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12th GOP Debate Reviewed; South Korea Says North Korean Missiles Were Fired into the Sea; Feeding the Hungry; Canadian Prime Minister Visits US; Japan Marks Five Years Since Fukushima Reactor Meltdown. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 11, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] HOWELL, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Less bickering. Toning it down. The republican presidential candidates take on the big issues on the CNN debate stage.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Nuclear ambitions of a dictator. Kim Jong-un reportedly orders new tests to improve his country's nuclear capabilities. We'll have a live report.
HOWELL: Curbing food waste and feeding the hungry. A new French law aims to do just that.
ALLEN: It's all ahead here in our next hour. You're live from Atlanta. Welcome to our viewers around the world. I'm Natalie Allen.
HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. Newsroom starts right now.
And, a very good day to you, wherever you are in the world this hour. We start in Miami, Florida.
The remaining four U.S. republican presidential candidates all squared off on their 12th debate. It adds much, a much softer tone. There was more substance covered than the last debate, which was full of name calling and insults.
ALLEN: Donald Trump started the night calling for unity in the party, he wants republicans to rally behind him as the frontrunner.
Meantime, the only real sparks that flew among Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich were over policy and campaign differences.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, THE LEAD SHOW HOST: Last night, you told CNN, quote, "Islam hates us." Did you mean all 1.6 billion Muslims?
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I mean a lot of them. I mean a lot of them. There's tremendous hatred and I will stick with exactly what I said to Anderson Cooper.
Marco Rubio, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, let me say, I know that a lot of people find appeal in the things that Donald Trump says, because he says what people they could say. The problem is presidents just can't say anything they want. It has consequences here and around the world.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You can say what you want and you can be politically correct if you want. I don't want to be so politically correct.
(CROWD CHEERING)
RUBIO: I'm not interested in being politically correct. I'm not interested in being politically correct. I'm interested in being correct.
TED CRUZ, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One concern I have with Donald, although his language is quite incendiary, when you look at his substantive policies on Iran, he's said that he would not rip up this Iranian nuclear deal. I think that's a mistake. The Ayatollah Khomeini wants nuclear weapons to murder us.
(APPLAUSE)
JOHN KASICH, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The people who represent radical Islam they want to destroy everything that we're about and other Muslims who don't share their view. But at the end of the day, we got to bring the world together, the civilized world and we all speak with one voice to make sure that people who sit on the fence understand what civilization is and we represent it in equality and hope for everybody.
CRUZ: And for the people at home, if you're one of the 65, 70 percent of republicans who recognizes that if we nominate Donald Trump, Hillary wins. That's why the media wants him to be the nominee so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: A very, very important republican debate heading into Tuesday. Let's bring in Larry Sabato, the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, it is good to have you with us this hour.
So, here's the question. Very important debate happening in the State of Florida, which is key to Marco Rubio. The question, was this a big night, a good night for Marco Rubio or did he fall short?
LARRY SABATO, VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR POLITICS DIRECTOR: It was a good night for him. He was careful to keep his comments civil. He followed through on his pledge not to repeat his mistake, frankly, from a week or so ago, when he joined some other candidates in the gutter.
He had a hometown crowd there cheering for him. He had a hometown advantage. I don't know how much difference it will make, but I think he had a good night. HOWELL: You know, Donald Trump is still the frontrunner here. And
obviously, the other candidates are trying to sway voters to their side. I noticed though, there was a very critical moment where Ted Cruz seized on something. Listen to this, and let's talk about it here on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: At Donald's rallies, he's taken to asking people in the crowd to raise their hand and pledge their support to him. I've got to say to me, I think that's exactly backwards. This is a job interview. We are here pledging our support to you, not the other way around.
(APPLAUSE)
[03:05:06] HOWELL: So, posing the question there to voters, is this about you, Donald, or is this about the people? Will that play well for Ted Cruz?
SABATO: That's an argument Cruz has to make if he's going to turn this around, because clearly the drift is towards Trump. You know, George, the problem for Cruz and really all of the candidates at this point is that this is the 12th, the 12th republican debate in the primary season. It's really difficult to find undecided republican voters who are actually going to show up at the polls.
HOWELL: Larry, let's talk about the tone of this debate. Not as much mudslinging. We did hear more substance in this debate. What were your thoughts?
SABATO: I was very grateful, for once, for once, to see a very substantive and exceptionally civil debate among the republicans. It's not an exaggeration to say this arguably is the only civil republican debate.
