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CNN NEWSROOM

Nuclear Power Russia Shuns Obama's Summit; Trump Struggles after Tough Week; Democratic Race Turns Nasty; Authorities File Charges in Kolkata Bridge Collapse; Kenya Marks Anniversary of Garissa Massacre; Inside Ancient Palmyra, after ISIS; Turkey Forcibly Returning Syrian Refugees; Obesity Bigger Problem Than World Hunger; Airplane Ponytail Goes Viral. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired April 2, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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


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GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The U.S. president says the world cannot be complacent on nuclear security and warns to keep radioactive materials out of the wrong hands.

Plus: Donald Trump tries to right his ship after a week of flip- flopping while the Democratic candidates accuse each other of lying.

And remembering Garissa University. CNN speaks with survivors of that massacre in Kenya one year after Al-Shabaab militants launched a devastating raid there.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm George Howell. NEWSROOM starts right now.

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HOWELL: A good day to you. We begin this hour with the nuclear summit in Washington, D.C., and the efforts to maintain security of nuclear stockpiles. The U.S. president, Barack Obama, says an important treaty is now expected to go into effect.

That treaty requires member states to do more to secure their radioactive materials. China pledged to work closer with the U.S. as well, playing a key role in enforcing sanctions against North Korea, which has nuclear weapons.

Mr. Obama also says he wants to reduce America's nuclear arsenal further but he also wants to modernize the nuclear weapons the U.S. does keep.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Just the smallest amount of plutonium, about the size of an apple, could kill and injure hundreds of thousands of innocent people. It would be a humanitarian, political, economic and environmental

catastrophe with global ramifications for decades. It would change our world. So we cannot be complacent. We have to build our on progress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: World leaders at the summit also focused on keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists. But one major nuclear player decided not to show up. Our Brian Todd reports on why Russia skipped this major summit.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the Brussels and Paris attacks, a clear message from ISIS. They can and will hit Western cities and kill as many civilians as they can.

And it appears ISIS wants to create more devastation. After the Paris attacks investigators in a raid found surveillance footage of an employee at a Belgian nuclear facility.

ANDREW BIENIAWSKI, NUCLEAR THREAT INITIATIVE: And that nuclear facility had highly-enriched uranium, but also produced these radiological sources. So now we know that they actually are trying to take steps to try and acquire these materials. And so therefore we need specific action coming out of this Nuclear Security Summit.

TODD (voice-over): But at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington one leader who could make a huge difference in securing nuclear material was a no- show. Vladimir Putin has once again snubbed President Obama.

BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Russia's lack of participation obviously in our view is frankly counter-productive.

TODD: Russia has more than half the world's stockpile of nuclear materials and its safeguards haven't always been air tight.

BIENIAWSKI: There was an example several years ago where an insider employee at one of the Russian facilities at Luch was slowly taking out small quantities of nuclear material from that site.

PETER BERGEN, AUTHOR, "UNITED STATES OF JIHAD": Certainly historically -- I mean I've been to Russia and gone to some of their nuclear facilities and, you know, in the years after 9/11 it was very amateur the way they were, they were holding these radioactive materials.

TODD: But experts say the Russians have since gotten better at securing nuclear material. Security analysts say, if Putin had shown up at the summit, he could have shared intelligence on how to keep ISIS away from nuclear and radiological material. Either way, the terror group would have a tough time getting its hands on a nuclear weapon. But radiological material for a dirty bomb, often stored in hospitals

and industrial complexes, is far less secure. ISIS can access that. And ISIS supporters in the U.S. haven't been bashful about where they want to strike.

This kind of target is really their aspiration, right?

BERGEN: Yes. So mass casualty attack clearly their aspiration. The radiological bomb, if it went off here, many people dead in the immediate vicinity, but the much bigger deal, Brian, is that it would disperse radioactive material all around downtown Washington, several block area. It would close down the city for maybe years.

TODD: Responding to the criticism of Putin for not showing up at the summit, a Russian official told us they're not sending a bad message and there's much more to nuclear security than this summit.

