i don't know if people really realize how hard the work is. you definitely have to have a certain set of skills that go way beyond taking off your clothes. the win was expected. the margin was victory wasn't. hillary clinton beats bernie sanders almost 3-1 in the south carolina democratic primary. we have all the details here coming up. hanging on by a thread but still giving cause for cautious hope. the latest on a second day of a cease-fire in syria. the red carpet's been rolled out. the voting is over. it is a matter of hours now before this year's oscar winners are finally revealed. from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome. to our viewers in the united states and around the world, i'm george howell, "cnn newsroom" starts right now.

a very good day. we begin with the u.s. presidential race and hillary clinton who is primed and ready now for super tuesday after a landslide victory this saturday. >> thank you so much, south carolina! [ chants ] >> thank you! >> the democratic front-runner defeated bernie sanders on saturday in the south carolina primary by almost 50 points. clinton has so far won three -- four democratic nominating contests. this is the first race that she dominated. >> today you sent a message -- in america when we stand together -- [ cheers ] when we stand together, there is no barrier too big to break.

[ shouts ] >> we've now gone through four early states, and i want to congratulate senator sanders on running a great race. and tomorrow, this campaign goes national. [ cheers ] we are going to compete for every vote in every state. we are not taking anything, and we're not taking anyone for granted. >> clinton saying the campaign now goes national. and during that victory speech, she took a dig at republican frornt donald trump. our senior political correspondent reports clinton's campaign is confident she will clinch the nomination. >> reporter: the clinton campaign relishing their big win in south carolina. hillary clinton's communications

director, jen palm airy, saying they did better noon than they expected they would. campaign sources telling us they think donald trump is going to be the republican nominee. it was significant that in clinton's speech she outlined what her argument in a general election would be against donald trump. >> despite what you hear, we don't need to make america great again. america has never stopped being great. [ cheers ] but -- but we do need to make america whole again. instead of building walls, need to be tearing down barriers. >> reporter: clinton aides saying they have 46 states ahead of them, a long way to go. privately, they're not as cautious. one aide telling me they think they'll have this wrapped up by march 15th.

we'll see a series of contests then following the contests for super tuesday. by mid-march, almost 60% of delegates will have been awarded. by then, aides think it will be clear there is no pathway to the nomination for bernie sanders. cnn, columbia, south carolina. now despite losing to clinton, bernie sanders says that he is not giving up. ahead here in the broadcast, in the next half hour, we will hear more about how bernie sanders has responded to defeat and get the view from his campaign. a little bit more now about super tuesday. it is a make-or-break day for the presidential candidates. falls on march 1st of this year, just two days away with primaries and caucuses to be held in 12 states across the united states, from alaska to virginia. candidates can win more delegates on super tuesday than any other day on the campaign calendar year. 865 delegates up for grabs for democrats and for republicans. almost 600 delegates are on the

line. that's nearly half the total that's needed to clinch the nomination for republicans. our chief u.s. correspondent, john king, spoke earlier with wolf blitzer about what we can expect to see in the weeks ahead in the democratic race. >> reporter: throughout march, we'll go all through this, below this line, a lot of it tuesday night. georgia, alabama, tennessee, arkansas, tuesday night on super tuesday. why is that significant -- this is what the clinton campaign is happy with tonight. this is the african-american population. let me stretch it out. turn that off and stretch this out a bit. if you look down here, the african-american concentration in south carolina, sometimes the map takes off on you, stretch it out, there we go. the african-american concentration in south carolina, you have a similar demographic as we move across the south. when you do alabama, mississippi's down the road, louisiana's down the road, arkansas is tuesday, tennessee is tuesday. you get texas has a latino and african-american population. what secretary clinton hopes is what happened in south carolina continues as the race moves on to the point then, what you

begin to do is open the delegate lead. if you take the map off, come back in, this is what she's hoping for. again, proportional rules in the democratic party. after tonight, hillary clinton's going to get the lion's share. bernie sanders will still get proportional delegates out of south carolina. she starts to pull ahead. this is the big hope. that after super tuesday, again, vermont, you have to switch this back, give that to senator sanders. jeff zeleny's in minnesota. we'll give the senators the campaign for the hypothetical. they think they can win oklahoma. for this hypothetical, we'll do this. they think they're competitive in colorado. let's give them colorado. for the same of the hypothetical even if things go and senator sanders wins his top-four super tuesday targets, hillary clinton hopes especially again in the southern states and to texas, latinos and african-americans here, the african-american base of the democratic party in these states, what she hopes is to pull away. remember, when you see this, let's assume after super tuesday it looks roughly like this. remember, she has 400, 445 now i

think superdelegates. plus 400. he has shy of 20. her math is better than this looks. this map gives only pledge delegates. she hopes to be out here, again, to send a message to senator sanders, now he's about to speak and say he's in the race for a long time. he's saying release the transcripts of your speech. his rhetoric has been tougher of late. hillary clinton hopes if the bar moves out here, the combination of pledged and superdelegates, that senator sanders gets the message and doetone it down. >> as hillary clinton expands her lead, republicans are in a bitter battle on the campaign trail. marco rubio and donald trump stepping up the name-calling, insults, and actionzation. it seems that -- accusations. it seems that everything is fair game and the attacks are very personal. here's what mr. rubio said. >> he's flying around on hair

force one and tweeting. here's the one tweet he put out, a pictures of me having make-up put on me at the debate. which is amazing to me that a guy with the worst spray tan in america is attacking me for putting on make-up. [ cheers ] donald trump likes to sue people. he should sue whatever did that to his face. >> trump wasn't holding back either as he campaigned with new jersey governor and former rival chris christie. here's what he had to say about rubio -- >> i will address little rubio. this guy has a fresh mouth. he's a very nasty guy. but i actually thought that ted cruz was a liar. but rubio is worse. he's worse. lightweight rubio, total

lightweight. little mouth on him, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. >> not a lot of focus on issues, but name-calling. super tuesday comes up this tuesday, march 1st. we'll have full coverage of the races and results throughout the day here on cnn. as for the current u.s. president, barack obama, it has been a rough week and could signal a rough road ahead in his last few months in office. his supreme court plan and his promise to close the guantanamo bay detention center both have hit major obstacles on capitol hill. cnn's white house correspondent michelle kaczynski with this report. >> reporter: in his last year of office with the republican congress, president obama has been determined still not to be the lame duck. he kicked off 2016 saying he felt energized. but if this week's mega standoffs are any indication, his last year could be less a race and more an uphill battle. >> the senate will be in order. >> reporter: the political

impasse. the stalemate. it's almost become a way of life around these parts. now it's reached unprecedented proportions. >> in short, there will not be action taken. >> it should wait until the next election. >> reporter: this week republicans dug in, not only on vows to not even meet with president obama's eventual supreme court nominee -- >> we're seeing an unprecedented escalation in the politicization of the supreme court process. >> reporter: against his plan to close gitmo, the detention facility for terror suspects in guantanamo bay, cuba, that he promised in his campaign for presidency. >> it's counterproductive in the fight against terrorists. >> reporter: republicans weren't having it. from the campaign trail -- >> we'll fight every step of the way. >> reporter: even john mccain who long supported the prison. >> this is not a plan. >> reporter: the president tried to be nicer to republicans this week. a far less critical tone than lately. even saying he understands the political pressure they're under. >> i've talked to many of them

