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Iraqi Protesters Withdraw from Green Zone; ISIS Claims Bangladesh Hacking Murder of Tailor; May Day Protests in France Turn Violent; President Obama Takes the Last Laugh at the White House Correspondents Dinner; Ringling Brothers Circus Retiring all Elephants; Court Battle Looming over Prince's Estate; Lawsuit Against Paramount Studios over "Star Trek's" Klingon Language; Jokes Flow at White House Correspondent's Dinner. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 02, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:11] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM. Live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour, Iraqi protesters pull back after storming Baghdad's Green Zone. But they warn they will be back.
Police and demonstrators battle with rocks and tear gas after Paris' May Day March takes a violent turn.
And Barack Obama gives stand-up comedy one last try as president during a yearly event for Washington's elite. And he couldn't resist taking a few shots at Donald Trump.
Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. Like to welcome our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause. Another hour of NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.
And we begin this hour with demands for government action in the Iraqi capital. Hundreds of protesters stormed Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone have left for now. Their anger over the country's political crisis was fueled in part by a fiery anti-corruption speech by the prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The protesters broke into the parliament on Saturday demanding top Iraqi leaders be dismissed. Organizers say protests will resume on Friday.
In south of Baghdad, ISIS is claiming responsibility for two suicide bombings in Somoa. At least 30 people were reportedly killed, dozens were hurt. The terror group says it attacked a gathering of Shiite special forces with one car bomb then detonated a second when security arrived.
Well, for more on this our military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona joins us now.
Colonel, I guess, the protesters have withdrawn. They said they'll be back on Friday. It gives the prime minister some breathing room here, but not a lot. LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, he's only got
five days or so to make changes. But it's interesting, what we see here is the protesters and the prime minister basically want the same thing. He wants to -- he's been trying to shake up the cabinet. Muqtada al-Sadr is demanding that he shake up the cabinet. He's been unable to do that. He's getting a lot of pushback from the entrenched people that are in the cabinet. This has all been run by cronies and special interest groups. And it's just a problem. And he's having problem doing it.
Muqtada al-Sadr who has a lot of street credibility and can mobilize thousands of people was able to mount a demonstration, force their way into the Green Zone and put a lot of pressure on the cabinet and on the prime minister himself.
VAUSE: Explain how this quota system, which is sort of spread along sectarian lines, how does it actually work? Because in theory, it should actually be relatively fair. So what's the criticism here?
FRANCONA: Well, the problem is, you know, even though the electorate will elect, you know, what is representative of the population, the Kurds, the Sunni and the Shia, being the biggest voting blocs, of course, the Shia by sheer numbers will dominate everything. But when the cabinet is formed, the cabinet is actually appointed by the prime minister. And he's got to put together a new government.
In the past regime, under Nouri al-Maliki, who was a disaster, it was mostly his personal friends and cronies. It was his cronyism that led to almost the destruction of the Iraqi army. So Muqtada al-Sadr is trying to get rid of that. And it would be -- it's interesting that Muqtada al-Sadr would not be adverse to having even Sunnis in the cabinet as long as they were qualified. What they want is a government that works. Something that can actually get their act together, get the Iraqi army back on its feet and take on ISIS and try and get Iraq back into one country.
VAUSE: This is a bit of a surprise return by Muqtada al-Sadr. He's been out of the picture for a while now before these protests began.
FRANCONA: Yes. Yes, I mean, he was marginalized in 2007. I mean, he goes back to about 2004. He became a real thorn in the side of the Iraqi government and the Americans. His Jaysh al-Mahdi, the army of the Mahdi, were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops. But in 2007 he was forced out. He came back in 2011 with the withdrawal of American forces and he is a political force to be reckoned with. His family has great credibility.
The al-Sadrs were terribly repressed under the Saddam Hussein regime. So he has the wherewithal to mobilize people, to move people, and to actually have an impact. So the prime minister has to take this very, very seriously. But as I said, their goals are in line with each other. So we may have a chance of getting an effective Iraqi cabinet.
VAUSE: Amidst all of this political turmoil, though, before we get to that point of an effective cabinet, this is a government which is still trying to fight a war with ISIS. This obviously is -- (CROSSTALK)
FRANCONA: Yes, they're being dragged in two different directions. On one hand, they're trying to set up a government that functions and it can run the country, and they also have to prosecute a war against ISIS. And ISIS is taking real advantage of this. We've seen just in two days, two separate car bombing incidents, one just east of the capital and this one today down in Somoa which is pretty far south.