They've been throwing mud at one another since the very first debate last summer. So, it's a refreshing change. I think they'll all benefit from it. They're all going to feel better about it in the morning, at least I hope so.
HOWELL: You know, one person that has not really engaged in the mudslinging is Governor John Kasich. And even in this debate, focusing on the issues and also focusing on his home State of Ohio. Was it a good play for Kasich to stay out of the mudslinging and what do you think about his strategy to focus -- put all his eggs, you know, in that Ohio basket?
SABATO: George, he has to do that. He doesn't have any option. He hoped to win some states by now, and he's come second here and there. But that's not good enough. He has to carry Ohio. But he does deserve credit for being the only candidate for a long while who kept the tone positive. In that sense, maybe you can call this the John Kasich debate, whatever actually turns to happen next Tuesday.
HOWELL: A lot of pressure on John Kasich to get the State of Ohio and Marco Rubio with Florida. We will have to see what happens here in the coming days. Larry Sabato, thank you so much. A man who has plenty of documents to read behind him. Larry, thank you so much for your time.
SABATO: Thank you, George. Thank you.
ALLEN: Well, the democratic presidential candidates are on the campaign trail after their most recent debate and we'll catch up with them later this hour.
HOWELL: We move on now to South Korea. The military there says that it is monitoring movement in North Korea, after that country fired two short-range ballistic missiles early Thursday.
I want to show you these images from North Korean state media, showing Kim Kong-un reportedly watching the launch being carried out.
ALLEN: South Korea says the missiles were fired into the sea off the Korean Peninsula. This latest move coming as heightened tensions on the peninsula continue to worsen.
Let's get more now from the region, we're joined by CNN's Paula Hancocks, she's in Seoul. And, Paula, the question is, what might have provoked Kim Jong-un this time?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we certainly expect these short-range ballistic missiles to be fired during the military drills that the U.S. and South Korea are holding at the moment. That the largest ever they started on Monday, they will go through until April 30th, and they are annual.
So, every year, Pyongyang reacts in this kind of way to them. Back in 2014, they fired about 90 of these short-range ballistic missiles. So, I think we can probably expect some more over the coming weeks, as well.
So, certainly I don't think it was a surprise, but the fact is, that every single day there seems to be a slight increase in the tensions here. There has been a lot happening over the past few months, since the start of the year.
Kim Jong-un as well, according to state where media are saying that he's going to continue testing his nuclear weapon capability. He's being very defiant, saying he will continue with nuke tests, of course, after Wednesday when he showed photos of what he said was a miniaturized nuclear warhead.
ALLEN: He's certainly not acting like these stepped up sanctions are having an effect. Is there any way to gauge outside of these hostile acts what might these sanctions be doing there in the country?
HANCOCKS: I think it's certainly too soon to see what kind of an impact they could have. Some experts telling me they could probably see in a few months, certainly by the end of the year. But they also say that this may well be why Kim Jong-un has -- is ratcheting up tension so quickly on a day -- almost daily basis because of those U.N. sanctions.
They are expected to have an impact if they have implemented fully. China has said that it will do its part to implement them. And of course, when it does rest on China's shoulders, because they are the ones that share this very large border with North Korea, where much of the smuggling in the past has been taking place.
[03:10:09] And if you just consider, for example, the coal exports from North Korea which have been banned or severely limited by the sanctions, that accounts for about $1 billion in annual income for Pyongyang. So, if the sanctions are implemented fully they will have an impact on the regime, according to many experts, but it is too soon at this point to see what that impact is.
ALLEN: And as you say, the biggest war exercises ever and weeks to go. We'll wait and see if North Korea quiets down over that or not.
Paula Hancocks for us there in Seoul. Thank you.
HOWELL: We are getting some insight into some of the questions that ISIS recruits may get. Some of the 23 questions include asking for the name, date of birth, previous Jihadist experience and whether recruits want to be suicide bombers or front line fighters.
These admission forms discovered were published by a Syrian opposition web site. Separately, Germany says it has a cache of ISIS documents that it believes are genuine and will use them in its law enforcement efforts. It's unclear whether Germany and the Syrian opposition have the same documents.
ALLEN: Well, all this week, CNN's Clarissa Ward is taking you on a harrowing journey deep into the heart of Syria, a country of course scarred by five years of war and isolated by devastation, which you can see there.
