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Explosion In Baghdad Kills At Least64; Philippines Elects First Ever Transwoman To Congress; London Mayor Responds to Trump; Queen Calls Chinese Delegation Rude On Video. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired May 11, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:16] LYNDA KINKADE, HOST: Hello. I'm Lynda Kinkade at CNN's world headquarters. Welcome to News Stream.

A deadly explosion hits a Baghdad market leaving more than 60 people dead.

Trump cruises to victory in two more primaries, but he still has work to do get many Republican Party leaders on his side.

And surprising comments from the queen. The British monarch is overheard calling Chinese officials rude.

ISIS is claiming responsibility for a powerful bomb blast in Iraq's capital. The explosion tore through a busy market killing at least 64

people. 87 others were wounded. You can see how powerful the blast was. Shops and streets stores

completely destroyed.

CNN's Arwa Damon has spent a lot of time in Iraq is covering the story for us from neighboring Turkey.

Arwa, ISIS claims it was targeting Shia militiamen, but many of the victims were women.

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They were. And this is the problem with ISIS going after these kinds of so-called soft targets is the

victims do oftentimes, if not most of the time, end up being the civilian population.

Sadr City is one of Baghdad's largest sprawling slums. It is home to around 1 million people. And at the time of this explosion, these open air

and other marketplaces would have been fairly crowded with, yes, mostly women. When ISIS says it's going after members of Shia militia, it means

that, yes, you know -- it means areas in these other parts of the country that it has been targeting

fairly regularly.

There are Shia militiamen who do reside and this is a war that has no boundaries, and ISIS has absolutely no moral compass, nor do many of the

other entities that are fighting in Iraq and as a result you have these

devastating attacks on the civilian population.

Bearing in mind, too, Lynda, that this is a population that suffered this kind of violence for well over ten years right now, but it is never

something that one gets accustomed to. And to have it once again tearing through these kinds of

marketplaces, it's truly beyond devastating for the population there.

KINKADE: Absolutely. And Arwa, you're right, this particular area has been repeatedly targeted. There was a bombing there just in February that

left 70 people dead. How would you describe the security situation and also the political situation at present?

DAMON: Look, it's very tenuous. You have the threat that is posed by ISIS, and then you have threats, of course, by various other groups. And

Iraqis are only too aware that politics and violence do tend to go hand in hand when it comes to the Iraqi arena.

When we look at the political situation right now, it, too, is very tenuous. You had these ongoing demonstrations that started off as a call

for a technocratic government, an end to corruption within governance, which at face value is something that is a very valid claim and one that if

eradicated of corruption was to be eradicated from governance, if there was an end to this sectarian system of governance, that could potentially bring

about positive change for Iraq.

But this movement, then, ended up being lead by radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr himself, who is trying to remake his image into one of being the

man of the people as opposed to the leader of the much-feared in the past Mahdi militia thath as been renamed and rebranded.

But at the end of the day, these demonstrations, these demonstrators did end up a short time ago storming through, taking over parliament briefly,

but then they were peacefully disbursed. And this has all really putting a lot of pressure on Iraq's politicians, on the prime minister to try to

bring about the change that the demonstrators are asking for, to try to perhaps bring about a more genuine government that is not going to be rife

with the kind of corruption that has been so detrimental to the population, one that is actually going to be able to govern for the Iraqi people as

opposed to governing for the own various different sects and ethnicities that do exist within the population.

But given how tenuous the political situation is, it does then allow for this security situation to be exploited, and then it does result in these

types of attacks to a certain degree, Lynda.

KINKADE: OK, Arwa Damon, thank you very much for your analysis on that, live

for us from Istanbul, Turkey.

Returning to the U.S. presidential race and Bernie Sanders is celebrating another victory. He beat Hillary Clinton in West Virginia's democratic

primary.

Clinton won the state eight years ago in her last run for president, but she faced an uphill battle after saying her policies on climate change

would put a lot of coal miners and companies out of business.

West Virginia relies heavily on that industry.