and told them i'm sympathetic. >> reporter: in '06, he joined a filibuster against now-supreme court just samuel alito. >> wasn't that just playing politics? isn't that why the president understands this? >> i think it's why the president regrets the vote. >> reporter: the political tone, too, grows ever more colorful. >> if he hadn't inherited $2 million, do you know where he would be right now -- >> reporter: the white house likened the republican debate to an old-fashioned texas demolition derby. at a wash press dinner, republican lindsay graham said this about republicans -- >> my party is going [ bleep ] crazy. >> reporter: the president insists -- >> i'm going to do my job. >> reporter: in a political climate that is explosive right now and battle scarred. maybe we have to admit that at times some of the fights become almost like entertainment. don't forget, we're dealing with some of the biggest issues affecting the country. would be a first if the senate does decide to not even hold

hearings for president obama's supreme court nominee whose tenure could shift the balance of the court and affect decisions for decades. on gitmo, say the president decides to take executive action if congress doesn't act, which the white house is still not ruling out -- that could just ignite a bigger political firestorm with legal action already being threatened. michelle kaczynski, cnn, the white house. >> thank you. you are watching "cnn newsroom." still ahead, the fighting in syria has come to an unsteady halt. ahead, the agreement there that's keeping the warring factions at bay. plus, reformists are getting the upper hand in iran's first major election since the landmark nuclear deal. the very latest on early voting results as the news continues worldwide. in video of a sob

eerie look inside syria as an uneasy calm hang in the air across that country as a truce stretches now into its second day. the united states and russia brokered a cease-fire between syria's government and most of the rebel factions there so that aid could reach civilians who are trapped by the fighting.

isis and al nusra front did not agree to the truce, and there are new reports of sporadic fighting and violence. cnn international diplomatic editor nic robertson is in riyadh, saudi arabia, following developments in the region. good to have you with us. what is the latest on the cease-fire? what's working, and what isn't? >> reporter: well, one of the things about the cease-fire is that -- that clouds the issue, if you will, is the fact that there isn't a cease-fire against al qaeda and against isis at the moment. so there have been reports of air strikes from its -- it's unclear if it's syrian or russian aircraft. in aleppo to the north, province in and around the province of hama, eight strikes reported there. around raqqah, a stronghold, air strikes reported there. there are reports of government

gunfire around the town of homs, as well. so it is a much more stable picture than it has been recently. the cease-fire in essence is holding as best we can tell. i've talked today with members of the opposition, the syrian opposition, that are based in riyadh. they say it is too soon to call. they're waiting for their own detail-filled report. they are obviously noting that there have been some air strikes, it is air strikes that worry the most. they say they're happy the people of syria feel that they've got some international support, and there is at least this pause at the moment. it's really too soon to say. we have, as well, seen tweets from the u.s. embassy in damascus, it's not manned, but they're putting out on their twitter account anyone who sees a violation, to register the violation. and it gives numbers and ways to -- ways to send that information in. and it's not clear how many people in syria at the moment

given the state of the country have access to twitter or even if they did could respond. however, it is key, the opposition says, that there is this accurate monitoring of any cease-fire violations. and they're scrutinizing it right now carefully. george? >> the kremlin released a statement saying that president putin had a phone conversation with king solomon of saudi arabia. it reads in part that the leaders also express their desire to find a settlement to the crisis in syria and to ensure stability and security throughout the middle east and north africa. are we to believe the sentiment of true cooperation, that a world power with strong lasting ties to shia leadership in iran and syria is really working side by side with the government in riyadh, which is obviousliably the capital of the -- arguably the capital of the sunni world? is saudi arabia rightly suspicious of the role of russia that continues to attack the syrian rebels that president assad labels as terrorists?

>> reporter: yeah. i think everyone's suspicious of everyone at the moment, particularly in the early stages of a cease-fire. what you have is a situation where russia is making allies with the iranians because it wants to prop up its interests and the government, it says, inside syria. but that's not the extent of russian interests. russian interests don't extend to having a prolonged war inside syria. so you know, while on the surface it seems that russia will want to sort of secure perhaps the whole country for the interests of president bashar al assad, iran wants to make sure they've got an ally in syria because that connects them to hezbollah and their interests in lebanon through iraq, as well. you do have these fundamental competing interests. but one of the interests is that russia will be looking for a way to, if you will, wrap up its involvement in this war. continue to make it prolonged. to make sure its interests are

taken care of. if it can do that by establi establishing in understanding terms with gulf partners, saudi arabia, qatar, united arab emirates in the region, that is one part that they can do if they can come to an understanding. again, i think we have to caution that this is a time of deep mistrust where actions are going to speak a lot louder than words, george. >> deep mistrust. a great deal of uncertainty. this very tense cease-fire remains in effect. international diplomatic editor, nic robertson, live in riyadh. we always appreciate your insight and reporting for us. we move to iran and its first major election since last year's nuclear deal. the country's interior ministry says reformists may take all 30 seats up for grabs in parliament. votes are still being counted, and presently, the former iranian president and the current president are both leading in the race for the powerful assembly of experts.

cnn's with more on the early results. >> reporter: the results for iran's elections are coming in. if they stand, this could be a resounding victory for the moderates and reformers in the country. we have to keep in mind that two elections took place. one was for the council of experts, a religious body that will vote for the next supreme leader. that was an important election that took place. and for the tollway rehran area could be left to the conservative forces. there's a similar picture as far as parliamentary elections are concerned. for the tehran area, they could take a vast majority of the seats, 30 seats up for grabs, and could even take all of them if the results continue to go the direction that they were shaping up.

the election council in iran warned that these well preliminary results, and final results won't probably come until sometime on tuesday. however, many iranians and many in the international community saw the elections as a referendum of the policies of president rouhani, of opening the country up to the west. of course, the centerpiece of the policies was the nuclear agreement between iran and world powers. that on the one hand put kurds on the nuclear program, but on the other hand led to sanctions relief. while many iranians have not felt the benefits of that sanctions relief yet, it appears as though if these results stand and if they get strengthened, that many of them believe that thing could change for the better in this country in the not-too-distant future. it seems as though the electorate here may have given rouhani a clear mandate to continue and even accelerated the reforms. fred pleitgen, cnn, tehran. >> thank you. on to egypt where activists say new laws and wired awareness

are help -- wider awareness are helping curb sexual violence and harassment against women. still, they acknowledge there is much more work to be done before many women feel safe. ian lee reports from cairo. >> reporter: survivors say what you're witnessing is the scariest moment of their lives when a mob of men isolates and sexually assaults a woman. many left naked, violated, and broken. the physical and psychological scars last for years. in 2013, we interviewed one victim, sharuka. >> was crazy. i couldn't see anything but a bunch of people surrounding me from every direction. and like caressing me everywhere. >> reporter: the attacks occurred around egypt's tumultuous uprisings. the general rule is during large protests or celebrations here in tahrir square at sunset, so about right now, women, especially foreign women, should

start heading home or face the likelihood of being sexually assaulted by a mob. reports of similar incidents have surfaced in parts of europe, in particular germany. new year's eve ended in hundreds of women reporting sexual assaults. for some egyptian activists, that night in cologne brings back painful memories from tahrir square. >> what is common is using women's bodies as a battlefield, you know, to achieve political ends. >> reporter: in egypt, some tried to use the attacks to tarnish the revolution's image. [ shouting ] in germany, the violence is heightening concerns over immigration. >> the most important thing in these assaults is the safe and well-being of the survivors. >> reporter: this mob mentality manifests in daily street harassment. in 2013, a u.n. report founded 99.3% of egyptian women were sexually harassed.