You'll get an exclusive look inside Syria, behind rebel eyes, and meet the people who call what's left of the embattled country home.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We had to travel under cover, to see a war few outsiders have witnessed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): the Russian planes target anything that works in the interest of the people. The goal is that people here live a destroyed life. The people never see any good.
WARD: There are snipers all around here, but this is the only road now to get into Aleppo. Aleppo was once Syria's largest city, now an apocalyptic landscape. Any civilian into structure is a potential target, including hospitals.
Is it possible that they did not know this was a hospital?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): Everyone knows this is a hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: It's all part of the exclusive special coverage here on CNN inside Syria, behind rebel lines. you can find it here all week.
ALLEN: It looks like a fantastic story.
HOWELL: Yes. Very powerful images.
ALLEN: I can't believe people are still living in Syria when you see things like that.
HOWELL: Yes.
ALLEN: Well, in the name of a renewed relationship, Canada's Prime Minister makes the first state visit to the U.S., first time for a leader to come to the U.S. in nearly two decades. We have more on the talks between Justin Trudeau and President Obama, coming up.
HOWELL: And in Japan, a somber memorial as that country remembers thousands of people, lives that were lost five years ago today. CNN takes you live to Tokyo as the news continues.
[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN World Sport headlines.
Europa League took center stage on Thursday with two giants of the footballing world going head to head Anfield. And for the very first time in European competition, Liverpool played Manchester United in the first leg of the round of 16 got underway. And it was Liverpool here who grabs the advantage by beating their great rivals 2-0.
They open with a penalty scored by Daniel Sturridge who grabs his fifth goal in seven games against United before Roberto Firmino. He set the game beyond doubt.
It was also a very good night for Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp former (Inaudible) Borussia Dortmund who beat (Inaudible) Hotspur Reno.
So, there were no fewer than seven changes, including the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli who didn't stop at first. And they could have done with them gentleman score machine Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had his side into the lead before a second half race for Marco Reus means that the Londoners have a mountain to climb next week in the second leg.
Despite her positive test for a banned drug, Meldonium, racket maker HEAD is planning to extend its contract with Maria Sharapova. HEAD says that Sharapova has earned the benefit of the doubt, describing the Russian as, quote, "a role model and woman of integrity which inspired millions of fans around the world to play and watch tennis."
And that is a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.
HOWELL: It is a somber day in Japan, as that country marks five years since an earthquake and tsunami and killed thousands of people and triggered a catastrophic nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant.
These images you see in Tokyo as memorial takes place there. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito led this memorial Friday to remember the many victims of that disaster.
ALLEN: I think we all remember the incredible, horrific images from that situation.
HOWELL: Absolutely.
ALLEN: Unreal still today. Lines of people offer flowers there in remembrance of those who were killed or went missing. Residents throughout the country also stopped to observe a moment of silence as the bells tolled at the exact time the earthquake hit.
HOWELL: Let's go live to Japan. CNN's Will Ripley joins us in Tokyo. Will, there was so many lives lost. There were so many people displaced from this and still that facility is leaking low levels of radiation.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. And that continues to be a problem and will be a problem for decades, possibly even longer, as crews try to get a handle on all of this.
You know, Natalie mentioned everybody remembers where they were when they watched, especially the images of those tsunami waves crashing in, certainly the Japanese people feel that way. They call this 3/11, it's their 9/11.
And it was not only a tremendously powerful earthquake that shook here in Tokyo for six minutes and devastated a lot of coastal towns, but then just as those towns were starting to -- starting to come out of their damaged buildings, the tsunami waves moved in and killed between the earthquake and the tsunami around 20,000 people.
If you think about that number, and think about the loss, it really is staggering, especially when we've had the chance to visit some of these areas that still five years later are devastated, because the areas close to Fukushima Daiichi which lost power and then melted down after the tsunami, those towns really have been uninhabitable.
Many of them now still uninhabitable. And even those towns where the contamination has been cleared, the radioactive topsoil's scraped away, the buildings leveled, many of the residents have already moved on to other places.
And so, who are left they are often senior citizens who want to go back to their homes. They don't have any other option. But they'll be returning to communities, they're just vastly different from the ones that they left.
And of course, the cleanup, the decommissioning operations continue. Today's preschoolers will be in their mid-40s by the time Fukushima Daiichi is fully decommissioned and the contamination could linger for 300 years or more, George. HOWELL: Goodness. Will, while you were talking we were looking at
images on the other side of the screen. And we saw, you know, that water, that wave that just came through so quickly and destroyed so much in its path.
