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BTS, World's Biggest Boy Band, Breaks YouTube Record; 3-D- Printed Heart Made Using Human Patient's Cells; French President Wants Notre Dame Rebuilt in Five Years; Interview with Jean-Claude Trichet, Former Bank of France Governor, on Cathedral Rebuilding Pledges; CNN Uncovers Venezuela's Multibillion Dollar Drug Trade; White House Officials Anxious over Mueller Report; Indonesia Votes. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired April 17, 2019 - 00:00   ET

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


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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The modern day noblemen of France digging deep into their vast family fortunes to bankroll the restoration of the iconic Notre Dame cathedral. And we get the first glimpse at what has been saved and what has been lost.

Amid an economic and political meltdown in Venezuela, a months-long CNN investigation has uncovered a multibillion dollar drug trafficking scheme linked to some of the highest ranking officials within the Maduro regime.

And K-pop finally has its moment. The biggest boy band in the world, South Korea's BTS. Some have compared them to The Beatles. They're crushing the charts with their perfect pitch and very smooth moves.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. It's good to have you. I'm John Vause. You've watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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VAUSE: French president Emmanuel Macron has made the extraordinary promise that Notre Dame cathedral will be rebuilt more beautiful than before and it will be done, he says, within five years. Experts say a timeframe of 10 to 15 years is more realistic. The site has yet to be secured before restoration work can even begin.

Investigators continue to sift through debris and are warning of potential weaknesses in what's left of the building. The Paris prosecutor say the fire was likely accidental. Workers are moving precious artifacts saved from the flames to the Louvre museum.

Despite the sense of loss, the streets of Paris are filled with hope and solidarity during the most sacred week on the Christian calendar. We have more now from CNN's Nic Robertson reporting from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I think there's a real sense of relief in these beautiful vigils into the night here in Paris, a sense of relief that although this was a tragedy, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But the focus is really now on the surviving structure of the cathedral.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Tonight all efforts are underway to keep what is left of Notre Dame intact as authorities work to determine the cause of what is believed to be an accidental inferno.

In an address to the nation French president Emmanuel Macron said:

EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): We will rebuild Notre Dame even more beautiful. And I want that to be done in the next five years.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): This is our first look inside the world famous cathedral. Sunlight shining down upon the cross and charred remains of the collapsed roof. Water is pooled between the pews. All of it evidence of the grand effort to save the grande dame of Paris.

The fire raged for nine hours as some 400 firefighters fought to ensure all was not lost. Earlier, priceless relics plucked from the flames were loaded up for transport to the Louvre museum.

An air of Paris thanking those who formed a human chain to save them.

ANNE HIDALGO, MAYOR OF PARIS (through translator): A human chain immediately sprung into place. But when the threat of fire on the belfries became more important, we were very, very scared.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Among the retrieved relics, the cathedral's crown jewel, the crown of thorns thought to be worn by Jesus himself. The iconic 13th century rose stained glass windows and twin bell towers survived, too.

The grande dame's voice has not been silenced either. The organ and the main bell, known as Emmanuel, remain intact. But hours after the shocking loss of Notre Dame's spire, the fire brigade says the blaze began in the cathedral's attic, quickly engulfing the 13th century roof, an intricate wooden structure known as the Forest.

Experts say France no longer has trees large enough to replace the 800-year-old beechwood beams.

Citizens stunned by the loss, eager to help, France's wealthiest families and business owners have so far pledged more than $700 million toward the effort to remake the landmark. Among them, LVMH, the company behind brands such as Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Marc Jacobs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You never know what's going to happen during this reconstruction. Sometimes the private sector can help and have even more ideas.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON: Some experts are predicting a 10- or even 15-year timeline for the rebuild. President Macron's well-intentioned five-year hope may yet prove just a little too ambitious -- Nic Robertson, CNN, Paris, France.

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VAUSE: Let's head to Los Angeles now and CNN's affairs European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas.

Dominic, the French president said that with a straight face. Notre Dame can be rebuilt in five years.

Here's a few questions that could take them five years to answer before anyone lays a brick. Is this building half destroyed or half preserved?

And depending on that answer, the next question will be do they restore it, preserve repair it or rebuild it?

