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Rescue Efforts Still Ongoing After Earthquake in Japan; Death Toll Rises To 32 In Japan From Quake; 41 People Confirmed Dead from 7.8 Magnitude Quake In Ecuador; Sports Headlines; Pope Francis Brings Three Syrian Families Back To Rome From Greece On His Plane; United States Said Saturday Nine Yemenis Who Were Former Guantanamo Detainees Would Be Transferred To Saudi Arabia; Aired 4-5a ET

Aired April 17, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:13] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers around the world, we begin with the breaking news that we're following here on CNN.

Two major earthquakes who hit opposite sides of the Pacific, in Japan, rescue efforts are still under way from Saturday's earthquake, but the latest to hit was in Ecuador, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the coast there at this point we know that 77 people are confirmed dead, there are 600 more are injured.

It lead to evacuations, people had to leave their homes along the coastline and they are just now returning. Now, with the threat of tsunami gone, equates epicenter was about 170 kilometers or about 107 miles from the Ecuadorian capital of Quito. And since that initial quake, there had been some 36 after shocks spilled so far. The vice president of that country addressed the nation on the government response to the disaster. Listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

JORGE GLAS, VICE PRESIDENT ECUADOR: We are continuing to receive information from the National System regarding health during this regrettable lost of life of citizens. The number is still need to be confirmed, the entire public forces and state of maximum alert to protect the lives of citizens. There are some zones in certain cities that do not have electricity as a result of titanic movement.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HOWELL: Now, as to the full extent of the damage crews are still getting a full picture with our meteorologist Derek Van Dam is on tract with the very latest ...

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST: Well, the extent of the damage could potentially get worst with likely aftershocks that will continue, George, this isn't part of the world that produces some of the largest and most destructive earthquakes in fact 7 -- magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes have occurred since the year 1900.

Look at these pictures coming out of Esmeraldas City just outside of Quito and obviously buildings compromised lot of destruction and unfortunately with the potential for further aftershocks which by the way they've already experienced roughly 40 already. Buildings that have already been compromised also had the potential of further being destroyed or falling down and injuring more.

This is a re-cap of the earthquake. 7.8, it occurred just before 7:00 p.m. local time it was a shallow earthquake at 19.2 kilometers. By the way, this earthquake was roughly 15 times stronger and in fact it spelled 15 times more energy than the Japan earthquake that occurred not 24 hours ago. Re-cap in how many people felt a shaking. Well, we had very strong shaking felt by 1.8 million people a severe shaking for about 100,000 people. We didn't have the violent or strange shaking across this area which could have potentially limited the amount of destruction and it could have potentially than worse as well.

But we've got several different reasons why earthquakes occur, one of them the tectonic plates that crust upwards and that's basically what happens right around this boundary layer over Ecuador and the extreme western sections of South America.

Tectonic plates typically move about 60 millimeters per year, that's about two times with distance of your fingernails growing for instance and, you know, per -- in a year. Now, with this type of an earthquake, magnitude 7.8 we would anticipate aftershocks as I've already mentioned but you can see the intensity, the average intensity for this aftershocks as we go further in time, we could experience magnitude 5.8 or higher about ton of them on average with that earthquake of this magnitude originally.

Now, we're talking the search and recovery after average at the moment as we're all the - as we do have rain in the forecast fortunately temperatures are warm so, hypothermia won't be a factor like it has been in the Kyushu Island in Southern Japan. So, that's good news. Here's look at the feature radar, you can see a plenty of that precipitation especially away from the coast but the ramification and the amount of people that felt this earthquake spreads well away from the epicenter. This is known as the ring of fire we talked about this frequently that's about 90 percent of the world's earthquakes found within this area and that's where we have roughly 450 volcanoes. By the way, that's stretches across the entire Pacific Ocean and that may - next is way all the way into Southern Japan as well. Look at the frequency of earthquakes that we would anticipate per year between a seven and a 7.9 magnitude we roughly see about 15 per year and this indeed was one of those.

HOWELL: A big one. Derek, thank you so much. We move on now from Japan with the death toll has risen killing 32 people. This according to officials in Kumamoto Prefecture, it is the same region that was hit by a very strong earthquake just two days earlier that quake killed nine people.