[03:19:58] The question still remains, how long will it take, what's the timetable, the true timetable to really handle, get arms around the cleanup effort at that facility?
RIPLEY: Decades of work. And Japan is really trying to figure out exactly what they're going to do, because scientists believe that there is still radioactive material leaking underground. It could potentially go out into the ocean.
We were with some scientists from Green Peace that were trying to measure the extent of that. But you talk about those waves and their destructive power, also it was snowing just the day after those waves hit.
So, you imagine the icy cold water that these people were in. It's really heartbreaking to think of all those who died, all those who are still homeless. And those families are at the top of all of our minds here in Japan and around the world today, George.
HOWELL: So many people who were displaced. And, you know, there's so many deceased who have yet to even be recovered, discovered.
Will Ripley, live for us in Tokyo. Will, we appreciate your reporting there.
ALLEN: Three-eleven, that's a date they'll never forget.
Well, the streets of Malaga, Spain have gotten quite a bit smelly. Trash collectors have been on strike for more than 10 days, and as you can imagine, people are taking notice. Garbage is piling up on street corners, and it's raising concerns about public health.
Local businesses are worried the problem could affect tourists coming to the southern port city ahead of the Easter holiday. Garbage collectors are striking against wage cut and demanding better working conditions.
HOWELL: OK. Well, now let's go to France where the nation has come up with a way to put at least one kind of waste to good use.
ALLEN: A new law aims to get rid of tons of unused or expired food and take a bite out of hunger, too.
Here's CNN's senior international correspondent. Jim Bittermann.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is probably not what you envision when you think of dining out in France. The food line at a homeless shelter in Paris. Yet, food charities estimate that more than 2.5 million people in France depend on food handouts in one form or another. At the same time, restaurants, food stores, and French families dumped
tons of still-edible food products into the trash each year; something that has produced what some say now is a sad and far too common sight. Scavengers going through other people discard looking for something to eat.
Some markets and stores have tried to discourage the scavenging. But now, in part, that is about to change. A new law here requires larger supermarkets to strike deals with local food banks to donate unsold food to help feed those in need.
It's estimated that the French waste seven million tons of food products each year. Seven hundred thousand tons of that is from supermarkets which typically throw out food products when they reach their best before date. The best before does not mean spoiled. The food is still safe to eat.
One large supermarket chain, which has fought against food waste for years, applauds the new law, especially since it will clear up legal liability issues that could arise from donating unsold food.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERTRAND SWIDERSKI, CARREFOUR GROUP DIRECTOR: In fact, when you have, for example, 20 days to sell a product, and if you did not sell the product after 15 days, what you can do, you can cut the price and then make an offer for your customer. Before two days, before expiring date, you just have to donate it. It's safe, it's the same product. But we are not allowed to sell the product after expiring date or after best before date.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN: Food banks are expecting a 15 percent increase in donations because of the new law. A law that's drawing great preys.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACQUES BAILET, FRENCH FOOD BANKS PRESIDENT: The law will increase in terms of quantity but also it's more important in terms of quality and diversity. We are currently in term -- in term of nutritional balance. We are currently facing a deficit of meat and the lack of food and vegetables. Tomorrow, hopefully that will help to push for these products.
BITTERMANN: Bailet and others here would like to see the French law duplicated across the European Union. But he says that the biggest food wasters are still individuals and families, which account for nearly 70 percent of the damaged or out of date but still-edible food that is thrown away.
Even so, the president of the French Food Banks calculates that the new law will prevent charitable organizations to provide 10 million more meals each year to the needy in France.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris. ALLEN: Good idea.
HOWELL: Yes.
ALLEN: Well, Canada and the U.S. are working towards warmer ties, starting with an agreement to tackle climate change. President Obama welcomed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House Thursday.
[03:25:00] It's the first official visit by a Canadian leader in nearly two decades. The two men discussed various issues including making their country shared border more open and secure.
HOWELL: And they described it as a good meeting. At a joint news conference, Mr. Trudeau outlined plans to battle global warming. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: The president and I have announced today that we'll take ambitious action to reduce methane emissions nearly by half from the oil and gas sector, reduce use and emissions of hydrofluoric carbons, and implement aligned greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy duty vehicles, amongst other plans to fight climate change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: The White House later hosted a state dinner for Mr. Trudeau and his wife.