Because all those options may sound similar but in this case they all mean something very different.

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: They are and I think it's also extraordinary to see why, clearly after this moment, the job of the head of state is to reassure the people, that this monument that was so dear to them will continue to exist in some kind of shape or form.

What I find absolutely extraordinary is this rush to sort of -- to make this kind of statement. This is an opportunity to, I think, completely rethink the strategy about how one would go about redesigning and rebuilding this building.

There are, of course original components that go all the way back to the 13th century but it is a physical structure that has evolved over time with copper and stone and metal and so on. And it might actually be an extraordinary opportunity for them to think about the ways in which you could actually rebuild this building using sustainable materials in a more eco-friendly way.

It would seem to me that in the 21st century, to be searching for a forest that you can destroy in order to restore this roof, it just doesn't somehow right or to do it justice, particularly coming from a president who, let's not forget, not long ago stated, let's make the planet great again.

So I think that's one important component. And the other one is to take some time to think about the ways in which these heritage sites, of which there are dozens in France listed under the UNESCO regulations and so on and so forth, also need serious attention and to revisit the state's role in maintaining these historic sights.

VAUSE: Well, in the words of the former Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel, never let a crisis go to waste. Here's a little more from the French president, addressing the nation from the Elysee House. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACRON (through translator): In our history, we have built countless (INAUDIBLE) churches. Many have been burned or were destroyed by wars, revolutions, mankind's mistakes. Each time we have rebuilt them. The fire at Notre Dame reminds us that our story never ends and that we will always have challenges to overcome. What we believe to be indestructible can also be touched.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: If you listen to the tone of Macron, it's like 1940 all again. It's the evil Nazi invasion, rallying the people of France to come together. And it's working because now the opposition political parties have declared a truce. There's this feeling of shared loss, which is sort of a statement for national unity but as much as Macron wants to wreck himself in this reconstruction project, long-term this Kumbaya moment will not solve his political problems.

THOMAS: No, they're not going to and in fact, it's a very delicate moment, obviously. People are shocked. In many ways it's too early to start thinking about the greater political realities of this. People are grieving and people are mourning.

But the fact is that process already started. In fact, there's already been significant scrutiny of these major gifts that have been promised for the process of rebuilding the structure that have come from some of the richest people in France, billionaires, individuals that have benefited exponentially from Emmanuel Macron's tax reform and tax concessions for major corporations.

And I think people are, at a moment in France when there are these exacerbated tensions between different social groups, the Yellow Vests and struggles and so on and so forth, that, of course, Emmanuel Macron's appeal to achieve reconciliation at this time is going to come under greater scrutiny, as people will point to the fact that there are these tremendous social inequalities.

And as much as monuments and history are incredibly important, France is also dealing with some other very significant human problems that are impacting the population.

So you can see how difficult it is to navigate these difficult situations.

VAUSE: It's interesting that you raise the fact that these huge sums of money are just coming -- let's take a look at the list of families that are digging deep into their vast wealth here. This is the wealthiest of the wealthy, handing over euros like they're living in the Weimar Republic and they're buying a loaf of bread.

Suddenly they discovered the very beating heart of French culture. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET, FORMER BANK OF FRANCE GOVERNOR: For me, it is the heart and the center of France and also, of course, I have to say, that the fact that this gothic architecture, which was born around here, was generalized all over Europe. So as part of the, I would say, global legacy of architecture. So all this makes --

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TRICHET: -- myself very moved, my family very moved, my grandchildren, my children very moved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Where have they all been?

The cathedral has been slowly falling apart for decades. The French government's been the owner and landlord of Notre Dame since 1905. It's (INAUDIBLE) the church for the cost of maintenance. Two years ago, the church was so desperate for money it appealed directly to U.S. donors.

Where were all of these wealthy people and their hundreds of millions of euros willing to pony it up?

THOMAS: Yes. It's something that is going to come under serious scrutiny. Not only that but one of these billionaires has somebody that runs his incredible art collection valued at somewhere around $1 billion and was on Twitter today, asking that this particular site be recategorized as a national treasure, traditionally reserved for art objects, so that greater tax concessions could be provided to these corporations for providing this kind of money.