[04:05:12] Emergency crews are still searching for people who may have had missing, may be possibly tapped under the rabble, the efforts continue there but in the meantime, residents are still filling into evacuation centers. As dozens of aftershocks continue to hit that region, disaster officials say some 180,000 people so far had been evacuated into more than 800 shelters there, wide spread power and water averages have also been reported.

CNN is live in Kumamoto, Matt Rivers is on the ground floor at this hour. Matt it's good to have you. I understand that you also spend a night in a shelter along with other residents who've been evacuated.

MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We did and we talked to them throughout the night it's one of those nights where you don't really get much sleep, it was raining, it was windy, you're on a very unfamiliar place with very bright light.

And so people just get to talking and they tell their stories and the consistent thing we heard over and over again was that people we're just nervous, you know, you had that first earthquake here in this area on Thursday and people went through it this is not an area that is not - it is used to earthquake I should say, but then when that second one happened on Saturday that really put people on edge and then all they long today we felt them yesterday, there's been aftershock after aftershock and every time that happens, it really frightens people nerves here, they don't really know what to expect, they don't know what this next aftershock might be bigger then the earthquake perhaps on Saturday or on Thursday, and so giving the level of destruction here you can understand that people psyches are little bit fragile here right now George.

HOWELL: Matt, can you give us a look at what's there behind you just the essence of the devastation and can you tell us how are officials, how are crews getting there -- getting into those hard hit areas to help folks.

RIVERS: Well, what you're seeing drive by right now is something we've seen all day long, this would be a convoy of police and if you look to my right here you can see that they have been traveling on roads like this one that are pretty much OK, there's still bumps and cracks to be seen but they have to get around obstacles like that. You can see that house there, that is the roof of a house that has collapsed, so that is kind of the extent of the devastation that we've seen here, block by block you see that over and over again just one roof after another that has been collapsed this big heavy ceramic shingles that they used here in Japan littered across the street.

And so that's what these crews are facing and not only going to the gravel itself, once they arrive they're getting through these streets where you have debris through on all over the place, you haven then some portions railways that are literally forced stop into a peak that aren't even possible because of the force of this earthquake and so, as if their jobs are hard enough just getting to this places to have an impact is proving difficult.

HOWELL: Matt Rivers live in Kumamoto, Japan. Matt, thank you so much for your reporting and we will stay in touch with you. Let's bring in now, Rena Igarashi, she is the press officer for Japan's Red Cross and now on the phone with us in Kumamoto. It's good to have to have you. Rena. So, we just saw Matt Rivers a report a moment ago and we got a sense really of how badly, many of these neighborhoods, these regions have been hit so what is The Red Cross effort in getting into those areas and helping people?

RENA IGARASHI, PRESS OFFICER OF JAPAN'S RED CROSS: OK. Thank you. The Japanese Red Cross Society have deployed emergency medical team spontaneously in that emergency medical team to the - one of the evacuation center in Misaki town, it is one of the badly affected area and still two medical teams are still working on there and we also deployed 11 assessment teams to assess the needs of affects to the people.

HOWELL: And as you talk to people, as you talked to many of the survivors, what type of stories are you hearing from folks just about the event itself and what they experienced?

IGARASHI: Yeah. There -- do you know there were two of point, first one and the second domain one. And this afternoon I managed to talk one of the survivors and he said, when the first earthquake occurred, she couldn't see anything because he didn't have her eyeglasses around her, so after the earthquake it was not so (inaudible).

She packs everything in one bag like medicine or money, her glass and the day after that to the second earthquake occurred and it was so severe and she just grab her bag and called her family members and she immediately has lead on the street.

[04:10:10] HOWELL: Rena, I have just a few seconds left but I do want to get a sense off, what is like for people who are staying in these evacuation centers, we know that our correspondent Matt Rivers had to do so as well and what are the conditions there?

IGARASHI: At the moment it was under the control about to be, the food is not enough, the water is not enough and they are staying longer, so my colleagues from the evacuation center told me, their hygiene situation is their first concern because they are staying there for three or four days.

HOWELL: Is finding any other people who may still be trapped, the effort continues correct?

IGARASHI: Yes, definite that cost is not involved in that rescue operation is that to be that they are some other -- so many people are still missing, so they might be either under the collapsed building and the police and the fire fighters are tracking those people.

HOWELL: Rena Igarashi on the line with us Kumamoto Japan, Rena thank you so much for your insight and understanding of what's happening on the ground there.