ALLEN: Still ahead here on CNN newsroom, we break down the U.S. republican presidential debate in a very easy to digest in 90 seconds into the highlights that you may be talking about.
HOWELL: I'm sure. And plus, after their fiery debate, democratic rivals Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton they attack each other aggressively. That story ahead as the news continues here on CNN Newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: A warm welcome back to our viewers around the world. This is CNN Newsroom. And it is good to have you with us. I'm George Howell.
ALLEN: And I'm Natalie Allen. Let's update you on our top stories this hour.
South Korea's military says it is monitoring North Korean movement after Pyongyang fired two short-range ballistic missiles early Thursday. These images from North Korean state media show Kim Jong-un reportedly watching the launch being carried out. This latest move comes as heightened tensions on the peninsula continue to worsen.
[03:30:06] HOWELL: Japan is marking five years since an earthquake and tsunami killed thousands of people there. The disaster triggered a catastrophic nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led a memorial to remember the many victims
of that disaster.
ALLEN: Brazilian state media reports that prosecutors are calling for the preventative detention of this man, the former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is under investigation on money laundering charges. He denies the allegations.
HOWELL: America's choice 2016, and fair to say it was a gentler tone. Do you think?
(CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: Yes. It was about the match.
HOWELL: Than what we see in the other debate -- at this debate. But there were still fireworks on stage.
ALLEN: They were generally contained to policy issues, though, and campaign concerns. Here are the highlights in 90 seconds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I cannot believe how civil it's been up here.
TAPPER: You told CNN, quote "Islam hates us." Did you mean all 1.6 billion Muslims?
TRUMP: There's tremendous hatred and I will stick with exactly what I said.
RUBIO: If you go anywhere in the world you're going to see American men and women serving us in uniform that are Muslims.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: You can be politically correct if you want. I don't want to be so politically correct.
RUBIO: I'm not interested in being politically correct; I'm interested in being correct.
KASICH: I happen to believe in solar energy, wind energy, efficiency renewables matter.
RUBIO: These laws some people are asking us to pass will do nothing for the environment and it will hurt and devastate our economy.
TAPPER: Do you believe that you've done anything to create a tone where this kind of violence would be encouraged?
TRUMP: I certainly do not condone that at all, Jake.
TAPPER: February 1st, "knock the crap out of them, would you?"
TRUMP: It's not me. It's usually the municipal government, the police.
CRUZ: At Donald's rallies recently, he's taken to asking people in the crowd to raise their hand and pledge their support.
TRUMP: I would probably have the embassy closed until such time as a really good deal was made and struck by the United States.
RUBIO: The embassy is the former consulate, it's the same building. So, you could just go back to being called the consulate, we don't have to close it that way. Second of all, I don't know where Cuba is going to sue us. But if they sue us in court of Miami, they're going to lose.
CRUZ: There are some in Washington who are fevered dreams of a brokered convention. And I think that would be an absolute disaster.
KASICH: Because we don't know what's going to happen because we still have about half the delegates to be selected.
TRUMP: Embrace these millions of people that now, for the first time ever, love the Republican Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: It was an interesting debate to watch.
HOWELL: It was. It was.
ALLEN: They got down the issues.
HOWELL: Yes. A lot more substance covered. A lot less mudslinging.
ALLEN: Yes. Well, on the democratic side of the presidential race, candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton hoped their persuaded voters during a debate on Wednesday in Miami.
HOWELL: Both candidates aggressively attacked each other. They're doing so on the campaign trail.
Our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has this report for us.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It's a democratic fight with no end in sight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE SANDERS, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people are angry. And they have reason to be angry.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think you move into the future by fighting about things that happen 20 and 30 years ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: At least not before June when the primary calendar ends. We caught up with Hillary Clinton today campaigning in Tampa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Can you understand though, why Senator Sanders wants to stay in this race until the very end until California?
CLINTON: Well, I stayed in the race until the very end. And look, I think everyone has to run his or her own campaign. I respect that. If we go to the end, we go to the end, just as I did in '08.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: The fireworks on the debate stage in Miami on Wednesday night, some of the loudest and most explosive yet between the democratic rivals single a rough and rocky road ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Senator Sanders supported indefinite detention for people facing deportation. And stood with the Minutemen vigilantes in their ridiculous, absurd efforts to, quote, "hunt down immigrants."
SANDERS: No, I do not support vigilantes. And that is a horrific statement and unfair statement.
