ledger, a list of names effectively with sums next to those names, and on

some occasions signatures indicating that those sums have been received.

We're told that Paul Manafort's name is on that ledger a couple of times at least, several times, with payments alleged to have been paid to him

totally $12.7 billion. So we're talking about significant sums here for Paul Manafort, who is of course the chairman of Donald Trump's election

campaign. He was the political consultant in Ukraine for Viktor Yanukovych, the former president of the country.

Yanukovych, of course, was ousted effectively in November 2014 in that popular uprising. He fled to Russia where he still is. He's seen as being

very close, of course, to the Kremlin and the party which he belonged to, the Party pf the Regions is also seen to have been a very pro-Russian

party.

And so all the pointers on that level seem to direct back to Moscow. It certainly doesn't do anything for the reputation or for the image Trump

campaign has gathered over the past couple of months, that it has unduly close relations with the Kremlin and with its supporters.

STEVENS: A couple of things there. Do, you know what actually Manafort did for that

money if indeed he did receive it? And is there any reason why the current Ukraine regime would

want to target the Trump campaign, Donald Trump specifically?

CHANCE: No. First of all on that second point, as we've spoken to the anti-corruption body that is investigating this. And they're saying that

Manafort isn't the focus of their investigation at this stage. What they're investigating is the Party of the Regions, this is

Yanukovych's old party. They're investigating corrupt practices for misuse of funds by that political organization.

Now, Manafort is obviously implicated, because his name is allegedly on this list. But he's not the focus of the investigation. And he's not

being sought, for instance, for questioning at this stage.

Now in terms of what he did for the money, well first of all he denies taking the money, so he denies any such payments were made. But Paul

Manafort's connections with Ukraine are long standing. Since about 2004, he's been engaged, as I say, as a political consultant, specifically

advising Viktor Yanukovych on his political ascent.

He orchestrated essentially the image of Yanukovych back in 2010 when Yanukovych won a general election in Ukraine and became the country's

president.

So, Manafort was instrumental in sort of packaging Viktor Yanukovych. And so in that sense

he was very close to the Ukrainian authorities for several years.

STEVENS: Matthew Chance in Moscow, thank you very much.

Still ahead on the show, international outcry over a deadly airstrike on a hospital in Yemen. More on that. Plus, what's happening on the ground

when we come back.

And a new video pressures Nigeria's government to bring home dozens of girls abducted

from the town of Chibok. We'll hear from one mother who learns her daughter is alive, and pleading to come home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEVENS: That's the view looking across Victoria Harbor to downtown Hong Kong. Welcome back. You're watching NEWS STREAM live from Hong Kong.

Welcome back. You're watching NEWS STREAM live from Hong Kong.

Now, humanitarian groups are reacting with anger after a deadly airstrike on a hospital in northwestern Yemen. Doctors Without Borders say at least

11 people were killed, 19 were wounded.

The group condemns the attack saying the hospital's location was known to everyone involved

in the conflict. Amnesty International says it could amount to a war crime and it wants a thorough and independent investigation.

Sell CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is following this. And she joins us now from we're joined now from Amman in Jordan.

Jomana, first of all, MSF says that this was very clearly sign posted, if you like. Everyone knew that hospital was there. So does this look like a

deliberate attack?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's unclear at this point whether this was a deliberate attack or not, Andrew. But

according to MSF, they say that this airstrike clearly hit this hospital in the northwestern Yemen. And as you mentioned they say that they have

repeatedly shared the location of their various facilities across the country with the different parties that are involved in this conflict and

they say this was the fourth attack on one of their facilities there. And they say that in this attack, specifically as you mentioned, 11 people were

killed, 10 of them were patients, and one of them was an MSF staff member. And they are accusing the Saudi-led coalition of carrying out this

airstrike.

Now, the coalition for its part says it has an investigative committee that looks into incidents like this, and that now it is urgently investigating

this allegation. And once the findings are made they will make them public.

But a lot of concern, Andrew, about the situation on the ground. Over the past couple of weeks, aid organizations and people on the ground say that

the violence has been intensifying since the end of the peace talks that were taking place in Kuwait. And a lot of concern when it comes to the

health sector in the country that is already struggling and is overstretched not just from attacks like this, the direct impact of the

violence, but this grinding war has also had an impact where aid organizations are talking about serious shortages of hospitals.

And one official we spoke to today on the ground is saying that the health sector in the country is on the verge of total collapse. And a lot of

concern for the civilians in that country who are bearing the brunt of this ongoing violence, especially this recent spike we're seeing over the past

couple of weeks.

If you recall, just on Saturday a school in northern Yemen in the Saada Province, was hit and at least ten children, the majority of them according

to UNICEF, between the ages of 8 and 10, were killed in that airstrike.

And UNICEF says that U.S. figures, if you look at them, say that since the beginning of this

conflict in March of last year, about 2,000 children have been killed.

Really grim picture that you get of the situation on the ground when you speak to aid officials, when you speak to people on the ground and they say

that not enough is being done by the international community to try and bring this conflict that many feel has become a forgotten war to an end,

Andrew.

