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World Leaders Pledge to Protect Stockpiles; Trump Struggles after Tough Week; Democratic Race Turns Nasty; Construction Company Charged in Bridge Collapse; Kenya Marks One Year Since Garissa Massacre; Migrants Protest Possible Deportation; Inside Ancient Palmyra, after ISIS; Public Perception of Hillary Clinton; First Look at Scoot, All-Electric Vehicle. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired April 02, 2016 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): U.S. President Barack Obama says the world has made progress reducing the threat of nuclear weapons but acknowledges some serious challenges still remain.
Plus: as the race for the Democratic Party nomination heats up in the state of Wisconsin, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton get a little more critical of each other.
And painful memories amid new beginnings, as surviving students of the deadly attacks at Kenya's Garissa University come together one year later.
Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
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HOWELL: A good day to you. We begin this hour with the efforts of world leaders to ensure that nuclear weapons and materials don't fall into the wrong hands. That was the focus of the nuclear summit that was held in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. president, Barack Obama, says an important treaty is now expected to go into effect. That treaty requires member states to do more to secure their radioactive materials.
Plus, China has pledged to work closer with the U.S. Beijing plays a key role in enforcing sanctions against North Korea, which is believed to have nuclear weapons.
Mr. Obama also says he wants to reduce America's nuclear arsenal further but he says the U.S. cannot act alone.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One of the challenges that we're going to have here is that it is very difficult to see huge reductions in our nuclear arsenal, unless the United States and Russia, as the two largest possessors of nuclear weapons, are prepared to lead the way.
The other area where I think we need to see progress is Pakistan and India, that subcontinent, making sure that as they develop military doctrines, that they are not continually moving in the wrong direction.
And we have to take a look at the Korean Peninsula, because the DPRK, North Korea, is in a whole difference category and poses the most immediate set of concerns for all of us, one that we are working internationally to focus on.
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HOWELL: As you heard there from the U.S. president, North Korea is still a key obstacle for global nuclear peace. It was just Thursday that Pyongyang fired yet another short-range missile. This time it landed in the east coast off the peninsula there. All this according to South Korea.
Plus, North Korea's country feels threatened by military exercises between the United States and the South and now Pyongyang says that all the talk in Washington will not stop its nuclear program.
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SO SE PYONG, NORTH KOREA'S AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: If the United States continues, then we have to make the counter basis also, as I told you. So we have to develop and we have to make more deterrence, nuclear deterrence.
At this juncture, how can we discuss about those things right now?
So we are busy to deal with this deal. You know the city wall takes us off the city's under peninsula now (ph).
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HOWELL: Of all the world leaders who attended that summit in Washington, one major power was missing: Russia. Our Brian Todd explains why.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the Brussels and Paris attacks, a clear message from ISIS. They can and will hit Western cities and kill as many civilians as they can. And it appears ISIS wants to create more devastation.
After the Paris attacks investigators in a raid found surveillance footage of an employee at a Belgian nuclear facility.
ANDREW BIENIAWSKI, NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE: And that nuclear facility had highly-enriched uranium, but also produced these radiological sources. So now we know that they actually are trying to take steps to try and acquire these materials. And so therefore we need specific action coming out of this Nuclear Security Summit.
TODD (voice-over): But at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington one leader who could make a huge difference in securing nuclear material was a no- show. Vladimir Putin has once again snubbed President Obama.
BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Russia's lack of participation obviously --
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RHODES: -- in our view, is, frankly, counter-productive.
TODD (voice-over): Russia has more than half the world's stockpile of nuclear materials and its safeguards haven't always been air tight.
BIENIAWSKI: There was an example several years ago where an insider employee at one of the Russian facilities at Luch was slowly taking out small quantities of nuclear material from that site.
PETER BERGEN, AUTHOR, "UNITED STATES OF JIHAD": Certainly historically -- I mean I've been to Russia and gone to some of their nuclear facilities and, you know, in the years after 9/11 it was very amateur the way they were, they were holding these radioactive materials.
TODD: But experts say the Russians have since gotten better at securing nuclear material. Security analysts say, if Putin had shown up at the summit, he could have shared intelligence on how to keep ISIS away from nuclear and radiological material.
Either way, the terror group would have a tough time getting its hands on a nuclear weapon.
But radiological material for a dirty bomb, often stored in hospitals and industrial complexes, is far less secure. ISIS can access that. And ISIS supporters in the U.S. haven't been bashful about where they want to strike.
