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Saleh Abdeslam's Startling Confession About November Paris Attacks; Another Trump Rally Turns Hostile; Hours Away from First Presidential Visit to Cuba in Almost 90 Years. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired March 20, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:12] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN HOST: And a very good day to you. We begin this hour in Europe and the new information that investigators are getting from the only surviving suspect in the Paris terror attacks. A new confession coming from Saleh Abdeslam, he says that he provided planning and logistical support for the November rampage in Paris.

Abdeslam also says that he backed off of setting off a suicide belt during the attacks. The suspect suffered a minor leg wound when police captured him in Brussels on Friday. He now sits in a prison in Belgium. Prosecutors plead to extradite him to France. CNN is covering this story from all angles this hour.

Our International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is live for us following the story from the French capital and Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen live in Brussels with the investigation. Fred, we start with you. Investigators have been questioning Abdeslam and now have this new confession, but it doesn't seem to fit. Are there questions about whether he is being truthful?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, there are. There are certainly questions as to whether or not he's telling the truth. One of the interesting things that the Federal Prosecutor said that George - that he is treating the things that Saleh Abdeslam said with a certain degree of suspicion and the reason for that is that Saleh Abdeslam said apparently what he was supposed to do was blow himself up outside France's National Stadium.

However if you recall, the suicide vest that what Abdeslam allegedly was supposed to use was actually found in the 18th district of Paris. Now there was a statement by ISIS shortly after the attacks said took place that claimed responsibility for the attacks and also spoke about one suicide attack in the 18th district.

So the place where Saleh Abdeslam says he was supposed to blow himself up does not match where which - where later the suicide vest was found and also where ISIS said that all of this was supposed to be happening. Nevertheless, the Belgian authorities are saying at this point Saleh Abdeslam is cooperating with the authorities.

He is - to interrogators who were talking to him. He has been moved in Brussels to Bruges to a high-security detention facility there. And the investigators, they want to keep interrogating him over the next couple days as - they're working it out whether or not it is going to be possible to extradite him quickly to France. Now (Inaudible) has said that they would fight any extradition and that is something that could certainly slow down the process. So at this point in time, what we're hearing from the authorities here is that they believe this could take anywhere in the range of a few days to possibly several weeks, George.

HOWELL: Fred, so Abdeslam sits in prison at this point. I want to also just ask you about the neighborhood you are in in Molenbeek. We saw behind you these securities and the intense police force there. What is the mood in that neighborhood and also the concerns that there could be others there that investigators are targeting?

PLEITGEN: Yeah, you know it's a very good question. We went around the neighborhood yesterday and I would say that pretty much all the people that we spoke to here, they did have a degree of relief. They said look, it's absolutely incomprehensible to us that there were people with - you know heavy duty weaponry here.

They said that something that's very dangerous. A lot of them said that they couldn't fathom someone like that hiding in their midst. One of the things that of course investigators and police here are very concerned about is the fact that you had this manhunt for this men that went on for four months and in the end, it turned out he was hiding very close to home.

One of the things we did yesterday is we actually went to the Mayor of Mollenbeek and just spoke to her about this situation and she said, Look, of course in this district, we have a problem with extremism. It is something that we need to tackle in the future, and she says that she believes the way forward for this district here at this point is on the one hand, to have more police action, more police searches, more police raids, to have the police control the area better.

But at the same time, of course to also do social work to make sure that young people in this neighborhood do not fall into the fangs of extremism and join groups like the ones that Saleh Abdeslam was a member of. It is a tall order. They all say they all acknowledge but it's something that at this point in time, with all the publicity that this area is getting at this point in time, is of course at the front of the agenda, not just for the local people here in Molenbeek but for Belgium and indeed for Europe as a whole, George.

[04:05:14]

HOWELL: Fred Pleitgen live for us in Belgium. Fred, please stand by with us as we now move over to Nic Robertson who joins us in Paris. And Nic, Fred touched on this just a bit but this desire in France to get Abdeslam back into France. Talk to us about that and this process of extradition. How long could it take?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, it's faster than an international expedition because it's being done as a European extradition more on - which has a shorter mechanism to it. But what the Paris prosecutor said last night was that it could take up to three months. There's a three-month time limit on it.