[01:05:08] It's 250 kilometers south of Baghdad. That's a long reach for ISIS to come and mount an attack. It's in the Shia area. They're trying to exacerbate that Sunni-Shia divide and tensions. And very effective on the part of ISIS. So even though ISIS has suffered some defeats in the past few weeks, they're not down, they're not out.
VAUSE: Yes. Certainly that's very much the case. And it's going to be a while before that even comes close.
Colonel, thank you. Colonel Francona, with some good analysis there of what's happening inside the Iraqi government.
Ten kidnapped sailors are back home in Indonesia after more than a month in captivity. They were held for ransom in the Philippines by the militant group Abu Sayyaf after being abducted last March off the country's southern coast. Indonesia's president thanked those who helped secure their release, and said he would continue to try and win the freedom of four other Indonesians who are still being held.
Police in Bangladesh have detained three people for questioning in Saturday's murder of a Hindu tailor. The victim was hacked to death with machetes. The suspects include members of an opposition party and a local leader of an Islamist party. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. According to a counterterrorism monitoring group, just last week, al Qaeda said it was behind the murder of two gay rights activists in Bangladesh.
Well, for more on the string of killings, we're joined now by our senior international correspondent Ivan Watson.
And Ivan, you know, there is this international pressure right now on the government in Bangladesh. But what about the situation within the country? Is there an outrage here? Is there an outcry? Are people demanding that something be done to stop these attacks?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We haven't seen mass street protests in response to some of these killings. There have been some kind of local demonstrations. But there is also a climate of fear in response to the increasing frequency of these killings, which in the month of April resulted in the machete murders of a professor, an atheist blogger, two gay rights activists, and now a Hindu tailor who in 2012 had been prosecuted on a blasphemy law after he was accused of having insulted the Prophet Mohammed.
Now CNN has spoken with the police officials in the district where this man was murdered, and they say that this is one of the motives that's being investigated. In fact, they've detained three people, two of whom the police say were involved in bringing the case against that Hindu tailor in 2012. They say that the tailor was murdered in his shop, effectively, by men who approached on motorcycles and then killed him with machetes.
And that really fits the modus operandi of many of the other killings that we've seen again, with alarming frequency in Bangladesh in recent months and just in the last couple of weeks, John.
VAUSE: And there's this sort of disconnect, if you like, between what the Bangladeshi government has been saying and what these militant groups like ISIS and al Qaeda have been saying. They've been claiming responsibility for these attacks. Yet the Bangladeshi government seems to ignore that. What's going on here?
WATSON: That's right, ISIS and al Qaeda have both claimed responsibility, each for at least two separate killings in last month alone. But the position of the Bangladeshi government is to firmly reject any presence or involvement of either terrorist organizations in their country. Instead, arguing, that this is all the work of local groups.
The Bangladeshi prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, she came out several times over the course of the last week condemning the murders. And also directly accusing the main opposition parties in the country of basically fomenting these violence. And we're reaching out to those parties to get their reaction to these very, very serious accusations. But it is also worth noting that she did condemn the violence saying, quote, "There is no place for terrorism in the country and no terrorist would be allowed to use Bangladesh's soil. We want to establish Bangladesh as a peaceful nation in the world."
Now police in Dhaka have gone one stepped further. They have accused the student wing of the largest opposition Islamist party in the country, Jamaat-e-Islami, of being linked to some of these really gruesome murders. The end result, however, has been, again, a climate of fear in which not only atheist bloggers now have fled the country by the dozens, or have completely gone underground, but also now gay rights activists have gone into hiding, after two leading gay rights activists -- LGBT activists were murdered in a home invasion in the capital just last week, John.
VAUSE: Ivan, thank you. Ivan Watson live this hour with the very latest on another hacking death there in Bangladesh. Thank you, Ivan.
[01:10:02] The departure hall at Brussels airport is now partially reopened to passengers nearly six weeks after the deadly terror attack. Suicide bombers set off explosives near the check-in counters on March 22nd killing 16 people. ISIS claimed responsibility. Police have conducted raids across Europe since the attacks and made a number of arrests.