And so this has already ignited a significant debate and discussion in the Internet space and so on, too. And of course, then the greater question is what happens to all those other spaces?

Yes, the Eiffel -- the Notre Dame is such an iconic site. But there are many other, larger, in some cases older cathedrals located around many of these northern cities that are in absolutely awful conditions and that the state has been resistant to invest money in rebuilding.

The irony of this, of course, is that these are the major sites that attract tourists to France. Some 10 percent of French GDP goes toward tourism. So it's also going to be a time for the state to rethink its responsibility to this. And it's not going to be able to rely on donors throughout time to support these kinds of initiatives.

But yes, you're absolutely right.

What is it about this particular moment that has galvanized these individuals to donate so much money?

And that will come under significant scrutiny in the days and weeks to come.

VAUSE: Very quickly, it seems Macron has taken the head of this project. He's sort of wrapping himself in the reconstruction. He wants to be the leader or the president that gives Notre Dame back to the people. And this is a very fine line that he's walking.

THOMAS: It is a very fine line and this is a president that's been walking a very fine line in terms of his general relationship to the people. He is a president that is considered aloof from the concerns of the people with royalist inclinations.

And his discourse has really alienated many people in French society. Many would argue that he has not handled the Yellow Jackets conflict and standoff in a very positive way.

So positioning himself as the defender of French history and of architecture and buildings is obviously going to expose him to greater scrutiny for the ways in which he has failed the greater concerns, you know, of so many significant segments of the French population that do have genuine grievances in terms of how his policies have impacted them.

VAUSE: Absolutely, Dominic, thank you. Great to have you with us. We appreciate your thoughts.

THOMAS: Cheers. Thank you, John.

VAUSE: A little bit more about the devastating fire at Notre Dame and find out how you can help with the restoration and rebuilding efforts. Please head to cnn.com/impact.

Aid from the Red Cross has arrived in Venezuela. The health minister says the shipment includes emergency kits, generators and tanks to store water. Hospitals struggling with power outages and a shortage of medicine will receive the bulk of the shipment.

The government calls it an achievement while the opposition is taking credit for the delivery. The Red Cross is asking both sides to avoid politicizing the humanitarian assistance.

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MARIO VILLARROEL, VENEZUELAN RED CROSS SOCIETY (through translator): We appreciate all the efforts from state and private institutions who made it possible for this aid to arrive. And we reaffirm that it will be distributed respecting the fundamental principles of our movement, especially our principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence.

We ask everyone, with no exception, to not allow the politicization of this great achievement.

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VAUSE: While millions in Venezuela are struggling to simply find food and fresh drinking water, a few are making millions of dollars from drug trafficking. CNN has learned that Venezuela is developing into a cocaine courier to the U.S. with an extensive smuggling network through Central and South America. Senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has this exclusive report.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Below is a cocaine super highway, enriching Venezuela's corrupt elite and bringing coke to American streets.

These thin lines are secret pathways from Colombia's cocaine farming heartlands below across into neighboring Venezuela. From there, billions of dollars of the drug are smuggled north in tiny planes. U.S. and regional officials --

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WALSH (voice-over): -- have told CNN aided by Venezuela's army and elite. The Colombian military we're with don't get any lower to stay out of the range of track and machine guns and talk to locals mostly through the leaflets they drop.

"We've stopped drug flights out of Colombia," he tells me, "but not from places we don't control."

He means Venezuela just five miles away. Below, they think they spotted a cocaine laboratory, one of many fueling Venezuela's role as a cocaine courier, which a CNN investigation has learned is booming just as the country collapses.

240 tons went from Colombia to Venezuela in 2018, up a third in one year, a U.S. official told us, which could fetch $40 billion on U.S. streets.

WALSH: That traffic happening down below one possible reason it's alleged by so many in the Venezuelan army and government are reluctant to give up on Nicolas Maduro. They're simply making too much money.

WALSH (voice-over): The trade remains mostly secret inside Venezuela. On the other side of the border here, we were able to learn more about these illegal routes in from recent defectors from the Venezuelan army border patrol and about how their officers ordered them to let cross specific trucks carrying cocaine.

