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Cruz and Kasich Reach Deal to Stop Trump; More Troops Headed to Syria; Hope in Nepal; More Signs of Recovery in Brussels; Beyonce Releases New Album. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired April 25, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] ERROL BARNETT, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Ted Cruz and John Kasich strike a deal to stop republican frontrunner Donald Trump from clinching the party's nomination, while Trump says the system is rigged.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: More U.S. Special Operations Forces on their way to Syria to battle ISIS. An announcement from President Obama is expected shortly.

BARNETT: And a ray of hope in Nepal, one year after the devastating earthquake that killed thousands.

CHURCH: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and of course all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Thanks for joining our second hour of CNN Newsroom."

And extraordinary move could shake up the republican race for the White House. Donald Trump's rivals, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, are planning to work together against the party frontrunner.

They each released statements just a few hours ago, saying they'll divide their efforts in upcoming states to keep Trump from getting the delegates he needs to win the nomination.

CHURCH: Cruz says he will focus on Indiana, while Kasich goes up to Oregon and New Mexico. And Cruz doesn't seem to think he has anything to lose by teaming up with his republican rival. He told voters Sunday, there are only two candidates who have a chance of winning the nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The primary has done the job it's supposed to do. It has narrowed the field. As we stand here today, there are two people and only two people that have any plausible path whatsoever to winning the republican nomination, me and Donald Trump. As I said, plausible path.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BARNETT: And you know Donald Trump had a tweet to respond to all of

this, quote, "wow, just announced that 'lyin' Ted' and Kasich are going to clued in order to keep me from getting the republican nomination. Desperation."

And later Trump's campaign released this statement reading in part, quote, "They are mathematically dead and this act only shows puppets of donors and special interests how truly weak they and their campaigns are."

Now last hour we spoke with professor of international events, Scott Lucas about this turn of events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT LUCAS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM INTERNATIONAL POLITICS PROFESSOR: This is really the only alternative for Cruz and Kasich because they were dividing the vote amongst themselves, which almost gave Trump an open path through very key primaries, say California in June the 7th and before that, and Indiana in.

So, the way to stop him and take it to a brokered convention really has to be that you have one candidate, such as Ted Cruz prevailing in Indiana and an agreement on who should challenge him in California. Now what will happen, I think that really depends on voters in the middle.

Those who really like Trump they are going to vote for him. Those who don't like him, they'll vote for Cruz and Kasich. But what about those who aren't that happy with Trump but they don't want a brokered a convention, they think that the deal is stacked.

Can't -- will enough of them move into Trump's category because they take his argument about the process and buy it that it gets him over the majority needed where you won't have a convention fight?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: As for the democrats, Hillary Clinton is going after Donald Trump as well. Attacking his brash language in a new campaign ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: At the right time, I will be so presidential, you will be so bored. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. I'll use the word anger baby. This is a country where we are speak English, not Spanish.

You are going to have a deportation force. I will get rid of gun free zones on schools.

My first day it gets signed. I want surveillance of certain mosques, OK? A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of my personal heroines, Maya Angelou said when someone shows you who they are, believe them.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But the attacks don't stop there. Clinton warned voters in Connecticut that Donald Trump or any other republican will compromise the rights of Americans. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: You know, every time Donald Trump says one of the things he says, a lot of people are surprised or shocked.

[03:05:00] But after a while, with so many of those comments, those insults, the kind of demagoguery that we are seeing from him, you have to ask yourself. What really is at stake in this election? And one of the things at stake are our rights. Because the republicans want to undermine and set back our rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is getting a reluctant endorsement of sorts from billionaire political Charles Koch but she doesn't appear to want it.

CHURCH: Yes. Along with his brother, David, he has donated millions of dollars to conservative groups and republican candidates. And here's what Charles Koch said about Clinton in an interview with ABC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, is it possible another Clinton could be better than a republican?

CHARLES KOCH, KOCH INDUSTRIES CEO: It's possible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You couldn't see yourself supporting Hillary Clinton, could you?