since then, the country has made progress. the ministry of interior created a special women's unit. the government passed laws with strong penalties, especially for mob assaults. activists raise awareness through the media. >> a number of women got sexually harassment in the streets every day. the difference in the streets is like the level of awareness of people. >> reporter: no new official numbers exist since the u.n. report. mob assaults appear to have decreased for now. many attribute this to a new law that placed stricter rules around protesting. years later, sharuk still thinks of that day. >> whenever someone harasses me and i feel like he's getting closer to touch my body -- it reminds me of what happened. i feel like strong enough to look at them in the face and to sometimes curse them. >> reporter: he encourages victims to speak out and to

never feel ashamed. cnn, cairo. you are watching "cnn "newsroom". a dramatic drug bust in south afri africa. not only until it's over, bernie sanders plans to move full steam ahead after a tough loss in south carolina. live in the united states and around the world this hour, you are watching "cnn newsroom."

viewers here and in the united states and around the world. you're watching "cnn newsroom." i'm george howell. the headlines we're following this hour -- early results are

in from the iranian elections showing reformists making major gains in parliament. and iran's former president and current president are leading the race for the powerful assembly of experts. final result are to be announced on tuesday. the cease-fire is mostly holding throughout syria but went into effect midnight friday local time. isis is not part of that agreement, nor is al nusra front. saturday it attacked the city held by fighters on the syrian border. there are reports of sporadic russian or syrian air strikes around aleppo. in the united states, the state of virginia. this police officer was killed just a day after she was sworn in. her department had tweeted this photo congratulating her on her new job. hours later, she was shot while on duty saturday. two other police officers were wounded. a suspect is in custody. u.s. presidential candidate hillary clinton has extended her lead over bernie sanders with a

huge win. clinton defeated sanders in the south carolina primaries by nearly three votes to one. super tuesday is up next week when 11 states will hold democratic primaries or caucuses. in his speech after the huge loss, sanders told supporters not only will he have a successful super tuesday, but that he has every intention of winning the general election. listen -- >> that is why -- that is why, yeah, i'm going to be asking for your vote on tuesday. i need more than that from you. i need your help the day after the general election because i can't do it alone. [ applause ] >> but is sanders' optimism realistic given his hurdles that are ahead of him? earlier, my colleague, natalie allen, spoke with political editor for "national journal," about hillary clinton's big win in south carolina and her support among minority voters.

>> boy, a 45-plus-point margin of victory in south carolina. and not only was the victory huge, but she won african-americans by over 80% of the vote according to polls. she tied sanders with white voters in south carolina. this was a decisive victory. it's going to giveler crucial momentum hedst t1ing into the super tuesday stance -- give her crucial momentum heading into the super tuesday stance. the big challenge for hillary clinton was showing and proving that she could dominate, not just win, but dominate among african-americans and hispanics. she showed that she thoroughly won the african-american vote in both nevada and south carolina. and she won hispanics. if you look at the precinct data out of nevada, she did very well with the hispanic voters, too. for a democratic candidate and a democratic primary, if you're doing well with nonwhite voter as well as hillary clinton has done, it's a pretty sure path to winning the democratic nomination. >> she said in her acceptance

speech, we go national from here. so what must she achieve on the national stage come super tuesday? >> she's got a win -- the vast majority of delegates in states on super tuesday. frankly, most are concentrated in the south. they have similar demographics to south carolina. states like that and texas with its sizable hispanic population. so there's an opportunity for clinton to do, again, very well with hispanic and african-american voters and do well with the overall delegate count. bernie sanders will make a showing in the caucuses next week, minnesota, colorado, and massachusetts' primary, three of the big states that the sanders campaign is counting on. when you just look at the likely delegate count if the momentum continue for clinton, she's going to start to build what's looking like an insurmountable lead for the clinton campaign. >> what happened to the feel the bern? where did that go? what turned it heard hillary?

>> iowa and new hampshire were as favorable states as you could draw for the sanders campaign. they're very liberal and have young and white democratic electorates. once we get to the south and the more diverse democratic states, it was a bigger challenge for sanders. sanders always had to prove he could expand his own coalition to winning more nonwhite voters, to doing well with african-americans. at least mayking inroads with te constituents. in south carolina, he got wiped out. if he doesn't make inroads by next week, the game is over for the bernie sanders campaign. >> there are certainly those that would want to trip up hillary clinton. i mean, from the emails to benghazi and now this speech transcripts, he still talked about that. is there anything that he can say or that can happen that could trip her up at this point on her way to getting more delegates? >> look, hillary clinton is her own worst enemy. she certainly improved her stump speech. she sounded more empathtic in

her victory speech tonight in south carolina. but it's really -- her issue is in the general election. she has poor favorability numbers in the general election. a lot of people in the country still don't trust her outside of the democratic base. so her big challenge looking forward is to think about the general election. but she hinted at some lines preparing for a match-up again donald trump in her victory speech tonight. this is someone who's going to be focused primarily on november and less toward bernie sanders and the democratic primary. >> it is donald trump and hillary, she might need practice from marco rubio, training with him since he finally got his speeds up there late in the game against the donald this week. we appreciate your thoughts. we'll talk with you again. political editor for "national journal." thank you. >> thanks, natalie. and as josh mentioned there to natalie, super tuesday is crucial for these candidates running for u.s. president. republicans will battle is out

for nearly -- battle it out for nearly half the delegate needed for their party's nomination. john king looks at how this leg of the race could play out for republicans. >> reporter: here's where we stand now. 82 delegates to 17, 16, and 6. you say that's a big lead, but it's early. 1,273 is the number you need for the republican nomination. look at super tuesday. if trump runs the board, he would pull way out to here. for the sake of argument ted cruz is leading in texas, donald trump has negative ads up, he says he's playing there. for the sake of argument, say ted cruz leads and donald trump comes in second, marco rubio gets third and governor kasich fourth. ben carson would be fifth obviously. each even if that happens, donald trump's ahead everywhere else on super tuesday. rubio's pushing in georgia. cruz pushing in oklahoma. we'll see what happens. if donald trump wins these states with 35% of the vote, he'd start to open a delegate lead. something else, take it further through march. if donald trump ran the board then, kasich is trying to get ohio, rubio's home state, the

home state contests. governor kasich in ohio and senator rubio there. right now, trump's ahead. if trump ran the board, look how far ahead he'd get. i want to give you a scenario. let's assume at this point i'm going to make it marco rubio. could be any of the other candidates. if we get to trump versus one, in this scenario, it's going to be marco rubio as you see it play out. it could be cruz. watch the numbers. could be kasich if they won. watch this play out. if the other candidate, this being marco rubio, won everything after the 15th, right, everybody else gets out, a two-man race, the candidate wins everything there, and if -- if rubio won everything after that, he wouldn't clinch. he would pass trump but wouldn't clinch by the convention. the only way -- here's one scenario -- if rubio won florida, if he could win his home state, give donald trump second, but it's winner take out, it doesn't matter. governor kasich there. if rubio won his home state and then ran the board after march 15th, then he could just barely cross the line and win the nomination. now, that was the scenario with marco rubio.

if you're a cruz supporter at home, could be your candidate. if you're a kasich supporter, could be your candidate. the point is at some point, if trump is so poised to win big on super tuesday, after that -- if after that we had a two-man race, that person in the two-man race would have to win everything. everything to stop trump. >> got to love that. john king at the magic wall. mr. king and the rest of the cnn team will bring you full coverage of super tuesday. all the races and results throughout the day. that is tuesday only here on cnn. turning to weather now. storms are taking aim at the west coast. our meteorologist, karen maginnis, at the world weather center. i know my friends at affiliate komo-tv are reporting in the rain and not happy about. that. >> reporter: yeah. you better believe that that's true. and as we start to transition from less of a winter pattern to more of a springtime pattern, hasn't happened yet. we start to see these storm systems kind of lined up. they're poised more toward the northern portion, latitudes. but less so across california.