Sanders may have scored a decisive win, but it does little to change the shape of the race. The Democrats avoid delegates proportionally, so

Sanders adds to his total, but Clinton also picks up delegates.

The bottom line is still all but impossible for Sanders to win his party's nomination outright.

Well, looking at the Republicans, Donald Trump landed easy wins in both Nebraska and West Virginia, but the bigger issue for the Republican

contender is getting the party on side. On Thursday, he holds a highly anticipated meeting with Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty reports from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[08:06:10] SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Days before their big meeting, Donald Trump softening his tone and sounding more conciliatory

about House Speaker Paul Ryan's role at the Republican National Convention.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is a very good man. He wants what's good for the party. And I think we're going to have positive

results. I would love, frankly, for him to stay and be chairman.

SERFATY: Responding to Ryan's assurance that he would step down as chairman if Trump wanted him to.

REP. PAUL RYAN, (R) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We shouldn't just pretend that our party is unified when we know it is not.

SERFATY: In an interview with the "Wall Street Journal" Ryan said he hopes they can unite the party after a bruising battle.

RYAN: What we want to do is sit down together and talk about how we can unify the Republican Party so that we can be at full strength in the fall.

SERFATY: Trump also in the throes of preparing for the general election, narrowing down his list of potential running mates. One person definitely

not interested in the job, former rival Marco Rubio. In his first national interview since dropping out of the race, the senator telling CNN's Jake

Tapper...

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My differences with Donald, both my reservations about his campaign and me policy differences with him

are well documented and they remain.

SERFATY: Rubio signaling that his support of Trump is a matter of honoring his word.

RUBIO: I signed a pledge that said I would support the Republican nominee, and I intend to continue to do that.

SERFATY: Trump's fiercest former rival, Senator Ted Cruz, returning to Capitol Hill and leaving a window open for possibly jumping back into the

race.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We've suspended the campaign, because I can see no viable path to victory. Of course, if that changed, we

would reconsider things.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: That was senator Ted Cruz who suspended his campaign last week

Donald Trump is now 118 votes short of clinching the bid.

U.S. lawmakers want answers from Facebook after accusations of political bias in its trending topics section. The Republican chair of the senate

commerce committee is calling for a response from chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. The controversy erupted after a former

contractor told the technology site Gizmodo that Facebook had suppressed news on conservative topics.

Joining me now for more on this is , CNN Money's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter. Good to have you with us.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORERSPONDENT: Thank you.

KINKADE: Over one half billion people use Facebook and most probably say what they

see as trending topics is just the most clicked stories.

STELTER: Right.

KINKADE: What does the U.S. senate think is happening?

STELTER: Clearly here this top Republican in the senate wants to investigate how the trending

topics box is really created, who and how it is done. We should keep in mind this is an election season, of course, some of this is politically

motivated. We've heard a top Democrat in the senate say he doesn't care about this. This is no big deal.

But this top Republican, John Thune, has sent a three-page letter to Mark Zuckerberg asking a lot of questions and Facebook says it is looking

forward to answering hisquestions.

Now, we'll see how cooperative Facebook really is, however, I suppose, in the days to come.

What this is really about, is what you just said. People think the trending topics box you see on Facebook and other sites is simply

algorithm. But in fact, Facebook has a team of human editors who oversee that part of the website, who make sure there's not hoaxes or spam content

or scams that are appearing in the trending topics.

Now, that's a good value addition, right? You want editors making sure that lies and misinformation are not posted as trending topics, but the

allegation here that sometimes conservative views were omitted or expunged is very controversial, very disturbing. And now Facebook on the defensive

as a result.

KINKADE: And so when it comes to trending topics, is Facebook being misleading isn't lying to its audience?

STELTER: That's what some conservative commentators are saying that this is misleading, they call it trending topics when in fact, there is some

human involvement.

However, Facebook says this all starts with actual real life algorithmic trends, that the data is what drives the editors to choose certain stories.