This kind of target is really their aspiration, right?
BERGEN: Yes. So mass casualty attack clearly their aspiration. The radiological bomb, if it went off here, many people dead in the immediate vicinity, but the much bigger deal, Brian, is that it would disperse radioactive material all around downtown Washington, several block area. It would close down the city for maybe years.
TODD: Responding to the criticism of Putin for not showing up at the summit, a Russian official told us they're not sending a bad message and there's much more to nuclear security than this summit.
The Russians have also ticked off some reasons for Vladimir Putin's absence from the summit. They say some countries with nuclear material, like Iran, are not participating. They say most of the key goals for nuclear security have already been reached, so no need to show up.
And they say the U.S. is unfairly pushing its agenda on international groups like the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog and Interpol -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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HOWELL: America's choice 2016 and the race for the White House and some sharp words from the current U.S. president, who says Donald Trump hasn't shown that he knows much about foreign policy or much about the world at large, for that matter.
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HOWELL (voice-over): Earlier this week, the Republican presidential candidate suggested that Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons to defend against North Korea.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They tell us that the person who made the statements doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally.
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HOWELL: Meanwhile, a 180 from Donald Trump, now back to saying that he could be open to the idea of a third-party run. He told FOX News it all depends upon how Republican leaders treat him.
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CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS HOST: Are you ruling out running as an independent third party candidate?
Are you ruling that out?
DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, I'm by far the
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TRUMP: -- no, it's not that simple. I'm by far the front-runner as a Republican. I want to run as a Republican. I will beat Hillary Clinton.
WALLACE: But if you don't get the nomination?
TRUMP: We're going to have to see how I was treated. I'm going to have to see how I was treated, very simple.
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HOWELL: Back in September, the Republican candidates pledged to back the party's nominee.
But they basically all abandoned that pledge on Tuesday. And compounding a tough week for Donald Trump, some polls show that Ted Cruz now has a double-digit lead over him in Wisconsin, the next crucial primary. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty explains.
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TRUMP: Do we love Wisconsin, right?
Do we love it?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump is facing a pivotal moment.
TRUMP: Wisconsin is very important.
Who's going to vote for Trump on April 5th?
SERFATY (voice-over): Tuesday's Wisconsin primary now a big test, as the GOP front-runner tries to rebound from the toughest week of his campaign.
TRUMP: It's a very serious problem.
SERFATY (voice-over): Trump is attempting to clean up his controversial comments earlier this week, when asked if women should be punished for having an abortion if it became illegal.
TRUMP: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.
SERFATY (voice-over): But he then reversed his position and now a rare admission from the billionaire:
TRUMP: It could be that I misspoke, but this was a long, convoluted subject.
SERFATY (voice-over): Yet Trump is not backing down from another firestorm he sparked this week, standing by his refusal to rule out using nuclear weapons in Europe.
TRUMP: Europe's a big place. The last person to use nuclear would be Donald Trump. I think it is a horrible thing. The thought of it is horrible. But I don't want to take anything off the table.
SERFATY (voice-over): Trump's stumbles providing an opening for the Stop Trump movement kicking their efforts --
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SERFATY (voice-over): -- into overdrive in Wisconsin.
CHARLIE SYKES, CONSERVATIVE RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Donald Trump is coming into a state that I think has his number.
SERFATY (voice-over): Lining up influential conservative talk radio hosts, the state's governor and grassroots activists to blunt Trump before the race moves east into potentially friendlier territory for Trump. SYKES: I believe he poses an existential threat not just to the Republican Party -- and they can look out for themselves -- but to actually conservative principles and the image going forward.
SERFATY (voice-over): And Trump's rivals are not letting up in their attacks.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The problem for him with town halls is he actually has to answer questions in a specific way.
SERFATY (voice-over): That backlash comes as Trump aims to mend fences with the Republican Party, sitting down Thursday with officials at the RNC, including Chairman Reince Priebus.
REINCE PRIEBUS, RNC CHAIRMAN: We need to talk about unity and working together.
SERFATY (voice-over): A source familiar with the meeting tells CNN that Priebus told Trump that his disparaging comments about the RNC made it difficult with donors and activists, whose help he'll need if he becomes the nominee.
TRUMP: Actually a terrific meeting, I think. And it's really a unity meeting.