CLINTON: Senator sanders is always criticizing the two recent democratic presidents. But I wish he would criticize and join me in criticizing George W. Bush, who I think wrecked the economy.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: And I got (ph) Secretary Clinton hasn't listened to too many of my speeches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: The escalating tension between Clinton and Bernie Sanders, who are getting under each other's skin and hitting the campaign trail hard, with five more states voting in five more days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: If you come out and your friends and family and neighbors come out, we are going to win here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: If it's Trump, Clinton told us his record may not be as impressive as he thinks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Look, as I said, I've gotten more votes than he has. I think he has, if you really analyze it, a narrow base. But we'll find out. If he gets nominated, we're going to have a very vigorous general election if I'm the nominee. [03:35:09] ZELENY: Is he still yet to be defined though? I mean, this
is been a primary campaign.
CLINTON: We'll wait and find out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: All right. Catching Hillary behind the stage. Jeff Zeleny there on the democratic campaign trail. Well, from the states that have a primary on Tuesday, Florida has the most delegates up for grabs, with 214.
HOWELL: It is going to be a very interesting day. We'll have to see who gets the most states and moves ahead in this delegate count.
This is CNN Newsroom. And still ahead, fellow players weigh in on the news that tennis star Maria Sharapova failed a drug test. And we will hear from a doctor who created Meldonium I should say. He said it is not a performance enhancing drug.
ALLEN: Also ahead, Russia's military looking for a few unique recruits for underwater duty. And this is getting criticism from animal rights activists. We'll have that story coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: In sports, many people shocked to hear Maria Sharapova's announcement that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open. The five-time Grand Slam champion tested positive for Meldonium which has been linked to increased performance and endurance. She could be suspended from the game for up to four years.
HOWELL: The drug has been banned since the first of the year, but Sharapova said she didn't realize that. Fellow players though, reacted with sadness, but some say it falls on each player to know which substances are banned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAFAEL NADAL, GRAND SLAM WINNER: It's terrible what happened with Maria, for the world of sport, for the world of tennis. But you know, you have to respect the rules.
[03:40:04] At the end of the day, you have a team, you believe in your team. But at the end of the day you have to know what you're taking. So, there's always that you have, I don't know, a 100 percent of responsibility, but it's your responsibility.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: That is interesting to hear from the doctor who developed Meldonium. He is saying that he's frustrated that it has been banned.
CNN's Matthew Chance spoke with him and says he thinks all athletes should use it to protect themselves from injury. Here's that. MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the doctor's name is Ivars Kalvins and when I spoke to him from Latvia earlier, he was exasperated about the fact that this substance, this medicine that he invented back in the late 1970s has now been banned by the IAFF rather.
He says it's because it's a protective medicine, it's designed originally to treat heart patients. But it's extremely useful for athletes, he says because it prevents these individuals who cooperates very close to the border of maximum capacity in terms of exertion from injuring themselves, from damaging their heart and damaging other tissue.
This drug prevents that damage from taking place. What it doesn't do, and the professor Kalvins was clear about this, what it doesn't do is enhance the performance of those athletes. And that's why he says it should not have been banned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVARS KALVINS, MELDONIUM INVENTOR: The Meldonium is very safe and protective of the life and the health of the sportsman. And from my point of view, everybody should use from these top athletes this substance to be sure their career will continue for 10 years or 15 years, not for three or one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: It's a protective medicine that he says that athletes need to take. The big concern he has now, though, is what will happen now that the substance has been banned from national athletics and from professional tennis and all the others.
He says that's going to lead to a huge increase in sudden deaths on the field, on the court, on the pitch. Athletes are simply now not going to be able to protect themselves from the dangers of the kind of exertion that they go through during these championships, during these tournaments. That's an extremely bad thing, according to the professor.
Matthew Chance, CNN, in Moscow.
ALLEN: Nancy Reagan will be buried next to her husband on Friday. The former First Lady died Sunday at the age of 94 at her home in California.
Sara Sidner has the details on her funeral.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former First Lady Nancy Reagan's body is now lying in repose. Hundreds of people from the public have been coming to say their final goodbyes to a woman who they remember as a staunch supporter of her husband, a loving life and also the head of the just say no to drugs campaign.
They've been coming in droves to say goodbye, but there are also dignitaries who have been coming, the majority are expected on Friday for the final day of the funeral. It will include Hillary Clinton, Angelica Huston, and Mr. T., as well as Wayne Newton, Tina Sinatra, the last child of Frank Sinatra.
