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Clinton on Cusp Of Nomination, Sanders Staying in Race; Aboard Carrier "USS Harry Truman" Conducting ISIS Bombing Missions; Muhammad Ali's Hometown Celebrates His Life; Hana Ali Talks Father Muhammad Ali; Arrests in India in Suspected Organ Harvesting Scheme; How Weather Plays Role in Increased Shark Attacks; New App Helps Feed Syrian Refugees; Threat of Terrorist Attack During Euro 2016 Football Championship. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 06, 2016 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:36] AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States an around the world. Thanks for joining us. I'm Amara Walker. And this is CNN NEWSROOM.

A warm welcome everyone. Hillary Clinton is closing in on her party's presidential nomination with another big victory. CNN projects the front runner will win Puerto Rico's Democratic primary. And that puts Clinton just 29 delegates away from the number she needs to clench the nomination.

Now Clinton and rival, Bernie Sanders, are now looking ahead to the final round of primary contests. And California is the biggest of the six races on Tuesday. Clinton and Sanders are in a dead heat among the state's eligible voters according to a recent USC/"Los Angeles Time" poll. But Clinton has a 10-point lead over Sanders in a survey of likely voters. Despite the odds and delegate math, Bernie Sanders says he's not leaving the race.

Chief Washington correspondent, Jake Tapper, spoke with the candidates in California.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT & CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: Bernie Sanders is barnstorming California where polls are very tight ahead of Tuesday's primary here. Hillary Clinton holds a significant lead in delegates but Sanders says he's not concerned and that he will end up the Democratic Party nominee next month at convention in Philadelphia. He shows no evidence that he is going to back down or that he is preparing to bow out.

In all likelihood, even if you do win in California, which is certainly possible, according to the latest polling, Secretary Clinton on Tuesday night will declare victory in the nomination race. She will say she has enough delegates and will be the nominee. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:

I think that's kind of not quite accurate. And I think the Democratic National Committee made that clear that what she would be doing is combining pledged delegates, those are the real delegates that people vote for, with super delegates, people appointed by the committee. And what the DNC has made it very clear is that media should not lump those two together. Because pledged delegates are pledged to the delegate and super delegates may change their mind.

TAPPER: Will your strategy be different if after all the contests are over she has more pledged delegates than you do? Or are you taking this to the convention no matter what?

SANDERS: Again, I don't want to speculate about who will end up having more pledged delegates. She is ahead of us right now, no question. But California is coming up. They have 475 pledged delegates here.

You don't know what the world will be like four weeks from now, five weeks. Let's not forget, the Democratic convention is the end of July. That's a long time from today.

@: Clinton told me this week that she will secure enough delegates on Tuesday to win the nomination. Of course, that's only if you include super delegates. As for Sanders, well, we have to see what his next move will be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: For more on the state of the Democratic race, we are joined now by CNN political commentator, Sally Kohn. She's also a columnist for "The Daily Beast."

Good to have you on the program, Sally.

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to be with you.

WALKER: So Hillary Clinton getting very close to clinching the Democratic nomination, but we know California is the biggest prize. That race is coming up on Tuesday. How important is California? Is it a must-win for Clinton considering that polls have shown her and Bernie Sanders in a statistical dead heat for the past several weeks? We know this is a very large and diverse state.

KOHN: California will be very important for both Sanders and Clinton and it's in part for reasons you just mentioned. On one hand, Sanders still wants to say he is still in the game at this point, still a contender. He has a shot. He has to still be putting a lot of numerical pressure there in California. On the other hand, Clinton's claim all along is that Sanders was only doing well in doubly white working class states and not in states that have large Latino and African-American populations. California is kind of this inflectional phenomenon. You have this sort of large populous white working class left and you have a sizeable percentage of voters of color. So it is very telling to both campaigns who comes out on top. Whether it actually affects who wins is another story. WALKER: Absolutely. You know, but Sanders has remained defiant and

continually saying, listen, I'm taking this to the Democratic National Convention. If he loses in California, do you see him conceding and dropping out, or do you see him taking this and trying to woo super delegates to vote for him?

