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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump Clinches Republican Presidential Nomination; Trump: Good Thing World Leaders Are Nervous; Clinton And Sanders Neck-And-Neck In California; French Labor Clashes Escalate In Paris; Obama Visits Hiroshima; G7 Discusses Brexit, Warns of Economic Consequences; Signal Detected from EgyptAir 804 Emergency Transmitters; Iraqi Boy Youssif Considers Himself Lucky; 2 Scripps Spelling Bee Winners. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired May 27, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ahead this hour --

(HEADLINES)

VAUSE: Hello, everybody. Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.

VAUSE: On a day without a primary, a caucus or even a single vote Donald Trump managed to win the Republican presidential nomination.

SESAY: He did it thanks to a group of previously uncommitted delegates who announced Thursday they're in his corner. CNN's senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After shaking hands with some of the delegates in North Dakota who helped him clinch the GOP nomination, Donald Trump took note of who hasn't reached the finish line yet, Hillary Clinton.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here I am watching Hillary fight, and she can't close the deal. And that should be such an easy deal to close.

ACOSTA: But the presumptive GOP nominee still has one other Democrat on his mind, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

(on camera): Elizabeth Warren, she seems to have made it her job --

TRUMP: Who, Pocahontas? Well, no she's --

ACOSTA: Should you be --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very offensive. Sorry. TRUMP: I'm sorry about that. Pocahontas? Is that what you said? I think she's as Native American as I am. OK? That I will tell you. But she's a woman that's been very ineffective other than she's got a big mouth.

ACOSTA: Trump has also been taking hits from President Obama who overseas warned world leaders are alarmed by the real estate tycoon's campaign rhetoric.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They're rattled by it and for good reason because a lot of the proposals that he's made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude.

ACOSTA: Trump jabbed right back.

TRUMP: He's a president who has allowed many of these countries to totally take advantage of him and us unfortunately. And he's got to say something and it's unusual that every time he has a press conference he's talking about me.

ACOSTA: Trump also answered questions about comments made by his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who told the "Huffington Post," the New York billionaire likely won't select a woman or minority as his running mate because he doesn't want to be seen as pandering. Not so, said the candidate.

TRUMP: We're looking for absolute competence. We're going to have many women involved and I think that you're going to see that and you're going to see that very strongly.

ACOSTA: And Trump signaled he is serious about winning over House Speaker Paul Ryan, who still hasn't endorsed him. The two leaders spoke by phone overnight and are keeping the door open to working together.

PAUL RYAN, REPUBLICAN HOUSE SPEAKER: It was a productive phone call. Like I said, we've had these conversations.

TRUMP: We'll see what happens. We've had great conversations and we'll see what happens.

ACOSTA: And even after all of that news Donald Trump plans to hold another press conference on Tuesday to lay out new details about all of the money he and his supporters have donated to veterans' groups. Jim Acosta, CNN, Bismarck, North Dakota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SESAY: Joining us now, Wendy Greuel, a former L.A. city councilwoman who supports Hillary Clinton.

VAUSE: Also Lanhee Chen, a former policy director for Mitt Romney and now a research fellow at Stanford University. OK, so after President Obama came out and criticized Donald Trump and said the world leaders were concerned there was a very chilly like response coming from Donald Trump -- just kidding, this is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: That's good if they're nervous. That's good. Let them be nervous. By the way, I'll have a better relationship with other countries than he has except we'll do much better and they won't be taking advantage of us anymore and they won't be calling us the stupid people anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Lanhee, explain this to me. Especially issues like foreign policy Donald Trump says a lot of controversial things. He is the "tell it like it is" candidate and that's why people like him.

But when he goes out and says all these kind of outrageous things, people say oh, we don't really believe what he's saying, he doesn't mean it, we don't think he's going it follow through with that. How do you square that circle?

LANHEE CHEN, FORMER MITT ROMNEY PUBLIC POLICY DIRECTOR: That's part of the challenge of Donald Trump for his opponents, right, because he does not follow the conventional rules of gravity.

This is a guy who has said -- he's been on all different sides of all different issues. He says all sorts of crazy stuff.

[01:05:05]He basically threatens to dismantle the last 40 years of U.S. foreign policy and everyone gives him a pass because it's just Donald being Donald. And that is a challenge that Hillary Clinton's campaign has run into now, what do they do?

SESAY: What do you do, Wendy?