KOCH: Well, her -- we would have to believe her actions would be quite different than her rhetoric. Let me put it that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Hillary Clinton responded with this tweet. You see it there, quote, "Not interested in endorsements from people who deny climate science and try to make it harder for people to vote"

Now a U.S. actress and supporter of democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders has sparked controversy by bringing up Monica Lewinsky.

CHURCH: Yes. Rosario Dawson referenced Lewinsky as she accused Hillary Clinton's campaign of bullying Sanders. But in 1998, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton admitted he had, quote, an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky and he was president. And here's what Dawson said on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSARIO DAWSON, ACTRESS: We are literally under attack for not just supporting the other candidate. Now, I'm with Monica Lewinsky on this, bullying is bad.

(APPLAUSE)

She's actually dedicated her life now to talking about that. And now, as a campaign strategy, we are being bullied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Sanders defended Dawson's overall speech but he did not comment specifically on her reference to Lewinsky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Rosario is a great actress and she's done a great job for us, and she's been a passionate fighter that we increase the voter turnout, that we fight for racial economical environmental justice.

What our job right now is to contrast our views, compared to Secretary Clinton. That's what a campaign is about. What I will be doing is in campaign is in an issue-oriented way not by personal attacks but by contrasting our view to Secretary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: Now Sanders also told CNN that he is surprised at how well he's done so far in his presidential campaign.

CHURCH: All right. We turn now to another big story we have been following. The U.S. is looking to build on the momentum against ISIS in Syria by sending in more to advice local fighters.

In he coming hours, President Barack Obama is expected to announce plans to send 250 Special Operations Forces to Northern Syria. And they will join 50 other troops already there.

BARNETT: Now this comes as Syrian government forces stepped up bombing attacks of rebel held areas of Aleppo. The U.N. broken troops reach in February began to fall apart this month.

CHURCH: And Mr. Obama will make that announcement as he continues his visit to Germany.

Atika Shubert joins us now in Germany, and she has the details. So, Atika, I want to start with just how significant it is, this are parental, this expectation, this announcement of 250 additional special OPS forces heading to Syria and what they will likely do once they get there. ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is

significant especially when you consider they're at the moment about 50 Special Forces are inside. So, now adding another 250, so that is a big increase.

Now what we understand is from officials, is that these are troops that will be advising and assisting Syrian forces in particular -- those forces in Syria that are in the fight there. There are of course a number of actors on the ground and the move towards Raqqah and Mosul, the ISIS headquarters has been slow going, and in one sense it has also been successful.

We've seen a defense analysis review by IHS saying that ISIS has lost some 20 percent of its territory in the last year. So, it could be that bringing in these Special Operations Forces is really an attempt to sort of at bolster and consolidate those gains to try and hold the territory that has been gained so far.

[03:09:58] But how -- who exactly they will be existing, how they will be helping those were details we are hoping to get from the president's remarks later on today.

CHURCH: And, Atika, President Obama is meeting with European leaders today, he's calling them "friends." What can we expect to come out of those discussions? And what topics will be covered?

SHUBERT: Yes, well, it's interesting because in the original schedule, he didn't have these meetings with European leaders. But he's actually taking extra time now calling on the leaders of, not only from Germany, of course, German chancellor Angela Merkel here but also France, Italy, and the U.K. will be joining him here for other meetings.

Then it will be a broad range of discussions including the crisis in Syria, but also they are not going to affect that, the refugee crisis here in Europe where we saw so many thousands trying to get into Europe. And Europe has really struggle with the influx of refugees.

So, it's likely that this will be part of the discussion, as well as the economy, the trade agreement that he's trying to push through. It's really an opportunity for him to discuss all of this in-depth with European leaders. So, hopefully we'll get some idea of what exactly will come out of those discussions later on, Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our Atika Shubert covering all of this live from Germany. Of course we will bring you all the live pictures as they come into us of this visit by President Obama in Germany.