He does believe Saleh Abdeslam will come to France. That doesn't seem to be in question. But he said that if he wasn't fighting extradition, which his lawyer says he is, then he could be here in a matter shorter of about ten days. The Paris Prosecutor does believe this will happen but the time frame now does seem to be extending out as long as several months here, George.

HOWELL: Nic Robertson live for us in Paris. Nic, thank you so much for your reporting. We now move on to Russia and the fiery plane crash that killed all 62 people on board Saturday. Investigators are now back at the scene of the crash combing through the debris from Flydubai flight 981.

Russian authorities have ruled out terrorism at this point and are now - are focusing on turbulent weather at the time of the crash. They're also looking at whether technical issues or human error could have played a role.

And to aid in the investigation, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are sending teams to Russia to help try determine what caused this deadly crash. Following this story this hour, CNN's Jon Jensen live in Abu Dhabi with the very latest. Jon, good to have you. So terrorism has been ruled out but it seems that there is some evidence that weather may have played factor.

JON JENSEN, CNN NEWS REPORTER: That's right, George. Weather is indeed the major focus of the investigation at this moment. We know during the flight and during the attempted landing, weather was a very big factor. There was a lot of rain and snow that impeded visibility.

We also know that wind speeds were approaching 90 kilometers per hour. That's around 60 miles per hour, almost gale-force winds. Now, the pilots did appear to be concerned about this weather according to new audio that has surfaced on a Russian news site.

It's apparent communication between the pilots and air traffic control and again, we cannot verify the authenticity at this audio. But in the clip, you can hear air traffic control ask the pilots at a certain point in the flight, How is the weather, sir? The pilots then respond that there is low visibility and a moderate wind shear.

Again, we cannot verify that clip's authenticity and we don't know at what point during the flight it was recorded. All of this, George should come out in the coming months as investigators go through the flight data recorders. We understand both of them are in Moscow under investigation, George.

HOWELL: Jon, can you tell us about the airline itself, Flydubai and what can you tell us about the pilots that were flying this plane?

JENSEN: well, George, it's fairly new airline here in the region. They started flying in 2009 and frankly, it's a very safe airline. Since they've been flying, no major incidents, they've got a very new fleet 50 aircraft, all Boeing 737-800's. The plane that was involved in the crash recently passed a fairly wide-ranging safety check they just in January. So you know, and this was a plane that was just purchased just in 2011. The airline, the CEO has come out and said that its pilots were both quite experienced.

Each had accumulated around 6,000 flying hours, not so quite a lot of flying time, George.

HOWELL: Jon, let's talk about the families. There are many people that are dealing with the tragedy from what happened. What sort of support are they getting from the airline?

JENSEN: Well, they are getting about $20,000 from the airline in the form of assistance. That's just to meet immediate financial hardships. The Russian government has also said it will give $15,000 - around $15,000 for each of the family or for each of the passengers' families involved in the crash.

We do know, George that the passengers came from four countries, Russia, Ukraine, India and Uzbekistan and we also know, George that there were four children on that flight

HOWELL: Jon Jensen,live for us in Abu Dhabi. Jon, thank you for your reporting and we'll stay in touch with you.

In turkey, no one has claimed responsibility yet for a suicide attack that killed at least four people in a busy tourist area of the city of Istanbul. Among the dead, two Israeli-American citizens and an Iranian, 36 people were wounded in this blast. Our Senior International Correspondent Arwa Damon has the details for us from Istanbul.

[04:10:15] ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Instead of the throngs of people, both Turks and tourist who would normally be packing the street, now it has been almost entirely sealed off following a suicide attack.

This street is one of Istanbul's main pedestrian thoroughfares. It's filled with restaurants and shops. It's located in the heart of the city, and this is one of the areas that the authorities had issued a warning about saying that there was a fairly high potential that some sort of an attack would be taking place here, following threats from a PKK offshoot, the Kurdish Separatist Group, that they would be carrying out more attacks after last Sunday's deadly and devastating bombing in the capital Ankara.

