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Denmark Poised to Seize Asylum Seekers' Wealth; Winter's Cold Compounding Migrants' Misery; Democrats to Face Iowa Voters in Town Hall; Historic Cold Snap Hammers East Asia; U.S. Markets Open Lower; Bernie Sanders' Brother Weighs In. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired January 25, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN HOST (voice-over): Ahead at the INTERNATIONAL DESK, Europe debates controversial new laws on the migrant crisis.

Fresh warnings on the spread of the Zika virus.

And Hillary Clinton is struggling against Bernie Sanders in Iowa.

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CURNOW: Hi, there. Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. I'm Robyn Curnow at the CNN Center.

This week we're focusing on the mass migration into Europe and the growing backlash against it. Right now a European parliament committee is debating

Denmark's proposal to force refugees to give up cash and valuables to help pay for the asylum process. The Danish parliament will vote on that

proposal Tuesday.

Now this comes as the bitter cold of winter makes travel more difficult and as migrants and refugees from war-torn parts of the Middle East face new

restrictions at once-welcoming European borders.

Well, let's get the details now on Denmark's proposed law. Arwa Damon is in Copenhagen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This highly controversial bill is expected to pass with the country's largest parties

backing it. Now this bill authorizes the police and authorities to confiscate money and valuables that do not have sentimental value but are

estimated to have a price tag of over $1,500.

And while that seems to be the most glaring and talked-about aspect of this bill, there are various other measures that it would see being put into

place that aid in humanitarian organizations say are even more detrimental.

Among those are the fact that, once this bill passes, an asylum seeker would have to go from waiting a year before they can begin the process of

applying for family reunification all the way up to three years.

So imagine if you have part of your family, your children back in the war zones of Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, constantly under threat, you would

have to wait three years before you can even begin the process of trying to bring them over here.

Another of the measures being put into place is this: now in the past, refugees would have to prove that they would benefit from coming to

Denmark. And so for an individual from a war zone, that is fairly straightforward.

Under this new bill, the refugee has to prove that they will have, quote, "integration potential." Exactly how that's going to be determined at this

stage, unclear; but people who are illiterate, perhaps don't have certain skillsets would automatically be disqualified.

Now even those who do support the bill are not trying to hide this very basic, simple fact. Behind this bill is a very clear message and that is

perhaps many would argue the main intent of the bill and that is to discourage refugees from coming here to Denmark.

This country was one of the most welcoming to refugees in the past, taking in the highest number during the war in the Balkans. But that does not

seem to be the kind of reputation that Denmark wants to live up to at this stage -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Copenhagen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Denmark, like many other European countries, say they are just trying to manage the long-term implications of these mass migrations and

crucially how it might impact the social welfare system.

Also at stake, the refugee crisis is proofing to be a major test of the E.U.'s open border policy known as the Schengen agreement. Well, Atika

Shubert joins us now from Passau, Germany, on the border with Austria.

Hi, there, Atika. The threat to Europe's border system is a very real concern.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a very real concern. Of course I'm right on the border now and as you can see behind me, there are these

random police stops. And this is the temporary border controls that are in effect now.

You might not think it has a lot of impact but of course for a commercial enterprise, being stopped like this, any kind of traffic jams, it will have

an impact on them. And there's a lot of concern that these temporary border controls can't be kept up indefinitely.

And there are worries that if the refugees continue to come in the numbers that they are, that there will be a need to put in permanent borders and

that could put an end, of course, to the open border regime that the E.U. has had for 30-odd years now.

So there's a lot of concern about whether or not this will destroy Europe's open borders.

CURNOW: Indeed. And as we can see, the weather is not great there. It's pretty awful behind you. But many of these people, desperate, still

coming, despite the weather.

[10:05:00]

CURNOW: This, of course, with that in mind, continues to be a logistical and security nightmare.

Just how many extra police, border patrol guards are required?

SHUBERT: Absolutely. Despite wintry conditions, Germany estimates that it's getting about 2,000 refugees a day and it's turning back somewhere

between 80 to 200 refugees away just at the border.

So it's enormous amount of people that are still coming in. Even though it's a lot less than it was in the fall. And what means is in terms of

border police checking, they say they can check 3,500 refugees a day. But that it takes roughly about 2,000 federal police on the borders to do that.

And this, they say, is unsustainable indefinitely, that this can only last for the next few weeks, perhaps a few months at best. But ultimately it's

either going to require a lot more resources and a lot more recruitment or it's just going to mean the numbers are going to have to come down. And so

far that does not seem to be happening.

