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U.K. Home Secretary Resigns; North and South Korea Talk Peace; Syrian Military Base Struck by Unknown Missiles; President Trump Tells His Homeland Security Secretary not to let Immigrants Seeking Asylum Through Border. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired April 30, 2018 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00] MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRSPONDENT: I'm Matt Rivers in Lhasa, Tibet, and this is CNN.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN HOST: The U.K. home secretary is out, Amber Rudd resigns, and we'll tell you how the change at the top of Britain's home offices impact by Minister Theresa May and the tories.
CYRIL VANIER, CNN HOST: Plus North Korea reportedly offering concessions on it's nuclear program, ahead of talks being planned with the U.S. President.
ALLEN: Also, this hour as one long journey ends, another uncertain one begins. The asylum seeker from Central America, arrive at the U.S. Southern border.
VANIER: It is great to have you with us this hour, I'm Cyril Vanier.
ALLEN: I'm Natalie Allen and CNN Newsroom starts right now. Our top story, the latest blow to British Prime Minister, Theresa May's cabinet came in the form of the home secretary's resignation Sunday. The Prime Minister is expected to name a replacement in the coming hours, Amber Rudd, a key alley of the Prime Minister, steps down saying she inadvertently mislead a government committee about deportation targets for immigrants.
At the time she said, she knew of no quotas for any immigrants, included Caribbean migrants the government invited after World War II. Later, a leaked letter she wrote indicated targets had been set.
VANIER: Now this comes at the Prime Minister is struggling with Brexit negotiations, remember she doesn't have a majority in parliament, and the opposition Labour Party is now putting more pressure on May. They want her to explain her role in immigrations policies when she was home secretary. CNN anchor Bianca Nobilo joins me now, she's been reporting on Brexit and British politics for us as well. Let's just start with the beginning and remind ourselves what the Wentworth scandal is all about.
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Basically it's a scandal which started because there's a generation of people from Caribbean countries that came to the U.K. to essentially to plug a labor shortage between 1948 and 1971, they came on a boat. The first boat was called - was named about after a wen(ph) brush, so that's where that name comes from.
They came to the U.K, they worked, they lived here, they had children and then their status wasn't properly registered with the home office, and there's also a destruction of records. So these people who feel British, they've committed their lives to Britain, they worked in Britain--
VANIER: And they've lived there for what a half century?
NOBILO: They've lived there for years, and they have many generations of their families that live in Britain too, unrecognized as such. This is linked to the fact that it's been discovered that the home office has been setting targets to reduce illegal immigration by 10 percent. This is the matter where the home secretary has said she's resigning because she inadvertently mislead the houses of parliament.
VANIER: So this goes well beyond knowing who the next British home secretary is going to be. I mean the potential consequences are hard to predict but the biggest one, is Theresa May's job safe?
NOBILO: I mean if you ask that question at any point in the last year and half, the answer's usually no, and I think she's in a very vulnerable position for a couple of reasons. Because she has been weak since she called that election and then the result wasn't what she expected, they lost seats.
Let's not forget that she doesn't have a majority, so she's already in this confidence and supply agreement in parliament, so that means that she's already not particularly safe. Then she's trying to push Brexit through, she's got this very challenging Brexit vote, the government might be defeated on that in about a week and half's time as well.
But this is a particular problem because Theresa May, the Prime Minister, was home secretary prior to Amber Rudd. So she's in this difficult situation, where yes Amber Rudd is responsible for these issues, but Theresa May is the one--
VANIER: It could connect back to her.
NOBILO: --who put the policies in place and oversaw these policies. She's also somebody that tried to reinvent and rebrand the image of the Torri Party, the conservative party in the U.K., she said that people noticed the nasty party, and she wanted to get rid of that image. Well reporting like this stories like this do the exact opposite.
And of course the opposition in the U.K., the Labour Party, has said that it's right that Amber Rudd does resign, but have pointed the finger back to the Prime Minister and said, yes these policies were under your leadership in the home office too. So its problematic for her on a number of fronts, not only has she lost a key ally in cabinet, after losing her main ally Damian Green last year. She's also lost a remainder in cabinet so that upsets the Brexit calculus potentially, but also it reflects badly on her.
VANIER: So tell me more about that, anything that weakens Theresa May also calls - raises questions over what's going to happen with Brexit negotiations.
NOBILO: Exactly, and we both know that there's far more questions than answers on that front anyway. But Theresa May campaigns modestly for remain, she's got a very delicate balance in her cabinet, she's got these Brexiteers that threaten to revolt from time to time, that's like Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and others, and then she has her pro- Europeans, Amber Rudd, was a prominent one of those.