WENDY GREUEL, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I think you're right. It's a challenge because he is all over the place and people are still saying, well, he's an OK guy. Some of the things he's said, like calling Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas, if he did that in my son's school he'd be taken to the principal's office.

You never know whether he's going to behave like the adult at the adult table or the kid at the kids' table. And I think that Hillary Clinton is going to have to look and see how all the Republican candidates failed to really make things stick on him.

To really look at where the issues that people will say this is he not a presidential candidate, he is not someone we want to have represent us across the world.

VAUSE: OK, well, Hillary Clinton has a few issues of her own to deal with before she gets there to focus full-time on Donald Trump, particularly the California primary which is coming up next week on June 7th.

Let's take a look at the latest poll numbers which come out because right now Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders pretty much in a dead heat. Clinton 46, sanders 44, well within the margin of error.

We're now in a situation where Hillary Clinton just keeps losing state after state after state. She had a good couple of weeks but now she's really -- Bernie Sanders has the momentum.

She's got the situation where she could lose California, but still win the primary nomination that night. This is not the way you want to move forward into a general election, is it, Wendy?

GREUEL: I believe, again, she is putting all of her effort onto the table in the state of California --

VAUSE: But even if it's close, even if she comes ahead by one or two points it's still not considered a win because Sanders is doing much better than expected.

GREUEL: Well, again, I think that she has 3 million more people that have voted for her in this country. And again, as you may recall, Obama lost California the last time and he still became the president of the United States.

The momentum that she has in the seven of ten states she's won recently and the focus that she's putting on the state, she's going to win California. It will be close.

CHEN: Look, Democrats aren't energized about Hillary Clinton. When you look at elections, the key thing to look at is intensity. Where is the intensity of support? Republicans are by and large pretty energize the behind Donald Trump with the exception of maybe 25 percent to 30 percent of the party that's still trying to figure it out.

GREUEL: Not all of them have been excited about him all the time.

CHEN: That's certainly true. But I think that Hillary Clinton's problem is that people aren't excited by and large --

SANDERS: But that could change once Bernie Sanders drops out of the race.

VAUSE: They were saying the same thing about Trump before --

CHEN: But I think her problem is she's so well defined already. She's been in the public eye for 20 years. There's no new information. At this point she's only losing support. She's not gaining any.

Trump, Sanders, both of them are still relatively undefined. So they have the opportunity to sort of build this persona. I think that's why Sanders runs better against Trump than Clinton does because no one's laid a glove on him yet.

And no one really knows who he is aside from the guy who wants to give everyone free tuition. Why wouldn't you want free tuition? It sounds like I good idea I guess.

GREUEL: And there's not been one negative ad about Bernie Sanders across the country.

VAUSE: And there's been what, 30 years of negative ads --

GREUEL: Against Hillary Clinton so I think those are some of the items that people are going to look at as they're --

VAUSE: We've got this issue where Bernie Sanders is pushing for this debate with Donald Trump. This is quite surprising because it actually came from the Sanders camp and this is what Bernie Sanders said about it today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump has agreed to debate me. And I look forward to that because I think -- Hillary Clinton has not agreed to debate me here in California. So I look forward to debating Mr. Trump on that because I think it's important that somebody hold him to task.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Donald Trump's response, he says he's up for it but there's conditions about $10 million worth of conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I said I'd love to debate him, but I want a lot of money to be put up for charity. So if we can raise for women's health issues or something, if we can raise $10 million or $15 million for charity, which would be a very appropriate amount. I understand the television business very well. I think it would get very high ratings. It should be in a big arena somewhere and we could have a lot of fun with it. I'd love to debate Bernie, actually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Wendy, this has never, ever happened, if it does happen, before in U.S. politics. The presumptive nominee debating an opposing candidate who has no chance of being the party's nominee. This could be incredibly damaging for Hillary Clinton should it go ahead.

GREUEL: Well, again, I don't think that Trump is really serious about this and he's put these caveats of 10 million. I think it's so ironic he wants to talk about women's health. This is the same guy, the same guy who said women, you know, who have an abortion should have prosecuted.

[01:10:04]This is the same guy who said women who are pregnant it's kind of a problem for businesses and it's difficult. He is not the guy to be talking about women's health. I don't think it's ever going to happen. We've heard Hillary Clinton say that today. He was talking --

VAUSE: She doesn't have much of a say in it, though, at this point.

