Thailand's King Passes Away; Boko Haram Releases 21 Chibok Girls
KRISTIE LU STOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream. Now, after two long years, Nigeria says Boko Haram has released more of the missing Chibok schoolgirls. And the Trump campaign is fighting back after reports raised accusations that Donald Trump inappropriately touched three different women. Breaking news for you here at CNN. We have learned that the king of Thailand has died. King Bhumibol Adulyadej had been Thailand's monarch since 1946. He was revered in Thailand to the point of being worshiped as a living god. And for more on the loss of this much beloved king of Thailand, let's go straight to Will Ripley in Bangkok. And Will, a deeply tragic moment for the people of Thailand, they have lost their king.</s>WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have. And they call their King Bhumibol, Kristie, the soul of this nation. And so not only have they lost their king, but many people, as the new starts to spread here, will feel as if they have lost a piece of their nations soul as well. 70 years King Bhumibol has served. He rose to power at age 18. And you can see his influence in the eyes and faces of people here who are looking at the national television broadcast, many of them on their phones, the news from the royal agency was just posted on their official Facebook page a short time ago that the king died this afternoon at 3:52 p.m. local time. So, just over three hours ago at Siriraj Hospital where we are standing right now. He had actually been in hospital since October of 2014, Kristie, and there have been a number of health scares over the years. But the Thai people knew that this one was different when the crown prince cut his trip short from Germany to come here. All three of the princesses also joined the crown prince and they met yesterday with their father. The prime minister came back early from a trip in eastern Thailand. And he came here, we believe, to have some sort of an audience with the Crown Prince, who is the designated heir. But really, this is something that this nation hasn't gone through in 70 years. This king is the only king that the majority of the 65 million people here in Thailand have known in their lifetime. They don't know what a succession process is going to look like and what's going to happen. And so in the coming hours, we expect to get more information released from the government about exactly how this is going to work. There are obviously questions and concerns here about stability, political stability. Thailand is a deeply divided country, as you know, Kristie. And the king over the years has many times been the glue that has held the two opposing sides together. So his loss is a huge loss not only for the hearts of the people here in Thailand but also for the stability of this country as they move forward.</s>LU STOUT: Will, in the last few days, there has been this outpouring of just emotion and affection and concern about the ailing king. And we have learned that the king of Thailand has passed away. The crowds behind you have been swelling in the last few hours. Thousands of people around you. Could you describe the scenes leading up to this moment and perhaps the reaction right now in Bangkok.</s>RIPLEY: And I have to say, we've moved around 500 yards from the area where we were earlier, Kristie, because the crowds became so large that the cell phone signal that we used to bring you a live picture went down. We were unable to even get a phone call, barely, out of there. But you can see around the hospital perimeter here, people are standing, they are awaiting word from the police officers that are standing here. They're looking at their phones. This is somebody who made the monarchy in Thailand accessible to ordinary people. It used to be that commoners weren't even allowed to gaze on their king. But this king would go out into the countryside. King Bhumibol would always be seen carrying his camera, because he loved photography. He would take pictures of the landscape and his people. He cared about things like soil preservation. He turned the palace -- the swimming pool and different parts of the palace grounds into agricultural experiments to try to figure out how to produce more food for people. He created educational opportunities. He was the first to broadcast distance learning over radio stations that people outside of Bangkok here in the rural areas could learn trades, could learn useful skills, and families could become food self- sufficient. So this is a man who's earned the nation's respect over 70 years of being a leader, yes, but a leader who very much had the common touch. And that is what people are mourning just as much as anything, because he is the one figure in this divided country who no matter what the political situation, and there have been more than a dozen military coups in the king's lifetime, he's the one people would listen to. He was the one able to often smooth over conflicts to keep order, to keep things moving forward. And so now in many ways -- and you can understand why the people of this country may feel at a sense that this is a bit of a rudderless ship, even though he has been in hospital for the last two years, actually living in hospital, and has made fewer and fewer public appearances and statements over the years has his health has declined.