now california needs the moisture. but these storms have lined up. it looks like for the pacific northwest, this is where we will expect the bulk of the precipitation. could see the rumble of thunder now and again. the snow levels have lowered. we get cloud cover, a little further to the south. no real definitive moisture that's going to make a difference across the state of california. what we saw, record high temperature across the central plains of the u.s., and just to let you know how exceptionally warm these temperatures are, take a look at aberdeen, south dakota. this is in the northern plains of the u.s. you go back to 1895, there were multiple records. that was 18 degrees celsius. today they made it to 20 degrees. all the way from missouri into texas and nebraska, that's where we saw record highs. also in denver and some areas

around colorado, they saw temperatures that just missed record-setting levels by a degree or so. so very close, we've got that warm, moist flow coming from the south. dallas is still mild. denver's relatively mild. chicago, the rain starts to move in. but given that we're still officially in winter, these temperatures aren't so bad. new york should make it to about 14 degrees celsius. a typical high this time of year would be around 5 or 6 maybe. in europe, we've talked about the substantial and fairly vigorous weather system that is going to impact southern europe, mainly across the northern mediterranean. could spark a couple of thunderstorms here and there. but wind gusts, i was looking at this earlier, already wind gusts, george, as much as 100 kilometers per hour. we could see them again shift further to the east, around the adriatic. back to you. >> a lot of rain there in the

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u.s. federal drug agents are helping south african police in their fight against violent gangs. we take you to cape town. david mckenzie witnessed a drug bust in an area known as the cape flats. a neighborhood that still struggles with poverty and violence. more than 20 years after the end of apartheid. here's david's report. >> reporter: peering out of windows, wary of the cops below. the police say they want the community's help to catch cape town's most wanted criminals. the he'll here know at that

gangs run the streets. they're here to do public outreach in this neighborhood. this man's already been shot. the police are talking to him. this operation has just begun. and shots were already fired. they knew the police were here and still shot each other? >> they don't care. they don't respect the police. they don't care. no respect for the police. >> reporter: we're with the specialized gang unit of the metro police. for their safety, we can't show their faces. crime is entrenched in the cape flats. it's been that way for decades. in lavender hill, murders have doubled, with many innocent victims caught in the crossfire. gang members killed this woman's son a year ago. >> he wasn't a gangster, and they shot him. >> all the young boys, most of the young boys feel forced to join gangs. >> reporter: why?

>> because they're afraid of the gangsters. >> reporter: city officials are finally fighting back. turning traffic cops into special investigators. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: they've called in the u.s. drug enforcement administration to help. >> about every bad thing that could happen happened in that one scenario. i mean, it was totally off the script, right in. >> reporter: active agents whose identities must be concealed run the training. >> i didn't see any huge flaw that would make me not want to roll with you guys. it's been open season on the cops here. many of these officers have seen colleagues killed. every one of them knows a routine traffic stop can turn deadly. a show of strength, they say, is disrupting gang operations. but tonight, few arrests. all they can perhaps manage is to slow the menace. david mckenzie, cnn, cape town.

ared ready? the red carpet is hours away from being rolled out for hollywood's 88th academy awards.

it will be held sunday in los angeles. comedian chris rock will be taking stage as host. there's already plenty of speculation about who will take home the most prestigious awards in the movie industry. here's a preview. >> reporter: the 88th annual academy awards upon. like every year, this year's oscars should be a must-watch event. chris rock is returning to host, and the comedian should have plenty to talk about when it comes to the oscars. controversy with all of the nominees being white again. that isn't the only big storyline on hollywood's biggest night. sylvester stallone going for his second oscar as rocky. brie larson favorited to win. a three-film race for best picture between "the revenant," "spotlight," and "the big short." there is no bigger storyline at this year's academy awards than if leo will finally, at last, win his elusive oscar. leo has been nominated four

times for acting and has lost every single time. >> ah! ♪ >> reporter: this year, the actor is such an overwhelming favorite, that betting insights have him going off at 1-100. would have to bet $100 to win just $1 on leonardo dicaprio. since his character was mauled by a bear, slept inside a dead horse, and ate raw bison liver, the academy's probably like, yeah, let's give it to leo this year. if he comes home empty-handed, he's in good company with actors who never won an scar like harrison ford, samuel l. jackson, and peter o'toole who went 0-8 even though he starred in one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time, "lawrence of arabia." the awards may be about gold fashion, little gold men, and big stars, but at the heart of it, it's a celebration of the year in film. the oscars should shine bright

on sunday night. >> all right. the question, though, what happens to leo? what happens to leonardo dicaprio? what we do know is that he has shared the screen with an angry bear. he's shared a kiss with kate winslet. now he's sharing something wells a random security guard in russia -- his looks. jeanne moos introduces us to leonardo dicaprio's proud but portly doppleganger. >> reporter: hold your horses, leo. a 33-year-old russian security guard is living large as leonardo dicaprio. roman bertsev is definitely a more portly version. nothing mini me about him. >> he's leo's mega me. >> reporter: buried in there somewhere, his heart belongs to leo. ♪ >> reporter: the resemblance exploded on social media last month. the two looks described as friday night, saturday morning. perez hilton captioned the real

leo saying, "i don't see it." his between replies, "i do!" now the channel, moscow 24, has given him a show called "romans with dicaprio." his tv show is sort of a modified makeover. leo's lookalike takes voice lessons and consult with dieetition. he hits the treadmill and more to look like the real leo. and like the reel leo crawled through "the revenant," his twin is crawling his way through fame. the producers even built a mock "titanic" at a russian shopping mall. ♪ >> reporter: young women took turns posing with the pretend dicaprio, though the couples didn't get as swept away as in the movie. now for those of you who don't think the two bear much of a resemblance, take this -- leonardo's twin did a

re-creation of "the revenant's" bear scene with an alternate ending. involving the bear polishing an oscar statue. so far, no response from leo's p.r. people. does he find it unbearable to have his likeness mauled by an impostor? jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> that does not look pleasant. all right. cnn is the place to turn before and after the academy awards. for all the glitz and glamor from the red carpet, tune in to hollywood's biggest night. that is 6:00 p.m. here on the east coast of the u.s., 7:00 a.m. monday morning in hong kong, only here on cnn. that wraps this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm george noul atlanta. i'll be back with another hour of news from around the world. thank you for watching cnn, the world's news leader.

thank you very much, south carolina! [ chanting ] >> a victorious hillary clinton looking ahead to super tuesday after a big win in south carolina. her rival, bernie sanders, is not giving up without a fight. plus, a tenuous cease-fire in syria. it is holding despite news of sporadic clashes across that country. we'll have a live report from the region ahead. and it's hollywood's biggest day. we'll have red a red carpet preview ahead of saturday's academy awards. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. a very good day to you.