To the U.S. city of Seattle now, May Day clashes broke out between police and what the local newspaper there called anti-capitalist demonstrators. Police say at least nine people have been arrested. Authorities report Molotov cocktails, rocks and bottles were thrown by protesters. And in Paris, protesters clashed with police as well who responded
with tear gas. The scuffles came after months of demonstrations against planned labor reforms. They're set to be debated in parliament this week. Critics say they threaten workers' rights.
CNN's Jim Bittermann has more now from Paris.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In what is almost becoming typical in these demonstrations now, the legitimate demonstration ended a few minutes ago, a lot of people dispersed, but now moving through the crowds are what the French call basically vandals, who have been throwing rocks at the police, and the police responding with tear gas.
We've seen this a couple of times already this afternoon as the march went along, basically, being disruptive at several instances by the group. The march itself was against the law that the government has proposed would reform the labor code in France. It's been watered down considerably by the government because it feared exactly this kind of outburst. But in fact, they are still going to present the law on Tuesday. And we expect these kinds of protests to continue around the law.
Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And here in Los Angeles, hundreds marched in a May Day rally. They called for immigration reform, police accountability, and an end to racism. The march featured a giant effigy of Donald Trump carrying what appeared to be a Ku Klux Klan hood. The protesters shouted anti- Trump slogans.
A short break here on CNN NEWSROOM. When we come back, the Greatest Show on Earth is bidding farewell to some of its biggest stars. What's next for the Ringling Brothers' beloved elephants in just a moment.
Also ahead, Barack Obama tries to get the last laugh. Some of the best zingers from the U.S. president's final White House Correspondents Dinner in a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me conclude tonight on a more serious note. I want to thank the Washington Press Corps, I want to thank Carol for all that you do. You know, the free press is central to our democracy. And -- nah, I'm just kidding. You know I've got to talk about Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:16:40] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.
A new poll shows Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump 15 points south of Ted Cruz in the Indiana primary. It's especially bad news for Senator Cruz, who was hoping this primary would keep Trump below the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the convention.
And at a rally in Indiana, Trump did not miss an opportunity to remind the crowd of Ted Cruz's chances.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has no road to victory. He can't win. He's the first person in the history of the United States who picked a running mate -- Carly. Who picked a running mate. She picked -- he picked a running mate, even though he has no chance to win. So he picked as a presidential candidate a running mate, but he has no chance to win. So that's the first in the history of our country, folks.
Ted, Lying Ted, I want to congratulate you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Ted Cruz, though, not ready to give up, urging Indiana supporters to drum up the votes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In the next 51 hours, if you share the passion and love that I know you do for this country, for the Constitution, for the Bill of Rights, then Indiana can make a choice. Do we get behind a campaign that is based on yelling and screaming and cursing and insults? Or do we unify behind a positive, optimistic, forward looking, conservative campaign?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: On the Democratic side, the battle in Indiana is a lot closer. The "Wall Street Journal" poll shows Hillary Clinton with only a narrow four-point lead over Bernie Sanders. That's within the poll's margin of error. Senator Sanders is turning to super delegates to keep his campaign alive. Trying to win a majority of the remaining delegates. But he does admit it's a long shot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For us to win the majority of pledged delegates, we need to win 710 out of the remaining 1,083. That is 65 percent of the remaining pledged delegates. That is admittedly, and I do not deny it for a second, a tough road to climb. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Meantime, Secretary Clinton says she believes she's on a path to win the nomination. She told CNN's Jake Tapper she's now willing to work with her rival, Bernie Sanders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I certainly look forward to working with Senator Sanders in the lead-up to the convention, in the lead-up to the platform that will represent the Democratic Party. It will be a progressive platform. I've run on a progressive agenda. I really welcome his ideas and his supporters' passion and commitment because the most important thing for us is to win in November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And you can watch Hillary Clinton's entire interview with Jake Tapper in our next hour right here on CNN.
The man whose job all those candidates want is showing off his comedic skills yet again. Washington rolled out the red carpet for the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday. This was the last time Barack Obama attended the dinner as president taking on the role as comedian-in-chief. Mr. Obama poked fun at himself and of course the candidates, one in particular got extra special attention. That would be Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:20:06] OBAMA: The Republican establishment is incredulous, that he's their most likely nominee. Incredulous, shocking. They say Donald lacks the foreign policy experience to be president. But in fairness, he has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world. Miss Sweden, Miss Argentina. Miss Azerbaijan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, for more on the White House Correspondents Dinner I'm joined by comedian and "Last Comic Standing" winner, Alonzo Bodden.
