Queen Elizabeth Delivers Speech to Open Parliament; Anger at London Tower Fire Still White Hot.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.</s>CYRIL VANIER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's a pleasure to be with you. I'm Cyril Vanier outside the houses of parliament in London. You're watching News Stream. Now, it was a low key ceremony about some very high stakes, both for Britain and for Europe. Queen Elizabeth II has given her speech to mark the formal opening of the UK parliament. It was expected to be Brexit heavy, and that's exactly where she began. Take a listen.</s>QUEEN ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: My ministers are committed to working with parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus on the country's future outside the European Union. A bell will be introduced to repeal the European community's act and provide certainty for individuals and businesses.</s>VANIER: The British monarch also addressed the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire, announcing special support for disaster victims. As the queen spoke, her husband, Prince Philip, was in a London hospital being treated for an infection. Buckingham Palace says he was admitted as a precautionary measure. And the anger around last week's deadly London fire is still white hot. At this hour, protesters in a so-called day of range demonstration, are said to begin their march to Downing Street. It comes in response to the government's handling of the Grenfell disaster, at least 79 people are dead. Many people have been asking why the building had no safety sprinklers. A demonstration is also expected today in parliament square will be all across (inaudible) throughout the afternoon. Queen Elizabeth II focused on Brexit and terrorism as she laid out the priorities of British prime minister Theresa May's government. We're joined by international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. He's at 10 Downing Street. Nic, several things I want to know from you, but first of all, the content of this speech is it - when you listen to it, is this the speech, and let's remind our viewers that it's delivered by the queen, but actually written by the prime minister herself, Theresa May. When you listen to that speech, is that the speech of a confident leader or is that the speech of an embattled leader?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: An embattled leader, quite simply. I mean, there was a lot more that one would have expected to be in that speech that was in the party manifesto, and of course they did so badly in the election on that manifesto, things that have talked about cutting free school lunches for under 11-year-olds, things such as what became known as the sort of triple lock, if you will, that was on pensions, to protect pension. Issues such as what became known as dementia tax, a taxation essentially on elderly people if they have a certain income or a certain amount of assets that that could be tapped into to pay for their health care when they get old. All of those things didn't play well. And of course they weren't in that speech. What we did hear was talk about equality. We'll talk about wage - protecting wages for, you know, keeping a sort of a better parallel between the lower paid and the more highly paid. There were talks there about mental health care, that' saccainst something that many people in this country have felt that the austerity measures and budgets of the conservative party have, you know, put strains on mental health care in this country so that what - there were issues there that were really sort of tapping in to some of the social issues on which the conservative party and the prime minister have been criticized. So, confidence, no. Put in a confident tone. On Brexit, the language that we have come to expect from this government on Brexit, the immigration bill, the fisheries bill, the agriculture bill, the look towards the future as well - satellite technology, electric cars, these sort of innovative technologies - the high speed rail network in Britain, those were there, the sort of more aspirational for where the country is going in the future. That's language we've heard before. But, yes, absolutely, gone was some of the things that perhaps critics would say that cost Theresa May some of the MPs that she doesn't have to form a majority government.</s>VANIER: Walk us through what's going to happen now, Nic? Because in a matter of hours, less than that, shortly, the (inaudible) we're going to be debating the queen's speech. And next week they're going to vote on it. This, of course, is going to be a key vote for Theresa May.</s>ROBERTSON: Sure. By this time next week, or Thursday next week, we can expect a vote on the queen's speech. Normally, the prime minister would go into, you know, would go into the queen's speech knowing that she could count on that speech as it was laid out there getting strong support. At the moment, she lacks that majority, 317 conservative MPs. She still trying to strike a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland. They elected - or the population of Northern Ireland - elected 10 DUP MPs to parliament. Theresa May is still working out a deal there. And that's gone public, and it seems to be blowing up in both sides faces at the moment, or at least they've taken their cases public, if you will. Damian Green, the prime minister's first minister, this morning saying that perhaps they won't get a deal with the DUP. The DUP saying yesterday they wouldn't get one before Thursday. So, both sides seem to be going public playing each other off in a way that they weren't. So, you know, on that account Theresa May will be looking to get that support nailed, assured, so that when the vote comes later next week, on the queen's speech, hugely important, that is passes. Because if it doesn't, if it failed to, then you'd be looking at a situation where there's no confidence in this government and therefore you could potentially have elections and potentially the Labour Party could come out those next elections doing better even than this time.</s>VANIER: All right, Nic. Nic Robertson outside 10 Downing Street. Thank you very much. We'll come back to you throughout the afternoon. Now, this new government is going to have to answer to the public on what caused the Grenfell Tower fire that killed at least 79 people. Protesters are set to march the parliament today to voice their anger. Let's bring in Phil Black. Phil, the purported aim of the protest is actually to bring down the government. That's what they say they want to achieve today.</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the word, Cyril, that so far there hasn't been any sign of a single protest. We're here at parliament square just a short distance up the road from where you're standing - well, you can see, the square is still pretty empty. We've got lots of tourists around here today, enjoying this very hot sunny London day. The've got to see the queen drive past at close quarters before, which was pretty thrilling. In addition to that, lots of police, crowd control barriers, some journalists, but that's all the sort of stuff that you would expect to see every year at the opening of state parliament. As you say, there is talk of protesters joining this party over the course of the day. Some activists online are trying to whip up what they call a day of rage against the government, because some of them they say they blame the government and its policies for the Grenfell fire disaster. Others are just simply angry with the government and its policies full stop. In addition to that, no doubt, some of them sense that it is weak and vulnerable because it no longer has a majority in parliament having taken, a bit of a slap across the face from the electorate during that recent election. But as I say, so far here today pretty quiet. We'll keep an eye on things and let you know as they change over the course of the day.</s>VANIER: And Phil, I think it's important to point out that there were voices that we heard yesterday coming into this morning, calling on protests to be peaceful, both in the interests, actually, of the Grenfell Tower residents and the victims, but also more generally for the public debate in this country.</s>BLACK: Indeed, there have been those calls to keep these protests peaceful. Having said that, there hasn't been any serious suggestion that they wouldn't be peaceful. There's been some emotive language used in describing what people have been trying to organize here today, like a day of rage and shutting down London and so forth, but I don't think we should brand these things as violent before it actually turns that way despite that, the opposition Labour Party, members of that party, have advised people to keep things peaceful. We've heard the same from people closely associated with Grenfell. But let's see how things pan out as the day progresses from here. So far, the opening of parliament has taken place, the queen has come and gone. We yet to see a single protester here. It is likely that some numbers will come over the course of the day, but just based by what we've seen in terms of the response online, people declaring their intention to go, I don't think we'll be talking huge numbers as the afternoon progresses. Cyril, back to you.</s>VANIER: Phil Black in central London. Thank you very much. And also I want to bring you up to speed on this story that broke last night, so that would be Tuesday night in Europe, in Belgium. Belgian authorities say that the man behind a failed terror attack in Brussels was an ISIS sympathizer. Officials declined to name the attacker who was shot dead as he rushed toward offices of Brussels central station on Tuesday. Investigators say that he left a suitcase containing explosives, gas canisters and nails at the ticket hall. It's believed that the device did not explode as planned, instead burning in a fireball. No civilians were hurt, but the incidents did cause panic and sent people running for cover - Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Now, still to come right here on News Stream. The death of American Otto Warmbier has raised many questions. And now a fellow American detained and released from North Korea speaks out on what may have happened to Warmbier in Jail. Also ahead, a growing humanitarian crisis in the Philippines, thousands of families are wondering when they can go home as the battle against ISIS rages on in their once populated city.