The Russians have also ticked off some reasons for Vladimir Putin's absence from the summit. They say some countries with nuclear material, like Iran, are not participating. They say most of the key goals for nuclear security have already been reached, so no need to show up.

And they say the U.S. is unfairly pushing its agenda --

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TODD: -- on international groups like the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog and Interpol -- Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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HOWELL: America's choice 2016: the current U.S. president had some sharp words for Donald Trump. This after his recent comments that the United States should back out of its security role in Asia.

The Republican front-runner suggested at a CNN town hall on Tuesday that Japan and South Korea should develop their own nuclear arsenals. And at a news conference at the nuclear security summit, Mr. Obama said the remarks indicate that Donald Trump should not be in the Oval Office.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The person doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean peninsula or the world generally. It came up on the sidelines that people pay attention to American elections. What we do is really important to the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Mr. Obama's criticism of Trump comes as the presidential race heats up in the state of Wisconsin with its primary just around the corner. Voting is set for next Tuesday there, April 5th. And it's expected to be a crucial contest for both parties.

There are 42 delegates at stake for Republicans and 86 pledged delegates for Democrats. Local officials say they could see the state's biggest voter turnout for the primary in 36 years.

That primary isn't looking so good for Donald Trump. He is 10 points behind Ted Cruz at this point. And that is just one part of Trump's bad week. The past few days have been the most challenging of his campaign so far. Our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, has this report for us.

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DANA BASH, CNN SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When all else fails for Donald Trump, he tries to change the subject, like he did today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted Cruz was my roommate. I did not like him at all.

BASH: Slamming Ted Cruz in a new Instagram video after one of the billionaire front-runner's worst weeks since the campaign began, causing a bipartisan firestorm with these comments when asked if women should be punished for having an abortion if it became illegal.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment.

MATTHEWS: For the woman?

TRUMP: Yes. There has to be some form.

BASH: That, Trump recanted within hours and later added this:

TRUMP: It could be that I misspoke, but this was a long, convoluted subject.

BASH: But he has not taken back what he said at CNN's town hall, advocating for more nuclear weapons in Asia.

TRUMP: At some point we have to say, you know what, we're better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea.

BASH: Now Trump is refusing to rule out using nuclear weapons in Europe.

TRUMP: Europe is a big place. The last person to use nuclear would be Donald Trump. That's the way I feel. I think it is a horrible thing. The thought of it is horrible. But I don't want to take anything off the table.

BASH: Trump's rivals continued to blast him, including John Kasich, who until this week mostly held his fire.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), OHIO, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The problem for him with town halls is he actually has to answer questions in a specific way.

BASH: Kasich also went after Ted Cruz for having a thin leadership record.

KASICH: His record is shutting down the government and making everybody he works with upset.

BASH: As Trump sees his unfavorable ratings rise and support among women fall, he's quick to point out that he is still the front-runner by a long shot and that even if he arrives at the GOP convention in July without winning the nomination, if he is close, it should be him.

TRUMP: I really think that whoever has that kind of an advantage should get it.

BASH: But the first-time politician is also learning that seizing the Republican nomination takes more than just winning contests. It takes winning over delegates in some states where rules vary.

Sources tell CNN that educating Trump about the complicated delegate process was the subject of Trump's meeting this week with Republican Party chair Reince Priebus as RNC headquarters in Washington.

TRUMP: Very -- actually a terrific meeting, I think. And it's really a unity meeting.

BASH: CNN is told that Priebus used the meeting to ask Trump to ease up on trashing the RNC, as Trump did this week at CNN's town hall.

TRUMP: I have been treated very unfairly. I will give you an example.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Unfairly by who?

TRUMP: I think by basically the RNC, the Republican Party.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: That was CNN's Dana Bash reporting for us.

In yet another reversal on Friday, Donald Trump told CBS News that federal laws are set and should not be changed to outlaw abortion. Later, his spokeswoman said Donald Trump was just giving an account of the current --

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HOWELL: -- laws, which he would change as president.