This is CNN news Room and still head of this hour.

Pope Francis sets an example on a visit to migrant camps in Greece, ahead is profound words and his profound actions, plus Brazil's lower house of congresses that to vote on impeaching they're countries president.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hey, I'm Don Riddell with your CNN, well, sport headlines. You know, in years gone by Chelsea and Manchester Sydney could've been a title decider but not this year. Sydney is still trying to get into the top four of the premier league though. A very impressive hat-trick from Sergio Aguero has helped in that quest. It's only the third hat-trick scored by N.Y. player that have reached in the premier league era. A bad day for couple of teams at the bottom of the table though. Norwich lost to England and Newcastle beats Sponge by three goals, so now Norwich are still safe but Aston villas defeated Manchester United, it means they are relegated off for a miserable since in that finding out of their misery.

For the last two seasons Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have culminated Formula One and turn the championship race into their own primate battle between team mates and Hamilton has come out on top winning back to back titles. Today Hamilton is going to rain in his biggest rival of the Chinese grand prix on Sunday then he will have to do it the hard way starting from the very back of the grid. Hamilton resolve by engine problems during qualifying, didn't even post at the time. Contrast Rosberg stop the publication and then be looking to extend his 17 points advantage at the top of the driver's standings.

[04:14:30] That is a quick lool your sports headlines. I'm Don Riddell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN news room I'm George Howell. 12 Syrian refugees once stranded in a Greek refugee camp are now living in Rome. Pope Francis brought three families back with him after his visit to the island of Lesbos. He spent sometime there on Friday meeting with migrants and also hearing their stories. The Pope spoke about his experience on the way back from Rome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS, (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): In the refugee camp it just made you cry. Those children. I brought this with me to share it. The children gave me lots of drawings. Look at this one, what do children want? Piece, because they're suffering. It's true that they take hardened lessons in the camp but look what they have seen.

Look at this they have seen a child drown. This is the children go straight to the heart. I feel like today was a day to cry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Indeed just looking at that image off -- for a child experience that is indeed a moment to cry. The Pope also met with the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. CNN asked him for his thoughts on the significants of the Pope's trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEXIS TSIPRAS, GREEK PRIME MINISTER: I think that it was a significant change to give the correct messages to the global community in order to recognize the efforts of the Greek people and of Greece in order to face this humanitarian crisis, this refugee crisis. I think that it was very -- is was so important for us because we tried suppose, the very beginning to face this crisis and high difficulties, but I think that's the answer of the day, we manage to keep our values and our principles and the same time in Europe, there were some of our partners that they didn't do the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The united nation's refugee agents, it says that welcome the Pope's showing os solidarity with migrants and he is calling on E.U. governments to speed up the relocation of refugees now in Greece.

A group of former detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have arrived in Saudi Arabia, United States said on Saturday nine Yemenis would be transferred to the kingdom, this ahead of the U.S. president Barrack Obama's visit there next week. We're seeing images of them now as they will receive in Saudi Arabia 80 detainees remain at the Guantanamo prison camp. After this latest transfer, which Yemen's Human rights minister spoke about earlier this is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EZZEDINE AL ASBAHI, YEMEN MINISTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS: There was an agreement in pace for a while to try and keep a track of the release and follow up of the detainees at Guantanamo regretfully, there was a large number of Yemenis who are in this prison for many years. We are now witnessing the final moments before this prison is closed and return of these prisoners home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The Saudi Arabia's Foreign administer is warning of economic retaliation threatening of the sale of billions in American assets. The spread comes if U.S. passes a bill that is related to the September 11th terror attacks, that bill would allow victims of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks to sue foreign government as source with knowledge of the Saudi speaking said, Saudi investments would be in jeopardy if that bill passes. The Obama administration has put heavy pressure on congress to block that bill.

Brazil's lower house of Congress is set to vote in the coming day on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff. We're looking now at video of members of Congress, they're chanting and waving signs for impeachment on Saturday, Ms. Rouseff is accused of misusing state funds in year 2014 reelection day.

[04:20:14] CNN's Shasta Darlington has more on this story. SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A marathon session here in Brazil's lower house of Congress as lawmakers delivered their final remarks. Ahead of a closely we watch the vote on Sunday afternoon, when they'll decide whether to approve an impeach motion against the Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff.