This explosion happening at about mid-morning at the entrance of one of the side streets that sells fish and other fresh produce. It was quickly, almost immediately sealed off, ambulances rushing to the scene. Police pushing people as far back as they possibly could - concern about a potential secondary explosion. Helicopters hours later still buzzing overhead.

As we were walking back down at one of the five streets, we saw a woman who was desperately pleading with the police. She later told us that she was waiting for news of her brother. He was somewhere on the street when the explosion took place and she did not know ha had happened to him.

This type of violence has become sadly, fairly routine, especially in Istanbul and Ankara. This is a population at this stage that is feeling phenomenally vulnerable, facing threats on multiple fronts. Arwa Damon, CNN Istanbul.

HOWELL: On the Greek island of Lesbos, preparations are under way to send thousands of refugees back to Turkey. It's all part of a controversial new arrangement between the E.U. and Turkey to curb the flow of migrants into Europe. More than 4,000 migrants are now on the Greek island of Lesbos. Greece is a major stopping point for refugees that are fleeing war-torn Syria. And aid workers say returning them to Turkey is simply unethical.

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LUCY CARRIGAN, INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS WORKER: From the International Rescue Committee's perspective, the deal is only going to lead to more disorder and more lack of dignity, more chaos for the people who are already here in Greece.

And the idea that you can base resettlements on conditions that person are returned from Greece to Turkey is unethical and will only - will only ensure that desperate people will only seek more desperate ways to come to Europe.

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HOWELL: Even as Greece prepares to send back some migrants, they keep arriving. On Friday alone, almost 1,500 of them arrived in Greece from neighboring Turkey. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM and still ahead, the U.S. President will make a historic visit to Cuba on Sunday. We'll introduce you to the Cuban grandmother who received a letter from Mr. Obama himself.

Plus chaos in two states over U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump - arrests, pepper spray and a roadblock all in one day. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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HOWELL: History is about to take place in Havana. And to give you some context here, the last time a U.S. President, a sitting president visited Cuba was 1928. That was the year that penicillin was discovered. But in the coming hours, the president of the United States Barack Obama will arrive to Havana after reestablishing U.S. relations with the island nation. Mr. Obama is expected to meet with the Cuban president Raul Castro, attend a baseball game and to talk to anti-government activists. The U.S. has lifted some trade and travel restrictions but Cubans are hurting under the ongoing economic embargo.

The White House is hoping that these concessions, though could lead to an improvement in Cuba's human rights. Bringing Cuba and the U.S. even closer together, direct postal services between these two countries has now resumed. Robyn Curnow talked with the Cuban grandmother who received a letter from the President of the United States himself.

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN REPORTER: A quiet corner with her own piece of history. This Cuban grandmother holds a letter from American President Barack Obama, one of the first pieces of mail to make it directly from the U.S. to Cuba in over half a century. The white house released this photo of the president signing it in the oval office.

ILEANA YARZA, CUBAN RESIDENT: To think that I would be expecting a letter in that mail, and from the president himself? Oh, my god. Not in my dreams, ever.

CURNOW: Ileana Yarza says she's written to Obama five times, offering him coffee at her home. Finally, he replied.

YARZA: Dear Ileana, I'm looking forward to visiting Havana to foster the relationship and highlight our shared values. And hopefully, I will be able to have time to enjoy a cup of coffee.

CURNOW: Even the envelope is weighted with symbolism. Official White House correspondents delivered to an address that when translated means place of the revolution. For many Cubans like Yarza, this letter and the President's trip is seen as a long awaited acknowledgement that U.S. policy for the past 50 years was a mistake.

YARZA: I can die now in peace because I heard in my lifetime, American presidents say that the embargo did not work.

CURNOW: Slowly, changes are coming, perhaps not as fast as both governments would like but still welcomed. At this Havana post office, letters sent to the United States have to be routed by a third country. But now, the Direct Service Delivery will take about 2 weeks say the postal workers here. After the president's visit, Yarza wants to write back. She knows what she'll say.