Many thanks, Atika.

BARNETT: A Turkish border town is coming under rocket fire with deadly results.

CHURCH: Turkey's prime minister says incoming fire killed one person injured at least 26 in Kilis on Sunday. Many Syrians fled to the town to escape the fighting at home only to see the violence spread across the border.

BARNETT: Nick Paton Walsh joins us from Turkey, he joins us now live. Nick, there is deep concern the ceasefire isn't holding, in fact, you've seen evidence of that, and the violence is spilling over once again into Turkey.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the problem with the ceasefire has been the number of groups excluded from it, particularly the Jabhat al-Nusra front who often fight alongside other rebel groups who are technically involved in the ceasefire.

So, Russian with the regime they could target the Nusra front, while at the same time targeting those rebel groups giving the impression that in fact, they're adhering to the ceasefire, yet still striking areas. They consider themselves to be off limits under this cessation of hostilities.

But the raids have continued over the weekend, particularly on the City of Aleppo. And we have in the past weeks seen the violence to rockets attacks fired from Syria into Turkey spread to otherwise peaceful Turkish town.

This was day 55 of Syria's cessation of hostilities for those who live in Aleppo. No military target here, activists said. An inferno, many over 12 dead, burned alive. Zahir is dead, he says. It was much the same on day 56. Another building in Aleppo hit. The U.S. officials are troubled. The Russian heavy weapons are amassing near the city whatever the ceasefire was is scrambling.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: I am deeply concerned about the cessation of hostilities frame and whether it's sustainable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: But Syria's world is slowly crossing the border to one town in Southern Turkey. Kilis hit by rockets almost daily in the past weeks, five from Syria, probably by ISIS, who were never part of the ceasefire. This woman sat here when the rockets tore through her roof. A Syrian family scrambling out to life on the floor below. This used to be their shelter, their respite.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): The Syrians fled. They took refuge here, the bombs are also reigning only on their heads. The government keeps saying shelter in your house, but didn't it fall on our house? On our roof now? So, where are we supposed to get?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALSH: It is staggering that during the supposed cessation of hostilities there in Syria that the war is spreading, even to a peaceful town like this a haven of refugees that now finds itself pretty much every other day hit by rocket fire.

Fresh rockets have just wiped over this funeral of a local plumber, Abdula Kajah (ph) killed Friday, also by a rocket. Rage is against the government. Where are they?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED) Bombs are falling on everyone's homes. Where are you President Erdogan? Where are you? A bomb fell on our house. Is this what you promised?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:15:07] WALSH: Another rocket strike here. Five Syrian children injured. The shattered places where they once slept, dust, the rubble are what they fled but now it has followed them here.

BARNETT: Nick, the anger of the people you spoke with, obviously visceral there, what is the Turkish government saying about these attacks?

WALSH: Well, the senior deputy prime minister down there yesterday deliberately reassuring messages that would obliterate the source of these attacks. But I have to say they had 45 rockets by that town since January killing a total of 16 people and the intense of those attacks have increased in the last peeks.

Three or four alone just yesterday there. This is the town that was, frankly, last year, completely peaceful, just full of Syrian refugees distant from the war despite being nearly kilometers away from Syria.

Now the government, as you saw there, has a lot of anger projected towards it. I have to say it was startling to go to two sites of these blasts and find no policeman in site at all anywhere around the merely hours after they had occurred. Not a real sense of lock down so they're not at town at all.

But later today when another round landed small essentially, there were a lot of a police out there, seemingly I should call the pictures we saw to restrain crowds protesting at the lack of government involvement.

A startling way to choose to intervene in a city that's been as heavily exposed as that in southern Turkey and a lot of anger being projected towards them. And the government for their part saying we're going to have an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday.

But it is remarkable I have to say given the technology available to a NATO member like Turkey that they haven't been able to pinpoint and take out the source of these so far, indiscriminate but relatively accurate and they are hitting the city itself rocket attacks on Kilis. Errol?