Now, motions have been running high with some lawmakers shouting out impeachment.

Now, other is denouncing the whole procedure as a coup d'etat a lot of back and forth.

And outside of Congress, tensions are also running high, thousand of protesters are pouring into the capital of Brazilian police that had to erect a huge barricade on the front lawn of Congress hoping to separate pro-government supporters from the anti-government protester and really prevent clashes there.

The problem is both side think they're right.

You have a huge percentage of the population that blames Dilma Rousseff for the economic crisis, for a corruption scandal that has engulfed many politicians in her party, although it has not implicated the presidents herself.

But her supporters say, that that's exactly the problem that the opposition is trying to impeach her on a technicality for breaking budget laws when many of the lawmakers right here in the Congress really driving that impeachment motion have been accused of money laundering and of corruption.

At this point, it is looking increasingly likely that the opposition will master the two-thirds it need to approve the impeachment motion. Then, it would be sent to the senate which means that Dilma Rosseff could be stepping down to face impeachment trials as early as May.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Brazilia.

HOWELL: And now to the Duke infectious of Cambridge they wrapped up they're Indian Tour visiting one of the countries most iconic landmarks, the Taj Mahal. William and Catherine sat there for picture at a bench that was made famous by William's mother Princess Diana back in 1992.

CNN's Sumnima Udas has this report for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As they arrived many wondered will they or won't they sit on the bench where Princess Diana post her photos in February of 1992 looking lonely end with full in front of the world's most famous monument to love.

She told her tour guide she wished her husband was with her, he was in India but chose to meet with industrials in New Delhi instead. Rumors were arise for the two-one getting along, but this picture signal their relationship wouldn't last.

Ten months later the world came to know that they were separating and this iconic image came to symbolize the end of what should've been a fairy tale relationship.

Twenty-four years on, her son and daughter-in-law followed in her footsteps walking down the same exact path as they approach the marble platforms the tour guide pointed out, they now see this Diana bench, they walked over and then the moment so many had been waiting for, smiling with their knees touching the moment was fleeting under a minute but the message was clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When they came down I asked them that how did you feel? And they were quite like this feel really honored to be at the themes park.

UDAS: The guy tells us Katherine was particularly curious about the love story why the Indian emperor Sasha Khan built this '70 century mausoleum for his beloved wife. As they left reporters asked Prince William how he felt, what was going through his mind and he said it's beautiful.

Why Prince William chose to make the Taj Mahal his last stop, what where his thoughts we may never know will they create new memories as he had hoped and erase the ghost of his path only time will tell.

Sumnima Udas, CNN, Agra, India.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: This is still CNN NEWSROOM.

Still ahead, U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz won big in the state of Wyoming, while Republican front runner Donald Trump though says he's not too worried about it.

[04:24:17] Plus two deadly earthquakes on opposite sides of the Pacific Rim, we will have the very latest on the aftermath in Japan and Ecuador. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell. And we continue covering the breaking news here on CNN this hour.

Two very strong earthquakes and a deadly aftermath on opposite sides of the Pacific Rim, the first to hit Japan on Saturday and now Ecuador, a magnitude 7.8 quake there struck the coastline and so far at least 77 people are dead nearly 600 more are injured. Rescue workers in Guayaquil are still trying to save people who may be trapped beneath a collapsed bridge there. A state emergency remains in effective, state of emergency in place across many parts of the area.

The epicenter of this initial quake was about 170 kilometers or that's 107 miles from the capital of that Ecuador Quito and some 55 after shocks have been felt so far, let's get the very latest on this earthquake and the damage that is still being repaired, the weather is playing under this.

Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam is here.

VAN DAM: Yeah, first, well talk about Japan and then we'll move on to Ecuador too obviously, very busy here in the weather center, busy for the search and rescue crews as well. In Japan first and foremost they did have -- extremely heavy rain that move through early in the morning on Sunday and this was significant because that rain can not only happen, the search and recovery efforts but it also bring the potential of hypothermia for anyone who's potentially trapped underneath gravel for instance.

George another aspect to look at is as well, sometimes during this large earthquakes, water is cut off as one would imagine, so rain water can actually be a way to hydrate for anyone who's actually stuck within rabble as well, so there's a two ways to actually look at that but nonetheless it is not good if you are in the earthquake zone as aftershocks continue into Kumamoto and Kyushu island of the Southern Japan.