[00:05:00]
So she was very good at softening the party and the cabinet stance on Brexit in the negotiations because she's very well respected, she's well respected on both sides of the party, from Brexiteers and Remainers. So if you remove her, logic would dictate the Prime Minister will probably need to replace her with somebody who also supported remain (ph), but you don't have a huge amount of options.
VANIER: So she needs a Remainer in that seat?
NOBILO: She - I mean it would be helpful, otherwise it's likely to cause problems with Brexiteers. Of course what she could be is remove - move somebody who supported Brexit into that role and then reshuffle another member into the cabinet who is a Remainer. So, put a Brexiteer where Rudd is and then move another Remainer into what whatever that post was. Because she doesn't have a huge amount of people to choose from here.
VANIER: OK, where will the cards fall? We should find out in a few hours, you will be talking about this again in a few hours yourself.
NOBILO: Yes.
VANIER: Bianca thank you for joining us.
NOBILO: No, I look forward to it, hopefully we'll have more details.
VANIER: I understand that we will on Monday.
NOBILO: Yes, perfect.
VANIER: Thank you.
NOBILO: Thanks Cyril.
ALLEN: The U.S. is taking stock of the latest overtures from North Korea, this after reports North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will shut down a nuclear test site next month. South Korea says he made the peace offering at a landmark inter Korean summit on Friday.
VANIER: The U.S. now faces its own potential summit with North Korea, and President Donald Trump even signals it could take place within four weeks, but his national security advisor, John Bolton, says the U.S. isn't naive about what to expect. Here's what Bolton told FoxNews on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN BOLTON, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: The North Koreans have all ready agreed to this, they agreed to it in 1992 with South Korea, and they've pledged similar things since then. Now, it's also the case that they've lied about it and broken their commitments, which is one reason there's nobody in the Trump administration starry eyed about what may happen here. But by demonstrating they've made a strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons it would be possible to move quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Not starry eyed, for a look at just how justified skepticism like that is, CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us from Seoul, South Korea. The agreement reached on paper at the summit last week was just simply put, astounding but now comes the work and the trust building amid, as we just heard a lot of skepticism.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right Natalie, we're getting a few more details of steps that are being taken from the South Korean side for example, the defense ministry has just announced that they're going to start dismantling these propaganda broadcasts that they have been carrying out on and off, really, for years.
These are the broadcasts of k-pop, of news across the boarder into North Korea, part of this physiological war that the two Korea's have been fighting for many years. So then they're starting dismantle that part, and we also know for the North Korean side they've said that they're going to change their clocks back to Seoul time, the same time as South Korea, so forward half an hour. That will happen on May 5th, and of course on Sunday we heard that the shut down of Punggye-ri nuclear test site will be in May. So we are getting some more details, and we're getting some more timelines on exactly when these things are going to happen. We know that from the (inaudible) spokesperson on Sunday quoting Kim Jong-un during that summit saying that the Punggye-ri site will be shut down, experts and journalists from South Korea, from the United States will be invited in, in the interest of transparency and also giving us more information about that site.
There have been reports from Chinese geologist that it was obsolete anyway because part of it has collapsed, Kim Jong-un apparently negated that saying that he has two more tunnels that are in very good condition, but he is still going to close that site down. Natalie?
ALLEN: Well those are significant steps forward. But I want to ask you, has Mr. Kim at this point laid out what he will want for giving up his nuclear program?
HANCOCKS: Partly, we heard some of this from the summit itself and obviously on Sunday with that extra briefing about what happened during that summit, he said that there was no reason for North Korea to possess nuclear weapons if trust with the United States is built.
He said he wanted frequent meetings with the United States, he wants an end to war, which is something that the North and South Korean leaders have declared that they will work towards at some point this year. Obviously, they need the U.S. and China involved as well because they were the signatories to the original armistice back in 1953.
And he also wants a non aggression pact, so within this summit itself, he has laid out these issues, saying this is what he needs to be able to shut down this nuclear test site. Now I don't think anyone is, as you say, starry eyed, no one thinks that he is all going to ask for.
[00:10:00]
Potentially there is going to be, down the line, suggestions of wanting U.S. troops of the peninsula, we haven't heard this, this time around, but it's usually a demand early on in the talks which has always been a sticking point for the United States, so there will be more demands down the line, but this is what we have so far. Natalie?
ALLEN: All right it's all very fascinating to be sure. Paula Hancocks for us, thank you so much.
VANIER: Moving over to the Middle East, Syrian's state media say that some of the countries military bases were struck by missiles. They reportedly hit bases in Hama and the country side near Aleppo.
ALLEN: It's not clear who launched the strikes, and Syria has not said anything about casualties or damage. The U.S. says neither they nor coalition forces are responsible.
VANIER: Dozens of migrants fleeing violence and poverty in Central America have reached the U.S. border now, and they're seeking asylum. They spent about a month crossing Mexico, sometimes on foot or hitch hiking, sleeping in tents, all of this to find a better life.