SERFATY (voice-over): Even as he talks about unity, Trump isn't backing down from the campaign fight, releasing a new Instagram video targeting Ted Cruz.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA; I think he's been just as wrong as Obama, if not worse.
SERFATY (voice-over): While Ted Cruz is staying on the offensive against Trump.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Nominating Donald Trump could be a train wreck. And that's not fair to the train wrecks.
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HOWELL: That was CNN's Sunlen Serfaty reporting for us.
Now to the Democratic race -- and things are getting more personal. Just days ahead of two crucial primaries in the states of Wisconsin and New York, front-runner Hillary Clinton says that Bernie Sanders' campaign is lying about her record and she's sick of it. Now Sanders says Clinton is the one who's lying.
So who's who?
Who's lying?
Jason Carroll has the latest for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, a growing intensity in the Democratic primary fight as Hillary Clinton tries to shed rival Bernie Sanders.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just go crazy when I hear Senator Sanders and the Tea Party Republicans railing against the export-import bank.
CARROLL (voice-over): Clinton holds a significant lead in the delegate count, but on the heels of a string of Western victories, Sanders is vowing to carry on to the July convention.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we win here in New York, we are going to make it to the White House.
CARROLL (voice-over): Sanders is challenging Clinton in her adopted home state of New York, rallying more than 18,000 supporters in the Bronx Thursday night.
And here in Wisconsin, polls show him with a narrow lead over Clinton ahead of Tuesday's primary.
Despite his delegate gap, Sanders insists there's still a path for him to win the nomination.
SANDERS: If you get 60 percent, 70 percent, 80 percent of the vote in a state, you know what, I think super delegates should vote for us.
CARROLL: Sanders is likely to have the resources to push forward. His campaign saying it raised $44 million in March, eclipsing its $43 million haul from February. The hard-fought race growing more intense by the way. With Clinton being confronted by a climate activist after a New York event Thursday night.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you protect -- with climate change, will you act on your word and reject fossil fuel money in the future of your campaign?
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do not -- I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies. I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about that. I'm sick of it.
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CARROLL: Sanders rejecting the charge that his campaign is lying about Clinton's donations, saying she received money from lobbyists who represent the fuel industry. And tonight, at a rally in Wisconsin, he called on Clinton to apologize.
SANDERS: Secretary Clinton, you owe our campaign an apology. We were telling the truth.
CARROLL: The Democratic rivals also trading jabs over abortion. Clinton is accusing Sanders of not denouncing Donald Trump forcefully enough for his comments that women who have abortions should be punished if the procedure were to become illegal.
CLINTON: Senator Sanders agreed that Donald Trump's comments were shameful, but then he said they were a distraction from and I quote, a serious discussion about the serious issues facing America.
CARROLL: Sanders is charging Clinton with misrepresenting his record.
SANDERS: What Secretary Clinton is take things out of context. I am 100 percent pro-choice.
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HOWELL: That was CNN's Jason Carroll reporting for us.
You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead this hour, the latest on a deadly overpass collapse in Kolkata, India. A look at who authorities in India are blaming.
Plus: Kenya marks a somber anniversary with some students who survived the Garissa University attack, telling us what they remember from that day. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to NEWSROOM, I'm George Howell.
The latest now on the deadly collapse of an overpass in India. Authorities are now charging a construction company for that incident. At least 24 people were killed on Thursday in Kolkata. An executive of the company denied any fault, saying that the disaster was an act of God.
CNN's Sumnima Udas has been at Kolkata's Girish Park area, covering this developing story for us and she spoke with some of the victims' families.
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SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despair and mourning, Ajay and Surika Kannoy (ph) were on a hand-pulled rickshaw, headed to a nearby hospital to visit an ailing relative when a roughly meter- long chunk of concrete and metal came crashing down. In seconds, their lives ended. While at home the world turned upside
down for their two sons, their shaved heads a sign of grieving in Hindu families.
Twenty-five-year-old Abi Sheikh Kannoy (ph) had to identify his parents' bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not (INAUDIBLE) to mankind and explain your (INAUDIBLE).
UDAS (voice-over): Twenty-five-year-old Abi Sheikh Kannoy (ph) had to identify his parents' bodies.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) very bad. They were not (INAUDIBLE) see (INAUDIBLE) very. Full body was burned (ph).
UDAS (voice-over): Their father was the sole breadwinner running a timber treating (ph) business. He was Bidna Davies' (ph) only son.