BARNETT: Yes. A number of people killed, their anger certainly understandable. Nick Paton Walsh live for us there in Turkey. A quarter past 10 in the morning. Nick, thanks. A year later, Nepal is still recovering from a devastating earthquake. How the nation is marking the anniversary next.

CHURCH: Plus, within the last hours, Brussels reopens a metro station bombed in last month's terror attacks. We will take you live to the Belgian capital.

BARNETT: And Nigerian forces are targeting Boko Haram in a forest the terror calls home, while searching for hundreds of kidnapped school girls. We'll bring you an exclusive report from the frontlines after this.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN World Sports headlines.

We start with this incredible English Premier League title race. There was a massive game on Sunday. As League lead Leicester took on Swansea. The folks has easily overcame the potential stumbling block of suspended star man, Jaime Vardy by trashing Swansea 4-0.

Newly crowned PFA player Riyad Mahrez put the lead as a head after just 10 minutes. And then Leicester weren't done there. Leonardo Araujo would get a brace and Mark O'Brien rounded up the scoring. It all means that just five points from their remaining three games will secure Leicester the title.

Away from the EPL and Crystal Palace during their first epic final in 26 years after seeing off London rivals work for their Wembley Stadium. It was the south Londoners who opened the scoring through Yannick Bolasie header. Watford find back in the second half. Thanks to Troy Deeney equalizer.

But Connor Wickham netted the winner with the third headed goal of the game to send the Eagles into the final where they will face Manchester United in the rematch the 1990 final. And it's been another special weekend in the long story of Spanish tennis player Rafa Nadal.

The New Yorker defeated Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the Barcelona Open on Sunday. He matches Argentine legend Guillermo Vilas' record of 49 play court titles.

And that's a look at all your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

BARNETT: Welcome back. Leaders around the world are condemning North Korea's submarine missile test. South Korea was the first to express frustration with the North's latest operation.

CHURCH: But France was quick to follow. Its foreign ministry calling on the E.U. to impose their own sanctions. Barack Obama gave his thoughts on the test while traveling in Germany.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: What is clear is that North Korea continues to engage in continuous provocative behavior that they have been actively pursuing a nuclear program, an ability to launch nuclear weapons and although more often than not they fail in many of these tests, they gain knowledge each time they engage in these tests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's latest launch as well. It called the test yet another serious violation by the DPRK of United Nations Security Council resolutions.

BARNETT: The statement added that quote, |Such missile activities contribute to the DPRK's development of nuclear weapons delivery systems and increase tension in the region and beyond.

Now for other story we've been following, it's been open year since the devastating earthquake killed nearly 9,000 people in the Nepal. Large crowds held a vigil Sunday in Katmandu, marking a somber anniversary. More than one million homes were destroyed or damage in the 7.8 magnitude quake and its aftershocks.

CHURCH: But one year in Nepal is still struggling to recover and rebuild. Around a hundred protesters clashed with police on the nation's capital demanding faster reconstruction efforts. Rubble remains in many areas and thousands still live in makeshift shelters.

A 10-year-old girl lost her leg in last year's earthquake, changing her life forever, but luckily she got a second chance.

CNN's Moni Basu travelled to Nepal and saw Maya's journey to recovery.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MONI BASU, CNN DIGITAL REPORTER: Maya Gurung survived the 2015 earthquake in Nepal but her left leg was crushed. Doctors had to amputate and her future in a remote mountainous village seemed bleak. But days later, a second quake gave Maya a second chance at life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JWALANT GURUNG, CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN TREKS: My friends and I started collecting supplies and taking them to the villages and on the way back, then again the second earthquake hit, and we were literally running for our lives. I was ahead and saw a family walking up and this girl with a, you know, amputated leg and she was being carried by her brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASU: Meeting with Jwalant was a moment that would change the course of her life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GURUNG: The first thing that came to my head was what will she do with an amputated leg in the village. And you know, the hills of Nepal, the hills and mountains of Nepal it has nothing is level. And even the house chores she cannot do.