ALLEN: Now, they're planning to follow asylum wall and their turning themselves in to U.S. border authorities, but they're afraid they may be deported if they're not granted asylum, and mothers are being separated from their children. President Trump says he told his homeland security secretary not to let these migrants into the country.
VANIER: And some 50 migrants have been admitted into a processing center at a point of entry in San Diego, that's near Tijuana on the border, but border patrol agents say they're now at full capacity. However, dozens more plan to stay outside that processing center until authorities consider their case. CNN's Leyla Santiago has been traveling with these migrants.
LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDANT: I've seen many people with tears, many people saying we're excited to finally be here but we come here with excitement and a lot of anxiety. They are very anxious, very nervous, especially the mothers and the grandmothers wondering what will happen when they cross this border.
There has been week and week of walking, of riding on a train, on a train in which I watched as a pregnant mother of two sat on top of scrap metal and trash for hours in the cold and through the night. They have slept in - on the floors of shelters to arrive at this very moment.
Something that's stuck with me, one woman who said, "I think a lot of people think we just woke up one day and said, 'Oh I'm going to go to the U.S.,'" but this has been a very, very tough, tough journey for them. Many people sniffling, as well as coughing, many of them are sick because of the type of environment in which they have traveled through to come here. This woman, obviously in a wheelchair, that quite frankly looks very sort of, beat up. So I can only imagine what that wheel chair, the story that that wheelchair would tell.
I want to sort of make sure you understand what's happening right now, beyond the high emotion, the migrant that are very excited but also anxious, we are right now not far, within feet, of the United States of America, so many of these migrants will tell you horrific stories of what they left behind in Central America.
So, what they see on that other side is hope, and what they're hoping for is to seek asylum. This is the legal way to do it. U.S. federal law says, if you want to see asylum, you go to a port of entry. That is what they're doing.
ALLEN: So close, but they may be yet so far. Thanks to Leyla Santiago for her reporting. President Trump was highly critical of the migrant caravan at a rally in Michigan this weekend, we'll discuss what else he had to say at that rally with our political panel ahead here.
VANIER: Plus in his first days on the job, the new U.S. Secretary of State is all ready on diplomatic tour of the Middle East, we'll look at what Mike Pompeo is telling Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan. Stay with us.
[00:14:30]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(AUDIENCE CHANTING): NOBEL! NOBEL!
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's very nice, thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: It's very nice when a crowd chants, "Nobel", meaning they want you to get the Nobel Peace Prize that was the Trump rally in Michigan Saturday. Again the crowd suggesting U.S. President be given the prize for the recent breakthrough's on the Korean peninsula.
VANIER: At the rally Mr. Trump said he had everything to do with the historic summit between the North and South Korean leaders.
ALLEN: Let's bring in our panel CNN political commentator, Ben Ferguson, is in Dallas for us. And political analyst Ellis Henican joins us from New York, hi guys thanks for being with us. BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be with all.
ELLIS HENICAN, POLITCAL ANALYST: Good to be with all.
ALLEN: Let's start with North Korea, it's like Kim Jung-un stepped over the demarcation line as a brutal dictator, taunting the world with Armageddon and stepped into the South as a peacemaker, almost Opera like. A new chum of the South Korean President, how would you describe the make over, if it's for real and how it happened? Ben I'll start with you.
FERGUSON: Look, I think a lot of it was internal pressure. I also think it was the fact that sanctions were clearly starting to have an impact, and I think some of it was just having a conversation. I mean the fact that you had this administration which allowed for a top level member of the administration to go and have direct talks and meet face to face with the leader of this country, clearly humanizing one another was a good thing.
Having other countries come in and have conversations with him, I think the Olympics honestly had a big impact from what we understand, where it was seeing what was a possibility for the people of North Korea, if they started to work with the international community. And I also thank that really blunt line of showing strength by this White House saying "We're not going to allow you to continue this nuclear weapons program, inter-ballistic missiles, intercontinental missiles the way that you're doing this, and expect that we're not going to stand up to you at some point and protect, not only our allies, but also our own country." I think there was a very sobering moment for many Americans when that false went out in Hawaii earlier this year.
[00:20:00]
ALLEN: Right.
FERGUSON: And it scared a lot of people in American when that happened to the reality that this -- these weapons could in fact possibly hit the United States of America. So, you combine all of that together, while also being willing to have conversations, and this is where we are today, I give a lot of credit to the President, but not from a political standpoint --
ALLEN: Yes.
FERGUSON: This is good for the whole world.