"We didn't hear from them for hours. We couldn't get in touch with them and then we heard the --
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UDAS (voice-over): -- "overpass collapse. I just went cold," she says.
After a frantic four hours of searching, calling, hoping and praying, she found out what happened.
"There's no limit to hardship and sorrow in life. Sometimes it's happiness, other times it's all darkness. My heart bleeds with pain. He was my only son," she says.
In a neighborhood across the country, people want to know how it happened, who is accountable. But here there's no anger.
"Who can we blame?"
"We don't all blame anyone. We blame our faith."
They're still in a state of shock, aware of what's happened but unable to make sense of it -- Sumnima Udas, CNN, Kolkata, India.
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HOWELL: In South Africa, the country's president, Jacob Zuma, is facing calls to resign. This after South Africa's highest court determined Zuma broke the law in using public funds to renovate his private home.
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HOWELL (voice-over): The constitutional court ruled Mr. Zuma improperly used $15 million in state funds for his home's upgrades. You see his home here. While some opposition party members are urging Mr. Zuma's impeachment,
the ruling African National Congress is rallying around him. In a televised address, Mr. Zuma apologized to South Africans.
JACOB ZUMA, PRESIDENT, SOUTH AFRICA: The matter has caused a lot of frustration and confusion, for which I apologize on my behalf and on behalf of government. I urge all parties to respect the judgment and abide by it. Let us use the judgment to build and further strengthen our democracy.
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HOWELL: President Zuma has been ordered to repay state funds that were spent on any upgrades that were not related to security.
In Kenya, a somber anniversary this day. It has been one year now since the Garissa University massacre, that massacre that killed 148 people, all gunned down Al-Shabaab militants. They went door-to-door on the school's campus, targeting Christians specifically.
The attack has left a lasting scar on those who survived that day. Many of those students are now attending a school in Eldoret and that is where our Robyn Kriel is live this hour following the story for us.
Robyn, it's good to have you this day. So this is a day that so many survivors are reliving, a nightmare, just simply thankful that they are alive. But this is a day that they saw many of their classmates killed.
ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a truly mixed bag of emotions, George. Every now and again, a student walks out in tears. There are 600 Garissa University college students here, who came here to Moi University after their college was attacked last year by Al-Shabaab gunmen.
And one thing Juliette (ph) said to me yesterday. She is a survivor who we spoke to, was that today could have just as easily have been a memorial day for her, had she not survived this attack.
And I think that's what's really resonating with students here, that it could have just as easily been them and not just the Garissa University students who survived. There is a thinking at -- across Kenya universities and, indeed, across the world, that this kind of terror attack could have happened anywhere.
Here's what a few students we spoke to yesterday had to say about the one-year anniversary since the Garissa attack.
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KRIEL (voice-over): Like many university students, Ben Nwete (ph) is on a journey. But his is different than most.
BEN NWETE (PH), UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I tried to crawl. I crawled up to the door. That's where now I was rescued. And as they were rescuing me, some Al-Shabaab said they were coming in and they killed that person who was rescuing us.
KRIEL (voice-over): Shot by terrorists during an attack on his university, Ben lay for hours motionless, playing dead.
One year on after suffering debilitating injuries, Ben is moving again.
NWETE (PH): I am good that I am able to work. Currently I am using a bicycle. I cannot walk for very long distance. But I can run. I can play. I can do very many things.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They caught us when they were in the prayers in the hall. And when they shoot us, I fall down. They first threw us at grenades, which hit on my face.
KRIEL (voice-over): Evelyn Chepkemoi can finally walk unassisted and is proud of it.
This school houses almost all of the --
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KRIEL (voice-over): -- survivors of the Garissa University massacre. Hundreds of miles away from the site of the attack, it's much more secure and allows for diversion.
Still, students fear more attacks and remember the friends they have lost, like Judith Chepkemboi (ph). She was one of Evelyn's roommates. Of the six girls in their dorm room, only three survived. Two of them still live together. Roommate Juliet Nunjala (ph) carries one reminder of her best friend.
JULIET NUNJALA (PH), UNIVERSITY STUDENT: This picture of mine (INAUDIBLE) reminds me of Judith. But I don't want to do whatever she is, to distribute. I will be glad to have you.
KRIEL (voice-over): Judith is not here anymore. But her friendship, an everlasting gift.
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KRIEL: That singing that you hear behind me, George, is students of Garissa University choir. They are singing a beautiful hymn and they will be heard throughout today's service. Today a memorial for those students who died but also a celebration of their lives.