For five years, this sergeant got those orders often three times a week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The cars that cross both weapons and drugs were pickups and we would be told the color and make of the truck and when, usually just after dawn or dusk.

Everything was coordinated by the brigade commander. He would send a lieutenant to tell you what needed to cross and this was arranged high up above. Those who didn't agree were swapped out automatically.

WALSH (voice-over): He fled to here, Colombia, when the pressure to comply got too much and his unit found themselves confined to base.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We were locked on the base. The general would say, everyone must be with us. Leave or speak against the government, you'll get arrested.

They had us brainwashed with food handouts. One night, I couldn't take it anymore. I went home and told my wife, we leave for Colombia. My son started crying and said, "Dad, what are we going to do?"

But I knew if they stayed without me, they would be captured or interrogated.

WALSH (voice-over): Venezuelan state TV occasionally shows how their armed forces crack down on the trade. Here intercepting Mexican pilots that had previously rejected allegations that they were actually running the drugs and did not respond to several requests for comment.

But a U.S. official has told CNN these flights are surging. They used to take off from the remote hidden runways in the southern Venezuelan jungle. But in the three years have moved north, a U.S. official told CNN, to reduce flying time.

They used to be three a week but last year they were almost daily. This year they have seen as many as eight in a single day, a regional official said, using 50 hidden runways.

CNN has seen a confidential U.S. radar map approximately here that shows the sharp turn left planes from Venezuela take before landing on the remove Central American coastline of Honduras before the cocaine travels north through Mexico into the United States.

Honduras is where we pick up the trail of this booming trafficking again on the coastline below, turned into a surreal graveyard of narco planes. The plane cargo they carry is worth so many millions that itself is just a fraction in a billion-dollar deal. So many are discarded like used plastic bottles all over the jungle or crammed here into one riverbed.

The troops we're with don't want to be on camera for their safety.

WALSH: Some of these have their markings torn off to make the job of working exactly where they came from even harder.

WALSH (voice-over): America's drug habit is where the money, the rot all begins. But that same open market also supplies a key part of the logistics here.

WALSH: While the fires deprive much of this plane of distinguishing characteristics but you can still see N4 there, N, meaning this plane originated in the United States.

WALSH (voice-over): Brokers, a U.S. official tells me, buy up dozens of old planes at auction in the United States and hide their ownership in shell companies to send them south to start the cocaine journey north from Venezuela.

WALSH: Another N, which means another plane that started its days in the United States. WALSH (voice-over): It's not just traffickers in Venezuela and the U.S. making billion; the entire region is in on it. This is surely Honduras' biggest industry. The billions at stake everywhere. From this jungle road, which is actually a hidden runway, up to the Honduran president's brother, indicted last year on trafficking --

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WALSH (voice-over): -- charges, which he denies. You can't stop the planes being sold or taking off, one officer tells me. So they instead just have to try and make landing harder by blowing holes in the runways.

WALSH: Just seems slowing down this multibillion dollar trade requires so many more holes to be blown in this vast expanse of jungle.

WALSH (voice-over): The amount of money cocaine brings here literally dwarfs any effort to fight it. Insane amounts of cash into some villages along this coastline that have none. In fact, the Honduran army tells us traffickers flying toward these villages often kick their cargo overboard when they think they're about to be intercepted.

Each 30 kg bundle of cocaine is attached to floats and then drifts ashore. They then pay these communities of fishermen $150,000 for each recovered bundle. It's a calculus of corruption that most officials I spoke to admit beggars belief that no police or aid operation can really hope to challenge. One that sees the collapsing Maduro government as the alleged couriers cashing in fast in a region of desperate delivery men -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, in Colombia and Honduras.

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VAUSE: U.S. president Donald Trump puts a stop to a rare bipartisan measure. Coming up, Congress wants the U.S. out of Yemen's conflict but the president has vetoed the move. We'll tell you why when we come back.

Also a complex election to say the least underway in Indonesia as the world's third largest democracy votes more than 20,000 positions, including president. We're live in Jakarta when we come back.