They remove, they blacklist items when these are spam stories or when they are hoaxes. And we've all been tricked at one time or another by some fake

news story that looks real. These get shared on Facebook. They start to trend. But they probably shouldn't show up on the home page. So it's good

the editors remove those.

But if editors are sometimes also removing stories because they don't agree with the person's politics, and that is obviously a problem and Facebook

knows it.

They say they have very strict guidelines in place to avoid any sort of suppression of political views. But now those guidelines are getting a new

closer look and we'll see how much Facebook decides to share with the senate about that.

[08:00:41] KINKADE: Right.

Well, I mean, Facebook doesn't purport to be a news agency, although it was interesting to see a Pew Research study found that 63 percent of users

consider it a news service.

STELTER: Exactly. Yeah.

KINKADE: So what, if anything, can the senate do, if they do find that Facebook has manipulated content?

STELTER: Yes. Facebook says it's a platform, a place for people to talk and meet, but it also acts a lot like a news publisher and I think that Pew

study shows it perfectly.

Now, the idea that many people see what's on their news feeds, see what's in the trending topics

box and go ahead and click the links, learn the news from it, is a development in the past few years that has roiled media companies, because

Facebook is gaining more and more and more power.

But the reality is, there's probably little that a congressional sort of a approach would do jhere. There not appetite for regulation to effect

Facebook, for example. What we're going to see, perhaps, from the U.S. Senate is some noise about this, some outrage about this, some inquiries

about this, but really it's going to be incumbent on Facebook and its users to continue to figure out what that relation is.

Users give Facebook time and in exchange Facebook has a responsibility not to be omitting certain stories to be suppressing certain stories and

certainly this spotlight on Facebook is probably a disinfectant, right? Is a version of what we say in the news business,

that sunlight is the best disinfectant. And in this case, whether these allegations were true in the past or not, there's now a lot more sunlight

on how Facebook operates the trending topics.

KINKADE: Yeah, that is true. And we'll be watching that senate committee closely.

Brian Stelter great to have you with us. Thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

KINKADE: Queen Elizabeth has been caught on camera saying Chinese officials were, quote, very rude during their visit to the UK last year.

The rare moment of candor took place during a conversation with a senior metropolitan police officer in charge of security for the visit. Take a

listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I present Commander Lucy D'Orsi, Gold Commander when the Chinese State visit.

QUEEN ELIZABETH: Oh, (inaudible) Lucy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ...who was seriously undermined by the Chinese.

LUCY D'ORSI: I'm not sure whether you knew, quite a testing time for me. I did. It was, I think, at the point that they walked out of Lancaster

House and told that the trip was off.

QUEEN ELIZABETH: They were very rude to the ambassador.

D'ORSI: They were, well, she was -- Barbara, she was with with me. And they walked out on both of us.

QUEEN ELIZABETH; Extraordinary.

D'OSRI: It was very rude and very undiplomatic, I thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, Beijing says it has no knowledge of any threat by China to end the visit. A short time ago, we learned that China blacked out part of

our coverage of the queen's comments. You can see what we're talking about here. CNN goes to black as video of that exchange plays out.

Well, our London correspondent Max Foster is following this story and joins us now. It's pretty rare to hear the queen's opinion, isn't it? And this

probably isn't one she wanted out in the public domain. What is Buckingham Palace saying?

MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are simply saying that the state visit went extremely well. And they never comment on her

private conversations.

A lot of people confused about the setup here. Obviously, there's a camera there. The queen's cameraman, Peter Wilkinson, right next to her. But

he's often next to her. And we often get these scenes, but we don't hear the conversation.

So one royal correspondent, very respected one I'm speaking to today, suggested that she would have known that her conversation would have been

picked up, others suggesting that actually she wouldn't. The cameras normally there to pick up the ambiance of a scene and the sound is on, but

they're not meant to pick up the conversation. So, some confusion about whether or not she wanted this to get out.