ALLEN: Absolutely. Let's talk more about President Trump's role in this. He certainly tried to shake down Kim with taunts and threats since he became president. Let's listen to what Adam Schiff, a democrat, had to say about it. He's the top House Intelligence Democrat on North Korea and Ellis, you're up to respond.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADAM SCHIFF, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE DEMOCRAT: I think it's more than fair to say that the combination of the President's unpredictability and indeed his bellicosity had something to do with the North Korean's deciding to come to the table. But before the President takes too much credit or hangs out the mission accomplished banner, he needs to realize that we may go into a confrontational phase and, he may not want the full blame if things go south.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: Ellis, let's get your take on this and certainly the next thing up is the meeting with President Trump and Kim Jong-un.
HENICAN: That's right and I too am clinging to optimism here. Right? There are all kind of things that can go wrong with dealing with a -- with a homicidal manic, I mean let's be frank about it. And we have a president who doesn't always have a completely firm hand on his own emotional responses and things.
So, there are all kind of things that can go wrong, plus it's a -- it's just a nagging and complicated issue, but I think most Americans -- let's hope it works. I mean it's something different, it's a little bit of a piece of hope to cling to and it seems that the calculations on the North Korean side of it might shift it in a way that it really isn't everyone's interest and proceed, hopefully talking. Let me be clear about (ph) this, talking is a whole lot better than hurling insults.
ALLEN: Yes, absolutely so.
FERGUSON: Well and one thing that I think that everybody looks at, the fact that these two individuals met, the fact that they walked across this line and back into one another's country. The fact that they agreed to end the Korean War, the fact that they were shaking hands and saying they were from the same bloodlines. This is something that a year ago, no one would have said was a possibility --
ALLEN: Absolutely.
FERGUSON: -- virtually in the world and that's the reason why I think this is real and authentic. And look, the President's made it clear, if he doesn't agree to certain things or -- in this meeting, we will walk away, but I do believe that this was genuine and authentic in the way that these two members -- the individuals -- these two men interacted.
It was so great for that part of the world to see this, and knowing that you are going to have to face the United States of America at some point soon if you don't stop these actions, clearly had a major impact the same way that we have a thin red line that we enforce with chemical weapons in Syria. This is a new time in this country with new leadership, and it seems to be working well.
ALLEN: Well, let's talk about another issue closer to home. At a rally in Michigan this weekend, the president addressed the migrants that heading toward the border. Families that have walked for weeks from Central America either to Mexico or the U.S. They're adhering to legal channels offered by the U.S. for asylum seekers, but here's what the President had to say about it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have to have borders, and we have to have them fast and we need security, we need the wall. We're going to have it all, and again, that wall has started. We've got 1.6 billion, we come up again on September 28th, and if we don't get border security, we'll have no choice. We'll close down the country because we need border security.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALLEN: All right, Ellis let's begin with you. Shutting down the country over this one.
HENICAN: Crazy talk, right? I mean it's ridiculous. Personally, there is not going to be a wall. There's no appetite for a wall. Most of the President's supporters don't even really want a wall. I mean maybe those folks in --
FERGUSON: I disagree.
HENICAN: -- Washington. I understand, Ben's in that category, but most Americans --
FERGUSON: And by the way, in Michigan, which is not a border state --
HENICAN: -- let me -- hold on a second, Ben, excuse me. Most Americans don't want it. The idea of shutting down the government over it is ridiculous. I love these migrants. The folks coming up in this caravan, because you know what, they're doing it, Ben, exactly right.
They're following the procedures. They're presenting themselves at the port of entry. They're explaining their reasons for coming, which in many cases are heart wrenching and truly dyer and threatening and they're saying, "Hey we want to do this right."
So, the notion of all these people trying to attack these Central Americans coming up here, pregnant women and kids and people in these horrible situations and trying to turn them into villains, it just shows how out of touch and, frankly, how cruel the President has been on so much of this stuff.
FERGUSON: Well, two things -- two things here, it's not attacking them as villains. It's not attacking them and saying if they're all trying to do it the right way, it's just not true. We saw reports in California from local media tonight, including confirmation from the government, that many of those that were associated with this caravan did, in fact, come over the border into this country illegally, including a woman that had young children who was also pregnant. We saw that tonight.
[00:25:00] So to imply that all the people in the caravan, now knowing that these reports, they have been detained crossing the border illegally, saying that they're all doing it the right way, saying that they're all doing it the appropriate way through asylum is a lie. It's not true and it's been confirmed now that that has in fact happened. That there are people associated with this caravan that did break in this country and did not respect our laws and did not do it the right way.
ALLEN: We'll look into that -- we'll look into that. Our reporter was just standing in a long line of people that were adhering to --
HENICAN: Doing it right. Doing it right.
FERGUSON: No, I'm not saying that -- I'm not saying that some of them were not.
HENICAN: Don't attack them Ben, that's not nice.