we begin this hour with the big win for hillary clinton in the race for the white house, winning over rival bernie sanders as the candidates head to super tuesday. the democratic candidate reaffirmed her front-runner status on saturday after a big win in south carolina, the primary there. clinton beat sanders by roughly 47 points, and now she seems to be turning her sights to a match-up with republican front-runner donald trump. despite sanders' increasingly tough rhetoric against clinton, he just wasn't able to gain ground on her. we break down the day in south carolina and what lies ahead for sanders and clinton. thank you very much, south carolina! >> reporter: not just a win, a designe decisive win for hillary in south carolina. >> we've gone through four early states. and i want to congratulate senator sanders on running a great race, and -- [ cheers ]

and tomorrow, this campaign goes national! >> reporter: clinton's previous wins in iowa and nevada were by a small margin, in contrast to sanders' blowout win over her in new hampshire. the campaign looking at south carolina results as an indicator of how she may fare across multiple southern contests on super tuesday. they hoped south carolina would show strength among minority voters. exit polls indicate african-american voters accounted for more than six in ten voters here in south carolina. they will also be key in southern super tuesday states like georgia, arkansas, alabama, and virginia. clinton has wins in three of the first four contest, like donald trump in the republican field. >> despite what you hear, we don't need to make america great again. america has never stopped being great. [ cheers ] back to you -- but we do need to

make america whole again. >> reporter: sanders not yooet yieldi -- not yielding yet. he spent the day in texas and in minnesota, part of his super tuesday strategy. >> the politics, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. tonight we lost. i congratulate secretary clinton on her very strong victory tuesday. over 800 delegates are at stake. we intend to win many, many of them. >> reporter: clinton with the big win and the momentum in the last contest before super tuesday. in columbia, south carolina, reporting. earlier, my colleague, natalie allen, spoke with the political editor for the national journal. they spoke about clinton's big win in south carolina and her support among minority voters. listen. >> the big challenge for hillary clinton was showing and proving that she could dominate, not just win but domestic plate among african-americans and -- dominate among african-americans

and hispanics. she thoroughly won the african-american vote in nevada and south carolina. she won hispanics, if you look at the precinct data out of nevada. she did very well with hispanic voters, too. for a democratic candidate in a democratic primary, if you're doing well with nonwhite voters, as well as hillary clinton has done, it's a pretty sure path to winning the democratic nomination. >> she said in her acceptance speech, we go national from here. so what must she achieve on the national stage come super tuesday? >> she's got to win the vast majority of delegates and n states on super tuesday. and frankly, most are concentrated in the south. they is similar demographics to south carolina. states -- and also texas with its sizable hispanic population. there's an opportunity for clinton to do, again, very well with hispanic and african-american voters and do well with the overall delegate count. now bernie sanders is going to make a showing in a lot of the caucuses next week, minnesota,

colorado, and massachusetts' primary, three of the big states that the sanders campaign is counting on. when you just look at the likely delegate count, if the momentum continues for clinton, she's going to start to build what's looking like an insurmountable lead for the clinton campaign. >> what happened to feel the berne? what turned it toward hillary? >> iowa and new hampshire were as favorale states as you could draw for the sanders campaign. they're liberal and have very young and white democratic electorates. once we get to the south and the more diverse democratic states, it was a bigger challenge for sanders. sanders always had to prove he could expand his own coalition to winning more nonwhite voters, to doing well with african-americans. at least making inroads with that constituency. in south carolina, he got wiped out. if he doesn't make inroads by next week, the game is over for the bernie sanders campaign. >> there are certainly those that would want to trip up

hillary clinton. i mean, from the emails to benghazi and now the speech transcripts, he still talked about that. is there anything that he can say or that can happen that could trip her up at this point on her way to getting more delegates? >> look, hillary clinton is her own worst enemy. she certainly improved her stump speech. she sounded more empathetic in her victory speech in south carolina. but it's really -- her issue is in a general election. she has poor favorite ability numbers in a general election. a lot of people don't trust her outside of the democratic base. the challenge looking forward is to think about the general election. she hint ed at lines preparing for a match-up against donald trump in her victory speech. this is someone who's going to be focused primarily on november and less on bernie sanders in the democratic primary. >> if it is donald trump and hillary, she might need practice, training from marco

rubio since he finally got his speed up there late in the game against the donald this week. we appreciate your thoughts. we'll talk with you again, political editor for "national journal." thank you. >> thanks. candidates from both parties are working to collect the majority of delegates for their respective conventions. hillary clinton grabbed 39 of south carolina's 53 pledged delegates. sanders got 14. overall, clinton has a whopping 536 delegates which includes superdelegates compared to sanders' 83. 2,383 are needed to win. on the republican side of things, donald trump, he's collected 82 delegates. ted cruz has 17, and marco rubio behind them at 16. 1,237 are needed to win the republican nomination. so the candidates will have an opportunity to do this on tuesday, to win more delegates. and super tuesday could be very decisive for the democratic race.

jonathan mann explains. >> reporter: super tuesday is a chance for candidates to get a very large number of delegates to the democratic and republican nominating conventions. 12 states will either vote or caucus. about half of them are in the south which is why you'll also hear this called the sec primary, taking that nickname from the southeast conference, an association of southern universities that may be best known for its football rivalries. no football tie-in there, but the u.s. territory of american samoa will also hold its caucus on super tuesday. there are more delegates up for grabs on super tuesday than any other day of the calendar. that one day offers nearly half, fully 48% of what's needed to win for republicans. more than one-third, 36%, for democrats. super tuesday will probably not decide the race for republicans, though, because of the number of candidates still in the race. they split the vote too many ways for a clear, fast win. it could have a significant

impact on the democratic race between hillary clinton and bernie sanders. >> so that was our jonathan mann reporting. now let's turn to the republican side of things. republican donald trump and rival marco rubio are going at it with each other again. both candidates have been trading insults since the debate on thursday night. rubio made fun of trump's spray tan calling it the worst ever. and trump referred to his rival as "little rubio." and a total lightweight. super tuesday is a crucial day in the u.s. for these presidential candidates. republicans will battle is out for nearly half of the delegates that they need to win their party's nomination. our chief u.s. correspondent, john king, looks at how this leg of the race could play out for the republicans.

>> reporter: here's where we stand now. 82 delegates to 17, 16, and 6. you say that's a big lead, but it's early. 1,273 is the number you need for the republican nomination. look at super tuesday. if trump runs the board, he would pull way out to here. for the sake of argument ted cruz is leading in texas, donald trump has negative ads up, he says he's playing there. for the sake of argument, say ted cruz leads and donald trump comes in second, marco rubio gets third and governor kasich fourth. ben carson would be fifth obviously. even if that happens, donald trump's ahead everywhere else on super tuesday. rubio's pushing in georgia. cruz pushing in oklahoma. we'll see what happens. if donald trump wins these states with 35% of the vote, he'd start to open a delegate lead. something else, take it further through march. if donald trump ran the board then, kasich is trying to get ohio, rubio's home state, the home state contests. governor kasich in ohio and senator rubio there. right now, trump's ahead. if trump ran the board, look how far ahead he'd get. i want to give you a scenario. let's assume at this point i'm going to make it marco rubio. could be any of the other candidates. if we get to trump versus one, in this scenario, it's going to be marco rubio as you see it play out. it could be cruz.

watch the numbers. could be kasich if they won. watch this play out. if the other candidate, this being marco rubio, won everything after the 15th, right, everybody else gets out, a two-man race, the candidate wins everything there, and if -- if rubio won everything after that, he wouldn't clinch. he would pass trump but wouldn't clinch by the convention. the only way -- here's one scenario -- if rubio won florida, if he could win his home state, give donald trump second, but it's winner take out, it doesn't matter. governor kasich there. if rubio won his home state and then ran the board after march 15th, then he could just barely cross the line and win the nomination. now, that was the scenario with marco rubio. if you're a cruz supporter at home, could be your candidate. if you're a kasich supporter, could be your candidate. the point is at some point, if trump is so poised to win big on super tuesday, after that -- if after that we had a two-man race, that person in the two-man race would have to win everything. everything to stop trump. super tuesday, it will be a telling day this coming tuesday,

march 1st. you can find full coverage, of course, here of the races and results only on cnn. this is "cnn newsroom." a fragile cease-fire continue in syria. will it hold? there are reports of air strikes, we'll look into that next. plus, with votes still being counted, we will tell you who's taking a major lead in iran's first major election since the landmark nuclear deal. stay with us. does the smell of a freshly fill you with optimism? do you love your wireless keyboard more than certain family members? is your success due to a filing system only you understand? does printing from your tablet to your wireless printer give you a jolt of confidence? if so, you may be gearcentric. someone who knows that the right office gear helps you do great things. and there's one place that has it all. office depot officemax. gear up for great. dad, yoh no, i'll take you up to me off rthe front of the school. that's where your friends are.