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VAUSE: U.S. president Donald Trump has issued the second veto of his presidency on a bipartisan resolution to end U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Trump said the resolution is unnecessary, quote, "a dangerous attempt to weaken his constitutional authorities." Supporters say the U.S. would not be involved without explicit

permission from Congress. Others argue there are no U.S. boots on the ground in Yemen, only non-combat technical assistance is being offered to Saudi Arabia.

According to one Republican source, President Trump is going to, quote, "go bonkers" if the Mueller report credibly portrays chaos in the White House. The tension will release a redacted version of the report on Thursday. President Trump has been claiming it fully exonerates him of allegations of --

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VAUSE: -- collusion with Russians and obstruction of justice. But current and former White House officials are extremely anxious about whether it will include accounts of the president's temper and working habits. Those descriptions have been in news reports before but usually from anonymous sources.

The Mueller report will contain accounts by name of former officials as well as allies of the president.

Voting is underway in the world's third largest democracy -- that's by population -- across Indonesia's 17,000 islands. More 192 million people are eligible to vote in what is considered the world's most complicated single-day election; 245,000 candidates are running for more than 20,000 government seats. The incumbent president Joko Widodo is once again facing off against Prabowo Subianto. Political analyst Kevin Evans joins us on the line from Jakarta.

So, Kevin, Joko Widodo is ahead comfortably in the polls but his challenger, Prabowo, is apparently winning support by appealing to hardliners, Islamists, and he's rallying against what he calls the elitists within the government. It's almost like a Donald Trump piece, that second half.

KEVIN EVANS, POLITICAL ANALYST: It very much is, John. And a number of people tracking both campaigns in 2016 and 2019 do point out some rather familiar themes that are being prosecuted by Mr. Prabowo and his team.

VAUSE: There's also this expectation that if Prabowo loses, if the polls are right, then that is the expected outcome.

If he does in fact lose this election, he will challenge the legitimacy and the credibility of the vote?

EVANS: That's actually quite normal. I would expect him to do so and it will go through to the constitutional court, which will ultimately decide. And the version of the constitutional court here has been accepted by every election that I am aware of since it took over that position of determining disputes in campaigns, in election results.

VAUSE: Why are you saying you're expecting it?

Why is it quite normal? EVANS: Well, even in 2009, when the president won by 60 percent and his nearest challenger got 30 percent, there was still a challenge. So it's like a pro forma process of actually concluding the electoral process.

VAUSE: OK. The other issue here, we're talking about these hardliners, Islamists, that Prabowo's actually appealing to and to counter that move, Joko Widodo, he has named a running mate who is a fairly conservative Islamic cleric as well.

Has that managed to counter that appeal which is coming from the main challenger?

EVANS: Well, we talk about these Islamic conservatives as if they're one bloc but they're actually many different strains within that group. So the group that Prabowo was appealing to is a different group than those that are supported by Joko Widodo's vice presidential running mate.

So in many respects, his prime job as running mate was really to neutralize the impact and the ferocity of the attacks that would come against Joko Widodo from that side of politics.

VAUSE: I guess as we look at these results coming in, when they come in and we find out who won and who list, we'll find out how effective that strategy was.

Kevin, thank you for being with us on the line from Chicago, giving us the latest of those elections, very complicated elections indeed.

Well, Korean boy band BTS basically taking over the world. Three million people have preordered their new album and they just killed it on the NBC late-night comedy show, "Saturday Night Live." When we come back, we'll take a look.

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JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

[00:31:01] Investigators say there are still potential weaknesses in the structure of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, but they don't think Monday's fire was intentional. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, says he would like to see the Paris landmark rebuilt within five years better than before.

Sources say current and former White House officials are anxiously awaiting the release of the Mueller report on Thursday. They're concerned that, within the nearly 400-page report, there will be credible accounts of upheaval and chaos within the White House. Donald trump has told aides he's eager to see his name cleared.

Millions across Indonesia are heading to the polls in what's considered the most complex single-day election in the world. They're voting for president, as well as national, provincial and local lawmakers. More than 240,000 candidates -- yes, candidates -- are running for more than 20,000 seats.

BTS, maybe you heard of them. Maybe you haven't, but they are the biggest boy band in the world right now. They just dropped a new album.