GREUEL: Again, we're ten days out. The focus and attention is getting your voters out on Election Day, getting right now absentee ballots. I've sent in my absentee ballot. They're really focusing, people are making decisions today, it's a distraction and it's also from a candidate who knows he can't win just throwing something against the wall.

SESAY: And Lanhee, is there any upside for Donald Trump participating? Obviously he wants to milk the moment, but is there any upside in sharing the stage with Bernie Sanders?

CHEN: I think there's tremendous upside for him and tremendous down side for Hillary Clinton because you've got Donald Trump now on the stage with Bernie Sanders, where is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party? This in my mind is a nightmare scenario for Hillary Clinton --

SESAY: Except it opens him up to having to explain --

CHEN: He can't win anyway --

SESAY: This is Donald Trump.

CHEN: Donald Trump survived how many primary debates without actually talking about policy. What do we know? He wants to build a wall. He wants to have Mexico pay for it and he wants to get tough on China. That's all we really know about Donald Trump. And thus far he hasn't had to articulate anything when it comes to public policy.

GREUEL: And he doesn't believe in climate change. He thinks it's a hoax.

CHEN: If he does have a debate with Bernie Sanders it will be great TV, great entertainment, but I would not expect anything substantive to come out of that discussion.

VAUSE: The other thing, too, Wendy, this keeps that primary battle continuing. It elevates Bernie, makes him look like the presumptive nominee and if Bernie Sanders does well in this debate it makes Hillary Clinton look worse. That's why we say this is a nightmare scenario.

GREUEL: Again, I've been in elections. Your last ten days you are just throwing everything out there so you can get as much attention and focus as you can. I don't think Donald Trump is serious about it. Put that caveat of $10 million.

And I think Hillary Clinton is doing what she's supposed to do. She is going to the state of California and having rallies where there is a lot of excitement about the election of Hillary Clinton.

SESAY: Should the DNC be having a quiet word with Bernie Sanders?

VAUSE: That's going to work.

CHEN: Nobody's persuading Bernie from doing what he wants to do.

SESAY: Is this a moment for the DNC or its surrogates to reach out and say hey, this is a distraction and it's not a good one considering where we're at in this race? Would you like to see that happen?

GREUEL: Again, I think a lot of the Democrats would like to have seen we're not at this point where they're still fighting to get to the nomination. But I don't think it's going to happen.

I think the DNC and others are saying let the chips fall where they may as well as Hillary Clinton, who's been stellar in this instance. She's not criticized Bernie on this. She's not been someone who has said step out of the race.

She said like she did before you're going to go to the end and that's his right to do that. But she's still again -- there's no scenario I've ever seen, no one put out a story that says he can get, Bernie Sanders can get enough delegates to pass Hillary Clinton.

VAUSE: But it again raises the question why Sanders is pushing for this debate if it can only hurt Hillary Clinton down the line. But we'll leave it --

CHEN: You know what, he is trying to build on the notion that she does not have the support of her party and he's trying to get himself a seat at the table. And that's exactly what --

GREUEL: I think the concern for the Democratic side is Bernie Sanders is only helping the Trump campaign, not helping the Democratic Party, and the values which we stand for.

VAUSE: Trump even said that during the campaign rally today. Guys, thank you very much for coming in.

Take a short break. When we come back, the U.S. president says world leaders are rattled by Donald Trump. But what does the rest of the world think? There are some staggering numbers. We'll have them next.

SESAY: And the cruelty this little boy suffered in Iraq touched the hearts of millions. Arwa Damon's reported on Youssif for a very long time now. She started this nine years ago. We're going to show you how he's doing now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:16:11]

KATE RILEY, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN World Sport headlines. It looks as though Jose Mourinho is the New Manchester United boss despite no official line from the club or the man himself. Reports in the U.K. suggest the deal has been done between arguably the world's largest football club and the so-called special one.

The Portuguese is set to replace LOUIS VAN GAAL who was sacked earlier this week after winning the F.A. Cup at the weekend. And weekend football is clearly a very long time. Maria Sharapova may be serving a doping suspension with you ten weeks from the start of the Olympic Games her road to Rio could be opening on Thursday. The five-time major champion is named to represent Russia despite a positive test from Meldonium at the start of the year. She was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Federation in March. However, Russian tennis officials are hoping to resolve Sharapova's situation in the next week.