Certainly her mission to stay above politics. And that means never expressing opinion in public. She's had a long history of that. So I

don't think she would have wanted these sorts of opinions to come out and they've blown up, of course, and whilst China doesn't seem

too concerned about it on the record, as you have just shown, they're blacking out the coverage. So,

there's something worrying them there.

KINKADE: Yeah, that's right.

Well, what do you think this could mean down the track for diplomatic relations between the two countries?

FOSTER: Well, what was interesting is that this state visit was a huge state visit. And Buckingham Palace and the British government put more

emphasis on it than any state visit I can remember in recent times.

And it was very, very successful both in terms of a British point of view, and also a Chinese point of view. So has that sort of state visit and that

bonus in relations has it been undermined by this?

Both sides saying it hasn't been, actually. And actually this is a tribute to her -- the organization of the event that there are always problems

behind the scene and they didn't come out.

Btu of course they have come out now. We know there are lots of tensions and the queen has a view on it. So, is there some hypocrisy behind the

smiles that we saw during the state visit and really what they thought? Well, that's up for discussion, really.

[08:15:24] KINKADE: And of course this the second time in just as many days that Brits have been called out on camera. Prime Minister David

Cameron also came under fire?

FOSTER: It's extraordinary, really, the cameraman picked up another conversation that the queen was involved with with the prime minister. She

say -- he's organized this corruption summit, which takes place Thursday and two of the key countries coming along, Afghanistan and Nigeria, and he

basically said they were two of the most corrupt countries in the world.

That is seen by the British papers as very embarrassing, because Britain supports and gives aid to those countries, and they were coming over in

good faith to that corruption summit to try to sort the issue out.

David Cameron's office, though, being very clear that they stand by these opinions and actually they're true, if you look at league tables of

corruption, then Afghanistan and Nigeria come very near the bottom, certainly not the most corrupt countries, but they do come near the bottom.

So, they're saying it was true. But, you know, this royal cameraman creating headlines twice in one day is a pretty rare thing. He's been on

the job for years, and it's never happened before.

KINKADE: This royal cameraman, he's having a very busy week. Max Foster, great to you have with us. Thank you.

Well, still to come here on News Stream, Brazilian senators will soon determine whether the nation's president goes to trial. We'll tell what

you Dilma Rousseff is saying ahead of that impreachment vote.

And later in our hour, voters in the Philippines have made history by electing a transgender woman to congress for the first time ever.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:39] KINKADE: Well, in just a matter of hours Brazil's president could find out whether she will face an impeachment trial. The senate is

due to vote on Dilma Rousseff's fate later on Wednesday. The survey published in one Brazilian newspaper suggests that 50 of Brazil's 81

senators will vote in favor of the impeachment proceedings.

But Rousseff remains defiant telling a women's conference on Tuesday she intends to stay in office through her elected term.

Well, if an impeachment trial is approved, Rousseff would face a 180-day suspension. It would be a remarkable fall from grace for Brazil's president

who only a few years ago enjoyed soaring approval rates.

Shasta Darlington looks back at her career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Dilma Rousseff, once a popular Brazilian president, the first female to hold that office,

now facing possible impeachment.

Rousseff grew up in an upper middle class family from southeastern Brazil. Following a

coup in 1964, a teenaged Rousseff joined the resistance movement against the military dictatorship. In 1970, she was arrested by government forces,

jailed and tortured by her captors.

When the charismatic leader of the Workers Party, Luiz Inancio Lula Da Silva was elected in 2003, Rousseff was appointed minister of mines and

energy and was chair of the state-run oil company Petrobras. In his second term, Lula Da Silva groomed her to be his successor.

In 2010, Rousseff won the presidential election with 56 percent of the vote. Her approval rating soared to nearly 80 percent by 2013. But a year

later with the economy tanking and Petrobras in the midst of a giant corruption scandal, she just barely won reelection.

In the meantime, dozens of politicians in her party and coalition were charged for bribes and money laundering amounting to billions of dollars.

Lula da Silva was called in for questioning.