STEVENS: And as you say, four hospitals now hit in the space of twelve months. Jomana, thank you very much for that.

Jomana, Karadsheh, joining us from Amman in Jordan.

A step closer to closing down Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. says 15 prisoners from the controversial detention center in Cuba are being sent to the

United Arab Emirates. It is the largest single transfer of inmates in recent years.

Well, the move brings the population of the facility down to 61 from 242 when Barack Obama became president.

The Nigerian News Agency reports the military says the move to free dozens of girls abducted by Boko Haram will be a political decision. Pressure to

swap prisoners to bring the girls home has grown since a video appeared on Sunday.

CNN's Nima Elbagir spoke to the mother of one girl who was singled out in that video. We do warn you that some of the images in this report are

graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ESTHER YUKUBU, MOTHER OF KIDNAPPED CHIBOK GIRL: It's not easy for a mother but I also give thanks to God Almighty that they say most of the girls are

dead and mine is alive.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Esther Yukubu told CNN that even wearing a head covering, shaky voiced -- she recognized her daughter, Maida, straight

away.

YUKUBU: I give God the glory. But really, I cried.

ELBAGIR: Maida was featured front and center in the latest Boko Haram video release. It is the first time since this picture was taken on the afternoon

of her abduction by the terror group two years ago that Esther had seen her.

In the video a masked militant stands alongside Maida asking her to say her name and the school she was abducted from. "Chibok" she says. Then he asks

that she recount what happened the night the militant claims the Nigerian government airstrikes killed number of Maida's fellow abductees, a task the

government denies.

As Maida's voice cracks some of the girls behind her begin to cover their faces, visibly upset.

This eerie scene gives way to footage of the purported strike, footage too horrifying to show in full as the bodies of young women are turned to face

the camera -- some gruesomely disfigured.

This, the latest sally in Boko Haram's public campaign of pressure against the Nigerian government -- a ransom note. The freeing of jailed Boko Haram

soldiers in exchange for the Chibok girls' freedom. For the girls' families heart break vies with frustration.

YUKUBU: Two years, four months from yesterday, the 14th. Nothing from the IG, nothing from the Nigerian army, nothing from the federal government. If

they are working on this they should have done something by now.

ELBAGIR: As they wait for someone to bring their daughters back home.

Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: We're following reports from Turkey that prosecutors are seeking two life sentences for the man the government blames for last month's

failed coup. The country's state-run news agency says the indictment demands a jail sentence of more than 1,900 years for Fethullah

Gulen who it accuses of founding an armed terror group and financing terror. The elderly Muslim cleric lives in exile in the U.S. and denies

any ties to July's uprising. Turkey is demanding his extradition.

And still ahead on the show, safety takes center stage in Rio as CNN's Shasta Darlington looks

at how Olympic officials are responding to recent crimes against athletes. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

STEVENS: Now in the lead-up to the Olympic Games, Brazil wrapped up its security in Rio, but even an influx of thousands of police and soldiers

hasn't been enough to catch everything. Now Shasta Darlington reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Soldiers and police posted on corners and beaches. At 85,000, the security deployment in Rio

more than doubled for the London Olympics. Crime is down, but not gone.

Ryan Lochte told NBC he and three other U.S. swimmers were pulled over in their taxi by robbers posing as police with badges ordering them to the

ground.

RYAN LOCKTE, U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMER: I refused. I was like, we didn't do anything wrong. So I'm not getting down on the ground. And then the guy

pulled out his gun. He cocked it, put it to my forehead and said, get down. I was like, go down and I put my hands up and I was like, whatever.

DARLINGTON: Police are investigating. And the IOC has called for tighter security around athletes and visitors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DARLINGTON: The crowds here are big and often distracted, making them easy prey, according to security experts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're paying attention to your phone and you're looking down and you have no idea what's going on in your surroundings, you

want to make sure you minimize your phone use to just essential.

DARLINGTON: Some basic advice?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are heading out the door. You don't really want to take anything with you that you're not willing to lose.

DARLINGTON: Both the U.S. consulate and the Australian Olympic Committee have issued security warnings.

Tourists have taking it in stride.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. There's so much military around, it feels

safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're being cautious, but we're trying to have fun, as well, and represent USA well.

DARLINGTON: We asked a taxi driver about the dangers on the road.

(on camera): In Rio, it's common for robbers to make fake roadblocks, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. And that's a problem because you think they are policemen.

DARLINGTON (voice-over): He says visitors to Rio should make sure to use accredited taxis and avoid those late rides.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Rio de Janeiro.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: And as if the lead-up to the Rio Olympics wasn't bad enough, the Paralympic games have a major problem of their own. Only 12 percent of the

2.5 million available tickets have been sold so far. And the opening ceremony is now just three weeks away.

Organizers admit that they thought sales would be better at this point.

Now, forecasters say more rain is on the way for Louisiana after floods washed through the

capital. Heavy rain at the weekend flooded homes, flipped cars and shut down highways in Baton

Rouge. Well, the disaster has killed at least nine people. And the governor says high water is affecting

more than half the state. Thousands of people been moved to higher ground and shelters are now packed.