Nice to have you here. It's so nice to meet you.
ALONZO BODDEN, COMEDIAN: Thank you, John. Nice to meet you.
VAUSE: Nice to see the face behind the voice. OK. Donald Trump, he wasn't in the room. But he certainly got a lot of attention. Everyone seemed to be talking about him. And the president even joked, maybe it was time to hold back.
BODDEN: Well, from a comedic standpoint, you have to hit Donald Trump, you know. But it was funny how Barack Obama hit him, and then hit the media for giving him too much attention.
VAUSE: Yes. BODDEN: You know, that was --
VAUSE: Well, let's listen to that. We have a joke by Barack Obama. So let's listen to how the president put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I don't want to spend too much time on the Donald. Following your lead, I want to show some restraint. Because I think we can all agree that from the start, he's gotten the appropriate amount of coverage befitting the seriousness of his candidacy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: It was said in jest, right? I mean, it's true because -- it's funny because it's true.
BODDEN: Absolutely. There was so much truth behind that. And it's funny because he's saying it to the people who are doing it, and it's hard to make them laugh at themselves. That crowd takes -- John, with all due respect for you, you guys take yourselves kind of seriously.
VAUSE: I wasn't -- I never get invited. But yes, exactly. That's a crowd that doesn't necessarily laugh at themselves.
BODDEN: No, they don't laugh at themselves.
VAUSE: How do you get them to do it? How do you get them --
BODDEN: Well, Barack Obama's a comic. He has comic instincts. And he's so good at being funny. You know, he's self-deprecating which helps and his jokes are funny. His delivery's good. And he's comfortable up there. I think it's the one time where he's not worried about being president.
VAUSE: Right.
BODDEN: Where he can be like, OK, I can have some fun. And these people are nailing him every day over every word he says, and now it's his chance to get them back, and to do it subtly. That was the Obama style.
VAUSE: You know, this is the thing that -- this is the last, you know, White House Correspondents Dinner for President Obama. It was going to be the big takedown. Nothing left unsaid. It was all going to be out there on the table. I kind of thought maybe he pulled his punches a little, maybe didn't quite go out in the blaze of glory that I was expecting.
BODDEN: I think he did it with his style. I think that's how Barack Obama does it. He's subtle, but he delivered the message. And he hit everybody there. You know, he hit the media, he hit the other candidates, he even made fun of not making fun of candidates who didn't --
VAUSE: The John Kasich joke. BODDEN: John Kasich. Basically you didn't have enough delegates for
me to make fun of you. So even that was great.
VAUSE: He did a wealth of material on the Republican side. But he also -- you know, he didn't hold back when it came to the Democrats as well. Let's listen to this one about Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Bernie's slogan has helped his campaign catch fire among young people. Feel the Bern. Feel the Bern. That's a good slogan. Hillary's slogan has not had the same effect. Let's see this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Again, you know, this is a great thing about it. Was it equal offender here with everybody? Was he a little softer on the Democrats?
BODDEN: Yes, I thought -- I thought the best joke toward Hillary was the joke about being funny and going to Goldman Sachs next year. That was -- and he like -- he came right out the gate with the Goldman Sachs joke. I thought that was great. And when he told Bernie, you know, you're worth $1 million, oh, I'm sorry, in your terms, that's 37,000 people, $27 each. Yes, it was great. He was having fun.
VAUSE: Yes.
BODDEN: He was having fun. So I thought --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: I thought he humanized people, too, which is I thought was a great thing about this.
BODDEN: Yes, and again, he's better at that, I think, than any president we've had because he knows the things that are said about him. And he was able to use all of those things. Let's face it, you are the first black president, the only black president, and he opened up with that, you know, joking about himself, showing up on CPT.
VAUSE: It's almost like his chance to get back at everybody. Now we talked about humanizing people. And I thought one of the great moments was the video with the former Republican House speaker, John Boehner. Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: You got any advice for me?