FERGUSON: What I am saying is -- I'm not attacking them, I'm saying that we have to deal with the honest issue here. There are some people that do it the right way, Ellis, but not all of them are doing it the right way. Some of them are doing it the wrong way and it -- and look, I have no problem with legal immigration here.
But you have to have a secure border to be fair to the people that are doing it legally. It is unfair to them that we allow people to come in this country illegally and stay here illegally, and they're part of this country illegally. That's unfair to the people that you mentioned earlier, that are in fact trying to it the right way.
HENICAN: Yes, so we need to -- so we need to fix the system and give them a system to adhere to, because what we have now is --
FERGUSON: I agree, but we have enforce our borders.
HENICAN: -- but you can't blame those people, blame us.
ALLEN: Thank you so much, both of you, for talking with us. We appreciate it.
FERGUSON: Thanks for having us.
HENICAN: Good seeing you guys.
VANIER: All right, coming up, we're looking ahead to that potential meeting between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. What could a peace deal look like? Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:30:15] CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier.
NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Natalie Allen. And here our top stories this hour. Britain Home Secretary has resigned, Amber Rudd. That she inadvertently misled the government committee about deportation quotas for immigrants.
She initially told the committee, no quotas were set for any immigrant including Caribbean migrant who arrive in the U.K. after World War II. But a memo appeared to show she was aware quoted, "has infest".
VANIER: U.S. Defense officials say the United State and its coalition partners are not responsible for reported missiles strike in Syria. State media say military bases were struck in Hama and the country side near Aleppo. The reports didn't specify who may have launched the strike and there's no confirmation of any damage or causalities either.
ALLEN: South Korea says North Korea leader, Kim Jong-un has agreed to close his nuclear test site in May.
Mr. Kim will allow foreign expert and journalist for visit to ensure transparency. The news comes out of Friday's Landmark Inter Korean Summit. U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled his summit with Mr. Kim could happen within four weeks.
VANIER: Let's talk about that. Adam Mount with us, a Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientist and the former Director of the North Korea Task Force of the Counsel of Foreign Relation. We all would like to have Adam's voice here.
During the Korean summit, Adam. Kim Jong-un said that North Korea didn't need nuclear weapons if they had a guarantee that the U.S. wouldn't invade them. Is that -- in your view, a workable deal, because it sounds like a pretty good and easy deal to make for the U.S.?
ADAM MOUNT, FMR DIRECTOR OF THE NORTH KOREA TASK FORCE OF THE COUNCIL: I doubt, would be a reasonable deal for the United States to make and that's one the reason why we've made that deal repeatedly before.
In previous agreements with North Korea, we have offered them what it calls security assurances. You know, assurances that we would not attack them under, you know, without provocation. We made those deals before and it is not lead to denuclearization on the past. Security assurances are part of the package that we should be discussing.
The Inter Korean Summit made some good strikes in this regard. President Moon Jae-in of South Korea has laid out a vision for peaceful co-existence with North Korea that involves conventional arms control and tension reductions mechanism. Those are critical that helps stabilize a vulnerable situation on the peninsula.
But, we can't just take them at their word that these security insurances will be sufficient for denuclearization because it hasn't been on the past.
VANIER: Sure. And the past North Korea has misled the international community. What would be the point that doing that again, I wonder? I mean, what is the benefit for Kim Jong-un? If this is all smoke and there is an all and elaborate fear. What's the point?
MOUNT: Well, there are some differences relative to the previous iterations, but we have new American President who has sometimes proved to be sympathetic to authoritarian rulers when he's met with them.
You know, Kim Jong-un may be calculating that he can take or bite out of Donald Trump where pervious U.S. presidents had it been a little more skeptical, than over more cautious. You know, North Korea's nuclear missile programs are far more advance. They can reasonably demand a higher price for eliminating those or for any steps indeed to control or to limit those programs.
So, for both of those reasons, Kim may think that he's coming to the table with a stronger hand and can bargain harder.
VANIER: What kind of price? I mean, what would Kim Jong-un you think accepts in exchange for getting rid of the nukes?
MOUNT: Well, I'm skeptical that Kim will ever agree to complete denuclearize. These weapons he thinks are critical for his security. We have to remember that a week ago in his speech to the Worker's Party of Korea. He gave a statement that his nations nuclear policy as a technologically advance and matured nuclear power. It was not a statement, not a pledge to denuclearize. He does not yet made a commitment to take specific steps to roll back his nuclear program.
So, in fact -- in some that speech was exactly the opposite of a commitment to denuclearize. As for what it would take, the price might simply be too higher for the United States to pay. Kim may not be serious about going down that road. We should put a credible deal on this table and push him as far as possible, but be ready to have a fall back plan. Don't walk away from the table. Without the deal that makes American safer. There's not just one deal that can do that, there's a range of deals. And so, you know, we need to have a flexible negotiation strategy going into this thing.