CURNOW: Atika Shubert there, thanks so much. Going to be a defining year, isn't it.

Well, all this week, CNN is bringing Europe's migrant crisis into sharp focus. For months we have been following the path of thousands upon

thousands of people, many fleeing the war in Syria.

At first, countries such as Germany and Austria extended a warm welcome but a harsh winter and hundreds of sexual assaults on New Year's Eve find

attitudes cooling.

We'll follow the debate in Norway, where deportations are a contentious issue and we'll hear from Syrian refugees in Jordan, who are languishing in

limbo. That's a focus on Europe's migrant crisis today and all this week only on CNN.

ISIS has released a propaganda video that apparently shows the Paris attackers and their final messages before launching the terror attacks.

The video also confirms that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ordered the November attack that killed 130 people. CNN international diplomatic

editor Nic Robertson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: This was expected. This has become typical of ISIS, that they would have a major terror attack

and then try to sort of, if you will, get more PR value out of it by preshooting interviews with those participants here, the attackers, and

releasing it later.

That's what they've done here. It's a 17-minute slickly produced video. It uses a lot of news footage of that night and it features all the nine

attackers, three French, four Belgian and two Iraqi, according to the video.

And they all give statements on camera, threatening attacks in various different ways. There are two that seem to be quite specific to Paris.

One of the attackers threatens to attack the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The other one, in a gruesome clip, says that soon this, on the Champs-Elysees,

that this that he's referring to is the brutal executions, the type of brutal executions that we have seen ISIS manufacture and do before.

This was particularly bad. The speeches are given next to the victims and then the executions. But what they do at the end of this video is then

play some video footage of the House of Commons here in Britain, debating whether or not, whether or not Britain should begin airstrikes in Syria and

say that all those that attack Muslims in Syria will be -- you know, could face -- essentially face a similar attack like Paris. So this is, if you

will, a very simply coded threat to Britain that they could be next in these line of attacks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: OK, very disturbing, Nic Robertson there in London.

Well, ahead at the INTERNATIONAL DESK, Iran's president arrives in Europe after the lifting of economic sanctions. How Hassan Rouhani is looking to

make some key business deals.

Plus Iowa gets ready to kick off the U.S. presidential nominee voting process and the race is now looking closer than ever. Stay with us, you're

watching the INTERNATIONAL DESK.

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CURNOW: Welcome back.

In less than 11 hours, the Democratic candidates for U.S. president will give their final head-to-head pitches before a crucial, critical vote.

We're just a week away from the caucuses in Iowa, where voters will begin the process of selecting party nominees.

Let's bring in CNN's politics executive editor, Mark Preston. He joins us live now from Washington.

Mark, hi. This is -- no, you're in Iowa, I think.

This is not a slam dunk for Hillary, is it?

Can she pull ahead?

What does she need to do in the next week?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Certainly, Robyn, as you said, 11 hours from now she will be able to reach out to Iowa voters as well as

voters all across the country and, quite frankly, internationally. I'm sure we'll have a lot of world leaders tuning in tonight to hear how

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders answer some very tough questions, whether it's on foreign policy and how the U.S. would engage with its

allies moving forward if she were to become president or Bernie Sanders were to become president.

But Hillary Clinton, specifically over the next week here in Iowa, has to convince progressive liberal voters in Iowa to support her candidacy. She

is shocked and much of the political establishment in the United States is shocked that Bernie Sanders has come on so strong and they are now neck-

and-neck in the polls in Iowa now, Robyn. So we'll see what happens tonight but there's certainly a lot on the line.

CURNOW: There is. You're right . Nobody really thought this would happen.

With that in mind, well, what does President Obama have to say about all of this?

He hasn't really weighed in but he kind of has in an interview with "Politico."

PRESTON: So he did. And he did a podcast, a video -- audio recording, rather, talked a lot about his presidency but also talked about the

presidential race. While he was not critical of Senator Bernie Sanders, he was effusive about Hillary Clinton.

He said he had some regrets about how nasty the campaign got between him and Hillary Clinton back in 2008 and he talked about how she has the skills

to move forward as president. He didn't come out and give a full-throated endorsement but he was very supportive of her as a candidate.

CURNOW: Indeed, saying that he was concerned that being a front-runner came as a benefit and a burden.

Last week, though, let's talk about the Republicans. We spoke about how some Republicans were feeling like they were faced with a choice in much

the same way as having to choose between being shot or being poisoned. That was according to Senator Lindsey Graham, who put it rather bluntly.