As for the actual tennis being played at the French Open and the top half of the draw, the big names have cruised through their opening matches. Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal needed less than two hours to dispatch Argentine (inaudible) and to record his 200th grand slam victory.

The world number one, Novak Djokovic, also had little trouble in his second-round match beating Belgium's Darcy in straight sets. That's a look at your sports headlines. I'm Kate Riley.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SESAY: Hello, everyone. Anger is building over labor reforms in France and spilling into the streets of Paris. Police and protesters clashed during rallies Thursday. Demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at officers who responded with tear gas.

VAUSE: The protesters are angry at a reform bill that may increase their 35-hour workweek and make it easier for companies to fire employees.

SESAY: Let's bring in Marjorie Alexandre. She's a spokeswoman with a French trade union. Marjorie, thank you so much for joining us. What's your view of the ugly scenes of violence that we saw play out on the streets of France?

MARJORIE ALEXANDRE, SPOKESWOMAN, FORCE OUSTIERE: The thing is now in France people are very keen on going on the movement, which is they do not agree at all with the labor law.

SESAY: All right. We are having audio problems --

ALEXANDRE: So at the moment --

SESAY: Marjorie, I can hear you but sadly I had audio troubles at the beginning of this conversation. So if I could ask you to just start again and give me your reaction to the violence that played out on the streets of Paris this past day.

ALEXANDRE: OK. Sorry. I hadn't heard you well. So about the violence, there is the necessity to make a difference between people who come in the street to protest against the labor law and people in the streets to break things.

So of course we are not happy with what's happening in the streets with people getting mad and breaking things and we have personally, trade unions have order services and work with the police on this question. There is a necessity to make a difference between demonstrators and those people who come to be violent.

[01:20:08]SESAY: So Marjorie, just so I'm clear, you're not happy with the violence. Do you condemn it?

ALEXANDRE: Of course, we condemn it. Trade unions have nothing to do with this violence. You have in the streets demonstrators who are just here to exert their rights, their fundamental right of strike specifically, and those people who are violent have nothing to do with trade unions.

SESAY: Marjorie, sad we must cut this conversation short. We're having some terrible audio problems. We appreciate you joining us. We'll try and get you back at a later date where we can hear you a lot more clearly. Marjorie Alexandre, we appreciate it. Thank you.

VAUSE: It's been less than a year since Donald Trump announced his run for the White House, and since then he's managed to annoy, anger, even enrage many world leaders.

SESAY: But now some are dealing with the reality he could very well become U.S. president. Here's Clarissa Ward.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first candidate Trump was the subject of international fascination and even amusement. But it didn't take long for the maverick contender to start ruffling feathers.

TRUMP: They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.

Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

WARD: International condemnation came in thick and fast. Mexico's former president compared him to Hitler. A Saudi prince called him a disgrace, and China's state-run newspaper denounced him as big- mouthed. The list went on.

International headlines warned of impending doom if he became the Republican nominee, "madness," blared the cover of Germany's "Der Spiegel."

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I think his remarks are divisive, stupid, and wrong, and I think if he came to visit our country I think he'd unite us all against him.

WARD: Today London's newly elected mayor, himself a Muslim, jumped on the bandwagon, calling Trump's views on Islam ignorant.

SADIQ KHAN, LONDON MAYOR: Donald Trump and his team, their views on Islam are ignorant. As he's inadvertently playing into the extremists' hands by giving the impression that western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam or that it's a clash of civilizations.

TRUMP: Thank you, everybody.

WARD: Still, he does have one fan internationally. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has called Trump, quote, "an outstanding and talented personality."

(on camera): What's interesting is that since Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee the rhetoric from overseas has definitely softened considerably and we're likely to see that continue as world leaders begin to grapple with the very real possibility that they will have to deal with a President Trump. Clarissa Ward, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A new poll by Ugov for an activist group shows how people around world feel about Donald Trump.

SESAY: Seventy eight percent of those polled in six of America's top allied nations think Trump's views make the world less safe, 41 percent say his politics make them feel sick to their stomach.

VAUSE: Nell Greenberg is a campaign director for AVAS. He joins us from San Francisco. Thanks for being with us. We're talking about the findings. But let's start with the methodology. You're a liberal group but this poll was done by Ugov, which has a pretty good track record of getting this stuff right.