[04:20:20] YARZA: Thank you, son, for writing me back such a beautiful letter. Thank you for coming to Cuba.

CURNOW: A thank you and a standing offer to still come over for a cup of Cuban coffee. Robyn Curnow CNN Havana, Cuba.

HOWELL: And for the first time since the 1959 Cuban Revolution, a U.S. hotel company has signed the deal there. Starwood Hotels and Resorts worldwide will operate the hotel in this video under their luxury brand. The company will also run another hotel as four points by Sheraton.

Starwood received special permission from the United States to negtotiate the multi-million dollar deal in Cuba. Cubans are likely to see more changes in daily lives as well as more than five decades of cold-war animosity has ended. CNN asked people in Havana how they feel about Mr. Obama's upcoming visit there.

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MALE: (SPEAKING IN CUBAN)

FEMALE: We came to Cuba because we wanted to see it before all the big changes happened. We just hope that Obama - President Obama can make the best.

MALE: (SPEAKING IN CUBAN)

FEMALE: It sure helped me what I've seen in Cuba that people are really friendly and wanting to help, and they want change for themselves. So hopefully he'll be able to implement some kind of change on our end.

FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN CUBAN)

FEMALE: (SPEAKING IN CUBAN)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Amazing to hear from people there in Cuba as history unfolds there. Be sure to join CNN for special coverage of the U.S. President's visit to Cuba. Robyn Curnow will bring you an hour-long preview of the visit Sunday at 3 P.M. in London and stay with us for continuing coverage throughout the history making events in Havana, only on CNN.

Switching now to weather, climate change is believed to be affecting some key ingredients in one of the world's oldest beverages, beer. Meteorologist Derek Van Dam joins us now. To talk more about this, you mention beer, you get people's attention.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right. And we had St. Patrick's Day where they traditionally dye the beer green. And I was actually celebrating this holiday in the United States with my friends this past Thursday. I had one of my friends made a comment and said this beer doesn't taste the same. It doesn't look the same. I said, Hmm, maybe there's a story there, George so I investigated a little further and sure enough, climate change is impacting...

HOWELL: Did you have another beer to investigate?

VAN DAM: I did. That's the only way to...

(CROSSTALK)

VAN DAM: So apparently, climate change has already affected how our sudsy brews are produced and enjoyed by my friends and I myself. The hops, the grain, the water and the yeast, the essence of our beers all being impacted by warmer temperatures, more rain and less snowpack.

So let's get right to the details how does this happen. Maybe some water cooler talk for you at the office this weekend or around the dinner table. Look, we've got our barley, we've got our hops, and we've got our water for irrigation.

Remember, barley impacts the color of the beer. The hops impact the aromas and the taste. So how does climate change impact that region? First and foremost, we just set major records across the planet. Warmest month ever recorded, February 2016.

That comes on the heels of ten consecutive months of record-breaking heat throughout the entire earth. Now as we focus across the United States, the upper Midwest has been warming considerably faster than many parts of the United States. And this is significant because a large portion of our barley production is actually across the upper Midwest.

So as our temperatures warm throughout that region, we start to see the crops move further and further north. So that's our climate change aspect to this. And it's also allowing for the barley to be replaced by more profitable crops, like soybeans for instance. So that's a climb change aspect. We're also noticing that we are getting more rain than snow. Remember snowpack is so important for that irrigation. Once it melts in the spring and summer, but when the rain and snow melts too quickly, then we don't get hot summer months with the proper irrigation.

So that's going to impact the aroma as well as the tastes of our beers, considering that well, 70 percent of our hops are produced across the Pacific Northwest where that is occurring, also less snowpack available for irrigation throughout the United States that's going to impact the beer as well.

Take a look at this. I'll leave it on this. We actually had over 3,900 record-high set across the United States. A bit of fingerprint climate change taking place, but interesting how this all impacts the beer industry. I'm sure some of the beer masters out there are coming up with new ways, though to make beer adjusting. I don't think they'll have any problems selling it.