Rousseff wasn't implicated in the probe, but millions have taken to the streets demanding she step down, protesting institutional corruption and

economic woes. Now she's likely to face an impeachment trial for allegedly manipulating the federal budget to hide a shortfall ahead of 2014

elections.

In an exclusive interview, CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked Rousseff if she thinks she'll

survive.

DILMA ROUSSEFF, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (through translator): I wish to tell you one thing, more than just thinking that I will survive, I will fight to

survive not just for my term in office, but I will fight, because what I'm advocating and defending is a democratic

principle that governs political place in Brazil. Who found the impeachment process against me? All of them are being charged for

corruption charges, especially speaker of the house. My life was turned upside-down. They looked everywhere to find something against me, and

there's no corruption charge at all against me.

DARLINGTON: But in the meantime, her vice president, Michel Temer is already waiting in the wings ready to take over as soon as the senate

approves the impeachment motion.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Brasilia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: The new mayor of London says he would love to see the United States elect a female president. Mayor Sadiq Khan also said his politics

are very similar to those of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and he says he hopes presumptive Republican

presidential nominee Donald Trump does not win.

Khan has slammed Trump for his stance on Islam describing it as arrogant. Khan is the first Muslim to serve as London's mayor.

Our Phil Black is following all of this, and joins us now live from London city.

Phil, you've just recently come from a briefing with the new London mayor. What did he say?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's standing by, Lynda, his very strong criticisms of Donald Trump and particularly that

controversial policy mentoring the United States for a period of time at least. Over the last 24 hours or so, he's continued to brand it as

ignorant, dangerously so, surprisingly ignorant he said to me today, for a man who is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party in this U.S.

presidential race.

He says that he is speaking not as a Muslim leader or as a Muslim spokesman, but as the new mayor of London who has learned and showed that

it is possible to be a mainstream Muslim and be part of the liberal western democratic political process, that these two ideas are compatible and he

believes that if he can show that that is a workable model to the United States, then he's pretty happy about that.

Our own Christiane Amanpour spoke to Sadiq Khan a short time ago. And he expanded on these thoughts a little more. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:41] SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: I think, you know, a choice when it comes to elections in November. You've got a choice of hope over fear,

you've got a choice of unity over division, you've got a choice of somebody who is trying to divide not just your communities in America, but divide

America from the rest of the world, and I think that's, you know, not the America that I know and love and, you know, I'll do, of course I'll go to

America because, you know, I love the country.

But also I think, you know, New York and Chicago and Austin, and other parts of America, have a lot to teach this city how to address the climate

change, how do we do integration better, how do we keep our cities safe in policing. So, of course, I'll travel to America.

But I'm hoping that he's not the guy that wins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACK: The person he does want to win, Lynda, is Hillary Clinton. He made it clear that her

politics are pretty close to his own, and he says that as a feminist and as a father of two daughters, he would love for there to be a female president

of the United Stat -- Lynda.

KINKADE: All right. We'll have to wait and see.

Still, many months to go before the election. Phil Black, great to have you with us. Thank you.

And, of course, can see the rest of Christiane's interview with London's new mayor in just a

few hours on Amanpour. that starts at 7:00 p.m. in London, 8:00 p.m. Central European Time right here on CNN.

Coming up, remarkable scenes from inside war-ravaged Syria. Residents in the capital are

getting a rare reprieve from violence. We'll take you there live.

Also, cheers in the Philippines. The LGBT community over the election of this congresswoman. We'll tell you why, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(HEADLINES)

[08:31:17] KINKADE: The U.S. and Russia are working together to bolster a very fragile cease-fire in Syria. Some cities, including parts of

Damascus, are getting a break from the violence.

Our Fred Pleitgen is in the Syrian city of Damascus and joins us now.

You've been to the capital quite a few times, Fred. What's the mood like right now? How do people feel? Do they feel safe?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONENT: Well, they certainly feel a lot safer than in the past couple of years, I would say, Lynda.