We are seeing lots of folks coming here who just want to say goodbye to a remarkable woman. She is lying in repose inside the presidential library for Ronald Reagan. And she wants to make sure, because she was part of the planning up until six to nine months ago, she was planning her funeral, making sure all the details were in place.
Everything that you see, she had a handed intimately into planning her own funeral, which may sound odd but it is something that lots of first ladies and presidents have done especially because it is here at the presidential library.
She wanted to make sure that in the end she was just inches away from the husband who she loved so much, former President Ronald Reagan.
Sara Sidner, CNN, Simi Valley, California.
[03:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Moisture continues to stream into the western half of the United States, specifically across northern California through Oregon and Washington, as well as Western Canada near British Columbia.
But you can see that constant stream of rainfall and higher elevation snowfall for the Sierra Nevada, into the Cascade Mountains. Here is forecast radar going forward over the next day and a half. And you can see we continue with our chances of precipitation for this region. That's good news for skiers and snowboarders.
So, let's get to the brass tacks, the specifics. Whistler to Sun Peaks and Banff, all chances of snow showers heading into this weekend. Impressive snow base in place for many of those locations, many locations 100 percent capacity. As we speak, some of the best skiing and snowboardng of the season taking place right now.
Further to the south, Mt. Baker, Crystal Mountain, Mount Hood, we all have chances of snow, and this forecast roughly half a foot to perhaps upwards of a foot of snow for those higher peaks. Mt. Shasta, the Squaw Valley and Heavenly, well, temperatures are just above the freezing mark. See Mt. Shasta should be warm enough to stay just rain.
But just to the south, we do have the potential of good amounts of snowfall, some fresh powder turns expected across the Sierra Nevada mountain range going forward. For the most part, though, we stay dry from Utah to Colorado.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN newsroom.
Russia's military is turning to the animal kingdom for some unique recruits for underwater duty. ALLEN: And it's certainly controversial. Dolphins were used by the
U.S. and the Soviet Union during the old War, and it looks like they're being pulled back into active duty.
Here's Zain Asher.
ZAIN ASHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Russian President Vladimir Putin once said the dolphin at this aquarium near Vladivostok. Now the leader is looking to recruit several of the marine mammals for his military.
According to state media the Russian defense military is looking for five bottlenose dolphins for military duty. Specifically, they want three males and two females between three and five years old with perfect teeth and no physical impairments.
They're willing to pay about 350,000 rubles or about $5,000 for each dolphin. Dolphins have been used in wartime before by Soviet Russia during the Cold War and more recently by the U.S. helping search for underwater mines in the Persian Gulf during the Iraq war.
The U.S. military has also trained dolphins and sea lions to perform task like detecting enemies, submarines, and to patrol the waters around naval bases protecting against terror treats. But the program is controversial.
One of the world's leading experts on dolphins says that using the sea mammals for military purposes is purely exploitation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LORI MARINO, EMORY UNIVERSITY BIOPSYCHOLOGIST: These are very bright, self-aware, highly social animals, and everything that they experience in a captive environment, and in particularly in a military environment, is at odds with the kind of natural environment that they really need to thrive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:50:03] ASHER: Any aquatic recruits would be likely sent to a the Crimean port city of Sevastopol formed to have combat dolphin training center, where they could someday become super soldiers or super spies for the Russian Navy.
Zain Asher, CNN, Atlanta.
ALLEN: Just doesn't seem right.
HOWELL: Well, let's switch over to weather now and talk about some heavy flooding that's hitting the Deep South this week. Derek Van Dam.
DAM: The governors of Louisiana and Mississippi declaring states of emergency in some of the affected counties. A lot of the State Government offices and schools will be closed right through today.
ALLEN: It's flooding it, isn't it? DAM: This flooding is very historic. One in 1,000 year event. I'll explain why in just one moment. But first, come take a look at this video footage of rescues taking place. The Louisiana National Guard being called in, saving over 360 individuals from their homes and from their cars.
National Weather Service tries to drive home that one simple sentence to people, turn around, don't drown. You know how quickly that people and vehicles can be swept away, thanks to moving water.
Now I'll get to my graphics and you'll see why this is such unprecedented rainfall for the Deep South. We are talking over 20 inches of rain since it all started this Wednesday in Monroe, Louisiana. So, how much water is that? Well, we've taken out our calculators. We've done the calculations for you at home so you don't have to do it.