Now to the Democratic race, where things are getting more personal. Hillary Clinton says that Bernie Sanders' campaign is lying about her record and she's sick of it. Now Sanders says that Clinton is the one lying. Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has this report for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEFF ZELENY, CNN SR. WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton just can't shake Bernie Sanders.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is really personal for me.

ZELENY (voice-over): Their Democratic fight isn't winding down, but ramping up and expanding to new fronts.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VT., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary Clinton.

ZELENY (voice-over): Sanders and his supporters keeping alive their criticism of Clinton receiving contributions from the oil and gas industry. This confrontation with a climate change activist going viral.

CLINTON: I do not -- I have money from people who work for fossil fuel companies. I am so sick, I am so sick of the Sanders campaign lying about that. I'm sick of it.

ZELENY (voice-over): The outburst offers a fresh window into a rising frustration with Sanders. The Clinton campaign accepts money from people who work for oil and gas companies, not the companies themselves. Sanders called it a distinction without a difference.

SANDERS: If people receive money from lobbyists of the industry, I think you're receiving money from the industry. And these are not just a little worker there. These are lobbyists who represent the oil and gas industry.

ZELENY (voice-over): But today in New York, Clinton struck back, saying Sanders isn't pro-business.

CLINTON: I just go crazy when I hear Senator Sanders and the Tea Party Republicans railing against the export-import bank, like it's some kind of evil presence.

ZELENY (voice-over): The Democratic rivals are also tangling over abortion, Clinton accusing Sanders are not properly denouncing Donald Trump's assertion women who have abortions should be punished.

CLINTON: Senator Sanders agreed that Donald Trump's comments were shameful, but then he said they were a distraction from -- and I quote -- "a serious discussion about the serious issues facing America."

ZELENY (voice-over): Sanders cried foul.

SANDERS: What Secretary Clinton did is take things out of context. I am 100 percent pro-choice.

ZELENY (voice-over): The root of the tension is the length of the race. The Clinton campaign once assumed the race would be all but over by now, as campaign manager Robby Mook noted in this memo after Clinton lost the New Hampshire primary two months ago, writing: "The nomination will very likely be won in March, not February." Sanders has an edge in Wisconsin and is fighting hard on Clinton's turf in New York. He drew 18,000 supporters last night to a rally in the Bronx.

SANDERS: My father came to this country at the age of 17 from Poland without a nickel in his pocket.

ZELENY (voice-over): Sanders is well behind in the delegate race, but money is keeping him in the game. His campaign says it raised $44 million in March, fortifying it for the final two months of the long Democratic primary.

SANDERS: Let's take this fight to the White House. Thank you all.

ZELENY: But for Bernie Sanders to take this to the White House, he needs to keep winning and winning big. His first target is Wisconsin. He's camping out there all weekend long.

Now a top Clinton adviser told me today they believe Wisconsin is basically out of reach. That's why they are focusing so much attention on New York.

But judging by the size of last night's crowd in the Bronx for Sanders, that populist streak in New York is alive and well and the Clinton campaign is taking New York very, very seriously. They know a loss there would upend this race like nothing else could.

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HOWELL: That was CNN's Jeff Zeleny reporting there for us.

Bernie Sanders spoke out about Clinton's finger-pointing at a rally in Wisconsin on Friday. The Vermont senator says his campaign was not lying about Clinton's donations from fossil fuels from that industry and the former secretary of state owes him an apology.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: According to an analysis done by Greenpeace, Hillary Clinton's campaign and her super PAC have received more than $4.5 million from the fossil fuel industry.

In fact, 57 oil, gas and coal industry lobbyists have directly contributed to her campaign, with 43 of them contributing the maximum allowed for the primary.

And these are not just workers in the fossil fuel industry. These are paid, registered lobbyists.

Secretary Clinton, you owe our campaign an apology. We were telling the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING) HOWELL (voice-over): Gloves coming off there. Be sure to join CNN on

Tuesday for all the day's coverage of this critical Wisconsin primary. It could be a game-changer for candidates on both sides, only here on CNN.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. And still to come this hour, the deadly bridge collapse in Kolkata, India. A look at who authorities are blaming there.