We're actually right inside the town close to the famous Umayyad Mosque (ph). And there's more people out than I've seen here on the streets in a

very long time and also a lot more people that are actually bringing their children out as well.

But I also have a gentleman with me who is actually quite a novelty, I would say, here in Syria. By all accounts the last registered American here

in this town.

Of course, the first question is to be, why are you still here? You could just go back to the

U.S.?

THOMAS WEBER, AMERICAN IN DAMASCUS: I could go back to the U.S. and love to go back to the U.S. to visit.

PLEITGEN: Thomas Weber, by the way, is his name.

WEBER: Thank you very much again, Frederick.

And I love this country so much. I fell in love with it 41 years ago, and and I still (inaudible) as I was 41.

PLEITGEN: It must feel unsafe at times. There was some really rough times in this city. There was shelling. Many people died. Also in this

district as well?

WEBER: That's very, very true. We definitely were not hit as hard as parts of Aleppo. So we're very, very lucky there that Damascus was saved

from a lot of the destruction.

There were several cases that I was afraid. I got into the middle of a rocket firing, and -- I was

outside, nothing to hide behind. That was a little fearful. And outside of that, I had a small time of, a small rocket -- mortar shell, excuse me,

hit in front of our house.

But outside of that, I feel extremely safe, especially this part of the old city of Damascus. This is a second home to me, the old city of Damascus.

PLEITGEN: How are the people here in the city coping with it? You see them every day. You deal with them every day. What's it like for people

who have been -- issues that you have after...

WEBER: Very, very true. They had many, many people stayed indoors. We've had, we still have today outages. We have electrical outages twice a day,

not as bad as other cities and not as bad as other parts of Lebanon.

Eight months ago the resistant took over the water. So, there was no water at all. So, we had to get bottled water. you learn how to conserve. So,

we did have our handicaps but it did, I think, a lot of the Syrians now are still saving water, they're flushing the toilet less, using water that's

rain water, et cetera, for the flushing. So in a way it's been an improvement.

I'm sorry, safety wise, since the cease-fire, i feel extremely safe.

PLEITGEN: I was going to ask you about that. Because one of the things that people here must monitor, and you as well, is the progress being made

in places like Vienna, in places like Geneva. Do you have hope that there can be a long-term solution that would

keep this country intact?

WEBER: Every glass is half full, not half empty. I'm the most, most, the strongest -- of -- positive person, feeling positive. That we'll have a

peace, a lasting peace. The Syrians that have migrated outside of the country can come back, help rebuild the entire country. And there's a

million-plus internal immigrants we have displaced immigrants.

We have them at the same time coming back, getting -- rebuilding the homes and rebuilding the family and starting a normal life again. I can't wait.

PLEITGEN: Thomas Weber, thank you very much. And really, for many people, of course, they're hoping that this political process will take root, but

many of them also tell us, Lynda, quite frankly, even if it's only a few days of respite, even if this cease-fire doesn't last, even those few

days are worth a lot to them, Lynda.

[11:35:08] KINKADE: OK. Frederik Pleitgen reporting for us from the streets of Damascus. Thank you very much.

The Philippines election has proven groundbreaking for one of the nation's most marginalized

groups. The new congress will have its first transgender politician. Geraldine Roman trounced her

nearest rival and for supporters her rise to power offers them hope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: In a largely conservative Christian country, the voters have spoken.

Ffor the first time in history, Filipinos have elected their first transgender person to the house of representatives, also known as congress.

Geraldine Roman is 49 years old. After years working as a news editor in Spain, she returned to

the northern province of Bataan to look after her aging parents and to carry on their political legacy.

The newly elected congress woman will take up a seat previously held by her mother.

GERALDINE ROMAN, ELECTED TO PHILIPPINES CONGRESS: At the start my opponents were trying to convert my gender into an issue, but it turns out

that the people don't mind, and people look beyond the gender and they look at what you have to offer, what's in your heart, that is what is most

important thing.