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silence and hope. they have been absent from syria's landscape for quite a long time. a truce that was brokered by the u.s. and russia has stopped most of the fighting at least for now. the cease-fire between syria's regime and its rebel factions is well into its second day now. isis has not signed on, and al nusra front has not signed on. saturday, the militants attacked the town held by kurds on the turkish border. there are also reports that russian or syrian aircraft have launched fresh attacks against isis stronghold. cnn international diplomatic editor, nic robertson, is live in riyadh, saudi arabia, to talk more about what's happening in the region. good to have you with us. what is the latest on the cease-fire, air strikes? what's working, and what's not? >> reporter: yeah, well under sort of a normal situation, if you could call it normal and a

cease-fire anywhere else, there would be no fighting new york stock exchange the syria conflict, the battle betweens isis and al us nusra, the al qa affiliate. it is difficult to tell what's being hit in the new air strikes, air strikes in aleppo, the hama province. they're targeting raqqah clearly, an isis stronghold. there are reports of gunfire by government forces around the town of homs, as well. so the picture is one of a much calmer syria than we've seen in recent weeks. this is what the high negotiating committee, the opposition here, are telling me in riyadh, this is where they're based at the moment. they do say that they're seeing this calm. they say the people are grateful for the calm at the moment, and they need the international community to continue to put pressure on russia, on the

syrian government, to help maintain this. they say that -- too soon really for them to call it when the cease-fire is working, when it will break down, it's under scrutiny, and they're expecting reports back from field commanders. they represent about 97 groups in the opposition here. so when they get the reports from field commanders, they hope to make a better assessment in the coming days. for the moment, they're cautious but grateful. the cease-fire violations are something they will monitor carefully. and the u.s. embassy in damascus, its twitter account, of course, the everybody shuttered years ago. the twitter account has given syrians a place to call someone to contact if they see violations. in this situation, it's difficult to get clear and precise assessments. who's breaking the cease-fire and why and how. >> and the question of who would

be able to even get on line to file any violations that they see given the images that we just saw a moment ago while you were talking. inside syria, these building that are all but demolished. this is what people have been dealing with for nearly five years there. i wanted to talk about this statement that was released by the kremlin, as well. the president putin had a conversation with king solomon of saudi arabia. the statement reads in part that the two leaders also expressed their desire to find a settlement to the crisis in syria and ensure stability and security throughout the middle east and north africa. are we to believe the sentiment of true cooperation, a world power with strong, lasting ties to shia leadership in iran and syria, that it's willing to work side by side with the government in riyadh, arguably the sunni capital of the world. is saudi arabia rightly suspicious of russia? >> reporter: i think there's a huge amount of distrust at the

moment. particularly in a period around a cease-fire. but what we can say is that russia's interest in syria is not quite simply to support shias. russia is in syria, they say, to support the government there, to support their interests inside syria. that is very clear. but they also are not interested in staying in a long, protracted, drawnout fight. that is not in russia's long-term strategic interests. so it is plausible to understand that russia will talk through friends and allies in the region, the gulf countries, you know, qatar, united arab emirates, and to saudi arabia, to have a discussion about -- about a longer term peaceful solution here. i don't think we can rule this out at the time. if there is going to be stability, it is going to need to involve the -- the countries that have the real power in the region. right now, russia is that key, key element that's turned the battlefield around in favor of

the syrian government inside syria. saudi arabia has drawn together a significant coalition of sunni/arab countries. they're going to be having a huge military exercise in the north of saudi arabia in the coming days which they say potentially could contain elements of a force that could join a u.s. ground force inside syria to tackle isis on the ground. isis is something that the russian government wants to tackle, as well. we can see that there are strands of threads that would be common to russia and saudi arabia. of course, mistrust is the devil in all of this, george. >> indeed, very uneasiy alliancs between the world powers. at this point, a cease-fire does appear to be holding. people on the ground who have been dealing with so much hell will have some peace for the moment. nic robertson live in riyadh. thank you for your reporting. we move on to iran and its first major election since last year's nuclear deal.

the country's interior ministry says reformists may take all 30 available seats in parliament. the votes are still being counted. former iranian president rafsanjani and the current president rouhani are leading the other important race, the powerful assembly of experts. our senior international correspondent, fred pleitgen, has more on the early results in that country. >> reporter: the results for iran's elections are slowly coming in. and if they stand, this could be a resounding victory for the moderates and the reformers here in this country. we have to keep in mind that there were two elections that took place here. one was for the council of experts, a religious body that will vote for the next supreme leader. that was an important election that took place, and for the tollway tehran race, there could be 12 of 15 available seats, leaving three for the conservative forces. now there seems to be a similar picture as far as the

parliamentary elections are concerned. there for the area, the early projections are that the reformers and moderates could take a vast majority of the seats for the tehran area, 30 seats up for grabs, and could take all of them if the result continue to go to the direction they were shaping up. the election council warned that these are preliminary results, and final results won't probably come in until sometime on tuesday. however, many iranians and many in the international community saw the elections as a referendum of the policies of president rouhani of opening the country up to the west. and of course the centerpiece of those policies was the nuclear agreement between iran and world powers, that on the one hand put kurds on iran's nuclear program, but on the other hand led to sanctions relief. while many iranians have not felt the benefits of the sanctions relief yet, it appears as though if the results stand and if they get strengthened,

that many believe that things could change for the better in this country in the not-too-distant future. it seems as though the electorate here may have given rouhani a clear mandate to continue and even accelerate the reforms. fred pleitgen, cnn, tehran. in spain, police have broken up a human smuggling ring that was illegally moving chinese laborers into europe. more than 100 chinese nationals were detained, most in spain. authorities said the smugglers were using fake passports to traffic the workers through spanish airport. police in the u.k., france, and italy were part of the joint investigation that spanned two years. the u.s. federal drug agents are helping south african police in their fight against violent gangs. we take you to cape town and cnn's david mckenzie witnessed a drug bust in the area that's known as cape flats, a neighborhood that still struggles with poverty and violence more than 20 years after the end of apartheid.