[02:05:16] KOHN: Well I mean, it all depends on what your definition of this is. He will take something to the convention I think. And I'm a Sanders supporter. I support his mission statement, both for this campaign what he's done to shape the discussion in this primary as well as what he has done to push Hillary Clinton to be more accountable to the populous base of the Democratic party and frankly the entire country. And I support what Bernie Sanders represents for party and for the country going forward. The question is, you know, if, and it is still an if, but if Hillary clenches numbers she needs, by the end of the night Tuesday to be the official nominee, does Bernie bow out, continue to go forward as he pledge, but forward in a different kind of way. Forward to shape the future of the party, to shape the platform, to continue to push Hillary as a candidate but not sort of challenging her head on. It remains to be seen. I certainly hope that we see a shift going forward.

WALKER: And he's already helped shape the platform and pushing Clinton more left.

Let me ask you about unity. It is such an extraordinary primary season. We see the Republican Party imploding with, you know, the way Trump has been forging forward. But we see a lot of schisms happening in the Democratic Party. You have Hillary Clinton calling for unity and saying I want to court Bernie's supporters. Do you see Bernie Sanders supporters eventually getting behind a Hillary Clinton? There is such a huge difference between the supporters of Sanders and Clinton, at least when you go to the rallies and see just the enthusiasm and the numbers of people who turn out on the Sanders side.

KOHN: There is a set of Bernie supports, without question, who are vitriolically anti-Hillary. Whether that's because of gender or substance remains to be seen. But if the Republicans can unify behind Trump and -- Hillary supporters in 2008, 28 percent said they wouldn't support Obama if he was nominate, and they did. It will be fine. We will come together. We have something truly awful to defeat.

WALKER: Sally Kohn, good to have you, CNN political commentator and "Daily Beast" columnist. Thank you.

KOHN: Great to be on with you.

WALKER: Stick with us. Next hour, we will be speaking with a Donald Trump supporter. Stick around for that.

California, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Montana all hold primaries on Tuesday. We will have all-day coverage here on CNN. Be sure to tune in June 7th for final batches of the state primaries of the election season.

(HEADLINES) WALKER: ISIS is coming fierce attacks on multiple fronts, including a push to its defacto capitol in Syria. After three days of intense fighting, Russian war planes backed the Syrian army as it entered Raqqa Province. Regime forces haven't been in the area in two years. Also, U.S.-backed Kurdish and air militias cut off a key supply route between Raqqa and Manbij, another ISIS-held city.

And the first Iraqi city to fall it ISIS in 2014 may soon be retaken. Iraqi security forces and militias stormed a neighborhood in southern Fallujah Saturday.

And at the same time, U.S. and coalition forces are stepping up their aerial assaults against ISIS. 23 new air strikes were launched against ISIS targets on Saturday. In Syria, most of the strikes took place near Manbij. War planes also targeted six cities in Iraq, including Fallujah and Mosul.

Well, the accelerated bombing campaign has prompted a U.S. carrier to move closer to ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq.

CNN was one of the few teams taken onboard to see the operations in action.

Fred Pleitgen spoke to the pilots conducting the strike missions.

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FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: High-intensity operations on the "USS Harry Truman." Jets taking off every few minutes to hit ISIS, now from a better position than before.

The "Truman" just moved from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, much closer to Syria.

We spoke to an F-18 pilot on one of the first strike missions.

[02:10:09] UNIDENTIFIED F-18 PILOT: It was a close air support mission so we don't know targets prior to taking off. There did happen to be a few targets. We struck those targets.

PLEITGEN: The U.S. says its air strikes are having a major effect as allied forces on the ground continue to win back territory from the extremists in places like Fallujah and Iraq and in northern Syria. American jets not only hitting ISIS positions on the front lines but also supply lines and cash warehouses.

(on camera): The U.S. has drastically stepped up its bombings on ISIS targets both in Iraq and Syria and the "Harry Truman" plays an important role in that stepped-up campaign. Now that it's here in the Mediterranean, its jets are even closer to many of the targets it needs to hit.

(voice-over): The increased operational tempo and the move from the gulf to the Mediterranean put a strain on the "Truman's" crew. The carrier's tour extended by a full month. But the admiral tells me his men and women are still going strong.

UNIDENTIFIED REAR ADMIRAL, COMMANDER, USS HARRY TRUMAN: It's a graphic illustration of the flexibility that is inherent with naval forces. We can operate anywhere we want to in the world as it happens on this deployment our priority has been the support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria.