KINKADE: Roman has been living openly as a woman for two decades. She officially changed her name and underwent gender reassignment surgery in

the 1990s long before the Philippines passed a law in 2001 making doing so impossible for transgender people.

There are no openly gay politicians and LGBT people have restricted access to health care

and rights as couples. In a country where 86 percent identify as Catholic, divorce, abortion and same-sex marriage are also banned.

To be elected to congress, in a country where such laws in place is remarkable. Roman plans to support an anti-discrimination bill currently

before parliament and aims to push for equal rights for LGBT people in the workplace, at schools and in hotels.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: And Roman is likely to face hostility in her quest for equality. Filipino boxing legend and politician Manny Pacquiao once sparked outrage

for saying people in same-sex relationships are worse than animals. He later apologized for those statements.

The prime minister of New Zealand has been kicked out of parliament during a debate. John key was defending his claim that certain charities were

being implicated in the release of the Panama Papers. He was told to leave after ignoring the House Speaker's order to stop speaking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAHILL, NEW ZEALAND HOUSE SPEAKER: The prime minister will leave the chamber. When I stand to my feet, it happened yesterday, I gave him fair

warning. When I stand to my feet and call for order, he is to be treated no differently to any other in this house. The prime minister will leave

the chamber.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Greenpeace and Amnesty International have denied any wrongdoing and they have called on Mr. Key to apologize.

Well, still to come, a new product developed by scientists could help you look younger, well, at least temporarily. The second skin that could give

you a second chance at youth. That story, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:08] KINKADE: Welcome back.

Archaeologists have unearthed an incredible piece of history in Australia. Have a look at this, fragments of the worlds's oldest known ax. It dates

back between 46,000 and 49,000 years, about the same time people first set foot on the continent.

Researchers believe it would have been used to help craft spears and chop down trees. They also say it shows early aboriginal technology was far

more advanced than previously thought, especially because these types of axes had handles.

Well, researchers say a new skin product has the potential to revolutionize the war against wrinkles. CNN's Jeanne Moos asks all the important

questions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether it's baking soda -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Smear it on.

MOOS: Or coffee grounds, people will try anything to reduce those bags and wrinkles. So why not a second skin?

DANIEL ANDERSON, PROFESSOR, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: I don't see why you couldn't put it on every morning and wear it like any other

makeup.

MOOS: Even put makeup on it. "An elastic second skin" was the title of the paper published by MIT and Harvard scientists in the journal "Nature

Materials."

PROF. ROBERT LANGER, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY: First you put on this invisible cream on your skin, and then has the polymer in it. And

then in a second step, you put on what we call a catalyst.

MOOS: The two creams produce a bond, an invisible plastic coating that mimics younger skin. Look at the difference in photos accompanying the

article. The coating lasts for at least a day.

(on camera): How does it feel?

ANDERSON: It doesn't feel like you're wearing anything.

MOOS (voice-over): Developed over nine years, tested on over 100 people, the scientists say it could also protect sores and hide skin diseases like

eczema and psoriasis.

(on camera): You really can't tell where the fake skin ends and the new - real skin begins?

ANDERSON: I can't.

MOOS (voice-over): The scientists stand to benefit, even get rich if second skin pans out when it hits the marketplace in a couple of years.

(on camera): Why do they keep pinching that woman's eye bags?

(voice-over): To demonstrate the coating gives elasticity to skin, something we lose when we age. One joker compared it to the "Game of

Thrones" character who morphs from old to young and back.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's kind of the Spanx argument, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You wear it, and then when you take it off, you let it all hang out.

MOOS: No word on pricing, though considering the chemical contents, Professor Anderson doesn't see why it should be super expensive.

(on camera): So how do you get your new, invisible second skin off?

MOOS (voice-over): Pretty much the same way they do in "Mission Impossible." Just hope that if you ever use second skin, you don't get this

reaction when removing it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ahhhh!

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KINKADE: So, that does it for this edition of News Stream. I'm Lynda Kinkade. But don't go anywhere. World Sport with Alex Thomas is up next.

END