[04:26:16] HOWELL: You know, from beer to many other things. It's all connected.

VAN DAM: Yes, I agree.

HOWELL: Derek, thank you so much.

VAN DAM: Thanks, George.

HOWELL: You are watching CNN, moving and still ahead this hour. Chaos this weekend on the campaign trail for U.S. Presidential Candidate Trump. Anti-Trump protesters reach a new boiling point with scuffles, roadblocks and arrests.

Plus, Cuba, once a playground for the American mafia, now the heirs of the mobsters want the Cuban government to pay them. We'll explain as CNN NEWSROOM continues.

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[04:30:15] HOWELL: Well, welcome back to our viewers around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM and it is good to have you with us. I'm George Howell, the headlines this hour. In Belgium, prosecutors say it may take three months to extradite

Salah Abdeslam to France. The 26-year old faces terrorism and murder charges from last November's brutal attacks in Paris. 130 people died in those attacks. Police arrested Abdeslam after a gun battle Friday, in a Brussels suburb.

Mourners are leaving flowers at a Russian airport where a Flydubai passenger plane crashed on Saturday. That crash killing all 62 people on board. Authorities say the investigation into the cause of the crash will take months. Meanwhile, crews are combing through the wreckage. They will also be getting assistance from the United States and United Arab Emirates.

At least 5 people are dead and 18 injured after a tanker truck exploded in Southern China. State media reports that it happened on a major interstate in Hunan Province Saturday evening. Police say they suspect the truck was loaded with flammable and combustible materials,

History being made in Cuba. Later Sunday, Barack Obama will become the first U.S. President, sitting president, to visit Cuba in over eight decades. The three day visit comes after the two countries re- established relations. Mr Obama will meet with the Cuban president, attend a baseball game and talk to anti-government activists.

HOWELL: America's choice 2016 and now new video gives us a look at the rising tensions and the violent outbursts at a campaign rally, at many rallies for U.S. Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. Take a look for yourself in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday.

A Trump protester carrying a sign was repeatedly punched by an apparent Trump supporter. That man was quickly restrained and taken away. In another incident, it appears a Trump campaign manager grabbed the protester at the Tucson rally, and you can see the exchange highlighted here. Take a look.

The trump spokesperson says the protester was asked to leave but then grabbed the woman in front of him. And that's when trump's security detail stepped in. Police also made three arrests after protesters blocked a road leading to another Trump event this time in Arizona on Saturday.

Officers also towed away some cars that were in the way to clear the route. At least one person was hurt in New York during an anti-Trump march near one of his buildings there. According to reports, some protesters threw through water bottles at police and were pepper sprayed.

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders was also in the State of Arizona on Saturday and he had sharp criticism for Donald Trump. Sanders spoke in a town along the U.S. - Mexico border. All promising to reform U.S. Immigration policy, he referred to Donald Trump's controversial comments about Mexicans entering the United States as being rapists and criminals.

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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To insult an entire nation is not befitting of anybody, let alone a candidate for President of the United States. Our job as always is to bring people together, not drive them apart.

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HOWELL: Bernie Sanders there, and talking about Arizona. Arizona's primary headlines, the presidential contests on Tuesday and it's the biggest winner-take-all prize left in the republican calendar. The state is also the center of the country's battle over immigration. And as CNN Political Commentator Ross Douthat tells our Jonathan Mann, that could be a big boost for Donald Trump.

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ROSS DOUTHAT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Arizona is interesting because, you know as you guys were just talking about, it's a border state. The immigration issue is very salient there. If it weren't for the immigration issue, it might not be a great Trump state because it isn't a very working class state. It has a small but substantial Mormon population and Mormons have been very anti-Trump, which is why he is expected to lose big in Utah. But because of the border, because of the immigration issue, because he has made such an issue, most people are expecting him to carry Arizona.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN REPORTER: And all of this will roll on. His campaign will continue until the convention. Some republicans are saying there may be a way to stop him at the convention. Some people are suggesting even there he'll prevail. Is it too soon to be asking those kinds of questions or are those questions...