I just want to talk about security, George, security here at Moi University is fairly tight. There are a number of armed policemen around but there are still scares.
Just some of these university students from Garissa, telling us that they, a number of them, still suffering from symptoms of post- traumatic stress disorder. Every now and again they'll hear tear gas if there have been any riots or anything like that here on campus.
And they say that it has even caused stampedes and some injuries. So there is still this feeling of unrest on this campus.
We can also tell you about how Al-Shabaab, the gunmen that attacked Garissa University, has been handled by the Kenyan security services. There has not been another major attack since the Garissa University college attack. And since then, we have had a number of high-profile visits.
And we do understand that both the African Union forces fighting Al- Shabaab in Somalia, including Kenyan forces, have been launching offenses as well as U.S. drone strikes against the terror group -- George.
HOWELL: That is beautiful music there to hear behind you on this day, a day that so many families, those survivors are thankful and those families who lost loved ones are still dealing with such pain.
Robyn Kriel, thank you so much for your reporting.
It is 4:27 on the East Coast of the U.S. And still to come this hour, hundreds of migrants and refugees could soon face deportation from Greece back to Turkey. And some are saying they won't go.
Plus: inside the ancient city of Palmyra after the destruction caused by ISIS. We are live in the U.S. and around the world this hour. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.
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HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers, here in the United States and around the world. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. It is good to have you with us. I'm George Howell. The headlines this hour:
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HOWELL: Now to the migrant crisis in Europe. Police say that hundreds of migrants and refugees tore down part of the razor wire fence surrounding a building where they were being held on a Greek island.
They marched 10 kilometers, that's about 6.2 miles, to a port to protest the deal between the European Union and Turkey. Under it, any migrant who arrived in Greece after March 20th must remain in a holding center -- many have holding centers there -- and will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum requests are then rejected.
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MUSTAPHA, MIGRANT FROM LEBANON: People here in (INAUDIBLE), I don't know how they are going to treat us. I don't -- they are going (INAUDIBLE), I don't know. We are not going back. We have families in Europe (INAUDIBLE).
(INAUDIBLE)? You know.
And they are -- they promise that (INAUDIBLE), that you can make it with education, that you can make asylum. But police aren't accepting any applications. What they are (INAUDIBLE)? You know?
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HOWELL: That migrant deal between the E.U. and Turkey is supposed to go into effect Monday. The U.N., though, is warning that neither country is ready for it yet. The plan is for Ankara to take back refugees who have left Turkey for Europe if their asylum requests have been rejected.
For every Syrian returned to Turkey, the E.U. will resettle a Syrian asylum speaker from Turkey. The E.U. will also speed up payment of some $3.3 billion already promised to Turkey to help pay for the refugees.
And the E.U. will waive visa requirements for Turkish citizens by next June. Both sides will continue to negotiate Turkey's possible membership into the E.U.
We move on now to Syria and the ancient city of Palmyra. We are getting a much closer look now at the damage that was done by ISIS there. Syrian troops recaptured the city from ISIS last weekend with the aid of Russian airpower. But much of Palmyra is now a shell of what it once was.
ITN's Lindsey Hilsum takes us inside that city and what remains of its historic treasures.
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LINDSEY HILSUM, INTERNATIONAL EDITOR FOR CHANNEL 4 NEWS: Palmyra's arch may have been demolished by the Islamic State. But triumph is exactly what Syrian soldiers feel. The officers know the symbolism of stones.
"The people without a past," he says, "is a people without a future."
No one knew the propaganda value of Palmyra better than ISIS. They destroyed columns and temples, supposedly in a campaign against idolatry, but --
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HILSUM: -- really to shock the world.
They left the Roman amphitheater intact because it made a dramatic back drop for their videos of horror.
Imagine, just last year local men were forced to come and sit here and watch an extraordinary spectacle, as 25 teenage jihadists came on to this ancient stage. With them 25 Syrian soldiers who they murdered.
It's just extraordinary to think of such barbarity, such a theater of cruelty in the modern world.
A group of Russian officers arrived, but they are camera shy even though it is their bombing that may have saved Palmyra.
Towering above the site, looms a Medieval citadel. This damage was caused by months of mortars and government bombardment, but it was only in the last few weeks, when Russian aircraft took to the skies with Iranian and Hezbollah fighters on the ground that the Syrian army could prevail over the jihadis.