[04:30:03] Current weather right now is dry, 18 degrees but that's going to change. We have another round of rain that's headed this way by Monday especially in the morning hours that started here around 10:00 Japan Standard Time or JST time. You can see that band of showers moving through that. Will happen the Search and Recovery efforts going forward. Then we clear things out by Tuesday. Wednesday stage dry, the clouds increase and then another impressive area of low pressure have moved off the east coast of China and that will bring another round of heavy rains.

So you can see our three-day forecast here for Kumamoto, a good chance of rainfall on Monday. Tuesday sunshine, Wednesday again increase in cloud covers.

Temperatures by the way on Monday, very cold in the lower teams (ph) as well. It doesn't take a long for hypothermia to set in and we could've get maybe 15 to 20 millimeters of rainfall.

Now on the other side of the world, we're also following the earthquake in Ecuador, the 7.8 that's occurred just hours ago, some of the first images coming through the CNN. A lot of compromised buildings within this area of the Search and Recovery Weather going forward for the Esmeraldas region which is right along the coast of Northwest Ecuador calls for rain but temperatures as you can see nowhere near as cold as what they're experiencing in Japan. So hypothermia really not a concern here for this area but nonetheless, rain not necessarily a good thing for this particular region. We do have showers and a few thunderstorms in the forecast for this area.

The population that felt the shaking across Northwest Ecuador, 1.8 million people experiencing very strong two severe shaking. This was a significant earthquake. This is one of the most active pots of the world in terms of earthquake activity. There have been seven magnitude 7.0 since the 1900, the early 1900s or rather the year 1900s. So lots of activity, this is on the edge of two major tectonic plates. This is the ring of fire, we talked about this so frequently because this combines and stretches across the entire Pacific Rim. We expect aftershocks to continue for this part of the world. That is going to be a problem for some of the buildings that have already been compromised and damaged.

Here's a look at the typical number of aftershocks. One would expect after magnitude 7.8, you can see there George, we would anticipate roughly an average about 10 magnitude 5.8 or higher aftershocks going forward.

HOWELL: Well, Derek, we'll stay in touch with you. Again, but the effort continues in Ecuador certainly to repair the damage and in Japan where they're still searching for people there. So Derek thank you.

Also, talking about this earthquake in Japan, let's get more on the situation there from Naoki Kokawa. He is with the Red Cross and joins us now on the phone. Naoki, it's good to have you with us. So I understand that you just arrived in the disaster area and this is one of the areas that is most devastated. What's the situation there?

NAOKI KOKAWA, DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL OF JAPANESE RED CROSS INT. DEPT.: Yes, actually I am, one of the most beautiful scenery ever in Japan and I'm just in the middle of spring but the situation here turned so bad today after devastating this disaster. What I see here is all of the landslide, the breach has been dropped off and the roads are cutoff and it's quite bad situation here.

HOWELL: We're seeing these images right now of many of these roads that quite frankly look impassable. What is it like for your teams to get into these areas and then to start searching for people?

KOKAWA: I had to take about four hours detour to reach here because the shortest roads have been cutoff. And there are many people in evacuation centers and the characteristic of this stuff is many aftershocks which is very strong and the people are so much scared, you know, in the first one, the second one was bigger and that makes me people afraid maybe and these are the more become may come and that's the people about 200,000 people evacuated because of the probably fear, a lot of fear with people.

HOWELL: Now, we talk about the strength of these earthquakes. We talked about the work that your crews are doing but you bring up the point of people than we're seeing these images of many people who are obviously doing their best to endure and get through this. But I'd like to ask you, have any personal story struck you? What have you heard from people there? Just without getting through this thing?

KOKAWA: Sorry I didn't get because line is not good.

HOWELL: Well that's OK.

KOKAWA: What is the question? Male: Sure, sure. We just want to know what you're hearing from people. They're on the ground, what are people saying about, you know, their ability to get though this thing?

KOKAWA: You see we are quite used to the earthquake and people have, normally we have so much endurance for that.

[04:43:04] But I think still that fear that we got from this first two quite are still with them. And I think we have to get until if the earthquake -- I mean the aftershock become much less. Then there their people will be much more of feeling comfortable.