With each day closer to the vote in Iowa, is someone like Ted Cruz solidifying his support or does it feel like it's eroding?

PRESTON: Sure. And what Lindsey Graham, the senator from South Carolina, was stating there, is that if Donald Trump or if Ted Cruz, a senator from

Texas, were to win the nomination, either way, being shot or being poisoned, you're dead. And that's why neither of these two gentlemen, in

Senator Sanders' mind, should be the Republican nominee.

Now the battle here in Iowa is between Trump and Cruz. Trump has a pretty substantial lead over Ted Cruz. But Ted Cruz is hoping that evangelical

Christians here in Iowa who have an outsized influence in how this vote could be -- will come and rally to his cause. So we'll see them over the

next week right now campaigning very, very hard here in Iowa, trying to get that support because out of those two, if Trump or if Cruz were to win

Iowa, that is an incredible springboard heading into New Hampshire and then heading into the rest of the primaries and caucuses that will take place in

the United States.

So they were once very friendly on the debate stage.

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PRESTON: They are now at each other's throats -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Yes, it's crucial because it kind of sets the tone, gets the momentum going, doesn't it.

Let's talk about both of these races. We're seeing here, particularly with all these candidates we're talking about, sort of the odd man out, the non-

establishment guys getting a lot of the focus. For both the Republicans and the Democrats, this has become not just about the White House but it

seems to be some sort of deep ideological conversation about the future of both parties.

PRESTON: Absolutely. And what I think we have seen from the electorate -- and we talk about this every four years, that there's a lot of anger

amongst voters across the country. We certainly saw that back in 2008, when Barack Obama won the presidency.

However, what you're seeing now is you're seeing middle class voters here, who are feeling left behind. And this anger is not so much about hope and

change as Obama had pledged to do. It's what we're hearing from Bernie Sanders on one side, saying we need to have a political revolution. We're

going to go back to Washington, basically dismantling and rebuilding.

And you have Donald Trump on the other side, saying we're going to make America great again. These are two messages that are not necessarily so

much hopeful but more driven by anger as they are trying to win voters here in each respective contest for the Democratic and Republican nominations --

Robyn.

CURNOW: Yes, anger but also fear.

Thanks so much, Mark Preston. We'll be talking in the coming days as we get closer to those Iowa caucuses. Appreciate it.

Well, as Mark mentioned, CNN's Chris Cuomo will moderate the Democratic presidential town hall with Martin O'Malley, Hillary Clinton and Bernie

Sanders. It starts Tuesday at 2:00 am in London, 3:00 am Central European time. If that's too early in the morning, watch the replay at noon in

London, 1:00 pm CET. Only on CNN.

The U.S. East Coast is dealing with the aftermath of that deadly blizzard over the weekend. It's actually still causing problems. In Washington

today, federal and local governments are shut down and local transit is limited with full restoration only really possible in the next coming days.

People this morning are digging out cars, clearing driveways after the storm dumped more than 100 centimeters of snow in some parts. It's still

hard to get around major cities. Some of the major cities and the storm is blamed for at least 17 deaths.

Well, the temperatures have plunged also across East Asia. And it's being blamed for dozens of deaths. Snow is blanketing parts of China and as some

areas experience the coldest weather in decades, CNN's Matt Rivers has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) Frost in a place known more for its flowers. Hong Kong saw record low temperatures over the last few days,

accumulating ice, trapping hikers on one of the famous mountain trails. Dozens were treated for hypothermia in the coldest weather the city has

experienced in decades.

And Hong Kong wasn't alone. Across Asia, we have seen bitter winter weather. Nowhere hit harder than in Taiwan. State media there reported at

least 85 people, most of them elderly, died from hypothermia or cardiac conditions likely caused by the frigid air.

It's an island where most of the homes don't have central heating. Its people simply not used to the cold.

And the winter weather caused travel nightmares across the region. Take the South Korean island of Jeju. It's a popular destination for tourists,

many of whom were forced to camp out in the airport over the weekend. Over 1,000 flights were cancelled, affecting around 90,000 travelers.

And in Southern China, a similar story. Train tracks were shut down and highways were closed due to snowy conditions in the eastern and southern

portions of the country, areas known more for good food and balmy weather than for snow.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled, too, on the first weekend of the incredibly busy Chinese New Year travel season.

This weekend was a day of weather firsts for many in East Asia. Just ask these school kids, gingerly stepping through snow on the Japanese island of

Maniashima (ph). No one who lives on the island has ever seen it snow there before because it's the first time it's happened in 115 years -- Matt

Rivers, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: For all of out there, rug up.