[00:35:02] VANIER: You just said Kim Jong-un told his people, told his country that they are mature in nuclear power. How do you reconcile that with his overtures?
MOUNT: I think what's happening is his stringing along the international community South Korea and the United States. Playing for time, trying to avoid war. Trying to see what he can get with his new found leverage. Whether he can gain sanctions relief but he can gain a peace treaty that had previously been predicated on denuclearization.
He thinks he might be able to get some payment from his nuclear weapons, while still being able to resist pressure to disarm completely.
VANIER: All right. That's interesting. This notion that he doesn't necessarily have a very specific end goal but he might be just stringing along international committee and see how much he can get out of them. Adam, always a pleasure speaking to you. Thank you.
MOUNT: Thank you.
ALLEN: War games in the Middle East are nothing new, but with no end insight to the Syrian war, the focus has shifted. Our Ben Wedeman is in the region. He'll have the report, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALLEN: On his first trip as U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has a lot on his plate.
VANIER: He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Sunday. And Pompeo told reporters that the ties between the two country have quote, "never been stronger".
ALLEN: Topping their agenda, shared concerns about Iran. The U.S. is leaning toward killing the Iran nuclear deal. If changes to it are not made, a move is robust.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE POMPEO, U.S, SECRETARY OF STATE: Many of our conversations today, Mr. Prime Minister, as you said, centered on Iran. Strong cooperation with close allies like you is critical to our efforts to counter Iran's destabilizing and malign activity throughout the Middle East and indeed throughout the world. We remain deeply concerned about Iran's dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region, and Iran's ambition to dominate the Middle East remains.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALLEN: Iran is also on the agenda in Amman, Jordan where Pompeo is now. In the coming hours he will meet with King Abdullah and Jordan's Foreign Minister. He will also likely push the U.S. sentiment, he shared with the Saudi Arabia's king unity in the Gulf region if necessary.
VANIER: Meanwhile, in the Jordanian desert troops from the U.S. and Jordan have been training together as they've done for many years.
ALLEN: Except now. To warn Syria has given these war games a new significant. Our Ben Wedeman is in the region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The roar of heavy machine gun fire. They crack little small arms. The boom of tanks, all fired not in anger, but in preparation for what might come.
[00:40:03] This is eagle lion 2018, Jordanian-American war games in the desert.
(on-camera): U.S. and Jordanian forces have been holding joint exercise like this for years. And during those years this scenario was fairly generic, that the passage of time however the scenario they're working on seems to look ever more like Syria.
(voice-over): The troops are stimulating an assault done an imaginary refugee camp that is fallen under the control of extremist.
LT. GEN. MICHAEL GARRETT, U.S. ARMY CENTRAL COMMAND: Syria is, you know, on their border and Syria and the refugees with or coming towards is a concern.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): This actual refugee camp Rukban seats on the Syrian side of the border with Jordan. In recent years ISIS' targeted Jordanian forces from Rukban and officials here worry ISIS sells have multiplied there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have in Jordan here. We have to give to be prepared for all scenarios actually. We got at this plan at camp whether it is another camps, whether it is sudden, you know, inflexed of the Syrian, you know, refugees again from Algoto (ph) or from Damascus or from any other part of Syria and to Jordan.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): More than a million Syrians had fled to Jordan in the past seven years putting strains on in already weak economy. Yet another source of instability warns analyst Amer Alsabaileh.
AMER ALSABAILEH, ANALYST: I think Jordan might suffer from having bad economic conditions which might turn to social protest and this the-- there's a news strategy reporters to group to sees any social practice and trying to radicalize it.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WEDEMAN (voice-over): And so they are also practicing for unrest sparked by the ISIS (INAUDIBLE) intensification of U.S. strikes in Syria.
(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
WEDEMAN (voice-over): These are real protesters by the way, but rather Jordanian military personnel drafted to play the part. Complete with a simulated evacuation of U.S. Embassy staff where then flown to ships in Red Sea. And no exercise with Syrian mind would be complete without a stimulating chemical attack. Training also focuses on the possible use of biological and nuclear weapons.
MAJ. GEN. JON MOTT, U.S. ARMY CENTRAL COMMAND: Everything has to do with Syria and Iraq and the whole region. So it's the combination of all those things.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): A combination of an array of possibilities, none of them are less remote.
Ben Wedeman, CNN in the Jordanian dessert.
(END VIDEOCLIP) ALLEN: All right. War games important, but right now we're going to lighten it up here and we're going to take you surfing, OK. That's a good balance from what we just saw. Riding high at the World Surf Leagues Big Wave Award, that's where the super athletes, you know, those that ride those unbelievable waves are celebrating for things like ride of the year and wiped out of the year.