Plus the --

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HOWELL: -- Garissa University massacre one year on. Survivors reflect on what they saw that day and how they are moving forward. Stay with us.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell.

The death toll from the deadly bridge collapse in India has now risen to 27 people dead. Authorities are charging a construction company with several crimes, including attempted murder.

An executive at that company has denied any fault. CNN's Sumnima Udas has more from Kolkata on the disaster, including reaction from the victim's families.

SUMNIMA UDAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Authorities are acting swiftly to get to the bottom of this tragedy, how it happened and also who's responsible. Police have detained 12 employees of the construction company behind this highway overpass for questioning.

They have also charged the company of culpable homicide. That is actually a very serious charge and it could lead to life in prison if those employees are actually convicted.

Now when we asked authorities as to how they came to these charges, they said they could not elaborate but many people say that they believe this is a manmade disaster.

They blame it on shoddy construction, faulty engineering and also corruption. We have been talking to families who lost their loved ones and, as you can imagine, they are in a complete state of shock.

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UDAS (voice-over): Despair and mourning, Ajay and Surika Kannoy (ph) were on a hand-pulled rickshaw, headed to a nearby hospital to visit an ailing relative when a roughly meter-long chunk of concrete and metal came crashing down. In seconds, their lives ended. While at home the world turned upside

down for their two sons, their shaved heads a sign of grieving in Hindu families.

Twenty-five-year-old Abi Sheikh Kannoy (ph) had to identify his parents' bodies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not (INAUDIBLE) to mankind and explain your (INAUDIBLE).

UDAS (voice-over): Twenty-five-year-old Abi Sheikh Kannoy (ph) had to identify his parents' bodies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) very bad. They were not (INAUDIBLE) see (INAUDIBLE) very. Full body was burned (ph).

UDAS (voice-over): Their father was the sole breadwinner running a timber treating (ph) business. He was Bidna Davies' (ph) only son.

"We didn't hear from them for hours. We couldn't get in touch with them --

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UDAS (voice-over): -- and then we heard the overpass collapse. I just went cold," she says.

After a frantic four hours of searching, calling, hoping and praying, she found out what happened.

"There's no limit to hardship and sorrow in life. Sometimes it's happiness, other times it's all darkness. My heart bleeds with pain. He was my only son," she says.

In a neighborhood across the country, people want to know how it happened, who is accountable. But here there's no anger.

"Who can we blame?"

"We don't all blame anyone. We blame our faith."

They're still in a state of shock, aware of what's happened but unable to make sense of it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UDAS: A tragic story playing out across various households in Kolkata. Now that the search and rescue operation is pretty much over, families of victims are requesting authorities to take action as soon as possible so tragedy like this does not happen again.

HOWELL: Now on to Kenya, where the nation is remembering victims of the Garissa University attack one year ago. That's when Al-Shabaab militants stormed the campus, murdering 148 people, most of them students. Many of the students who survived the attack have since continued

their education many miles away in Eldoret. Robyn Kriel paid a visit to that school and is there live for us this hour.

Robyn, it's good to have you. So this is a day that so many survivors are simply thankful to be alive but, remembering that nightmare, remembering seeing so many of their fellow classmates killed.

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, George, and just behind me at the moment, one student is describing how, in her words, she watched her friends slaughtered. So it was an incredibly traumatic day for around 600 students, who are now here at Moi University, are continuing their university education after it was disrupted one year ago today at Garissa University college.

We're also hearing today celebratory songs; 147 is not just a number, that is a theme that has been resonating through Kenya for the past year, reminding people of the 147, 148, those numbers are still being confused at this point in Kenya.

But 147, not just a number is a number that's been -- is a phrase that has been trending and today we have heard people singing about it, trying to remember those 140-plus people who died on that day.

We spoke to two students, who narrowly escaped death, incredible stories of bravery. Here are their stories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRIEL (voice-over): Like many university students, Ben Nwete (ph) is on a journey. But his is different than most.