And also I want to bring you news on a passing to note today. British explorer Henry Worsley has died. Worsley was attempting to be the first

person to cross the Antarctic without aid. This was part of a charity missions.

Worsley was close friends with Prince William, who was a patron of this mission; 71 days into his trek and less than 50 kilometers from his goal,

the former British Army officer was suffering from severe exhaustion and dehydration.

He was airlifted to a hospital in Chile, where doctors found a bacterial infection in his abdomen. Worsley was 55 years old. We'll have more on

that and much more --

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CURNOW: -- on the INTERNATIONAL DESK.

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CURNOW: I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for watching.

A new week has just begun on Wall Street. But the January jitters remain. Stocks opened slightly lower less than an hour ago. Take a look at those

numbers. Right now the Dow is down over 60 points. Oil again seems to be the culprit, sliding back now on last week's surge. We'll keep an eye on

those numbers for you.

Well, Hassan Rouhani is in Italy to kick off a European tour, the first visit to the continent by an Iranian president in 16 years. He met with

Italy's president after getting into Rome.

Mr. Rouhani's trip comes just about a week after international sanctions against Iran were lifted. He's scheduled to hold talks with the Italian

prime minister and business leaders before a visit with Pope Francis on Tuesday.

And then the Iranian president will head to France also later on in the week and, while there, he's expected to ink a deal with Airbus as part of a

plan to rebuild Tehran's ageing airline industry. Our Fred Pleitgen now joins us from the Iranian capital, from Tehran.

Great to see you, Fred. Tell us more about this and this journey at large.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, it's a gigantic plan that the Iranians have. One of the things that they have

seen as one of their most important first step to get their economy back up to speed is to improve their infrastructure, to improve their road, rail

and, first and foremost, their air infrastructure.

They need a lot of planes because, for the past couple of years, due to sanctions, they haven't even been getting spare parts for the old planes

that they do have. Iranian airlines are known as being some of the most unsafe in the world simply because they have so much trouble getting the

parts they need, getting the checks they need and also, of course, getting new aircraft at all.

Now what's been going on here over the past two days is that there's been one of the first international airfare conferences here in Tehran, with

players from around the world. And here's what happened there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN (voice-over): A high-end video produced by Iran's civil aviation authority as the country looks to drastically modernize its air travel

sector, in a CNN interview, the transport minister outlines ambitious goals.

ABBAS AHMAD AKHOUNDI, IRANIAN TRANSPORT MINISTER: I'm seeing that Iran air will compete within the five to seven years with all the regional airlines.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Years of sanctions have devastated Iran's airlines. Many of its aircraft are old and unsafe because of a shortage of spare

parts. But at one of the first major international airline conferences in Tehran, companies from all over the world are scoping out what they hope

could be a dynamic new market.

PLEITGEN: Iranian authorities believe they will need hundreds of new planes in the coming years, not just to meet the demand of its citizens but

also for the millions of tourists they believe could be coming here soon.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Iran is looking to buy more than 100 aircraft from both Boeing and Airbus and the minister in charge says that is just the

beginning.

AKHOUNDI: We're seeing really about 100 short-range air fleets for our local flight and but for --

[10:25:00]

AKHOUNDI: -- national flight, about -- and international flight, about 400 fleet that we can do the middle and long-range air flights.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): But because Iran's economy is highly dependent on oil, the drop in international crude prices could hamper Iran's plans for a

large-scale modernization of its air, road and rail infrastructure.

While some believe that could also affect development of the tourism sector, Iran's tourism minister tells me the country will be ready for a

major influx of foreign visitors.

"The price of oil has a big effect on our economy," he says, "but 90 percent of our investment in tourism is done by the private sector. And

the private sector started investing even during the sanctions."

For years, international sanctions have made Iran's airlines some of the most unsafe in the world. Now Tehran is keen to leave behind its troubled

aviation past and get its fleet and airports up to speed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PLEITGEN: And one of the other interesting side notes from that conference, Robyn, is that the Iranians say that they are also seriously

looking into direct air links between Iran and the United States.

Of course, that would be a major step, considering the political situation that there still is between these two countries. But also, of course, on

President Rouhani's trip there to France and to Italy, it will also be a lot about investment and manufacturing that in I.T. and also, of course, in

Iran's very large hydrocarbon sector. There are certainly rumors out there that French companies could be very much in the running to get into that

sector quite quickly -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Yes. It is all happening very fast on all sorts of levels, isn't it. Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much, reporting there from Tehran.