MAJDI AL-SHAMLAT, SYRIAN ARMY (through translator): There were many explosives and mines and the heaviest battles were with the terrorists around the castle. They had all kinds of weapons and as soon as we appeared they fired everything at us. We killed many of them. We saw them dragging away the bodies and the wounded.
HILSUM: Before fleeing, ISIS militants rigged the streets of the modern town adjacent to the site with explosive devices and mines right up to the flagpole where last year they hanged the Khaled al- Assad (ph), 81-year-old keeper of the Palmyra museum, a brutal message to anyone who might want to stop the looting and destruction.
The beauty of Palmyra is stunning. Syrian archeologists say they can rehabilitate the site in five years if they get the money and if there can be peace. The current calm is more fragile than carving on stones.
Signs of the ISIS presence, a jihadi must have slept here.
The graffiti says keep out by order of the Islamic State.
The devastation at the temple of Baal is shocking.
This is what the sacred sanctuary of the Temple of Baal used to look like. Tens of thousands of tourists flocked here to see it. And this is what it looks like now, just rubble, a ruin, completely destroyed. Islamic State militants packed it with explosives and blew it up. And it is almost impossible to imagine how it can be restored.
The stones are shattered and some archaeologists think it would not only be futile but wrong to try to rebuild as exactly as it was.
JOANNE FARCHAKH, ARCHAEOLOGISIST, BLUE SHIELD: The identity of Palmyra can't be the same anymore. It's true, Palmyra is a world heritage site, but for now Palmyra is a site that has witnessed massacres, 400 people have been killed inside the Roman theater.
People will not look at this site against as it was before. It's now a place where there is blood. The ruins have blood on them. And it is modern blood, it's not old blood.
Can we treat it the same way as if this never happened before?
HILSUM: In Syria, the past isn't over. It's not even past. The battle for Palmyra has not only changed the course of this modern war but changed forever this precious ancient site. (END VIDEOTAPE)
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HOWELL: America's choice 2016, the race for the White House, and tensions are rising just ahead of crucial Democratic primaries in both Wisconsin and New York.
Hillary Clinton had a heated exchange with a climate change activist on Thursday and said that she is sick of Bernie Sanders' campaign, quote, "lying" about who donates to her campaign.
Sanders says his campaign has not lied and the former secretary of state owes him an apology, he says.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: According to an analysis done by Greenpeace, Hillary Clinton's campaign and her super PAC have received more than $4.5 million from the fossil fuel industry.
In fact, 57 oil, gas and coal industry lobbyists have directly contributed to her campaign, with 43 of them contributing the maximum allowed for the primary.
And these are not just workers in the fossil fuel industry. These are paid, registered lobbyists.
Secretary Clinton, you owe our campaign an apology. We were telling the truth.
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HOWELL: So the gloves coming off there between Clinton and Sanders. But let's take a closer look now at Hillary Clinton. Her resume is impressive. Her experience is virtually unrivaled in the race for the president.
So why does she constantly struggle with being likable?
Jonathan Mann takes a look for us.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She doesn't seem very warm, she doesn't seem very genuine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has a lot of baggage and she doesn't appear honest. People haven't liked her for years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hate to say it's just her personality which is just not a fair thing to say because she's a woman and she comes off as kind of serious. You hear a lot on the news about her yelling.
JONATHAN MANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are impressions that barely scratch the surface of Hillary Clinton's decades if public life, but they are deep-seated and, for Clinton, they are a problem.
Hillary Clinton has been many things, a middle class girl from the north side of Chicago, a Yale scholar, the first lady of Arkansas and then the first lady of the United States.
After a tumultuous eight years in the White House, she would go on to serve as Senator for New York. The only First lady to ever hold the post. And then, in 2007, she became a candidate for President herself. She has worn many hats and famously many pantsuits and she is judged for her clothes, her hair, her marriage, her integrity and something much more basic, her likability.
OBAMA: You're likable enough.
CLINTON: Thank you so much.
MANN (voice-over): A CBS "New York Times" poll found that 52 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of her. Donald Trump, perhaps the most polarizing politician in America today, is disliked by only slightly more voters, 57 percent.
There have been questions, scandals, investigations, about a land development deal from her days in Arkansas, known as Whitewater; about the deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, when she was secretary of state; about her decision to handle her government communications on a private e-mail server.
What do --
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MANN (voice-over): -- all the episodes have in common?