BEN NWETE (PH), UNIVERSITY STUDENT: I tried to crawl. I crawled up to the door. That's where now I was rescued. And as they were rescuing me, some Al-Shabaab said they were coming in and they killed that person who was rescuing us.

KRIEL (voice-over): Shot by terrorists during an attack on his university, Ben lay for hours motionless, playing dead.

One year on after suffering debilitating injuries, Ben is moving again.

NWETE (PH): I am good that I am able to work. Currently I am using a bicycle. I cannot walk for very long distance. But I can run. I can play. I can do very many things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They caught us when they were in the prayers in the hall. And when they shoot us, I fall down. They first threw us at grenades, which hit on my face.

KRIEL (voice-over): Evelyn Chepkemoi can finally walk unassisted and is proud of it.

This school houses almost all of the survivors of the Garissa University massacre. Hundreds of miles away from the site of the attack, it's much more secure and allows for diversion.

Still, students fear more attacks and remember the friends they have lost, like Judith Chepkemboi (ph). She was one of Evelyn's roommates. Of the six girls in their dorm room, only three survived. Two of them still live together. Roommate Juliet Nunjala (ph) carries one reminder of her best friend.

JULIET NUNJALA (PH), UNIVERSITY STUDENT: This picture of mine (INAUDIBLE) reminds me of Judith. But I don't want to do whatever she is, to distribute. I will be glad to have you.

KRIEL (voice-over): Judith is not here anymore. But her friendship, an everlasting gift.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KRIEL: Security presence here at Moi University has been ramped up because of today's one year anniversary. And indeed, security ramped up across the country, at the airports, the major transport hubs have all seen increased --

[05:25:00]

KRIEL: -- presence of Kenyan security as we have seen for the past year. There's not been a major Al-Shabaab attack since the Garissa University college attack this time last year -- George.

HOWELL: And that was a big question following that attack, just bolstering security in Kenya and making sure that events like the one that you're attending now, to make sure they are safe and secure.

But what about taking the fight to Al-Shabaab militants across the border?

What's being done there?

And is the United States playing a role?

KRIEL: Indeed, that's what we have seen and that's what we can confirm, George. U.S. airstrikes in support of African Union and African Union and Somali national army offensive that was launched just in the recent -- past few days really.

We're hearing of a U.S. airstrike, large U.S. airstrike, possibly targeting hundreds of Al-Shabaab fighters just a few days ago and of course there was that huge airstrike about two weeks ago that targeted Al-Shabaab fighters at Russell (ph) base.

Of course, Al-Shabaab has claimed a number of very bloodthirsty victories lately, particularly against African Union forces, including Kenyan forces, who are fighting there to try and keep Al-Shabaab from entering into Kenya, to try and keep them on their toes, on the back foot, to try and annihilate as many of them as possible so that they cannot launch terror attacks such as the one at Garissa University college, that so many of the students behind me are mourning the loss of their teachers, of their colleagues, of their friends, of their roommates.

HOWELL: Such a mix of emotions, one can only imagine for people who are in that hall behind you.

Robyn Kriel, live for us this hour, Robyn, thank you.

It is 5:26 on the U.S. East Coast. And still to come this hour, the aftermath of ISIS. What remains of the ancient city of Palmyra after militants pushed out.

Plus hundreds of migrants and refugees break out of a holding center in Greece as Athens gets ready to send many of them back to Turkey. The news continues live around the U.S. and throughout the world this hour. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

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HOWELL: Welcome back. To our viewers here in the United States and around the world, this is CNN NEWSROOM. Good to have you with us. I'm George Howell. The headlines we're following this hour:

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HOWELL: U.S. President Barack Obama is praising a nuclear security summit that ended on Friday. Mr. Obama says an important treaty is now set to go into effect.

It requires member states to do more to secure their radioactive materials. And world leaders at that summit also focused on how to prevent ISIS from getting nuclear materials or weapons. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: New images of U.S. warplanes bombing Mosul University. There have been more than a dozen strikes in recent weeks taking out ISIS installations across the campus. One critical target, ISIS's chemistry lab, getting rid of ISIS's chemical weapons capability, a top priority.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ISIL has already used chemical weapons including mustard gas in Syria and Iraq. There is no doubt if these mad men ever got their hands on a nuclear bomb or nuclear material they most certainly would use it to kill as many innocent people as possible.