Well, Syrian peace talks that were meant to begin today have been pushed back. U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura has said there is disagreement

over who should represent the opponents of the Syrian president, Bashar al- Assad. Rebel groups have also been seeking an end to airstrikes. The talks are now scheduled to start this Friday.

Meantime, fighting is still going on in Syria's western Latakia Province a day after pro-regime forces claimed a big victory. Pro-government forces

say they recaptured the town of Rabia and surrounding villages on Sunday.

Rabia was the last major town held by rebels in the province. Syrian troops led by Russian officers have gained control of dozens of villages

and towns in the past two weeks.

Well, coming up here at the INTERNATIONAL DESK, a grim warning from the World Health Organization. The Zika virus now expected to spread across

nearly the whole of the Americas. That report after the break.

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CURNOW: Welcome to the INTERNATIONAL DESK. It's 30 minutes past the hour. I'm Robyn Curnow. Here's a check of the headlines.

(HEADLINES)

CURNOW: Well, some in Australia are calling a speech a Martin Luther King moment. It was, though, a scathing assessment of racism against the

country's indigenous population.

The comments by veteran indigenous journalist, Stan Grant, one of our own, if you remember, have been released just ahead of Australia's National Day.

And they have gone viral, watched by more than a million people. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STAN GRANT, INTERNATIONAL EDITOR, SKY NEWS: The Australian dream, we sing of it and we recite it in verse, "Australians all, let us rejoice, for we

are young and free."

My people die young in this country. We die 10 years younger than average Australians and we are far from free. We are fewer than 3 percent of the

Australian population and yet we are 25 percent, a quarter of those Australians, locked up in our prisons.

And if you are a juvenile, it is worse; it is 50 percent. An indigenous child is more likely to be locked up in prison than they are to finish high

school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Well, critics claim those comments are offensive and racist and denounce all Australians. But Grant says his ancestors were victims of a

war of extermination and, he says, the indigenous people in Australia are still oppressed. He spoke to CNN's Kristie Lu Stout just a little bit

earlier on today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: According to all of the socioeconomic indicators, indigenous people sit at the very bottom of the ladder in Australian society. These are hard

questions. The evidence of a growth and a maturity in the Australian nation that these are very, very hard won. A lot of money is spent on

indigenous affairs.

There is a measure of good will. But the issues, the disproportionate disadvantage appear to be so intractable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Well, in Australia, Tuesday marks 228 years since the British colonization. And there are celebrations for Australia Day across the

country for many, particularly aboriginal tribes say it's an invasion day, a grim reminder of all that they say their ancestors lost.

Well, let's move on.

World health officials say the Zika virus will likely spread to every country in the Americas except Canada and continental Chile. Rafael Romo

is here with the latest on this.

This has been extremely concerning.

And what exactly does this new WHO warning mean?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SR. LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Well, it's a warning for travelers especially but even more importantly for pregnant women who are

considering travel within the Americas. And the World Health Organization says that more than 20 countries already in the Americas have the virus

present.

So it's definitely spread throughout the region. Now in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control are urging women to postpone travel to

these countries. We're talking about places like Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, especially Brazil, where there has been 1.5 million people infected

and 4,000 cases of a condition known as microcephaly, where the brains of newborn babies did not develop the way they should be. They are smaller

than normal.

And, Robyn, there's also a situation in the Americas because, so far, the WHO Says there is no prevention, there's no treatment for this condition.

So people who might get infected with this virus do not really have a way of being cured. And now 80 percent of the people who get it do not even

know it because they don't show any symptoms.

So imagine a pregnant woman traveling, she doesn't know she has the virus but there's this possibility, this --

[10:35:00]

ROMO: -- very concerning potential of having a baby who is going to ha e to suffer microcephaly.

CURNOW: Yes, it's a horrifying deformity. There is obviously this concern about it spreading, whether the mosquitoes migrate, what that means when

the weather warms up in this part of the world.

Also concern about how it's spread, particularly with human bodily fluids.

ROMO: Yes, that's right. The WHO has been investigating this issue. And what they say is that scientists have been able to isolate the virus in

human semen but it is not clear yet whether it can be transmitted via sexual contact. They are conducting more studies to see if this is a

possibility.

So as far as we know, it can only be transmitted via this mosquito that also infects people with dengue and other tropical diseases. So not ready

to make the leap from bodily fluids to transmission so far.

CURNOW: But still, huge concern, a lot of research still needs to be done as well.