PLEITGEN: U.S. commanders believe the coming weeks will be critical in the fight against ISIS Now that the group seems to be losing its grip on some major strong holds. Gains the "Truman" pilots helped paved the way for.

UNIDENTIFIED F-18 PILOT: We have definitely degraded them and we have destroyed them in many different places throughout Iraq and Syria. So I feel we've made a large impact.

PLEITGEN: ISIS may be weakened but some of the most intense fighting against the group probably still lies ahead. And so do many more combat missions for the carrier's jets.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, aboard the "USS Harry Truman" in the Mediterranean Sea.

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WALKER: Activists say the Syrian city of Aleppo is coming under heavy bombardment by the country's regime. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 40 air strikes pounded the city followed by barrel bombs and shelling from helicopter gunships. It says at least 19 people were killed in the past day.

Also, these images on social media purportedly showing rescuers pulling two children out alive from the rubble in Aleppo. Just incredible pictures there. And air strikes hit the rebel-held neighborhood on Thursday.

Two NPR news crew members documenting the war in Afghanistan have been killed. They were traveling with an Afghan army unit Sunday when the convoy was attacked and their vehicle came under fire. NPR, or National Public Radio, is a non profit membership media organization in the U.S.

CNN's Asia-Pacific editor, Andrew Stevens, is covering the story from Hong Kong and joins us live with the latest.

Andrew, first off, what do we know about how the journalists were killed?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Amara, they were traveling in a five-vehicle convoy towards city of Miraje (ph) in Helmond Province. It is one of the most dangerous provinces in Afghanistan. In recent years, it has been slipping more and more into Taliban control, or at least under Taliban influence. So driving along key roads there has always been dangerous.

They were in a five-vehicle convoy when they came under attack. And the two NPR journalists were in a vehicle that was hit. They both died. Also the driver of that vehicle died. They now bringing the number of deaths in Afghanistan -- since the U.S. increased hostilities after 9/11, the number of deaths stands at 27. A tragic event in Afghanistan. But something which certainly has been repeated many times before.

WALKER: And you are taking a look at a photo of the two who were killed, David Gilkey, an award-winning staff photographer and video editor for NPR, and also Zabihullah Tamanna, an Afghan freelance journalist and a translator.

Tell us more about Gilkey. He was a veteran journalist. He travelled to several conflict zones before.

STEVENS: That's right. He was 50 years old. He was regarded as one of the best in the business as a photo journalist. As you say, he had traveled to many conflict zones and not just Afghanistan. He had also been in Iraq. He had been in Gaza. He had also been to humanitarian disasters like the Haiti earthquake and the famine in Somalia. And he had been doing it for many, many years. He was deeply, deeply committed for his craft. Those words coming from our own Ivan Watson, who was also at NPR. He described Gilkey as virtually a mentor to Ivan. And Ivan had worked with him in Iraq. He said that Gilkey was a man who realized that many images he took were disturbing and would be uncomfortable to see back home. That's what he wanted. That's the effect he wanted. He wanted people to realize what happened in the zones.

And he was interviewed by NPR after the Haiti earthquake and asked about photography in zones like that and how he managed to do it. Just listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:15:37] DAVID GILKEY, NPR AWARD-WINNING STAFF PHOTO JOURNALIST KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN (voice-over): When you take pictures, it's easier. And it's not like you put the camera to your face and, therefore, it makes what you're seeing OK. But certainly you can put yourself in the zone. I am doing this. And what I'm doing is not pleasant but you just march through it.

I mean, it is hard. But you can't get caught up in it and become part of it. You still need to maintain your state of mind that you are helping tell this story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEVENS: It is perhaps, Amara, an overused term that Gilkey was a man who really did believe and really wanted his confronting images to lead to action for change. Certainly he was recognized by his peers. As you say, award-winning. He won an Emmy for his work in 2007. He won very prestigious George Polk Award and several other White House news correspondent awards. So he was, as I say, considered to be one of the very best and an enormous loss for NPR.

WALKER: Absolutely. Andrew Stevens, appreciate that. Live for us there in Hong Kong.

Let's check on some other news and the headlines.

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WALKER: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Beijing for talks with Chinese officials and it is expected his visit will be dominated by tensions over the South China Sea. Beijing has sought to strengthen its claims in the region by building and fortifying islands there. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Friday warned China against, quote, "erecting a great wall of south isolation."