STARR (voice-over): A senior Iraqi explosives officer told CNN some of the chemicals being worked on include those similar to what was used in the Brussels attack, though U.S. officials could not confirm that. ISIS has brought in foreign fighters to teach them how to build bombs, fighters who could possibly return to the West. CHRISTOPHER HARMER, INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF WAR: What they needed help with was some top end research and development engineering. How do you compound chemicals so they aren't as detectable?

STARR (voice-over): All of that sharpening the U.S. focus on taking out ISIS's advance weapons.

BRETT MCGURK, SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL ENVOY: It's something that we are focused on every single day, particularly around Mosul where we know they have had a chemical weapons network trying to produce chemical weapons.

STARR (voice-over): With the university long shut down, U.S. intelligence believes most of the chemical weapons there centers around chlorine and sulfur mustard, chemical materials that could be put into bombs earmarked for the West. As U.S. war planes bomb overhead, the U.S. having detained ISIS's chemical weapons chief also stepping up intelligence gathering efforts.

MCGURK: The more we operate, the more information we get, the more our special operators are out there, the more we learn about the networks and the more we are able to unravel them.

STARR (voice-over): Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: On to Syria now, where the government forces there have driven out ISIS out of the ancient city of Palmyra. But militants left behind many land mines, which Syrian troops are now carefully detonating.

ISIS also destroyed a number of Palmyra's historic treasures. But as ITN's Lindsey Hilsum reports, some ancient sites remain largely untouched.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDSEY HILSUM, INTERNATIONAL EDITOR FOR CHANNEL 4 NEWS (voice-over): Palmyra's arch may have been demolished by the Islamic State. But triumph is exactly what Syrian soldiers feel. The officers know the symbolism of stones.

"The people without a past," he says, "is a people without a future."

No one knew the propaganda value of Palmyra better than ISIS. They destroyed columns and temples, supposedly in a campaign against idolatry, but really to shock the world.

They left the Roman amphitheater intact because it made a dramatic back drop for their videos of horror.

Imagine, just last year --

[05:35:00] HILSUM (voice-over): -- local men were forced to come and sit here and watch an extraordinary spectacle, as 25 teenage jihadists came on to this ancient stage. With them 25 Syrian soldiers who they murdered.

It's just extraordinary to think of such barbarity, such a theater of cruelty in the modern world.

A group of Russian officers arrived, but they are camera shy even though it is their bombing that may have saved Palmyra.

Towering above the site, looms a medieval citadel. This damage was caused by months of mortars and government bombardment, but it was only in the last few weeks, when Russian aircraft took to the skies with Iranian and Hezbollah fighters on the ground that the Syrian army could prevail over the jihadis.

MAJDI AL-SHAMLAT, SYRIAN ARMY (through translator): There were many explosives and mines and the heaviest battles were with the terrorists around the castle. They had all kinds of weapons and as soon as we appeared they fired everything at us. We killed many of them. We saw them dragging away the bodies and the wounded.

HILSUM: Before fleeing, ISIS militants rigged the streets of the modern town adjacent to the site with explosive devices and mines right up to the flagpole where last year they hanged the Khaled al- Assad (ph), 81-year-old keeper of the Palmyra museum, a brutal message to anyone who might want to stop the looting and destruction.

The beauty of Palmyra is stunning. Syrian archeologists say they can rehabilitate the site in five years if they get the money and if there can be peace. The current calm is more fragile than carving on stones.

Signs of the ISIS presence, a jihadi must have slept here.

The graffiti says keep out by order of the Islamic State.

The devastation at the temple of Baal is shocking.

This is what the sacred sanctuary of the Temple of Baal used to look like. Tens of thousands of tourists flocked here to see it. And this is what it looks like now, just rubble, a ruin, completely destroyed. Islamic State militants packed it with explosives and blew it up. And it is almost impossible to imagine how it can be restored.