HOWELL: You mention the aftershocks but I'd also like to ask you just about the weather situation there. Is weather going to be an issue as the efforts continues?

KOKAWA: No, the weather we are afraid last night. We had to suppose have heavy rain but the morning the sky clear up and we are very lucky to have a very good weather this Sunday.

HOWELL: And then one other question that I'll like to ask as far as the Red Cross effort. How many teams do you guys have around?

KOKAWA: We have them mobilized (ph) more than 23 and more of a medical teams has already alliance and then some more standby now. And we just expecting -- I was trying to identify the site for our field hospital which is coming from Osaka and it should arrive tonight.

HOWELL: Naoki Kokawa, thank you so much for being with us and we wish your safety again as you and your team continue to work there to help people who have been hit by this earthquake.

You are watching CNN Newsroom.

And still ahead this hour, Donald Trumps lost the state of Wyoming to his rival Ted Cruz. Ahead though why Donald Trumps is blaming the voting rules.

Live in the United States and around the world this hour, you are watching CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: American choice 2016 in the presidential race Republican candidate Ted Cruz has won his party's primary in the State of Wyoming but Donald Trumps still lead in the national delegate count.

[04:40:09] And now the Republican frontrunner is focus on Tuesday's all important primary in the state of New York.

CNN's Ana Cabrera has this report for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Cruz camp celebrating a big win here in Wyoming. They walked away with all the 14 delegates who were elected here at the state convention. That essentially met their expectations. Cruz was the only candidate who had an organized campaign presence in this state. They began recruiting grassroots volunteers and supporters as early as last fall. Trump saying he didn't want to waste resources in this state, in fact, saying that this weekend.

And again, criticizing the delegate election process here. This is a state that elects its delegates to the national convention through state conventions and county conventions instead of an open primary.

And I talked to one Trump supporter here who said had it been the other way around and there had been a primary here, well, the results may have told a much different story.

JUDY JONES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Because people could go to the polls and actually vote for their man. I never liked the idea of one person deciding, you know, 1500 people's vote. I just -- it just never rubs me right, it just always bothered me, one man, one vote.

CABRERA: Ted Cruz picking up more momentum after this weekend coming out of Wyoming, although Trump and Kasich, who were in New York campaigning this weekend, expect to turn the tide come Tuesday.

Ana Cabrera, CNN, Casper, Wyoming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: And now, to the Democratic side of things candidate Bernie Sanders says that he had an extraordinary meeting with Pope Francis but he is not sharing what the Pope told him.

On Saturday, Mr. Sanders arrived back in New York from Rome. Democratic socialist tells CNN, he thank the Pope for raising awareness of that economic inequality. Sanders was at the Vatican for a conference and briefly met with Pope Francis before he flew to a migrants camp in Greece.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): It was manners. It's called manners and not getting involved in politics. If anyone thinks that a greeting is getting involved in politics, then I recommend they look for a psychiatrist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, has repeatedly attacked Sanders on gun control. Twenty years ago, the Vermont senator voted against a key law mandating federal background checks on gun sales. But now, Sanders says he supports gun control reform. Still, on Saturday, Clinton slammed him again while campaigning in California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, US DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will continue to take on the gun lobby for common sense gun safety. This is one of the biggest differences between Senator Sanders and myself. And no matter how often he's asked by family members of those who have been murdered, he sticks to his talking points.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: As bands organizations and whole state boycott North Carolina over controversial legislation, the NBA commissioner says its All-Star basketball game will stay there for now. We'll have details on that story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hi, I'm Don Riddell with you CNN World Sport headlines.

In years gone by, Chelsea against Man City could have been a Premier League title decided but not this year. City is still trying to get into the top four though. The very impressive Patrick from Sergio Aguero has helped in that in regard.

[04:45:01] It's only the third Patrick score find the way player Stamford Bridge in the Premier League era. A bad day for couple of teams that bottom of the table.

Norwich lose to Sunderland, the Newcastle beat Swansea 3-0. Norwich are still safe by Aston Villa defeated Manu (ph) means their relegated and finally out their misery.

I'll give you the biggest challenge for the Cleveland Cavalier and the NBA's Eastern conference Playoff will be the Toronto Raptors who won a franchise best 56 game this season. Only one less than Cleveland, but Toronto have a lot of demons to face, they've been eliminated.