</s>LU STOUT: Yeah, the king of Thailand, as you describe him, he was respected for making the monarchy accessible in his country. And he was also revered to the point of being a living god, like a deity. Could you please describe and explain that to us.</s>RIPLEY: Well, King Bhumibol, people thought, for example, that he was going to live to be at least 120, that's what one woman told us here earlier today. So, even though the official palace statement puts his age at death at 89 years old, they thought he might live longer. They thought he might rule for another 30 years. And so the prayer we kept hearing was a prayer for the king to recover. They were chanting "long live the king." They were singing the king's song. And even now you see people in the crowds here, they're gathering together. They're wearing -- some of these people are wearing yellow. That's the king's color, because he was born on Monday. A lot of people inside near the hospital wearing pink shirts. Pink is considered a color that helps to boost recovery. And so this obviously -- the monarch of Thailand, this is a Buddhist country. He has no actual political power, but he is the king and he reigns using Buddhist ideals. And so a lot of those traditions we've seen out here on the streets of Bangkok today, and we'll certainly see more of them in the coming days as this country, as they learn the news and they start to mourn this loss. Also, of course, we will hear more from the crown prince, who is back here. He's 64 years old. The crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, he is a fighter pilot. He's the father of seven himself. At some point, he has been named as the heir to the king. But how that process is going to work, when that will happen, what kind of a king will he be like, these are all questions that the Thai people have right now, and they don't have answers. And they can't really speculate too openly about it because of the very strict enforcement of this country's (inaudible) laws which prevent any speculation about the royal family or any public discussion, social media posts that, sort of thing. So, people are basically waiting for official information and trying to sort through their feelings of grief at the loss of their king.</s>LU STOUT: Now, this is a national tragedy for the people of Thailand. How do the people of Thailand consider this moment and their future, a nation after King Bhumibol?</s>RIPLEY: Well, it's telling, Kristie, that ever since news over the last few days has broken that King Bhumibol's health was -- his health was declining, we've seen the stock market here go down every day. It dropped by 3 percent yesterday. I haven't seen the latest updated numbers today, but it was on a downward trend at last check. So obviously this has the business community worried because there are questions about the stability of Thailand moving forward without this unifying force, without this king who really did have a power to speak and people would listen. There are few figures in the world -- in fact, no monarch in the world really with this kind of relationship with his people. It is unparalleled in modern society to have a monarch as well respected as the Thai king. And so that is going to have an effect, at least in the short-term, on investor confidence. It's going to have an effect certainly on the mood of this nation as they deal with the sadness of this loss. It really feels -- it's a huge void that will have to be filled. And so as we learn -- we know from the previous royal funerals, the most recent was back in 2012, I believe, you know, usually the way it works is that the body is brought back to the palace and will lie in state, sometimes for a year or longer, because the goal is to give as many people, and ideally everybody in the country, the opportunity to come and pay their respects. With 65 million citizens, we don't know if that's going to be possible, but you can bet there will be many people, millions of people, who are going to want to do this, are going to want to be close to the king to thank him one last time, to pay their respects. And it goes back to what you were saying, Kristie, about this king really being almost worshiped as a living god, now a god who has left this world, but again under the Buddhist religion, which this country adheres to. They believe he will be reincarnated to something even greater for all of the good work that he has done over the last 70 years as king of Thailand.</s>LU STOUT: And now this is a nation in mourning, a nation that must say good-bye to a much loved king. Will Ripley reporting live for us from the Thai capital. Thank you, Will. Now, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, again, has passed away. Here's a look back at the life of one of the world's longest reigning monarchs.</s>LU STOUT: King Bhumibol Adulyadej reigned over Thailand for 70 years. As a constitutional monarch, he acted as head of state and head of the armed forces, at least largely symbolic roles hold little direct power, which instead rests with parliament, but the monarch still retains the power to approve or delay legislation. And the king's popularity also gave him considerable political influence. He stepped in to defuse tensions during troubled times. He also pioneered thousands of development projects to help improve health, education and prosperity for the Thai people, especially the rural poor. Now, we will have more on the death of Thailand's king later this hour right here on News Stream. Now, elsewhere, it is a day of renewed hope for some families in Nigeria's -- the Chibok girls and their families. Now, Nigeria says Boko Haram has released 21 of them. And they are now in custody. This photo, obtained exclusively by CNN, shows some of the girls. Now the released happened after a series of high level negotiations involving the International Committee of the Red Cross. Nima Elbagir has been following what happened to the Chibok girls, and their families from the very beginning. She joins us now with more on this story from London. Nima, again, 21 missing schoolgirls have finally been released. Tell us more about what led to their freedom.