On Sunday, China reacted, as a top admiral said Beijing will not be intimidated.

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UNIDENTIFIED CHINESE ADMIRAL (through translation): We do not make trouble. But we have no fear of trouble. China will not bear with the arbitration of war. Now will it allow any infringements on its sovereignty or its security interests or stay indifferent to the irresponsibility behavior of some countries in and around the South China Sea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: We'll take a short break here. When we come back, Louisville, Kentucky, is celebrating the life of its hometown hero. We will show you how the city is remembering Muhammad Ali.

Plus, France is preparing for the Euro 2016 football championship but some countries warn it could be a target for terrorists. Stay with us.

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[02:23:08] WALKER: Louisville, Kentucky, is welcoming back its hometown hero Muhammad Ali. His body arrived in the city on Sunday. Preparations are under way for a public memorial this Friday. Thousands are expected to pay their respects to the legendary boxer who died in Arizona just a few days ago. He was 74 years old.

The entire city of Louisville is rallying around a celebration of Ali's life.

Our Martin Savidge has the details.

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MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Muhammad Ali has finally come back home. And the efforts to memorialize his life are fully under way. There was last night interfaith service that was organized by the Islamic community. There are others are today, but the big events are for the latter part of the week. Thursday is set aside primarily for the family of Muhammad Ali. But Friday, that is the day where the world can celebrate his life. And in fact, Louisville, Kentucky, has put out the welcome mat for the entire world to come. Because they know that their hometown son is one who has been shared by so many people in so many other places. It'll begin 9:00 in the morning with a motorcade, a procession that'll wind through the streets of Louisville. That's designed to allow as many as people as possible to bid their final farewell. 2:00, though, there is going to be an interfaith service. Among those who will eulogize, former President Bill Clinton will be on hand. About 20,000 people may be able to squeeze into that facility. And it is going to be quite remarkable.

These plans have been years in the making. And we're told that it's not just from the family and not just from the city, but also one of those who helped make the plans was Muhammad Ali himself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: As the world mourns, Ali's daughter, Hana, spoke about her father's passing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:25:02] HANA ALI, DAUGHTER OF MUHAMMAD ALI (voice-over): Naturally, it's difficult. We're all in shock still. We can't believe it. I know it sounds crazy, wet thought that daddy would just defy the odds of even death I think.

(LAUGHTER)

You know, he seemed to always fight through everything. And you know, like people know, he's in the hospital on and off, and he always comes out of it. We expected it to be the same, and so did Lonnie, and so sort a surprise to us, too.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Were you all with him during those last few days? Can you talk us through what those final moments were like?

ALI: Yes, our father -- our stepmother called us right away and told us she was taking him to the hospital. And right away, my sister, Mary, and myself were like, we'll be right there. And then she let us know when we were making plans that we should get there as soon as possible. So, we hopped on a plane and we just stayed at the hospital 24/7, and we went home to sleep before and got back in the morning and all went out in the room. And friends and family, people were gathering and coming into the waiting rooms. And Lonnie just kept it private so the kids and grandkids could spend time with our father, and we all took turns, and in there laughing and crying and telling stories and crying and laughing and kissing him.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what were those last few moments like?

ALI: Sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think -- are you OK?

ALI: I'm sorry. OK. It was really beautiful. He was very at peace, and we were all taking turns speaking with him and telling him we love him. And it was very peaceful and beautiful. He would have been proud.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: He would have been proud.

ALI: Really a man. Yeah, I think our father's such a spiritual man and he's always been -- he loves his religion. And it literally broke his heart to see, you know, I think the way the world is viewing Islam now as a whole, because of the actions of a few people. And he -- Islam means peace and love, and he's all about peace and love, and he's always tried to spread that and share that. And to see him go and have an imam reading the Koran in Arabic and in English it was beautiful and spiritual and overwhelming. And like I said, we went through a whole bunch of different emotions. But we had each other and we're all strong and we was just there and literally had time just sharing stories and we're talking to him like he could hear us and laughing and just, you know, and crying and hugging and kissing him and hugging him. It was just beautiful. Even the nurses that were helping him were in tears, they love him.

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah.

ALI: The world loves him. He belongs to the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Very touching to hear from Hana Ali. She added that her father once told her about a recurring dream he had about a parade in the streets of Louisville in his honor. Now she says that turned out to be more of a premonition.