JOHN BOEHNER, FORMER REPUBLICAN HOUSE SPEAKER: So now you want my advice? First, stop sending me all these LinkedIn requests. And second, here's the beauty of this whole thing. You've got all the time in the world to figure this out. You can just be you for a while. If you know how to do that again.
OBAMA: So I can just be me? And I can wear my momma jeans since I hate these tight jeans.
BOEHNER: That's good. Good.
[01:25:04] Yesterday I had a beer at 11:30 in the morning. And you know McDonald's now serves breakfast all day long. Look here. Look here. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes. This joke was obviously all about life once you retire. But I thought it was more about joking about life in politics. How you can't be yourself. He had to wear -- he can't wear mom jeans anymore.
BODDEN: The funny thing was him humanizing Boehner.
VAUSE: Yes.
BODDEN: You know -- I mean, we know Barack Obama's human. But he humanized Boehner. I love the cigarette thing because we all know Barack can't wait. He can't wait to be able to smoke.
VAUSE: No more Nicorettes.
BODDEN: Yes. He's going to do it.
VAUSE: Smoking Obama. And the great thing was, because we've never seen that side of John Boehner before. He does come across as sort of this rat pack kind of guy.
BODDEN: Right. You saw them getting along.
VAUSE: Yes.
BODDEN: You know, and which they always say that they do get along. But publicly they can't. Right? It's like the old cartoon where the sheepdog and the wolf pack punched clock.
VAUSE: Exactly. Good morning, Ralph. Hi, Ben.
BODDEN: So now they finally -- we get to see the other side of that. So that was cool.
VAUSE: Yes. The other sort of, I guess, controversy of the night was all about Larry Wilmore who hosted this for the first time. You know, depending who you asked, he bombed or he was great. There's no middle ground on this one.
BODDEN: I give him up and down. Up and down. Yes. Started out rough because it is a tough crowd.
VAUSE: Yes. And following the president can't be easy.
BODDEN: You followed the president. The president's funny.
VAUSE: Yes. BODDEN: Look, this was my thing. When he looked out there, there's a
whole sea of white faces.
VAUSE: Right.
BODDEN: And I thought as a comic, he should have run that set at a country club in Florida. That would be the preparation.
VAUSE: Right.
BODDEN: Like, you need an all-white audience that's going to look at you. But he got great in the middle.
VAUSE: Yes.
BODDEN: You know, when he got to where he was joking some in the middle of the Cruz stuff was working, and Trump's an easy target.
VAUSE: Well, yes.
BODDEN: Of course, the close. Is that right? That's what we're going to talk about.
VAUSE: And that's what I want to ask you about. Because, you know, some people have said that it was inappropriate to use the N word in front of the president. Other people say, listen, you know, this is entirely acceptable because it's two black men up there. And this is how a lot of the African-Americans speak.
BODDEN: I think the opening and closing went together perfectly. When Barack Obama did the joke about CPT, and said we're going to call this jokes white people can't use.
VAUSE: Yes.
BODDEN: And when Larry Wilmore closed it, it looks like, OK, we're going to use the phrase white people can't use. I thought it was cool. It was funny between them. You know, between them. I think Barack Obama, little awkward, like he couldn't laugh at it the way he wanted to, but no harm done.
VAUSE: Significance of having the black president, black comic hosting it for the last one?
BODDEN: Well, that will be the last time a black comic gets the job. So we're really happy. You know, it's going to be a while before anyone else gets that job.
VAUSE: Well, I think you should get the next time. I put my vote in to you.
Thanks for coming in.
BODDEN: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: A good chat. Appreciate it. And we'll take a short break. When we come back, the Ringling
Brothers' elephants are packing up their trunks and are going to retire. We'll look at why the circus is ending one of their most well-known acts.
Also ahead, a language inspired by "Star Trek" finds itself at the center of a heated legal dispute. The battle for speaking Klingon. Oh, god, help us, later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:31:53] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
The headlines this hour --
(HEADLINES)
VAUSE: The end of an era for the elephants in one populated U.S. circus. The Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus said all of its touring elephants are retiring to a conservation center in Florida. The elephants took their final bow on Sunday night in Rhode Island. Animal rights activists say the move is long overdue. They have accused the circus of mistreating its animals.
Stephen Payne is a spokesperson for Ringling Brothers. He joins us from Providence, Rhode Island.