NELL GREENBERG, CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR, AVAAZ: Yes, John, Isha, thanks for having me. We partnered with Ugov to do the poll and this poll looks at this opinion of six countries, Japan, Canada, Mexico, France, U.K., and -- sorry, Canada.

VAUSE: When you look at the numbers that are coming out, they're pretty staggering, 78 percent dislike or hate Trump's views, 61 percent say a President Trump would make a major terror attack more likely, 71 percent say he would be bad for the world economy.

So when the U.S. president says world leaders are rattled, it would seem a lot of people around the world are a lot more than just rattled by the prospect of President Trump.

GREENBERG: Yes. I would say world leaders are rattled and their citizens are rattled as well and they're also incredibly fearful. I mean, I think when you see that 61 percent of people in this poll say they think his political views could lead to more terrorist attacks like we've seen in Brussels and Paris. Those are people who are saying they're very afraid Donald Trump's political views are deadly dangerous and incredibly ignorant.

VAUSE: The survey was taken in six countries, all U.S. allies. Does it differ substantially from country to country?

[01:25:04]GREENBERG: Yes, it's interesting you ask that. One of the things you'd usually see with polls is there would be some sort of demographic difference. The poll went from 18 years told to 55 years old. Some demographic differences, some differences between countries.

What's interesting about the poll is there is resounding rejection for Trump's political views across ages and across countries from Japan to Mexico to Canada. And I think there's actually a glimmer and hope in that you know, this isn't a poll about Trump as a candidate.

It's a poll about Trump's political views, and he's become a poster child for this divisive politics of hate and we're seeing unity in the rejection of that politics.

VAUSE: You say it's not about Trump the candidate, it's about Trump's policy. But can you dismiss all of this because it's the result of the heat of the primary campaigns, that's now all over, Donald Trump is going to pivot to the middle, he's going to walk away from some of those controversial statements he's made?

GREENBERG: I mean, I certainly don't think you can dismiss anything that he's already said and you can't dismiss the fact that we are living in a time where all of the threats we face from climate change to terrorism are inherently interconnected and global.

And America is going to need our allies to the north and the south and across the sea and if Trump wants to put America first he's going to need our allies and our friends and if he -- it's going to require all of the globe to come together and unite for our survival. Climate change, again, and terrorism, and I think that's what we're seeing.

VAUSE: Yes. Nell, thank you. Nell Greenberg with Avaaz joining us from San Francisco. Appreciate the insight.

GREENBERG: Thanks, you guys.

SESAY: Time for a quick break now. A historic visit coming up for U.S. President Barack Obama. We'll see why his trip to Hiroshima will not include an apology.

VAUSE: Also there may be new leads in the search for EgyptAir Flight 804.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:30:27] SESAY: Hello, everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.

VAUSE: And I'm John Vause.

The headlines this hour --

(HEADLINES)

SESAY: Now, U.S. President Barack Obama heads to Hiroshima, Japan in the coming hours. More than 70 years after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city during World War II. He's been wrapping up meetings at the G7 summit in Tsushima. VAUSE: Mr. Obama will be the first sitting U.S. president ever to

visit Hiroshima. He's expected to lay a wreath at the Peace Memorial Park but U.S. officials say he will not apologize.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not only a reminder of the terrible toll of world war ii and the death of innocents across continents, but it's also to remind ourselves that the job's not done in reducing conflict, building institutions of peace, and reducing the prospect of nuclear war in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SESAY: Will Ripley is live for us in Hiroshima.

VAUSE: And Andrew Stevens in Toba, Japan, covering the G7 conference.

SESAY: Will, let's start with you.

Will, what are we hearing about the president's itinerary once he's on the ground in Hiroshima? It's my understanding the trip will last less than three hours. Do we know what sites he'll visit and who he'll interact with?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now we believe the president is either meeting with or about to meet with U.S. troops at a Marine air base about 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, from here. He will be arriving here in Hiroshima later this afternoon and staying here on the ground for less than an hour according to his itinerary. What he'll be attending is a ceremony at the Cenotaph behind me. This is the central monument that is the centerpiece of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. He'll lay a wreath there. We believe that Hiroshima survivors will be in the front row and they may have a few minutes to speak with the president. And then he will make some brief remarks about his reflections. He'll also see the A-bomb dome from a distance. So, a very short trip, but obviously the symbolism very strong. This is really a historic moment. The first setting U.S. president in 71 years since the atomic bombing here in Hiroshima and, three days later, in Nagasaki.