>> reporter: peering out of windows, wary of the cops below. the police say they want the community's help to catch cape town's most wanted criminals. the people here know that the gangs run the streets. they're here to do public outreach in this neighborhood. this man's already been shot. the police are talking to him. this operation has just begun. and shots were already fired. they knew the police were here and still shot each other? >> they don't care. they don't respect the police. they don't care. no respect for the police. >> reporter: we're with the specialized gang unit of the metro police. for their safety, we can't show their faces. crime is entrenched in the cape flats. it's been that way for decades. in lavender hill, murders have doubled, with many innocent victims caught in the crossfire. gang members killed this woman's

son a year ago. >> he wasn't a gangster, and they shot him. >> all the young boys, most of the young boys feel forced to join gangs. >> reporter: why? >> because they're afraid of the gangsters. >> reporter: city officials are finally fighting back. turning traffic cops into special investigators. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: they've called in the u.s. drug enforcement administration to help. >> about every bad thing that could happen happened in that one scenario. i mean, it was totally off the script, right in. >> reporter: active agents whose identities must be concealed run the training. >> i didn't see any huge flaw that would make me not want to roll with you guys. it's been open season on the cops here. many of these officers have seen colleagues killed. every one of them knows a routine traffic stop can turn deadly.

a show of strength, they say, is disrupting gang operations. but tonight, few arrests. all they can perhaps manage is to slow the menace. david mckenzie, cnn, cape town. you're watching "cnn newsroom." still ahead, the u.s. republican presidential candidate, donald trump, is facing criticism from his white house rivals for what he said about israel and peace talks with the palestinians. we'll have details on that. plus, bernie sanders confident despite a big setback in the deep south. we'll hear what he's saying to his supporters. live in the united states and around the world this hour, you are watching cnn worldwide. nobody move! get on the floor! do something! oh i'm not a security guard, i'm a security monitor. i only notify people if there is a robbery. there's a robbery. why monitor a problem if you don't fix it? that's why lifelock does more than free credit monitoring to protect you from identity theft. we not only alert you to identity threats,

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a warm welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world, you're watching "cnn newsroom." good to have you with us, i'm george howell. the headlines this hour -- u.s. democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton claimed a big win over rival bernie sanders in the south carolina primary. taking the lead by a nearly 50-point margin. super tuesday is up next when 11 states hold democratic primaries or caucuses. iran's interior minnesouteistry reformest may take all 30 seats up for grabs in parliament. early election counts also shows that iran's former president rafsanjani and current president rouhani are leading the race for the powerful assembly of experts. final results are expected on tuesday. a cease-fire in syria appears to be holding for the most part. more than a full day after it went into effect. the syrian government and most of its opposition agreed to the truce so that aid could reach civilians who need it most.

more than 250,000 people have died in syria's civil war. all eyes on hollywood. soon to be there as the 88th annual academy awards are held on sunday night in los angeles. many predict that leonardo dicaprio might finally break his oscar losing streak. he is the strong favorite to win bulletproof vest actor for his performance in "the revenant," also nominated for best picture. hillary clinton, she is heading now into super tuesday with a solid lead over bernie sanders. the democratic candidate confirmed her front-runner status on saturday. she seems to be turning her sights toward a match-up with republican front-runner donald trump. despite sanders' increasingly tough rhetoric against clinton, he wasn't able to gain ground on her in this match. the loss in south carolina has been the toughest defeat to sanders' campaign in some time.

he's made a tough opponent for clinton and continues to challenge her, but he faces an uphill climb. he's already arrived in minnesota where a win could help put his campaign back on track. jeff zeleny with this report. >> reporter: bernie sanders talked about changing politics as we know it. it's becoming clear how difficult that will be. he criticized hillary clinton throughout the course of his speech about the paid speeches she has given to wall street, about the fact that she has a sup superpac, even her rack war vote. the criticisms ring true to his supporters. the question for bernie sanders is will he be able to expand his support as the race continues now. march is a critical month in the

race for the nomination. some 56% of the democratic delegates will be selected in the month of march. she clearly enters it with big advantages. bernie sanders has some fast teamwork do if he's going to catch her or become a protest candidate here in the month leading up to the democratic convention in july. jeff zeleny, cnn. front-runner donald trump and rival marco rubio have definitely taken off the gloves. the two presidential candidates have been going at each other nonstop since thursday's debate. here's what marco rubio said about donald trump on saturday. >> flying around on hair force one and tweet ing here's the one tweet he put out, a pictures of me having make-up put on me at the debate. which is amazing to me that a guy with the worst spray tan in america is attacking me for putting on make-up.

[ cheers ] donald trump likes to sue people. he should sue whatever did that to his face. >> trump wasn't holding back either as he campaigned with new jersey governor and former rival chris christie. here's what he had to say about rubio -- >> i will address little rubio. this guy has a fresh mouth. he's a very nasty guy. but i actually thought that ted cruz was a liar. but rubio is worse. he's worse. lightweight rubio, total lightweight. little mouth on him, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. marco rubio is also criticizing donald trump for saying that he would not take sides to try to broker a peace agreement between israel and the palestinians. mr. trump is defending his position saying he is the most pro-israel candidate running for

the white house. here's more. >> reporter: donald trump believes there should be no questioning of his staunchly pro-israel view. >> we will protect israel totally. [ applause ] >> reporter: a deeper look at his relationship shows it is much more complicated than he lets on. trump abruptly canceled a trip to israel last year after prime minister netanyahu criticized his plan to ban muslims from ever er -- from entering the und states. he said he would be neutral in the palestinian conflict. >>? is another area on which donald agrees with hillary clinton and on which i disagree with them both strongly. >> reporter: trump defended his position. >> i may be successful in doing, it it's probably the toughest negotiation of anywhere in the world of any kind. but it doesn't help if i say i am pro-israel. very pro, more than anybody on this stage. doesn't do any good to start

demeaning the neighbors. >> reporter: and then the gloves came off. >> the palestinians are not a real estate deal, donald. >> no, no, no. a deal -- >> they're not a real estate deal. >> a deal is a deal. let me tell you -- >> when you're dealing with terrorists -- >> you are not a negotiator. [ applause ] >> and with your thinking, you will never, you will never bring peace, you will never bring peace. >> donald -- >> reporter: trump contends he's been a long time and vigorous supporter of israeli causes. >> i've received many awards from israel. >> reporter: awards yes, but not more -- in 1983 the steal estate economy gave trump the tree of life award. in 2004, he marched in a salute to israel parade in new york city. yet how much money the billionaire has donated to pro-israel causes remains an unanswered question. in 2014, trump donated $100,000 to an israeli emergency first

responder organization. according to the jewish newspaper "algameiner." one reason we don't know the full picture, he has yet to release his tax returns, and the trump campaign would not provide more examples. >> i can only say i've been a big contributor to israel over the years. >> reporter: on friday, the newspaper quoted trump talking about his personal ties, noting that his daughter ivanka is "married to a jew who is an track supporter." he added that he'd be israel's true best friend. >> that report from our political reporter. this is "cnn newsroom." ahead, a brutal brawl in the state of california. >> sir -- don't hurt him! don't hurt him! >> a clash between members of the ku klux klan and counterprotester. we'll have the latest. plus, the biggest awards show of the season. it is just hours away. coming up, the scene from los angeles where crews are putting on the final touches of the oscar red carpet.

stay with us.

we're following the story in the u.s. state of california where a march by the ku klux klan in anaheim turned violent on saturday. police say five people were injured after counterprotests attacked a group of klan members as they got out of their cars. officers saw one kkk member being stomped. three counterprotesters were stabbed, one with the decorative end of a flagstaff. our reporter from cnn affiliate ktla has more on the skirmish there.