Our Boris Sanchez is in Baton Rouge and he joins us now.

And I've heard it said, Boris, there have been some sort of similarities, or mentions of

Katrina in what's been happening in Louisiana.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT ; Right. And it's an eerily similar situation to see these neighborhoods in this condition. As a matter of

fact, some people that we've spoken to used to live in New Orleans and moved to this area. This is about an hour northeast of New Orleans and

Baton Rouge, six of the fatalities of the nine fatalities that you mentioned, took place in this area. It got pounded with rain, and then we

saw backwater flooding here.

And you see some of it in this neighborhood around me. This is not necessarily a specific neighborhood that got a lot of rain, but rather

there was a swamp not far, about 100 yards, maybe 50 to 100 yards from these homes and it overflowed into this neighborhood.

There are tens of thousands of people that are displaced. There are still many without power. There's a desperate need for resources, things that

you may not even think about -- baby formula, pet food, horse feed, and a lot of folks are staying in shelters now.

We actually got reports over the weekend of shelters that themselves had become inundated

and people had to flee there.

Despite that, there's a tremendous spirit of generosity. Neighbors helping neighbors. I actually took a tour of this neighborhood yesterday with a

man who lives in the area on a boat and his home was totally submerged. But he was kind enough to go around helping his neighbors get back to their

homes and recover whatever they could, including some pets that needed to get out.

I got a chance to ask him what he was looking to do next. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: You see your home under water what comes next for you?

MARCEL DUPEPE, VICTIM OF BATON ROUGE FLOODING: Fixing it. It's all I can do. Wait for the water to go down and fix it. What else can i do? That's

the plan. Fix it. I ain't got nothing else. So, we'll wait for the water to go down and friends will come home. We'll get her done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And that's really what a lot of people are waiting for, the water to go down. Sadly, in some parts of the state it continues to rise.

Because as the ground became saturated the water had to go somewhere, so in parishes in the southeastern portion of the state they're seeing rivers

cresting and floodwater continuing to move.

Fortunately, at least in this neighborhood and the neighborhood that Marcel lives in, it is starting to slowly go back toward the bayou that it came

from.

STEVENS: All right, Boris thanks very much for that. Boris Sanchez joining us live from Baton Rouge.

Still ahead here on NEWS STREAM, a tiny Asian nation looks to make its mark in a new industry. We'll look at how oil dependent Brunei has declared

itself a major player in the Halal food market.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEVENS: Brunei is trying its hand at becoming a strong player in the Halal food industry. As part of our series Road to ASEAN, Kristie Lu Stout

now looks at the country's shift into that market.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: Brunei's economy is one of the most oil dependent in the world, with fuel accounting for more than 90 percent of the

country's total exports. But with falling global oil prices, and finite natural resources the Bruneian government wants to diversify away from oil

and into sectors like the halal industry, where Ibrahim Badawai (ph), the founder of the Malaysian Halal manufacturing giant Brahims, it's a move

that makes sense.

IBRAHIM BADAWI, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, BRAHIM'S HOLDINGS: Halal discipline means following the religious rights and so on in terms of slaughter of the

meat and so on.

Brunei is -- everybody (inaudible)...

LU STOUT: Brahim's business relationship with Brunei goes back 30 years.

BADAWI: My first customer, the royal Brunei army. So, we started exporting to them. They're buying from us. We are very happy that Brunei

actually accepted our whole entire range of products. They have very high standards for halal and not anybody can get into Brunei.

LU STOUT: When Badawai started Brahim's just outside of Kuala Lumpur in the late 1980s, the focus was primarily on supplying Muslim militaries.

Over the years, that focus shifted to the commercial market, namely airline catering and ready-to-eat meals.

BADAWI: Nobody has seen Bahim chicken pack they can take around last two years and open it and eat.

LU STOUT: Badawi says that although Brunei may struggle in the arena of halal production, after all it's a country of less than half a million, it

is the stringency of Brunei's halal certification that could be leveraged to the country's advantage.

BADAWI: You do not need to have the premises or the place that produce the food in a Muslim

country. Singapore for example, they have plantations all over the place in Vietnam, Burma and so on -- Brunei can have a similar kind of thing.

Certification by Brunei halal it would be something that there would be no question to ask in terms of the genuineness of the product.

LU STOUT: With Muslim majority countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, around 40 percent of the ASEAN population practices Islam. For

Halal companies, like Brahim's, that spells a big business opportunity and it's an opportunity that Brunei is hoping to cash

in on as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The global halal market accounts for about 16 percent of the

total world food market. So that's very huge. The growth is expected to be about 20 percent a year.

LU STOUT: Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STEVENS: And finally, China wants to build an unhackable communications system. And Beijing says it has now taken an important step towards

achieving that goal. State media reports that China has successfully launched the world's first quantum satellite into space.

It blasted off from (inaudible) province in (inaudible) province. But once the satellite is in orbit, it will use quantum technology to transmit

messages from space to earth that China says will be impossible to intercept.

Until they are, of course.

And that is NEWS STREAM. I'm Andrew Stevens. Don't go anywhere, World Sport with Amanda Davies live in Rio is next.

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