VANIER: And this year's big winner shuttered world records with this ride. This is Brazilian Rodrigo Koxa and he nab the quicksilver double XL biggest wave award. That's what is called the quicksilver double XL wave award. Well deserved. He rode the biggest wave ever surf back in November.
ALLEN: So many things, and just trying to see where -- there. He's now in the Guinness Book of World Records for costing the 80 footer, the giant wave topped 24 meters and he made it. Look.
Now we will try to cue up the biggest wiped out award. Is that for you later. I'd like to see that too. Thanks for watching. I'm Natalie Allen.
VANIER: I'm Cyril Vanier. We're both back in 15 minutes. For now, World Sports.
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PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi there. Thanks for joining as well because the CNN World Sports. Today, we start up in Europe where Spanish football joins Barcelona have duly (ph) sealed the Cup's 25th La Liga crown. Thanks to another superb performance from the Argentine superstar Lionel Messi who's now recorded a 46 career height (ph).
Deportivo La Coruna where their opponents, they're facing remigrations. So this result has not too shocking. Massive not to Messi though, Deportivo struggles, Messi also becoming first play announce to score at least 30 goals in seven different campaign in Spain's top flight.
He throw the first for his team but after the host got it back it too early simply took over the South Americans going twice in the last eight minutes alone, 32 now of the season for him in La Liga. But watching greatness, you know, and estimate how well this man wins 4-2 at the risk. So a Messi hieric (ph) playing a huge part in that.
Well, second place Atlantico had won (INAUDIBLE) in the day but it mattered not. The Catalans are still unbeaten all season with four games still to go. And no team however has ever gone the whole season without defeating Spain's top flight. This is also the first game since iconic (INAUDIBLE) and he has to said, he'll be leaving the club at the end of the season or in as they came on as late sub in the game. He has now nine La Liga titles to his name with Barcelona.
Also men of the KMB manager (INAUDIBLE) and that was back in 1996. But at the end of this season the Frenchmen will call time on his gone his career. Over the years, you know, he's taken on many riles (ph), but surely none bigger than it matches to unite end up not just one of their former managers either that president want too.
Which base what we saw the old (INAUDIBLE) on Sunday truly remarkable as well their emotion from the tunnel he -- could be led by (INAUDIBLE) boss Jose Mourinho who wants call bankers specialist in failure member, get him out onto the field to play with allegedly Alex Ferguson was waiting. Ferguson presenting him with the silver boss, Wenger and Ferguson who manage in 19 to 27 years himself. They really hostile relationship I think its fair to say as rival head coaches where they clearly get on much, much better these days we can surely now call them, all three of them in fact the best of frenemies, incredible video there.
All right, they will gave itself would be a typical end of season in count. So at least they had goal though. French international Paul Pogba breaking the deadlock to the United over visitors would hit back in the second half on full the United play make a head and make it time the Armenian making one old box. The Red Devils leaving at late, they got the injury time whether that's cool and say flick header from Marouane Fellaini at the full time with so it was now the moment, look at this we're not seeing this over. This is how we approach much handshake between Messi's bigger (ph) and Marouane.
Well, let's not pay for over the crack, say six straight away defeat four the goals in the league now. Well United's victory confirms champions league 40. For the club next season the champion Man City thumbing western 4-1 on Sunday to burst through the 100 goal month for this campaign. They now have 102 in fact one shy of the primary league record (INAUDIBLE), these three points about the relegation trap door at the moment.
Formula One superstar Lewis Hamilton likely believing one big sigh of relief after finally getting win under his belt for the new season. It came on Sunday the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. And I'll tell you what, this win, it came not without into then a whole heat of drama too along the way in Baku.
Let's try and I'll take you through it all. We're going to pick up the action 11 lapse from the end with Red Bull's Valtteri Bottas smacking into his teammate the young Dutchman Max Verstappen and taking them both out to the race. That Bull's out the safety car and somehow during that period (INAUDIBLE) lost control his hospice of eating the wall.
But now the lead is all bunch stuff, looking at that we saw the restock (ph) set battle went for the victory trying to pass lead of (INAUDIBLE) and ended up back down in fourth place really come into regret. That suddenly it was looking to the great day from Mercedes, but then Bottas blew it when in Vettel was pounding in this integrated or strangers all around was it mean? But it left the rest breathlessly with Hamilton with the lead. He'd go on to seal the victory and the 63rd champion flag of historic career
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEWIS HAMILTON, FORMULA ONE RACER: Really quite an emotional race. We honestly -- the best we did such an exceptional job. Today and really deserve to have the win. Also its Sebastian did a great job. I think it was really, really fortune as say so, fell a little odd to be up here, but I'm going to take. I mean if I keep pushing, but definitely will be on title race on May.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you like you step up when you -- in your hands like that and that happened?