Let's talk though. On one hand, you have people concerned about traveling into the Americas, pregnant women, people on holiday. But, more seriously,

the women living in these countries. At least one country said don't have babies for the next two years. But that's hard, isn't it, particularly in

these predominantly Catholic countries.

ROMO: Yes, you're specifically talking about El Salvador, where the health minister told women, listen, if you're having plans about getting pregnant,

do not do so in 2016 or 2017.

The problem with El Salvador is that there's been more than 3,800 cases already of the virus. So that creates a situation where you're looking at

a health crisis in the country.

And, like I said before, there's no way to prevent, there's no way to treat the Zika virus. So authorities are just relying on people having common

sense and not exposing themselves to the mosquitoes.

CURNOW: Yes, I mean, that's easier said than done, isn't it.

Rafael Romo, as always, thank you so much.

ROMO: Thank you.

CURNOW: Well, just ahead, more on the race for the White House. Bernie Sanders says he can beat rival Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party

nomination. And his brother says it won't end there. That conversation, next.

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CURNOW: This is CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks so much for joining us.

Well, one week before the Iowa caucuses, Bernie Sanders is making his case that he should be the Democratic Party's nominee, not Hillary Clinton.

But does his own family think he can beat such a formidable opponent?

CNN's Hala Gorani spoke with Larry Sanders, the brother of the Vermont senator, for his prediction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thousands of miles from the U.S. campaign trail, where Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

is riding high in the polls --

[10:40:00]

GORANI (voice-over): -- lives a man who knows him better than almost anyone.

In picturesque Oxford, England, older brother, Larry Sanders, says he's not surprised the man he calls Bernard is doing so well.

GORANI: Do you think he can beat Hillary Clinton?

LARRY SANDERS, BROTHER OF BERNIE SANDERS: Oh, yes, I think he can beat Hillary Clinton.

GORANI: And do you think he will become the Democratic nominee?

SANDERS: He will not only become the Democratic nominee but be -- given the state of the Republican Party, he will be the president.

GORANI (voice-over): Larry, a retired social worker, moved to England in the '60s with his first wife. But both brothers grew up in Brooklyn, New

York, the children of Jewish immigrants from Poland.

GORANI: What was Bernie Sanders like as a kid brother?

SANDERS: Well, he was a quiet kid. He was fairly shy. His great gift was he was a very good athlete, a very determined athlete. He was always very

kind. He was very truthful, I guess still is very truthful.

GORANI (voice-over): The Sanders' parents had it rough. They were poor and both died relatively young.

But 80-year-old Larry says he still thinks about them often.

SANDERS: This is the point at which in previous interviews I have cried. I have learned to control myself but it's exactly that thought of how happy

and how proud they both would be.

GORANI: When did your father pass away?

Was he able to see any of --

(CROSSTALK)

SANDERS: No, no. He died just two years after my mother. He couldn't really cope on his own.

GORANI: And so he never saw Bernie Sanders do -- achieve any of his political career?

SANDERS: No, none of it.

GORANI: Is this something you wished?

SANDERS: Well, that's part of why I break into tears, yes, it's so sad. I remember when he was first elected mayor, practically the first thing that

came to my mind was how nice it would have been.

GORANI (voice-over): Larry also ran for Parliament in the U.K. last year unsuccessfully. All these years later, he says, there's still a playful

sibling rivalry.

SANDERS: Well, there's a certain amount of competition. I mean, I'm a politician. And he's a politician. He's doing a little bit better than

me. And I think if we were living next door to each other, it would be a problem.

GORANI: You must be, I mean, even though there's competition and I know there's competition between brothers, you must be really proud.

SANDERS: Oh, I'm incredibly proud. Of course.

GORANI (voice-over): Larry predicts his brother will face Donald Trump in the November's general election. He says the two candidates have only one

thing in common: their appeal to people who feel disgruntled.

SANDERS: Donald Trump is an obnoxious person, regardless almost of his policies. But Bernard's great strength is he talks directly to people and

he isn't put off by the fact that they have got particular opinions that are different from his.

I think that the Trumps do get strength from the people feeling they have been ripped off. Bernard agrees with that. But instead of saying, well,

the thing to do is to hate Mexicans and hate Muslims, the thing to do is to create a better society.

GORANI (voice-over): Hala Gorani, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: We'll have lots more on that election in the coming days, weeks and months. There's a lot to talk about, isn't there. But for the

meantime, I'm going to leave you. This is the INTERNATIONAL DESK. Thanks so much for watching. "WORLD SPORT" is next.

END