And the first round of the Playoff since six of their last seven pro season flings. And their not off to a good start in game 1 of the Playoff. They run into the Indiana Pacers and in particular, Paul George ...

(OFF-MIC)

RIDDELL: ... he's going to Raptors and George get crash him, he was quite in the first half, but exploded into the game and score of total 33 points.

(OFF-Mic)

RIDDELL: 100 to 90 the score. Pacers have one nothing lead in the series.

And that is a quick look at your sports headlines I'm Don Riddell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm George Howell.

CNN has been granted a rare interview with the high ranking North Korean official who is well acquainted with U.S. politics.

And now, Will Ripley, joins us live from Pyongyang, North Korea. Will, you have been following this and you spoke to that official and he's talking about some of the rhetoric that's been heard on the campaign trail specifically from Donald Trump.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. You remember just a few weeks back. Donald Trump caused a lot of shock and bewilderment in this part of the world. There were comments in both Japan and South Korea about Trump's remarks that those two countries key U.S. allies that are United States has bound by treaty to protect with its military.

Trump essentially said the military should pull out of those countries and they might have their nuclear weapons instead to defend against the threat for North Korea. It was a very shocking statement but until now we didn't hear anything from North Korea itself about this but we sat down with one official of who is very well connected here in Pyongyang and he told us that he thinks the comment is not only illogical but also potentially dangerous.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: It did even officials here in North Korea are taken a back by some of the rhetoric on the campaign trail in the United States specifically, those comments by Donald Trump that Japan and South Korea could arm themselves with nuclear weapons, a suggestion that one official here in Pyongyang tells me, it's not only absurd and illogical but also dangerous.

Few North Korean officials understand American politics like Ri Jong Ryul a long time diplomat and former ambassador is deputy director general of the Institute of International Studies as Pyongyang think tank monitors global events and reports back to North Korean leadership.

RI JONG RYUL, DEPUTY-DIRECTOR GENERAL INST. OF INTL, STUDIES (Through Translation): We're really interested in the U.S. selection he says. We don't care who become the next U.S. president, whether Republicans or Democrats take power. It has nothing to do with us. U.S. politicians have always had a hostile policy against Korea.

RIPLEY: Ri is one of a handful of North Koreans who can access the internet. State media doesn't cover details of the U.S. presidential campaign. The average person wouldn't even recognize any of the candidates. In recent months each has spoken out against North Koreas nuclear and missile programs.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good to with you.

RIPLEY: Republican front-runner Donald Trump shocked American allies in Asia when he suggested Japan and South Korea could arm themselves with nuclear weapons.

TRUMP: Nobody asked them. So, North Korea has nukes, Japan has a problem with that. I mean they have a big problem with that. Maybe they would infect be better off if they defend themselves from North Korean. Maybe, it would be better off including nukes, yes.

RIPLEY: What is North Korea's response?

"Donald Trump's remarks are totally absurd and illogical" he says. The U.S. tells us to give our nuclear program is preparing a nuclear attack against us. And on the other hand, would tell its allies to have nuclear weapons? Isn't this is a double standard.

Pyongyang has not officially responded to Trump's remarks. Last week North Korean Propaganda attempted political satire adopting the voice of Abraham Lincoln scolding President Obama for U.S. nuclear policy.

[04:50:09] Even in a country known for bellicose rhetoric Ri believes Trump's ideology is dangerous.

"Trump's remarks give us a deeper look in America's hostile policy against my country" he says. Simply put America's hostile acts against us or making the situation on the Korean peninsula worst.

He warns a policy like Trump's would only escalate North Koreas nuclear arms race.

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RIPLEY: Last year in North Korea reached out to the U.S. government asking for peace talks but when Pyongyang said they would not consider stopping their nuclear program if a deal was reached, then Washington rejected that request. And so, essentially the standoff continues and the North Koreans say the rhetoric out from a campaign trail certainly not helping the situation George.

HOWELL: CNN, Will Ripley live in Pyongyang, North Korea. Will, we appreciate your reporting there and we will stay in touch with you for more reporting from North Korea.

Now, into the United States, several Southern states are feeling in the economic backlash from new laws. Critic say discriminate against the LGBT community. North Carolina, I should say is among them the laws there force transgender people to use public restrooms matching the sex on their birth certificate. And in response Cirque du Soleil has joined the growing list of acts that canceled your shows in that states because of the law.