Stephen, thanks for being with us.
First question, is this purely a business decision to retire the elephants? If they're still interesting out there, and people are still willing to pay for it, will the elephants still be part of the show?
STEPHEN PAYNE, SPOKESMAN, RINGLING BROTHERS BARNUM & BAILEY CIRCUS: It was never a business decision about whether to have the elephants in the show. Each elephant at Ringling Brothers costs on average $65,000 a year to feed and care for, whether or not they ever performed in the circus. Really, it was a decision based on what we were hearing from our customers, but also looking around at the legislative landscape in the United States and realizing it was becoming more and more difficult for Ringling Brothers to tour all our cities. And we couldn't leave the elephants at the city limits, so we decided to move the elephants from the circus to the Ringling Brothers Center for Elephant Conservation, and really making a greater investment in their care and the conservation of an endangered species.
VAUSE: Tell me about the future for the elephants now at that reserve in Florida. What will they be doing?
PAYNE: They will join 29 other elephants, and five elephants from our other performing service in central Florida. That's a facility dedicated to elephants. It's for their retirement and for us to learn from them. First and foremost, it's for their comfort and safety. They'll spend their sunny days in Florida. I sometimes joke, everyone, if they're lucky, gets to retire to Florida.
VAUSE: Where else, I guess. There has been some criticism. Activists wanted the elephants to head to a much bigger reserve, maybe in Tennessee or California. There are allegations that the elephants are not treated properly at the facility in Florida. Let me read you this statement we had from PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Here's what they said, "Pulling elephants off the road only to chain them at night on a breeding farm and continuing to force tigers, bears and other animals to live in cages that are barely bigger than they are won't stop either the protests or the outcry."
PAYNE: Let me stop you right there.
VAUSE: How do you respond to that?
PAYNE: Again, let's look at the source of the information that you're getting this from. This is from a radical animal rights organization that kills over 80 percent of the dogs and cats it purports to rescue. We are actually the experts in animal care. The Center for Elephant Conservation is dedicated to actually conserving the species, which means we're very proud of the 26 births we've had over the past 20 years. These other sanctuaries that PETA and likeminded radical groups advocate for, they're managing their elephants to extinction. Our self-proclaimed model is extinction, not if we can help it. We want these elephants around for future generations, not moving off to some sanctuary where in 40 or 50 years there won't be elephants in North America. That's not acceptable.
[01:35:43] VAUSE: I'm wondering, as an entertainment business, are you preparing for the day when animals will no longer be part of the show? It would seem that day is coming. SeaWorld recently retired the orca whales, the killer whales from their entertainment side of the show. Do you think people are coming to the point where they just don't want to see animals performing, and that day is coming pretty soon?
PAYNE: No, I don't think that's true. Again, Ringling Brothers entertains 10 million fans a year. And our animals are the number-one reason people say they come to the "greatest show on earth." Though we're transitioning the elephants from the circus to our center, we're still very proud to showcase the special human and animal bond that exists with out lions, tigers, dogs, cats, horses. On this unit here in Providence, Rhode Island, we have two very wonderful kangaroos. We think that these wonderful animal performances, as well as our extraordinary human performances, are going to be part of Ringling Brothers for a very long time.
VAUSE: Stephen, we wish you, we wish the elephants especially, all the very, very best. Thank you for speaking with us today.
PAYNE: Thank you for having me on.
VAUSE: Short break here. When we come back, some "Star Trek" fans are taking the franchise to court over who actually owns the fictional Klingon language. A look at the legal precedent in this case could actually set. And we'll do it in English. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:40:14] VAUSE: A court battle could be looming over Prince's multimillion dollar fortune. It's believed the music icon did not leave a will, and potential beneficiaries are expected in a Minnesota court on Monday.
Here's Sara Sidner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, we're hearing from a source familiar with the discussions surrounding Prince's estate that things have gotten contentious between family members in the very first meeting they had to try to hash out the details of the estate. We can also tell you that we do now know that that rumored vault is, indeed, there inside of the home.
We were able to speak with Prince's half-brother, Alfred Jackson, about what he's seen and about the emotional time he had after he found out that Prince had died.
FRANK WHEATON, ATTORNEY FOR PRINCES HALF BROTHER: Mr. Jackson and I had a special supervised two-hour tour of Paisley Park, and it allowed Mr. Jackson to personally grieve, and personally feel the warmth of Prince's spirit, the doves and everything.