We will take a break. Stay with us.

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[02:31:38] WALKER: Welcome back to the viewers here in the United States and around the world. And I'm Amara Walker.

Time now to update you on our top stories this hour.

(HEADLINES)

WALKER: And in India, five people are under arrest in connection with a suspected organ harvesting scheme at one of New Delhi's most prestigious private hospitals. Police also conducted raids in other Indian cities searching for the alleged ringleader.

CNN Sumnima Udas joins us now from New Delhi with the latest.

Sumnima, what can you tell us about the investigation and what is the hospital saying about all of this?

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Amara, these kinds of kidney trafficking is certainly nothing new in this country. But what people are shocked by is that one of the biggest and certainly most prestigious hospitals could be involved in this case.

Investigators have arrested five people so far. Two of them directly associated with the hospital. The hospital says that these two people used to work as secretarial of staff for certain doctors in that hospital. They say they are not directly employed but the police seem to say that they were employed. At least that's according to their press statement. They were basically helping and forging documents to enable these kinds of operations to take place.

Now what investigators are now looking into is, back in 1994, in this country, organ trafficking was banned, and every single hospital, every single kidney transplant required a committee of government officials and doctors to look into whether the person donating that kidney was doing it for altruistic reasons or for money. This is a high-level committee. What investigators are looking to is if anyone higher up, anyone more than middle men or secretarial staff work from that hospital were involved in this case -- Amara?

WALKER: As you say, organ trafficking is an issue in India and parts of Southeast Asia. Tell us more about how these scams work and how the poor are exploited. We know they will be willing to undergo a surgery to give up a kidney for a little bit of money.

UDAS: That's right. In India, there are two ways of getting a kidney. One, through a family member. That's usually the easier way to get it. Two, through someone who is brain dead. That is a much more complicated and lengthy process, because there is so much demand for these kidneys. According to some organizations here, there are some 200,000 people in India who need a kidney every single year, and only 3 percent of that demand is actually met through these official means. So what happens is middlemen go to lower sections of society, poor sections of society, to villages to lure people, the poor, with money. In this case, according to police, they were offered around $4,500, $5000. Sometimes they are even duped. They are told that kidney will grow back. Many of them, of course, are illiterate, uneducated, so they can be duped.

We made a documentary on this very issue about two years ago. And we found that many people don't know what is going on. They went to a job interview, were drugged and woke up to find that their abdomen had been operated on and they were missing a kidney.

So there's always these ways of going about it. And there are laws in place to stop the poor from being exploited. But as we see in this case, there are still many loop holes in the system -- Amara?

[02:36:06] WALKER: Yeah. Horrific, to say the least.

Sumnima Udas, good to have you, live for us there in New Delhi. Thanks, Sumnima. A woman died after being attacked by a shark off the coast of Western

Australia. She was diving in a popular area near Perth when this happened. This is a second fatal shark attack in the area in the past week. A surfer died after losing his leg to a shark a few days earlier. A massive great white was caught at the same beach where the surfer was attacked. Authorities are not sure if it's the same shark but they found it to be threatening and had it killed. There have been 11 reported shark attacks in Australia so far this year.

And in the U.S., a stretch of California's Huntington Beach was closed Sunday after people spotted several sharks. You can see the images of it right there. The great white sharks were said to be more than two meters in size, over six feet. The beach is expected to reopen on Monday.

Now, the number of shark attacks has been increasing in recent years. At least, it feels like it across the U.S.

And Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is here with more on how weather could be playing a role in all this.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yeah.

WALKER: And just hearing about this story in Australia, it seems rare that divers are attacked by sharks.

JAVAHERI: Correct, yes.

WALKER: It is usually when they are on the surface.

JAVAHERI: True.

WALKER: It is frightening, nonetheless.

JAVAHERI: It is frightening, nonetheless.

WALKER: But anyway, weather-wise.

JAVAHERI: Absolutely. When you think about how this is all playing out, it makes sense. In the U.S., in particular, we talked about drought mainly in California in recent years. And the way it works is with drought and you have the salinity of the water. And there's overfishing, denying sharks their food. It causes sharks to look for food sources elsewhere. This brings them closer to people. And when it is hot out and the water begins to warm, all of this plays into increasing the number of sightings as well.