In case you didn't know, they're K-pop stars, and they're the hottest music act on the planet. A short time ago, they held a news conference in Seoul, promoting that new album called "Map of the Soul: Persona."

Their last album was the first by a K-pop band to top the U.S. charts. And they're fresh off a big appearance on "SNL," "Saturday Night Live," over the weekend.

So how hot is BTS right now? So hot they smashed a YouTube milestone: more than 78 million views of their new single in 24 hours on YouTube. The band says they're grateful.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We made our own path, not because we came out of the blue and dropped into where we are today. We're standing here thanks to the road laid by many artists who came before us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Bob Lefsetz is the author of "The Lefsetz Letter," an e-mail newsletter read by everyone who is anyone in the music industry. Bob is also host of "Lefsetz Live" on Sirius Satellite Radio.

So Bob, before we talk about what's driving this group's huge success, maybe take a step back and explain to me what they are. Because when I saw the music clip for the first time, I thought it was part of a video game.

BOB LEFSETZ, AUTHOR, "THE LEFSETZ LETTER": Well, you know, Korean boy bands have been around for years. They just never broke in America. Certainly, you know, in Korea and all over Asia, it's a big thing.

So what they've done is they've taken the boy band formula and added dynamite and really amped it up, OK? We originally had boy bands like New Kids on the Block. Then Lou Pearlman had 'NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, and he really got into the dancing; and he amped it up.

Then we had One Direction from the U.K., which came out of a television show. These guys put together all of those elements, with poppy songs, with dance moves, but they also have meming in the songs. Such people -- meaning young people, in many cases girls, but they have a lot of boy fans, too. They are addicted to the experience.

Young people live online, and they look this stuff up, all the videos. Even though they sing in Korean, they have English translations. There's a lot about loving yourself and mental health. And this just really resonates in a very disconnected world.

VAUSE: OK. Well, here's part of their performance on "Saturday Night Live" from the weekend. Here it is. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Now, let me quote you to you. In your newsletter, you write of BTS, "What kind of crazy something-up world do we live in where a Korean boy band sings to track and blows away every performance on 'SNL' this year?"

OK, at this point, do you want to make sure, do you stand by that claim? Are you standing by that claim here and now?

LEFSETZ: I am standing by that claim. It was a visceral experience.

VAUSE: OK. Hold on just for a moment. Because I want to play for you just a very brief clip of Gary Clark Jr. on "SNL" just over a month ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:35:17] VAUSE: OK. Bob, I don't know who you are anymore.

LEFSETZ: Gary Clark Jr. is an excellent guitar player. He has a lot of press. But he can't write a hit song to save his life.

VAUSE: Oh.

LEFSETZ: He covers "Third Stone from the Sun" by Jimi Hendrix. That's interesting. Otherwise, I've been pitched. I've seen it multiple times. He just doesn't have memorable music.

VAUSE: I knew I was going to get creamed on this. Continue.

LEFSETZ: Whereas these Koreans, the point is, they don't even go out until the music is perfected.

VAUSE: Right. OK. With that in mind, though, the reviews are in on the latest release from BTS. So I'll start with this guy Bob Lefsetz, who I once knew.

He writes, "It won't set the world on fire, but at least it's not offensive."

From "The Hollywood Reporter," "The album has its share of catchy songs but feels impersonal and manufactured."

And "Rolling Stone" writes, "It can be listless at times," but the magazine notes it's succeeding anyway. There seems to be a general agreement that, musically, at least, the

latest album, it's been like store-bought birthday cake. It's good but nothing great, you know. And I guess it's fair -- in comparison the Beatles had "Yellow Submarine."

LEFSETZ: Certainly, this is -- Don't put them in the same sentence, the Beatles and the BTS.

VAUSE: OK.

LEFSETZ: Especially because they both begin with "B."

But what this proves is the mainstream music business, which is all hip-hop, does not reach the audience at large. So we have a whole scene that was literally excluded from the media, excluded from the charts. It was burgeoning. This act was selling out arenas.

Finally, it matured and they have the right track, and it's blowing up and the album, you know, will sell a couple hundred thousand copies in the verkakte way "Billboard" makes their numbers.

But it's a huge thing. So it shows that there's more music people want to listen to other than hip-hop and other than things with electronic beats.