[00:45:12] VALTTERI BOTTAS, FINNISH RACING DRIVER: Very 10 times up gear and we'll be fine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNELL: Our heartbreaks to him. Well, our first victory of the season. Aim for the Hamilton it means -- look at that his top -- top of the standings right now for the first time this campaign.
The Britain now have four points. Vettel, who remember how the early season victories in Melbourne and Bahrain, they head to Barcelona and that starts for Spanish compete taking place in mid May.
Spare for though for Bottas, just three lapses away from his fourth race victory before it all unravel for him. And let me guess? Small scan consolation but the Fin can't at least say he had the fastest lap in the (INAUDIBLE). He did it clocking a time of the minute 1:45:149 on the 37 lap up, that was official time and with it, he wins the DHL, fastest lap awared.
Teenage Canadian Lance Stroll was eight place finish on Sunday at the capital city circuit that, but he and his William's team are certainly pretty quick when it come to fix stops it took them just 2.18 seconds to get the job done for the 19-year-old driver from Montreal. And that was speedy enough for the DHL fastest pick stop.
CNN World Sport, we'll be right back.
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[00:53:04] SNELL: Hello. Welcome back to CNN World Sport. Now, summit proving a truly pivot all day her in the United States. So, basketball mega-star and three time NBA champion LeBron James who was hoping to avoid the most unwanted piece all that take personal history. The sports pro-season in full swing over hand and today James, himself, he plays for the Cleveland Cavalier, have never ever lost the first round series. In fact, he was 12 an 0 going in to the Cavs game seven just sign with the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
History appearing to be on his too, as the home team historically has home advantage when a series goes right down to the way and when you just know it, this all important fix here. He's taking place in Cleveland for side of the Cavs taking it commandingly to the half hour split, it takes to 64 to 43. Being more impressive LeBron's scoring 26 of those 54 points. But in the third quarter, the Pacers climbing back into this. When even take into led at one point, but in the end, LeBron step up.
He simply did not allow his team to loss this one. Be at the way scoring 45 points on this day. The Cavs able to close up the Pacers against 705 to 101 and Cleveland next facing the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday.
LeBron looking for remarkable eight straight appearance in the NBA finals. Dated it all back to 2011. Remember that's with two different teams. Three times he's won the title, 2012, and the following game with the Miami Heat and 2016 with the Cavs. His 6,359 points in the post season, that is a lead record by the way. We'd be hoping for plenty more games and indeed points in this run.
Another week kind of play court title. It would seem for the old conquer Spania Rafael Nadal on Sunday, the (INAUDIBLE) recording a 11th carry (ph) triumph for the Barcelona open opposes, also extending a very impressive streak. 46 consecutives sets, now one on the dirt. This is an open area record. His lays his victim was the Greek Teenager the 19 year old Stefano Tsitsipas, (INAUDIBLE) straight set victories, 60-6.
[00:55:05] Rafael is now 401 matches on place up to 77 current titles on the ATP circuit, having more11 times with both Monte Carlo and Barcelona surely an 11th title of the French Open awaits him (INAUDIBLE), Paris, you think, right? We shall see.
All right, well, so many fans now it was one of the toughest challenges there, is when it comes to that sport and we have good reason too. We're getting near the business and shall we say of the fame and highly prestigious Volvo Ocean Race. It's a growing a long challenge. Month long it last.
It started last year spanning some 45,000 north come out across the world taking in four oceans. And did I mention six different continents as well. The eight of 11 legs started a week ago on Sunday. Stretching composing the best part is 6,000 miles north up the Atlantic from Brazil to New Port Rhode Island to the United State, before the field that's the Europe and (INAUDIBLE) for the races conclusion in The Netherlands.
But the emit (ph) hit a bottle. We can't tell you there's a full way fight for the lead as the eight leg into this week two just a few miles separates in the living cortex, is to sail north for Brazil currently. And this little margins area right now is the leading turn the tie in plastic team continuous to fight hard defend of a tax by best is 11 now racing. China's (INAUDIBLE) race team and team Brunei as well.
We ahead to Singapore now. We have Fiji's Rugby Seven's team of continue their superb form of late having that one for of the last five toners and those certainly enjoyed but they end it beating on Sunday to achieve just that.
Their latest win coming in the final against their old foes from down under the Australian's but that what confront (ph). The Aussies will leading until a final play of extra time. That's when Alasio and (INAUDIBLE) sprinted 95 meters to win the game, just look at this terrific power and pace speed here, it's electrifying, utterly unstoppable and having beat New Zealand in the quarters and South Africa in the semis. Fiji winning here, 28 points to 22 at the end and they will show take some stuffing pace season.
The team here (INAUDIBLE). So, thank you so much for joining us. Hope you have a great weekend. Do stay with CNN. Thanks for watching.
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