For now the National Basketball Associations says it plans to play its All-Star game in North Carolina despite calls to relocate.

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ADAM SILVER, NBA COMMISSIONER: The law as it now stands in North Carolina is problematic for the league. There was no discussion of moving the All-Star game. What the view in the room was, we should be working towards change in North Carolina.

The best role for the league, to play here is through constructive engagement toward change. Not setting deadlines. Not ultimatums but working with the private sector and the government to affect change in North Carolina.

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HOWELL: CNN National correspondent Polo Sandoval he is here with us live. And Polo you've been following this controversial legislation, North Carolina is not the only state.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely that George is seems to be this wave of debate that continuous this sweep across the southeast. You have as you mentioned North Carolina. Mississippi is perhaps the state that has the most sweeping law. But really the focus here is North Carolina because you have the National Basketball Association here that is involved. You have obviously the bottom line of the state that could potentially be affected.

So, as a result you have the head of the NBA now speaking about this controversy and you mentioned something very important too George that the game is going stay in North Carolina for now. That's because the Commissioner Adam Silver was very particular about saying that there has been no final destination that's been made.

HOWELL: Right.

SANDOVAL: This conversation is still happening but the same time, they are, you know, in a unique position here, the league that is with expect -- making change happen.

That's because they are hoping to really not send that mixed message. If they do, they act the game out of the state, what kind of message would that sent since North Carolina scene is in the Playoff?

HOWELL: Right

SANDOVAL: But at the same time there is concern there if they do go ahead and remove the game from the state. And there is perhaps no leverage here, at least no incentive for the state to actually consider either changing the slot or removing it all together.

HOWELL: It is still interesting to see the push back and forth between businesses and then people who want this controversial measure. But you know, the question is North Carolina's governor is he responding to, you know, demands to repeal or even change this bathroom laws is called.

SANDOVAL: We saw a response with George -- with the governor's executive action that is executive order that essentially push for the protections for state employees but critic saying that that is not enough. They want this law repelled out together and brought up a very good point. The business impact here, you have to consider the world of business and politics.

Sometimes, politics comes first. So, this is something that the states are considering not just North Carolina but several other in the United States as well.

HOWELL: Very interesting, a business came first here in the State of Georgia.

SANDOVAL: Absolutely.

HOWELL: A similar measure came up and the governor here Nathan Deal vetoed the plan but, you know, even with the potential economic fallout. Are there other states that are still considering this type of measures?

SANDOVAL: You don't have to go too far. You have a South Carolina despite oppositions from a Republican governor lawmakers are still hoping to introduce a very similar piece of legislation. So, let's look ahead how. You can expect that conversation to continue, or really just move South of North Carolina and then, also keep Tennessee on your radar as well.

In the week ahead we do expect lawmakers to bring up two separate issues. We have very similar bathroom bill and also a therapist bill that could potentially end up on the Tennessee governor's desk as early as this week.

[04:55:03] So again, this is conversation that's happening, the debate that continues. I think you have the other side of the coin then. Could Louisiana where the governor has actually assigned an executive action essentially outlaw and discrimination against some of the state employees. They are clearly trying to get ahead of the curve here since there's so much potential for the impacts on the states bottom line here in the United States.

HOWELL: Polo, one other question. Just for in our international viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. Can you please explain the cracks (ph) of the measure in North Carolina specifically?

SANDOVAL: The biggest you hear and the reason why so many critics called this sort of state, a sanction discrimination is because it forces or at least requires the transgender individuals to use the bathrooms that would correspond with the sex on their birth certificates.

So, that is very similar to what we saw in Mississippi for example. I had the opportunity to speak to people in Mississippi and they also have a fairly similar law that's in placed. In fact they're the last one that signed one of these pieces of legislation into law and they say this is simply state sanction discrimination. They don't feel that this is piece of legislation that should be in placed, but again and debate far from over now. Just in the Mississippi and North Carolina that looking ahead of South Carolina.

HOWELL: Will be very interesting.

SANDOVAL: Absolutely.

HOWELL: Let's see where all of this goes. CNN National correspondent Polo Sandoval. Thank you so much for your time today.

And we thank you for being with us this hour. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center at Atlanta. I'll be back after the break with another hour of news from around the world.

Thank you for watching CNN, The World's News Leader.

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