SIDNER: What was it like taking a tour of Paisley Park after your brother died?
ALFRED JACKSON, HALF BROTHER OF PRINCE: We looked at the whole premises inside Paisley Park. We seen the vault door, but we never entered.
SIDNER: What was the experience like?
JACKSON: He was just a genius, the way he had that.
SIDNER: When you looked around, it looked like the work of a genius?
JACKSON: Yeah.
SIDNER: What were you feeling at the time as you walked through?
JACKSON: I was hoping that he was still living, and wanting him still to be with me.
SIDNER: But Jackson said he and the family are trying to work things out and they're all trying to do this as emotions are running really, really high.
We understand that many of the siblings will be in court with their attorneys on Monday as the courts try to figure out exactly how many beneficiaries there are and who exactly will be looking into all of the assets of the estate -- John?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Sara, thank you.
Well, a language unique to the "Star Trek" universe is now at the center of an intellectual property lawsuit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Fans like Darren Kavinoky did not need the subtitles in that clip. But the fans are claiming Paramount Movie Studios cannot declare ownership of the language, even though they created it. Paramount says, not so fast, it's ours. The fans are saying the language has gone far beyond what first started. Now lawyers on both sides have tasers set on stun, so to speak.
(LAUGHTER)
DARREN KAVINOKY, ATTORNEY: So to speak.
VAUSE: There's a lot f legal questions and Darren Kavinoky is here to try to sort through all of this.
And a word for our viewers, the Klingon viewers out there, we'll have Klingon writing on the bottom of the screen.
KAVINOKY: So I won't have to speak in my native Klingon.
VAUSE: It's mostly about a whole copyright issue here.
KAVINOKY: Yes.
VAUSE: Not just the language. But the language is the interesting part because this lawsuit is about an invented language. Can it be copyrighted?
KAVINOKY: It's so interesting. This is really a case of first impressions. As I was doing legal research into the story, there's a very widely reported case involving Oracle, where a computer language was at issue in that case. But this is the first time that we've had anything like this. And of course, from the perspective of the movie lot --
VAUSE: Paramount.
KAVINOKY: -- from Paramount, their position is that this was a language that was created as part of a script, something that is subject to copyright protection. And of course, fans have taken it to a much higher level.
VAUSE: And this is a friend of the court brief. It's being brought by the Language Creation Society. Part of their argument is this, "The language has taken on a life of its own. Thousands of people began studying it, and using it to communicate among themselves." And they point to the fact that, what, 250,000 Klingon-to-English dictionaries have been sold. You can go on to Bing and there's an English-to-Klingon translator. I think in Sweden, they exchange their marriage vows in Klingon, which might have been a fun wedding to go to.
KAVINOKY: Right. It might have been a fun wedding but ultimately it's something Paramount may have a great argument to shut all of those things down as being infringements on their copyright. Because when this language was first created, this was created for entertainment value. This wasn't created so that these people could then go on and actually use it as a language. And that's fundamentally where the point of departure is.
VAUSE: What about the argument when the studio created it, it was 2,000 words, now it's 25,000 or 30,000 words more. It's moved beyond the original from the movie script.
[01:45:20] KAVINOKY: That may be something that would help the fans of "Star Trek" to say, well, look, this is something that has morphed and gone beyond whatever it was first intended. But when you go back to what was very first intended with this, this was for a movie script.
VAUSE: Right.
KAVINOKY: This was entertainment value. There are no Klingons out there.
VAUSE: Which is the argument which Paramount is putting out there.
KAVINOKY: I hate to wreck anybody's illusions out here --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: There are no Klingons. But we have Klingon writing on the screen right there. Paramount is saying, this isn't a real language, these aren't real people. So now what happens?
KAVINOKY: That may ultimately turn out to be the most compelling argument for the judge. And the judge in this case, because it is in federal court -- all of these copyright challenges, they have to be brought in federal court. Judges decide questions of law. So ultimately, it's going to be up to a judge to decide whether or not the legal standards are going to apply. If there is a question of facts, though, John, it does go to a jury.
VAUSE: A jury. The fans have been arguing, listen, there are no ancient Greeks around anymore, but you can't copyright ancient Greek. There aren't any ancient Greeks communicating using the ancient Greek language. Is that a valid argument in this case?