We will break it down, Amara.

Great to work with you as well --

(CROSSTALK)

JAVAHERI: -- on CNN after dark here with Amara. We will take it.

But you talk about the cause and normal temperatures causing salinity and a lot having to do with the draught. And look at numbers are for the United States. Readily available as far shark attacks every year going back since 2005. Notice since 2012 you see a steady rise of numbers around 50 or so attacks every year. We know the drought in recent years across parts of the U.S. certainly could exacerbate some of the situation across this region. Of course, the temperatures have been scorching. Look at this, Seattle, record high Sunday of 93 degrees. Portland, 100. Vegas, 109. Death Valley almost 120. Phoenix 113 Sunday afternoon. Again, hottest temperatures so far in 2016. Couple weeks before, the summer season begins. The season that has started is the tropical storm season, the hurricane season, and flourishing across the Gulf of Mexico where we have a column formed. This is the third storm of the season. Earliest third storm dating back it 1880s when records began. But this system poised to move over northwestern Florida. Seek landfall in the next several hours, moving towards the northwestern section of Florida.

Will leave you with this. I Germany lightning strikes injuring 82 people south of Cologne there. There was a concert in place, Red-Hot Chili Peppers. Video shows what occurred. 90,000 spectators, 82 injured, some severely. Same concert, Amara, last year had 33 lightning strike injuries. Makes you think --

(CROSSTALK)

WALKER: Bad coincidence.

JAVAHERI: Bad coincidence, absolutely. A stormy time.

WALKER: It is nice to be back with you.

(LAUGHTER)

The last time Pedram and I worked together, you had one son. Now have you two children. It's been that long.

(LAUGHTER)

JAVAHERI: Let's keep it that way.

WALKER: Good reunion, Pedram.

PEDRAM: Thanks.

[02:39:54] WALKER: Thanks. Good to see you.

We will take a short break. When we come back, June 5th marks the beginning of Ramadan. We will explain how an award-winning app is marking the occasion and trying to help end world hunger.

And the Euro 2016 football championship starts Friday. But security in host nation France is being criticized before the big event. We will tell you why when we return.

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WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. U.S. President Barack Obama is marking the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Millions of Muslims celebrate Ramadan around the world. And Mr. Obama is using the occasion to take a subtle jab at presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump. Part of a statement read, "I stand firmly with Muslim-American communities in rejection of the voices that seek to divide us or limit our religious freedoms or civil rights."

An award-winning app is making it easier to join the fight against world hunger right from your Smartphone. And now it's launching in Arabic just in time for the start of Ramadan. The World Food Programs' Share the Meal initiative has helped millions of refugees and it is doing it just a few cents at a time.

Here's how it works.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: The Share the Meal app allows you to share your meal with children in need. All it takes is 50 cents and a tap on your Smartphone. Whenever you want, wherever you are. The United Nations World Food Program provides the meals. We show you where the children are and how we are progressing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And Tunisian Actress Hend Sabry is a WFP ambassador against hunger. She visited Lebanon to support the rollout of the app's Arabic version. She is urging people to use the app and share with Syrian refugees over the holiday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:45:] HEND SABRY, TUNISIAN ACTRESS & U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAM AMBASSADOR: If a mother and are watching me now and care about children nutrition as much as I do, as a mother of two, and I would like to make a pledge, and let's try, this whole holy month, everyday, at every meal that we're having, or that we should be having while fasting, let's Share the Meal with a Syrian refugee, wherever they are in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: For more on what Share the Meal is doing around the world, I'm joined now by the head of the initiative, Sebastian Stricker.

Great to have you on the program. Thank you for your time.

SEBASTIAN STRICKER, DIRECTOR, SHARE THE MEAL, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAM: Thank you very much. Thank you.

WALKER: Sebastian, tell me, first off, how you came up with this app. I understand there was a gap in your work and you were hanging out and kind of a light bulb just went on.

STRICKER: Well, I think the starting point was the we realized a group of people and at WFP and that it would cost 50 U.S. cents to feed a child for one full day and we thought if -- we thought people want to help. When they see the pictures, also on CNN, of people, of children starving, they want to help. But maybe they're lacking the easy way to do so. And so we thought an app could help here and then we also understood that there are 20 times as many people that have a smart time than hungry children so the idea came along that we build an app now called Share the Meal fighting global hunger.