DOUTHAT: Now is the time to ask them because the reality is, and all the campaigns and everyone involved in republican politics now realizes this. The reality is that you have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of delegates who have been - are being selected in all kinds of complicated ways that vary from state to state and if Trump doesn't prevail on the first ballot, which is when all of those delegates are bound to the states who have voted for. Then you go to a second ballot and third ballot and with every ballot, more and more delegates become unbound and they get to vote for whoever they want to. So if you're Donald Trump or if you're Ted Cruz or if you're John Kasich or anyone else, you are trying to figure out who those delegates are and frankly, how you can get them to actually support you.

So, you know, someone who is officially a trump delegate from, let's say Arizona, they have to vote for Trump on the first ballot. But if Trump doesn't get the votes he needs on the first ballot, that delegate could vote for any name that's placed in nomination. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:51] HOWELL: That was CNN Political Commentator Ross Douthat speaking to our political Mann, Jonathan Mann and be sure to tune in to CNN as all five remaining presidential candidates, both democrats and republicans, sit down with our own Wolf Blitzer and Anderson cooper.

Five different conversations, one very important night. That is Monday at 8 PM eastern time, midnight in London, only here on CNN. The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has ordered a criminal complaint for defamation against a senator who is accused in the country's biggest corruption scandal.

This, according to Agence France-Presse, the scandal involves the state-run oil company Petrobras. Senator Delcidio do Amaral, I should say says Rousseff and her predecessor, Lula Da Silva, knew about a bribery scheme and tried to block investigations into it.

Amaral also says Rousseff used some of the money to fund her presidential campaigns. This all comes amid protests that erupted after Rousseff named Lula her chief of staff on Wednesday. Rousseff and Lula had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

President Rousseff is also facing impeachment proceedings. Earlier, CNN spoke with Brian Winter, the Vice President of Policy at the America Society and the Council of Americas. And we asked Winter why Rousseff is taking such a political risk to bring Lula back into government.

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BRIAN WINTER, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLICY AT THE AMERICA SOCIETY: He is still, in many respects the most talented politician in Brazil and she needs votes at this point. President Rousseff needs to find the votes that will prevent her impeachment, and she thinks that Lula is the best guy to do it.

This is somebody who prior to Rousseff, prior to being elected president in 2010, she had never run for any public office before. So she owes her career to Lula. But as the economy has fallen apart these last couple years, there have been lots of reports that Lula has been upset with her performance.

And so, as you say, it's a complicated relationship. She has repeatedly relied on him for political advice throughout her presidency. And so I think their relationship has had some troubles over the last few years, especially as the economy has fallen apart, but they have never stopped talking.

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HOWELL: That was policy V.P. Brian Winter of the American Society speaking with CNN earlier. Brazil's corruption scandal comes as the country prepares to host the Olympic Games in less than five months' time. U.S. Forces are taking part in what Seoul calls the largest ever,

joint military exercises in South Korea. These drills come, though, as tensions escalate on the peninsula. North Korea has launched more ballistic missiles on Friday, the second time in just eight days. Our Ivan Watson reports from aboard a U.S. Aircraft carrier off the Korean peninsula.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN REPORTER: That's an F-18 war plane. It's just taking off from the deck of a U.S. Aircraft carrier John C. Stennis, currently sailing in waters off the east of the Korean peninsula. This carrier strike group is here as part of annual, joint military exercises with South Korea.

But this is a time of great tension on the Korean peninsula. North Korea argues that these exercises could be a precursor to a military invasion. North Korea has launched missiles twice in just eight days. That's a move that's been seen as provocative and threatening, not only by the U.S., japan, and South Korea, but also by the United Nations Security Council.

They say that this is in violation of many U.N. Security Council resolutions, which prohibit North Korea from testing nuclear weapons or firing ballistic missiles. The U.S. is trying to reassure its allies in the region, while also sending a warning of deterrence to North Korea. The aircraft carrier is the largest warm machine in the U.S. Arsenal and by sending it to the region. This is an unmistakable show of military strength. Ivan Watson, CNN aboard the U.S. Aircraft carrier John C. Stennis.