</s>NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDEN: Well, we understand that this has all happened very quickly, Kristie. It in fact -- the handover happened this morning. The girls have now been delivered to Borno state capitol. Borno is home to the Sambisa forest stronghold of Boko Haram, where the girls have been being held for much of the last -- over two years. They are now in the state government's custody and are en route to being delivered to the presidency in Abuja. It has come after two-and-a-half very long years for the families on the ground, a time where for many of these families, hope started to seem very far away. It was only really back in April when we first broadcast the proof of life video of the Chibok girls that the pressure began ratcheting again on the Nigerian government and families started feeling that perhaps hope wasn't lost, that their girls were within reach. What we're trying to pin down now is what was the deal exactly. The Nigerian government says that there was no prisoner swap. That was one of the main tenants that Boko Haram were putting forward for any kind of negotiation, but we're hearing potentially, though, that might not be exactly how this all played out. So we're going to be looking into that for you, Kristie, and hoping to get you some more details of that throughout the day. But for now, what we do know is that for 21 girls and their families, finally after it felt that hope had been all but extinguished, these girls are going to be going home, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Yeah, this is a day to celebrate for these 21 girls and their families. These girls are the lucky ones. They have managed to be released, but what did they have to go through? What did they endure? And what's needed for them to rebuild their lives?</s>ELBAGIR: We did get some pretty sombering glimpse into what life might have been like over the last two years from the one girl who had successfully managed to escape once Boko Haram got back into their Sambisa Forest stronghold, and it sounded absolutely heartbreaking -- forced marriage, many of the girls described as having given birth to their captor's children. She even spoke about some girls who she said hadn't survived the ordeal. We'll now be getting, I imagine, much more definite details of that. But it sounds like what these girls have been through is almost undescribable. But what has been so extraordinary to witness throughout all of this is the resoluteness of their parents. Throughout of all this, every time we have spoken to any one of these girls' parents, they have always said we don't care how they come back to us. There will be no shame. We will fight any kind of broader stigma about whatever it is they have been through, whatever it is that has been forced on them through these two-and-a-half years. We just want our children home, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: That is wonderful to hear, no stigma at all. They're back home. Welcomed back to their families and communities. And Nima, many, many, many other schoolgirls, they are still enduring this nightmare. They remain missing. What kind of operation is under way to try to find them or to secure their release as well?</s>ELBAGIR: Well, we understand from the Nigerian government that negotiations do continue for the around 200 girls that are still believed to be -- and that's a very rough estimate at this point, Kristie, but are still believed to be being held by Boko Haram. But I think it's also worth mentioning here that while we talk about the Chibok girls. The Chibok girls are very much a microcosm for the thousands of schoolchildren, boys and girls, who have lost their childhoods, who have lost their lives and lost their liberty, to the Boko Haram campaign throughout the north of Nigeria. And this is really what the government needs to continue to be committed to, that from what we're hearing from all the activists, their hope is that even in this moment of optimism, even in this moment of joy, for the specific 21 girls and their families, that this will continue to be a point of pressure brought to bear on the Nigerian government to continue with that campaign to push Boko Haram entirely out of the north of Nigeria so that so many of this generation that has been really described as Nigeria's lost generation up in the north of the country can finally find some kind of hope and finally we gain some belief they do -- that they can have a future, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Thank you for that reminder, Nima, and it's a very, very important one. Thousands of schoolgirls, thousands of young women do remain missing as Boko Haram continues to terrorize communities there in Nigeria. Nima Elbagir reporting for us. As always, thank you. Now, you're watching News Stream. We'll be back after this short break.