[03:24:59] (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

BASU: Jwalant convinced Maya's father to let her live with him in Kathmandu.

GURUNG: In the villages they have one teacher for, you know, maybe 50 students or whatever. In her situation where she doesn't know the basic alphabets both Nepali and English.

BASU: At a private school in Kathmandu, Maya now studies with children half her age.

GURUNG: We brought her to the school and had her evaluated and the teachers understood that she would put her in nursery. So, she just completed her lower kindergarten. This is a report card.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

BASU: With regular access to her doctor, Maya had no complications with her leg.

GURUNG: She is definitely not the same village girl that she was before. She's not as shy. She's still shy but she's not as shy and I think she is a very positive girl. A child who have lost her leg like that who have gone through all that trauma, she s definitely a winner in that regard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: And Moni joins us now from New Delhi, India. Moni, Maya's story just makes us smile. But overall, how is the recovery effort going in Nepal?

BASU: Well, Errol, Maya's story was definitely a ray of hope amid a very grim situation. I walked the streets of Kathmandu and in town and villages around the capital, and almost everyone I spoke with where expressed a great deal of frustration.

Frustration that one year after the earthquake, thousands of people are still living in temporary and unsafe homes and thousands more are actually living still in make-shift tents.

Some of the tent cities that I saw, actually reminded me of the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake in 2010, where thousands and thousands of Haitians were living in vast tent cities for many, many months after the earthquake.

And I spoke with Nepalese who feared that they have no place to go, others who have no money to rebuild our homes.

BARNETT: It's important we all remember that Nepal still needs the world's help. There's much more to be rebuild. Moni Basu, live for us there in New Delhi, approaching 1 p.m. there. Thanks very much.

CHURCH: Well, Brussels has reopened the Maelbeek metro station where 20 people were killed in last month's terror attacks. You will hear from Belgians about the significance of this reopening.

BARNETT: Plus, CNN's Nima Elbagir joins a Nigerian military on patrol as they fight to find the missing Chibok school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram.

Our exclusive report next.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: A warm welcome back to those of you watching here in the States and to people tuned in from around the globe. It's your last half hour with CNN Newsroom with us. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church. Let's take the headlines for you this hour.

BARNETT: U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to announce plans to send 250 additional troops to northern Syria to help battle ISIS militants. Officials say the troops will join 50 others in an advice in its role. They are now expected to engage in combat but will be armed for self-defense.

CHURCH: The move comes as fighting in the strategic city of Aleppo is intensifying. The Syrian government says there will be a new attack to try to take areas of the city currently under rebel control. A U.N. brokered troops reach in February began to fall apart in Aleppo this month.

Well, Brussels has reopened the Maelbeek metro station where 20 people were killed in last month's terror attacks. It is the first time since the attack that all Brussels metro stations will be open.

BARNETT: There's also condolence wall there at the station for people to write a tributes. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks which targeted the metro and Brussels airport. In all, 32 people were killed and more than 300 injured.

CHURCH: And CNN's Erin McLaughlin is in Brussels, she joins us now for more on the reopening. So, Erin, talk to us about the opening of the station and what it means to Belgians, just weeks in fact after the deadly attacks?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, the trains may be running normally here at the Maelbeek station but the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions are anything but normal. After all, it was around this time that the suicide bomber blew himself up on board, a train at this station just as the train was leaving killing some 20 people.

CNN spoke to a survivor from that day and he said he can still remember in vivid details the shocking calm of survivors as they made their way through the darkness of the metro tunnels to safety. It's a memory that many people in this country will never forget and for many commuters, it was certainly an emotional moment. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Life goes on. You have to take the normal life and

we have to be positive to the future too. And we hope that it will never come again those terrible things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: Now inside the metro station, they have a white board there for people to leave their messages of solidarity, as well as condolences.

On Saturday, there was a private visit from victims' family members, as well as survivors. It's been described as really an emotional visit, a moment, an opportunity for them to take part in what is a part of their healing process.