No wrongdoing was ever proven, but she was never able to wash away the stain of scandal.
MARGARET HOOVER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: The problem with Hillary Clinton isn't the substance, the problem is the style.
The problem is, is she the person you want to have a beer with?
MANN (voice-over): And then of course there was Monica Lewinsky, her husband's relationship with a White House intern that nearly brought down his presidency.
JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It's important to remember that Bill Clinton is still one of the most popular living American politicians, but the downside is those scandals. And to the extent that mentions of Monica Lewinsky dredge up a lot of memories that people would not like to relive. MANN (voice-over): There may be something else. Maybe many Americans are just uncomfortable with a woman as successful and fiercely ambitious at Hillary Clinton. Years ago, she identified the problem.
CLINTON: I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies.
HOOVER: She again has already competed in the presidential primary eight years ago. She has been the secretary of state of the United States by the way, the third female secretary of state in the United States, so at this point, I don't think it's sexism.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary!
MANN (voice-over): Supporters insist Clinton is still judged unfairly.
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So this will be a big test for the country and whether or not we're able to look passed all of these cultural social and media biases and look at the person the individual, their leadership traits and what they bring to the conversation. That's the big test that she will have to pass.
MANN (voice-over): Compare her to some of the most important men in her life today. Clinton is not credited with Bernie Sanders' honesty, Donald Trump's candor or her husband's magnetism, but she is doggedly working towards the Democratic presidential nomination.
And as she approaches the general election, she will at some point have to convince Americans that she can be the first female President of the United States, whether they like her or not -- Jonathan Mann, CNN.
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HOWELL: Switching now to weather, some severe storms have battered parts of the southeastern United States and our meteorologist, Karen Maginnis, is at the International Weather Center following those stories -- Karen.
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HOWELL: Karen, thank you so much.
This is CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, Nissan is adding a new vehicle to its lineup. And it's unlike any car you have ever seen before. Look at that. We'll show you the Scoot on the streets of New York for the first time.
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HOWELL (voice-over): In Egypt, the mystery behind Queen Nefertiti's final resting place is not over yet. But archaeologists may be one step closer to figuring it out. They have been scanning what they believe are recently discovered chambers behind King Tut's tomb. You're looking at his tomb here.
Results from those scans will be ready soon and could prove that Queen Nefertiti's remains were placed there some 3,000 years ago.
NICHOLAS REEVES, EGYPTOLOGIST: It is still a possibility to find something this really remarkable here. And I think if we do find something that's remarkable and the engineers here, the science and the Egyptian government will find a way of revealing this.
But we are not there yet. We are still testing the hypothesis.
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HOWELL: Not yet there but fascinating.
Now into San Francisco, a startup there is looking to make waves with a new all-electric car. Nissan has partnered with the firm to design what's called the Scoot, which hopes to attract urban drivers. Our Maggie Lake took a Scoot for a spin on the streets of Manhattan.
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MAGGIE LAKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you are sick of driving around for hours, looking for a parking spot or spending a bunch of money filling up your car, Nissan thinks they have the vehicle for you.
Where, Rachel, what are these things?
Are they golf carts?
RACHAEL NGUYEN, DIRECTOR, NISSAN FUTURE LAB: It's a vehicle, I'm happy to introduce for the first time on the streets of New York our Nissan new mobility concept.
LAKE: It kind of looks like a toy or like a go-kart.
What can this thing do?
NGUYEN: It's a production vehicle. Its top speed is --
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NGUYEN: -- 25 miles per hour and it's electric, no gas, 100 percent electric. So part of the cool factor is our scissor doors.
LAKE: Very nice. This is very race car feeling, I think.
NGUYEN: It's pretty simple.
LAKE: All right, get in and go.
This feels good. I have to say. You definitely have the bumpy feel.
Where does this fall between bike and zip cars?
NGUYEN: This car's really evolved to be get out in the city.
LAKE: So this is more in city all day in and out, parking quickly.
NGUYEN: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to drive that.
LAKE AND NGUYEN: You like it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This looks interesting. I don't know about my 6 foot frame fitting in there.
LAKE: Well, let's see.
NGUYEN: How does it feel?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It feels good. Put the pedal to the metal.
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HOWELL: That is definitely the answer to parking in places like New York. There is no official word yet, though, on when the Scoot will be available to the public.
We thank you for watching this hour. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I will be back after the break with another hour of news from around the world. This is CNN, the world's news leader.
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