KAVINOKY: Yeah, I don't think that will help. What this really ultimately turns on is this was something created for entertainment purposes. And people who create -- just like the movie script itself, there would be no debate that the script itself would be subject to copyright, and would be protected. And so I think that Paramount's got a very strong argument that since there really are no Klingons, and since all of this was simply created for entertainment value, that it's worthy of copyright protection.
VAUSE: I just wonder if the movie, if it hadn't been such a high- value production, if Paramount would have just let it go.
KAVINOKY: That's a question that -- sometimes money does tend to drive these things, yes.
VAUSE: Darren, good to speak with you.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: Good to speak with you. Thanks for coming in.
KAVINOKY: You bet.
VAUSE: A short break here. When we come back, Leicester City is one step closer to football glory, to the top of the Premier League.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:51:40] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Fans have to postpone the celebrations for a little longer. Their team would have clinched the win against Manchester United but the match ended in a one-all draw. So second-place Tottenham, if they or draw against Chelsea, they will be out of reach at the top of the standings. That means they could get their first ever major title. It would take a huge collapse of Leicester to not win at this point. The question everyone is asking, could this be football's greatest underdog story ever?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the start of the season, who would have thought it? Leicester, known for crisps, 5,000-to-one to win the English Premier League. To put that into prospective, at 500-to-one, we have Lady Gaga to be U.S. president in 2020, and 5,000-to-one, we have Elvis Presley to be proved to be alive. But is this football's greatest underdog story? Nottingham, known for Robin Hood, had a team that only used 17 players in their entire title-winning season. And Lakorunia, known for being founded by Hercules, had a team that broke the duopoly. Montpelier, known for its wines, blew away their rivals with a charge on a shoe string budget. Denmark, known for bacon, hadn't even qualified for the Euros. They were sunning themselves on the beach. Political forces changed all that. The Unfancied Danes were back in the fold and never looked back. Greece, known for the Acropolis and a team who had never previously won a tournament game in history, turned defense on defense on defense, on their way to the Euro 2004 triumph. What makes Leicester the greatest triumph of all? They weren't even worth a bet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Kensington Palace has released pictures of the youngest royal. Princess Charlotte turns 1 on Monday. Fourth in line to the throne and has a striking resemblance to her brother, Prince George. The duchess of Cambridge took the photo at the family's home in Norfolk. Katherine herself is in the camera's eye. She covers "Vogue's" 100th anniversary issue. The British National Portrait Gallery has put two photos from the shoot on exhibit. The duchess will visit the museum on Wednesday.
In this hour, we'll look at Saturday night's White House Correspondent's Dinner where celebrities, journalists and politicians mingled for a night jokes and a few jabs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good evening, everybody.
(SHOUTING)
OBAMA: It is an honor to be here at my last and perhaps the last White House Correspondent's Dinner.
(LAUGHTER)
The end of the republic has never looked better.
(LAUGHTER)
LARRY WILMORE, COMEDIAN: Nice to be here at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. Or as you know they're going to call it next year, Donald Trump presents the luxurious evening paid for by Mexico.
OBAMA: We've got the bright new face of the Democratic Party here tonight, Mr. Bernie Sanders!
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: Bernie, you look like a million bucks. Or to put it in terms you understand, you'll look like 37,000 donations of $27 each.
(LAUGHTER)
WILMORE: I can't understand why everybody treats Donald Trump with kid gloves. And then I realized they're the only gloves that will fit his stupid little baby hands.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Bernie's slogan has helped his campaign catch fire among young people, "Feel the Bern." Hillary's slogan has not had the same effect.
(LAUGHTER)
[01:55:18] WILMORE: There's a joke going around the Internet that Ted Cruz is actually the Zodiac Killer.
(LAUGHTER)
I'm not making that up. Come on. That's absurd. Some people actually liked the Zodiac Killer.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Meanwhile, some candidates aren't polling high enough to qualify for their own joke tonight.
(LAUGHTER)
WILMORE: Ted Cruz got zero delegates in New York, which is actually five more than I thought he would get for the Zodiac Killer.
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: I just have two more words to say, Obama out.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And that was it.
You've been watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
The news continues with Rosemary Church after a short break.
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