The stones are shattered and some archaeologists think it would not only be futile but wrong to try to rebuild as exactly as it was.

JOANNE FARCHAKH, ARCHAEOLOGISIST, BLUE SHIELD: The identity of Palmyra can't be the same anymore. It's true, Palmyra is a world heritage site, but for now Palmyra is a site that has witnessed massacres, 400 people have been killed inside the Roman theater.

People will not look at this site against as it was before. It's now a place where there is blood. The ruins have blood on them. And it is modern blood, it's not old blood.

Can we treat it the same way as if this never happened before?

HILSUM (voice-over): In Syria, the past isn't over. It's not even past. The battle for Palmyra has not only changed the course of this modern war but changed forever this precious ancient site.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: That was ITN's Lindsey Hilsum reporting for us. And you can find out much more about the antiquities that ISIS destroyed in Palmyra and what is being done to salvage some of those ruins, all online at cnn.com.

Now we move on to the migrant crisis in Europe. Greece says that it is ready to implement a deal between the E.U. and Ankara to start sending migrants and refugees back to Turkey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL (voice-over): Under that agreement, migrants who arrived in Greece after March 20th will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum requests are rejected.

Hundreds of migrants and refugees broke out of a holding center on a Greek island in protest and they marched to a nearby port. Humanitarian organizations questioned the legality of the deal. But Greece is standing firm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): On the Greek side, whatever is needed to be done has been done both with the legal framework and the accommodation and logistics.

We are at a satisfactory level of readiness so that the implementation of the agreement can begin on Monday.

I can't say that the other sides are also ready, primarily the European side on the level of the specialists that they were supposed to send.

In any case, we, on Monday, are ready to proceed with the transfer of people to Turkey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: But once they are returned to Turkey, there are still concerns about what will happen to the migrants and refugees. Amnesty International says the Turkish government has been rounding up and forcing thousands of Syrian refugees to return to Syria.

The director for the human rights group for Europe and Central Asia says the European Union is ignoring what's happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SPOKESMAN, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: They are passing people over --

[05:40:00]

SPOKESMAN: -- putting them in the hands of the local militia groups that are operating there, who are taking them to camps, camps in which the conditions are awful and getting worse, with a blatant disregard for the rights of those individuals, for their welfare, their family ties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: According to Amnesty International, all are forced to return to Syria; all are under illegal conditions in Turkey, the European Union and international law.

This is CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, it can be a silent killer and it's a bigger threat to global health than ever before. We'll have details on the spreading epidemic -- next.

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HOWELL: Obesity, it's a bigger problem than world hunger and it is only getting worse. A new study published in "The Lancet" medical journal says more people across the world are obese rather than overweight. CNN's Kellie Morgan has this report for us.

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KELLIE MORGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As a population, we are growing and not just in numbers. We are, according to a new study, fatter than ever.

MAJID EZZATI, IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON: And in the last decade or so, switched to be more obese people.

MORGAN (voice-over): The study is the biggest of its kind and looked at body mass index of 19.2 million people in the 186 countries over the past 40 years, creating a unique global picture. It found that in 1975, there were 105 million --

[05:45:00]

MORGAN (voice-over): -- obese men and women. That figure now stands at 641 million.

Broken down, almost 11 percent of men in the world are obese. That's a threefold increase over four decades. And, there are even more obese women, almost 15 percent of the female population. And the picture is expected to get a lot worse.

MORGAN: The World Health Organization and United Nations set a target back in 2011 to reverse the growing rate of obesity by the year 2025. This study says that's just not going to happen. That actually by then, one in five people in the world will be clinically obese.

MORGAN (voice-over): It's an epidemic British Health Campaign, Tam Fry says could have been avoided.

TAM FRY, U.K. NATIONAL OBESITY FORUM: This far beyond the crisis. The crisis actually was back in 2003 and 2004 and we've just -- by failing to do anything positive, we have let this crisis develop into what is a tragedy.