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[04:40:34] HOWELL: This is CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, a girl who survived the war in Syria now has her eyes on the Olympics. This swimmer had to cross the sea to get to Europe and now she has another dream.

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HOWELL: Vatican City at 9:43 A.M. The pope is celebrating Palm Sunday mass in St. Peter's square. Palm Sunday is the last Sunday before Easter and marks the start of holy week, commemorating the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Christians will take part in a procession from the Mount of Olives to the old city.

This week on CCN, you may have caught a glimpse of own Richard Quest doing something that Richard Quest does not normally do -- flying economy. And we are not talking about a quick flight. We are talking about around the world trip, eight days flying nothing but budget airlines.

He and his team have been globetrotting to show that low cost can still be full-service. Here's Richard's latest update. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS TRAVELER HOST: It is day eight, the final day of flying on our round the world odyssey. The day started in Los Angeles. It brought me to New York. This is the Brooklyn Bridge, and tonight we fly on to London.

As you can hear, eight days of flying around the world has finally seemed to have taken its toll up in the air in that cabin atmosphere can't be that good for the old vocal chords. But what we have seen is the different ways in which low-cost carriers operate around the world. It's given us insight into who's doing what and how best to get advantage and value for the passenger. And now, London. That's our next stop. Richard Quest, CNN New York.

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[04:45:37] HOWELL: Rest your voice there. Richard Quest and the team should be touching down shortly in London, but you can catch up to their journey anytime by logging onto cnn.com/businesstraveler. You can see the path that they took around the globe. You can read the tweets that they sent out along the way and find out how much it costs to take this big trip.

A teenage girl who made the dangerous journey from Syria to Berlin has a new life and new ambition. She crossed one body of water to survive a war. But now she's looking to the water again for an Olympic win. Our Zain Asher has this story.

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ZAIN ASHER, CNN REPORTER: A swimmer from Syria, once a refugee, now an Olympic hopeful. Just seven months ago, Yusra Mardini fled the civil war in her home country leaving at the Syrian capital of Damascus with her sister, making the dangerous sea crossing to Greece, and then trekking several weeks across Europe to Germany.

YUSRA MARDINI, SYRIAN REFUGEE AND OLYMPIC ATHLETE: It was little hard for everyone.

ASHER: Now she's living in Berlin, going to school, swimming at a pool near her refugee center, training with a coach and determined to make it to the Olympics this summer.

MARDINI: The problem was - the reason of why I am here and why I am stronger and I want to reach my goals.

ASHER: Just 17 years old, Mardini is already an accomplished athlete. She represented her country at the Swimming World Championships in Turkey in 2012, but says training in Syria was challenging.

MARDINI: Sometimes we couldn't train because of the war or sometimes we had training and there's a bombing in the swimming pool.

ASHER: Now that she's left the war behind, Mardini hopes to qualify for Rio as a refugee athlete. MARDINI: The water there is no different if you are a refugee or

Syrian or - or German.

ASHER: Mardini says that swimming at the Olympics would be a dream come true and a chance to inspire people across the world.

MARDNIN: Everyone is excited and they want to see what I'm going to do and me too, actually.

ASHER: And if Mardini is selected, she'll be part of the IOC's very first team of refugee athletes. Zain Asher, CNN Atlanta.

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HOWELL: And we wish her the very best. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead in Cuba, the remnants of a criminal empire still stand, and now the heirs of an American mobster want to be compensated. We'll explain, next.

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HOWELL: U.S President Barack Obama will be in Cuba later today, but the island is strikingly different than when Fidel Castro took power in 1959. And as our Patrick Oppmann tells us the relatives of an American mobster are demanding compensation for the criminal empire lost in the Cuban Revolution.