So, many of the messages on that white board are from the survivors and the victims' families and it's incredible to read some of those messages in French, in Arabic, in English, Dutch, and Polish.

[03:35:07] It gives you a sense that this tragedy has touched people around the world. There was a message in Spanish that read, "Love for all, even for them for they know not what they do." A tremendous outpouring of compassion as well, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Erin McLaughlin reporting for us live there from Brussels. And of course, as that gentleman said, life goes on. But the focus now on the security there, making sure people are safe going forward. Many thanks to you, Erin.

BARNETT: Now for many it was a surprise storm in Myanmar and that may have contributed to the deaths. According top the country's state-run newspaper, the storm buffed main parts of Myanmar with hails killing six people on Friday.

And some witnesses reported hail stones the size of coconuts. Hundreds of homes were damaged and it's not over yet. Thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected in the coming hours.

CHURCH: And we're seeing a lot of this extreme weather. Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us again this hour to talk to us about other extreme weather conditions and what this all means for people in the region.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. It's been this reason it's been so hard it hit in recent days, as you said more than six fatalities, we know of course significant damage to properties. Some 450 roofs have been reported as punctured across punctured across portions of Myanmar.

We now over 300 domestic animals also losing their lives here. Of course, a very important significance to the economy and the lifestyle of folks across this region.

So, I want to show you exactly some of these images. Because as you would imagine, if you get outside and look at some of the perspective across parts of Myanmar, some of the hail stones potentially a little smaller, some as large as coconuts as they are told.

And when you look at this literally looks like it's snowed across this tropical region. So, an incredible perspective nonetheless. And then of course the significant damage that took place as well from these hail stones, and some size getting very large.

And to think about hail stones, when it comes to size and variability in size, it really depends on the updraft speed or the wind speed with this thunderstorms. To get to a size of softball of a coconut, you'd have to have winds blowing to 166 kilometers per hour or north of 100 miles per hour straight up into these thunderstorms to something that large to be able to stay aloft and continue to get larger.

So, again, you see the variability but that is a severe as a storm gets to get a hail storm to reach this size and this intensity. And of course, lightning strikes have been very prevalent across this region as well in the last couple of days.

The pre-monsoon heat that develops. And it shows you the global distribution of lightning strikes on our planet. You notice the U.S. hot spots are the State of Florida. They say about 50 strikes per square kilometer and then you brought now to perspective and we know 70 of our lightning strikes in our planet actually occur right along the tropical region.

You notice the vast majority of them want to be directly over land, not over water as there's more heat buildup. Places like Central Africa where the highest density strikes in the world, they gets upwards of two million strikes every year and of course, Southeast Asia into the tropics we go where you see the intensity quite high as well as indicated by the color contours in this region.

Now not too far away in India, there's been a major drought in place. This is also lead to some nearly some 90 fatalities in recent days, massive drought, massive heat in place as well. Parts of nine states in India reporting extreme heat warnings that have been in place.

In fact, look at some of these observations. Forty nine degrees Celsius, that is 120 Fahrenheit. That by the way is the hottest temperature on our planet on Sunday. The average is 38 Celsius, the average being 100 Fahrenheit, they are getting to 120.

So, again, it shows you the intensity of all of this. And you compare that what occurred across portions of India to a climatological norm on one of the hottest places on our planet, and again speaks to severity. Death Valley gets up to 47 on average, that to 116.

This region in India, 30,000 people live here. Of course, air conditioning a very unlikely in a lot of these places, electricity is not in place and humidity is really high as well. So, this has this multiple effect where you have the long-term event like this happened and fatalities started adding up. And last year there were over 2500 heat-related fatalities just in India.

BARNETT: And that humidity contribute to how hot it feels. JAVAHERI: Absolutely. And your body can't efficiently cool stuff up. Yes.

BARNETT: All right. I appreciate the update. Pedram, thanks a lot.

JAVAHERI: Thanks.