VAUSE: OK, Will, thank you.

Let's bring in Andrew Stevens, our Asia-Pacific editor.

Andrew, the president is there because of the G7 summit. What's the headline out of that concerning the Brexit?

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: Yes, this one came slightly out of the blue, John. That the G7 communique, the seven leaders of the industrialized countries, says Brexit does pose a serious risk to global growth. It would reverse a trend in more trade, more investment, and that would mean a loss of jobs. So quite strong language from the G7, and it's language the British Prime Minister David Cameron very much wants to hear as the G7 adds its voice to institutions like the IMF and the World Economic Forum. And in Britain itself, the Bank of England warning of the economic consequences.

But I say it came as a surprise, because according to Angela Merkel's people here on the ground, it wasn't actually discussed at the G7 by the leaders. It appeared on the communique. And it looks like an 11th hour edition as well. That may well -- it looks like it came at the insistence of the British prime minister just to add pressure and to underpin his own position, which has very much remained.

VAUSE: They didn't talk about it, but it's on the final statement. Good stuff.

Andrew, thank you. Andrew Stevens covering the G7.

And Will Ripley also covering the president's visit to Hiroshima.

Thanks to you both.

[01:35:04] SESAY: Thank you, guys.

There could be a major breakthrough in the search for missing EgyptAir flight 804.

VAUSE: Egypt's state-run news agency says Airbus has detected signals from one of the plane's emergency locator transmitters.

CNN's Nic Robertson has late details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: So this is really going to speed up the search for the missing plane right now. Going from an area we were told just two days ago by an EgyptAir official, an area they were searching the size of Connecticut. This narrows it down to a circle, a radius about three miles, about five kilometers.

What the head of the investigation told state media is Airbus contacted him. They told him that they picked up a transmission from the ELT, emergency locating transmitter, on board the aircraft, which had transmitted a signal by a satellite, which gave a more precise location which impacted the water. On board an Airbus A320, there are normally three of these ELTs. They're designed to trigger and send out a signal once they impact land or water. Normally, the batteries on these devices last for about 48 hours. We're getting information, now more than seven days after the crash took place. Not clear why there's been a delay. However, it will speed up the investigation. Now the acoustic detection devices can be much more precisely lowered into the Mediterranean Sea and they will be listening for the pings from the transmitters, the beacons on the black boxes. Of course, the clock ticking there. Those black box transmitters, beacons transmitting for about a month, so this should very much speed up the investigation from here.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Cairo, Egypt.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Short break here. When we come back, he suffered senseless cruelty, but nine years on, the Iraqi boy known as Youssif considers himself lucky. Arwa Damon shows us why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:40:13] VAUSE: In Bolivia, police fired water cannons at disabled demonstrators and their supporters. Some of the protesters in wheelchairs were hurled to the ground.

SESAY: Disabled activists had gathered for weeks in La Paz pleading for an increase in their monthly stipend. The government claims people in the crowd were armed with knives. Disturbing pictures there.

We want to update you now on Youssif, the boy who was doused in gasoline by masked men and set on fire during the Iraq war.

VAUSE: He has shown remarkable courage in the face of some senseless cruelty.

Arwa Damon has been following this story for many years. She joins us now here in Los Angeles.

So you get to catch up with Youssif. How's he doing?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's doing really well. And I think that's part of what makes him such an inspirational little boy. We first met him nine years ago. You look at him today, and he has overcome so many obstacles. It's really so heartening to actually get to see him again.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (on camera): Hey, look at you. You got so big.

(voice-over): Youssif has grown in numerous ways. He has been a hero for many over the years. Superman is his.

YOUSSIF: It's a little project in my English class. So each person got to choose one superhero.

DAMON: (on camera): Do you identify with him?

YOUSSIF: Yeah.

DAMON: In what sense?

YOUSSIF: I try to fit in with everyone.

DAMON: And is that still hard for you?

YOUSSIF: Not really, because now I make friends easily.

DAMON: (voice-over): Youssif was just 4 years old when masked men attacked him outside his Baghdad home. We reported his story. The outpouring of support came from across the globe. And Youssif and his family ended up in Los Angeles --

(SHOUTING)

DAMON: -- where his parents heard their son laugh and shriek for the first time in the months since the attack, where strangers gathered in prayer on the beach, moving his mother to tears.