This is what it equates to. Storm total in Monroe just 121 inches, that's equivalent to 11 billion gallons of water. It's also equivalent to four hours of the rushing water that falls over the Niagara Falls.
Let's have some stat for you, water couldn't talk. But to put it into perspective you can see exactly why we have such a problem with flooding. These little dots, the yellow, orange, and purple dots are all the river gauges that are indicating at or above flood stages from Texas to Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee all the way into Kentucky.
We've got a large trough that's deepening way into Southern Mexico. And that has brought some very cold air into Mexico City, for instance, but it's also serves in a large amount of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, creating widespread flooding and flood warnings from Louisiana into Arkansas.
How much rain will fall from here on us? Well, we have another additional four to perhaps up to eight inches of rain, especially near the border of Mississippi and Louisiana. That's the area we're going to look out for the potential flooding going forward over the next two days.
Now on the flip side, the extreme eastern sections of the United States have been enjoying warmth. In fact, record setting warm temperatures from New York City, right through Philadelphia, into Atlantic City, Newark, and the nation's capital. You can see those records have really stood for quite some time.
Now the warming is not great for other parts of the world, including in Argentina, in Patagonia. In fact, this amazing video was shot the fingerprints of climate change certainly in this video of a glacier about 250 meters wide, 70 meters tall, falling into this body of water, sending ripples of water into a nearby lake across the area.
About 4,000 spectators went to check out this phenomenon. Something that hasn't happened since 2012 at this particular glacier. They knew it was about to happen, that's why they all gathered around and they were able to get that amazing video. (CROSSTALK)
ALLEN: They got the video.
DAM: But you can just see what a warming planet does to glaciers.
ALLEN: Yes.
HOWELL: Yes.
ALLEN: We can see that.
HOWELL: To equations of space out of sea. Derek, thank you.
ALLEN: Derek, thanks.
Well, no one can say this presidential election season in the U.S. has lacked fireworks.
HOWELL: Play the excitement. CNN's Jeanne Moos looks back at some of the craziest moments captured so far on TV and shared through digital media.
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's happened again.
CRUZ: Not going to happen. Not going to happen.
MOOS: Oh, yes it did.
CRUZ: Not going to happen.
MOOS: Another campaign moment turned into an endless loop. Just like when that eagle pecked Donald Trump, or Bernie Sanders danced his way on to Ellen. The New York Times declared political gifs. So, teh new sound bite this campaign season, gif, graphics interchanged format, animated looping images only seconds long.
And now there's a never-ending argument over how to pronounce the word. The inventor says it should be "jiff" not gif, "jiff" as in the peanut butter. I was turned into a "jiff" in a matter of moments.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Viola.
MOOS: No one is more jiffable than this guy. Gif since second vines, Donald Trump just did every emoji face on your phone seven seconds.
TAPPER: You wouldn't want, quote, "such a hot head with his finger on the nuclear codes."
MOOS: The COO of a company called Giphy with a hard G, since politicians are getting more savvy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:55:04] ADAM LEIBSOHN, GIPHY COO: Can't stream themselves into sort of like visual language. They're like shrugging or finger gone or crossing your shoulder off like Hillary Clinton did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Her campaign tweeted out a dismissive gesture from the Benghazi hearing as a response to what was said in a republican debate, reacting to another GOP debate, she rubbed her temples.
Marco Rubio became a gif when he desperately grabbed for a bottle of water. Then Donald Trump's imitation of Rubio likewise became a gif. But don't expect any contest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Not going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: The Cruz moose moment came when he imitated his daughter, reacting to a TV commentator saying it would be a disaster for Cruz if Trump won Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Jumps up on the couch, stick both fingers in her ears and goes, not going to happen, not going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: You can expect these to happen and happen and happen, and live on in cyberspace until the end of time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH, (R) FORMER U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Please clap.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Not going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: New York.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Not going to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOWELL: Poor Jeb there.
ALLEN: Of course much to go. HOWELL: Months to go. Much more to come. Thank you for being with us. I'm George Howell.
ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen. CNN Newsroom continues with Max Foster, next, from London.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MAX FOSTER, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: After the noise and the nastiness of the previous debate, the republicans in the race for the White House turn down the personal attacks and focus on politics.
[04:00:07] North Korea continues to test the patience of southern neighbor and the international community. A live report on Pyongyang's latest nuclear experiments.
