Australia Prime Minister Apologizes to Victims and Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse; Taiwan President Visited Train Crash Victims; High Profile Disappearances Raise Concern in China.
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream." Australia's prime minister has apologized to thousands of victims of child sexual abuse. In an emotional speech that was broadcast live, Scott Morrison said the nation has, his words, failed its children. This just comes after a five-year investigation that uncovered thousands of abuse cases over several decades. Will Ripley has more.</s>SCOTT MORRISON, PRIME MINISTER, AUSTRALIA: Not just as a part that is Prime Minister, I am angry too.</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A rare moment of raw emotion in the Australian Parliament for Prime Minister Scott Morrison giving an official apology for the thousands of victims of child sexual abuse.</s>MORRISON: We love you, we hear you and we honor you. And again today, we say sorry.</s>RIPLEY: This long awaited apology comes after a five-year Royal Commission study. The report shocked Australia. A staggering 17,000 survivors came forward, nearly 8,000 of them sharing their stories of abuse, abuse hidden for decades by churches, schools, charities, the very institutions trusted to protect children.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Christians didn't give bleep (ph). They didn't came and I still go. And why these institutions still get money when they have done all the damage to pay for.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll do better to protect all children in Australia from abuse --</s>RIPLEY: Some survivors and their families heckled (ph) the prime minister, angry about the lack of speed and limited scope of assistance. A trusted Catholic priest molested Chrissy Foster's two daughters. One killed herself in an overdose. A drunk-driving crash left the other disabled. Foster says repeated apologies by the Catholic Church are not genuine.</s>CHRISSY FOSTER, MOTHER OF TWO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIMS: Anything they say in a form of apology or things are put in place would have been the closest public outcry impression to do so. It's not something that comes from the heart, which is where it should have come from.</s>RIPLEY: Australia will offer victims counseling and compensation, and if they want, a direct apology from the institutions complicit in their abuse. Groundbreaking steps advocates hope will be a blueprint for other nations.</s>MORRISON: I simply say I believe you. We believe you. Your country believes you.</s>RIPLEY: Words many feel they've been waiting for for far too long. Will Ripley, CNN.</s>LU STOUT: Now, the president of Taiwan visited the site of a deadly rail disaster on Monday. Tsai Ing-wen met with family members of those killed after train carriages flew off the tracks in the northeast part of the island. At least 18 people are dead and nearly 180 are injured. Authorities in Taiwan are investigating what caused the accident. They're looking into the train speed and brakes as possible factors. Human rights advocates say the two recent high profile disappearances in China should be a wake up call about what's going on there. Now, the activist say the message from communist leaders is clear, no one is too big. Anyone could be next. Matt Rivers reports.</s>MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The A-list actress and the Interpol chief, two of China's most famous international citizens, and yet in President Xi Jinping's authoritarian security state, each has proved powerless. Fan Bingbing is one of China's biggest film stars. But in June this year, a former TV anchor accused the actress of not paying proper taxes. And within weeks, she vanished. No one saw her for months. In 2016, Meng Hongwei became the first Chinese head of Interpol. But last month on a visit to China, he disappeared. His wife told CNN his last message to her was a knife emoji.</s>GRACE MENG, WIFE OF MENG HONGWEI (through translator): At the beginning, I could not be certain what happened to him. Then after I received his message, I knew that he was in danger.</s>RIVERS: He has been accused of taking bribes and other crimes but remains missing. Both disappearances are part of Xi Jinping's signature domestic policy, a ruthless anti-corruption drive that's estimated to have netted more than 1 million government officials so far plus big fish in the business world too. It's an easy way, critics say, for Xi to get rid of his enemies and terrorize their families.</s>MENG: I worry about his life. I don't know if he is alive or what happened.</s>RIVERS: It's a feeling Lee Wan Xu (ph) knows well. Her husband, Wang Tsuen Jong (ph), is also in state custody. She hasn't seen or spoken to him in more than three years.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My biggest fear right now is whether or not he'll come out of jail alive.</s>RIVERS: She has protested for his release too, but her husband isn't rich. He is just a middle class human rights lawyer accused of, quote, "subversion of state power," in prison along with hundreds of other such lawyers and activist since 2015. They're often held in so-called black jails, unable to communicate with the outside world. Prisoners we've spoken to alleged tortured, but China denies it. We found one of those jails in 2016. And to be honest, we didn't know what to expect when we were walking up here. But around here, it is relatively quiet. That's an unassuming building, but it does belie what activist say goes on inside. On Wednesday, back in Beijing, we saw Fan Bingbing in public for the first time in four months, leaving the airport. She was accused of tax fraud, fine nearly $130 million. The only way it seems to emerge from the ranks of the disappeared is to grovel at the foot of the state. Without the favorable policies of the communist party and state, there would have been no Fan Bingbing. She wrote on social media her only public statement so far.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): In China, it doesn't matter if you're a huge official or a famous actress. If they can disappear, anyone can. That means anyone can be next.</s>RIVERS: For China's president, Xi Jinping, the country's most powerful leader in decades and the man Donald Trump calls a good friend, there is no celebrity too big or human rights lawyer too small who can't be taken down as a threat. Matt Rivers, CNN, Beijing.</s>LU STOUT: This is "News Stream." And still to come, did a Saudi operative post as journalist, Jamal Khashoggi? Some says the Saudis try to cover up his disappearance by using a body double.