He has since undergone multiple surgeries. The memory of Iraq and the evil he experienced all but erased.

(on camera): You were saying you don't remember anything about Baghdad.

YOUSSIF: Yeah, I don't. I don't remember my family that much, only my grandparents.

DAMON: (voice-over): In many ways he's just like any other teen, obsessed with soccer, has loads of friends, and still wants to become a doctor to help others. But he knows he may not see his homeland in his lifetime.

(on camera): Have you been following the news about what's happening in Iraq with ISIS and --

YOUSSIF: I feel really bad for all the people and all those kids and stuff. It's like those terrorists aren't Muslims. They're just extremists.

DAMON: We still can't disclose his father Wisam's identity for the security of the family back in Iraq.

YOUSSIF: I'm trying not to read and see what's going on because whatever I see is sad there. Everything is just sad.

DAMON: And life as a refugee is never easy. Wisam has only been able to find a part-time job and is looking for more work.

YOUSSIF: At the same time, as you see, like so many people looking for a job, it's not only me.

DAMON: They're all profoundly aware that they are fortunate to have survived and escaped the war zone thanks to the kindness of strangers, who continue to finance Youssif's medical care.

YOUSSIF: I'm looking at it like I'm one step closer to the finish line.

DAMON: You're starting high school.

YOUSSIF: Yeah. I'm really excited, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: You know, when we first covered this story in 2007 and we saw this outpouring of kindness and support that really came from across the globe, it was especially emotional for our Iraqi staff because it was at a point in time when they really felt as if Iraq had been abandoned. And for me, on a personal level, I think it reminded me that the kindness of strangers still exists.

And I think today when we look at the world that we live in and this growing fear of the other and how that fear perpetuates the narrative that ISIS is trying to put out there that really draws people towards it, we look at the power of compassion and what it can do for one little boy, and I think that's something we should all reflect on for a moment, how you can counter the narrative of is by just showing someone compassion.

VAUSE: Speak on that more. We were talking about this before. Someone like Youssif, who's gone what he's gone through, and his family have gone through with him, they would be prime recruits for jihadists? What are they saying?

DAMON: Easy recruits.

VAUSE: Yeah.

DAMON: You would have had now a young teenager who would have, hypothetically speaking, grown up in Iraq, he would have been horrifically scarred. Probably imprisoned to a certain degree in his own home because they wouldn't have wanted to go outside. He was so angry when we met him at just 5 years old. He wasn't even 5. He was like 4.5. This anger for a child so young. He was so sullen. He was so introverted. That little laughing smiling boy his parents knew was lost in this attack. The fact that they were able to get him back and that it was the original Youssif, the laughing, kind, generous Youssif, who wants to be a doctor, is the one who is thriving today, and not the angry little boy, that has an impact on people around him. And, yes, if the angry little Youssif was the one that had survived and grown into an adult, those children are the ones that do end up being very vulnerable to recruitment by entities like ISIS when they're constantly being rejected, when they see these barricades going up.

Youssif's following the refugee story. He considers himself to be lucky that he didn't have to go through that horrific trip across the Mediterranean.

[01:45:50] SESAY: And talk to us about the medical side of things for him. He's so much older now. With all the time that's passed, he's so much taller as you made the point.

VAUSE: He's got an American accent.

(LAUGHTER)

SESAY: I know.

What is he looking at in terms of more surgeries? What does the future look like on that front?

DAMON: He had a pause in surgeries for a few years because of the way his face was scarring and because he's a growing boy. It's very challenging. Already the scarring that he had is very difficult to deal with. And then he himself, his scar tissue is very thick. He had a surgery a few months ago. He has one --

(CROSSTALK)

SESAY: We're showing how he's changed over the years.

DAMON: And you can see the transformation. But he's still going to have many more surgeries. He's still just 14. And what he's been through. This is a very complicated procedure. But also as the doctors always say you never eliminate scars, you just try to replace them with ones that are less offensive.

VAUSE: In your story, he's heading into high school. He's 14. High school's tough.

DAMON: It is tough.

VAUSE: When you don't have horrendous scars and you're going through surgeries. How is he interacting with the kids at the school and how are they interacting with him?