WALKER: That's true. People want to help but want an easy way to do it. I just downloaded the app a couple hours ago. It was easy. And you can donate 50 cents or as much as you want. You launched the app in the Arabic-speaking world and right around the time of Ramadan. Tell us why you decided to launch around this time.

STRICKER: The idea behind Share the Meal is to make it as easy as possible for people to help. One and a half weeks ago, we launched the Arabic version basically to allow Arabic speakers to also use the Share the Meal app. It is in the Apple store and Google Play store. I think what makes us happy is this happens half weeks, ago and since then, about every nine seconds, someone somewhere in the world shares his or her meal with a child suffering from hunger. That immensely motivates us. And, yeah, we are very happy. Obviously, there is coincidence now with the start-up of the version with the start of Ramadan, and for those that observe Ramadan, if they may feel hunger pangs through the day, they can use the app, press that button and feed a child suffering from chronic hunger. Not only now or when they break the fast of the sunset and share a meal with family and friends, and they can use the app and also share it with a child that is suffering.

WALKER: A great way to remember the children. Are you focusing on one country at a time, several countries? For one, you can help Syrian refugee children in Lebanon if you download this app now and start to donate.

STRICKER: Yeah. Exactly. We do focus on very specific programs at a time and we select them, I think, very carefully. It has to be situations where the political environment and security situation allows us to work effectively. Right now, we think that the -- that this program that you are referring to, Syrian refugee, is the right place to be. And to my understanding we are already standing at 50 percent to provide them with good support for a full year.

WALKER: Good to hear.

Sebastian, we wish you all the best. And it's important to focus on some of the refugees in Lebanon. We know that Lebanon is struggling for a few years now coping with a number of refugees coming in, over a million, into the country. We applaud the work you do.

All the best to you. Thank you, Sebastian.

STRICKER: Thank you very much. Thank you.

[02:49:28] WALKER: We will take a short break. Stay with us.

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WALKER: France's president says an attack during the Euro 2016 football championship is a real threat. But in a Sunday interview, President Francois Hollande also said his country must not be intimidated. The tournament is set to begin on Friday.

And the U.S. State Department is warning about the risk of potential terrorist attacks during the month-long event.

CNN's Jim Bittermann has more from Paris.

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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For months now, with more than 70 realistic mock terrorist attacks and security drills, security forces have been training to handle just about another threat to the Euro 2016 soccer championship. But just in the past two weeks, French confidence in their security for the tournament took two major hits. This is the first one, a football match at the Stade de France, the same stadium attacked by terrorists last November. It was supposed to be real-time practice for the Euro Cup but fans overran security, smuggled in fireworks and incendiary devices, supposedly not allowed. Within hours, the interior minister called together every involved with security to see what happened. The head of an association which represents most of the security companies involved in Euro Cup safety says it wasn't their fault.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): The security units were confronted with filtering and frisking people on the outside of the game premises. We never do that this way. Moreover, out of the 26 stadium doors, only four of them were opened. It was impossible to properly ensure the security of the event.

BITTERMANN: And this was the second hit, a warning from the U.S. State Department advising Americans to avoid crowds like those during the Euro Cup. The French response was that all possible security measures are being taken. But are they? The authorities here say 90,000 military police and private security personnel will make sure nothing happens during the tournament. But there are stadiums in 10 different cities to protect, fan zones which will welcome millions of fans, training grounds and team hotels which have to be protected for a month. The 90,000 number may not seem so large in view of the task.

(on camera): In fact, more important than the security measures you can see are the ones you can't see. With a state of emergency extended by two months, the government continues to have sweeping powers to tap telephones, monitor Internet conversations and put people under house arrest.

(voice-over): Officials here know well how much is riding on having a safe and successful tournament.

[02:55:54] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the image of France. French product and if I may say the French brand that would be in shape if they were held in peace and tranquility.

BITTERMANN: In the end, there won't really be a good answer to how secure the games are until they are over on July 10th. There's been too much terrorism in France and neighboring Belgium in the past year and a half to say that games will be totally secure even with all the good intentions. It is like the interior minister spokesman put it, 100 percent precaution does not mean zero risk.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

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WALKER: That does it for this hour. I'm Amara Walker. I'll be back after the break with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM. See you then.

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