VAUSE: You say don't compare them to the Beatles, but there are people out there comparing them to the Beatles.

LEFSETZ: Well, those people obviously didn't listen to the Beatles.

VAUSE: Yes, good point.

LEFSETZ: I mean, the Beatles, you know, they wrote great songs everybody could sing, everybody could play. I mean, it's like do you want to compare, you know, a painter from high school to Michelangelo? I don't think so.

VAUSE: This does, though, seem to be K-pop's moment. The girl version of BTS, a group called Blackpink, stole the show at Coachella last weekend.

And the week before that, their new single, "Kill This Love," had the most number of views in 24 on YouTube, almost 57 million hits. That is, until it was blown away by BTS a week later and their new single, "Boy with Love."

The only thing that I say about is that, if YouTube hits are a measure of musical talent, then what do you make of this guy? Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC: Psy, "Gagnam Style")

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That's Psy, "Gagnam Style," K-pop. Three billion hits and counting. Do you equate musical talent with YouTube hits?

LEFSETZ: You know, this is a funny thing. We had reggae songs that had some traction before reggae became a big thing. Psy was a progenitor. It was really about the video more than the song, where the Korean boy bands, Korean girl bands, it's about the music first. And then they build the dancing and the other issues in the penumbra.

So he was the first one there, but it's not of the quality of these boy bands.

VAUSE: Bob, as always, you know so much more about music than I ever will, and that is why we have you on the show. Thank you. It's good to see you.

LEFSETZ: Always great.

VAUSE: Appreciate it. Thank you, mate.

LEFSETZ: Bye.

VAUSE: Up next, a potential medical breakthrough. Scientists are well on their way to making a human heart on a 3-D printer.

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[00:41:00] VAUSE: For the first time, scientists have used 3-D technology to print a heart made out of human tissue. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reports on this medical breakthrough, as well as the possibilities it could bring.

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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israeli scientists say a new breakthrough in the treatment of heart disease could be just a heartbeat away. Researchers at Tel Aviv University say they've used 3-D technology to print a heart. They hope that heart could one day help to replace the need for human donors.

TAL DVIR, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY: So this is the first time that the whole heart with the blood vessels and cells is printed.

COHEN: The prototype part is only the size of a rabbit's, but scientists hope to one day use the same process to create one as large as the human heart.

Researchers say it's especially exciting since the so-called ink used to print the heart comes straight from the human body, which can prevent rejection.

NADAV NOOR, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY: For the first time we printed materials and cells from the human cells and created such a complex geometry of the heart.

COHEN: Doctors say it takes three hours to 3-D print a heart like this, which looks like the real thing but doesn't behave like one yet. Right now, the tiny 3-D heart can contract but lacks the ability to pump.

The hope is with further development and testing in animals and then humans, organ printers will be used in hospitals in the future to help treat patients with cardiovascular disease, the No. 1 killer in the world.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, reporting.

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VAUSE: And scientists have found micrometeorites colliding with the Moon at high velocity could potentially be releasing water vapor from just under the surface. This has potential implications for long-term human operations on the Moon, as well as deep-space exploration.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we discovered is that the surface releases its water when the moon is bombarded by micrometeoroids. This is especially noticeable during meteor showers.

What we also found is that the surface that's releasing the water is being protected by a layer, a few centimeters of dry soil, that can only be breached by large micrometeoroids.

When the micrometeoroids impact the surface of the Moon, most of the material in the crater is vaporized. There is also a shockwave that propagates outward. That shock wave carries enough energy to release the water that's coating the grains of the soil. Most of that water will get released into space, and thus the signature that LADEE detects with its sensor from its orbit.

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VAUSE: Mehdi Benna, the lead scientist there, says water is widespread on the Moon, spread very thin, though. And this study could help future lunar explorers make better use of what little water there is.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. WORLD SPORT is up next. You're watching CNN.

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[00:59:55] VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Wherever you are around the world, thanks for joining us. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Ahead this hour, first he promised to rebuild it. Now, the French president has vowed Notre Dame will be better than it was before, and reconstruction can be done within five years. Most experts believe it could take three times longer.

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