MORGAN: It's the wider health and economic repercussions he's worried about. The links that obesity has to illnesses such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, all potential killers, all an increasing strain on the public purse.

Experts blame faster more urban lifestyles and the proliferation of convenience foods, which contain high amounts of sugar or some countries started introducing taxes, the study says a global problem requires a global response.

EZZATI: It's a hard battle, but it's a battle that is costing, that is influencing people's health and it's especially influencing the health of people who can least afford it.

MORGAN: The WHO hasn't given up the 2025 goal, but it's calling for all member states to be more aggressive in the fight -- Kellie Morgan, CNN, London.

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HOWELL: Switching now to weather and severe storms have battered parts of the Southeastern United States. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is at the International Weather Center with more on that -- Karen.

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HOWELL: Karen, you mentioned Atlanta, here where we are.

Anything we can do about that pollen?

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I wish we could. It's going to be around for a little bit longer until something washes it out of the atmosphere.

HOWELL: Karen, thank you so much.

This is CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, a hair-raising situation 35,000 feet in the air. Coming up, how one man shamed this passenger for her ponytail fail.

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[05:50:00] (SPORTS)

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HOWELL: Welcome back.

The Golden State Warriors are chasing history this year. They are on the brink of setting a new record for wins in a season, a record that's been around since Michael Jordan's 1995 Bulls.

They suffered a big setback, though, on Friday night, when they dropped their first regular season home game since January 27th of last year. They had won 54 in a row in Oracle Arena before dropping this one to the Boston Celtics.

That's a league record in its own right. But they remain focused now on the big one. The Warriors now need to win five of their last six games in order to make history.

Now to a tale of a ponytail fail. A woman on board an airplane has caused an uproar with her seat invasion of a fellow passenger. And now that passenger is getting revenge. Jeanne Moos has more on the wayward ponytail that went viral.

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It doesn't quite qualify as an in-flight emergency, but --

DANTE RAMOS, PASSENGER AND PONYTAIL PHOTOGRAPHER: All of a sudden this ponytail drops down in front of us.

MOOS (voice-over): This ponytail. Dante Ramos and his partner exchanged can-you- believe-this looks -- then Dante snapped the photo.

"Congrats to the ponytailed young woman in seat 22B. You've invented a whole new way to be awful at 35,000 feet."

RAMOS: We looked at it in disbelief. So we waited to see whether --

[05:55:00]

RAMOS: -- the ponytail owner would notice. She didn't appear to.

MOOS (voice-over): The photo went massively viral landing on the infamous "Passenger Shaming" Facebook page, where it joined bare feet in midair, bare feet on tray tables, feet on armrests, Q-tips left in seat pockets, litter, travelers half undressed.

Former flight attendant Shawn Kathleen created "Passenger Shaming."

Yikes.

SHAWN KATHLEEN, FOUNDER, PASSENGER SHAMING: It's so yikes. It's so beyond yikes. There was a gentleman treating his warts with Compound W.

MOOS (voice-over): There are other hair plane photos on the Passenger Shaming page, but this one struck a chord.

MOOS: What were people suggesting you should have done?

RAMOS: We should have put gum in her hair.

MOOS (voice-over): "Hey, Rapunzel," commented someone, "You have five seconds to move your hair before I cut it off."

Suggested another, "Just grab it, caress it, sniff it -- give it just enough of a tug."

But Dante's partner opted to simply stand up.

RAMOS: Hovered over her in a way that she noticed.

MOOS: Without exchanging a word, she brought up her seat, her hair disappeared.

Dante is a "Boston Globe" columnist, so he wrote a piece entitled, "The Day I Went Viral," bemoaning how much attention his hair tweet got compared to serious stuff, while still admiring clever puns like...

RAMOS: "Weave been hijacked," as if it was a hair weave that had somehow taken over the plane.

MOOS (voice-over): Unless your locks threaten to overflow your seat, lock them down -- Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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HOWELL: We've been hijacked.

OK. I will say you'll never have that problem if I'm sitting in front of you on a plane.

Thanks for being with us. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta. The news continues on CNN, right after the break.

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