[ bleep ] oh [ bleep ] >> reporter: racist ideals and opposition came to a head in anaheim saturday afternoon. a ku klux klan rally erupted in violence. [ screams ] ♪ [ bleep ] oh. >> reporter: a group of kkk members announced they would be holding a rally at pearson park. a larger group of counter protesters showed up first. when the kkk arrived, tempers flared. >> don't hurt him, sir! sir, don't hurt him! >> reporter: after a little time, angry words shouted between the hate group and its protesters weren't enough. a bloody fight broke out. >> when the kkk members arrived in a vehicle, maybe five in one vehicle, a group of counterprotesters immediately attacked them as they exited the vehicle. that resulted in a stabbing right off to the left here by the fire hydrant. >> reporter: the stabbing victim, a protester, was stuck by either the pointed end of a flag pole by a confederate flag or american flag.

you see a kkk member trying to defend himself with the american flag while a confederate one lays on the ground below. it's not clear who attacked first. but several punched and rushed the kkk. that ultimately led to a melee in the street that stretched almost a whole city block down cypress street where a number of other fights broke out. >> we came here for peaceful protest, white lives matter. we get jumped by -- >> i think you had to expect something. >> it's crazy for them to come here. when it's a majority or minorities here -- where there's a majority of minorities here. >> reporter: it's important this is the -- klan's message as reprehensible as most of us think it is, it's protected by the first amendment. we can't be getting in the middle of stopping them from doing that. >> to me, it's old -- a different time in the world, you know. we've got to be moving forward, and this is not helping. >> that report from cnn

affiliate ktla. police made 13 arrest after the incident. officers are still looking for one more suspect. the man you see here, police do not know his name. let's switch to weather. gusty winds, plenty of rain and snow for both the western u.s. and southern europe. meteorologist karen maginnis is following it. and i know my friends in seattle not happy. >> no. but this is kind of little bit of a transitional pattern where we start to see a lot of the system move, not so much out of the gulf of alaska, but they're more aimed across british columbia, washington, and into oregon. less so if california where they have seen such extreme drought over the last few years. and temperatures in the central united states were exceptionally warm. we'll show you the record high temperatures. mostly in the 20s. there you see in aberdeen, south dakota, you go back to 1895. that was a record, back in 1895.

the temperature for saturday afternoon was 20 degrees. there we see mid 20s, north platte, nebraska. these temperatures are good ten degrees or so above where they should be for this time of year. it isn't just the west coast of the united states that is feeling the impact of a strong storm system where snow levels are lowering and gusty winds and heavy rainfall. same can be said across the western and the north central mediterranean where you see the brighter colors. that's where the higher cloud tops are. that's where the heavier rain is going to be. and don't be surprised if you see a couple of thunderstorms just erupt across the west coast of italy, then through the adriatic, and then along coastal regions of croatia oh. could see isolated thunderstorms with heavy downpours, gusty winds, can't rule out a tornado. we had several reports across europe which did produce damage.

damage to a church, also to some crops and an outbuilding. but we don't is any reports of injuries. this strong storm system is bringing up that moisture from the mediterranean. on the back side of this, enough cold air that these temperatures do start to drop. it isn't just this. it's also going to occur across northern ireland and into scotland where you could see wind gusts in excess of 75 kilometer per hour. here are some of the severe weather reports that we've seen from this system as it moved across the iberian peninsula. now shifting a little bit further toward the east. and coastal sections of france, you're expecting the potential for heavy rainfall. what do i mean by heavy rainfall? well, generally speaking, 50 to maybe 100 millimeter or two to four inches of rainfall. where you see the red shaded area, that's where we could see the potential for some of those thunderstorms extending all the way down toward sicily.

also for naples and rome, perhaps to milan, as well. we did see some very strong winds along this northern coast of spain. some of the wind gusts, george, were over 100 kilometers per hour. >> thank you so much. moving on here. at least six people were killed when an apartment building came crashing down in eastern china. the top three floors of this six-story complex collapsed on friday afternoon. chinese media report the incident was caused by improper renovations on the fourth floor of the building. rescuers managed to pull eight survivors out of the debris. this is "cnn newsroom." we'll be right back. you're an at&t small business expert? sure am. my staff could use your help staying in touch with customers. at&t can help you stay connected. am i seeing double? no ma'am. our at&t 'buy one get one free' makes it easier for your staff to send appointment reminders to your customers... ...and share promotions on social media? you know it! now i'm seeing dollar signs. you should probably get your eyes checked.

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it's a clear, taste-free daily supplement.... ...that's clinically proven to help keep me fuller longer. benefiber healthy shape. this, i can do. find us in the fiber aisle. the stage is set for hollywood's biggest night. you know we're talking about the 88th annual academy awards. just hours away. comedian chris rock will be hosting. you got to wonder what he's going to say. the film "the revenant" leads the pack with 12 nominations. stars leonardo dicaprio. many say this could be the year that he finally takes home the coveted best actor award. this year's oscars have also

been surrounded by controversy due to the lack of diversity among nominees. crews are putting on the final touches on the red carpet for the biggest awards show of the season. diane gallagher has a look at how everything is shaping up hours before showtime. >> reporter: we're on the red carpet. and -- i don't have any celebrities right now. but it is a couple hundred of my closest media friends along with me getting ready for the main event. it starts back behind the silver kurton. that's where the celebrities themselves go through security before they come out to smile for the cameras. and you see there's plenty of people setting up their shops now, getting a look at where they want to be when the pig stars come out. they're actually not going to be on the rapperet. the media's going to be this way. that's where each individual camera gets to be. it is tight shoulders. we're talking shoulder to shoulder. nothing glamorous about the press area during the academy awards. that you will glamor is here on

the red carpet. all the fun, though, happening to my right in the empty risers. come red carpet time, it will be filled with all sorts of, doering fans who have been -- adoring fans who have been waiting for a sacarpetside sigh or photo with leo. you see here they're cutting it up, making sure nobody trips, an embarrassing moment on, their way to the dolby theater for the 88th annual academy awards. >> you don't want to trip on the red carpet. that would be a bad look. here's a quick look at the numbers for sunday's oscars. 24, that's the number of award categories, and most have five nominees each. 121 is the total number of nomination the. 7 2rk the number of envelopes with the names of winners inside. three sets for each category. and the number two is the number of people who know who the winners are ahead of time. both are partners for price waterhouse coopers, the accounting firm that tallies up

the oscar ballots. cnn, of course, is the place to turn before and after the academy awards. for all the glitz and glamor from the red carpet, tune in to hollywood's biggest night, 7:00 a.m. monday in hong kong. 8:00 p.m. in hong kong. only on cnn. and before we leave you, we take you now england's bristol zoo. that saturday home to a brand-new baby gorilla. she looks to be perfect healthy now, but only a few days ago, the baby and her mother were in dire straits. jeanne moos spoke to the doctor who saved the day. >> reporter: it was a c-section that had even the main doctor going name that low-key irish way. >> the most unusual special exciting delivery i've ever done. >> reporter: it's a girl gorilla. the staff at bristol zoo knew it wasn't feeding right. the staff called in gynecologist

dr. david cahill who's delivered lots of human babies. >> over 1,000. i don't keep count. >> reporter: how about gorillas? >> one. >> reporter: they decided to do an emergency caesarean. >> this was just like any other mother, but she had very thick skin and felt very different to the touch. >> reporter: things got tense when the two pound, ten ounce newborn came out not breathing. they blew air into her lungs as someone did chest compressions. worked. there have been other rare gorilla c-sections. two years ago in san diego, a 4.6--pound baby famous for her blue hat. the yet-unnamed bristol infant is being hand-raised by staff. she's been brought to her mom, but she doesn't have an enjoy in caring for her. as for the doctor-turned-gorilla

whisperer, what did he say? >> all in a i did's work. >> reporter: the patient is doing very well, while the doctor is getting teased by colleagues for the hairy special delivery. >> okay! this person -- >> thank you, darling. >> reporter: bon appetite. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. with that we thank our viewers around the world, i'm george howell at the cnn center in atlanta. "new day" is next. for other viewers, "the best of quest" starts in a moment. this is cnn, the world's news leader. be good.

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hillary clinton scores a big win in south carolina. catapulting her to super tuesday. and now her focus shifts to beating the republican front runner. >> donald trump, marco rubio, a war of words. the insults are abundant this morning. >> is is the gop heading for the brokered convention? they are preparing for the possibility. your "new day" starts now. >> 6:00 a.m. on sunday and always grateful to have you company. em christi