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GARY RAPPAPORT: Did they figure about a year. He had been broke - he either have been paid off, as far as the investment. And he didn't get that year.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN NEWSROOM REPORTER: GARY RAPPAPORT remembers his grandfather's hotel in Havana, the Hotel Riviera. When it was built in 1957, the Riviera was one of Cuba's most luxurious hotels. The Riviera catered to the American judge said who wanted a swanky hotel, a place in black jack with an ocean view. The party ended when Fidel Castro took power and sent Americans packing including the Riviera's owner, Meyer Lansky.

If the name sounds familiar, it's because Lansky was the brains of the American mafia. He raked in a fortune from bootlegging and gambling. He was so notorious; a character based on Lansky appeared in The Godfather Part II.

MEYER LANSKY, HEAD OF AMERICAN MAFIA: This is the business we've chosen. OPPMANN: But Lansky he went broke when Castro seized his Havana investments. Pursued by the U.S. government for decades, Lansky died in 1983. He never put in a claim for the properties he lost in the communist island. But now the parts are warming between U.S. and Cuba, Lansky's grandson Gary and daughter Sandra want the Cuban government to pay them for what they took away.

RAPPAPORT: I think it owes us. I mean, I think we're - and I'm speaking for my mom and my uncle Paul and myself. We're the remainders of the estate of Meyer Lansky. They owed Meyer Lansky.

OPPMANN: Cuban officials say they are willing to negotiate to re- settle with the Americans who lost property at the revolution. But the Cubans hold billions for damages from the U.S. Trade Embargo.

It's hard to imagine Cuban officials paying money to the family of a man they call a mobster. One roadblock from Meyer Lanksy's heirs couldn't be that the Cuban government views the mob hotels as symbols of vice and corruption. They were confiscated rather than nationalized. Cuban officials say making it much less likely that the government here would ever pay compensation for the Hotel Riviera. Landsky's daughter and grandson live simply in Florida.

They inherited Lansky's notoriety but little of his alleged ill-gotten gains.

RAPPAPORT: There was a lot in the estate that never got to us. Do we cry about it? No. We're Lansky's. We just move on.

OPPMANN: The Riviera Hotel remains just out of reach for his family. It is now a shadow of its former self, waiting perhaps for another wealthy investor to return Meyer Lansky's hotel to its former glory. Patrick Oppmann, CNN Havana.

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HOWELL: In the United States, a video meant for Missouri law enforcement's eyes only turned up online. It is essentially a how-to video for making methamphetamines, meant to be used for training purposes but now, it is now on YouTube. KTVi's Erika Tallan has the story.

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[04:55:07] ERIKA TALLAN, KTVi NEWS REPORTER: Along the banks of the Missouri River, people are still talking about a report last night, video surfacing of the Missouri State Highway Patrol making meth.

UNKNOWN MALE: I think it's crap. I think you don't have to make meth to walk in and know that it's a meth lab.

UNKNOWN MALE: I think they messed up.

UNKNOWN MALE: Does not make any sense.

UNKNOWN MALE: They're saving lives in the process. TALLAN: That's Jason Grellner, the President of the Missouri Narcotics

Officers Association. He says the highway patrol's step by step recipe to make meth may look bad but was the key on Missouri's war on meth.

JASON GRELLNER, PRESIDENT OF THE MISSOURI NARCOTICS OFFICERS ASSOCIATION: You don't know when an investigator is going to step into this lab. They really need to know the process and what part of the process the cook is in so they will know how to handle the chemicals for the safety of themselves and everyone that's around them.

TALLAN: It didn't just help law enforcement clean up meth lab then gather evidence. It helps identify a dangerous situation so they'd know to get out.

GRELLNER: In our heyday in 2004, 2005, when you were finding nearly 3,000 meth labs a year in Missouri, a normal street officer going out on a domestic could walk into a meth lab. A firefighter or an EMS person who is going - getting called to a scene could walk in on a meth lab. We were using these to train firefighters, to train all first responders, EMS, paramedics to know what they're walking in on.

TALLAN: And as embarrassing as it may be for the highway patrol to have this video out there, there are a number of others just like it already online.

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HOWELL: Fascinating. That was KTVi's Erika Tallan reporting for us. And with that, we thank you for joining us. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'll be back after the break with another hour of news from around the world. You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.

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