DAMON: This community that they're in, they've been there since they first came to the United States. The kids are very familiar with Youssif and they've seen him grow up and they've grown up with him, and Youssif himself says they treat him like a brother. And I think the community has done quite a bit to try to protect Youssif from that kind of an impact. That's part of the reason why his father, Wisam, doesn't want to move out of the neighborhood, even though it's not necessarily one that they can afford. The trauma of having Youssif confront and try to deal with his physical challenges would just be a bit too much. Plus, they're close to where their doctors are. Where they are right now is very solid, and I think that's what's also allowed him to kind of grow into himself and cope with it, because, look, it's not easy. He's reminded of what he went through every day. Although interestingly, he doesn't actually remember the attack anymore.

SESAY: He doesn't?

DAMON: No.

SESAY: And just one last question. We talked about Youssif and how far he's come in his progress. What about his family? What's your sense of how they're doing after all this time?

DAMON: It's been harder for the parents to adjust. I mean, they -- despite the fact that they do have and had a great support network here, because they came up with the Children's Burn Foundation, it's hard to give everything up. It's hard to be completely uprooted, to not have your family around you to guide you through difficult times. And throughout the course of the last nine years, you know, Wisam's sister has cancer. Zaina, Youssif's mother, her father passed away two years ago. She didn't get to say good-bye to her dad. They've gained a lot in coming here but they've also given up a lot. And they're all very well aware of the fact that they can't go home.

VAUSE: The other thing that strikes me, this is one story.

SESAY: That's the thing, yeah.

VAUSE: You think all -- what is it, 250,000 people that died in Iraq and all the wounded and in Syria --

(CROSSTALK)

DAMON: It's just one story. He's one story who captured the hearts of everybody. But it goes to show, when we come together, what we can actually do to help these kids.

SESAY: No doubt about that. There's so much need. We need the world to rally together.

VAUSE: Thanks, Arwa.

SESAY: Arwa, thank you.

If you would like to help Youssif and his family, they have set up a Go Fund Me page. You mustn't forget them. It's nine years later, but there is still so much need. You can find the address on Arwa's Twitter page, @ArwaCNN.

We'll be right back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

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[01:53:05] SESAY: Hello, everyone. 11-year-old Nihar Janga, of Texas, and 13-year-old Jairam Hathwar, of New York, are co-champions of the 2016 Scripps spelling bee.

VAUSE: First, Jairam, seen on the right, correctly spelled the word for a method of education known as "feldenkrais." The competition ended when Nihar nailed the German word "gesellschaft."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIHAR JANGA, SPELLING BEE WINNER: G-E-S-E-L-L-S-C-H-A-F-T, gesellschaft.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is correct. (APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Lucky guess.

So, Isha, what does "gesellschaft" mean?

SESAY: Well, it's a type of relationship based on impersonal ties, like for business purposes.

VAUSE: How about that?

Both winners will each receive a $40,000 cash prize and other gifts.

SESAY: Congratulations.

Football fans are anxiously awaiting this weekend's Champions League final. It takes place Saturday in Milan between Madrid rivals, Atletico and Real.

VAUSE: Atletico is looking to avenge what happened in 2014 when Real won, 4-1.

SESAY: The championship game is the most watched game.

VAUSE: The most watched.

SESAY: Did you know that?

VAUSE: I had no idea.

SESAY: It is the most-watched sporting event on the planet.

VAUSE: Even dwarfs the Super Bowl.

Amanda Davies runs through the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Football versus American football, the Champions League against the Super Bowl. Who wins? Well, there's only one for global TV audience. Around 350 million people tune in to the Champions League final, with just 150 million for the Super Bowl. And the Champions League reaches more countries. It's beamed to over 200 around the world compared to around 180 for its American rival.

When money talks, it's the American version of football that's sitting pretty. Worldwide broadcasting rights for the Champions League are worth $1.6 billion. About small change when you compare it to what world heavyweights BBC, CBS and FOX pay for the Super Bowl. The NFL can also charge $4.5 million for just 30 seconds of TV commercial time at halftime.

But in the world of social media, European football is the big winner. Real Madrid's 89 million likes on Facebook are 10 times greater than the Dallas Cowboys. And Cristiano Ronaldo, with two Champion League titles, he's amassed 112 million Facebook likes. Tom Brady has just one million likes for each of his four Super Bowl rings.

And in terms of the halftime entertainment, it's definitely fair to say there's only one winner.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[01:56:19] VAUSE: Did you get all that? Were you taking notes? I was.

You've been watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.

SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay.

The news continues with Natalie Allen right after this.

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